Dependency culture can be corrected after taking up a different movement

Yenning *

"Dependency culture can be corrected after taking up a different movement" claimed some proponents of the demand to include the Meiteis/Meeteis in the list of Scheduled Tribes (ST) of India and "Urged all to cooperate for such a movement". If this is the pattern of thinking, then, Yenning disagrees with the very "pattern" of thinking.

There is a flaw and it arises from a faulty a priori judgment involving deductive reasoning from a general principle to a necessary effect; not supported by fact. The premise of reasoning of the proponents is that by including the Meiteis/Meeteis in the SR list of India all the misfortunes of the Meitei/Meetei society stands to be cured; and then a different movement has to be taken up to correct the dependency culture!

Tragedy of Dialectics of Social Evolution

A general reader would have easily identified the obvious shortcoming of the cognitive prowess of the proponents including the cronies of the Indian State who are whole-heartedly demanding the ST status. It is in the sense that the proponents and similar like-minded people should have given the clarion call for the "different movement" they mooted about instead of blindly keeping their faith in the ST tag and prioritizing it at the cost of sociological, political and economic logic.

This again arises, unfortunately, out of the poverty of mind (sic. philosophy) and a subservient culture with an indulgent habit. What the proponents fail to realize is that in the long run, the ST tag is bound to out-weight even the desire to launch the "different movement". And it would be too late as the philosophy and the culture, which the adherents of pro-ST embrace dearly at the moment, will be in full bloom with no sights of return. This is the tragedy of dialectics of social evolution.

The tragedy is even-more acute when one fails to factor into account the condition of any given society/community along with its evolutionary trajectory (social evolution). Take up the case of any society: the society would have certainly followed a given trajectory of development say from the state of nature (in the Hobbesian sense), then stage of tribalism (living in relative isolation) to the stage of a civilization (marked by cross-cultural traits and societal intercourse).

In MacIver's understanding, sociologically speaking, there shall be no reversal in the process of social evolution until unless a natural calamity, overt human traffic and occupation, war or a nuclear holocaust destroys the very society. Even if such happens, the cumulative knowledge of the surviving few shall take up the task of rebuilding and reconstruction not necessarily going back to the stage of tribalism. History is replete with such instances: reconstruction of the Meitei/Meetei nation after the Chahi Taret Khuntakpa (Seven Years Devastation), the case of the Jews after the Nazi Holocaust and Nagasaki and Hiroshima after the nuclear holocaust are few examples.

Further, in every society and at every stage of its development, there shall always be the material reality manifested in the forms of the haves and the have-nots replete with other forms of evils. Over and above, in some cases, there will also be the issue of historical injustice. Thus, for instance, the Meitei/Meetei society might have existed in relative isolation at a particular juncture in time but it has certainly undergone the stages of developments described by MacIver or by Marx including the phases of colonialism (the major source of injustice).

And in every epoch of her history we learn about the misfortunes of the people, the material crunch/limitation, deprivation, suppression and exploitation. The story is the same today. But in order to get "something" from the Indian State and make up the material needs including position/status, it would be wrong to revert back to the state of nature or the second stage.

The Capitalist Middle Class Syndrome

The demand for ST status is a product of middle class phenomenon. In fact it is a capitalist middle class syndrome. The middle class in Manipur is a complex ad hoc social category having all the traits of feudal characters and mannerisms. In pure capitalist societies, Erik Olin Wright states that the middle classes are property-less employees whose levels of skill and knowledge, and position in the authority structure, place them in "contradictory" class locations. As well-paid managers or experts, they are in a "privileged location within relations of exploitation"; they are exploited (as workers), while simultaneously sharing capitalist privileges that vary with their degree of authority and expertise.

Middle class phenomenon is complex in the case of Manipur in the sense that they are all owners of private land (in this sense feudal), semi-literate, salaried or retired pensioners who never reach/reached the top-notch positions during their term of service, petty shop-keepers and businessmen but who carry the feudal superiority complex and hate to work under the supervision of an ST officer.

Thus, the demand for ST status is out of jealousy and insecurity and striving for privileges as Wright admits. These are the people who have suffered "historical injustice" i.e. working under an ST and who out of insecurity aspire to find a good education for their children as well as find Government jobs through reservation. Yes, in their own words, just like the hill community.

And what they are aspiring for their children is not in terms their children engaging in productive labor in the future, that is, whether they will produce exchange values and, therefore, surplus value. Thus, they are against the struggles of the working class for an egalitarian society. Nicos Poulantzas argued that only productive workers are members of the working class, he considers all other wage and salary earners, those who only contribute to the circulation and realization of surplus value (i.e., those employed in banking, commerce, research, advertising, services, military, etc.), as unproductive workers: the middle classes are composed of such workers. And this is true in the case of Manipur.

Perhaps more than 60 percent of the total population of Manipur depends on agriculture and allied services, but the reality is, the salary of Govt employees pushes the economy of Manipur. So it is the protégé of the middle class amongst the Meiteis/Meeteis which is demanding the privileges of the middle class. Thus, the demand for ST status is contradictory to life- world of the poor and the have-nots, especially the agricultural workers, fishing community, peasants, weavers and others.

Limitation of Constitutional Safeguards

One might argue, as the proponents of pro-ST do, that the ST tag is simply an administrative safeguard meant to protect the historically marginalized people living in isolation in India. But sociologically and philosophically speaking, it is about reduction of one's place who has "evolved" into an earlier position in its social development.

From another perspective, the ST status has never empowered the particular community to safeguard their land and resources. What is happening in the tribal belt of India (Central India) and closer home to Nagaland and Meghalaya as well as within Manipur are glaring examples. Tribals in Chhota Nagpur region and elsewhere are losing their land and forest to miners.

The same is the case of Meghalaya. Nagaland is not able to own the petroleum sites even by using constitutional safeguards. Further, in the case of Manipur in the hills where the Manipur Land Reforms and Revenue Act does not paint its picture, the communities are losing land to the MNCs, development projects and military more than the valley.

Taking up a Different Movement?

The reality of class location, which determines people's economic and political interests and influences, political consciousness, beliefs, behavior, and so forth, is evident in the case of the demand for ST status of the Meiteis/Meeteis. The proposed May 22 mass rally for the same is a show of strength of the Meitei/Meetei middle class.

Yenning strangely believes that it will be a huge one. The rally is also an attempt to let some of the sleeping middle class in the society to know about their "class situation," and to mobilize and politicize them for inter-class confrontations that they believe undermines their life chances. But if wisdom prevails the inter-class confron- tations can be avoided.

"Mami Sami", the path-breaking movie by Oja Lancha is a subtle reminder of what fratricide can do to the Meiteis/Meeteis. So, the wisdom is, just as the learned proponents desire, there is an ongoing "different" form of "movement" in Manipur, to correct the dependency syndrome, to correct the historical injustice inflicted by India as well as for an egalitarian society. This is much beyond the demand for ST status.

It is a matter of choice whether one joins the movement or succumb or be fatally overwhelmed by the generosity of the appropriating Indian State.