Creating vacuum for others to rush in : Leaving the doors wide open
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: November 15, 2022 -

A total of 1286 Inner Line Permits issued from 2020 to 2022 and this is for Ukhrul district alone.

This is about those who have taken the permits and no one knows how many could have arrived without the said permit and truly ILP or not Manipur continues to attract people, primarily labourers, skilled as well as unskilled.

Obvious that the job market here is huge and Manipur offers just the right ambience for workers from across the country, mainly from West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar etc to come here and make a living.

Manipur has everything working in favour of those willing to sweat it out and are not choosy about what type of work comes their way as long as it can keep the kitchen hearth burning and when it comes to the migrant workers send some savings back home to support the family.

The truth is, the right ambience, the right working condition is not being filled up by the locals leaving the space wide open for the non-locals to come and fill up with ease.

Moreover it also stands that many of the locals too seem to prefer hiring the non-locals as they are not fussy about the work to be done and they finish the work without much ado.

For those who are in the habit of taking an early morning walk in any locality of Imphal, the sight of the non-local labourers waking up well before the Sun rises and having their morning cuppa with something to nibble is a common sight and interestingly the tea stalls opened as early as 5 am or a little earlier are always run and managed by non-locals.

It is the same with other cases too. Go to any barber and a non local barber will be found at his workplace early in the morning while the same cannot be said for such shops run and managed by the locals.

Creating the perfect void, a space for the non-locals to rush in and fill up.

This is the reality and this story runs true in the case of all other district headquarters.

Wake up early, say at about 4.30 am and the shops and hotels and eateries run by non-locals will be opened at say Ukhrul district headquarters while the same cannot be said of such places run and managed by the locals.

It is the work culture that has to be addressed to if the extension of the Inner Line Permit System is to have any meaning in Manipur.

Other than the work culture, one can also see and experience the stark difference in how customers are treated in any shop or store run and managed by the locals and non-locals.

These are points that need to be considered on a priority basis if the huge inflow of non-locals into Manipur is to be checked. Stop creating the vacuum and naturally there will be none to rush in then.

Manipur has immense pull factor.

The salubrious climate, the social set up where there is no social differentiation between the malik who hires the labourers and the labourers themselves, where the landlord or the malik and the labourers can sit down together and have tea and snacks speak something beautiful about the place.

Top this off with the labour vacuum created by the locals themselves and it is but natural for others to rush in and fill up the vacuum.

Let the social system continue, the salubrious climate is nature being kind to the place, but there is definitely something which the locals can do and that is to keep a check on the labour space.

Fill this up and one can rest assure that the number of non-locals entering Manipur will see a drop very soon.

This is the reality and apart from reminding the Government to enforce the ILP strictly, the primary duty of the common people is to ensure that no vacuum is created in the job market.

Go to any locality and one is sure to come across many youngsters who while away their time doing nothing positive and instead waste the hard earned money of their parents and elders.

Let them do something productive.

No type of work lowers a man’s dignity as no work at all is a line that comes to mind and it is time for all to acknowledge this reality else Manipur will continue to attract non-locals and here one cannot and should not point the accusing finger at the Government.