RPF bats for increased productivity
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, June 10 2017: The proscribed RPF has underscored the importance of enhancing the State's economic productivity in order to neutralise the policy of cultivating a sense of dependency on external aid among the people of Manipur.

A statement issued by the outfit's publicity secretary Roben Khuman rued many of the people think they could not survive when Imphal-Dimapur highway and Imphal-Jiribam highway which connect Manipur with mainland India are blocked.

Manipur was a sovereign nation which was economically self-reliant till 1949 .

However, during the past 65 years or so, Manipur has been reduced to such a position that it cannot survive without external aid.

This is an outcome of the policies devised by India at their own convenience.

Such diabolic policies would continue and people would suffer more and more, the outfit alleged.

Given such sorry political and socio-economic condition of the land, people need to look back at the history of Manipur.

Manipur, though small in area, existed as a sovereign nation with self-reliant eco-nomy for over 2000 years.

Its agricultural productivity was quite robust and its produces were of high quality.

RB Pemberton in his work "The Eastern Frontier of India" (1835) wrote in page 30 that Manipur had enough stock of food grains to feed its entire population even when the whole valley was flooded.

However, after 1949, all the economic bases and productive capacity of Manipur were destroyed and the State was eventually transformed into a captive market of India.

Manipur used to produce substantial quantities of cotton and silk too, and weaving was one biggest industry of the State.

But markets of the State were soon flooded with clothes and garments made with machines which imitated the hand-woven ones.

As these machine-made clothes were much cheaper, the State's handloom industry started dying.

Even as weavers of the State had been sweating day and night, they earned little profit.

The lion's share of profit was reaped by non-local traders who dealt in handloom products.

Now it has been established that fossil fuels are available at Tamenglong, Jiribam and Churachandpur.

It has been reported that petroleum discovered in Manipur is of highest grade and it would not exhaust even after 300 years of drilling.

While there is strong possibility about availability of gold in Ukhrul, Uranium has been discovered at Chandel.

But New Delhi is poised to take ownership of this high-value mineral resources while thousands of Manipuri youth are left unemployed and idle.

This is in line with a diabolic policy aimed at instilling a notion that Manipur cannot survive without New Delhi's aid.

Enhancing economic productivity of the State cannot be realised without cultivating a healthy work culture and a strong national character, the outfit asserted.

People of Manipur can learn from Cuba in this regard against which the USA imposed total embargo for a protracted period of time, the outfit continued.

It then called upon all the people of Manipur to cultivate a healthy work culture and show to the entire world that they can live independently.

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