Guwahati, April 21 2009: Three people died on average everyday in the Indian states of Assam, Nagaland and Manipur in 2008 .

First quarter 2009 already threatens to challenge the 2008 figure.

Wreckage, devastation, black thick smoke crowning the fires that burn below, mangled and charred dead bodies, scores of limbless injured dripping blood and hundreds of weeping relatives, their faces stark with terror that stems from the fear insurgency has injected into them! .

That is the North East today, a cluster of seven states of this republic, which the tourism ministry in all its wisdom and nonchalence still prefers to brand "Paradise Unexplored" ! .

Welcome to one of the greatest ironies of Free India, 62 years after Independence as the country conducts its 16th Lok Sabha Elections ! Call it the world's greatest political circus or whatever you will, it is thumbs down in this far-flung corner of India, where poverty rules, development is fairly insignificant in modern-day terms and the earth is soaked red in the blood of people who die on it every day.

The only silver lining is Tripura, where militancy has declined, while Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Mizoram are relatively peaceful in so far as insurgency goes.

But then, the north eastern sky has always been dark for decades and even if shifting clouds do make away for a spot of silver now and then, you never actually know whether it will last.

In Assam, Nagaland and Manipur there are over 50 insurgency outfits, of which 34 are in Manipur alone.

In 2007, Manipur had recorded 388 deaths, caused by militancy, a figure that rose to 484 in 2008.The killed were of all kinds: security forces, civilians and militants too.

But what's interesting is, if you average it all.

In 2007, therefore Manipur on average, accounted for 1.06 insurgency-related deaths a day, while in 2008, it was 1.32 deaths a day ! Year-on-year therefore, Manipur's degree of devastation rose by 24.74%, which is something that those who canvass for votes every election season should perhaps chew on.

Overall, Manipur accounted for 47% of the total number of militant murders of the North East.

In Manipur, extortionists have forced many an estalishment to close down.

Every institution is open to extortion including places of worship, educational institutes, health centres, commercial establishments et al.

Kanan Devi Memorial School at Pangei in the Imphal East District was closed for an indefinite period.

Extortion demands forced the closure of two Government colleges in Imphal.

Two private hospitals were closed down due to extortion demands.

Several doctors at the state's premier healthcare establishment, the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) have fled.

In all three states, common ordinary people are afraid to venture out of their homes.

Even the home is not safe because you never know when the militants strike.

The deadly blast at Maligaon in Guwahati city on April 6 have left an entire group of students of a local primary school, funded by the Prime Minister's MP fund, so traumatised that they have not been able to attend classes since.

In the troubled North East, they have actually started believing "Ignorance is Bliss" if the cost of education has to be paid with the life of a child.

In Assam, everybody tells everybody else at home "Avoid crowded places", because that's exactly where the last 20 serial blasts have happened.

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