In the present turmoil in Manipur, we need civil society organizations that strive continually to reform people rather than to punish them, as is already noted. Now, more and more the problem of prevention of wrongdoing and maintaining social order is shifted from the police and courts to the vigilant civil societies. Every Manipuri people should be honoured according to the degree of his or her contribution to the social good in the state.

Racism or any form of abuse of persons based on religion, caste and creed, if it happens, should be treated as a crime. A phenomenon that has drawn much public attention in the most recent period is the rise in destruction of public properties like school and office buildings and terrible abuse of drug users in the state, so much so that a number of conferences have been held on the menace and various organizations have also sprung up to deal with it.

When Govt. schools in the state are unable to stand on its own, they have become the soft target of strikes or arsons. It is most unfortunate. Burning down of school buildings is to deprive students of their educational rights. The protest could have been expressed in some other form without destroying, at least, school buildings.

In the ultimate analysis, whatever argument may be advanced in support of the outrage, there can never be a jot of truth in any story of annihilation of public properties, and it offers little explanation to be made with the only losers being the sons and daughters of the hill soil. It is always for the violent offenders to deny that they have committed the crimes.

The only thing spoiled brats or insane want is destruction––nothing else but complete destruction. The manner in which thousands of copies of rare books stored in the Central Public Library, Imphal were burnt to ashes can be recalled in the wake of burning of valuable assets in the three hill districts of Manipur.

On use of drug: our forefathers, who were ignorant of heroin, didn’t have the gnawing worry that youths of the later generations would, one day, fall into the clutches of narcotic pushers. We are also not told that persons in need of mental treatment roamed the streets in Manipur in the past as so many do now at large.

In our eye-witness’ accounts here in Manipur, a large number of mental patients for treatment are either released from hospitals prematurely, or cannot gain admittance for treatment due to fabricated shortage of beds in the clinics or hospitals, and those hospitals are hesitant to admit them for treatment unless payment is fully guaranteed. That clearly takes account of the large number of crazed narcotic addicts desperate to obtain the high cost of heroin, who either rob or even kill people to get the money.

There are family problems, often growing out of drunkenness. Since the so-called drink evil is not a moral problem, it can only be dealt with as a social phenomenon. From this point of view, the prohibition policy of the state seems to be grossly unfair as permits are allowed for the consumption of foreign liquor.

The rich are allowed to drink, the poor are not. So, the poor are forced to turn to the poisonous stuff brewed by illicit distillers. For so many years this horrible tyranny has been practised on the poor—and yet they have not given up drink. As alleged, there was the cost of prohibition.

There was also widespread corruption among the enforcement staff: loss of revenue and cost of enforcement —a heavy price indeed. What was the result? Illicit distillation was on the increase statewide; gangsterism and terrorism flourished. Thus, the prohibition became an utter failure. Let us first teach people moderation and self-restraint which is morally a much finer mission than enforced self-denial.

There is no other way to explain this sudden emergence of outrage than the various forms of mental disturbances, family breakups due mainly to unemployment and poverty, and the influence of such conditions on children. It is in the midst of such an atmosphere that illiteracy will be increasing in the state at an alarming rate.

There is nothing to feel proud that thousands and thousands of students are enrolled in schools and colleges to turn to violence. Another indication of the atmosphere is that of disregard of teachers by the students. It points to the tension in the school system across the state, a reflection of the tensions in the homes.

This is just a partial listing of the degeneracy, decay, crime and fraud the governance breeds in our state. The lethargic governance cannot provide the right of safety to people from crime, fraud and other social evils because all the evils are products of bad governance.

There is little wonder that recent PDS failure showed a majority of the people cynical about the representatives with their fiery speeches on reforms and welfare programmes alike made during campaign in the election to the 9th assembly in Manipur. Quite unlike problems being faced by other states in India, we have a different story to tell i.e. the worst of corruption, extortion and AIDS problem in the state.

Even worse is the dreaded insurgency which has produced several parallel Governments, resulting in the daily rise in crimes, and turning Manipur to a terror-ridden state in India. Doesn’t the state government have anything to worry about? It must have worries and concerns. It is not.

The State Government is neglecting the rapid and gigantic military buildup of the rebels who are creating warlike situation everywhere in the state with their revolt carried out mainly on ethnic lines which are, in no way, for a good cause. The Government is not initiating measure for a dialogue with the rebels either.

The haunting fears of being robbed or abducted or murdered while travelling on the state and national highways or in the unprotected villages perched at the hill-tops or slopes, many miles away from the police outposts often fill the morning newspapers as tragic stories. Is any civil society organization currently waging a campaign for more effective efforts to protect people from crime? If it really is, the plea of such an organization is hardly more effective than such appeal made in the past.

And that, the steady rise in crime has become routine with the mass unemployment, narcotic addicts and uncared for mentally disordered people as its major sources. Today, destruction and lawlessness has become a part of the Manipuri way of life.

The way killing goes on unabated, the murder rate is steeply rising in the state which is in grim solititude at the top of the murder heap in the north-east region of India, even though Assam and Nagaland too are facing similar situations. Another is sharp rise in rapes. How awful it is! As the prospect of worse days loom large, the law enforcing agencies’ alertness and operation have got to be accelerated.

At the dawn of the new millennium, the people of Manipur, irrespective of religion, caste and creed, will have to face courageously and intelligently all calamities arising from the current situation, so that tomorrow, every community–the helpless and the privileged, both will be able to live in a united, brotherly, just and progressive Manipur as in Sikkim, Meghalaya and, Mizoram. The tale that shutters are not down even at late hours in the evening at Aizawl or Gangtok is our envy.

Lastly, the SPF Government of Manipur has to be objective and clear-headed in tackling issues that have crippled the entire state’s machinery from bottom to top without succumbing to unessential or ill-conceived schemes. Undeniably, elected persons are wise politicians—that is why people talk about their wits and wisdom to eradicate corruption, first in the high places.

The law makers do not easily make the mistakes that a team of serious and skilled leaders should not. In the southern and northern states of India, the lawmakers are said to be vigilant to rectify the misdeeds of the bureaucracies, while in our state whether the bureaucrats are correcting the ministers and the rest of the MLAs is to be watched carefully in the days to come. As skilled negotiators, they will apply their wisdom to solve the burning problems of the state.

The idea is to make an honest and reliable decision only after a logical analysis of any impending deadlock, without being one sided and whimsical for a fast-track- progress in every sector in the state.