Gateway of Look East Policy : Keeping up with the rest
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: November 14, 2014 -

Global village. Globalisation.

More than sure that the State Government is aware of these terms, for these are terms that have become familiar with even school children.

However nothing much to show that these terms have been understood properly by the Government.

More than a question of being caught in a time warp for the failure to understand these terms point to the systemic failure of all the vital organs of governance.

What was globalisation more than five years back may not necessarily be so today.

Likewise what was strictly understood within the domestic parlance may have taken a global identity today.

It also goes without saying that when governance fails then its impact is first felt on the people and the land and this is exactly what has been happening to Manipur and her people in the last many, many years.

A direct fall out of the Government and its agencies utterly failing to grasp the finer nuances of globalisation.

The question that must be disturbing the minds of all thinking persons in the State is whether the people here will be able to move with the demands of the time or will buckle under the expectations and demands that come along with the new order.

Time to acknowledge that the world is no longer what it was five years back and this is all that more important for the policy framers of the State.

Time no longer moves leisurely nor does it move at the pace five years back. A fact which the policy framers of the land must acknowledge.

‘Join the race’ is no longer just a term to be bandied about but something which must be lived.

A point which must be central to the foreign trips undertaken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

It is not for nothing that the Prime Minister has deemed it fit to visit Myanmar and address the convention of the Association of South East Asian Nations at Nay Pyi Taw.

After his trip to Myanmar the Prime Minister is scheduled to visit Australia to attend the G-20 Summit and then proceed to Fiji.

A fitting demonstration that the country is priming itself to move along with the world.

An observation that does not fit in well with the political leaders of the land, despite the fact that Manipur is the gateway to India’s Look East Policy.

The very question, whether Manipur is ready to join the rest of the country and go global should be indicative of where the State and her people stand.

The primary point is to acknowledge that there are still miles to go before Manipur can step into the stage of globalisation and gain a toe hold.

Important to admit that like anything else the concept and understanding of globalisation keeps changing at a fast pace.

For this one needs mental faculty. Perhaps this is where the biggest drawback of the State lies.