Reckoning of the Other
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: November 26, 2013 -

Amid the depressing reports of bomb blast at public places in spite of the presence of security personnel everywhere, one welcoming development that has come about is the signing of an agreement between the State Government and the agitating group of All Tribal Students' Union, Manipur (ATSUM) led by Maun Tombing, which has resulted in suspension of the ban imposed on National projects in the hill areas of Manipur by the student body since the midnight of November 11 last.

Leaving aside the question of legitimacy of the group led by Muan Tombing and what the other group of ATSUM had been saying to the on and off agitation launched under the code-name of ROTO (Reckoning of the Other), there are some great merits which could not not be questioned in the charter of demands that the Maun Tombing group has raised to the Government.

And, fulfilment of all these demands would be to the betterment of all, not just for the people living in the hill districts of Manipur including the 'other' group, but also for their valley brethrens, who have now always been blamed for every ill afflicting the hills like a norm rather than an exception.

The demand for better governance, health care facilities, improvement in educational infrastructures, etc, have come for the obvious reason that hill areas of Manipur have always lag behind other parts of the State, particularly the minuscule valley, where all the developmental works and infrastructures have been concentrated.

In such a situation, it is good to know that the Government has agreed to regularize the lecturers serving on contract basis in schools and colleges of the hills, and the process has to start within the next couple of days.

The government has also assured that a tribal officer in the rank of Manipur Civil Service (MCS) will be posted as the Additional Director (Hills), Education and the shortage of qualified ZEOs in the hill districts will be fulfilled by posting one in each in all the five hill districts within a week. Moreover, the government's order for deletion of Additional English in lieu of MIL for unrecognized tribes in the new scheme of study in Class IX from academic session 2014-2015 and in next year under Board of School Education, Manipur (BSEM) has been withheld for consideration.

With regard to shortage of doctors and medical helps in the hills, the Government is reported to have given assurance for doing the needful before the end of the current month.

And most importantly, to ease the problems being faced by the tribal brethrens in the hills, the Government has not only agreed to set up a separate State Commission for Scheduled Tribe (ST) within three months, but also fill up all the backlog posts in every department by conducting a special recruitment drive for ST to minimize the impact of unemployment.

Now, the question is when the Government could have fulfil all these demands in one sitting in a jiffy, why it has taken so long to wake up, thus, compelling the agitating student body to take recourse to banning of National projects and forced shut down of Government offices in the hill areas?

Or, is it just another ploy of the Government to buy time and peace for a while?

Only time will tell.