Press Conference "Condemn Attack on Ima Keithel" at New Delhi
Khwairamband Nupi Keithel Vendors Welfare Association, Manipur

New Delhi, September 01, 2010

Press Conference "Condemn Attack on Ima Keithel:
Condemn Mismanagement Deliberated by the Government"

Venue: Press Club of India, New Delhi
Date: Thursday, 2nd September 2010
Time: 11 am to 2 pm.

Dear Friends,

Thousands of women in Manipur, who earn for their economic livelihood solely by means of engagement in trade and business in the Ima Keithel (lit. Market of the mothers) have been systematically displaced and marginalised in the name of modernisation of the Keithel by the Manipur State Government. Over the last few years, the grievances of the victims of the displacement have not been relieved, and the demands to address their plight have been suppressed. The Central Government has remained a mute spectator and allowing the reign of corruption, bribery, favouritism and mismanagement in the ongoing Keithel modernization project.

The issue of displacement arose ever since the nefarious nexus of political leaders, bureaucrats, contractors and big business houses had cast envy upon the prosperity of the Ima Keithel and had manipulated the administration to take control of the market plots into their corrupt pockets. Perhaps, The Ima Keithel, located in the very heart of the Imphal city, is one of the oldest market places and clearly stands out as the cradle of the fervent economic activities in Manipur.

The Keithel is historically significant because it is run exclusively by women from different parts of Manipur. Few years back the Government of Manipur, under its urban modernisation projects, had started reconstructing the pre-existing three markets sheds of the Keithel. During the course of construction the vendors were allocated with temporary seats at the then District Hospital site outside of the main Keithel complex.

The government has the devilish plan of allocating the seats to a select few, their 'people', who are too privileged to earn from the Keitel even. Corrupt practice of the state officials shows its sole care for the gains out of the pains of the most of the world of lives and hopes of those who are far, distant, low and bare.

As a result, what comes out of this mega project is the tragedy of loss of livelihood and hopes to several women who had been engaged in trade and business in the Keithel.

While many women who had been doing business had already lost their allocations, many who are yet to get are not in the position to get the allocated seats any more. And the most impending is the loss of hopes for widowed victims of armed conflict and those who come from far off places to the Keithel to earn a day's meagre income.

As consequently the government has now pushed Manipur into another level of trouble which characterised rural urban divide on the one hand and the already widening gap between the privileged and the marginalised on the other hand. The struggle for economic earning in this particular case, therefore, is not merely a fight against corruption alone but a fight against the ideology of the domination which makes possible for the corrupt officials to grow and thrive.

In connection to the issue, women representatives of the Khwairamband Nupi Keithel Vendors' Welfare Association is organising a press conference on 2 September 2010 at 11am to 2 pm at the Press Club of India, New Delhi.

We would be sincerely thankful if you:
* could send a media representative from the esteemed media house
* could attend the programme or send a representative of your organisation in order to either highlight or address the views of dissent and hopes of life amid the tortures of limbs and thoughts in Manipur.

Thanking you

Sd/-
L. Memma
President,
Khwairamband Nupi Keithel Vendors Welfare Association, Manipur.
1st September, 2010.