Of famine starvation and apathy

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Of famine, starvation and apathy
- Recycling tales from Manipur's precincts -

By:- Ringo Pebam *

The crops are dying, the children crying
There is widespread hunger all over the land
But when you return, will you treat me decent?
For surely you're an honest man.
(The Irish Famine Song, 1897)

Bamboo flower blooms to drench the despaired eyes.

I can sense the dread on pine trees in Manipur as winter comes. Its chilly winds and fogs playing hide and seek over the hills and the valley. Seasons change and so do human fortunes. Sangneitling of Senvon village in Tipaimukh sub-division will still continue to be a shattered man.

With moist eyed melancholy, he would still be recalling the day he gazed at his paddy beds clueless about the possibility of reaping his harvest. And provide enough grains for his children. He would wonder. And wonder whether he should be blaming the rats that destroyed his crops or the humans who cared less about his woes.

It was in the evening of 31st October, I spoke to David Buhril, the award winning Delhi based journalist after months. He told me about his trip to Tipaimukh. The first thing I asked him was about the condition of education system in the sub-division. "Education comes secondary there; primary concern right now is to EAT, to SURVIVE. It's near famine out there." he said with his voice choked with emotions.

I was shocked on hearing the difficulties the inhabitants there had to endure. That night, imageries of p eople in Tipaimukh filled with anger and hunger vividly flashed over my mind as though they were projected against the ceiling over my head. I simply couldn't close my eyes and go to sleep. And why should I close my eyes over sighting half these realities.

The people of this subdivision has for long been surviving without pliable road, health care, electricity, public distribution system, etc. just like many villages in the four corners of Manipur. They have been struggling all along trying to survive. But I got to hear that this time their fear is mounting.

The dreaded Mautam or bamboo flowering in the region have started revisiting them. The phenomenon is known for leaving a devastating tale of sorrow and misfortune. In 1959, when this phenomenon struck in the region there was an ecological havoc and led to food scarcity.

This was followed by massive increase in the birth rate of rodents feeding on available grains on small granaries. With near near-famine now spreading in the area, hope for the people there is like a flickering flame. They have not seen assistance and support from the government either. Worse still is the apathy and lack of concern by authorities who matter.

Tipaimukh, the 55th Assembly Constitution of Manipur in the district of Churachandpur, is inhabited by the indigenous Hmar people and their kindred tribes belonging to the Chin-Kuki-Mizo group of people.

A farmer showing his sleaveless rat ravaged field.

As per Census of India 2001, Tipaimukh has a total population of 25,409 with 12,965 male and 12,444 female which includes 3,924 children between the age group of 0-6 years.

There are 4,053 households in 40 villages of the sub-division and constitutes only 1.06% of the total population of the State of Manipur. Of the 13,141 cultivators in Tipaimukh, 90.2% are in the agricultural sector, practicing the traditional slash and burn (jhum/shifting) method of cultivation.

Low lie the fields of Lalmanlien of Leisen village, where once he watched the paddy grew tall. He had dreams and songs to sing, but it's gloomy now around the fields of Lalmanlien.

Lalchawilien of Leisen village woke up on a beautiful morning just to find his rice field standing without any sheaves. A sight - dark and disturbing that he never wants to remember.

The bamboo flowering not only makes them go hungry but also diminishes the human spirit. Zarzolien of Leisen village said, "The bamboo flower reduced me like nothing else could. It is a shame that my toil would not allow me to feed my family. It is very shameful. I could not feel like a man anymore."

Darkung: "They destroy our rice and we eat them too."

Burning torches for many nights, villagers have to guard their granaries and the paddy fields. They try all kinds of effort to ward off rats. The rodents not only destroy the grains, they also damage houses, gnaw the blankets, shoes and house hold items.

Darkung of Senvon village used traps to get rid of the army of invading rats and rodents. When the hunger pangs assail, the trapped rats were again consumed by the distressed Tipaimukh villagers, exposing them to the threat of various epidemics. "They eat our rice and we also eat them if they are trapped", Darkung said.

Under the harvest moon; Lalmanlien of Leisen village watched helplessly at the rodents plague his rice fields like hungry ghosts. These rats took just few hours to wipe out his toil of a year.

Rs.7.29 (APL), Rs. 6.21 (BPL), Rs. 3.47 (AAY) is the price tagged by the Department of Food and Civil Supplies for a Kg of rice, but in the villages at Tipaimukh, the same quality of rice is being sold at Rs. 16/17 per kg, and most often there is no rice even to be bought at that price.

Manipur, have we no eyes to see? Have we no ears to hear the woes of our brothers in the hills? Hunger! Hunger! Through dark December's gloom, the hungry moans of the infants. Black starvation, let us try to feel their pain. Food is their deadly need. They, who feel hunger in a barely accessible place, they, who reared with sweat of brow, on the brow of the hills are in dire need for help.

National Highway 150: The road less travelled

The wealthy knows a little of the bitter life. Hunger, and thirst, and nakedness, sorrow, and sickness, and cold; it's hard to bear when the blood is young, and hard when the blood is old.

When David Buhril and his team went to Tipaimukh, no government officials had visited the villages to take care of the situation in the hills and mountains of Tipaimukh where death looms large.

Ministry of Environment and Forest had allocated Rs 6.9 crores and 1 crore in the year 2005-06 and 2006-07 respectively to combat the impact of bamboo flowering in different parts of Manipur. Till 2009 the State will continue to receive Rs 1 crore for the same cause. However, the funds have not reached the people for whom the money is meant. Where has the money gone?

Zarzolien of Leisen village said that the Manipur government does not exist for them to be trusted. He said, "We are forgotten people."

Hrangtlunglien from the same village said, "We never knew that the government would act in such situations as we have been living without any form of government for many decades as far as my memory could remember. There is no motorable road inside our village. There is nothing, but just us. We are independent and self-reliant people. We never knew that there is something called the government to represent us. Manipur government has no meaning for us".

Chala Shakum of Lungthulien village also said, "We never expect anything from the Government of Manipur. We never even count on it. It has no meaning in our lives till today."

Where has the money for the poor, for the hills gone? What are our representatives doing? Where are the doctors, where are the police stations, where is the water supply, where is the electricity, where is the school... for villages in Tipaimukh? Why don't the authorities make sure that they are there?

Beware before you spurn. Faces will haunt you as you sleep. What is a human soul worth. A mother's child bows down to weep. For food, for love, for comfort. Put yourselves in the shoes of these people who are facing the brunt of not just natural calamities but man made disasters as well.

Dear Concerned authorities in Manipur, don't let this piece of paper find its natural resting place, your dustbins. Pick up your pen and write back to this esteemed newspaper, why nothing much was done, what is being planned and what are being done.

Please do not think that the people exist to provide you with position. Your position exists to provide them what they ought to be provided. Where they live should not decide whether they live or whether they die.

Would you deny for others, what you demand for yourself? Smiling and singing still, through hunger, want, and woe, the people of Tipaimukh live with hope. They are with us always.

When we close our eyes today, we hope the concerned authorities will ensure that tomorrow they get the help they deserve.

Picture Courtesy: David Buhril and North East SUN Magazine

* Ringo Pebam, a Software Engineer in Bangalore, contributes regularly to e-pao.net. The writer can be contacted at ringo_pebam(AT)yahoo(DOT)com. This article was webcasted on December 09th , 2007. This article appeared in The Sangai Express, Sunday Edition of 9th Dec '07

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