IMPHAL THURSDAY 16 OCTOBER 2014
IMPHAL THURSDAY
16 OCTOBER 2014
India-Pakistan –Joint winner of Nobel Peace Prize -2014
A lesson for India and Pakistan
Dr Khomdon Lisam
Today's Thought
Governments tend not to solve problems,
only re-arrange them.
Ronald Reagan.
High in rhetoric low on substance
Not much to choose from
High in rhetoric, low on substance. Unfortunate it is but once again more than 24
thousand voters will have to sift through all
the heavy promises and tall statements to
choose one from among the five candidates
in the fray for the by election to the
Hiyanglam Assembly Constituency on October 17. Sounds more like a case of the
candidates and the political parties too lethargic or bereft of ideas to sit down and
study what the people actually need at
Hiyanglam. No debates on issues besieging
the State and the people and not even canvassing along the line of what the people
actually need. Charges and counter
charges, name calling, promising the heaven
and even assuring to take up steps which
sounded more like fairy tales. These and
more made up the canvassing and campaigning for the by election, which became
more and more like a big jamboree with each
passing day. Crucial it is for different reasons
to different political parties, but the manner
in which candidates and the political parties
campaigned had nothing to reflect how crucial it is to the State or even the particular
Assembly Constituency. More than indicative that the mindset of the political leaders
continues to be stuck in a time warp. Running down the others and taking pot shots at
the rivals may be a given in all elections, but
there certainly was no need to go about it so
crudely. Not that the voters will be swayed
by all the big talks but in many ways it also
showed how the intelligence of the voters
has been taken for granted. The hollow
promises bereft of any practicability and the
manner in which rivals were verbally crucified
should testify this.
Not surprisingly it was the Congress and
the BJP which seemed to dominate the electioneering and not without reasons. With the
BJP delivering a whacking blow on the Congress at the Lok Sabha election earlier this
year and Prime Minister Narendra Modi making all the right noises, the State unit of the
BJP too is kicking with life. Moreover it has
got the son of the former MLA of the Constituency whose demise necessitated the by
election to contest on its ticket. The BJP
candidate and the State unit of the party
may just be banking on the feel good factor
generated by the Prime Minister and the
sympathy votes that are most likely to come
in the face of the former MLA passing away.
On the other hand, the State unit of the
Congress seems to have put away the drubbing the party received at the Lok Sabha
hustings and seems more than satisfied to
bank on the fact that it is ruling the State
for the third consecutive term. A fact which
can be surmised by the manner in which the
Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister
have been campaigning for the by poll. This
is not to say that the other parties have
been quiet. Already two leaders of the
Trinamul Congress have come and reached
out to the voters. The MPP and MSCP too
have been making all the noises to show
that the time is right. However the central
point to remember is that in casting their
votes, the voters will not be only sealing the
fate of the candidates but also their fate, at
least for the rest of the term.
Etc.. etc...
Alarm rings on how uptake if existing
prevention options for anal STIs and HIV
Bobby Ramakant, Citizen News Service (CNS)
Brian Kanyemba, Desmond Tutu HIV Centre, Cape
Town, South Africa said that phase II study of rectal
microbicide (MTN017) has also started at their site which
is the only site in Africa. 7 out of 24 study participants have
been enrolled so far.
Condoms... and lubes!
Jim Pickett, Chair of International Rectal Microbicide
Advocates (IRMA) said in a press conference at AIDS
2014 (via web-link): Project ARM (Africa for Rectal
Microbicides) was started by the IRMA few years ago to
make sure that as the HIV prevention field moves ahead for
research and development of rectal microbicides, these
products [when eventually made available] are safe, accessible, and affordable to the people who need them [in
African context]. There was a realization that we need to
do some specific work in Africa in context that there are
many countries where anal sex is illegal, people can be
prosecuted and there is lot of [anal sex related] stigma and
discrimination too."
"Project ARM was born out of the growing need to
create a research and advocacy agenda for rectal
microbicides in Africa. Project ARM shows us what are
the priorities in terms of research, advocacy and community
mobilization around rectal microbicides in African context.
One of the priorities that came out of Project ARM discussions was lube access. The reason was that people who
practice anal sex cannot access lubricants."
"We have to recognize that it is not just MSM and
transgender people who have anal sex but also men and
women in heterosexual relationships. If that route of HIV
transmission is not looked at then HIV rates are bound to
rise in those practicing anal sex."
Jim briefed about "Global Lube Access Mobilization GLAM". He said "Having safer lubes will not be enough
unless policies and programmes start addressing access to
lubes. This is how GLAM came into being. If we provide
condoms to people and not provide lubes then it is a big
problem because then people use whatever they can find
and at times they use lubricants or products that are not
condom compatible. Lack of condom compatible lubricants
in Africa was acute. With no lubes people often resort to
body lotions, cooking oil, pre-cum, creams or other things
that are not necessarily condom compatible." (To be contd)
The winning of Nobel Prize by Indians is always a great
news. Kailash Satyarthi, Indian child rights activist has been
awarded the Nobel Prize for peace along with Malala
Yousafzai, Pakistan’s child rights activist who herself is only
17 years old. I am wondering if Malala can achieve Nobel
Prize at the age of 17 years , what she will do at the age of
70. Perhaps another Nobel Prize. The world’s most famous
and most coveted set of awards are the Nobel Prizes. The
award is presented for outstanding achievement in literature,
peace, economics, medicine and the sciences. This year’s
Nobel winners were widely praised and regarded as being
more in line with the traditional spirit of Alfred Bernhard
Nobel. “This is an excellent choice,” said Anna Ek, chairwoman for the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society. “This
is a way to acknowledge people who are trying to change the
world with peaceful means on the grass-roots level.” Ms. Ek
added: “there’s a very nice symbolism in sharing the prize
jointly between an Indian and a Pakistani. Hopefully, this can
be a positive injection in that conflict and put pressure on the
leaders to approach each another.” This news will give a
tremendous inspiration to the youths working for the protection of human rights and social causes with all sincerity,
commitment and dedication.
The Nobel committee has come under fire in recent years
for selecting winners such as the European Union in 2012 and
U.S President Barack Obama in 2009 but the eight million
kronor ($1.1 million/ Rupees 6.124 Crores.) cash award is
still considered one of the most prestigious honours in the
world.
The Past Indian Laureates
The past Indian Nobel Laureates are - Rabindranath Tagore
(Lierature/1913), C. V. Raman (Physics/1930), Har Gobind
Khorana (Medicine/1968), Mother Teresa (Peace/1979),
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (Physics/1983), Amartya Sen
(Economics/1998). On 25 March 2004, Tagore’s Nobel Prize
was stolen from the safety vault of the Visva-Bharati University, along with several other of his personal belongings. On
7 December 2004, the Swedish Academy decided to present
two replicas of Tagore’s Nobel Prize, one made of gold and
the other made of bronze, to the Visva Bharati University.
The prize, worth about $1.1 million (Rupees 6.124 Crores.),
will be presented to Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai
in Oslo on 10 December, 2014, the anniversary of the death
of Swedish industrialist Alfred Bernhard Nobel, who founded
the award in his 1895. The Nobel committee said: ‘Satyarthi,
60, has maintained the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi and
headed various forms of peaceful protests, “focusing on the
grave exploitation of children for financial gain.”
Why was Nobel Prize created?
The Nobel Prize was created in 1895 by Alfred Bernhard
Nobel (1833-1896), a man who amassed his fortune by producing explosives. In 1864, when Alfred was 29, a huge
explosion in the family’s Swedish factory killed five people,
including Alfred’s younger brother Emil. Dramatically affected by the event, Nobel set out to develop a safer explosive.
Nobel invented dynamite in 1867, a substance easier and safer
to handle than the more unstable nitroglycerin. Dynamite was
patented in the USA and the UK and was used extensively
in mining and the building of transport networks internationally. In 1875 Nobel invented gelignite, more stable and
powerful than dynamite, and in 1887 patented ballistite, a
forerunner of cordite. He used his enormous fortune from 355
patents to institute the Nobel Prizes.
The creation of the Nobel Prizes came about through a
chance event. In 1888 Alfred’s brother Ludvig died while
visiting Cannes and a French newspaper erroneously published Alfred’s obituary. It condemned him for his invention
of dynamite and is said to have brought about his decision to
leave a better legacy after his death. The headlines read “Le
marchand de la mort est mort “ (The merchant of death is
dead) and went on to say, “Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became
rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever
before, died yesterday.” Alfred was deeply shocked with what
he read and concerned with how he would be remembered
after his death. He thought that he would be appreciated and
fondly remembered by the people for his scientific invention
of dynamite. What he read horrified him: The newspaper
described him as a man who had made it possible to kill more
people more quickly than anyone else who had ever lived. At
that moment, Alfred Nobel realized two things: that this was
how he was going to be remembered, and that this was not
how he wanted to be remembered. Shortly thereafter, he
established the awards.
On 27 November 1895, at the Swedish-Norwegian Club
in Paris, Alfred Bernhard Nobel signed his last will and
testament and set aside the bulk of his estate to establish the
Nobel Prizes to be awarded annually without distinction of
nationality. After taxes and bequests to individuals, Nobel’s
will allocated 94% of his total assets, 31,225,000 Swedish
kronor, to establish the five Nobel Prizes. This converted to
GBP £1,687,837 at the time. [2012, the capital was worth
around SEK 3.1 billion (USD 472 million, EUR 337 million),
which is almost twice the amount of the initial capital, taking
inflation into account. The first three of these prizes are
awarded for eminence in physical science, in chemistry and in
medical science or physiology; the fourth is for literary work
“in an ideal direction” and the fifth prize is to be given to the
person or society that renders the greatest service to the cause
of international fraternity, in the suppression or reduction of
standing armies, or in the establishment or furtherance of
peace congresses. Thus Alfred Nobel transformed himself
from being the “Merchant of death” to “Champion of Peace”.
Nobel Prize give us an inspiration to work passionately for
a great cause. We should remember that God is constantly
asking us –“Where are you? What have you done with your
life? I have given you a certain amount of years; how are you
using them?” We never think how we will be remembered
by our families, relatives, friends and common people after
our death. If, God forbid, you were to leave the world tomorrow, what would your obituary say? Would it read the way
you want it to read? We can ask ourselves what we have done
for the country, for the state and for the common people. Once
Mother Teresa said “I do not believe that you love God if you
can not love your own brothers and sisters. How can you love
God which you never see unless you love your brothers and
sisters whom you see everyday”
Kailash Satyarthi
Kailash Satyarthi won the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize on
Friday. Satyarthi, who gave up a career as an electrical engineer in 1980 to campaign against child labour, has headed
various forms of peaceful protests and demonstrations, focusing on the exploitation of children for financial gain. “It’s an
honor to all those children still suffering in slavery, bonded
labor and trafficking,” Satyarthi told TV news channel CNNIBN after learning he won the prize. Satyarthi said that data
from non-government organizations indicated that child
laborers could number 60 million in India or 6 percent of the
total population. “Children are employed not just because of
parental poverty, illiteracy, ignorance, failure of development
and education programs, but quite essentially due to the fact
that employers benefit immensely from child labor as children
come across as the cheapest option, sometimes working even
for free,” he wrote. Children are employed illegally and companies use the financial gain to bribe officials, creating a
vicious cycle, he argued.
Norwegian Nobel Committee said “Satyarthi, 60, and
Yousafzai were picked for their struggle against the oppression of children and young people, and for the right of all
children to education. Kailash Satyarthi has been at the forefront of a movement as a human rights activist in India to end
child slavery and exploitative child labour since 1980. He
founded the “Bachpan Bachao Andolan”. Kailash Satyarthi
has headed various forms of peaceful protests and demonstrations, focusing on the exploitation of children for financial
gain. In 1980, Kailash Satyarthi gave up his job as an electrical engineer to begin the crusade to end exploitation of
children in India. As a grassroots activist, he rescued of over
78,500 children who were employed as child labours and
developed a successful model for their education and rehabilitation. He was instrumental in making the problem of child
labour in India as a human rights issue. He has established
that child labour is responsible for the perpetuation of poverty,
unemployment, illiteracy, opulation explosion and many other
social evils. Satyarthi has also played an important role in
linking the fight against child labour with the efforts for
achieving ‘Education for All’. (To be contd)
A mother to be remembered
Nirmala Sankaran
“Stand together, yet not
too near together. For the
pillars of the temple stand
apart. And the oak tree and
the cypress grow not in each
other’s shadow.” This quote
from Kahlil Gibran made me
think about my mother’s
parenting style.
She never crowded us, and
let us be. She passed on her
high levels of energy, enthusiasm and huge networking
skills but never her anxieties.
My friends remember her as
highly spirited and a real
sport. My mother was way
ahead of her times; truly liberal in every sense of the
word, she took risks, made
friends effortlessly and was
full of childlike curiosity.
My mother was interested
in schoolwork and helped me
with my board examinations.
Before every exam, she
would ask me to close my
eyes and put cold cucumber
on them. Then, she would
read important topics as ‘last
minute revision’. A few years
later, when I got an IIM interview call, she shortlisted
topics for group discussions
from past issues of business
magazines. One topic on direct and indirect taxes
actually did come up.
My mom loved travel and
jumped at the first opportunity
to visit a new country. I took
her to Singapore in 1988
when I went as a management
trainee with an international
bank. We stayed at Westin
Stamford Hotel. Me, the
whole day indoors at training,
and she the whole day out-
doors — figuring out the
MRT, bus routes, Orchard
Road and so on. She thrived
on new experiences and came
back with fun stories.
In 1989, I was keen to
witness the fall of communism and experience the
horrors of the Second World
War. While a little nervous at
first, she endorsed my plan to
visit Auschwitz, Sofia and
Warsaw. She saw me off at
Delhi airport .
My mom visited me in
Bahrain many times. Her fascination for gold, a trait she
inherited from her mother,
found expression in the
‘souks’ of Manama. One day
she came home late. I later
learned that she had gone on
a long drive, with a friend
she made at the souk, to see
the ‘Tree of Life’.
As a first-time mother
with a small child and a fastpaced life in London, I recall
many SOS calls to her in
India. The conversation
would go like this: ‘Amma,
the maid quit again. Can you
please come to help?” She
would say, ‘Okay. When?’
And before I could answer,
she would mentally calculate
the jobs that she needed to
get done and would reply,
‘Give me a week’. Over the
next seven days she would
freeze food for three months
in neatly labelled dabbas for
my dad, take care of endless
chores, and organise the visa
and tickets. Next, I would see
her at Heathrow. She did this
at least five times.
My mother loved St. Johns
Wood. The proximity of our
apartment to the Tube station
and the bus stop opened up
Central London to her. She
would take her two-year-old
grandchild to Regent’s Park,
Hamley’s, Trafalgar Square,
London Bridge, Finchley
Road, all by herself.
Walls are meant to figure
how desperately you want
something. I saw this in action in 2009, a year before
my mother was diagnosed
with Stage 4 lymphoma.
She and my dad had just
completed an English version
of the Malayalam commentary
on Narayaneeyam (a summary
study in poetic form, originally in Sanskrit, of the
Bhagavata Purana) after working on it for five years
post-retirement. She was de-
termined to meet A.P.J. Abdul
Kalam, as she felt that given
his deep knowledge of our
scriptures, he would relate
well to their work. She called
and followed up relentlessly
and eventually got an audience with him.
After that, she succumbed
to cancer almost as if she had
ticked off all boxes. She died
two years later, at 77.
I asked my mother, when
she was still lucid, what her
secret sauce of parenting was.
She said: “One must have no
anxiety. Implicitly trust the
kids. They will turn out well.”
I am guided by those
words, in moments of selfdoubt.
The writer can be reached at
[email protected]
Courtesy: The hindu
The first battle of 2nd World War in India
Yumnam Rajeshwor Singh
(Contd from previous issue)
Following soldiers of the 4th Battalion, 5th Maratha Light
Infantry were also killed around the Jeep track at Point 7378
when Marathas’ A company went to help Major Fullers C
company during the battle and their bodies were never recovered.
Sl No
Name
Age Rank
1
Budhaji Malkar
26
Sepoy
2
Dagdu Kangane
23
Sepoy
3
Dattaram Thakre
22
Sepoy
4
Govind Sawant
22
Sepoy
5
Jairam Kadam
32
Lance Havildar
6
Naiku Nikam
21
Sepoy
7
Rao Rangat
28
Sepoy
8
Sadashiv Pawar
23
Lance Naik
9
Shankar Kate
26
Sepoy
10
Vithoba Jadhao
28
Lance Naik
Following British Officers were killed during the Battle of
point 7378.
Sl Name
Surname
Age Rank
No
1 Faul
John Andrew 27
Lieutenant
2 Frost
Edwin Douglas24
Captain
3 Fuller
John Annesley 24
Major
Odonnell
4 Hatton
Wallace David
Lilieutenant
5 LaytonSidney Robert
23
Lieutenant
6 Luscombe
Harry
25
Captain
7 Roseby
Thomas henry maurice22
Captain
Next day after the battle i.e on 21st the Japanese buried the
death soldiers of C Company at the side of the track.
Conclusion:50 Brigade were not geared for action. They had for example, brought the Mess silver but had no steel helmets. They
quickly established themselves in the Sangshak area, but although 152nd battalion had drawn stores and ammunitions at
Litan as they moved up to Sangshak, the brigade received no
further supplies or ammunitions- and above all no further
information from Corps or Divisional HQ about the Japanese
advance. No operational orders at all were received until the
Japanese had put in their first attack. The inertia and competence at Corps HQ in its dealing with 50 Brigade has caused
deep resentment among the survivors of this hard fought
battle, with even the war diaries of Corps HQ 16-20 march
showing chaos and confusion, and confirming that no directions of orders were sent to 50 Brigade. This situation seems
even more extraordinary as the Brigade had a land line to 23rd
Division HQ at Litan, and even after Sangshak had been cut
off an effective radio link was maintained. Thus the valuable
information about Japanese movements, which the V force
agents had risked their lives to obtain, because of failure in
Corps or Division HQ, never reached the very unit which was
about to be attacked.
For all the clarity of thought and speed of action displayed
in the opening day of Sangshak battle, decisions that were to
enable most of 50 Brigade to concentrate and fight in the
vortex of Sangshak, they would have come to nothing without
the valour and self-sacrifice of the doomed company at Point
7378.
If it hadn’t been for the valour of 50 Pare Bde delaying
the advancing Japanese sufficiently long enough then IV
Corps wouldn’t have had time to adjust their defences around
Imphal.
On the Japanese side the battle at Point 7378 weaken the
strength of the battalion and the casualties hampher their
subsequent battles at Sangshak and Kohima
Disclaimer :- The data and figures are not exclusive in
itself. It manifest the writers research at the point of writing
this article. (Concluded)
The writer is a Co-founder: 2nd WW Imphal Campaign
Foundation.
Is Manipur burning?
With malice towards none and all
Siehzahau T Singsit
(Contd from previous
issue)
Since the pattern of autonomy for the state is not
uniform, special category autonomy being the case of the
special status for Kashmir
(Art, 370) and special autonomy for Nagaland (Art,
371)(A). It is considered appropriate and necessary, in
view of the extraordinary circumstances of the merger of
Manipur into India that the
pattern of autonomy for
Manipur should be a combination of the spirit of Article
370 and Article 371-A.
The autonomy at the District and village levels
through the existing local self
government institutions is not
adequate. The delegation of
enough financial power for
development should be provided for these institutions to
accommodate the aspirants of
the various local and social
groups in the state. Sixth
Schedule district autonomy
for the hill and tribal areas
should be introduced. And
district autonomy under the
Panchayati Raj system should
be provided for the valley
districts through relevant
legislations, as it ought to be.
Zilla Parishad under the
Manipur Panchayati Raj Act,
1994 as required by the 73rd
Amendment should be made
functional with necessary
Amendment.
Gram
Panchayats in the valley districts should be made real
governing democratic administrative units.
A separate land law suitable to the tribals in the hill
areas to make hill land mortgage-able commodity for
economic
development
through institutional finance
in tribal areas should be introduced.
The
village
authority Act 1956, operating
in the hill areas should be
reviewed or replaced by a
suitable Jaw in commensurate with the spirit and letters
of the Manipur Hill Peoples’
Regulation, 1947 to provide
adequate infrastructure and
financial powers and effective administrative and
development unit, free from
party affiliations.
Conclusion:
We are deeply aware of
the fact that Manipur is a
state where different ethnic
groups, cultures and languages flourish right from
historical period. These ethnic, cultural and linguistic
pluralism have played and will
continue to play an important
role in social development.
They have many facets and
aspect of the whole complex
of problems connected with
the interactions of different
ethnic groups and relations of
people of different ethnic
groups and relations within
any ethnic groups, the process of nation building, ending
of the existing imbalance in
the development of ethnic
features inherent in an ethos
and need for education in a
spirit of respect for members
of the other ethnic groups.
Keeping all these in view, the
people of Manipur should
solemnly resolve to wage a
united and resolute struggle
to achieve:
(I) Transparency in all financial transactions, to check
and measure for clean and
complete eradication of corruption
and
economic
stagnancy.
(II) Amicable political solution with insurgencies and
Revolutions and,
(III) Granting of adequate
autonomy for the state.
Until then, the future of
Manipur as a human habitat
and the cradle of civilisation
in the annals of human history would completely cease
and collapse and sink into
abyss.
(Concluded)
The writer can be reached
at [email protected]