Heritage September 2015 · Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram. He gave vote of thanks to all who help directly or indirectly to make this seminar successful. Finally the seminar concluded with

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Heritage Explorer September 20153

Edited by : Amarendra Brahma,C/o. Heritage Foundation, K.B.Road, Paltan Bazar, Guwahati-781008, Published &Printed by : Narayan Dev Sarma on behalf of Heritage Foundation, K.B.Road, Paltan Bazar, Guwahati-781008,Published at: Heritage Foundation, K.B.Road, Paltan Bazar, Guwahati - 781008 (Assam). e-mail:[email protected], Website: www.heritagefoundation.org.in, Printed at: Arindam Offset & ImagingSystems, Rajgarh, Guwahati - 781003 and Angik Press, GNB Road, Guwahati - 781001 and Saraighat OffsetPress, Bamunimaidan, Guwahati - 781021

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Contents

Or Heritage Foundation.Bank A/c with SBI, Chenikuthi, GuwahatiA/c No. 3400 1979 819

Heri tage ExplorerHer i tage ExplorerHer i tage ExplorerHer i tage ExplorerHer i tage ExplorerA Monthly News BulletinA Monthly News BulletinA Monthly News BulletinA Monthly News BulletinA Monthly News Bulletin

VOL. XIV. NO.9, SEPTEMBER 201528 Pages, Size - A4 Demy

“Vision Document” for ScheduleTribes of North East India P-5

Abdul Kalam: People’ s President,Extraordinary Indian P-7

Some of the Best Libraries ofNorth-east India P-8

Merging Academics withSocial Activism P-10

Delhi University to launch NorthEast India Studies Programmefrom next academic session P-12

Naga Accord will Usher inPeace: Modi P-13

Pakistan SC Orders to RebuildHindu T emple P-14

Polygamy not integral part ofIslam: SC P-15

Mughals did not support cowslaughter: Home Minister P-15

Inverse Growth, Diverse Impact P-16

Delhi Exhibition ShowcasesManipur ’s Mythical Giant SnakePoubi Lai P-20

Indian Americans Earning Gloryto Country P-21

Ethnic Divide in Manipur Over ILP P-22

A Remedical Path Root causeof communal approach to Yoga P-23

Kati Bihu P-24

Who is Happy? P-25

The Story of the Blue Jackal P-26

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Editor

Editorial

The great country Bharat in due course of the legendary

civilizations that came into existence in its sacred land has seen

personalities who reached incredible heights of human qualities.

The lives of these god-like souls has served as examples; giving

hope, aspiration and ethical values to the people of this country.

Such a great soul was Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. His entire life was

a shining example of indefatigable spirit, insurmountable

dedication to his cause and utmost devotion to motherland

Bharat. He dreamed in such a way that his dreams would not

let him sleep and his sole vision was to make sure that Bharat

becomes a developed nation by the year 2020.

During his childhood he earned money for livelihood by selling newspapers. But this very child

who used to sell newspaper grew up to be one of the greatest of his generation. When eventually

his soul parted his body all the leading newspaper and media houses from around the globe

posted headlines and came up with news-shows devoted to his demise. He was a living example

of perseverance and ingenuity. His devotion let wings to his dreams and spirit turned those wings

to Wings of Fire. His tenure in the D.R.D.O is cherished by fellow scientists and his juniors alike.

From being the Missile-Man of India to India’s National Security Adviser and finally the President

of India; fondly remembered as the People’s President, Dr. Kalam’s life is undoubtedly a bright

addendum to the contemporary heritage of Bharat.

Today we celebrate the memories of this Legend. While doing so, let us hold our hands together

and make a solemn promise deep within our hearts that we will devote our lives to fulfill his vision.

That will be the befitting way of saluting Yuga Purush Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

Pranam to the Soul who propoundedThe Vision

VISION INDIA-2020

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The seminar on “VisionDocument” for schedule tribes ofNorth East India was organized byKalyan Ashram Assam ATShilpgram, Panjabadi, andGuwahati from 7th August 2015 to9th August 2015. Sri. SarbanandSonowal, Ho n’ble Minister ofyouth affairs and sports(Independent) Government ofIndia was chief guest of theinaugural ceremony. Adv. VijayHansaria, Member, National LegalService Authority and senioradvocate of SupremeCourt and param pujaniyasatradhikar prabhu, Sri SriJanardan Dev Goswami ofUttar Kamalabadi satrawere the guest of honor.Sri Atul Jog, Kolkata, Asst.Organizing Secretary,Akhil Bharatiya VanavasiKalyan Ashram, presentedthe key note address. Hetold the purpose of the seminar isto analyze the out come ofdifferent scheme, planes orprograms undertaken by thegovernment agencies, Differentcouncils or N. G. O. for thedevelopment of deprived Janjati ofthe county. The purpose ofmeeting is also to analyzeimplementation of constitutionalprovision which is safeguardingthe interest of the schedule Tribe.He hoped and expected somecontrite suggestions for moreeffectiveness. He also added thatsimilar seminar was conductedby Akhil Bharatiya VanavasiKalyan Ashram, in the month ofFebruary 2015 at Mumbai onthe same topic. That time it wasfelt to have special seminar in

“V ision Document” for Schedule T ribes of North East India

northeast considering the specialsituations prevailing in the region.Sri. Sarbanand Sonowal, Hon’bleMinister of youth affairs andsports (Independent) Governmentof India delivered inauguralspeech. He said that since lastfew decades we are depictingwrong picture of northeast. It is notonly land of problems, challengesor difficulties but also land ofprobabilities, potentialities andpossibilities also. Adv. VijayHansaria, Member, National Legal

Service Authority and senioradvocate of Supreme Court in hissmall speech gave thoughtprovoking suggestions about VI thschedule of the constitutionspecially role and powers ofGovernor in ADC administration.Anti defection law, women’srepresentation in ADC was someof the points he highlighted.

On the second day of theseminar Sri Jual Oram, Hon’bleCentral Cabinet Minister of TribalAffairs attended two technicalsessions in a common sessionhe addressed the delegates. Hesaid that there is development ofjanajaties in post independenceyears. He also accepted the factthat the speed was not

satisfactory. He express that thereis necessity to review the criteriato decide the status of scheduledtribes in present context.

A presentation given by adv.Ritwik Dutta of Delhi and Sri NirajWagholikar from Kalpawriksh,Pune was appreciated by all. Theirtopic was on forest conservationand effects of mega hydro powerprojects and STs.

The three days long seminarwas concluded with commitment

to work together for thedevelopment of Janjaticommunities. In valedictoryceremony Sri. J. P.Rajkhowa, Hon’bleGovernor of ArunachalPradesh, address theaudience as chief guest. Heappreciated the initiative ofKalyan Ashram Assam fororganizing seminar on

“Vision Document for ST’s ofNortheast India”. He appealed toall sections of the society to comeforward for the development ofJanjati. He emphasized the Janjatileaders of major tribes to takecare of minor Janjati who areresiding in remote areas. He alsoexpress necessity to explore newavenues in the field of tourism,adventurous games etc. Heexpresses his worry about thelacking of financial transparencyin the leadership and hope thatthere will be recommendations bythis seminar in this matter.

Sri. Mansukhbhai DhanjibhaiVasava, Hon’ble Central Ministerof Tribal Affairs of State graced theoccasion as the Guest of Honors.

Report on A Historic Seminar

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He expressed happiness overthe endeavor taken up by KalyanAshram Assam. He said weshould work hard to achieve thegoal we had set before us. Wemust show urgency in bringingfinancially, socially educationallybackward Janjati at par with othersection of the society. He said tohelp the tribal to come out into themainstream life. He saideducation plays an important rolein this matter. He informed theaudience that central Governmentis going to introduce “VanaBandhu Yojana” for thedevelopment of STs of this regionalso. He also said to assure thatthe bio diversity and culturalidentity must be preserved whileachieving modernization.

Smt Pratibha Brahma, a socialactivist from Kokrajhar presentedsummery of the seminar. Sheinformed house that duringseminar some issues on social,Economical, Natural Resources,Governance and otherNortheastern Issues werediscussed by scholars. Someimportant suggestions made byseminar includes reformations infield of education primaryeducation in mother tongue, valueadded education are some ofthem. Seminar thinks everydoctor and nurses mustappointed in tribal area. Trainingfor ASHA and AYUSH should be

imparted to the youth at largescale while discussing naturalresources recomendatitions likeprotection of bio-diversityRecognition of forest dwellersrecognition act, minimumdisplacement and properresettlement viability andphysibility of mega Hydro PowerProjects was discussesed andsuggested for discouragement ofthis construction. RegardingGovernance many suggestionswere made like fulfilling the vacantpost by the STs. promotion on thebasis of roster base and not postbase was suggested. safety andsecurity of minor ST communitiesand non trebles in ADC wasdiscussed role of governor andgiving more powers for moreeffectiveness in ACD wasdiscussed in the finance matterneed of financial transparencychange in banking habits oftribal’s was discussed and it wasexpected that social organizationcan play important role in thisregard. Other major issuesdiscussed includes humantrafficking, incidence happenedwith the citizens of north east inother states and its reactions innortheast was also discussed.

Shri Sunil Basumatary gavebrief report of seminar. Heinformed that the organizerreceived 54 no of papers on thetopic which was written by 46 no

of writers.Though most ofpapers wereEnglish there aretwo papers inAssamese also.There were 168no of male and21 femaled e l e g a t e sp a r t i c i p a t e d .

They were representing 29 tribesof this region. Similarly they werealso active members of 30 N. G.O. Comprises 67 no ofgraduates, 03 no of engineers and19 PhD holders. Many scholars,academicians, administrators andburocrtes like Sri H. N. Das Retd.Chief Secretary, Govt. of. Assam,Sri. C. K. Das Retd. AdditionalChief Secretary, Govt. of. Assam,Sri. Joyram Begi, Retd. DirectorHigher Education, Govt. of.Assam, and others attendancemade the seminar successful.While discussing methodology ofthe seminar he said that alldelegates were divided into twogroups. The concept paper wasdivided in five topics all sessionswere of discussion either ingroups or in common. Theduration of group discussionsession was of 90 minutes andcommon session was of 120minutes duration. In all they gotfive group session and six groupsession apart from inaugural andvaledictory ceremony.

In presidential address ShriLonki Phancho, expressed thecommitment towards the nobleexercise of seminar. He appealsthe Janjati leaders to pursue therecommendations of thedocument.

Before the national song whichconclude the seminar WorkingPresident of the ReceptionCommittee Sri. Ramen SighRabha President, All Rabhastudent union, welcomes themove taken by Akhil BharatiyaVanvasi Kalyan Ashram. He gavevote of thanks to all who helpdirectly or indirectly to make thisseminar successful. Finally theseminar concluded withcommitment to fulfil l theaspirations of Janjati.

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Born in humble circumstancesin a Muslim family in rural TamilNadu, a young boy who soldnewspapers as a boy to help hisfamily make ends meet, rose tothe highest office in the land. Andhe did so not through theconventional route of a politicalcareer but through the dint of hardwork as a scientist in governmentservice.

India’s “missile man”, as hewas dubbed in the popular press,Abdul Kalam was a rocketscientist who rose to prominenceas head of the country’ssuccessful civilian space andmissile defence programmes.

An unlikely compromisecandidate for president, he soonbecame the most popularoccupant of that exalted post,disregarding its customaryceremonial role to reach out toordinary people, particularly theyoung.

Combining idiosyncraticpower-point presentations of hisvision for India’s future withinstructional poems for children,lecturing on everything from solarenergy to the importance ofbroadband connectivity for India’svillages, Abdul Kalam “ignitedminds”, to use the title of one ofhis five bestselling books (hepublished 17 in all).

Pop idol

He also touched hearts, as theoutpouring of national grief at hisdemise has once again madeclear.

He was extraordinary for other

Abdul Kalam: People’ s President, Extraordinary IndianDr Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen (APJ) Abdul Kalam, India’ s 11th president, who collap sed and died,aged 83, on Monday (27.08.2015) evening while doing what he loved - addressing students -

was an extraordinary Indian.

one day, corporate socialresponsibility the next, rural upliftthe day after: it seemed he hadan idea a minute. Everypronouncement of his wasimbued with pride in the past andboundless faith in the limitlesspossibilities of the future.

‘Man of simplicity’

Abdul Kalam was also,unusually for an Indian whooccupied the high positions hedid, a man of great simplicity.

During his 25 years as ascientist based inThiruvananthapuram, theconstituency I now represent inparliament, he endeared himselfto ordinary people everywhere.

Legion are the recollections ofhis waiting patiently for a bus,having breakfast at his favouriteteashop, talking to people frombackgrounds as humble as thatwhich he had outgrown. In thissimplicity lay the secret of hisability to connect with people,across the boundaries of age,class, religion and region.

In his life and his work, APJAbdul Kalam embodied the bestof what India can be.

India has never had a morebeloved president. Active till theend, he left the world in mid-speech, as if to remind us that hestill had something more to say.

The shock of his suddenpassing has left a nationbereaved. India mourns his death,but will long celebrate his life.

(http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-33685041)

reasons too.

As a Muslim steeped in Hinduculture, he was to many an oddity- a scientist who could reciteclassical Tamil poetry, who playedthe rudra-veena, a traditionalSouth Indian instrument, andlistened to Carnatic devotionalmusic every day, also performedhis namaz with no sense ofincongruity.

In melding the Islam into whichhe was born with a strong senseof the traditions in which hiscivilization was anchored, AbdulKalam was a complete Indian, anembodiment of the eclecticism ofIndia’s heritage of diversity.

With his long silver hairunfashionably combed back andhis thick Tamilian accent, he wasan unlikely pop culture idol, butthat was what he became.

His popularity was undimmedby his relinquishment of office. Inretirement he set himself ademanding schedule ofspeeches, notably to educationalinstitutions, and had an uncannyability to connect with a variety ofaudiences.

I shared a number of stageswith him and marvelled at hisrange of expertise - space travel

- Shashi Tharoor

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“Whenever you read a goodbook, somewhere in the world adoor opens to allow in more light”- Vera Nazarian

The culturally rich North-eastern states of India havealways stayed sources of greatintellectual heritage. Moreover,the libraries in the eight states arewitnesses to the silent revolutionthat has taken place in the lastdecades.

Shillong- the capital city ofMeghalaya- is a wonderful hillstation that also goes by thename of “abode of clouds”. Withthe passage of time, it is fastemerging as a hub of education.Prominent educational instituteslike Indian Institute ofManagement, National Institute ofTechnology (NIT), North EasternHill University, University ofTechnology and Management,and Martin Luther ChristianUniversity have set up campusesin this small city in North-East. Asthe north-east paces up with therest of the nation as aneducational hub, it has also hadstrong presence of media. Theneighbouring Assam has an equalnumber of elite educationalinstitutions. Going with the growthof educational prospective, anumber of libraries have come upin the states to help in researchand study of the students andscholars.

North-east- The biggestonline library

To top it all, North-east has nowthe first online library with a stockof 15,000 e-books and journals.

Some of the Best Libraries of North-east India

Lauded as the biggest step to giveboost to the reading experienceof students, scholars, andacademicians in the eight statesof North-east, Centre fordevelopment of AdvancedComputing (C-DAC), workingunder the initiatives of UnionMinistry of Communication andinformation Technology, has setup this online library. This creditof the project goes to ex-presidentof India Late A.P.J. Abdul Kalamas he worked untiringly to make itcome true.

The biggest advantage of thisonline library is it would havebooks in multiple languages.

Lakshminath Bezbaroa Central Library , Assam

Homed in the campus of IndianInstitute of Technology (IIT), thelibrary is named after great writerSahityarathi LashmikanthBezbaroa. With a floor-space of7500 square feet, the library ishoused in a four-storied buildingin the campus of IIT, Guwahati. As a library, it has become aformidable support center forlearning, teaching, and activitiesin research. All the supportrendered by this library to theacademic community is state-of-the-art and innovative. The librarycurrently has 1, 54,564 printedvolumes and 2291 currentjournals. Besides this, this libraryalso supports the learners andresearchers with different e-books and with online diversedatabase from a wide area ofacademic repertoire. With itsprestigious membership from

INDEST-AICTE Consortium andDBT e-Library Consortium thatgives access to 12835 e-journals.

North-Eastern Hill Library-NEHU, Meghalaya

The prestigious North EasternHill University (NEHU) started inthe year 1973. Being recognisedas the top-most university in thecountry now-a-days, its state-of-the-art library has more than 2.3lakhs volumes of books andperiodicals in bound versions, thisplace offers rare opportunities toscholars and readers. Literally astorehouse of informationresources, the library has top-endcomputers, other electronic andaudio-visual equipments that giveconsistent in-house and onlineservices. To add to it, theuniversity also organises variousprogrammes based on internalreorganisation, optimisation ofavailable resources, and otherinnovative steps to reach out topeople. For this, UniversityGrants Commission (UGC) hasrecognised it with “University withpotential for excellence”.

Manipur University Library ,Manipur

Situated in the heart of ManipurUniversity, the four-storied libraryis an acclaimed institution ofexcellence and achievement.Spread on the floor-space of 3200square feet, it gets treated as thecentre of self-education forscholars, students, teachers, andstaff. It has now the recognitionof being the Referral University ofthe State. As an information

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centre for 3000 registered users,it has already been recognised asa centre of excellence forresearch activities. As a richdepository of 1,61,000 books and200 printed journals, the libraryoffers facilities such as openaccess system, well-furnishedreading space, online publicaccess catalogue, photo-copyfacilities, internet facility, andgenerator facility.

The Youth Librarymovement in Lohit, ArunachalPradesh

Spreading another movementof literacy in north-east of India,VT-AWIC Youth Library network isa pioneering organisation inpromoting literacy by building uplibraries. Reaching out to readersin the length and breadth across300 kilometres, the network is ajoint initiative by Delhi-basedAssociation of writers &Illustrators for Children (AWIC),the Vivekananda Trust, Mysore,and the Lohit Districtadministration of ArunachalPradesh. Mainly run by volunteerswith rich contribution of time andenergy, it has created innovativepromotional activities in readingand brought all-round growth ineducational development for thetribal youth of Arunachal Pradesh.Equipped with 13 mini-libraries, ithas in its possession 6000 booksfor children, teachers, andparents. Named as BamboosaLibrary, Tezu and APNE Library,Wakro, the libraries are open for7 days in a week.

Twin libraries of Gangtok,Sikkim

Gangtok houses two brilliantlibraries but ironically those fall

short of adequate number ofreaders. State Central library andthe library at Namgyal institute ofTibetology, Gangtok have largestocks of books, consisting ofancient scriptures to modernpublications. Literally a birth-paceof new ideas, the libraries haveevery facility for researchers,scholars, and students. Libraryat Namgyal institute of Tibetologyhas the 3rd largest stock of bookson Tibetan Buddhism andteaching. It attracts people fromall over the world but none fromthe local community visits thelibrary. The State Central Libraryhas more than 1200 registeredmembers and the group consistsof people from various parts ofIndia, who enjoy the readershipof large collection of books.

Central Library , TripuraUniversity

The inception of CentralLibrary of Tripura Universitycame in the year 1987 andmostly the stock of book camefrom the then Calcutta University,Post-graduate centre. With aninitial stock of 18,780 books anddocuments, the l ibrary hasgrown tremendously over theyears and it is now a crucialcentre for learning and importantplace for resources for students,research scholars, facultymembers and other people.Though, it shifted itsaccommodation from place toplace for two decades, in the year2005, the university constructedits own building for library. Thenew three-storied building with aspace of 4400 square feet, amplyhouses thousands of books,printed journals, and otherreading materials. Now with a

formidable collection of 1, 11,752books and printed journals, it hasacquired a special place amongall the top libraries in the world.

Central Library , Nagaland

National Institute ofTechnology (NIT), Nagalandoffers excellent facilities forresearch and education to itsstudents in its central library.Having a rich stock of 7200 booksof different subjects pertaining toEngineering, technology, BasicSciences, Management,Economics and other subjects,it also has the latest publicationsof magazines, periodicals, andnewspapers. As it have 1400 e-books on Electrical, Electronics,Communication, civi l,mechanical, and computerscience, such facility has provenits immense worth for theresearch scholars and students.

Central Library , MizoramUniversity

Central Library of MizoramUniversity has gone through asea-change in the last twodecades with a number ofdevelopments. Although, it wasstarted two decades back, thenumber of books in its collectionhas grown to 95,818 by the endof 2014. Besides this, it also hasa rich collection of thesis, M.Phildissertations, and various boundversions of journals. It alsosubscribes to vast numbers ofjournals, periodicals, and dallies.Recently, it has launched amass digitisation process tosave its publications anddocuments and got thosedigitised.

(http://www.nelive.in/north-east/education/

best-libraries-north-east-india)

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In the Northeast, there is nodearth of personalities who havesacrificed their lives for the sakeof academia and research. Butone such noble person in our midstis Prof. Gangmumei Kamei, adistinguished scholar, historianand public activist who by his wideexposure to academ ics, realisedthe need for his involvement insocial activism which finally ledhim to politics. The founderpresident of the Federal Party ofManipur, Prof Kamei has tried tomaintain an equal balanceamongst his scholarly works aswell as his stint in politics. He hasheld numerous posts in theManipur Government as a Memberof the Legislative Assembly andeven in the Manipur cabinet.However, his vast knowledge andexperience of more than 40 yearsin the fields of Academia, socialactivism and politics seems tohave impressed the ruling BJP toutilise him for policy formulation.Prof. Gangmumei was recentlynominated for two very importantand prestigious assignments,namely, as member of the IndianCouncil for Historical Research(ICHR) by the Human ResourceDevelopment (HRD) Ministry,Govt. of India and as member ofthe Regional Planning Body and asa Permanent Member of the NorthEastern Council (NEC) under theaegis of the DoNER Ministry.

During a recent visit toGuwahati while he was on his wayto assume charge of his post inNEC, the melange team got intouch with him to know moreabout his life and journey in the fieldof politics and academics and howhe has managed to maintain a fine

Prof. Gangmumei Kamei: Merging Academics with Social Activism

balance between both.

Born in Imphal (formerly theprincely State of Manipur) toChanaphul Kamei and Atonna,Prof Kamei is the eldest amongstfour brothers and three sisters. Hisfather Chanaphul Kamei, originallyhailing from Tamenglong district ofManipur, came to Imphal in 1913and settled in a village calledMajorkhul. Incidentally, he becamethe chief of the village in duecourse of time.

Prof Kamei recounts, “I wasborn in Imphal in 1939. As theSecond World War was going onat that point of time, my earlychildhood memories revolvearound moving from differentplaces to the other. I started myeducation in 1945 before movingon to DM College, Imphal. Fromthere, I came to Guwahati to jointhe Gauhati University and studiedhistory with honours from 1961 to1962.”

Talking about his initialchildhood memories, he chucklesand says, “I studied in a villageschool. I still remember theSecretary of the school asking usto write an essay about our aim inlife. I wrote that I wanted to be ateacher and social worker. Lateron, I became the secretary of theschool and then a teacher.”

While in Gauhati University, ProfKamei topped the examination andwon the SK Bhuyan Gold Medalaward in 1962. Therein, followeda long stint in academia as hebecame a lecturer in a college inImphal under Gauhati Universitywhere he went on to teach.

Prof Kamei also had a long stint

in the prestigious Jawaharlal NehruUniversity (JNU) PG Centre ofImphal where he taught history. Hetaught in JNU for eight years wherehe came into contact with manyhistorians, anthropologists andsocial scientists. When askedabout his transition to politics, hesays, “Politics has always beenpart of my life. I never could realisewhen my academics got mergedwith politics. But I am still teachingtoday. However, somehow politicsgot gracefully mixed with myteaching career. Further, cominginto contact with the distinguishedpersonalities I just mentionedhelped me understand politicsbetter.”

He further says, “Herein, I haveto mention my close associationwith G Parthasarathi, a diplomatto the United Nations who widenedup my horizon. Also I have toremember the contributions ofsociologist Prof Yogendra Singh,”adding, “I come from a backwardarea where there are very fewscholars. So after meeting thesepersonalities, I started writingarticles and later forayed intoresearch.”

A voracious reader, Prof Kameialways wanted to be a journalist.However, upon his arrival back toManipur fate had other plans forhim and he had to take up teachingonce again.

Upon his decision to join activepolitics, he says, “There was nodividing line as such. I first gotinvolved in the municipal electionsand then the territorial elections. Ifirst contested the State electionsfrom Thangmeiband urbanconstituency where I suffered

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defeat. In 1984 too, I contested theelections before forming theFederal Party of Manipur in 1993.”Prof Kamei contested theelections once again and waselected as a Member of theAssembly of the Government ofManipur twice i.e. in 1995 and2000.

Talking about his decision toform the Federal Party of Manipur,he says, “Most of the politicalparties of Manipur had a verynarrow outlook at that time. Assuch, even the ElectionCommission of India was keen topromote a federal party whichwas local in nature and butnational in outlook.”

Politics took a break for ProfKamei after his second venture inState politics. Recognising hismettle and scholarly works as ahistorian, the Government of Indiaoffered him a national fellowshipin the prestigious Indian Instituteof Advanced Studies in Shimla in2010 for a term of two years.During his stint in Shimla, hewrote a set of three highlyacclaimed books, “A History ofModern Manipur (1826-2000 A.D):A Study of Feudalism, Colonialismand Democracy”, which wasreleased last year by former ChiefMinister of Manipur RishangKeishing at the auditorium of theJawaharlal Nehru Institute ofMedical Sciences in Porompat ofImphal.

The importance of ProfKamei’s works can be gauged bythe comments of the ManipuriChief Minister Rishang Keishing,who during the release function,said, “Manipur is a small Statecomprising of many tribes and itspopulation is divided into smallgroups of tribes and communities.

Today’s politics is creating achaotic environment rather thancall for unity among the differenttribes and communities whichhas only resulted in souring therelationship between the peopleand the State losing its history.Prof Gangmumei Kamei with hisbook in reviving this lost history”.

It is pertinent to mention herethat earlier, Prof Kamei had writtenabout 15 books on tribal studies,local history of Manipur and thetribes of Manipur.

Talking about his stint in theIndian Institute of AdvancedStudies in Shimla, Prof Kameisaid, “Even in Shimla, I got a lotof requests to contest the LokSabha elections. The peoplethere knew that I used to be aminister before. Even during myfarewell function, they told me torejoin politics. I still remember thewords of a retired Professor ofPolitical Science DL Seth, whohad said, “There are lot ofcommunication problemsbetween the Northeast and theIndian mainland. Since you havetravelled extensively, you shouldact like a bridge. You should enterthe Indian parliament throughwhichever ticket you get. That gotme thinking.”

Incidentally, at the same time,the BJP selected him to contestthe Lok Sabha polls from theOuter Manipur Lok Sabhaconstituency in 2012. However,he failed to win the elections.Upon being asked as to why hejoined the BJP, he said, “Theideology of the BJP is very helpfulfor India, plus it is a strongalternative for the Congress.Since I have been fighting againstthe Congress, I decided to join theBJP.”

He further says, “AfterNarendra Modi formed thegovernment, I got variousopportunities. The Governmentof India appointed me as themember of the Indian Council forHistorical Research (ICHR),which was also earlier controlledby Marxist historians while I ama highly liberal one.”

He says, “The Government ofIndia offered me the post of full-time member of North EasternCouncil (NEC), Under theMinistry of DONER, Governmentof India. I am really thankful to thePrime Minister, members of BJPand Jitender Singh for honouringme with such a post.”

Talking about his future plansregarding NEC, the eruditeprofessor simply said, “Mypurpose is to build harmonyamongst the people of NortheastIndia and facilitate their bondingwith other people from themainland. I am very muchinterested in the regional historyof Northeast India and feel that astrong impetus should be givento documentation of the historicaland traditional ethos of theregion.”

Prof Kamei is married toLanshailu. Together, they havethree sons, Som Kamei, apassout from JNU and an officerof the Indian Postal Services whois now holding the post ofDirector of Posts, Nagaland,Ram Kamei, who is a doctor inthe Medical College of Manipurand Shyam Kamei, an ElectronicEngineer, who is working with theAirports Authority of India inGuwahati. They also have adaughter Dr. Jenpuiru, who is aLecturer by profession.

(The Sentinel: 09/08/2015)

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New Delhi: With an aim ofencouraging research scholarsto study various aspects of NorthEast India, Delhi University issoon going to launch a North EastIndia Studies Programme(NEISP).

The research programme,which will be a fully funded one,is likely to be started from thenext academic session.

“Though concerns have beenraised in the past about variousissues of North Eastern states,there is not enoughunderstanding about the areasand the people, not just amonglaymen but also intellectuals,”Kamei Aphun, Convenor ofNEISP, told PTI.

“Also, there is lack ofresearch. Hence, we decided todevelop this programme,” headded.

The NEISP, which has beenapproved by the Department ofSociology’s council, is yet to beplaced before varsity’s AcademicCouncil following which it will beofficially introduced.

“Meanwhile, we are workingon a vision document which willbe presented to UGC to seektheir support.

A five-member committee hasbeen established in thedepartment which is taking careof that,” Aphun said.

With the North Easternstudies finding a bigger space inDU’s curriculum, the varsity isalso planning to include syllabi onNorth East studies in its MA and

Delhi University to launch North East India Studies Programmefrom next academic session

MPhil programmes offered bythe Department of Sociology.

“In 1970, a module called AreaStudy Programme wasintroduced by Delhi Universityunder which North East wasoffered as one of the areas.However, due to some reasonsit was discontinued after 7-8years. In 2011, I placed aproposal to revive theprogramme,” Aphun elaborated.

This programme wil laccelerate Social Scienceresearch and learning andpromote studying “otherculture”.

The department is known forcomparative studies of differentsociet ies and thereforethis initiative would help gainholistic understanding of theIndian society, he added.

However, it will run under thedepartment and the larger visionis to bridge the gap between theregion and the rest of thecountry.

The varsity has alsoestabl ished a “think-tank”featuring academics from JNU,JMI, North Eastern Hill University(NEHU), Tata Institute of SocialSciences (Guwahati), mediaprofessionals, Delhi Police andrepresentat ives from theDONER (Development of NorthEastern Region) ministry andNEC (North Eastern Council) todel iberate upon the issuespertaining to the North East.

“The academic curriculumdoesn’t talk about the North East,

inefficiency and ineffectivenessof the law and order apparatusin the face of discrimination andhate, improper guidelines andpolicies of the government andthe role of the media.

Then I figured out that it isbest to bring al l therepresentatives on one forum,”Aphun said.

“Even the DONER ministry,they plan and implement butthey do not have a researchwing.

So, the think tank will alsoassist them in formulation ofpolicies and programmes,” headded.

According to universityrecords, around 5,000 studentsfrom the North Eastern statesare enrol led in variousundergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

While DU’s l inguist icdepartment doesn’t offer any fullt ime courses in the NorthEastern language, theundergraduate students have anoption of choosing eitherAssamese or Manipuri as anelective during their three-yeardegree course.

The varsity had alsointroduced certificate courses ineight North Eastern languageslast year, in its run up to thepreparations for a train journeyof 900 students to North East.

(http://www.firstpost.com/india/delhi-university-launch-north-east-

india-studies-programme-next-academic-session-2154753.html)

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Hail ing the Naga peaceprocess, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Mondayexpressed his confidencethatsuccessful talks withNSCN(I-M) will bear good resultsfor entire Northeast.

The Prime Minister, who wasaddressing the birth centenarycelebration of the legendarywoman freedom fighter RaniGaidinliu, made a referenceabout the agreement withNSCN(I-M) which has been keptunder tight wraps. It was due tothe efforts of successivegovernments that such anagreement with the Nagas couldbe reached.

“Peace and development ofthe north-eastern region iscrucial for the overalldevelopment of the country,” Modisaid.

The Prime Minister, referringto his Government’s initiatives forthe development of theNortheast, reiterated that theprogress of the Northeast willprovide a big boost to thedevelopment of the entire nation.He said the Land BoundaryAgreement signed recently withBangladesh would help improveconnectivity of the region with therest of the country.

At the function organised bythe Union Ministry of Culture andheld at the Vigyan Bhavan, theCentre made an all-out effort tocelebrate the birth centenary ofthe legendary freedom fighter ofthe Northeast. At least four seniorUnion Ministers, namely ArunJaitley, Rajnath Singh, Dr Mahesh

Naga Accord will Usher in Peace: Prime Minister Modi

Sharma and Dr Jitendra PrasadSingh, Nagaland Governor PBAcharya, besides Chief Ministersof Nagaland and Manipur TRZeliang and O Ibobi Singh werein attendance.

Significantly, a booklet broughtout on the occasion did not forgetto mention Rani Gaidinliu’s

connection with organisationslike the VHP. She met MSGolwalkar of the RSS inGuwahati in the early Seventies.

Bala Saheb Deshpande ofKalyan Ashram met her atKohima in 1978. She went toAllahabad in 1979 to attend thesecond World Hindu Conferenceorganised by the VHP, it said.

Meanwhile, releasing thespecial edition coins of Rs 100and Rs 5 brought out in honourof Rani Gaidinliu, the PrimeMinister said efforts are beingmade to improve connectivity inthe region and the all Statecapitals will be connected withRailways.

The Prime Minister, whorecalled his experience of theNortheast, made special mentionabout the delicious pineapples

grown in the region and alsoabout the hot chillis of Nagaland.

He lamented that though shefought against the British rulersto free the country from theirclutches, but she spent a fewmonths in jail even after Indiaattained freedom and eventhereafter she was not allowedto go to her village. He said Indiahas not been made by kings orrulers, but by its people.

Noting that India has beenmade by the people, the PrimeMinister said it is unfortunate thateven after so many years ofi n d e p e n d e n c e ,several people who fought forfreedom are not so well known.

Speaking on the occasion,Finance Minister Arun Jaitley saidthe Government is determined totake every step possible toimprove connectivity andeducation facility in the north-eastern region.

Jaitley said the Naga peaceaccord and the Bangladesh LandBoundary Agreement will bringpeace and prosperity to theregion.

Home Minister RajnathSingh said peace anddevelopment in the North EasternRegion is vital for the country’sdevelopment. Singh said RaniGaidinliu’s work during thefreedom movement should reachevery nook and corner of thecountry.

Singh held that the historianswere at fault because theyignored the eminent figures and

Contd. to Page 14

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Expressing dissatisfactionover the restoration work of aHindu temple in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan’sSupreme Court has ordered theprovincial government to hire arenowned architect for rebuildingthe shrine destroyed by fanaticsin 1997.

A three-judge Supreme Courtbench headed by Chief JusticeJawwad S Khawaja on Tuesdayasked the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwaauthorities to come up with a planto rebuild the Shri Paramhans JiMaharaj’s Samadhi in Teri villageof Karak district.

The chief justice said that theorder must not be defied andshould be implemented at all cost.

The temple has been partiallyrestored, but the court expresseddissatisfaction over it and orderKarak Deputy Commissioner(DC) Shoaib Jadoon andprovincial Home Secretary ArbabMohammad Arif to hire an expert

Pakist an SC Orders to Rebuild Hindu T emple

architect for proper restorationand renovation.

On April 16, the apex court hadordered the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government torestore and rebuild the temple,whose preservation has led to arift between the minoritycommunity and local religiousleaders.

During the hearing, the DCinformed the court that its earlierorder about the restoration of thetemple had been carried out anda boundary wal l was bui l taround it.

But the court said that theefforts put in by the provincialadministration were not enoughand proposed construction of anew building instead of justerecting boundary walls.

The surrounding walls will spoilthe area, observed the ChiefJustice, recalling how a temple inShahalmi Market, Lahore, was

reconstructed by architect KamilKhan, who had a clearunderstanding of architecturalheritage and had provided freeconsultancy to rebuild the temple.

The Chief Justice said thecourt could ask the architect toconserve the temple.

The court asked the DC toreport the court about theprogress made in the restorationwork during the next hearing onSeptember 7.

The Hindu shrine was built ata place where Shri Paramhans JiMaharaj died in 1919 and buriedin Teri village.

His followers were regularlyvisiting the place for worship till1997 when some Muslim fanaticsdestroyed the temple and the landwas allegedly occupied by a localinfluential cleric Mufti Iftikharuddin.

(http://www.thehindu.com/news/pakistan-supreme-court-asks-

khyberpakhtunkhwa-govt-to-rebuild-hindu-temple/article7583200.ece)

prominent freedom fighters of theregion, as a result of which therest of the country was unawareabout them.

In the North East, the HomeMinister said there were someelements which have beenalways planting seeds of doubtamong the people against theCentre, thus resulting in a senseof alienation. That is why thePrime Minister has directed allcentral ministers to frequently

Naga accord will usher in peace: Prime Minister Modi

Contd. from Page 13

visit the North East to dispel thesense of isolation.

Minister of DoNER JitendraSingh announced Rs 9 crore to setup a museum and library in honourof Rani Gaidinliu in Kohima.

Both the Chief Ministers intheir address stressed on theneed for the Centre to includefigures like Rani Gaidinliu in thetextbooks, so that the studentsare aware about the contributionsof the North-East.

Describing the life history ofRani Gaidinliu as an inspirationto all young Indians, the ManipurChief Minister referred to therecommendation of the HumanResource Development Ministryto include appropriate text on thelife of Rani Gaidinliu in NCERTtextbooks of classes I to X. Hesaid, “This will go a long way inpromoting national integration, aswell as women empowerment.”

(The Assam Tribune- 25/08/2015)

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NEW DELHI Feb 10, 2015:Although their personal law permitsmen to have four wives, theSupreme Court on Monday ruledthat a Muslim’s fundamental rightto profess Islam did not includepracticing polygamy.

“What was protected underArticle 25 (right to practice andpropagate any religion) was thereligious faith and not a practicewhich may run counter to publicorder, health or morality. Polygamywas not integral part of religion andmonogamy was a reform within thepower of the State under Article25,” said a bench of Justices T SThakur and A K Goel.

The bench said that polygamywas not integral to religion and thepractice of polygamy did notacquire sanction of religion simplybecause it was permitted.

Polygamy not integral p art of Islam: SC- Amit Choudhary

It upheld the UP government’sdecision to sack one of itsemployees on the ground ofmisconduct for opting for a secondmarriage during existence of thefirst marriage without its priorpermission.

Referring to its earlier verdict,the bench said that Article 25protects religious faith, not apractice. It noted that the court hadupheld the views of the Bombay,Gujarat and Allahabad high courtsin this regard.

The bench upheld conductrules framed by UP GovernmentServant Conduct Rules, sayingthat it did not violate Article 25 ofthe Constitution.

In this case Khursheed AhmadKhan, employed as irrigationsupervisor, had married AnjumBegum during existence of first

marriage with Sabina Begum.Sister of his first wife had filed acomplaint before National HumanRights Commission which ordereda police probe in the case.

The police submitted its reportbefore the commission saying thatKhan had married a second timeduring the existence of the firstmarriage. On this basis, the stategovernment had initiatedproceedings and later removedhim from service for failure to takeprior permission for secondmarriage as was required underrule 29 of the conduct rules.

Khan had then approached theAllahabad high court and challengedhis removal from service. The HC haddismissed his plea.

(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Polygamy-not-integral-part-of-Islam-SC/articleshow/46180105.cms)

Home Minister Rajnath Singh onSaturday stressed on the need toprotect cows, saying even theMughals, who ruled India betweenthe 16th and 18th centuries, knewthat they could not rule with opensupport to cow slaughter.“Whatever little information I haveabout Mughal rulers... I can saythat the Mughal rulers were awareof this fact. They understood thatby killing cows and giving opensupport to cow slaughter theycannot rule for a long period,” hesaid. The minister even quoted thefounder of the Mughal dynastyBabur. “Even Babur, in his will, haswritten, we can’t do two things atone time. Either rule the hearts ofpeople or eat cow’s meat. Only onething can happen... They cannot bedone together.”

Speaking at a conference on

Mughals did not support cow slaughter: Home Ministerconservation of cows, the ministersaid the British rulers failed tounderstand this aspect which led toIndia’s first war of independence.“After the British came to India, theway Indian tradition had to berespected... it was not done. “In fact,it became worse. One of the mainreasons for the first war ofindependence (1857) was cow fatwhich was used in cartridges. Thisshows the faith of people towardscow,” he said.

Forest Minister PrakashJavadekar said the government wasmulling cultivating grass in forestareas under the Mahatma GandhiNational Rural EmploymentGuarantee Scheme and makingthe grass available to farmers invillages without charging for it. “Thescheme shall be made effectivesoon,” he added.

The minister further said thegovernment was consideringincreasing grants offered for settingup “goshala” (cow-sheds) from thecurrent Rs.22 lakh. Javadekaridentified increasing cow milkproductivity as another challengebefore the government and laudedthe role played by the BharatiyaJanata Party government inHaryana, which has announced asubsidy. “Until what time our cowswill continue to produce milk up to 2litres? We need to increase it. “TheHaryana government has takeninitiatives to encourage those whoincrease cow milk production fromtwo litres to six litres with a reward ofRs.10,000 and thereon for moreproduction. They are also offeringsubsidy to purchase cows which isa progressive incentivisation,” hesaid. (The Sentinel: 09/08/2015)

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- Dr. JK Bajaj

Inverse Growth, Diverse Imp act

The recently released dat a of religious census is an eye opener for many . While Hindushave first time been enumerated below 80%, Muslims have registered the highest growth ratein the last decade with 24.6%. This trend is consistent from the Independence and many factorsare contributing to it. The decadal decline of Hindus is 0.7%, while that of Muslims is 0.8°/b onthe positive side. The Muslim growth rate is consistently higher than the national average. Thegrowth rate is alarmingly higher in specific st ates namely , Assam, W est Bengal, Kerala, etc. Thesenumbers have diverse repercussions on policy matters. Organiser comes with the demographic,socio-economic and political imperatives of this stark reality in Bharat.

The long-awaited religious dataof Census 2011 has finally beenpublished. The data largelyconfirms what had alreadybecome known from the leakedinformation that has been in thepublic domain for several months.Briefly, the Muslims haveincreased their share in thepopulation of the Bharatiya Unionby 0.8%; Christian share in thecountry as a whole has remainedunchanged, but they have gainedsubstantially in the North-East,especially in Arunachal Pradesh,and in several pockets of highChristian influence in central andsouthern Bharat; the share ofBharatiya Religionists, includingHindus, Buddhists, Sikhs andJams, has correspondinglydeclined.

The Hindus now form less than80% of the population of the Union.Their share has come down from80.46% in 2001 to 79.80% in2011. The share of Sikhs hasdeclined from 1.87 to 1.72%, ofBuddhists from 0.77 to 0.70 andof Jams from 0.41 to 0.37%.Share of Other Religions andPersuasions (ORPs), who belongmainly to various Janjati religions,has marginally increased from0.65 to 0.66%. The share of thosewho have not stated their religionhas increased from 0.07 to 0.24%;

in all, 28.6 lakh Bharatiya havechosen not to state their religionin 2011, in 2001 there were only7.3 lakh Bharatiya in this category.

Since some decline in thenumber of Bharatiya Religionistsand a corresponding rise in thenumber of Muslims from decadeto decade has become the norm,it is easy to conclude from thedata that things are absolutelynormal and that no seriouschange is taking place in thereligious profile of the Bharatiyapopulation. This has been thereaction of many journalists andcommentators. Some of themhave even concluded that the dataindicates a slowing down ofMuslim growth. And some extra-secularist demographers haveeven started saying that the reallysignificant part of the census datais not the relatively higher growthof Muslims but the relatively higherimprovement in their gender ratio!But that has been the way of themainstream Bharatiyademographers; they insist onclosing their eyes to the obviousdecline of Hindus, Sikhs, Jamsand Buddhists and the glaring riseof Muslims in general and ofChristians in particular pockets ofBharat. And to divert attentionfrom the elephant in the room,they keep drawing attention to

irrelevant and extraneous issues.

An increase of 0.8% inMuslim share is not small

The increase of 0.8% in Muslimshare has been generally seen asa small normal increase. Thenumber does seem small in itself.But this increase in the share ofMuslims and a correspondingdecline in the BharatiyaReligionists is not a one-timephenomenon. It has beenhappening continuously fromdecade to decade since thebeginning of the census period. Achange of above 0.8% per decadeseems to have become the normfor at least the last three decades,The Muslim share increased by0.88% between 1981 and 1991, itincreased again by 0.84%between 1991 and 2001, and nowit has increased by 0.80%.Cumulatively, in the period sincePartition, the share of BharatiyaReligionists in the population ofBharat has declined by about 4%and that of Muslims has increasedby the same amount. This levelof change is not small by anystandards.

Muslims form 14.2% of theBharatiya population now; theirshare was 13.4% in 2001, 12.6%in 1991, 11.7% in 1981 and only10.4% in 1951. There are 17.2

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crore Muslims in Bharat in 2011compared to 3.7 crore in 1951.Bharat may now be hosting thesecond largest population of theworld, behind Indonesia, whichhad 20.7 crore Muslims in 2010,but probably ahead of Pakistan,whose total population in 2011was 17.6 crore.

The Gap between Muslimand Hindu Growth remainshigh

Between 2001 and2011, Muslims havegrown by 24.6 and theHindus by 16.8%. Sikhs,Jams and Buddhists haveregistered a much lowergrowth. The Muslimgrowth is 46% above thatof Hindus and 39% abovethe national average. Thisgap is very large. In 2001,the gap between theMuslim growth and thenational average wassomewhat smaller at 36.8%, andit was even smaller in the earlierdecades. It seems that with thedecline of the growth rates of allcommunities the gap between thegrowth of Muslims and others hasbeen only widening.

It is true that the growth rate ofMuslims has declined from 29.5%of the previous decade to 24.6%now, but the national average hasalso declined from 21.6 to 17.7%.In relative terms, the nationalaverage has declined by about18% and in the Muslim growth by17%; this has led to a wideningnot narrowing of the gap. Whatmatters in creating the imbalancebetween different communities isthe gap between their growthrates, not the absolute rates ofgrowth. The imbalance can keepincreasing even as absolute rates

for all communities decline.

Larger Muslim gains inspecific parts of Bharat

The gap between the growthof Muslims and others is muchhigher than the national averageof 0.8 percentage points in manyStates of Bharat. Below are someStates that have seen the largestgap in the growth rates and thelargest change in the share ofMuslims and others.

Assam: The share of Muslimsin the population of this state hasrisen from 30.9% in 2001 to34.2% in 2011. In 1971, theMuslims had a share of only24.6%; they have gained by 10percentage points in just fourdecades. During 2001-2011,Muslims in Assam haveregistered a decennial growth of29.6%; Hindus, on the other hand,have grown by just 10.9%.Christians have also recorded asubstantial growth of 18.2%.

Muslims now have acommanding majority in severaldistricts of the State; their sharein Dhubri is 80%. It is importantto look at the data of Assam up tothe level of the sub-districts; in theearlier decade, Hindus in severalsub-districts of lower Assam hadregistered a negative growthindicating a forced exodus of the

non-Muslim populations. It isimportant to look at the state ofthose and the neighbouring sub-districts in 2011.

West Bengal: The share ofMuslims in the population of WestBengal has gone up from 24.7 in2001 to 27.0% in 2011. Muslimshare in this State up to 1971 wasaround 20%; they have gained byabout 7 percentage points in thesefour decades. The decennial

growth of Muslims andHindus in the Stateduring 2001-2011 hasbeen 21.8 and 10.8%,respectively. Christianshave also registered asignificant growth of27.8%. It would beinteresting to look at thechanges in the relativeshares of the twocommunities in thedistricts that have adominant presence of

Muslims.

Uttarakhand: Muslimproportion in Uttarakhand hasrisen from 11.9 to 13.9%. Thedecennial growth of Hindus in thisState has been 16%, comparedto 39% of the Muslims and 40%of the Christians.

Adjoining Districts of UttarPradesh: Several districts of UttarPradesh neighbouring Haridwarand Udharn Singh Nagar ofUttarakhand, includingSaharanpur, Muzaffarnagar,Bijnor, Moradabad, Rampur,Jyotiba Phule Nagar and Meeruthave recorded extraordinaryMuslim growth as in the previousdecades. This region is on its wayto becoming Muslim-majority;Rampur already has a Muslimshare of 51% in 2011.

NCT of Delhi: Muslim share

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in Delhi has gone up from 11.7%in 2001 to 12.9% in 2011. In 1951,the proportion of Muslims in Delhiwas less than 6%. Between 2001and 2011, Muslims here havegrown by 33%, while Hindus havegrown by 20.7%.

Haryana: The most surprisingchange is in Haryana. The shareof Muslims has begun to growrather rapidly since 1981. Nowtheir share in the State is 7%, itwas 5.8% in 2001 and only 3.8%in 1961, when the State wasformed. In the newly createdMewat district, Muslims now form79% of the population. In the talukof Nuh in this region, theproportion of Muslims has gone upfrom 71 to 77%, in Tawdu, it hasgone up from 49 to 57% and in 1-lathin, from 54 to 59%. This is highgrowth indeed.

Kerala: The share of Muslimsin Kerala has gone up from 24.7to 26.6%. The share of bothHindus and Christians hasdeclined. Muslims in the State hada share of only 17.5% in 1951 andabout the same in 1901. In the lastsix decades their share hasincreased by 9%age points.During 2001-2011, Hindus inKerala have grown by only 2.6%and Christians by 1.4%, but theMuslims have grown by 12.8%.The growth rates of the threecommunities during 1991-2001were 7.4, 7.8 and 16%,respectively.

We have not yet been able tolook at other areas of high Muslimgrowth, especially in the chickenneck area covering severaldistricts of Bihar, Jharkhand andWest Bengal. From the aboveanalysis it is clear that though theincrease of 0.8 percentage pointin all Bharat share of Muslims

seems small and ‘normal’, it hasimplied substantial change in thereligious demography of manyparts of the country. There isconsiderable difference in thegrowth of Muslims and otherseven in the less obvious Stateslike Punjab, J&K, HimachalPradesh, etc.

Christians have continuedto increase in various pockets

According to all-Bharatfigures, Christians have grown

somewhat slower than thenational average. Between 2001and 2011, they have recorded adecennial growth of 15.5%,compared to 16.8% of the Hindusand 17.7% of the total population.The share of Christians in thepopulation of the country hasremained nearly unchanged at2.3%. But they have recordedsubstantial increase in specificpockets of the country, while theirproportion has declined in Stateslike Kerala, Goa and AndhraPradesh. Below, we list some ofthe States where Christians havemade deeper inroads in the lastdecade:

Arunachal Pradesh: Theshare of Christians in thepopulation of Arunachal Pradeshhas gone up from 18.7% in 2001to 30.3% in 2011. This is very highgrowth indeed. Decennial growthof Christians in the State has been104% compared to 31% of theMuslims and just 6% of theHindus. Unlike several otherStates of Northeast, ArunachalPradesh had remained outside theChristian reach until 1971. In1971, they formed just 0.79% ofthe population; their shareincreased to 4.3% in 1981, 10.3%in 1991, to 18.7% in 2001 and nowit has reached 30.3%. Manydistricts of Arunachal Pradeshhave now become Christianmajority. They form 75% of thepopulation in Tirap district now;several tribal communities in theState have been nearly fullyconverted to Christianity.

Meghalaya: In Meghalaya, theproportion of Christians has risen70.2% in 2001 to 74.6% now. Thisis another State where those tribalcommunities that had remainedoutside the fold of Christianity arebeing converted in large numbersfrom decade to decade. In 1991,the proportion of Christians in theState was 64.6%; it was 52.6% in1981 and only 35.2% in 1961. TheState now seems to be on the wayto getting fully Christianised in themanner of Nagaland and Mizoram.

Manipur: In Manipur, Christianshave shown a surprising rise intheir share from 37.3% in 2001 to41.3% in 2011. The Christian sharehere in 1971 was 26% and it wasless than 20% in 1961. TheChristian presene in Manipur islimited to the hill districts, while thevalley remains largely Hindu. Eventhen the share of Christians hasbeen rising from decade to

Given the criticalimportance of the religiousdemography forunderstanding thechanging social, politicaland geographical balancewithin Bharat, the Censusshould consider makingthe religion data part ofthe Primary CensusAbstracts (PCA), so thatthese numbers becomeavailable up to the townand village level and canbe correlated with variousother socio-economicaspects of the population.

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decade.

Tripura: Tripura did not havemuch Christian presence tillrecently. Their share rose from1.7 to 3.2% between 1991 and200l and has now gone up to4.4%. Their presence in the Statestill remains limited, but it is rising.

Sikkim: Like Tripura, Sikkimalso had little Christian presencetill 1971, when their share in thepopulation was counted at 0.79%,Their share began growing afterthat; it rose to 2.2% in 1981,3.3% in 1991 and 6.7% in2001. In 2011, 9.9% of thepopulation of the State hasbeen counted as Christian.This is a significant riseand indicates that likeArunachal Pradesh, Sikkimmay also be on the way torapid Christianisation.

Besides the northeast,there are pockets of highChristian presence in TamilNadu, Orissa and in thecentral Bharatiya States.Christians have registeredsignificant increase in theirproportion in Kanyakumaridistrict of Tamil Nadu,where they are on way toacquiring a majority. InOdisha, their share in Gajapati,Kandhmal and Rayagada districtshas increased considerably.Gajapati is now 38% Christian.Their presence in the older pocketof Christian influence inSundargarhin the north of theState has remained nearlyunchanged at around 18 to 19%.Christian share has grownmarginally in Jharkhand and hasremained unchanged inChhattisgarh and MadhyaPradesh.

Contextualising the religion

figures

The data thus provides a clearpicture of the increasing Muslimpresence in the wholesubcontinent and of the grosslyincreasing Muslim or Christianpresence in several parts of theBharatiya Union. It shall be ofgreat interest to relate thenumbers of different communitieswith other socioeconomicparameters like literacy, work-participation rates, etc. The 2001

Census had for the first timeprovided such detailed informationon the basis of religion. Thatinformation gave us manyinsights. For example, we learntthat Muslim female literacy in atleast 9 larger States of Sharat,including Gujarat, MadhyaPradesh, Chhattisgarh,Jharkhand, Odisha, AndhraPradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnatakaand Maharashtra was higher thanthat of Bharatiya Religionists; inmany of these States, thedifference between the femaleliteracy of Muslims and Bharatiya

Religionists was of more than 10percentage points in favour of theMuslims. According to SacharCommittee, in most of theseStates, poverty amongst Muslimswas lower than the average andthe average bank deposits ofMuslims were higher than others.Yet in all these States, the growthrates of Muslims were also higherthan that of others. This clearlycontradicts the pet theory of thedemographers that the highergrowth rates of Muslims are

merely a reflection of theirrelative poverty andilliteracy. The data providedby the Census of 2001 andthe Sachar Committeedoes not seem to haveencouraged thedemographers to revisittheir theories andprejudices; yet it would heuseful to get similarreligion-wise socio-economic data for theCensus 2011.

Given the criticalimportance of the religiousdemography forunderstanding thechanging social, politicaland geographical balance

within Bharat, the Census shouldconsider making the religion datapart of the Primary CensusAbstracts, so that these numbersbecome available up to the townand village level and can becorrelated with various othersocio-economic aspects of thepopulation. Making religion datapart of the PCA would also takeaway the various compulsionsthat sometimes lead tounnecessary delays andspeculation about these figures.

(Organiser : 06/09/2015)

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If the Chinese people believein the myth of the dragon, theScots in the Loch Ness monsterand the Hindus in the Nagaserpent, then the Meitei people ofthe northeast Indian state ofManipur have their own myth of agiant snake.

In a one of its kind one-pieceshow, the National Museum here,in collaboration with the IndiraGandhi Rashtriya ManavSangrahalaya (IGRMS), hasmounted an exhibitionshowcasing a sculpture ofManipur’s mythical 21-foot giantpython Poubi Lai.

The exhibition, which startedon Tuesday evening in ExhibitionHall 2 of the National Museum, willrun till August 31.

According to Meitei mythology,Poubi Lai is a huge python thatlives under Manipur’s famoustourist attraction, the Loktak lake.

The snake was awakened bythe collective fishing activities heldunder the patronage of the nearbyking of Moirang.

The angry giant snake beganto destroy the habitat of thefishermen and started killingpeople.

It threatened the king ofMoirang to provide one basket ofrice and a person for its dailymeal. With the people living interror, a handsome young lad ofMoirang named Chauhi LeirongApanba visited Kabui Salang Baji,the most famous shaman wholived at a place called Salangthelin the hill ranges west of Loktaklake.

Delhi Exhibition Showcases Manipur ’sMythical Giant Snake Poubi Lai

Salang Baji promised to savethe Moirang kingdom from PoubiLal and transformed a “tou”, anaquatic plant, into a nine-headedjavelin, the weapon destined todestroy the angry python.

Several lores on humaninteraction with a species ofpython are articulated into thecultural fabric of Manipur fromearly times.

Multiform and diverseexpressions of the python cult in

this land covers not onlycosmological views andVaishnavite religious beliefs butalso entail a high degree ofexpressions on social values,political power, art and aestheticsof the people of the region.

Conceived and chiselled bywood-carver Karam DineshwarSingh, who was one of thesuccessors of the royal family-associated craftspeople, the 663-cm-long (21.752 feet) artworkfound expression in 2002 from adream he had of Poubi Lai onenight.

Owing to the divine instructionof the deity, Dineshwar left hishome to sculpt the structure ofPoubi Lai.

He could locate one root of abig tree near the bank of the

Leimatak river as forecast in hisdream. The root looked exactlythe same character of the imagehe had dreamt.

It took him six months to finishthe sculpture and it had itsinaugural exhibition the sameyear at Manipur State Museum instate capital Imphal.

Art historians note that thissculpture was the first of its kindthat drew the attention of a largeaudience to console themselveswith the live presentations ofPoubi Lai about which they haveever heard only in stories. Thework has travelled to France foran exhibition.

The ongoing exhibition at theNational Museum here issupported by nearly 30illustrations of the story of PoubiLai by Meitei artists.

Inaugurating the exhibition onTuesday, K.K. Mittal, additionalsecretary in the culture ministry,said that the exhibition is part ofthe central government’s bid topromote the cultures of India’seight northeastern states.

The inaugural ceremony wasmarked by a dance recital by atroupe of artistes from Manipurreprising the legend of Poubi Lai,yet another manifestation ofglobal cultural syncretism.

Located in Bhopal, IGRMS isan autonomous organisationunder the ministry of culture. Itworks on the depiction of thestory of humankind in time andspace.

(The Sentinel: 23/07/2015)

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In America over 22.3 lacsIndians live today. But this aloneis not all that for us to be proudof. The thing, of course, to get tobe so is that as high as 77% ofthis population possessesgraduate degree! And thereforewhen based upon the prevalentscenario of literacy in the country.Recently a survey wasconducted by a reputedorganization, PU researchcentre, it was found that if anycommunity which is most literatein America then it is none otherthan the one that of Indiansresiding there. However, let alonethe common degree holders, thelist of such personalities whoearned eminence in theirrespective fields and enhancedthe glory of their Indian nativity isalso fairly long. One side wherethere is well known recentlyappointed CEO of Google,Sunder Pichai; then there isSatya Nadal who is among themain functionaries in Microsoft.And so is Neeraj Arora who,having left Google, joinedwhatsapp in 2011 and came intoprominence due to his rarecontribution in making it[whatsapp] so popular among itsever increasing users. Likewiseone that gave his service yearstogether in Stanford University isProff. Kailath. He distinguishedhimself by his contribution in thefield of Electrical engineering,and for which he was evenconferred with prestigioushighest National science awardof America. Matter of fact is thathardly had there been the fieldsleft where Indians would have notearned notability through their

- Rajesh Pathak

Indian Americans Earning Glory to Country

talents. Subramanyam is onesuch scientist who produced anew variety of rice through hislong research works. The highestaward of the land to be given inthe agriculture that he wasbestowed with itself tell the taleof the importance ofachievement Subramanyammade. Similarly we canremember VA Shiva Annadurai,who is considered to be the manbehind developing modern e-mail technology. Based on hispath breaking work he won‘Westinghouse Science TalentSearch Award’.

Who would be there thatkeeps the tab at the news worldover and knows not IndraKrishnamurty Nui— the ladyborn in Chennai and, after havingreceived Management degreefrom IIM Kolkata, settled inAmerica. Ascended to thehighest Presidential post of softdrink producer Pepsi Co in theyear 2001, Indira Nui has beendeclared the most powerfulbusiness woman of the world in2006 in the poll conducted byworld renowned Fortunemagazine. The story of ManjulBhargava, Professor ofmathematics in PrincetonUniversity, is ever moreinteresting. “Field medal” has thereputation of “Nobel prize” in thefield of mathematics. Manjulbecame first Indian to earn “Fieldmedal”. He achieved this feat inthe field of geometry. Manjul alsohas a good command of Sanskritlanguage, which he learned fromhis Professor Grandfather.Notably, his grandfather had aSanskrit manuscript written by

628 B.C.’s Indian arithmetician,Brahmagupta. Manjul made adeep study of the manuscript,with the help of which hesucceeded in explaining insimpler way the “Number theorylaw” given by 18th century’sGerman mathmetician CarlFriedrich Gauss.

Likewise, one that madebreakthrough in cornea surgerythrough earning new informationand gained acclamation in themedical world is BalmuraliAmbati. He is well known eyesurgeon in America. Then, on theother side, in 2008 when Americawitnessed one of its worstfinancial crisis upon whom thethen President, George Bush,relied most to deal with thesituation was an native Indian ,Neel Kashkari, an expert infinance. He was made the chiefof the Office of Financial Stability,an interim office created for thepurpose. Few months laterGovernment changed withObama taking over as President.He too retained Neel Kashkari forthis Post, and relieved him onlywhen situation came under fullcontrol.

So also we can take the nameof devotee of Lord Krishna, havingparticipated in Iraq war and nowfirst American Hindu ever electedto US House of Representatives,Tulsi Gabbard; councilor inWhitehouse, Priti Bansal;Director of National Institute ofStandard, America, Arti Prabhakar;astraunouts , Kalpan Chawla andSunita William [Pandaya];andPulitzer prize winner, JhumpaLahiri, a novelist.

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The demand for Inner LinePermit (ILP) system has exposeddeep fault lines in Manipur. Theconflict there has been as muchbetween outsiders andindigenous people, as betweenMeitei plainsmen and tribesmenliving in the hills. The statecontinues to simmer withrumours flying thick and fast,while riot-hit Churachandpurdistrict remains under curfew.Violence erupted on Monday afterpassage of three bills in theManipur Assembly — Protectionof Manipur People Bill 2015,Manipur Land Revenue and LandReforms (7th amendment) Bill2015, and Manipur Shops andEstablishment (2nd amendment)Bill 2015. Unruly mobs torchedthe houses of the state familywelfare minister, the OuterManipur Lok Sabha MP, five otherMLAs, apart from a police stationin Churachandpur. Seven peoplelost their lives while more thanthirty were injured. The Congressgovernment has been at pains toconvince people that the threebills will not adversely affect anyindigenous community. But thegovernment’s promises havefailed to reassure the Zomi-Kuki-Chin tribes inhabitingChurachandpur and Naga tribesdominant in Ukhrul, Senapati,Tamenglong and Chandeldistricts. Tribal groups in the fivehill districts accuse the OkramIbobi Singh government ofkowtowing to the dictates of thedominant Meiteis. These groupssuspect that in the guise ofdemanding ILP system, theMeiteis are actually angling forScheduled Tribe (ST) status and

Ethnic Divide in Manipur Over ILP

thereby usurp their rights.

As if this is not enough, sincethe Land Revenue & ReformsAmendment Bill is supposed todo away with the presentrestriction on buying land in thehills by ‘non-tribal, indigenouspeople of the state’ — tribalgroups allege that thepredominantly Hindu, non-tribalMeiteis are girding loins to moveup from the plains and grab landin the hills. Tribal civil societygroups like All Tribal StudentsUnion Manipur (ATSUM), KukiStudents Organisation (KSO) andAll Naga Students AssociationManipur (ANSAM) have stronglyopposed the introduction of thebills, saying these overlap withArticle 371C of the Constitutionand some provisions guaranteedunder the Manipur Hill PeopleAdministration Regulation Act,1947, meant to safeguard tribalinterests in hill areas. UnderArticle 371C, there is a specialprovision for a Hill AreasCommittee in Manipur, which willbe made up of 19 memberselected to the Assembly from tribalareas – and will safeguard tribalinterests. This provision has longbeen identified as the root of thehill-plain divide in Manipur, sincethe power of the Meitei dominatedManipur Assembly has beencurtailed by making it mandatoryto consult the Hill AreasCommittee. Tribal groups are nowfurious with their MLAs for notspeaking up in the Assemblyagainst the passage of the billswhich threaten to ‘snatch awaytheir rights’. The United NagaCouncil has begun a 48-hour totalshutdown from Thursday

midnight in the hill districts toprotest passage of the three bills.It is clear that ethnic battle-linesare hardening fast over the issue.

Manipur has been under siegefor more than two months over thedemand for Inner Line Permitsystem, which is in force inArunachal Pradesh, Mizoram andNagaland. Before merging withIndia, erstwhile princely stateManipur nearly had the ILPsystem, but suffered a cruelsetback in 1951. In that year, thethen chief commissioner lifted theILP rule, opening the door tounregulated entry of outsiders intothe state. Meiteis now point toalarming figures in the 2011census, showing Manipur ’spopulation at a little over 27 lakh— of which as much as 10 lakhare ‘outsiders of non-Manipuriorigin’. Most Meitei groups haveorganised themselves under theumbrella of the Joint Committeeon ILPS (JCILPS). They are alsoangry at the continuing influx fromMyanmar and Nepal, as well asfrom Bangladesh through Barakvalley. The Meiteis are proudHindus — but as isolated,indigenous people, they have longbeen deprived of development. Inthis respect, their sorry fate is notunlike indigenous people in otherNE states like Assam andNagaland. Now being forced tocompete for jobs and resourceswith outsiders, the feeling hasgrown among a large section ofMeiteis that they must have theILP system and ST status tosafeguard their very existence.They were not mollified even afterthe Ibobi Singh government

Contd. to Page 25

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A section of Indian Muslimsare again today at a crossroad.By opposing yoga in schoolsthey are showing that they areMuslims first and Indians insecond. They should looktowards the USA, instead ofhating this nation: there, peopleof Mexican, Korean, Africanorigins, Christians, Muslims orBuddhists, feel that they are oneand all first Americans.

The question that the sectionIndian Muslims should askthemselves today is simple:“who are we”?

Amongst the 150 millions ofMuslims in India, only a tinypercentage descends from theTurks, Afghans, or Iranians whoinvaded India. The majority ofthem are converted Muslims. Andconverted how ? By terror,coercion, force, bloodshed. Theancestors of today’s IndianMuslims are probably those whosuffered the most from the Araband Muslim invasions.

Those Hindus and Sikhs whochose not to convert, took refugein their faith, fought together andkept their pride and honor. Thefirst two generations of thosewho converted must haveendured hell: for they certainlydid not convert out of conviction,but because they had no choice:their daughters and wives wereraped, sons taken into slavery,parents killed. It is sad today thattheir descendants havesometimes made theirs theintolerant cry of Islam.

It is true that many IndianMuslims were Hindu

A Remedical PathRoot cause of communal approach to Yoga

-Francois GautierUntouchables. Marxists wouldlike us to believe that theyconverted because they thoughtthat they would access the moreegalitarian society of Islam. Whatrubbish! Does one think in thatway in time of war, terror andtears ? Do today’s Hindu lowercastes convert to Islam whenthere is no more violentcoercion? More l ikely, theUntouchables were the mostvulnerable, the least apt to defendthemselves; they had neither thefaith of the brahmins, nor theriches of the vaishiyas, nor themilitary skill of the kshatriyas.

Do Indian Muslimsunderstand that they were part ofthe richest, most advanced,most tolerant and generouscivilization of ancient times. Thattheir culture was so advancedthat it had spread all over theworld ?

Do they realize that more andmore archeological and historicaldiscoveries are pointing out thatthe genocide of Hindus byMuslim invaders is withoutparallel. The conquest ofAfghanistan in the year 1000, wasfollowed by the annihilation of theentire Hindu population there;indeed, the region is still calledHindu Kush, ‘Hindu abode’.

The Bahmani sultans incentral India, made it a rule to kill100.000 Hindus a year. In 1399,Teimur killed 100.000 Hindus ina single day. Professor K.S. Lalhas estimated that the Hindupopulation decreased by 8Omillion between the year 1000and 1525, probably the biggestholocaust in history. Surely,

many of present day IndianMuslims’ ancestors must havebeen among those slaughtered.

Islam cannot be wished away.As Sri Aurobindo said“Mahomed’s mission wasnecessary, else we might haveended by thinking, in theexaggeration of our efforts atself-purification, that earth wasmeant only for the monk and thecity created as a vestibule for thedesert”…. .

Thus Indian Muslims have tokeep their faith and any attemptby Hindus to convert them backis not only futi le butcounterproductive. But thequestion to be asked to them is:“what kind of Islam do you wantto practice ? An Islam whichlooks westwards, towards aforeign city, the Mecca, swearsby a Scripture, the Koran, whichis not relevant to India, and wasmeant for people living 1500years ago, and also in a languagewhich is not Indian ? Or do theywant to practise an Islam whichis “Indianized”, which acceptsthe reality of other Gods, asHinduism and Buddhism acceptthat there have been otheravatars than Ram or Buddha.

Do Indian Muslims want tohanker after Babar, a man whodestroyed everything which wasgood, beautiful and holy and livedby the power of violence, or do theywant to imbibe the qualities ofRam, who believed in the equalityof all, who gave-up all riches andhonors of the world because hethought his bother deserved the

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throne more than him ?

Whatever the West says,which is obsessed with China,India, a vibrant, English speaking,pro-western democracy is goingto become the superpower of the21st century. Do Indian Muslimswant to participate in that greatadventure ? Do they want to feelthat they are part of India, that theyare Indians ?

Nowadays it is politically notcorrect to say anything againstIslam. You are immediatelylabeled anti-Muslim anddismissed as a “rightist”. Nomatter if you are only reporting

the fact that there is a realproblem with Islam in South Asia:that India is surrounded byfundamentalists sates:Afghanistan and Pakistan, whilemore moderates l ikeBangladesh, tend to close an eyeto anti-Indian activities; thatIndian Muslims sometimes tendto put their religion before theircountry; and that Kashmiris, farfrom being the persecuted thatthe Foreign Press likes to portray,are actually paying the price forhaving allowed Afghan andPakistani Sunnis radicalize whatused to be a more gentle andtolerant Islam and left their Hindu

brothers and sisters beingbutchered and chased awayfrom their ancestral land.

Thus the question has to beasked again: do Indian Muslimswant to be like Babar or like Ram.This choice will shape their futurefor generations to come.

(Francois Gautier, isa French political

writer and journalist based in India,since 1971. He has served as

the South Asiancorrespondent of Le

Figaro newspaper)

(http://francoisgautier.me/2015/06/08/indian-muslims-yoga-or-not-

yoga/)

Kati bihu is the only bihu whichkeep itself aside from colorful joyof life but more into bitter reality ofa cultivator. It has got moreimportance to religious valuesthan other two Bihu.

Like the other two Bihu, KatiBihu is also closely related toagriculture. This Bihu iscelebrated on the first day 'Kati'month in Assamese calendar.This is the period of time in theyear when the paddy grows in the

fields and cultivators work hardand eagerly wait for a goodharvest. This period also witnessemptiness in the granaries of thehard working cultivators. This isthe reason why this Bihu is alsocalled Kongali Bihu, 'Kongal'stands for 'Poor'.

This Bihu is celebrated in theevening time by lighting lamps orcandles, Saaki, in various places.

These saaki arfe lit up from houseto paddy fields. In households thesaaki is lit up in front of Tulsi plant.The Tulsi plant not only carriesmedicinal values, but also it issupposed to be very auspicious

in Hinduism. The Tulsi plant iscleaned and planted on aspecially designed earth platformcalled 'Tulsi Bheti'. Its is worshipedwith various prayers and prasadsare distributed among families,houses.

In paddy fields, there is aspecial type of lamp lit up whichis called 'Akaxh Banti'(Skycandle). These lamps are lit uphigh on the tips of tall bamboo.The cultivators pray for the goodhealth of their crops. Scientificallythese lamps used to attractinsects of the paddy fields andthey fall prey into the fire of theselamps. This helps the crops to behealthy and free from insects.

KATI BIHU

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A crow lived in the forest and was absolutely satisfiediii life.

But one day he saw a swan. ‘This swan is so white’,he thought, ‘and I am so black. This swan must be thehappiest bird in the world.’

He expressed his thoughts to the swan. ‘Actually,’ theswan replied, ‘I was feeling that I was the happiest birdaround until saw a parrot, which has two colours. I nowthink the parrot is the happiest bird in creation.’

The crow then approached the parrot. The parrotexplained, ‘I lived a very happy life- until I saw a peacock.I have only two colours, but the peacock has multiplecolours.’

The crow then visited a peacock in the zoo and saw that hundreds of people had gathered to seehim.

After the people had left, the crow approached the peacock. ‘Dear peacock,’ the crow said, ‘youare so beautiful. Every day thousands of people come to see you. When people see me, theyimmediately shoo me away. I think you are the happiest bird on the planet.’

The peacock replied, ‘I always thought that I was the most beautiful and happy bird on the planet.But because of my beauty, I am entrapped in this zoo. I have examined the zoo very carefully, and Ihave realized that the crow is the only bird not kept in a cage. So for past few days I have beenthinking that if I were a crow, I could happily roam everywhere.’

That’s the problem.

We make comparison with others and become sad. We don’t value what we have, This is whatleads to the vicious cycle of unhappiness.

- From Cyberspace

Who is Happy?

introduced the ‘ManipurRegulation of Visitors, Tenantsand Migrant Workers Bill 2015’ inMarch this year to list all visitors,tenants and migrant workers andimpose regulations upon them.Thus the JCILPS agitation hasgrown in intensity, with ManipurBJP supporting their demand. The

Congress claims to oppose theILP demand in principle, but itsactions speak otherwise. Withpolitics coming into play over theoutsider vs indigenous andplainsmen vs tribesmen divides inManipur, the situation threatens tospiral out of control unless theCentre takes a principled stand

and devises a comprehensiveformula to balance and do justiceto all groups in the hill state. Therenewed activity of severalextremist groups in Manipur is anominous portent if the situationthere is allowed to drift beyondrepair.

(The Sentinel- 04/09/2015)

Contd. from Page 22

Ethnic Divide in Manipur Over ILP

Youth Corner

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Once, there lived a jackalnamed Chandarava.

One day he was very hungry,and could not find any food.

So, he wandered into a nearbyvillage in search of food.

The dogs in the village saw thejackal, and a group of dogssurrounded him, barking andattacking with their sharpteeth.

The jackal started runningto save itself, but the dogschased.

In an attempt to flee fromthe dogs, he ran into a house,which belonged to awasherman.

There was a big vat of blue dyeinside.

As he jumped withoutknowing, his entire body was dyedin blue colour. He no longer lookedlike a jackal.

Frustrated, he came out.When the dogs saw him again,they were unable to recognize himanymore. Fearing that it was anunknown animal, they becameterrified and ran off in alldirections.

The disappointed jackal wentback to the jungle, but the bluedye would not come off.

When the other animals in thejungle saw this blue-colouredjackal, they ran away in terror.They said to themselves, “This isan unknown animal, and we don’tknow the strength of this newanimal. It is better to run away.”

When the jackal realized thatall the animals were running away.

The Story of the Blue Jackal

He called back at the frightenedanimals and said, “Hey animals!Why are you running away? Don’tbe afraid. Brahma, the Lord of allcreations, has me made mehimself, with his own hands.Brahma said to me, ‘The animalsin the jungle do not have a proper

king. Go to the jungle and protectthe animals.’”

“That is the reason I havecome here”, he continued, “Comeand live in peace in my kingdomand under my protection. I havebeen crowned the King of all threeworlds (Heaven, Earth and Hell)

The other animals wereconvinced, and they surroundedhim as his subjects, and said “OMaster, we await yourcommands. Please let us knowwhatever you want”.

The ‘blue’ jackal assignedspecific responsibilities to everyanimal. They were mostly on howto serve him. But he did not haveanything to do with the otherjackals, and did not want to comenear them in fear of beingrecognized. So, the jackals of thejungle were chased away.

And so it went, while thesmaller animals would serve himwith his other needs, the lions and

the tigers would go out to hunt forprey, and place them before thejackal every day.

He would then distribute thefood amongst other animals, andhimself.

In this manner, he dischargedhis royal duties, for all theanimals under his kingdom.

Quite some time elapsedin this way, and there waspeace between animals.

One evening, the ‘blue’jackal heard a pack of jackalshowling at a distance.

Unable to overcome hisnatural instinct, he was sospellbound that he was filled

with tears of joy. He immediatelysat up, and began to howl likeevery other jackal.

When the lion and the otheranimals heard this, they realizedhow he was only a jackal and howthey have been fooled all thetime.

They held their heads down inshame, but only for a moment -because, they became very angryon the jackal for fooling them.

They angrily said to eachother, “This jackal has fooled us.We will not let him live anymore.He should be punished.”

When the jackal realized, hetried to flee from them. But theanimals got hold of him and hewas torn into pieces. He died onthe very spot.

The wise indeed say:

One, who treats his ownpeople with scorn, shall surelysuffer a bitter end.

Students’ Corner

Documents

Heritage September 2015 · Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram. He gave vote of thanks to all who help directly or indirectly to make this seminar successful. Finally the seminar concluded with