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Post by Somak Meitei on May 14, 2014 22:49:17 GMT 5.5
In Manipur there is a particular period every five years during which it is sure that all the people irrespective of ages and genders suffer from the fever of election and like 'The birds of a feather flock together', go in groups and organise many a meeting frequently for the sack of their candidates and sometimes many an unwanted event happens.In it what I myself feel shame most is nothing but a candidate who has already ruled his/her constituency declares his/her power of appointing one/more suppoters at government departments in delivering his/her speech in a public meeting.Here what I have in my mind is to know if the recruiting power is in their hand. How powerfully 'They' disclose their illegal secrets before the public, and ardently 'They' listen to it! What a nasty thing in Manipur!
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Post by Thoithoi O'Cottage on May 21, 2014 15:14:18 GMT 5.5
"I've appointed n people to n posts!"
This is a variant of one of the most often-repeated statements of Manipur's MLA's and ministers. This is the symptom of our rampant corruption, which all in the bureaucracy and the executive branch of the government actively engage in and all in the legislative and judiciary branches of the government participate in. And yes, THE PEOPLE, ALMOST ALL OF US, also indulge in corruption. This means that these people in powerful positions have power of some form other than formal to bend, twist, or bore a hole in the state's employment pipe, for us/them people who are flocking and knocking on the back door in the dark. We/they, the people, are competing with each other, and those who are financially stronger and those who are more well-connected are the "fittest" in this order, and they survive. Quality, morality, and virtues going with these are not primary values in the new order.
I write courageously, because I am "not indebted" to any MLA or minister in any way. I know people in powerful positions with more money than I have, more connections than I have, who are afraid of siding with what they think are virtuous/right because that involves them standing opposite to "their" MLA or minister. They are indebted to the MLA or minister. I want to see courageous people standing up, here in this forum and everywhere I turn, if there is any. We should see each other.
In Manipur, municipalities are not allowed their constitutional powers. Their constitutional powers are held in the hands of the MLAs, and the result is municipal councils and corporations are the MLA's hoes. Why can't the councilors stand for themselves and protest against their powers being usurped by the MLAs? There is much more than party politics in this, and many councilors are indebted to MLAs. The same is true for panchayats and lower political units.
Our people is corrupted not any less than the government and the bureaucracy. A just government is impossible out of a corrupted people. Even if a just government is dropped like manna from the sky, it would be hard for it to last in a land of corrupted people, forget about it being difficult, if not impossible, for a just government to purify the muddy people.
It is here that just and independent civil society organizations become essential in reforming a diseased society. Genuine civil society organizations with genuine social reformatory intentions, not "NGOs" as alternative sources of income.
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khelswanbe
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Post by khelswanbe on Nov 2, 2014 11:24:52 GMT 5.5
ARE WE IN WANT OF TRULY GREAT LEADERS?
By: Khelsoril Wanbe.
True leaders are remembered even long after they are gone. Some leaders are well known all over the world. Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr, Nelson Mandela are still remembered as great human beings who possessed exemplary leadership qualities like honesty, integrity, sacrificial spirit, simplicity, fearlessness, selflessness, patience and the desire to see their people/nation uplifted socially, spiritually, economically etc. They led, guided and manoeuvred their people out of extremely unfavourable situations and crises. In today’s world too, there are still leaders who sincerely work for the welfare and progress of their land and people.
However, we are increasingly witnessing the emergence of many false leaders who pretend to possess all the leadership qualities but in reality they are more interested in their own welfare and prosperity. They are shrewd and intelligent; they know how to lead/ mislead their people to gain their personal fame, wealth and power; they can read the minds of the people and utilize it towards achieving their narrow designs. They are very good in the art of speaking soft and sweet words; in other words, they are more men of beautiful words than beautiful actions. They are well versed in the art of pleasing and persuading people. They are very good at making big and grand promises, but they don’t care about turning them into reality. Their purported initiatives for progress and development often prove disastrous for the poor and the weak. They work more for the rich and powerful people. This is true especially in the poor and developing countries like India, where the super- rich wield tremendous economic and political clouts. The majority of the people who are politically and economically weak are exploited to the best interests of the few but powerful section of the society. This is perhaps true in the developed countries too but it is much truer in poor developing countries and states like India and Manipur, respectively.
Great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Abraham Lincoln did not believe welfare to mean welfare only of the rich people and powerful section of the society. They believed more in welfare, prosperity and equality of the whole nation. If Gandhiji were still alive today, he must have been much perturbed and disturbed by the way our economy is functioning and the way in which economic growth and progress are being understood. Today, India has produced many billionaires and millionaires in the wake of sweeping privatisation and globalisation, but unemployment problem and job insecurity are rising at an alarming rate. We also often witness wanton and gross mismanagement of our economy and infrastructure development process by the unholy alliance of the powers that be. Some may object by saying that there is a gulf of difference in the way things operate today and in Gandhiji’s days. However, basic concepts and conditions of welfare, prosperity and poverty remain more or less the same. In today’s economic situation, we face many serious artificial/man-made problems due to mismanagement and corruption indulged in by our leaders and rulers. The problems of unemployment and poverty continue to loom large over the nation. It is undeniable that numerous programs and schemes have been formulated and launched for the alleviation of poverty and unemployment, but the problem is in their sluggish or zero implementation.
It’s true that we can’t stereotype all the politicians and public leaders to be corrupt, selfish, power-hungry, greedy etc. But we have seen many so-called leaders and representatives of the people who struggled a lot before they achieved their big dreams but later, when they began to bask in the warmth of success and power, they gradually sank into the quagmire of corruption and rot. The dictum, “Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely” still seems to hold true. Nevertheless, it is to be admitted that there are few exceptions and if these exceptions grow more in number, our land, country and state will see a better tomorrow.
In recent time, we have seen some political giants meeting their waterloo unwillingly after so many years of dodging and kicking of the law of the country. Once, they had been chief ministers and cabinet ministers. They had fully relished the taste of money, power and fame. In their heydays they couldn’t have imagined that they would someday fall victims of their own wrongdoings. For a long many years they managed to suppress all kinds of oppositions, complaints and accusations that rose against them from different quarters. They stood like impregnable rock and unassailable entities. Intelligence as well as legal agencies seemed helpless in their efforts to invade their bastions of corruption and evil power.
Today, some rays of hope seem to have appeared on the horizon of the corruption affected national political system. But doubts still hang like dark clouds even in the minds of the most optimistic citizens of the country with regard to the dream of eradicating corruption from the soil of the sub-continent coming true in the foreseeable future. The nation is looking forward with bated breath as to who of the two, Rahul Gandhi or Narendra Modi, will become the next Prime Minister of India. Yet, another possibility is that neither of them may be able to make it to the top political post of the country. As of now, both are displaying a lot of impressive manoeuvres that makes it difficult for the political pundits to prophesise accurately.
Elections are indeed very crucial and decisive events in which people elect their representatives for the next five years provided no disturbances arise before the completion of the 5 year term. Fortunately or unfortunately, in the past decade or so by-elections have been virtually absent, thanks to the anti-defection law and the setting of limit to the maximum permissible number of members in the council of ministers. In this changing political climate, environment and atmosphere, it has become imperative for us, the people, to attain full political maturity and not allow our voting and political rights to be bought and sold for just Rs. 500, 1000 or 1500 etc. Social/civil organisations/bodies have a big role to play in bringing about mass awareness concerning the inalienable political rights and duties of the people. This can be achieved only through the sincere, honest, dedicated, patriotic and concerted efforts of our elected as well as non-elected leaders.
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khelswanbe
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Post by khelswanbe on Nov 2, 2014 11:53:55 GMT 5.5
Oja Thoithoi, this topic is one that has always intrigued as well as disturbed me for quite sometime now. In my younger years, I was mainly fascinated with loud heavy music, but in the past more than a decade or so, issues like corruption, crimes, transparency, maladministration, infrastructural underdevelopment, people-unfriendly destructive development projects like mega dams etc have raised razing storms in my mind and heart. When I come across your highly interesting and thought-provoking post on corruption, the fire that seemed to have been dying helplessly has been rekindled in me.
What you say is absolutely true-- corruption thrives in a favorable environment, everybody is responsible, and everybody has a role to play in endeavoring to eliminate/eradicate this hydra-headed monster that has made inroads into our hapless society. We definitely need honest, sincere, upright, corruption-free, genuine leaders who seem seem to be at a high premium today in our society.
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Post by Thoithoi O'Cottage on Nov 8, 2014 19:58:15 GMT 5.5
I often see society or a political field from a chemical/biological perspective. There is no sudden, absolute break between a society and its product. A society has what it deserves or what it can have. Well, a society has leaders that it deserves or it can have, because it is from its own womb that its leaders are born. Tigers give birth to tigers, and rabbits rabbits. Only events like colonialism and sudden invasions by foreing countries can happen to a society/country due to external reasons that may not be traced to the chemistry/biology of the society/country. Except these exceptional events (even these always find a crack in the wall first to creep in through), nothing (be it leaders, crimes, festivals, institutions, love stories, inventions, etc.) comes out of a society that it is not the ultimate cause of.
If Manipur's leaders are corrupted, Manipur produces corrupt leaders. If Manipur's leaders are of X, Y, and Z shapes, Manipur is capable of producing babies of such shapes. Then, what is Manipur? Manipur, in a sense, is a society of a set of variable possibilities possessed by its component humans. Of these possibilities, some actualize while some don't but remain as pure possibilities and virtual reality.
What possibilities actualize as factual reality and what possibilities remain as virtual reality is determined by the internal dynamics of the society. Major events in a society carry the charge dominant in the dynamics. So, whatever we see in Manipur reflects the dominant charge of the overal dynamics.
Thus, good leaders are not magical products conjured up out of the air. Good leaders are born in bad times when a society reconfigures its components for something better than what it has known. Manipur's social components--majority of them, if not all of them--have yet to reach a stage of self-consciousness for them to take stock of the situation and reconfigure themselves for a change.
Thus, the responsibility ultimately rests with each and every individual member of the society. However, the effect mostly is everybody's responsibility is nobody's responsibility. So, those who actively push toward what they want move the society toward their directions. Good or bad. So, it becomes important for a society's human members to partly (they cannot do it wholly) design their society consciously the way they design their own homes and cities.
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Post by Thoithoi O'Cottage on Nov 8, 2014 20:22:16 GMT 5.5
In a democratic society, elections (despite their hijackability) are the most effective means of practically reconfiguring its control intelligence periodically. Control intelligence is the intelligence that will determine the area and mode of the utilization of the resources available to them. Thus, it is critical for the electorate to choose the right set of leaders. Any compromise in the process naturally translates into corresponding thorns that will crown your post-election society. So, elections are no jokes, but it is when you sow the seed of you political future.
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khelswanbe
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Post by khelswanbe on Nov 12, 2014 19:29:49 GMT 5.5
I sincerely believe that the onus to usher in mature democracy rests with people/public. Until and unless we come to the realization or receive the true enlightenment, we cannot get what we want--true, genuine, sincere, leaders who are comparable to great leaders that the world has produced so far. And once we start producing upright genuine leaders positive changes/revolutions will begin to unfold before us. I'm inexpressibly saddened by the fact that, so far, we haven't produced some or even any sincere, wise, true, genuine leaders. If I have committed a mistake in my humble assessment, I beg to be pardoned generously.
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