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| Tribal kids in traditional attire perform at the spring festival in Agartala on Wednesday. Picture by UB Photos |
Call it sporting spirit or what you will. A brawl that began in a pub ended with an ?agreement? to say it with football rather than fists.
A group of middle-aged people from Imphal, visiting Moreh during Holi, decided to celebrate with a drink or two. At the bar, a party of football enthusiasts was into animated discussion about footballers who were doing well outside Manipur.
One of the revellers from Imphal happened to be a football coach, who showed more than polite interest to join the discussion. A war of words and ideas followed between the denizens and the visitors, with the former refusing to miss a dig at the football coach. It was decided that the argument would be resolved only after a game the very next day.
Eventually a list of players was drawn up.
But who won the match was not known as the group from Imphal boarded the bus to the capital the very next day.
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| Okram Ibobi Singh |
Perhaps Manipur is the only dry state where liquor flows freely. The then Rajkumar Ranbir Singh government imposed a prohibition in Manipur because of strong pressure from the anti-liquor lobby (read Meira Paibis). But India- made foreign liquor as well as local brew have continued to flood the market.
As the state government under chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh has miserably failed to implement the Prohibition Act, local youth clubs and Meira Paibis have volunteered to enforce the act. The local organisations announced a ban on the sale and consumption of liquor in their respective localities. One such organisation is Islamic Cultural Research Organisation (Ulema-e-Association), Lilong, in Thoubal district. It announced that anyone found using or selling any form of intoxicants would be expelled from the area.
Lucy Lalrinthanga, the additional district magistrate (judicial) of Mizoram?s Lunglei district, is in a soup. A no-nonsense dispenser of justice, she has already earned the kudos of being an official who strictly adheres to rules. Her tendency to interpret crimes and offences in the true format of law has repeatedly pushed her headlong into conflicts with many organisations in the tiny district of Mizoram. One such body of youths, known as Mizo Thlangval, has chosen to target her as she had let off a few drug abusers on bail. Members of the organisation were so incensed that they recently threw a bomb near her residence in the quiet Lunglei, tucked away in southern border in Mizoram.
In August last year too, she had faced similar trauma.
Lalrinthanga, however, rued that though she was feeling quite vulnerable in the wake of such intimidation, the district police did not provide her with any security.
She said she had to grant the occasional bail to the drug abusers and peddlers strictly in conformity to the Assam Drug Control Act, 1940.
She said this act, now applicable in Mizoram, should be adequately amended so that culprits cannot wriggle out with bail.
?As far as the eye can see, it?s all green? ? that is how a nature lover once praised the pristine greenery of Arunachal Pradesh. The people of Arunachal Pradesh, therefore, never miss an opportunity to hold celebrations around Nature.
Recently, young men and women, decked in traditional best, celebrated Mopin festival, the traditional festivity of agriculture.
Former chief secretary of Arunachal Pardesh, Matin Dai, who was the chief guest at the festival, urged the people to preserve their traditional faith and culture. ?Abotani (our god) has taught us to live in peace and amity,? said Dai. ?His message of love, peace and prosperity towards mankind must be propagated everywhere, especially in the Northeast, which is reeling under severe violence,? he added.
Lamenting the erosion of traditional culture, Dai said, ?Abotani is an epitome of mankind?s survival amid great struggle. Despite the ups and down in life, we should uphold our traditional culture and faith, otherwise this part of the region will fail to establish its identity in this multi-lingual and religious world.?
Popir dance troops poured in from West Siang, East Siang and Upper Subansiri to take part in the festivity.
What could be a more ironical than nurses taking over the role of doctors? The situation in some of the state dispensaries and government health centres of Nagaon in the absence of doctors has raised eyebrows. In the Chapanala state dispensary, nurses are doing the job of doctors.
The 30-bedded Bamuni rural hospital has a similar plight.
The hospital has not seen a doctor since its inception. ?The government talks big about various development schemes in the health sector but it?s unfortunate that they are unable to provide basic amenities to the common man,? said an angry villager.
The villagers have now urged state health minister Bhumidhar Barman to visit the health centres of the district and take stock of the situation.
?If the authorities do not pay heed to our problems then it might not be good for the health of the government as well,? said another villager.
