Thangbiaklian Hangzo

13/08/2023

THE MANIPUR FILES: MYTH AND REALITY OF THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT THEORY

The irony of the illegal immigrant theory tagged against the Zo ethnic tribes, known as Kuki, Zomi, Hmar, Mizo and others, by the dominant Meitei community was that there explicitly are no substantive data and facts to prove their allegation. The 1901 census records the total population of Manipur at 2,84,488 out of which the Zo ethnic tribes accounted for 41,262 which shares 14.5 percent of the state’s total population then. According to the 2011 census record, the total population of Manipur is 28,55,794 out of which the Zo ethnic tribes accounted for 4,48,214 which is 15.69 percent of the state's population. The increase in the population share of the Zo ethnic tribes in Manipur during this intervening 120 years is a mere 1.19 percent only which is insufficient to infer abnormal growth in population as alleged.

In contrast to this dubious allegation, the abnormal growth of community population officially recorded and contested in Manipur was that of nine sub-divisions in Senapati, Chandel and Ukhrul districts in the 2001census. Among the nine sub-divisions, Mao-Maram recorded 143 percent, Paomata recorded 123 percent and Purul recorded 169 percent decadal growth in Senapati district during 1991-2001. In addition, Chakpikarong sub-division in Chandel district also recorded 118 percent decadal growth during 1991-2001.

In this regard, the Manipur government then took a decision for verification and constituted a Committee of officers under Office Memorandum No. 5/1 (57)/99-H (Census) dated 9th July, 2003 to enquire into the abnormal increase of population. However, among the nine, three sub-divisions - Mao-Maram, Paomata, Purul of Senapati districts - were selectively hand-picked and the growth rate was lowered to a ridiculous symmetrical high rate of an 'estimated' 39 percent. This scenario had invited a legal case in relation to the delimitation exercise to be carried out based on 1991 and 2001 census data in Manipur.

All these sub-divisions where abnormal growth of population was recorded in the 2001 census were barely inhabited by the Zo ethnic tribes, except for one or two sub-divisions, who today are alleged to be infiltrators and illegal immigrants. The ridiculous nature of this allegation was that the whole drama was based on extrapolated data without any official or factual reference. Some Meitei leaders even went on to claim on national media that they have the 2021 government census data where the explosion of Zo ethnic tribes's population was recorded, when in reality the 2021 census was kept in abeyance, and never conducted due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Such selective amnesia of officially recorded abnormal population growth and targeting of specific communities as illegal immigrants based on fabricated and extrapolated data by the majority Meitei community only exposes their malafide and evil intent to alienate Zo ethnic tribes from their land. Just because the British centered their administration in Imphal, or that Indian provincial idea is formed around Manipur doesn't mean that all territories belong to the Meiteis.

The Zo ethnic tribes never ask or covet other people's land, but inhabit the territories explored, discovered, and occupied by our forefathers from time immemorial.

N Biren Singh Amit Shah Narendra Modi EastMojo Press Trust of India - PTI Northeast Live Republic Imphal Free Press Imphal Times Poknapham/The People's Chronicle Raj Bhavan Imphal Manipur Meitei Leepun The Sangai Express Nishikant Singh Sapam Eramdam E-pao President of India Maharaja Sanajaoba Leishemba NDTV Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) The Assam Tribune BBC World Service Al Jazeera English

09/06/2020

INDIAN PENAL CODE WITH POTENTIAL APPLICATION TO QUARANTINE RULES

IPC Section 271: Whoever knowingly disobeys any rule made and promulgated by the Government for putting any vessel into a state of quarantine, or for regulating the in*******se of vessels in a state of quarantine with the shore or with other vessels, or for regulating the in*******se between places where an infectious disease prevails and other places, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine, or with both.

IPC Section 270: Malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life.—Whoever malignantly does any act which is, and which he knows or has reason to believe to be, likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

IPC Section 269: Negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life.—Whoever unlawfully or negligently does any act which is, and which he knows or has reason to believe to be, likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine, or with both.

Civility entails knowing applicable law/rules as well as displaying socially responsible behaviour for the common good/benefit of the community.

03/06/2020

https://www.unscrambled.sg/2020/06/02/the-blacklivesmatter-posts-that-made-my-cry-drawing-parallels-between-us-and-sg/

THEY DID NOTHING

Handcuffed.
Face Down.
Knee on his neck.
They did nothing.

He called the officer “Sir.”
They did nothing.

He begged for his life.
He begged for water.
He begged for mercy.
They did nothing.

His nose bled.
His body trembled.
He lost control of his bladder.
They did nothing.

He cried out, “I can’t breathe.”
They did nothing.

Twelve more times.

“I can’t breathe.”
“I can’t breathe.”
“I can’t breathe.”
“I can’t breathe.”
“I can’t breathe.”
“I can’t breathe.”
“I can’t breathe.”
“I can’t breathe.”
“I can’t breathe.”
“I can’t breathe.”
“I can’t breathe.”

They did nothing.

One last time, he gasped, “I can’t breathe.”
They did nothing.

He lost consciousness.
They did nothing.

A firefighter demanded they check his pulse.
They did nothing.

Off duty medical personnel begged them to stop.
They did nothing.

Deprived of oxygen.
His organs screaming.
His brain frantic.
They did nothing.

They watched George Floyd die.
His life fading.
A slow death.
They did nothing.

A lynching on the ground.
They did nothing.

For eight agonizing minutes.
Four officers watched.

He cried out for his Mom…
A grown man…
Crying out for the woman who gave him life….
As he feared joining her in death.
And still they did nothing.

A black man.
A gentle giant.
Murdered because he was black.
And still, they’ve done nothing.

Probable Cause exists.
A Double Standard exists.

The officers should be arrested.
And still they’ve done nothing.

Rest In Peace 🙏🏼🙏🏼 GEORGE

May justice be served.

~Dumisani Goba

Reflections: If not for our intrusive policies, could tragedies have happened in Singapore too?

02/06/2020

Manipur goes Latino in naming newborn: Emmanuel Quarnatino.

Welcome to planet earth!

31/05/2020

A PENTECOST PRAYER

Source: https://www.facebook.com/8555757947/posts/10158592472402948/?substory_index=0

30/05/2020

THE RICHEST DONOR FOR CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

As the members of Rotary Heritage Mysuru were busy in their Annadaana preparations, a seemingly poor, over 70 year old senior citizen, Kamalamma walked in to the premise.

The natural expectation was that she might ask them for some food. Even as they extended the food packets to her, she refused, a little hesitatingly she mustered up some courage and took out something hidden behind the clothes and said, "I have been watching you guys supplying food to my area for over 30 days now... so I just felt I should give you Rs 500/- from the Rs 600/- monthly pension I receive. It is a small amount but please accept it."

They were shocked, and were embarrassed that they offered her food. They were taken aback by her gesture of parting Rs 500 out Rs 600 pension she receives, and that too in such difficult times. In spite of several requests to keep the money to herself, she insisted that they accept it, which they finally did out of sheer respect for her.

The Rotary Club commented, "Friends, at that moment we felt she is no less than the Tatas, Ambanis, Azim premji, Narayan Murthy etc as she was parting with 90% of her earnings."

Taken & adapted from:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10220668389053829&id=1658845987

29/05/2020

Churachandpur District Hospital Task Force Against Covid 19 solicits donation from public in the fight against Coronavirus

25/05/2020

Growth during Covid-19:
Which circle are you in?

25/05/2020

Home Department, Government of Manipur issues Modified Stranded Operating Procedure (SOP) for passengers arriving by Air.

" No passenger will be allowed to go home without testing negative or till completion of 14 days quarantine, whichever is applicable in given circumstances."

" All asymptomatic passengers shall be stamped for Institutional Quarantine or community quarantine on their hand with indelible ink and allowed to baggage area"

" Any symptomatic passenger or suspected passenger will be separated immediately and sent to isolation ward/ COVID Treatment Ward by medical team as per the protocol"

" All passengers shall remain in quarantine centre for further testing. Passenger tested negative will be allowed for home quarantine for 14 days. Passengers tested positive shall be treated as per the protocol."

24/05/2020

Health Ministry issues guidelines for domestic travel (air/train/inter-state bus travel)

States can also develop their own protocol with regards to quarantine and isolation as per their assessment

▶️https://mohfw.gov.in/pdf/Guidelinesfordomestictravel(airortrainorinter-statebustravel).pdf

Source: PIB

22/05/2020

Returnees of a particular train will be kept collectively at a particular quarantine center for 14 days before sending them to their respective districts.

N Biren Singh
Chief Minister

21/05/2020

THE R NAUGHT (R0) OF COVID-19 AND CHURACHANDPUR

R0, pronounced “R naught,” is a mathematical term that indicates how contagious an infectious disease is. It’s also referred to as the reproduction number. As an infection is transmitted to new people, it reproduces itself.

Three possibilities exist for the potential transmission or decline of a disease, depending on its R0 value:

🔺 If R0 is less than 1, each existing infection causes less than one new infection. In this case, the disease will decline and eventually die out.

🔺 If R0 equals 1, each existing infection causes one new infection. The disease will stay alive and stable, but there won’t be an outbreak or an epidemic.

🔺 If R0 is more than 1, each existing infection causes more than one new infection. The disease will be transmitted between people, and there may be an outbreak or epidemic.

The R0 for COVID-19 is a median of 5.7, according to a study published online in Emerging Infectious Diseases. That’s about double an earlier R0 estimate of 2.2 to 2.7

According to data compiled by Times Fact India Outbreak Report, India's R0 for Covid-19 stood at 1.99 as of April 20 around 6 days into the 2nd phase of lockdown. After a month, the transmission in India continue to rise reaching the highest spread in a single day recently, and our mass evacuation, substandard quarantine centers and disorderly grouping of people coupled with irresponsible and careless society does not help in Churachandpur.

To put these figure in context, it is worse than seasonal flu, which has an R0 of 1.3, but miles better than measles, whose R0 is between 12 and 18.

20/05/2020

FACT: There are currently no drugs licensed for the treatment or prevention of COVID-19.

18/05/2020

Read the story here:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-52635611

16/05/2020

Churachandpur recorded the first case of Covid-19

15/05/2020

Love in public places

14/05/2020

"It is important to put this on the table: this virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities, and this virus may never go away. HIV has not gone away, but we have come to terms with the virus," WHO emergencies expert Mike Ryan told an online briefing.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/05/virus-200513190939371.html?utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook

More than 100 potential vaccines are being developed but experts stress the difficulty in finding one that is effective.

10/05/2020

GOD COMES TO WOMEN

Have you ever noticed how in the scriptures men are always going up into the mountains to commune with god? Yet in the scriptures we hardly ever hear of women going to the mountains, and we know why—right? Because the women were too busy keeping life going; they couldn’t abandon babies, meals, homes, fires, gardens, and a thousand responsibilities to make the climb into the mountains!
I was complaining about this to a friend the other day, saying that even as a modern woman I feel like I’m never “free” enough from my responsibilities, never in a quiet enough, or holy enough spot to have the type of communion I want with God. Her response floored me, “That is why God comes to women. Men have to climb the mountain to meet God, but God comes to women where ever they are.”
I have been pondering on her words for weeks and have searched my scriptures to see that what she said is true. God does in deed come to women where they are, when they are doing their ordinary, everyday work. He meets them at the wells where they draw water for their families, in their homes, in their kitchens, in their gardens. He comes to them as they sit beside sickbeds, as they give birth, care for the elderly, and perform necessary mourning and burial rites.
Even the women at the empty tomb, who were the first to witness Christ’s resurrection, were only there because they were doing the womanly chore of properly preparing Christ’s body for burial. In this seemingly mundane and ordinary task these women found themselves face to face with divinity.
So if— like me—you ever start to bemoan the fact that you don’t have as much time to spend in the mountains with God as you would like. Remember, God comes to women. He knows where we are and the burdens we carry. He sees us, and if we open our eyes and our hearts we will see Him, even in the most ordinary places and in the most ordinary things.

Happy Mothers Day!

Adapted from Heather Farrell's God Comes to Women
http://www.womeninthescriptures.com/2020/04/god-comes-to-women.html?m=1

I wrote this as an Instagram/Facebook post for Easter and it has gone viral in the past several days. I figured I better put it some place m...

08/05/2020

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/05/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-covid-19-vaccine

One of the questions I get asked the most these days is when the world will be able to go back to the way things were in December before the coronavirus pandemic. My answer is always the same: when we have an almost perfect drug to treat COVID-19, or when almost every person on the planet has been vaccinated against coronavirus.

A vaccine against coronavirus could take up to 2 years to develop. Bill Gates looks at the work that's already been done.

06/05/2020

https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2020/04/22/world-bank-predicts-sharpest-decline-of-remittances-in-recent-history

"Effective social protection systems are crucial to safeguarding the poor and vulnerable during this crisis in both developing countries as well as advanced countries. In host countries, social protection interventions should also support migrant populations,”_ said Michal Rutkowski, Global Director of the Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice at the World Bank.

Global remittances are projected to decline sharply by about 20 percent in 2020 due to the economic crisis induced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

04/05/2020

Photo Essay: Life of a Revolutionary

Photo credit: Not mine

29/04/2020

The decline of religious freedom in one of the most populous nations in the world is something we must not ignore.

Religious freedom shouldn’t be as precarious in India as it has proven to be.

22/04/2020

The to***co industry is creating controversy and confusion about the risk of ni****ne and to***co product use and COVID-19.

FACT: Health experts have warned that smokers with COVID-19 likely suffer more serious conditions that could lead to premature death

22/04/2020

A glimmer of hope.

Coronavirus vaccine to begin human trial by Thursday.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/coronavirus-vaccine-uk-nhs-matt-hancock-latest-a9476901.html

Oxford team hopes to have vaccine available for use by the autumn

08/04/2020

COVID-19 underscores the critical (and often unmet) need for protective equipment for nurses/midwives, which enables them to safely provide care and reduce the rate of infection in emergency settings.

06/04/2020

A four-year-old female Malayan tiger, Nadia from the Bronx zoo in New York City, has tested positive for the coronavirus according to media reports.

Nadia is believed to be the first known case where transmission of the novel coronavirus from human to animal has been confirmed according to a Reuters report.

https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/variety/tiger-tests-positive-for-covid-19-at-bronx-zoo-in-new-york-city-six-other-animals-show-symptoms/article31268225.ece/amp/

A four-year-old female Malayan tiger, Nadia from the Bronx Zoo in New York City, has tested positive for the coronavirus according to media reports.Nadia is believed to be the first known case where t

04/04/2020

PANDEMICS AS A PORTAL TO A NEW WORLD

Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next.

We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it.

The novelist on how coronavirus threatens India — and what the country, and the world, should do next

29/03/2020

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/myth-busters

Important link: WHO Myth Busters on Covid-19

From the evidence so far, the COVID-19 virus can be transmitted in ALL AREAS, including areas with hot and humid weather. Regardless of climate, adopt protective measures if you live in, or travel to an area reporting COVID-19. The best way to protect yourself against COVID-19 is by frequently clean...

26/03/2020

LAMKA AND COVID-19

Give a crisp, clear and balance information about Covid-19, if you have to, including mode of infection, symptoms, rate of fatality and most importantly treatment and rate of recovery without undue negative emotional emphasis. We are gullible and already show signs of irrational fear and hysteria.

Children are more vulnerable to such emotional stress, they should be informed of the facts and clearly reasoned with to help prevent themselves and not fall prey to irrational fear. They need to be emotionally protected as well.

Experts in the field called stigma as the "second epidemic" and claimed that it killed more people than the virus itself in relation to HIV. This, it was claimed, was because people went into hiding for fear of stigma making the infection and spread undetectable. The hysterical reaction to the first patient, including to their family, in Manipur for Covid-19 follows the same pattern. This could be more disastrous than the virus itself.

Glad to note that barricades are being ordered to be removed. This won't help in preventing the virus.

Vendors of essential commodities, including that of vegetables, should be encouraged to open and work normal time, but should be prioritised to be provided with free preventive gears and adequate sensitisation. This will prevent unnecessary commotion in the marketplace. However, casual loitering in public places should be strictly monitored.

We should be prepared for the long haul while not dismissing the immediate precautionary measures.

What works in Wuhan, Milan, New York, London, Mumbai or Delhi might not work here. This is Lamka.

26/01/2020

REPUBLIC AND JUSTICE

In his classical work on political theory "The Republic", Plato uses the Greek word 'dikaiosune' (δικαιοσύνη) to express the idea of justice in order to achieve a true 'republic' (Res Publica or Πολιτεία). Plato identifies that justice or dikaiosune is harmony in a structured body - social, political or otherwise. He theorized that a society consists of three main classes of people - producers (farmers, craftsmen, artisans, etc.), auxiliaries (warriors) and guardians (rulers). And he went on to surmise that a society is just when relations between these three classes are right. Therefore, justice is a principle that requires that each person fulfill the societal role to which nature fitted him and not interfere in any other business.

Interestingly, around 4-5 centuries later New Testament writers, including Paul, uses the same word 'dikaiosune' which is popularly translated as 'righteousness' in the Scripture. And this word 'righteousness' is often narrowly interpreted as an inanimate internal moral virtue by the churches which flagrantly failed to carry the total weight of the meaning the radix of 'dikaiosune' carries in the Greeco-Roman context in which it was originally used. However, Plato too encompasses the abstract scriptural interpretation of dikaiosune when he asserts, "Justice in the life and conduct of the State is possible only as first it resides in the hearts and souls of the citizens." Nevertheless, the popular ecclesiastical interpretation of 'righteousness' or 'dikaiosune' in the Scripture conspicuously is insufficient to convey the total message the original word intends.

The pertinent question, therefore, on this Republic Day is whether we measure up to produce just individuals, create a just society or build a just nation which the idea of republic truly intends to achieve. Tough question.

HAPPY REPUBLIC DAY!