Nit manipur: Let’s wait for its time

By : Vunglallian Tonsin

“The manner of giving is worth more than the gift.” (Pierre Corneille)

Background:

On seeing Shri Ibobi and party, splashed on the front pages on 7th July, 2007, admiring the closeness of the Langol Hills reflected in the old much-threatened pat, and thence deciding on the site for Manipur’s NIT, my first reaction was to dash off an article of protest, and many more things. On second thoughts I put on my restraining leash to wait and see.

To wait and see whether, after scratching the surface, if our CM and his party, and the valley people of Manipur - as represented by over twenty (referred to in an earlier article: Manipur’s NIT at Tamenglong/ Do We Have It In Us?) of its civil society organizations – were, after all, all like-minded … as ever … in spite of all their documented uproar. And, were they people, organizations and individuals who walked their talk?

Over two months have gone by, and to my consternation, only the CM has walked his talk! For, all along he had the honesty, or stubborn-ness, or some such thing to, as good as say, on many an occasion that Manipur’s NIT must be in the safe and close environs of Imphal. He stuck to his guns. On the other hand, one is sorry to note that there was hardly any worthwhile protest from the plethora of civil society organizations once the Langol Hills was given the nod. Unheard was even their symbolic choral repetition of: Look to the hills, that for one brief moment in the history of the land, was music to tribal ears.

Now that the surface has been scratched, and our CM and cs (read that as civil society), are revealed as never having been at loggerheads; never actually on opposing sides as made out to be. They proved they had been only trading verbal blows on the same side of the fencing! The rhetoric and music, however, have died. The organizations had been only mouthing platitudes. A month was enough to tell me what I had all along suspected. Two months, more than confirms, we only talk.

In these two months, I must grudgingly admit, our CM was consistent. He at least walked his talk, though the talk was not what I wanted to hear. Not that I make any difference. So I quote the refrain of Denis Misao: So it has been. So it is. One just hopes against hope that it shall not be: So it shall be for evermore! Though experience, call it history, tells us that hopes – tribal hopes - shall always be punctured every evening, after a brief day in the sun. 365 times a year, you know what I mean. In fact, we are getting used to it so … that we are becoming thick-skinned. Which is not good for anybody.

The result is, one sees lines are hardening into divides.

Foreground:

Also in these two months plus, i have had the godsend opportunity of being a guest for almost a week at IIT, Guwahati. Sounds important. i wasn’t. But it was tremendously important to me. One learnt so much and now want to say so much. But i’ll quote -

IIT Guwahati was established in 1994, about 30 years after the 5th IIT was established. It is located in a campus of 700 acres on the north bank of the river Brahmaputra, in Guwahati. With hills and lakes inside the campus and with the mighty Brahmaputra next door, the campus is one of the most beautiful educational campuses in the country. It provides an ideal setting – far from the hustle and bustle of urban India – for learning and research. It is a fully residential institute for the students, like all the IITs of the country.

(Opening lines of IITG/May 2005 Brochure)

On 8th September, as one glided into the calm, green and modern yet idyllic environs of IITG, a few decent kilometers off the maddening NH 31 … one sighed longingly even as one’s breath was taken away … longing for an institution like this in my own land. Its sheer size and well planned beauty simply overwhelmned me. Over the next few days and nights, between 2-hour long walks each morning and each evening, during engrossing time-flying 9:30 am - 5:30 pm discussions in a superb conference hall, or at intense pre-breakfast idea-sharings over rounds of tea in the air-conditioned dining hall of the imposing Guest House, or in after dinner recaps that went almost till midnight … many new thoughts and ideas built upon themselves in the area of education, as one saw, heard and learnt … from the diverse representatives of the Seven Sisters and their little brother, Sikkim and the ambience of the campus.

Thus, here, I just want to share a few of my most recent thoughts, brewed and filtered in the most ideal settings of IITG.. First, the most topical:

Much as one loves the land, IIT Guwahati tells me very clearly that we do not deserve institutions like the NIT in Manipur. Institutes that we really need and must have. However, not as yet. Not because of the opening lines of this article. But more because … nowhere in Manipur can we provide the intrinsic simple peace that any quality education, especially a top class one, requires. We don’t have it with us, nor in us to guarantee the harmony required. Especially, as we of the land know so well that rings of armed forces and high walls do not guarantee security. Whereas, the IITG had no compound walls, no armed forces at all. Their security staff – an outsourced agency - carried nothing but the uniform with SSS embossed on their lapels. They did not even carry a cane stick! That was all the security needed. That is something not in our vocabulary today.

Second, the land:

We have been having a grandstand view of Imphal-centric-ism in the last many months. It is now culminating in the current desperate last-ditched protests by the affected pattadars of Meitei Langol who, along with others, have to make way for 300 acres for the NIT. For once, this JAC has affected people of all communities – of both plains and hills – fighting together. For once. A former and first (and only) woman MP, Kim Gangte, throwing her weight behind this protest, has suggested that the CM cease eyeing this settled area and look 60 km southwards, where the Churachandpur District Students Union are shouting out their invitation to build the NIT in any of the more than ample sites available.

If the CM deems it fit to see and hear, i who have been pointing 156 km westwards, to Tamenglong, has this to say: 300 acres is too small. Any NIT or IIT, in today’s world needs at least 1000 acres, with another 500 as reserve! i say this after walking and cycling around IITG. i say this, non-technical as i am, because in the next few years mind-blowing convergences, confluences along with enabling divergences amongst the sciences and humanities are going to storm into our lives … and housing them is going to need space, lots and lots of space. Let not the future generations say we did not give them our lands for their tomorrows!

I, nevertheless, reiterate that we still do not deserve such so-much-needed global standard institutions. We’ll only let it go the always-troubled RIMS or CAU way.

Third, the way ahead:

I humbly suggest: Arrange for the land to be bought - not less than 1500 acres and make the central body i/c of NITs the pattadar; make them draw their master plan, spend the next 5 years incorporating regional preferences wedded to latest designs and projections; let them afforest and landscape the campus in a most scientific and aesthetic way; build up water bodies, create wind-breakers; plan for non-grid power supply, plan for a perennial fresh-water supply using the lay of the land and so no pumps at all; invent futuristic waste disposal means … and wait for 15-20 years.

Meaning, let’s bequeath the NITM to the next generation. Let them build it: we’ll mess it up with our pettinesses.

‘To choose time is to save time.’ (Francis Bacon)


The Imphal Free Press