~ By: Zokhual
There's a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will. - William Shakespeare
Even though India has democratic republic form of Govt, we have hereditary form of village chiefs in Manipur hills especially in Zomi/Kuki villages. Village chief system is the stumbling block of development of our Zomi/Kuki society as below: -
1. Village land belongs to village chief. So,no alternative land use policy can be implemented without the consent of the chief. This snuff off innovative and progressive land use policy for the villagers. Certain chiefs even sale the whole village with the village land solely for monetary gain.
2. As the village land is in the name of the chiefs, any Rural Development Fund that come from Central Govt or even State Govt has to come in the personal name of village chiefs. So the fund never reached the targetted poor villagers. On the other hand, why should Govt spend money for development of someone's private land!!
3. The institution of village chiefs is hereditary. The chiefs are generally not the best and deserving ones available in the village. They are simply chiefs by virtue of birth. It is a dichotomy in a democratic and republic form of Govt. Some village chiefs are simply the worst people in the village. Development and progress of the village entirely depend on the chief. You can imagine the likely fate of the village in such condition. As the people does not elect the village chief, he is not answerable to the villagers and there is no provision at all to throw away a bad chief. The villagers are simply tenants and perpetually under the mercy of the chief.
4. As the post of village chiefs carry some privilege, so many people try to be chiefs by starting new villages with even less than ten households. These atomized villages could not support schools and even churches. Without church and school, there is no chance of giving not only basic education but also moral teaching and civic sense to children. In such environment, children are born and grew up with disadvantage in the world and become criminals since young age. They also don’t have any civic sense.
5. These few households comprising the hamlet are all close relatives. They have to marry amongst themselves, which is not good biologically as there is a chance of spreading of bad genes to the next generations. Not only that, it is the root cause of giving more importance to “beh-leh-phung/phung le chang” at the expense of zomi/kuki nation at large in our society.
6. As the village chief post is hereditary and not elected post, there is no village level healthy competitive politics. Without village level development politics and progressive political process, our people never experienced healthy political education. No wonder, we can’t compete with Mizos and Nagas in political awareness. Please accept that our people are political ignorants. Our present plight is the consequence of that and our present so-called politics in 'Outer Manipur" is no politics at all.
7. Nowadays, most of the village chiefs in our area are non-resident chiefs. "Out of sight, out of mind", they say. You know what I mean. The village administration is entrusted to a relative who has no intelligence to cross the village boundary. There is considerable difference between the real sheepherd and a sheepherd who take charge for profit in the way they look after the sheep.
In view of above points, we should strive for some attainable objectives to lift up our people as suggested below: -
1. We should fight for to be under the 6th Schedule of Indian Constitution for tribal land protection and District level autonomous administration for Sadar Hills, Churachandpur District and Chandel District.
2. The village chief system should be abolished for good. In place of village chief system, we should have Panchajat Raj system entirely manned by elected representatives of the villagers with definite term.You can't abolish a system before a viable alternative is in place.
3. Pu Zauva implied that abolishion of village chief system in Mizoram was a mistake. I don't come across anyone in Mizoram who regretted about it. In compare with villagers in "Outer Manipur", I find they actually prosper due to that.
4. Hence,first 6th scheduled,then abolish village chief system for good and PR System should be readily in place.
Instead of fighting for exotic concept like ‘sovereignty’ and all that, we should fight for clear-cut and attainable objectives. If what we fight for is attainable and easily beneficial for the common people, there will be more unity among us. ‘Sovereignty’ and all that will come later.
If some one don't share my opinion about village chief system especially its present ills and its abolishion as given above, please share with me,us your contra valued opinion in this Site. I'm an eager student.
Source: http://www.zogamonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=140
There's a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will. - William Shakespeare
Even though India has democratic republic form of Govt, we have hereditary form of village chiefs in Manipur hills especially in Zomi/Kuki villages. Village chief system is the stumbling block of development of our Zomi/Kuki society as below: -
1. Village land belongs to village chief. So,no alternative land use policy can be implemented without the consent of the chief. This snuff off innovative and progressive land use policy for the villagers. Certain chiefs even sale the whole village with the village land solely for monetary gain.
2. As the village land is in the name of the chiefs, any Rural Development Fund that come from Central Govt or even State Govt has to come in the personal name of village chiefs. So the fund never reached the targetted poor villagers. On the other hand, why should Govt spend money for development of someone's private land!!
3. The institution of village chiefs is hereditary. The chiefs are generally not the best and deserving ones available in the village. They are simply chiefs by virtue of birth. It is a dichotomy in a democratic and republic form of Govt. Some village chiefs are simply the worst people in the village. Development and progress of the village entirely depend on the chief. You can imagine the likely fate of the village in such condition. As the people does not elect the village chief, he is not answerable to the villagers and there is no provision at all to throw away a bad chief. The villagers are simply tenants and perpetually under the mercy of the chief.
4. As the post of village chiefs carry some privilege, so many people try to be chiefs by starting new villages with even less than ten households. These atomized villages could not support schools and even churches. Without church and school, there is no chance of giving not only basic education but also moral teaching and civic sense to children. In such environment, children are born and grew up with disadvantage in the world and become criminals since young age. They also don’t have any civic sense.
5. These few households comprising the hamlet are all close relatives. They have to marry amongst themselves, which is not good biologically as there is a chance of spreading of bad genes to the next generations. Not only that, it is the root cause of giving more importance to “beh-leh-phung/phung le chang” at the expense of zomi/kuki nation at large in our society.
6. As the village chief post is hereditary and not elected post, there is no village level healthy competitive politics. Without village level development politics and progressive political process, our people never experienced healthy political education. No wonder, we can’t compete with Mizos and Nagas in political awareness. Please accept that our people are political ignorants. Our present plight is the consequence of that and our present so-called politics in 'Outer Manipur" is no politics at all.
7. Nowadays, most of the village chiefs in our area are non-resident chiefs. "Out of sight, out of mind", they say. You know what I mean. The village administration is entrusted to a relative who has no intelligence to cross the village boundary. There is considerable difference between the real sheepherd and a sheepherd who take charge for profit in the way they look after the sheep.
In view of above points, we should strive for some attainable objectives to lift up our people as suggested below: -
1. We should fight for to be under the 6th Schedule of Indian Constitution for tribal land protection and District level autonomous administration for Sadar Hills, Churachandpur District and Chandel District.
2. The village chief system should be abolished for good. In place of village chief system, we should have Panchajat Raj system entirely manned by elected representatives of the villagers with definite term.You can't abolish a system before a viable alternative is in place.
3. Pu Zauva implied that abolishion of village chief system in Mizoram was a mistake. I don't come across anyone in Mizoram who regretted about it. In compare with villagers in "Outer Manipur", I find they actually prosper due to that.
4. Hence,first 6th scheduled,then abolish village chief system for good and PR System should be readily in place.
Instead of fighting for exotic concept like ‘sovereignty’ and all that, we should fight for clear-cut and attainable objectives. If what we fight for is attainable and easily beneficial for the common people, there will be more unity among us. ‘Sovereignty’ and all that will come later.
If some one don't share my opinion about village chief system especially its present ills and its abolishion as given above, please share with me,us your contra valued opinion in this Site. I'm an eager student.
Source: http://www.zogamonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=140
No comments:
Post a Comment