Churachandpur Deputy Commissioner address on 2008 Republic Day Celebration

Proud citizen of Indian Republic, Ladies and gentlemen. It is a matter of immense pleasure and pride that our nation has completed one more year of free democracy while cruising ahead on the path of remarkable development. At the outset I congratulate you all for this. During last one year our District Churachandpur also underwent significant changes-albeit with its due-undue share of pain and pleasure.

Before I touch upon the issues in my address I would like to officer my deep condolence for the departed souls of innocent victims who list their lives in thei road accident on Singngat – Behiang road on 17th January 2008. May God their soul rest in peace and their families have enough strength to cope up with the tragedy.

Firstly, We have been able to maintain communal harmony in the district duntgring last year. I Feel that this is the biggest challege we face in view of the complex ethnic setting of the district and more so in view of the violent past. Its my earnest appleal to all communities to maintain the communal harmony and let there be zero-tolerance for those who become to hurdle on this path. The peaceful co-existence of numerous tribes in this land is not a mere wishful thinking but actually the only way out a vailable to us to survive. I would like to quote John Locke the great English Philosopher here:

“To love nour neighbors as ourselves is such a truth for regulalating human society that by that alone one might determine all the cases in social morality.”

Secondly, during last one year the state Government and the District Administration achieved substantial amount of success on certain welfare and development fronts while on certain issues more efforts and concentration seem to be require. A massive program to improve the health facilities is underway under Natinal Rural Health Mission in the District. Primary Health Centres and Community Health Centres are being upgraded and more and more funds are beong made available to village and Block level health centers, In respect of connectivity work in underway on two important roads- one connecting the Henglep Sub Division and other one on Guite Road. Besides Singngat has seen the commissioning of new power station.

On the development front the historic and path breaking National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) sucessully took off in our district with remotest of corner of the district saw the hectic work execution and employment generation as envisaged by the scheme. We got less than 10 percent of our annual plan and even with that amount our village authorities and govt set up proved it beyond doubt that employment generation in villages in actually possible. We have executed around 800 big and small projects. This includes works like inter village roads, plantation, drainange and flood controls strctures. We have already given 10-15 days of employment to each house of 5 blocks of Lamka, Samulamlan, Saikot, Tuibuoang and Sangaikot while 20-25 days of employment is given to each house of remaining blocks of Tipaimukh, Thanlon,Singngat, Henglep and Vangai. The National Level monitors and official of Government of India have physically inspected our villages and they have been extremely happly with the progress.

And now are going to provide full 100 days of wage employment to each and every house of 3 blocks which are worst affected by the apprehended natural calamities and facethe threat of food grain scarcity. Our ultimate aim is to provide full 100 days of employment to each house of entire district. The district is in the unprecedented ‘awareness-whirwind’ of this scheme and this is the core of its success.

Thirdly, We have been able to streamline the PDS network to some extent. Earlier, the PDS supply was marked by frequent loss of montly quota of food grain and illegal diversion. However for last one year we have been able to mobilize resources and lift the food grain regularly. We have been able to sent the rice to remote areas like, Tipaimukh, Thanlon, Singngat and Henglep. But most importantly we were able to open proper “Fair Price Shops” at least in town area of Churachandpur after a very longtime. However I must admit that a lot still needs to be desired and done in PDS System.

Fourthly, Ladies and gentlemen! We are being cautioned by many that a threat of food grain scarcity in some part of our district is ominously stalking us. This is reportedlyu caused byrodent menace triggered by bamboo flowering and other natural calamities. Its really an irony that while India has had unmanageablely huge buffer stocks of food grains we still feel threatened by food grain scarcity. I Would like to quote Martin Luther King Jr here:

“Why should there be hunger and deprivation in any land, in any city, at any table, when man has the resources and scientific know how to provide all mankind with basic necessities of life? There is no deficit in human resources. There is deficit in human will.”

And it is with this realization that we are planning to cope up with this kind of threat – if any- and for this I make an earnest appeal to one and all to come forward and help us battle this menace. Our revenue authorities are currently busy in making assessment of crop failure and very soon the severity and extent of damage and threat will be verified and based on which further corrective measures will be taken. It is heartening to note that several philanthropic and social organizations havce already come forward to find the solution.

At the end I once again congratulate you all on the occasioni fo this pios national festival which marks another milestone in the glorious march of this largest democracy of world. With these Words I close my speech. Jai Hind.

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COMPROMISE

Lealyan Thawmte


‘We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are’ – Anais Nin‘
'You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist’ – Indira Gandhi.

Coming as a foreigner to live in a new land with different culture, custom and tradition can initially be daunting for many. Adjusting bearings to a new system and a social way of life can even be frustrating at times. Especially important and often, the most difficult beginning would probably be overcoming the language barrier, harder for the educationally challenged. For residents living in community centers provided by the Danish Red Cross, while awaiting the outcome of their case, it is more of an uphill climb.

Instead of direct exposure to the society they aspire to live in, they are thrust amidst a mosaic of cultures, often in an uncomfortably close proximity for an unspecified length of time. The experiences thereof can bring out the best or worst in a person. Balancing behavioural attitudes according to a constantly changing atmosphere is not an easy task to accomplish. One day you have a devil may care African neighbour, the next day you have a deeply devout Arabic. Another Asian makes an entry the next week with an array of cultural paraphernalia.

On the other hand, you have the opportunity to observe, learn and utilise the experience as an education in itself.

However, in the face of all these intermingling and interactions while residing at close quarters, it can also sometimes be hard maintaining your composure. Where it is perfectly alright for you to eat or drink whatever you desire - wallet permitting, of course - to another person, the same may be considered unhealthy or even sacrilege. Interactions you deem normal maybe intrusion of privacy for the other. Sinful, perhaps. I'd heard about a certain family being shifted from a center owing to extreme differences with other fellow residents. The head of this particular family apparently insisted that no adult male should be present in the common kitchen, if and when his wife does the cooking.

The fact that other residents are as much hungry, and have the same rights as him to use the common kitchen as and when they so desire, blissfully escaped him. Whereas it maybe rare or uncommon in some cultures for a man to be in the kitchen, it is considered absolutely normal in many others that the man, let alone be present, also does the cooking. Polite exchange of greetings or conversation between strangers maybe nothing abnormal, but there are cultures that forbid open interaction with the opposite sex.

The dogged self-opinion of superiority over others or the tendency to regard other faith or race as inferior maybe the cause and root of many fights and misunderstandings. Failure to see reason and acknowledge sense and the unwillingness to compromise. Take time to think, just for a moment with a clear objective mind, that what seems or is unusual to you maybe pretty natural to the other person, or what you dislike or abhor maybe a habit or a delicacy to others.

Respecting the other person’s dissimilarities with yours, allows you the benefit of comprehending his or her actions and does not necessarily dilute your own views, interpretations or beliefs.As long as one views compromise as a defeat or even humiliation, instead of a solution, problems of even tiny bearing gets disproportionately blown up. The readiness to absorb, accomodate and understand people and cultures, and the determination to strive towards mutual existence inspite of differences is as important, more so when viewed in the context of egality and integration.

When politicians shouted themselves hoarse over certain section of the society’s failure at integration, it is not difficult to come up with another phrase. Refusal to compromise.

You don’t have to give up your faith or your beliefs and principles to compromise. You don’t have to abandon your culture or tradition to fit into a new society or to be a part of it. All you need is a certain amount of flexibility. Leave, at least, a little room for manouevre somewhere among the folds of your traditional or cultural rope that binds you.

Possessing liberal awareness and the ability to tolerate and understand, to cultivate a wider perspective of life, people and cultures, customs and traditions, and to conform and adjust in appropriate measures is as much a compromise as it is a requisite ingredient towards meaningful assimilation.

(This is an old article I wrote post 9/11, at the behest of the Editor of New Times, a Danish Red Cross publication as the right-wing onslaught on foreigners/refugees/immigrants continued unabated in the media)

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