Economic Blockade Cripples Manipur
On 11th April 2010, two Naga students groups called for an economic blockade in Manipur.The two groups – All-Naga Students’ Association of Manipur (ANSAM) and Naga Students Federation(NSF) – called for the blockade on National Highway 39 (Imphal-Dimapur) and National Highway 53 (Imphal-Jiribam) protesting elections to the Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) in Manipur hills and Manipur government’s decision to ban entry of Thuingaleng Muivah, the general secretary of National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isaac-Muivah group) to visit his ancestral village, Somdal, in the state’s Ukhrul district.
The blockade continued for 69 days which resulted in an unprecedented crisis in Manipur, a landlocked state where all supplies reach through in trucks. Once the highways – practically the state’s economic lifeline – were blocked, supply trucks couldn’t move in. Within days, the state witnessed shortages of all essentials, including life saving drugs, foodstuffs and fuel. Finally, on June 18, the All Naga Students’ Association of Manipur suspended the blockade on the two national highways, but by then the sufferings of common citizens in the state had reached an agonizing high.
The video ‘Economic Blockade Cripples Manipur‘ by IndiaUnheard community correspondent Achungmei Kamei captures this suffering of ordinary citizens who bore the brunt this man-made economic crisis every day. As a community member, Achungmei herself shared this suffering. The blockade created a huge fuel shortage which, in turn, crippled the transport service. Petrol prices, shot up to Rs 160 a litre and auto and bus fares multiplied. Due to this, shooting of the video itself became an uphill task for our correspondent as she couldn’t travel. While shooting, she was also treated with suspicion and disrespect by many as she was a Naga tribal. Even after the end of the blockade, her family, like thousands others, do not have cooking gas as cylinders are not available.
Achungmei Kamei
I come from the Naga tribal community in Manipur. I feel that powerful people in the underworld and insurgent groups control what news is produced in my state – they dictate what is published and when, and frequently threaten the editors. I’ve always wanted to work with media so that I could have the opportunity to give my own account of what happens in my community and in Manipur.
With this greater goal, I did my degree in Mass Communication Studies in Bangalore. I stayed on to work for a few years there. Being out of Manipur for the first time was difficult and scary because of the way North-Easterners are treated by the rest of the country. Classmates and colleagues never believed I was Indian, insisting I must be Korean or Chinese or Nepalese. These feelings of not being Indian were familiar – I had grown up in an environment that was typified by rebellious movements against the central government. Nagas and Meiteis alike feel removed from and neglected by mainland India.
I returned to Manipur and now work part-time as a news correspondent for a national radio station. I joined the IndiaUnheard program because I feel this is a platform to combine what I’d studied with my deep-seated desire for independent media. Over the last six months I’ve produced stories on local economic blockades and separatist strikes.
Achungmei Kamei has produced
24 stories for us.
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Wow! what a great story. Achungmei through India Unheard is making the unheard issues of the unhearlands heard across the world. Keep it up
Thank you Sothing. Achungmei Kamei was also very happy to hear of your comment. Like all our correspondents, Achungmei also has no personal access to Internet and can learn of a comment only through the IndiaUnheard team. Despite this technical challenges, she is trying to provide the world viewers the stories from her remote location. Please do keep watching
good work !!! kudos to you !!! do keep it up !!!