What to Read in The Hindu Editorial( Topic and Syllabus wise)

Editorial 1: Manipur is in need of ‘greater common good’ politics

Context

The senseless communal hostilities must end and the State’s politics must shed populism, becoming consensual instead.

 

Introduction

On February 13, 2025, Article 356 of the Constitution was invoked in Manipur and the State came under President’s Rule. It made way for the President of India to take charge of all administrative and legislative functions of the State from Manipur’s Council of Ministers. The State Assembly, however, has not been dissolved but kept in ‘animated suspension’ instead, indicating that rather than having a fresh election to the Assembly after President’s Rule, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its legislators are being given time to tide over their differences to resume power.

 

There were other reasons

• For 20 long months of lawless anarchy in the State, ever since communal mayhem descended on it on May 3, 2023, the Union government did not consider this emergency step despite there being demands for it from many quarters.
• Why the move now? Obviously, the primary consideration is still not the anarchy but some other.
• Article 174 of the Constitution requires that the space between two State Assembly sessions is not more than six months — a deadline which expired on February 12.
• The deadline had closed in because the Assembly had skipped its winter session, and therefore, the Budget session was planned to begin on February 10, two days ahead of this deadline.

 

Resignation of Chief Minister N. Biren Singh

• However, on the afternoon of February 9, the then Manipur Chief Minister, N. Biren Singh, resigned, a move that was probably compelled by the BJP’s central leadership in order to avoid a possible split in the BJP legislative party as dissidence against Mr. Singh was becoming intense.
• The Opposition Congress party was poised to move a no-confidence motion against the government.
• It was feared that dissenting ruling MLAs were ready to risk disqualification to support the motion if Mr. Singh remained as Chief Minister.

 

Governor’s Action and Assembly Session Nullification

• Just after accepting Mr. Singh’s resignation, the Manipur Governor, Ajay Kumar Bhalla, for unexplained reasons, declared the Assembly session scheduled to begin the next day as “null and void”.
• He had probably not been briefed about the February 12 deadline.
• He may have also thought that a new Chief Minister could take charge and the Assembly summoned again.
• However, a bitter struggle between the loyalists of Mr. Singh and dissidents on who should succeed Mr. Singhmade this impossible.

 

Imposition of President’s Rule

• The State, which was in a constitutional limbo by then, with only a caretaker government and a lapsed Assembly session deadline, had little other option than having President’s Rule invoked.
• This was done on February 13, without dissolving the Assembly.
• According to a Ministry of Home Affairs reply to an online Right To Information (RTI) application in 2016, Manipur has had President’s Rule 10 times.
• This will be its eleventh time, making it one of the most vulnerable States to have this extreme measure taken.
• This also reflects the fractured nature of its political landscape, but this is not surprising given its ethnic diversity.

 

Ethnic Diversity in Manipur

• Manipur has 33 recognised Scheduled Tribes, most falling into the Naga and Kuki (now Kuki-Zo) groupings.
• There are also the majority Meiteis (and Pangals or Meitei Muslims) who are considered non-tribals.
• In addition, there are several other non-tribal communities such as:
  1. Nepalis
  2. Punjabis
  3. Tamils
  4. Marwaris
• Who constitute a substantive percentage of the State’s projected population of about three million.
• Unfortunately, they are virtually invisible and taken for granted.

 

The politics of populism

• A book, Righteous Demagogues: Populist Politics in South Asia and Beyond (2024) by Adnan A. Naseemullah and Pradeep K. Chhibber, provides many insights into the problems unfolding on micro canvases such as Manipur.
• A brief sketch of their proposition will be helpful.

 

Definition of Political Populism

• The authors start with the Google dictionary definition of political populism, which is:
  1. “A political approach that strives to appeal to ordinary people who feel that their concerns are disregarded by established elite groups.”
• What is interesting and relevant are the three broad categories of political populism that the authors profile.

 

Three Broad Categories of Political Populism

1. Reordering Populism
   • Its representation is broad, not sectarian.
   • Its appeal is the idea of restructuring the moral order, such as by championing, or else using, issues such as poverty uplift and farmer’s rights to further political gains.
   • Politicians who successfully push such agendas and emerge as leaders also tend to be majoritarian and autocratic.
2. Additive Populism
   • Involves campaigns for inclusion by those excluded.
   • A political movement, for instance by Nepalis, for inclusion in the larger scheme of the Manipur political establishment, would fit into this category.
   • These seek realignment and not radical restructuring.
3. Quotidian Populism
   • Popularist politicians seek to create their exclusive constituencies.
   • They then work to preserve the exclusivity of these constituencies for their vested ends.
   • They are partisan, and their political interest is to keep societies polarised.

 

Political Populism in Manipur’s Conflict

• In the hotly contested political arena of Manipur, there are players of all these different brands of political populism.
• Those who follow the politics of Manipur in the wake of the State’s nearly two-year-old ethnic strife between two of its major communities, the Meiteis and Kuki-Zos, would have also noticed this.

 

A fight that grew

• The fight should have remained between the Government of Manipur, then headed by N. Biren Singh, and the Kuki-Zo tribes.
• The chief reasons for the animus were:
  1. Mr. Singh’s drive against forest encroachers
  2. Poppy cultivation
  3. Illegal migration
• These measures were pursued insensitively and with accusatory populist fanfare, making them dehumanising and humiliating for those affected.

 

Role of Political Populism in Escalating the Conflict

• The politics of populism played a key role in escalating hostilities.
• Mr. Singh and his elite adversaries on the opposite side built on waves of ethnic paranoia in their respective constituencies.
• This ensured that the hostilities transformed into communal enmity.

 

Future of President’s Rule and Governance Challenges

• The current spell of President’s Rule is unlikely to last for long.
• A new BJP government could probably take charge sooner rather than later.
• Whether a new government is in place or President’s Rule continues, the challenges ahead remain complex.
• Irredenta Reality & Population Movements: Population movements across the international border must be allowed to continue.
  1. However, such movements should not remain unaccounted as in the past.
• Drive Against Poppy Cultivation & Forest Encroachment
  1. These efforts must continue.
  2. However, they should be carried out sensibly and sensitively.

 

Conclusion

Above all, the effort must be for an end to senseless communal hostilities. In the long run, politics must shed populism and be consensual instead, shaped by the principle that promoting the greater common good guarantees the enlightened self-interest of all. Manipur became a full-fledged State in 1972, but its political history has ample evidence of this character, and anybody from any community could emerge as Chief Minister based solely on calibre.

 

Editorial 2: Manipur’s worsening humanitarian crisis

Context

The complexity of the conflict has led to huge gaps in documenting humanitarian needs.

 

Introduction

The India-Myanmar borderlands remain a data-deficient region despite their long history of armed conflict, displacement, and humanitarian crises. The complexity of the Manipur conflict, along with restricted access and adverse security conditions, has led to huge gaps in documenting humanitarian needs. In Manipur, the lack of reliable data obscures the true scale of vulnerabilities and devastation. Misinformation and disinformation further cloud an empirical understanding of the conflict, making it crucial to highlight the serious implications of these information gaps for affected populations. Recent estimates indicate that approximately 58,000 individuals have been forcibly displaced and are living in hundreds of “relief camps” in the Valley and Hill districts. Forced displacement is dynamic, and data collection remains fragmented. In addition, nearly 12,000 people fled to Mizoram at the peak of the conflict, while approximately 7,000 people sought refuge in Nagaland, Assam and Meghalaya.

 

A zone of ‘the unknown’

• A critical issue since the onset of the conflict has been the breakdown in the chain of accurate humanitarian information due to the physical separation of the Meitei and Kuki-Zomi communities.
• Official estimates account only for those in registered relief camps, omitting:
  1. Unregistered individuals living with relatives, in temporary shelters, or displaced across multiple locations.
  2. Those who have left the State due to conflict-related circumstances.

 

Unrecognised Categories of Affected Individuals

• A significant but unrecognised category of affected individuals includes:
  1. Thousands of Manipuri youth who have left in search of better education and livelihood.
  2. Those forced to seek medical care outside the State.
• The conflict has drastically altered health-care-seeking behaviour in Kuki-Zomi-dominated hill districts.
• Major tertiary health-care institutions in Imphal remain inaccessible, forcing individuals to take circuitous routes:
  1. Through Mizoram (for those in Churachandpur, Chandel, and Tengnoupal).
  2. Through Nagaland (for those in Kangpokpi).

 

Medical problems

• Displaced populations in the Imphal Valley struggle with increasing out-of-pocket expenses for medical treatment, often leading to a discontinuation of care.
• Manipur’s health-care system, already marked by disparities between the Valley and Hill districts, has deteriorated.
• The absence of systematic documentation results in underreported cases of mortality, malnutrition, and disease outbreaks.
• Threats to medical facilities and blockades on essential medicines also remain largely unrecorded.

 

Mortality Due to Delayed Medical Access

• Mortality due to delayed medical access has become an issue, with average journey times for patients from Churachandpur between 17 hours and 24 hours.
• Some cases documented by a humanitarian data platform highlight the severity of the situation:
  1. On May 29, 2023, a 63-year-old displaced person died of cardio-respiratory failure and chronic kidney disease in Kangpokpi district due to a lack of dialysis facilities.
  2. In June 2023, a mother died from excessive bleeding after childbirth in a relief camp in Churachandpur district.
  3. At the same time, a one-month-old infant was rescued from a relief camp in Bishnupur district after being abandoned by her parents who were unable to care for her.
  4. On September 22, 2023, a one-year-old girl died from pneumonia in a relief camp in Churachandpur district.

 

Mental Health Crisis in Displaced Persons Camps

• A recent local media report has documented at least 13 deaths in relief camps in the Valley, including suicides.
• A study by doctors from the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in displaced persons camps in Imphal East District found that:
  1. 65.8% of respondents suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
  2. 24.8% experience moderate anxiety.
  3. 15.2% have severe anxiety.
• In Churachandpur district, an ongoing suicide study by a community research institution (NEST Suicide Survey) recorded at least three cases, including a 70-year-old displaced man, who struggled to adapt to camp life after losing his livelihood.

 

Unmet Humanitarian Needs and Worsening Conditions

• It has been more than two years since the first relief camps were formed, yet the basic humanitarian needs of food, water, and shelter remain largely unmet.
• Dwindling resources, donor fatigue, and conflict-induced inflation have worsened conditions for displaced populations on both sides of the ethnic divide.
• With over 22,000 children still living in camps, the situation is especially dire, severely impacting education.
• Unsanitary living conditions, daily water shortages, a lack of access to nutritious food, and the absence of income sources are compounding the crisis.

 

Measures to take

• Although violence has decreased in terms of casualties and conflict incidents along inter-district boundaries, forced displacement remains a peripheral issue.
• The humanitarian crisis in relief camps persists, with a high risk of worsening outcomes as the situation extends into the third year.

 

Mitigating Measures Needed

1. Enhancing External Humanitarian Support
   1. External agencies, including corporate social responsibility (CSR) entities, should provide support to vulnerable populations.
2. Augmenting Clean Drinking Water Supply
   1. Clean drinking water remains a serious issue as a significant portion of household incomes is being spent on purchasing water from private sources.
3. Creating “Humanitarian Corridors”
   1. Establishing humanitarian corridors to enable the emergency evacuation of serious patients from the hill districts through Imphal airport.
4. Restoring Supply Chains
   1. Ensuring the transport of essential commodities, food items, and medical supplies between the valley and hill districts through neutral communities.
   2. This will help mitigate inflationary pressures locally.

 

Conclusion

The humanitarian crisis in Manipur remains severe, with forced displacement, inadequate healthcare access, and worsening living conditions. The absence of reliable data further exacerbates the situation, leaving many vulnerable groups unaccounted for. Urgent mitigating measures, including external aid, humanitarian corridors, and supply chain restoration, are essential. Without swift intervention, the crisis will deepen, affecting thousands, especially children, in relief camps.