By – Amar Yumnam
Manipur is a product of deep and robust historical evolution over centuries, and the people have been sharing the rightful pride of it. She has been unfortunately under utmost social turmoil for more than three years by now. But observing the underlying social currents during the last two weeks or so reveal the emergence of a very critical historic current. The question of the moment is how to capitalise on this current to (a) recover the historical Manipur; (b) establish a new Manipur with the historical characteristics restrengthened; and (c) create a social foundation for a sustainable development. I would call it “a critical opportunity” for losing it would create a long-term distrust on each other.
The criticality of this opportunity is deepened by the fact that it would not prevail for long while the expanding social anxiety would destroy the society itself. It is a kind of heavy time: A. As Donald Black puts, it is social time we have to be conscious about: “Time is the dynamic dimension of reality, and social time is the dynamic dimension of social reality. Social time includes the fluctuation of every dimension of social space: Relational time is an increase or decrease of intimacy (relational distance). Vertical time is an increase or decrease of inequality (vertical distance). Cultural time is an increase or decrease of diversity (cultural distance). Any such change is a movement of social time, whether a rape, divorce, achievement, loss, contact with a foreigner, or the creation of something new.” B. It is moral time in the sense Hobbes put it: “Where there is no common power, there is no law: where no law, no injustice. Force and fraud, are in war the two cardinal virtues.”
While it is a “heavy time”, we have to address the issues a German scholar, Pfetsch, puts: “What are the basic concepts and terms in negotiation? Definitions are required for concepts such as negotiation, its structure and process, conflict, actors, mediators, instruments, symmetry and asymmetry, resolutions, etc. How does negotiation differ from other forms of conflict management? What is are the relationship between conflict and negotiation? What role might a third party play in the resolution of a conflict? Which instruments exist for the successful resolution of conflicts? What is the role of power in negotiation and what forms can it assume? How can a weaker party in an asymmetric relationship become stronger? What role does law play in negotiation? In what way do differences in culture influence the negotiation process? Do institutions matter in negotiations? What are the modalities of conflict termination? What are the constitutive elements of a durable solution?” All these principles and activities are to be performed within a period of three months or less such that social time is not compromised.
Performing these activities and initiate the movement towards a bright new Manipur can be done only through policies. But in very recent years policies have come to mean only the whims and personal benefits of the ministers and democratic representatives. There is no sign of any politician displaying the qualities of a leadership conversant with social time. This is particularly so with the present cabinet. The Home Minister – Govindas – shows almost unconcerned with the social time of Manipur. The recent statement given by the Leader of the Council of Ministers in the meeting at the Niti Aayog only implied that the understanding of policy is completely absent in the corridors of power. While policy should be talked about and investments should be invited within that framework, it was more absent than present. I would like to put on record that even the Niti Aayog is still so disoriented about the South East Asian Part of India. In a very recent international discussion on industrial policy, when I started talking about the region, a senior Member of the Aayog started saying the region is very beautiful, I shouted back that I am not talking about his pity but about policy. A policy is something emerging from the “way government ministers and public servants, as well as experts such as academics and others in the community, work together to develop policy from its conception through to its practice.” Paraphrasing the Australian Policy Handbook of Bridgman and Davis, evolving a policy needs to:”Identify issues – problem defined – problem articulated • Policy analysis – collect relevant data and information – clarify objectives and resolve key questions – develop options and proposals • Undertake consultation • Move towards decisions • Implement • Evaluate.” Manipur needs a Leader who would say with Proust “sensations must be interpreted as the signs of so many laws and ideas, in order to think, or to draw out of the shadows what I had experienced, to convert it in to a spiritual equivalent.”
