From the desk of the Editor
It’s not because, your team honoured me for bringing up issues of public importance or neither for the costly gift your team presented me as a token of encouragement to our profession, but it is because of the Samaritan service that you have been rendering for the welfare of the state without any financial assistant from any government or non-government organisation.
For five years we have been running the newspaper, since then we had brought up many issues of corruptions and major government departments to the notice of the concern authority. We had published news report on how people of Imphal East may face artificial flood but due to mere negligence in the pipeline being constructed from Mapithel Dam to Chingkheiching. We had many times reported how public money sanctioned for the welfare if the proletariats are being sucked out by those higher ups authority in the state Horticulture department. Recently team Imphal Times carried a news report which highlighted the moral of a lady police. It is not that we in the Imphal Times wanted to receive appreciation for the work we have been doing for the welfare of the public. But when some organisation, or businessman personally came and presented a gift to honour us – than we have no words – which we think could thank him.
On Monday evening, a young friend called me up saying that an entrepreneur called “Mangaal Rural wanted to honour me with some gifts for a news we reported in our May 4 edition. I said okay, and I invited some of friends in media circle to join me as my office does not have many staffs. Next morning when the Founder of the Mangaal Rural – Ningthoujam Surjit came along with his team, I was surprised to see that the gift was a costly LED Television, which I had never dream of having one.
A few minutes talk with the Founder of the Social entrepreneur group Ningthoujam Surjit said that his team has been honouring me for the risky news report which went viral on social networking site. Well, on further conversation, in front of my media colleague, I came to find out that – the Mangaal Rural had already done many appreciating job for the people of the state without any financial support from any government or non-government agency but from the little income he earned from his business.
A year after its establishment, the Mangaal Rural team began social service from 2011. The first mission they launched was to select one village each year and converted it into model village with the resource they get from their business.
Atom Khuman Village in Imphal West district of Sekmai Assembly constituency was converted into Solar Power Village by the Mangaal team under the leadership of Ningthoujam Surjit. With the success the team having more confident in taking up more work for the people. The team then move to far flung village in the interior district of Churachandpur and then make a village called Nungthang Tampak – a 100% computer literate village. Incidentally the village turn out to the first village in the entire North East state and second in India.
Following year, that is in the beginning of 2017 the Mangaal team then went to Kak Mayai Village in Heirok Assembly constituency of Thoubal district. 450 LED bulbs were installed, besides conventional bulb used in the villagers have also been replaced without taking any charges. The village is the only village which use LED bulb (power consumption is less compare to conventional bulb) in Thoubal district or perhaps in the entire state of Manipur.
Imphal Times had never expected that Manipur would have high thinking business personality until we come across Ningthoujam Surjit, the founder of Mangaal Rural.
