PEOPLE ACROSS THE REGION DISPLAYED
REMARKABLE COURAGE TO DEFY MILITANT ORDERS TO BOYCOTT THIS YEAR’S REPUBLIC DAY
CELEBRATIONS, SAYS JB LAMA
The North-east people&’s attitude towards militant outfits is certainly changing. This much was evident on the Republic Day this year. In Assam, several towns celebrated the occasion with enthusiasm, ignoring routine boycott calls. In Guwahati, not only has the journalists fraternity been celebrating the day every year but has even been encouraging people to defy the diktats (see thumbnails). Thankfully, for the first time in many years celebrations across the region passed off without any major incident.
Manipur reported a series of bomb blasts but with no casualties — a message revolutionaries can least afford to ignore. Since the ceremonial parade/ flag-hoisting took place in fortified Kangla Fort, it left little room for mischief. Reports from Shillong spoke of celebrations having been “very creatively organised” to suit the tastes of all ages — like a rock band, a musical concert and a bicycle rally. According to reports, this has sent a clear message to the rebels “that democracy cannot allow despots to rule the roost”. And the call for the boycott came from a Khasi outfit whose leader is ensconsced in Bangladesh.
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When the Japanese army fought fierce battles in Manipur and Nagaland during World War  II (1944) and was defeated, no one ever thought that one day, 70 years later, that country would be a partner in the development of the North-east. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — chief guest at the Republic Day parade in New Delhi this year — heeding his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh&’s request, has agreed to invest in areas like roads, agriculture, forestry, water supply and sewerage. Not that India has not initiated processes in these fields, it is just that the impact of Rs 25,000 crore, which New Delhi claims it spends annually for the development of the region, is yet to be clearly visible!
Today, connectivity is a buzzword in the North-east but no schemes are known to have fructified within timeframes. Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar told the 12th annual conference of the North-east Regional Commonwealth Parliamentary Association in Shillong in 2011 that in 2008-09 alone as many as 233 Centrally-sponsored projects were lagging behind because of non-utilisation of funds. Yet there were reports, at the same time that, due to lack of funds, vital projects like the conversion of the 208-km Lumding-Silchar metre gauge hill section and the laying of the rail link between Silchar and Imphal were delayed.
Early last year, the Centre came up with the Special Accelerated Road Development Programme to link all district headquarters in the region with at least two-lane roads of highway standards and provide connectivity to backward and remote areas as also to neighbouring countries. Under this scheme, Arunachal Pradesh is to have 6,400 km of road by 2016, at an estimated cost of Rs 33,688 crore. So frustrating has progress been that only time will tell whether this will be a reality or remain a dream. This reminds one of the report in which an Arunachalese from a border village was quoted as having said that in the event of any “external aggression”, they did not even have a proper road to escape!
Even the prestigious Vijaynagar-Miao Road that connects the nearest administration centre is behind schedule. Any delay in execution or completion of an infrastructural project is a step backward. In the North-east, delay means bulging pockets for contractors. And let us remind ourselves of what Manmohan Singh had to say about the delays. He told a national conference that “corruption in road construction projects in the past has spread like cancer”. This was  a couple of years ago so no elaboration is needed.
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The death of 19-year-old BA student Ni Do Tania, son of a Congress legislator from Arunachal Pradesh, following an altercation with shopkeepers at Lajpat Nagar in south Delhi on 31 January deserves the strongest condemnation. On in May last year, a 21-year-old beautician from Manipur, Reingmamph Awugshi, was found dead in a rented room in Chirag, Delhi.

                                                             jbl@thestatesman.net