The incident happened in an environmentally sensitive hilly area. In fact, most parts of India’s Northeast are ecologically sensitive and hilly regions are prone to landslides. Experts have long emphasised the need to clearly classify such areas and come out with a periodic review, especially before taking up projects such as roads, dams, hydropower projects, tunnels, blasting, deforestation, mining among others.
The state witnessed six major landslides in 2018, three in 2017, one in 2015 and four in 2010, according to the data provided by the Union environment ministry. It had said that landslides in the eco-sensitive hilly regions in Manipur are mostly triggered by human intervention.
“Studies have indicated that these landslides are mostly anthropogenically induced and are caused as a result of modification of slopes for construction, widening of road, quarrying for the construction materials, fragile lithology, complex geological structures and heavy rainfall,” then MoS for environment Mahesh Sharma had said in the Rajya Sabha on August 6, 2018.
The recent disaster should serve as a wake-up call for the central government, which approved the railway project in Manipur. Locals have demanded fresh investigation and technical clearance with soil test, geological and seismic survey along the Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal railway line and the National Highway-37 expansion, according to Imphal Free Press.
They have submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi through MoS external affairs Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, who inspected the landslide-affected site on July 5. The minister who belongs to Manipur said he would urge the Union railway ministry to review the project.
So, one is left wondering if the government or the railways failed to see environmental and geological issues flagged by experts before undertaking the ambitious project, aimed at connecting the landlocked region with Southeast Asia as part of India’s Act East policy.
Civilian killings hurt border trade
Tension gripped Manipur’s Moreh over the killing of two Indians by unidentified gunmen in neighbouring Myanmar. The Tengnoupal district administration has deployed additional security personnel from police and central forces to maintain peace.
It is not clear if New Delhi has raised the matter with Naypyidaw yet. An email sent by this writer to the external affairs ministry spokesperson did not elicit any response.
A curfew was imposed in the border town after a mob from Moreh entered Myanmar on Wednesday and set afire a small army sentry post in protest against the killing of two Tamil men.
The victims — P Mohon (28) and Aiyanaar (35) – were autorickshaw drivers. They were shot by unidentified gunmen in Myanmar’s Tamu, a town around 2 km from the international border, on Tuesday, PTI reported.
Moreh is home to a large number of Tamils who are descendants of families that were forced to leave Myanmar during a political upheaval decades ago.
But The Irrawaddy, a leading news portal from Myanmar, claimed that pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia was involved in the killing of the two Indians.
The two men on a motorbike were chased and shot after refusing to stop for the Pyu Saw Htee militia men out of fear of what might happen to them, the publication quoted a spokesperson for Tamu People’s Defence Force (PDF) as saying. PDFs, backed by Myanmar’s shadow government, are currently fighting the junta forces across the government.
The Tamu-Moreh border crossing is the main route for Myanmar goods coming into India. The killings have reportedly affected the border trade as people from the Myanmar side are too scared to go to Moreh.
India did not officially condemn Myanmar’s military generals who staged a coup to overthrow a democratically elected government in February 2021 although New Delhi has called for an end to the ongoing violence and bloodshed and an early restoration of democracy in the Southeast Asian nation.
Polls, politics and peace parleys
With less than a year left for the Nagaland assembly polls, the Neiphiu Rio government seems to be in a hurry to conclude the Naga peace talks, the fate of which are hanging in the balance.
The state government’s Core Committee on Naga Political Issue (NPI) will have a sitting of all the members of the Parliamentary Committee to decide further course of action on July 16. The Parliamentary Committee comprises the 60 MLAs and two MPs from the state.
There has been a deadlock in the talks as the rebel group, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (I-M) or NSCN (I-M), insists on a separate flag and a constitution while the BJP-led Centre is believed to have rejected these two demands. So, the ball is clearly in the government’s court.
“We will hold a thorough discussion on the Naga political issue and also deliberate on how to go about to pressure a solution on the issue between the Centre and Naga groups,” committee’s spokesperson and minister Neiba Kronu told reporters on Thursday.
Successive governments at the Centre have been holding talks with the NSCN(IM) since 1997. A framework agreement with the rebel outfit was signed on August 3, 2015 in order to bring an end to India’s oldest insurgency.
Interestingly, Nagaland is the only Indian state with no opposition in its 60-member assembly. This rare unity is solely dependent on the progress made in the Naga political cause. This is perhaps the reason why the ruling People’s Democratic Alliance (PDA) led by Rio’s Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) is pushing for an early resolution of the Naga issue despite the hurdles.