Bishnupriya Manipuri Online

By RK Rishikesh Sinha Bishnupriya Manipuri Development Council (BMDC) is dead and is a part of history now. We are fortunate that we have seen the complete life cycle – its birth and its sudden death. However, the short tenure of the body has highlighted how we as a community respond to such development.  Today, when we go back and read some of the writings on BMDC , we find serious questions were asked about the inception of the body. Here is an article, where Ramlal Sinha had doubts about the body’s financial viability and its objective. And at the same time, the role of NBMM against BMDC was questioned. In parallel to Ramlal Sinha’s views, Rebati Mohan Sinha who was elated with the formation of the body, he too asked many questions to the very existence of the body. Reading his series of articles on BMDC , today, I believe, many of his questions have gone unanswered! Out of many things that we have seen, it is suffice to say that we can be played upon by anybo...

Previous Gogoi government unnecessarily constituted development councils for their selfish political gains BY OUR STAFF REPORTER GUWAHATI, Nov 4: In the name of welfare of different communities, the previous Congress government in Assam constituted several development councils. Although in the beginning, the government tried to keep its focus on the welfare of these communities through these councils, later the focus got shifted to appeasement of a section of political leaders by the government, thereby diluting the very objective of these councils. Thirty one development councils were formed by the previous government and many of these were constituted even without taking practical aspects into consideration. Realizing the reasons for which the previous Congress government formed so many development councils in the State, the present BJP-led State government at Dispur dissolved all the development councils, excluding two, through a notification (No. TAD/BC/402/2016/104) ...

Bhubaneswar Sadhu Thakur Sewashramé OBC hostel ago ona thok,   ehan kii ami Bishnupriya Manipuri é cheyarta? (Part II) Read Part I By Rebati Mohan Sinha Q. OBC hostel pradeshé pradeshé Kendriya Sarkar'e kia derta? Ans. The scheme aims at providing hostel facilities to students belonging to socially and educationally backward classes, especially from rural areas to enable   them to pursue secondary and higher education. Q. Who are eligible for accommodation in the hostel? Ans. Students whose castes are included in Central/State/UT list of OBC and who  do not belong to creamy layer. Q. What is the funding pattern under the scheme of construction of hostel  for OBC Boys and Girls? Ans. Under the scheme following funding pattern has been envisaged : (b) State Govt. in North East 10% share and 90% Central share for  construction of OBC hostels. The sharing pattern applies to the cost as approved...

Rebat Mohan Sinha  Mumbai Bahumukhi pratibha somponno, Bishnupriya Manipuri samajor jatiya adorsho Geetiswami Gokulananda girokor116 tomo janma jayanti utsov’e, ebosor nijore yeoukore nuaria jobor anutopto. 9,000 km dureit(Australia) thaya hudda bhogoban’orang prarthana kore parouri je utjaapon committee’e e’bosor alochanar ‘‘mukto moncho’`agor ayujon ahan koresi, ouhanor sofol kamona koria, mor torophetto proshno koto’han sabha`hanor yathang`lo thona monaurita. Dui’doshok’or goje oil andolan koria 2012’t aya matte gelega dabi-daba habi peilang. Imar thaar’han peilaang, bhasha shikshokor niyukti oil. BMDC’go peilang, Assam sarkar’e alada serial’e backward jat’han bulia amar BM naang ehanore lipi`boddha koredilo, Radio/TV’t BM programor sujuk peilang. Bhasha’han mimut onar pothe bulla, ouhanou phara’dosha`han katiya gelga para : 2001 baro 2011’r census’e Bharat Sarkar’e Bishnupriya bhasha’ehanore Bharator 100’han ‘non-scheduled’ bhashar ahan bulia gonyo koria, Gazet...

From our Special Correspondent  SILCHAR, July 29: All the charges of corruptions, anomalies and irregularities as labelled against Bishnupriya Manipuri Development Council would be investigated by Dr Ajij Ahmed, IAS, divisional commissioner of Hills and Barak Valley and Hills Area Development Commissioner. This was communicated to Gopidas Sinha, member, Assam State Linguistic Minorities Development Board and social worker and chief advisor of Bishnupriya Manipuri Krishak Sangstha and Bishnupriya Manipuri Unemployed Youths Association, by RK Das, Commissioner and Secretary to the Government of Assam, Welfare of Plains Tribes and Backward Classes. This order for investigation was issued vide official memo no. TAD/BC/590/2012/58 dated July 27 on the directive of Rajiv Lochan Pegu, Minister of WPT and BC, Government of Assam.  Dr Ajij Ahmed is to submit the report within three months of investigation to the department of WPT and BC, as advised by RK Das. It is to be reco...

Press Trust of India / Karimganj (Assam) June 10, 2012, 13:25 Several organisations of Bishnupriya Manipuri community have urged Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi to dissolve the Bishnupriya Manipuri Development Council on grounds of alleged large scale corruption and irregularities in the utilization of government grants-in-aid. President of Nikhil Bishnupriya Manipuri Mahasabha Debendra Kumar Sinha, in a memorandum alleged that the Council had indulged in large scale corruption in the utilisation of government grants-in-aid of Rs 10 crore provided during 2010-11. He also demanded that the Council be reconstituted as the constitution of its committee was not done in consultation with the executive heads of the parent organisation - Nikhil Bishnupriya Manipuri Mahasabha.  Courtesy: Business Standard

Rebati Mohan Sinha In reference to BN Sinha's article " Adding Fuel to Fire ". The first step of a fire fighting operation is a reconnaissance to search for the origin of the fire. A fire can be extinguished by taking away any of the three components—heat, fuel or air. If life is a journey, and the human being is the vehicle, then the best fuel for a successful completion of this journey is love. When we substitute some other emotion and make it our central core, our fuel, the vehicle obviously cannot perform as it should be. The journey would no longer smooth, but jumpy, noisy, bouncy, uncomfortable, and prone to frequent breakdowns, and constantly needing other’s help to set it right. Every human being is a source of this fuel called love. We are capable of producing love 24 hrs a day, endlessly. Love is our natural state. Love works slowly as compared to its opposite emotion, namely fear and hate. If you want to get a group of people together for a c...

BP Sinha We are following the footprints of our beloved forefathers. If we go through the history of the community we will be able to find out the reasons for the present scenario of the community. Briefly, I would like to remind certain real incidents of our community, the reasons for which we failed to be united till today. Since late 1970, the community was leaded by two giant leaders of the community: Late Jagat Mohon Sinha and Late Nanda Kishore Sinha. After the 31st Session of Nikhil Bishnupriya Manipuri Mahasabha (NBMM), 1977, these groups were formally divided, while one group was conducting the 32nd Session of NBMM, while the other was holding 33rd Session of the NBMM. After a lot of struggle between the two groups, Court Case, Police Case, Samjhata Meet etc., from the year 1978 to 1984 these groups formally separated their platform for rendering services to the Bishnupriya Manipuri community. The group under the leadership of Late Jagat Mohon Sinha got the owne...

Rebati Mohan Sinha When the Bishnupriya Manipuri Development Council (BMDC) came into existence, little did our community people realize, who were holding a motor bike procession from Kumbirgram Airport to Sadhu Thakur Sevashram, Tarapur, Silchar and followed by a felicitation, that it would turned into a turmoil in the community later? Now it is clearly visible that a division is imminent in the society due to newly formed committee of Mahasabha by the rival group with the help of BMDC. The basic ethos of Bishnupriya Manipuri community is harmony; but I would not question the right to speak or raise pertinent issue. We are cowards and prefer to just debate within the confines of our meeting only, but we never evaluate. Why do we talk about only language, radio, TV and language teacher’s enrolment issues? What about other issues like roti, kapda and makan ? At the moment, Bishnupriya Manipuri Development Council (BMDC) is not thinking of any development in the society excep...

By Rebati Mohan Sinha To the news report, “ Bishnupriya Manipuri bodies NBMSU & BMSP call for Consensus on formation of BMDC ”, I reserve some opinions. Since the BMDC came into being and this group did not get even a membership in the ten-member committee, they are now desperate and running from pillars to post for their own benefit, even they went and shook their hands with their rivals like Mahasabha.  Although nothing was written about consensus in this news item and at the same time NBMSU and BMSP cannot be termed as Bishnupriya Manipuri bodies as they claimed. These, so-called organizations never had even their Annual General Meeting (AGM) any time with an Audited Report, and simply managed by a very few individuals, namely Shri Anil Krishna Rajkumar, Shri Gopidas Sinha, Shri Sameer Sinha and Shri Subal Sinha. During the year 2010 and first half of 2011, their names were never been appeared in print media, due to BMDC’s ongoing feud. Now, they have raised a...

By Rebati Mohan Sinha Bishnupriya Manipuri Development Council (BMDC) celebrated year’s achievements on July 31st, 2011 at Srilo Bhubaneswar Sadhuthakur sevashram at Tarapur, Silchar. The Chairman could not attend it. The Vice Chairman presided over the meeting. The ADC with his concerned officials took part in the celebration. About 2.5 crore worth items were distributed, including items distributed in Guwahati. The items are : Auto Rickshaws — 65, Sewing machines  —  214, and cash amount given to some woman groups, individuals(Ishalpa/Dakula) and to some Mandirs.  Is it a long or short-term planning? Can we presume that it is a rural-based development scheme which Govt. has approved? I think, time is not ripe to think about down-trodden farmers, who are below poverty line. In my earlier article , I have enquired whether these proud owners of the sewing machines have been trained or not? It is known fact that tailoring as an occupation in villages is not prof...

By Rebati Mohan Sinha The way the developmental work has been undertaken by BMDC, it is my endeavor to remind people to understand the very purpose of its existence. Recent years, we have seen that overall rural development in the country is very negligible, especially Assam. Therefore, the Government of Assam had granted the councils to decentralize its power at the village level, so that they can decide the developmental work priority-wise. Most of them do not have any land-ownership or economic independence and are mostly farm hands or menial labour, or derive income from self employment on caste dependent skill (like phuti-bunani ) assignment. They live mainly in rural areas and perform hard physical labour such as agriculture and janitorial work. Even though they have rich culture, many of them live below the poverty line. Economic development must infuse additional income, employment, technical know-how, optimum utilization of available resources etc. but not merely issuin...

In a ceremony held at Guwahati on 28 June, the Bishnupriya Manipuri Development Council (BMDC) distributed auto rickshaws and sewing machines to unemployed Bishnupriya Manipuri youths and women.

By Rebati Mohan Sinha This is Part II of the series " Where Are We Heading Towards? " The very fact that NGOs aspire to improve the lives of poor people, means, they have committed themselves in some manner to perform activities on behalf of others, their ability to accomplish what is expected and promised is fundamental and necessary to their relationship with others as well as to the community. Such organizations are therefore not free of critiques, expectations or input from those whom they serve, and receive legitimacy, funding and interaction. The other day, a reliable source at Guwahati, stated that some office bearers led by the president of an organization, were camping in the city to have an audience with a request to Chief Minister of Assam to dismantle the present Gazette notified adhoc committee of BMDC and get the new one constituted instead. Where are we heading towards? In fact it is the present system, built on selfishness, greed and petty egos t...

 By Rebati Mohan Sinha, Mumbai Today the outmost challenges in front of us is of unity, discipline and obedience, may be at home, at schools, offices and even running an organization, like Mahasabha or Development Council etc. Unfortunately, in the Bishnupriya Manipuri society, we are so busy protecting ourselves that we don’t bother about other’s problems. So no one is complaining about retrospective changes taking place around us. Today, no one figures out what a dangerous precedent we are setting. Yet no one bothered about monitoring of work being done by the contractor in our own villages, nor even the project-allotted fund being spent on road construction/ drinking water facilities etc. There is no watch-dogs system in our society. For the benefit of the  Bishnupriya Manipuri society a questionnaire is prepared for the newly formed committee of Bishnupriya Manipuri Development Council to answer sincerely, rather...

Courtesy: The Sentinel  The Bishnupriya Manipuri community in Assam is in deed on its way to achieve a milestone with the issuance of the notification on the formation of the Bishnupriya Manipuri Development Council (BMDC). Despite some hiccups from within the community in the run-up to the formation of the Council, all seems to be heading in the right direction so far, thanks to the Nikhil Bishnupriya Manipuri Mahasabha (NBMM), considered to be the brain behind the demand for such a council raised way back in 2003, and the lone MLA in the community whose push at the right moment worked like the click of a cursor that activates a computer set. However, when we look from the pragmatic point of view at the development that has taken place in so far as the formation of the BMDC is concerned, it becomes crystal clear that we have still miles to go to get our demand fulfilled. Elated though at the fast-track course that the demand for the BMDC had to follow so as to keep pace ...

BISHNUPRIYA  MANIPURI  DEVELOPMENT  COUNCIL ( an offering to Gokulananda Geetiswami on his 114 th birth anniversary) By Rebati Mohan Sinha           A s social beings, these are moments for us to celebrate and in celebrating such anniversary we have not only carried on tradition; but also found out a way to commit ourselves to a cause. Gokulananda Geetiswami spent his entire life in propagating the   message of   Bishnupriya Manipuri community`s well-being through his writings, composing songs and dramas, where he even acted himself. He was a wandering minstrel. He saw the future through his mind`s eye. His vision will  continue to inspire us to reach the coveted milestone. Today, on his 114 th birth anniversary, let us pledge to make ourselves much bigger focused and better diversified, conglomerate with the help of   Bishnupriya Manipuri Development Council that community can be proud of.  ...

A review of past events By Rebati Mohan Sinha, Mumbai There is a reasonable space and role for everybody who is working in the social field, but it is also important that we understand that politics of social responsibility can not be left to the whims and fancy of certain individual. Since last one month we have been washing our dirty linen in public on BM Development Council because we see things not the way they are; but the way we are. It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable. Social accountability is a very crucial to organizations in general and NGOs like Mahasabha in particular. On this Mahalaya day, the Sep. 7th, I would like to mention here that thoughts of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ continuously reverberate within us. This is attachment, and from attachment comes possessiveness in thoughts such as ‘I did it’ or ‘this belongs to me’ ......such sentiments distance us from our core(soul) and attachment and innumerable egoistic t...

By Rebati Mohan Sinha Read Part I , Part II In an editorial of a monthly language paper the following lines were published on the Development Council: “The 25thMarch 2010 would be written in our BM history with golden letter. Our long cherished dream has come true.” Really, I don’t understand why we are so emotional on such a Govt. declaration. It was something quite over rated and exaggerated. It is no doubt that the Mahasabha played a critical role in making this happen. And it is nice to be a part of an effort that has transformed images across the Bishnupriya Manipuri society. I feel a sense of happiness and joy, a sense of pride and gratefulness that we have been able to help the society for the people to build their own career. The persons responsible to Mahasabha however should not be self obsessed by the fear of losing their popularity. It is necessary to work in the interest of the society and stop the society becoming a one man show. A leader is one who ...

By Rebati Mohan Sinha On last 25th March 2010 there was an announcement in the floor of the House that the Government of Assam has agreed on principle to form three separate Social Economic Development Councils for Bishnupriya Manipuri, Nath Yugi and Maimal. And now the Cabinet Committee has given its nod. It will be placed in the House (not yet placed) and once it is passed, then a Ministerial Committee would consult the stake holders i.e. these three communities, regarding their aspirations and would send its recommendation accordingly to the Central Government for further action within the next two months. The two months time since been elapsed, even then the bill is yet to show its face in the House. The Ministerial consultation is quite far away. Why am I repeating the same thing now is because of a section of Bishnupriya Manipuri started quarreling for the share of so-called power, from now on, without knowing the outcome of the development which is taking place in the...