State lad youngest Indian to conquer Mt Everest
IMPHAL, May 18: Even though it was nearly five-decades back when New Zealander Edmund Hillary and his Nepali companion Tenzing Norgay scaled Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, on May 29, 1953, Nameirakpam Chingkheinganba became the youngest Indian .....
CM for decorum in Palace compound
IMPHAL, May 18: Strongly emphasising on protection, maintenance and renovation of historical monuments and sites to uphold Manipur's glorious past, chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh has called upon private land owners in Palace Compound to relinquish land .....
Burmese Language Studies programme
A resource persons speaks during the Burmese Language Studies programme organised by Meetei Council Moreh at the border town on May 18. The programme was conducted under the sponsorship of Bhuban Gems, whose propreitor Naorem Nabachandra is also the presi.....
Anti-AFSPA rally in Ukl
Ukhrul, May 18: The District social organizations and NGOs of Ukhrul today jointly organized a silent protest rally demanding repeal of AFSPA (Armed forces special powers) act 1958 from the region. Addressing the participants, president of Tangkhul you.....
Govt okays MoU with UPPK
IMPHAL, May 18: The State Cabinet has given its approval for the State Government to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with UPPK which has given up arms and returned to the mainstream. In this regard, Ministry of Home Affairs, North East in-char.....
BJP alleges project anomalies, demands CBI probe
IMPHAL, May 18: Referring to comment in a local daily about the Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh charging some of his ministerial colleagues of depleting the State exchequer crores of rupees, the BJP Ma-nipur Pradesh today demanded a CBI inquiry on the matter.....
Leakages waste 60 Kls
IMPHAL, May 18: Around 60 Kls of SK Oil are wasted due to leakages every month out of 2080 Kls allocated to Manipur by the Government of India for a month. With the State Government accepting that 60 Kls of SK Oil are wasted every month due to leakages.....
Shija's Cleft Project goes on
IMPHAL, May 18: With the objective of faciliting formal education of all children with deformed lips and palates, Smile Train Shija SSA Cleft Project is going on in Shija Hospital as a joint project of the hospital and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. After 10 c.....
TNAL protests
IMPHAL, May 18: The Tang-khul Naga Aze Longphang (Southern Tangkhul Naga Union) strongly denounced the Cabinet decision which prohibited entry of both Sailent and Saijang villagers to the ‘disputed site.’ An emergency general bo-dy meeting of TNAL .....
UGs clash
IMPHAL, May 18: A suspected NSCN (IM) cadre died in a gunfight with ZUF rebels at Lunghshai Chiru, located at the border of Bishnupur and Chu-rachandpur districts at around 2 pm today. The gunbattle broke out at the bank of Thongjaorok riv-er under Upp.....
NPF, ATSUM flay vacate order
IMPHAL, May 18: An order from the state government was issued today (Saturday) asking the residents of Naga River Colony in Imphal to vacate by May 19 (Sunday). The government of Manipur is planning to construct a five-star hotel in the area. Registeri.....
Gym inaugurated
IMPHAL, May 18: Khurai AC MLA Dr Ng Bijoy inaugurated AL-UMMAH gym at Khabeisoi today. The MLA was the chief guest of the function while Mohtamin Principal MV Abdul Kareem Dasmi was the president. Animal Gym founder and Real Heroes 2012 awardee RK Vish.....
Dr NT Kom felicitated
IMPHAL, May 18: Civil Services Examination 2012 successful candidate Dr Neilenthang Telien Kom was feted in a reception function organised in his honour at Lower Kom Keirap Baptist Church today. Taking part at the function, IFCD Minister Ngamthang Haokip .....
Mayek Chatpa Numit
IMPHAL, May 18: Marking the 7th anniversary of State Government’s declaration to replace Bengali script with Meetei Mayek in the school syllabus of Manipuri subject, Meetei Erol Eyek Loinasillon Apunba Lup (MEELAL) today observed Mayek Chatpa Numit at .....
High tension electric wire falls on Ukhrul school
Ukhrul, May 18: A High Tension (HT) wire fitted across the campus of Sacred Heart Higher Secondary School, Hungpung Ukhrul, fell on the school today. The incident occurred at around 11 am while the cadets of Scouts and Guides were performing drill exe.....
Veterinary directorate
IMPHAL, May 18: The Directorate of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Services has invited candidates for undergoing one year Vety Field Assistant Training course for the academic session 2013-14. Intending applicants could have the detailed information from.....
Fishermen refute charges
IMPHAL, May 18: Refuting the charge that fishermen of Loktak Lake had used chemical to clear phumdis (floating biomass) on the lake, the All Loktak Lake Area Fishermen’s Union, Manipur has urged the Govt of India to institute prompt, independent, impart.....
Introduction of Hindi in DU NEFIS urges, cautions
IMPHAL, May 18: Urging the Prime Minister Office to effect scrapping of the set of 'reforms' introduced by Delhi University in its four-year undergraduate courses, the North East Forum for International Solidarity has cautioned of launching democratic agi.....
Vitiligo Day observed
IMPHAL, May 18: Vitiligo, a common pigmentary disorder of the skin also widely known as Leucoderma, is neither infectious nor has any similarity whatever with Leprosy, according to Dr Karam Lokendro, Manipur State Branch President of Indian Association of.....
Victim, sister called to Court of Inquiry
IMPHAL, May 18: Even as the warrant of arrest issued by Court in connection with the rape attempt on a sweeper by a CRPF personnel has been accepted by CRPF authority, they have asked police to send the victim and her elder sister to assist in their court.....
Write Here Write Now
By : Kapil Arambam
On the National Evening Newspapers
All the national newspapers are eveningers in Manipur. It is next to impossible to read these papers in the morning, with the smell of their fresh prints, over a cup of changou or changang.
It is interesting that the most-circulated dailies in the country are available only in the evening and no contractor (…errr, minister) or an extortionist is responsible for the exclusive delay. Of course, internet allows us to browse the latest news as soon as the papers’ websites are updated, besides, we have Facebook and Twitter, but that’s another story.
The nearest mainstream newspapers’ offices, from Imphal, are located in Guwahati. A little more than a decade ago, almost all of them were located farther away in Kolkata. So after missing all the breaking news, exclusive reports and sensational items, the newspapers arrive here in a cosy flight, reach the distributors around 3–3:30PM and finally we get them around 5PM. On many occasions, we get the newspapers in bulk to a scrap dealer’s delight because of transportation issues.
That’s how the national morning papers turn to eveningers with a Manipuri magic wand. A peculiarity about these papers is that there are no hawkers, so we have to go and get them ourselves from the two main distributors: the Comic House, situated at Nipa Kiethel, near the landmark Khwairamband Keithel, and the PC Jain Store at Thangal Bazar.
Earlier we were excited to find a local news being published in any of these mainstream papers, but it did not last long as shortly we came across one of the elegant idioms: the special-edition publication, particularly, the Guwahati edition and the Northeast edition, in which there are enough fillers for local news. We still grouch that any national daily or the mainstream media as a whole is simply not interested in us and our places. Obviously, it is not profitable for the corporate-owners, on one hand, and our existence is listlessly absent in the mainland consciousness, on the other. Possibly there are other reasons too.
These facts do not mean we are news-starved. There are nearly twenty five vernacular papers, plus half a dozen of local English dailies in Manipur. And the times-they-are-a-changin’. Expect some full-fledged and authentic Manipuri newspapers in the next decade with the switching of Bengali scripts to Meitei Mayek.
Although we are optimistic, there is another problem: Meitei Mayek belongs to the Meiteis — the dominant ethnic group residing in the valley and there are more than 30 officially recognised groups — and worryingly, there are endless inter-ethnic disagreements and conflicts. This can be discussed some other time.
Now who can deny the Times of India is an evening newspaper? Some people might be convinced it is, citing its sensational tabloid contents, but it is still a ‘proper’ morning and one of the most-read papers in the country. So inevitably for the English readers in the state, there are the Sangai Express, the Imphal Free Press and a few other dailies, which the hawkers hand out before we get up from the bed. We can spare the evening for the Telegraph or the Times of India.
Leipung Famba
Kapil, Well written. I do like your take about Meitei Mayek.
af
the newspaper culture of our land is indeed commendable. let's hope our newspapers, including tse go on to achieve international level acclaim
Jack
I like d respected editor to kindly consider my ideology behnd d corruption and atleast help our iramdam in liberating from the mllenium age of corruption, sir it is a well known fact thatour land has been engulf by corruption, i like to put some light on this issue that corruption should be eraadicated now,if not our upcoming childrens would face a serious problem in the future, so the manipur govt. should not atleast take bribes for the post of police and other post which are related with arms and ammunitions like IRB,VDF,and many more as they handle guns,is very natural that they would be involed in various crimes,scams,which everyone daily hears in news, andts a fact why because if you took 20 lakh for a SI post then ultimately he would think to recover it by any means as he is in pursuance of GUN, so this trend of taking bribe for police post should be stop immediately. Sir(EDITOR), i appeal to forward this message to the entire people of the state through your press.......
@Jack
Really, I am proud of Jack for his good comment on Corruption in Manipur by Police. I am requesting Mr. Jack to write something more on the topic and hope All Editors in Manipur will publish the same not only for one day but on frequent basis so that our big corruptors could read and realised one day that they are not going to heaven with money what they had collected from the public.
