4,87,571 out of 19.85 lakh is a low 24.5 percent of people who have received their Covid vaccination. This was as recent as June 18. And out of these 4.87 lakh people only 82,027 people have received their second jab. This works out to only 16.82 percent ..

The statistics tells its own worrying tale. Compared to bigger States, geographically as well as demographically, a cumulative caseload of 62,343 will not mean much, but keep the population strength of the place in mind and this becomes worrying.  Th..

Always caught one or even two steps behind. This is what the world and India have witnessed ever since the global pandemic broke out and this should more than underline the point that here is a virus which is tricky and can mutate at will and in the proce..

The virus continues to script a tale of tragedy. Clearly the second wave of the pandemic has turned out to be a monster killer, killing at will, snatching lives from left, right, centre. Each bereaved family will have a tragic tale to recount, of how they..

Numbers, statistics. This is what many or more than 90 percent of those who have passed away due to COVID-19 have been reduced to and this is one of the saddest parts. As a newspaper which is there to disseminate information to the people every morning, i..

The State Government should take a decision and fast at that. Does not make sense to keep on tenterhooks thousands of students who are to appear for their Class X and Class XII board examinations.  The call for a decision and a fast one at that is im..

Experts are agreed on two points-There will be a third wave in the country and two, children will be hit hard in the third wave. It is also generally agreed that India was caught on the wrong foot when the second wave hit the country hard, infecting at wi..

Getting back to the basics and this is exactly what the State Government is doing in going ahead with the mass testing programme at Imphal West. Couple this with the test conducted on those pulled up for violating the SOPs and defying the curfew call and ..

On May 31, 2021, Manipur crossed the grim milestone of 50 thousand cases and perhaps the time is opportune to raise the question of whether any lesson has been learnt from the first wave of the epidemic back in 2020 or whether it is more about day to day ..

Not the first State in India, but already the decision of the Government of Manipur to put a cap on the charges levied by private hospitals for treating COVID-19 positive patients appears to have run into rough water. It was on May 26 that the Government ..

Ramp up testing. Ramp up the three Ts-Test, Trace, Treat. Delegate authority and take all responsible personalities along in facing the scourge of the virus which is running amok amongst the people. The statistics should speak for itself. These are some l..

Seven is certainly not the age to die and likewise the many who were in their late 30s and 40s and 50s and even 60s who have fallen prey to COVID-19 during the second wave of the virus. On May 25, Manipur rewrote yet another ‘highest positive cases ..

Home isolation should be done away with for this is a flawed line of thinking. There is a reason why the Chief Minister is now so much concerned with patients under home isolation. What works in Europe or even in cities like New Delhi, Mumbai or Kolkata w..

The second wave has been more devastating than the first. A lesson to be learnt from the Spanish Flu of 1918 to 1920, for back then, more than a hundred years back, the second wave was more lethal. Manipur has been no exception. In a span of less than a m..

Ramp up the vaccination process. This is the need of the hour. After more than a week, Manipur witnessed the number of positive cases in a single day well below the 400 mark with 330 on May 17 but the death count continues to be well above ten, with 14 de..

The situation is critical, very critical. This does not mean that one should press the alarm button, but there is the need to acknowledge the critical situation. RIMS and JNIMS are being stretched to its limit. A prominent private medical hospital, Raj Me..

Interesting developments in Assam and Meghalaya. There was a reason why the English edition of The Sangai Express ran the news story of the number of SOP violators being pulled up in Manipur within a box under the main heading “‘Attempt to mur..

With over four thousand active cases, 4604 to be precise, the health infrastructure must be overstretched, but making things all that more worrisome is the fact no official figures have been given out on how many actually need hospitalisation. This is whe..

The fatality rate is reflective of the grim reality, with the term fatal written all over it. If 12 deaths on a single day was the highest recorded in Manipur till May 8 surpassing the previous record of 10 deaths in a single day, that unenviable record i..

With over two thousand active cases RIMS and JNIMS must be under heavy pressure. The same must be true for all the other private hospitals located in Imphal, particularly at Shija, Raj Medicity and others. The State Government too must be stretched to the..

Obvious that the statistics do not scare them. Obvious that the spirit behind the decision to declare areas under Greater Imphal as a containment zone has blown over their head. To many, the daily increase in the number of positive cases and the number of..

Medical oxygen or rather the lack of it is at the centre of it all even as the second wave of the pandemic continues to exact a heavy toll on thousands of people across the country. Manipur too has seen an upsurge in positive cases, running into the three..

Taking the vaccination drive one or two or even three notches higher. This is clear in the decision of the Narendra Modi led Government to expand the list of citizens eligible to get the vaccine shot from the earlier stipulation of 45 years and above to a..

The situation is worrying. The number of positive cases is increasing with each passing day and so is the number of deaths. Not surprising for as repeatedly pointed out in this column, the virus that causes Coronavirus knows no geography. So if the second..

The statistics say it all. The second wave is more severe in some States and it spreads faster, much faster. Heart rending stories of patients left to themselves, with hospitals unable to take them in due to shortage of beds, lack of oxygen etc are now st..

The new normal. And it remains to be seen how this new normal will impact on the annual examinations which students have to face every year. Given the system in vogue here where formal education is exam focused, it is hard to even entertain the thought th..

Keeping the virus out would be next to impossible. This is a given, yet this should not be taken to mean that a free run should be given for the virus to spread and create havoc. This is where questions may well be raised on how serious is the Government ..

It has not exactly queered the pitch but it has thrown open a totally new equation, which must have sent some keen political observers scrambling back to their ‘study room.’ If at all the 11th Assembly is remembered down the line, say in maybe..

Chief Minister N Biren Singh cannot be caught napping at this crucial moment. The BJP led Government at Imphal has to act and demonstrate it means business else the Manipur Government will come nowhere near the BJP led Government led by Prime Minister Nar..

The second wave may not yet have reached Manipur, but given the fact that geography is not a barrier to the virus, there is no reason to believe that the State and her people can stay insulated from the havoc played played out across the rest of the count..

The silence of the Government is deafening. Or is this a case of selective silence    with nothing dignified about it ? In as much as the Government has maintained an aloof stand, the cry of the Justice for Sanaton has only been getting mor..

One bandh averted and possibly further course of agitation too. The BJP led Government at Imphal seems to know how to deal with crisis such as this but it should not be forgotten that the core of the issue has not been addressed as yet. Granted the State ..

From April 29, 2020 to March 31, 2021 and obviously nothing much has changed at the ground reality. The first incident refers to the allegations that an inmate of  a rehabilitation centre was beaten to death by staff of the rehab centre and the secon..

The figure is disturbing, extremely disturbing. The second wave is on, but it is the rapid spread of the virus that should worry everyone. Twenty four hours after India recorded 72,330 new cases on April 1, the spread shot up to 81,466 on April 2, making ..

Elections to be held. But the more important question is when it will be held. Not surprisingly the All Tribal Students’ Union, Manipur (ATSUM) has seen red over the alleged failure of the State Government to announce when the election would be held..

Make no mistake about it. The second wave is on and the statistics should tell its own story. On March 19 India recorded nearly 40,000 new cases with 39,726. Two days later, that is on March 21, the number had climbed to 43,846 and on March 22 to 46,951. ..

March 21-International Day of Forests and 24 hours later, that is on March 22, World Water Day. Two days and surely the United Nations could not have chosen a better time than this month and observe two days which are intrinsically linked. So while Manipu..

The All Tribal Students’ Union, Manipur (ATSUM) must be confused. So too the people, particularly the hill people. Definitely not an enviable position for the Government to find itself in. So even as the State Government has assured ATSUM that a Cab..

Avoid statements that may create panic. This was Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address to the Chief Ministers during the COVID-19 meet on March 17. This however should not be taken to mean that the respective Chief Ministers should shy away from sou..

From a high of 426 cases in 24 hours on October 17, 2020 to ‘no cases’ on March 15, 2021 and this is certainly good news. But this is not the time to break out in a jingle and dance in the rain ! The virus is still out there and no one can pos..

May not be related to the core issue, but nonetheless it would be interesting to ask what is the stand of the different political parties, particularly the Naga People’s Front, to the demand raised by the All Tribal Students’ Union, Manipur th..

It was not unexpected of the Government to put a ban on Thabal Chongba and Shumang Lila ahead of the coming Yaoshang festival and in the same vein it was also not unexpected of the voices of derision that have come from some of the citizens of the land. H..

It is still some days away, less than 20 days to be more precise and this is perhaps where the collective discipline of the people will be put to test. It did not impact on the people’s behaviour last year for Yaoshang festival came before Manipur r..

It appears an unseen force is holding back the much delayed election to the six Autonomous District Councils of the State. The six ADCs were dissolved after their usual term of five years was extended by six months. After expiry of the extended six months..

The next Assembly election is still a year away and the interesting question is not so much which party will form the next Government at Imphal or even how effective the present BJP led Government has been, but how people will remember the unfolding serie..

Education Minister S Rajen Singh appears to be a man on a mission and so far at least 19 school teachers have been placed under suspension for absenteeism. To be sure the swift action taken by the Education Minister will have an immediate effect and schoo..

It is crucial that the exact cause of the death of the Anganwadi worker be established as soon as possible. It is also equally important that the whole process of working out the cause of her death be as transparent as possible, for that is the way to ear..

Not the first time and this most probably will not be the last time either, but what has made the latest case all that more diabolical is the point that even after 7 days of the incident, no group has claimed responsibility. For one full week Imphal based..

Constitutional protection. Chief Minister N Biren is obviously worried that there is no Constitutional protection for the Meitei community but yet at the same time the BJP led Government at Imphal is yet to send a recommendation to the Centre seeking the ..

Starting off on the wrong foot. And this does not paint Dhanamanjuri College in any good light. Classes started on January 27, and it is difficult to digest that the college authority has not been able to work out something as basic as fixing the fee stru..