Editorial

Torbung back in focus after May 3, 2023 Replaying the nightmare

Manipur went to sleep on December 16 in a disturbed state of mind and this was only reinforced on December 17 morning when  hard news of the bullets being rained down at Phougakchao Ikhai and Torbung greeted the readers. This much is true and from wh..

Setting the priorities right Normalcy should be on top

The focus of the people should not be lost. This is where it becomes important to question whether the people have stuck to a consistent narrative after the evening of May 3, 2023 or whether the goal post keep changing according to the agenda laid down by..

Lethal touch to the roads in Imphal Revolting indifference

The indifference is revolting. Comes close to the understanding of telling the people to take a hike, never mind that the indifference can claim human lives. If it is not about waving the people aside, so that the suited, booted class who come under the t..

Timing of the stand of UPF, KNO Delhi Durbar

One has to give it to them. The United People’s Front (UPF) and the Kuki National Organisation (KNO) have mastered the art of ‘striking out at the right moment’ and nothing illustrates this better than the media statement issued just one..

Date at Delhi on December 14 Needed : Roadmap

The Sangai Express went with the term ‘Delhi calls MLAs’ rather than ‘Delhi summons MLAs’ for reasons which must be clear to readers who are accustomed to reading beyond the obvious. And so it is that a number of BJP MLAs have alre..

A hard sincere look at society Housewives to homemakers

Put them on a pedestal in the public domain, but what happens within the confines of one’s home is nobody’s business. Yet another Nupi Lan is at hand and the essence of the line just spelt out here should become all that more clear. Manipur is..

Interesting emerging patternReady for the high profile visit

The pattern in the emerging reality is interesting. It could be a series of coin- cidences or it could be something which have been crafted or drawn up by some of the best brains in the business of drawing up chess moves, which only a certified grandmaste..

Open interaction with Kuki inmates Notching up a first

How can Manipur return to normalcy without talks ? This question is critical for people on either side of the clash divide, particularly those who have emerged as self proclaimed champions of the community they purport to represent, and this is where it b..

Pathetic state of roads in Imphal Indifference and apathy

For months The Sangai Express has been writing on the pathetic state of the roads in Imphal and will continue to do so for there is nothing at the ground to show that the Government has woken up to this. More than a case of indifference for couched in the..

Jolting MoCA awake with flight fare Indifferent to Manipur

The irony is not lost on Manipur. For over two years, different airlines operating on the Imphal to Delhi, Imphal to Kolkata, Imphal to Silchar, Imphal to Guwahati sectors have been bleeding the people dry with exorbitant air fares and the one line answer..

JTC delivers a point with memo to Modi Of non-stop incursion

Unchecked immigration, large scale mushrooming of new settlements, well armed groups protecting/encouraging the new settlements, heavy illegal taxation on commercial vehicles plying on the National Highways. These are the points highlighted by the Joint T..

Drug route through dense forests Expanding poppy fields

The United Nations has brought it to the notice of the world and it goes well with the seeming renewed drive against poppy plantation in Manipur. Myanmar Opium Survey 2025 undertaken and issued by the United Nations on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC) has highligh..

Dust in winter; mud and slush in summer Failure down the years

When it rains, it is all about leikhom-leinang and now with the dry season that comes with winter every year, it is all about uphul-waiphul. A reality under which Manipur has had to live down the decades and while the Air Quality Index may not be that unh..

Displaced folks and call to return home A call out to the elected MLAs

The focus of the MLAs, particularly the BJP MLAs, must be clear. The focus should and must be on how to take up steps to ensure that the internally displaced persons can return to the place they once called home. It however is not clear whether their eyes..

Just 30 days left to step into 2026 Normalcy still a far cry

Year 2025 is fast coming to an end. In just another 30 days, the world would have stepped into a new year and Manipur will not forget President’s Rule whenever anyone looks back to 2025, 30 days hence. And if 2025 will be remembered as the year of t..

Emerging voices from displaced folks Surviving in relief camps

One point that has emerged prominently in the boycott call of the Sangai Festival is the existence of thousands of people surviving in different relief centres for more than two years now. Lest it is forgotten, the displaced people cut both ways, affectin..

From November 3 to November 28 Indifference or inefficiency ?

The timeline given here in bold is done so with a purpose. On November 3 the Manipur Progressive Pig Farmers’ Association (MPPFA) had a story to tell the media, a story that was meant to be told to Manipur. A large number of pigs had been infected b..

The curse from across the border From Keishing to Gangmei

Back in 2024, when the State Assembly was alive and kicking, Phungyar Assembly Constituency MLA Leishiyo Keishing had flagged the problem of large scale intrusion from the across the border and how the number of immigrants had outnumbered the local people..

Time to think out of the box Of single use plastics

Single use plastic carry bag is here to stay and the Government will have to think  out of the box and study how to deal with the plastic menace. The answer obviously is regulation, work out some mechanisms through which its sale and usage can be reg..

Indifference or inefficiency ? No ears for displaced folks

The message is clear. For the thousands who have been languishing in the different relief centres set up across the length and breadth of Manipur, the only thing they want is to go home. The stand of the Government or the instructions given to the securit..

Posers and more posers for Delhi What have been done so far ?

What steps has Delhi taken up to resettle the people at the places they once called home ? Has Delhi and by extension Raj Bhavan reached out to make the return of the displaced persons possible ? And this should cut both ways, that is the Kuki-Zo people w..

Interesting developments within NPP Questions on the third front

It is interesting and it may have an impact on the next Assembly elections slated for the early part of 2027. This is all that more so given that the Congress seems to be on the comeback trail, best exemplified by the excellent showing its two candidates..

Sangai Festival : Debates with merit Ugly fallout over the standoff

The PR administration has gone ahead with the Sangai Festival and while not all roads will lead to the festival venue, this has not stopped intense debates from cir-culating in the social media. Some are interesting while others are downright unpalatable..

Disconnect between PR and people The tussle will have no winner

It is not a question of who will win, for there can be no winner in this case. On the one side is the PR administration hell bent in going ahead with the Sangai Festival and on the other hand are the internally displaced persons who have come out as one t..

Tourism Fest amid potholed roads If wishes were horses

One wish that the PR administration had applied the same level of commitment, the resources and the willingness to go ahead with the Sangai Festival to the abysmal conditions of all the roads in Imphal. Quixotic it is that Raj Bhavan is intent on going ah..

To be or not to be over Sangai Fest Politics of normalcy

The politics of normalcy and this is becoming more and more visibly blatant, even as each day takes Manipur closer to the Sangai Festival. Scheduled to start from November 21 and to go on till November 30, a number of civil society organisations and most..

Factoring in on the Kuki-Zo MLAs Return of a popular Govt

It is no longer a question of ‘when’ Delhi would agree to a popular Government to return, but of whether any of the ten Kuki-Zo MLAs would be part of the next Ministry. The Sangai Express did not pluck the ‘Kuki-Zo MLAs decide to join fo..

Prioritise the need of the people Roadmap to normalcy

BL Santosh and Sambit Patra came here, met BJP leaders and office bearers of the saffron party, interacted with the IDPs, visited Senapati and Churachandpur, and are now at Delhi. What can Manipur expect from the visit of the two leaders ? Tough to say, b..

School vans halting service for a day The ugly reality of Manipur

Monetary demands and qualify that with the term ‘unbearable’ which can be better understood when read with the line ‘different organisations have raised unbearable monetary demands’ and this about sums up one part of the story that..

Reeling under Dengue, now ASF Blocking free flow of information

The all important question is, what steps has the PR administration taken up to deal with the outbreak of African Swine Fever,  a non-zoonotic, viral disease that has reportedly infected a large number of pigs at Churachandpur and Kakching. Equally i..

Nov 3 : Unknown disease stalking pigs reported Has the Swine Flu/ASF landed or not ?

November 3, 2025 : Imphal based print and electronic media went to town with the news that an unknown, unidentified disease was stalking and killing pigs, particularly at Phibou, Kakching, Ukhongsang and Moirang Khunou. The agenda of the Manipur Progressi..

Penalise the Secured Printing Press Comedy of error

It was a comedy of error, but it is more than clear that it was not the Manipur Public Service Commission (MPSC) which scripted this comic tale, but the Secured Printing Press which was assigned the duty of printing the question papers for the Manipur Civ..

Making Manipur a hell to live Nothing seems to work

Nothing seems to be working right for Manipur and it has been like this for years and years. A clear indication that nothing is on track. At the moment no road in Imphal is free of potholes and uneven stretches and now with the dry season setting in, it i..

Projecting the next CM’s face Priority is a roadmap

Leaving aside the question of whether the return of a popular Government would make the situation better or not, it is significant to note that this is the first time that an MLA has publicly announced the name of a colleague as the leader to be backed. L..

Should the Sangai Fest be held or not ? Looking at the reality

Should the PR administration go ahead with the proposed State level Sangai Festival or should it take cognizance of the vocal and strenuous voice of opposition raised against going ahead with the festival ? Crucial question this is, for in many ways it wo..

Coming together of NPP, Tipra Motha How will it impact on NE ?

Meghalaya and Tripura are obviously the two States which will first test the water for the new banner that will come following the ‘merger’ of the NPP and the Tipra Motha. The tie up or merger move has already been announced and the finer deta..

Rushing in to claim credit Positive move from Raj Bhavan

It was with a reason why The Sangai Express took upon itself to go all out in covering the exorbitant airfare structure on the Imphal-Gauhati sector for two consecutive days but it should be clear that this initiative came rather late in the day. Fare hik..

When the sky becomes a cage Criminal fare structure

Paying not for free market but State enabled monopoly of suffering. This is the line used in a write up and submitted to The Sangai Express by a concerned and well meaning citizen of Manipur. The said write up came as a response to the news item under the..

Pathetic reality of Govt schools Teachers in studentless schools

Something is horribly wrong and the Government is just fumbling in the dark on how to deal with the matter. That is if it is aware of the pathetic state of schools that come under the Government. As the Unified District Information System for Education Pl..

Refugees in their own homeland Of Sangai Fest and IDPs

In just another 61 days, Manipur, like the rest of the world, will be stepping into a new year and inching more close towards the three year mark of the violence that erupted in all its ugliness in the evening of May 3, 2023. Two years is a long time, mor..

Ghost of 2009 coming back to haunt Court date on November 25

The Court has decided. There is no reason to accept the closure report submitted by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the alleged extra-judicial killing of two persons back in 2009 and has directed 10 Manipur police personnel, a then Major of and a..

Refusing to look beyond Brahmaputra Of indifference and neglect

Where does the North East region of the country figure in the consciousness of New Delhi ? Can the change from Look East to Act East Policy be taken to mean that Delhi is not averse to the idea of brushing aside the interests of the North East at the alta..

Dissolve Assembly : Interesting stand Ready to be more than a junior partner

Dissolve the Assembly and go in for fresh elections. This was Wangoi AC MLA Khurai-jam Loken of the NPP and look a little further and it could well reflect how Conrad Sangma’s party has read the situation. This is a sort of an open announcement that..

Noting the rants and finger pointing Make it a debate, not rants

Just three words but in these three words, Keirao Assembly Constituency MLA Lourem-bam Rameshwar delivered a point which has for long been acutely felt by the more discerning people of the State. Quality leader needed, are the words used by the MLA while..

Missing the ST bus : Follies of the past ‘Sleeping’ over 2013 communique

A tribal group, in fact a hill tribe but missed the bus to be included in Scheduled list of the tribal groups and according to the ST for Meiteis advocates this is one of the primary reasons why the Meiteis today stare at a bleak future with no Constituti..

Different takes on the man from Somdal From jungles to PM level

In the winter of his life and whatever one’s position is on what is dubbed as the ‘Naga issue,’ it stands that Th Muivah has been able to bring the said issue to the level of the Prime Minister and accordingly the ongoing dialogue is hel..

Not Khudolpot Tannaba Numit Essence of Ningol Chakkouba

Extend the understanding of Ningol Chakkouba just a little and if the same sentiments associated with one’s immediate blood sister or daughter can be extended a little a bit, then Manipur would certainly be a much better place to live. Every year th..

All eyes on Ukhrul, Somdal Homecoming of Muivah

It is thanks to this man that today all eyes are on Ukhrul and Somdal village and whether one agrees with his political vision of a Lim or not, he is the man of the moment. It is 2025 and not 2010. It was the Congress back then and today it is the BJP, de..

War on Drugs, a collective responsibility

After the Government of Manipur’s War on Drugs, neighbouring Mizoram launched a campaign for “Operation Against Trafficking and Use of Drugs and Narcotics in Mizoram” on September 1, 2025. Media reports say that as many as 115 people fro..

Emergence of two power centres Challenges from within

The Congress better get its act together if it intends to pose a serious challenge to the BJP when Manipur goes to polls in 2027 or the flicker of hope it has managed to ignite for a grand comeback will die out in no time. Funny it is, but when the fortun..