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 makes up Manipur today. God knows if Raj Bhavan or if the suited, booted and uniformed class of people have taken note of this facet of life in Manipur or not, but this is the reality. School van drivers suspending service for a day and speaking out their mind to the media, will definitely occupy prime space in any newspaper across the world and this is the story that Imphal based newspapers greeted the readers with in the morning of November 14, 2025. Come to think about it, there is nothing much to suggest that there is a Government in place and the very fact that school van drivers had to suspend service for a day and air their plight for all to see and hear should give an indication of the ‘presence of a Government.’ A matter of shame this is, for here is a story of vehicles carrying school kids having to suspend service for a day, that too when the annual school final examinations are approaching with nothing heard from the side of the Government. Why is it that the presence of the Government is only felt when traffic is diverted or some section of the roads are blocked so that those who come higher in the pecking order of the officialdom can breeze around undisturbed ? This is a serious question that Raj Bhavan should ask itself. The voice of protest or discontent raised by the school van drivers should also be seen and acknowledged in the backdrop of the fact that there have been cases of petty, leikai shops downing shutters to protest what they said were ‘unbearable monetary demands’ which unfailingly come with a good dose of threats and intimidating tones. This is Manipur and that this should happen when the place is neck deep in trouble, when the people are being forced to pay through their nose just to attend a physical test for recruitment of Agniveers and fly to Dimapur, or go to Guwahati for any emergency work and engagement, and certain very important points should fall in place. It seems that no one, not the least who have come to the forefront in the name of fighting for the land and the people, are interested in giving a sense of security to the people. On whose behalf is the supposed cause being taken up ? At the moment, no one knows who has served the demand notices to the school van drivers, who all come under an association or two, but one can imagine the mental trauma that these people have been subjected to and there is definitely something very disturbing about it all.
What steps has the PR administration taken up to deal with the situation ? The school vans will resume service, but an important point has been delivered and one wonders if the Government has taken note of the reality or not. Some time back it was petty shopkeepers and small time traders who shut shop to protest monetary demands, today it is about school van drivers suspending service for a day and tomorrow it could be anyone. And these are just two instances of the matter being brought to the notice of the public and there is no guarantee that such demand notes have not been served on others especially on the salaried class of people. This cannot be good for Manipur as a whole. A clear indication that the Government exists only in name and there is nothing to show that there is something called the rule of law. As stated, the only time the presence of the Government is felt is when traffic is diverted or a road is blocked to ease the movement of those who come higher up in the pecking order and nothing can be more unacceptable than this. Not surprising that none of the numerous civil society organisations, which are otherwise very local when it comes to moral policing, have spoken out against this. This is definitely not the time to further wound the people, people who are already reeling under a state of siege since the evening of May 3, 2023. Something has to give for Manipur cannot continue to be in this state for long.