Re: [ALOCHONA] Fw: [chottala.com] Zia That I Knew: A Flashback

Was Zia  really court martialed?

We did hear about him being  transferred several times from one sector to another, due to non actions in the front lines under his jurisdiction.

During the nine months never heard of Z force etc. Then suddenly after the liberation war there was lots cacophony about all these forces, Z force,K force etc.....

 

Very difficult to salvage the real truth from all those distortions & manipulations of facts.

 

However one thing is true he declared the independence in the name of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

 

One can well imagine an unknown Army major declaring the independence of a country on his own & the nation goes full march in its war of independence. It doesn't hold much ground, definitely.

 

Vast majority of Bangalis had voted Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as their uncontested leader.

That leadership has a track record of many many years since pre Pakistan period;as student leader in Baker Hostel,his jail terms for his opposition to implementation of Urdu as state language,the six point demands to free the Bangalis from the yokes of Pakistani exploitation....

Like many leaders he had many flaws ,then one should not question his sincerety of intentions. Unfortunately same can not be said about Zia.

 

It's really foolhardy to equate a mountain to  a molehill.

 

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[ALOCHONA] Tipaimukh: Ten 2 Twenty Years More of Darkness

Tipaimukh: Ten 2 Twenty Years More of Darkness By: T. Vunglallian * The never-ending issue of a so-far-away-mega-dam-to-be keeps me terribly frustrated, sometimes almost depressed. I feel so, not because of the sporadic banging of heads by anti-dam lobbyists 300 km away, or against unrelenting all-powerful walls 3000 km away. Not because of hundreds of wise-guys, much like I, who pen their thoughts, as if theirs were the last word on something going to happen some place they have not, and probably will never ever see. Not because the silent nods of the pro-dam folks at zero mile are not seen or reported about, but are noted and heard within the walls that matter. What matters is the always-lose situation the common people of Manipur invariably find themselves in. And what is especially worrisome is that no one ? right, No One - seems to care, or seems the least bit worried about another T2TYMD. T2TYMD? Ah! Ten2TwentyYears More of Darkness. This marathon darkness should leave one truly horrified. Just think, among a thousand other things, that 10-20 batches of Manipur?s young BSEM/CBSE/COHSEM/ MBBS/MU etc. candidates are condemned to study painfully under flickering candle-flame till 2020. Or 2030! The impact and loss of not being able to study to their heart?s content, during any hour(s) of the 24 hr clock ? while, at the same time, not missing out on the light relief through occasional TV serials like SBKBT, Arirang or Discovery ? is not only not fair on their future and our present, but the loss and harm is way beyond any estimation! [Here, I wonder why the concerned Department has not held any seminar, or presented to the people its Power Vision-2020 as done by Higher Education ? even if it remains mostly of talk only status. But the fact of the matter is that some of these exercises might just lead to some positive things being done, if not, at least the negatives could get identified and excised somewhere, sometime by someone. The sum total of all these should tip the scale towards the positive. It is, therefore, suggested that our Chief Minister should make each government department state its ?Vision-2020? within the next 2/3 months. It would not only be very interesting, it might also actually spur action and a future, for once. Of course, the CM would have to take the precaution of putting a cap on expenditure for each department?s Vision. Say a maximum of Rs. 25,000/- per department. This would be inclusive of five hard copies only for inauguration. For the rest of us what he launches on the net, on the same vision declaration day, should suffice. This ceiling on expenditure is absolutely necessary, to rein in those who tend to go overboard]. A disturbing and inexplicable phenomenon is that our deprivation of power and light are taken lying down by most of us. It would, however, be unfair to blame the silent majority. After all, those who could have led the protests, viz. the other-wise hyper-active civil societies, are just too busy protesting, under limelight conditions, only about everything under the sun, except for commonplace things like electricity, non-performing schools and colleges, inordinately late dispersal of salaries, dysfunctional PHCs, poor infrastructure, no piped water, clogged drains, sickening garbage-piling-rat-thriving scenes of Imphal, our capital etc. This deafening silence prompts the light-desperate sons of the soil to adapt by quietly upsetting tight family budgets and buying Chinese inverters and Thai batteries. When these batteries get discharged because of no power for recharging... the better off go in for generators as a back-up. Some go in for phoren rechargeable lamps of all shapes and sizes, and perhaps with sirens, radio and torches in-built. Whereas the majority make do with Myanmarese candles that look straighter and burn cleaner. Many also simply go to bed early and rise early.. Now, as the Sriram Hondas and Birla Yamahas are prohibitively priced, bargaining and buying someone?s attractively packaged flood west generators (that come at half the cost of our own products) is the way out for the well heeled. But the story does not end there, because they then go about stocking drums of diesel to tide over regular blockades, both natural and man-made. This endless cycle of grim situations get worse if the generators are the type run on kerosene, because of a thriving relic of the past, the permit raj! Whereby, as petrol pumps down their shutters, hordes of aam imas spring up, hawking blue or pink plastic bottles and cans whose contents are over-priced, ruin engines and tend to suffocate us. Thus the general public?s ad-hoc remedy becomes a never-ending story of back-ups upon back-ups, besides the frequenting of workshops and lung specialists. Should one attribute the lying down phenomenon, as an effect of being the sports-powerhouse of the East making us take all raw deals in our stride? Or, being the patient listeners that we are, the rhetoric from the Kangla podium directing us to look east, goes down so well with us that we applaud and forget our daily grinds. Or, in trying to be so goody-goody do we evolve into a people who find it difficult to say No .... so that our apparent accessibility does not permit us to raise a whimper of a protest ? for things one should take for granted? Whatever, we end up obediently fishing out our slim wallets and purchasing inverters, batteries, generators, DVDs, jungle boots, dynamo torches, blankets, quilts, slippers, nail-cutters, look-a-like Barbies, even more look-a-like Nikes, canned beer, bottled wine, spicy sticky sweet n? sour snacks, and what not. We lap them all up because our own much-touted look east wallahs can never produce such attractively made necessities at such throw-way prices. (The gist of the story is that the Tigers? un-declared ?flood west? initiative succeeds, and sells with impunity because there is and was no fanfare. They know our needs and so they just make and sell. They also make sure we can stretch our few rupees a bit more, so that we can buy more, and they can make more ? forcing us to ignore a nice sounding: Be Indian, buy Indian. Thus we just shell out. They pocket. And to our detriment what we unwittingly start is an un-called for keeping up with our own Joneses! The lesson is: Our think-tank certainly have more than a thing or two to learn from these flooding west economies who follow the simplest of market strategies based on supplying human needs attractively priced and packaged? and not wasting their breath on fanfare policies). So, when there is no electricity what does the government do? It performs a sleight of hand and creates a diversion. Troops and helicopters come and a foundation stone is laid 300 km away. The cunningness of the seasoned government is that, thereafter, many a gullible got tickled pink by prospects of no more power shortage. Some even sing the praises and are lulled by the prospects of some future free power! Such people have not paused and thought: How long that foundation stone would take to become an inauguration stone? How can so-called free power be translated into something real for the aam aadmi? Are these strategic attempts engineered to make us forget about light and life till 2020-going-on-2030? Because, just imagine this: 10x365=3650 days and nights. Or 20x365=7300 days and nights without much light! What a dark future? For me, I think that is one of the best reasons why Manipur must create the environment for fighting for and getting our much-needed electric power in double quick time. Given that bleak power future, I do not mind joining my hands and beseeching all those anti-dam lobbies and individuals: Let us just say a big YES; let us, instead, push and force those who are to build the four dams... that they build well and safely in double record time; that we shall allow them to build only when they include the dam-affected as real stake-holders with guaranteed life-long provisions in their bank accounts? in the form of ESOPs, a la NR Murthy of Infosys! (Ref. this writer's ?Dams: Small is Beautiful?). Yet, one knows that such beseeching will get nowhere. So, in the mean time, the questions to ask are: Why must we wait so long? Isn't there something that can be done in the mean time? With the technology available can't we have alternative sources of power that can be set up in a few month's time? Can't we think of having enough power for the whole state, not from one source, collected and distributed by one Electricity Department that has consistently failed. We must have power from hundreds of alternative power generating sources? all independent of each other, and certainly under 1/100th the cost of mega projects? In other words: Why not go in for a policy of? ?Power: Small is Beautiful? and ?Power to the People?? There shall be knowledgeable objections telling about the higher cost per unit of electricity produced by alternative sources, like solar and wind energy, as compared to power from a mega hydro-project. There is no denying that cost advantage. But, what of the cost of tens of thousands of our youth losing out, every year, on their irretrievable time, because of no electricity? Consider, their potential never to be tapped, their fantastic energies wasted; their contracting of eye and health problems; their taking up of gun-culture; their marrying, having a family, and still living off parents, society or state; or their taking to alcohol or drugs; their dreams shattered, their lives squandered? Consider workshops and steel fabricators, Xerox machines and cyber-caf頯wners, clinics, hospitals, offices? none working to efficiency, capacity or profit ? all because there is not enough cheap clean power? Yes, what of such costs that are beyond calculation? If economists say the social and economic cost of unemployment is very high, we must know that the availability of power empowers everyone, regardless of age, colour, caste, creed, status, influence or pocket. So much so that it can dramatically lower our unemployment figures and enjoyably improve the quality of life. That, in brief, is one of the powers of power. Actually, in the light of the above inestimable costs, ten mega-projects would be cheaper! In November 2006 (recall my TSE article: ?Dams: Small is Beautiful?) i thought the solution, viz. of how to get light quickly, lay in having four smaller dams, instead of one mega-Tipaimukh. I had concluded thus, on the thought that even if only one of the four smaller dams got commissioned in 4-5 years, then Manipur's entire power needs could be easily met, either by buying up all of that first smaller dam's entire MW output. Or, in our typical and more likely fashion, by hijacking all that is produced, payments be damned! This line of thinking was born of my back-up-to-back-up experience and our culture of enjoying-power-without-payment. It was also born out of the knowledge that one big dam is going to continue attracting obstructions and controversies all the way, even beyond its inauguration day. One needn't be a prophet to see that coming. Anyway, it was in January of 2007 that my frustrations peaked. For I saw how much electricity was evolving, empowering and enhancing the lives of people from Darjeeling to Sikkim to the Kingdom of Bhutan to the north-eastern states of Assam, Meghalaya and Nagaland (places and states I drove through in a month long darshan, and so saw what I am saying with my own eyes). I ended up thinking that if there were to be a NE power club, these states would easily qualify for membership. (Arunachal - which I leave for another day - would also quite easily qualify, judging from reports). Whereas, Manipur would disqualify herself by a mile... though we are world-beaters in so many more ways than any of the others. The darshan has doubly confirmed my earlier contention: Access to electricity is the way to development! This is as opposed to everyone else's Peace for Development, or the nastier: ?Development after Peace.? Whereas, my watchword is: Power for Development. [In fact, cannot our powers-that-be realize that one cannot buy peace? Haven't they experienced that peace will come dropping by? in its time? On the other hand, development can be hurried and bought. Bought today itself. Or tomorrow. Come to think of it, if we had bought it yesterday, there'd have been so much peace today. So let's be practical and buy that development, and not worry about peace]. Now, I for one, just do not want to wait and waste even one day? forget years? of my life living on someone's pipe dream! I cannot, and why must i wait for my land's hundred thousand students foolhardily using up their alternate day's irregular electric light quota for watching TV... after which all of them will pore painfully over their books, lit by Myanmarese candle-light? Here, if a critic says youth have their priorities all wrong, e.g. watching serials and Arirang when they ought to use whatever little light that comes for studies... I'd say, this was a case of the pot calling the kettle black. In this matter, I side fully with youth. Rather, I blame the elders who run the government, not luckless youth. Isn't it, therefore, the Government that has all its priorities deliberately all wrong? With time running out for the young of our land in this world of mind-boggling opportunities and bitter races - just because their elders did not and do not have the vision to provide the wherewithal for a level power-field, something else must be sought, something else must be done - besides lying down and waiting for dams to come 10-20-30 years hence. Yes, something else must be done? so that we can tell it with a sigh and make all the difference for their and our future! What we need ? and need to cry for - is not alternative roads and alternative sites, but alternative sources of power. Easier said than done, undoubtedly. However, not trying is not going to make life easier, so here's an attempt by suggesting some things known but not seriously thought of. The precaution being that any of the suggested power systems taken up for implementation ought to be selected on a location's suitability basis, e.g. a wind generating system is to come up if, and only if the place is a really windy place. And not because the MLAs' windless village must have it, come what may. Suggestions: Solar Energy: This good old non-conventional source is becoming more and more efficient and viable by the day, thanks to technology. Proof of its success? Look at Thanlon of Churachandpur, said to be quite lit up at night, thanks to solar units doled out liberally by its former elected representative. We can also just look at the number of homes in our towns using solar units ? albeit very small ones - as a secondary source of light. (Interestingly, most got theirs by buying them off, dirt-cheap, from rustic beneficiaries who needed cash more than light). Gobar Gas: Equally bandied about but, actually, quite suitable for rural areas. This form, however, has just not taken off. This is perhaps because of the dirty feeling associated with it, and the fact that, in the hills, not too many in a village keep cows. Wind Energy: An advertisement of Vestas, a wind power major, proclaims wind energy as the ?green power revolution' that can provide ?clean, unlimited power' for ?energy independence.' These proclamations are, like, made for Manipur and holds fantastic promise. The stereo-type criticism that the tower and propeller units are huge and cumbersome to set up is but a red herring. For, if gigantic pylons with their valley-crossing cables can be set up in the most in-accessible of terrains, in comparison, the setting up of wind energy units - that too in established villages or towns - should be a cake-walk. Most importantly, this is a very promising energy source for the many windy places that dot the hills of the state. There is then scope for each of these wind-powered villages soon enjoying ?energy independence!' Picture that in a state that lives in its villages. Micro-hydel Power: Electricity generated through these units has been very successfully set up in the remotest parts of Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. For instance, beyond the Rohtang Pass, the Pangi Valley (that gets cut-off from the rest of the world for more than 6 months of the year), is today, Himachal's showcase for power self-sufficiency. This has been achieved through scores of micro-hydel power projects. The icing on the cake is that the lives of its hill-folks have been forever changed through free power, courtesy the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB) and Him Urja - two organisations that have constructed numerous low-cost, eco friendly and need-based micro-hydel units. (Now, considering that Manipur's remote hill areas will, at best, continue seeing electric posts minus the wires, for a long time to come ? perhaps, it is time for a Manipur State Hill Electricity Board). Note: While championing the alternative sources of power, this writer still remains an advocate of four smaller dams instead of one mega dam, primarily because hydro-electricity is cheaper. Also, he enjoys imagining the creation and development of four spanking new hill town-ships ? complete with the un-heard-of electricity and piped drinking water 24x365, among other modern facilities. He savours the thought of these modern life-hubs giving an all-round boost to the life and times of too-long-forsaken hill areas. He pictures the new crop of crore-pati-stake-holder-dam-affected-tribals flashing credit cards and e-investing in mutual funds and the share market ... from four hitherto middle-of-nowhere(s), and, not to forget, the controlling of floods in the lower reaches. Having said the above, what it boils down to is that the seemingly costly but numerous smaller alternative sources of energy are, initially, meant to be a stop-gap arrangement, while waiting for the commissioning of the first of the four dams. The waiting period and the shelf-life of these generating units would perhaps coincide. There is, of course, every possibility that newer technology could make the units so durable and viable that the four dams could export most of their generation and earn, and enrich further, both the state and our stake-holders-dam-oustees! Finally: This writer entrusts the responsibility and work of using the said alternative non-conventional sources of energy in the hands of our elected representatives. It is they, and they alone who have the power, resources and the certainty of knowing, truthfully and exactly, where perennial mountain streams run in their constituencies (for micro-hydel projects); where the places are really windy (for wind turbines); where the sunshine is on the extreme side (for solar energy), and where the inhabitants traditionally own heads of cattle in large numbers (for gobar gas units) etc. With their knowledge of the lay of their constituency, the resources at their command, and in the know ? more than anybody else - about the special needs of their voters, it is hoped that the representatives take up the challenge. Of course, our representatives have to worry and be wary about two things, viz:- (a) They must deal directly with world-class specialist manufacturers/makers/suppliers of the alternative power systems (e.g. Suzlon, No.4 in the world, and Vestas for wind energy or AAA Hydro Power Consultants, Alps Power Technologies (P) Ltd., Energy & Engineering Solutions etc. for microhydel power). It is implied that they must never succumb to the idea of giving the nod to smart fly-by-night tender-specialists! The challenge should be taken up only through thoroughly professional and reputed companies, even if it costs more at first glance. (b) They must rid themselves of their nagging fear of losing their vote-bank and workers, whom they've got used to thinking they can retain only by pampering and giving them precedence for culvert, drains or retaining wall contracts, piggery or ring-well schemes etc., usually at the cost of the truly deserving. To quell their fears, the humble line of approach suggested is: It is time to recharge (not renew or discard) the old faithful voters and solid vote banks ? by giving them what they never thought of asking and never got. This our MLAs could do by providing power and focusing on youth. And change lives forever. Our representatives ought to know that today, the below-30 population is where the numbers are, and more than any other generation, this generation needs to be wired. Given the enormity, complexity and fiscal outlay involved, it is natural for our elected representatives to be the right persons to usher in an era of light and hope for their constituency's young (and old). Hence the faith is reposed in them to do their duty towards the votes cast for them. If, unfortunately, they think they bought the votes and so plod on in their old ways, then they will have sold their future. They ought to be able to see that coming. Consequently, catering to the future of the wired generation would help in getting rid of T2TYMD. This writer looks forward to such riddance because he cannot, unlike SBKBT or B4U, enjoy T2TYMD. It isn't even a serial, nor a popular channel! It deserves the boot, the quicker the better. http://e-pao.net/epSubPageExtractor.asp?src=news_section.opinions.Opinion_on_Building_of_Tipaimukh_Dam.Tipaimukh_T2TYMD_3

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