If Imphal’s streets have been witness to daily protests against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, they were offering today a glimpse into Manipur’s other reality.Hundreds gathered outside the State Bank of India on M G Avenue because this was where the Manipur government, for the first time in over three months, was disbursing salaries to its employees and pensioners. Not everyone could get in. So a bank official began reading out names of those who would be allowed entry first. It was like a lottery, but much more was at stake. Until today, the state government simply didn’t have money for salaries. Had it issued a cheque, it would have bounced. This happens frequently in this state. ‘‘We run up big RBI overdrafts,’’ explained an official. ‘‘When we don’t clear it for a certain number of days, payment is automatically stopped. Then we go begging again.’’ The pensioners were not complaining. ‘‘At least, we are getting all our dues,’’ said Rafiq-ud-din, 64, who retired from the education department. ‘‘Sometimes, after waiting for three months we get only one month’s pension.’’ To him, it means borrowing from the moneylender at 4 per cent a month. ‘‘One has to eat,’’ he said. So most of his pension goes towards repaying the loan. To Imphal, such erratic payments mean a slowdown in the already sluggish business, since no one has money to shop. And to the government, it’s a familiar but depressing cycle. Manipur raises less than Rs 100 crore by way of its own revenue but it spends more than ten times the amount. The Centre makes up the difference. Most of it goes towards paying salaries and pension as the government employs nearly 80,000 people even though the state’s population is just 23 lakh. It has to keep hiring because no one else will. An airline that plied the Imphal route has stopped doing so. A cement factory on the road to Ukhrul was closed down because the structure started tilting dangerously. No one bothered to open a new one. The extortion money demanded by insurgents has chased private industry away. Some 4.5 lakh names are on the rolls of the employment exchange with no jobs in sight. Ethnic rivalries are becoming more pronounced. ‘‘Our biggest crime is that we are Hindus,’’ says a Meitei. His community makes up more than half the population, but it is the others who are eligible for job reservation. They are considered tribals while the Meiteis, who insist their background is no different, say they are suffering. ‘‘Some young men say that if they stay overground they are jobless but if they go underground, they can buy a bike,’’ says Prof Gangmumei Kabui, a noted historian. Simplistic, perhaps, but not entirely untrue. Rising Meitei and Naga nationalism, a sense of being wronged: it reads like an ad for insurgency. And insurgency is chasing jobs away. By noon, the queues outside the bank show no signs of shortening. A hassled pensioner marvels at the timing. ‘‘“We are getting paid in the morning to improve the mood as the chief minister is returning from Delhi.’’ Related Story
