IF there’s something Okram Iboboi Singh has learnt ever since he became Manipur’s chief minister, it is the art of accommodation. His Cabinet is bursting at the seams with members of the Secular Progressive Front (SPF), which assumed power in the first week of March. A state that was government-less for months now has 18 cabinet ministers, including the CM, 10 ministers of state with independent charge and five ministers of state. In fact, the pressure on Ibobi Singh to make place for every member of the ruling front didn’t leave behind anybody for the post of deputy speaker! Though Singh appointed Congress’s Kangujam Ranjit Singh as deputy speaker on March 21, he resigned the very next day after letting the CM know that all he wanted was a cabinet berth. The post was eventually bagged by the opposition. That leaves only two legislators in the ruling front without a portfolio. Ibobi has still managed to cling to the home, finance, cabinet, personnel and administrative reforms portfolios, as perhaps, future IOUs. For a small state, Manipur’s politicians sure have big ambitions. Now if only their ambition would translate into performance.Hope floats at MajuliMAJULI, the world’s largest river island that can be found in Assam, now has a buffer of protection against the Brahmaputra’s fury. Unesco has provided $20,000 as assistance to the Majuli Island Protection and Development Committee to prepare a dossier that would help push forward the island’s case for recognition as a world heritage site. Majuli, also the centre for Satriya art and culture initiated by Sankaradeva, the 16th century Assamese reformer-saint, has been battling the mighty Brahmaputra for over five decades now, losing 600 sq km of area in the process. COCO, Arunachal’s POTAALL’S not well, it appears, in the Land of the Dawnlit Mountains. Why else would Arunachal Pradesh feel the need to have its own version of POTA? Its avatar has an even more lyrical name: Arunachal Pradesh Control of Organized Crimes Ordinance, 2002, or COCO. The ordinance has been approved by the state cabinet and is awaiting the governor’s assent.Highway taxmenNATIONAL highways 39 and 53, which pass through Manipur, are much feared stretches since they go through militant zones. While the government provides protection only to vehicles that transport petroleum products to the state, private vehicles must cross their fingers and fend for themselves. Chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh admits that private vehicle owners have reached a deal with militant groups by paying a ‘goods tax’ and ‘road tax’. The ripples are felt in Manipur’s markets, where onions cost Rs 10 per kg compared to Rs three in Assam. But there’s competition: organised gangs of highway robbers are also yanking out their knives to stake their claim. Ibobi Singh has taken his plaint to the Centre.
