The First issue of the journal was promoted in all corners of the world. It was a huge success and the response was splendid and very encouraging. A humble effort by the TEAM, The Manipur Journal is going all places, all set to become a platform for the healthy interchange of world culture and identity.
As we march forward towards our goal of one world and global identity, we need the help, blessings and guidance of voluntary researchers and campaigners from every community. It would go a long way in making this journal a storehouse of knowledge and information, an encyclopedia of diverse cultures, traditions and identities. Cultural exchanges can build bridges, where diplomacy can’t, in today’s volatile and perilous society, bereft of mutual trust and understanding.
Cultural exchange is void if there are no people-to-people interactions; in fact such interactions form the basis and bedrock of any form of exchange, be it cultural, political or business. The Journal is serious on the issue of the Restricted Area Permit (RAP) Act, which prevents foreign nationals to enter Manipur and other North Eastern states. Manipur, along with some other states of the North Eastern is currently under the protected area regime of the Foreigners (Protected Area) Order, 1958 and any foreign national entering the state needs a permit issued by the Central government or any officer authorized by the Central government. The government of Manipur is negotiating with the Centre to lift the Restricted Area Permit (RAP) requirement in a bid to attract foreign tourists to the state, though nothing concrete has come out of it. Regardless of the conditions and implications, be it geographical, military or otherwise, we openly and strongly discourage such acts. In today’s time, when the world is just a global village and people have the freedom and rights to self-determination, such act is absurd.
The entire region of the North East nestled in the sylvan lap of nature, where the mother earth has bestowed its bountiful blessings in the form of beauty, pure and exotic. Blue Mountains and green valleys, with tiny rivulets cascading the entire length and breadth bedecked the region. A climate neither too hot in the summer nor too cold in the winter keeps the vegetation green all season. Manipur was one of the last theatres of the Second World War where hundreds and thousands of warring nations, the Japanese and the British, laid down their lives, making it a sacred place of pilgrimage. Many of their descendants want to visit Manipur to pay homage to their heroic fore-fathers. And add to that the rich heritage and tradition of our culture, dance and music, it is undoubtedly a hot spot for many foreign nationals. But the prolongation of a restriction poses a severe blow on the tourism industry of the State and the North East. It is little wonder that Manipur is still missing in the tourism map of India as well as of the world.
The argument the central government puts up to justify the RAP Act centers around security issues and insurgency, being a militarized zone with the perennial trends of violence, turmoil, imposition of curfews, kidnapping of foreign nationals, so on and so forth. However, Kashmir, which is infested by insurgents for the past few decades, has not imposed Restricted Area Permit to the foreign tourists. Even when tourists flee the valley for fear of insecurity, the governments, both at the Centre and the state is always at hand to provide additional security for the tourists. Then what exactly is stopping the government from scrapping off the RAP Act from Manipur and other North Eastern States? It is a poser which needs a concrete answer, and we would continue asking!
There are many academicians and scholars from all over the world, with a deep and genuine interest in studying the rich cultural heritage of the land, willing to visit the region, but the restrictions is still keeping them away. Because of such bizarre restrictions, Manipur still remains as an “excluded are” and its charming tag “little paradise on earth” has turned out to be a meaningless euphemism. The Manipur Journal would incessantly voice for the removal of the RAP Act to enable researchers and professionals visit the land and enjoy its rich cultural heritage.
In the recent past, the Manipur Tourism Festival held at Imphal invited foreign delegates from Thailand, but it was a worthless exercise as RAP Act still restricts foreigners to visit here. No exchanges, be it business, or cultural won’t fructify as long as the restriction exists.
