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Front Page >> Editorials > Story

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Looking Back
In few days time we will be stepping into a new year and bidding adieu to the old year and even as we ready ourselves to proceed into the new year, it would be in the fitness of things if we look back and see how we have conducted ourselves in the past one year. Like any other year, 2002 was also a year of bandh, strikes, agitation and paralyzing cease work strike. 

If you ask us, we will not hesitate to say that the number one enemy of the public today is the culture of calling a bandh at the drop of the hat by each and every sundry organization. So many times we have pointed out in this column and elsewhere too that bandhs and strikes do nothing but cripple the economy and throw the academic pursuits of the students out of gear. 

We have also been equally vociferous against the apathy of the Government which gives room to the numerous civil organizations to call a bandh or a blockade. This is not in any way an attempt to perform a post mortem on the year gone by but we feel it would certainly help if we can look back at the time gone by and try to imbibe some lessons for nothing teaches us better than the past and to avoid the past mistakes we need to continuously look back so that we can step forward without repeating unpleasant history. 

The acute financial situation continues to haunt us and it will not be long before the euphoria over receiving salaries before Christmas begins to blow over and soon we will be back to square one. Yes, we know the Government has not been able to do anything to better the financial condition but let's also ask ourselves whether there is something that we can do to ease the problem by contributing our mite at the individual level.

Wouldn't it save the State exchequer precious money and time if each and everyone of us were to throw our garbage and waste at the designated place instead of placing them plum in the middle of the road? Moreover will it not serve the interest of the people if we were to do away with the huge wastage incurred in every festival as well as the extravaganza which we can certainly live without? 

This may sound overly simple and may not appeal to the mind but think it over, for let's face it, the State is in a crisis and in times of crisis, it is better if each and every single individual chip in and try to pull the State out of the rut. 

Pollution is another issue which we feel should be addressed to on a priority basis in the coming year. Very often we seem to forget that the land, the water and the air we breathe are our natural resources and we have a responsibility towards protecting the bounty offered by Mother Nature. A ban on the use of plastics and polythene bags was announced during the President's Rule tenure but we wonder what has happened to the ban order for plastics and polythene bags are still very much in use. 

The result of the endless assault on the environment can be seen by taking a cursory look at Loktak Lake. Every year we talk about saving the Loktak from further deterioration but we seem to forget that to save Loktak we have to stop polluting our rivers and khongbans and yes we have to start refusing goods wrapped in plastics and polythene bags. This is not a hard task at all. What is needed is some character. Or are the Manipuri people bereft of any character? Give it a thought.

(Courtesy: The Sangai Express)

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