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Reconnecting with Loktak Lake issues

FILE PHOTO: A dugout canoe rally from Langolsabi locality of Champu Khangpok floating village along the Yangoi Maril up to Liklai Karong where the Nambul River meets with the Nambol River
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The issues have been taken up by NPP in its election manifesto wherein the national party commits to a vigorous exercise of reorganizing the entire functioning of lake management with reference to international guidelines. The party commits thus, “NPP shall ensure more inclusiveness in the management of Loktak lake area with adherence to Ramsar Convention guidelines” (4.5.6.).

By Salam Rajesh

Manipur’s more popular wetland – the Loktak Lake – has been constantly in the news these past several years for reasons more than one. These reasons manifest themselves in different forums – whether academic, economic, political, social, cultural, historical, environment, and the developmental front. Whatsoever the reasons are, the lake has virtually been in the eye of the storm during these past four decades, and counting.

With Manipur amongst five Indian States going to the polls during February and March later this year, agendas of concern have started appearing in political manifestoes of poll-bound parties. The National People’s Party (NPP) is the first national political party with affiliation in Manipur to present their version of the promises and commitments per se in case they do come to power in the State by March.

NPP launched its “People’s Action Document 2022” on 23 January with certain clear cut agendas that the party hopes to translate into actuality in the event that it achieves a position where it commands power in State politics. Power sharing is easier said than done, as was well witnessed in the foregoing tenure of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government in the State.

Whatsoever the outcome of the battle that is being lined up barely a month from now, NPP as a growing factor in both sub-national and national politics, has rekindled hopes for a better future for the multitudes of fishing and farmer community living within and around the vast spread of the Loktak Lake, by presenting an inclusive manifesto for the ensuing State assembly election slated for 27 February.

Not to say the least, NPP has taken a bold step forward by assuring outrightly that the party commits to addressing one of the finer points of conflict of interest between State and the fishing community of Loktak Lake by stating that, “NPP will review the Loktak Protection Act of 2006 and amend the legislation to make it more scientific and people centric and align it with Ramsar Convention and the National Wetlands Rules 2017” (4.5.1).

A bold step taken in solution finding that had dodged State and the fishing community for near a decade now. The fairly controversial The Manipur Loktak Lake (Protection) Act, 2006 made itself an adversary with local communities when the State began to earnestly implement the Act with an attitude of cleansing the lake entirely of every filth and dirt that it had accounted for, including the fishers whom State blamed as ‘encroachers’ and ‘polluters’.

The forthright challenge coming forth from the fishing community was the universal claim of indigenous peoples all over the world on their rights over their ‘territory of life’. This fundamentally is translated into the argument that Loktak in its natural state is the shared commons for the multitudes of fishing families who eke their living from the lake, generations after generations through the years.

NPP has taken a step further in their solution finding by addressing another vital statistics that had since plagued the management of Loktak Lake. The party’s manifesto clearly states that, “NPP will restructure the Loktak Development Authority to ensure its functioning is based on environmental and scientific concerns, and community needs” (4.5.2). This agenda redefines the statement that the functioning of LDA has not been in tune with the scientific temperament of management and administration of a fragile wetland ecosystem.

Not every wetland in Manipur is a Ramsar site. Loktak as a “wetland of international importance” is key to a vital resource that sustains myriads of life forms, ranging from microorganisms to long-distance flying raptors to migratory fish coming upstream from the Bay of Bengal to aquatic plants supporting human lives. Loktak sustains the micro-climatic regime of the central Manipur valley. Yet, the lake has been distorted to a level where it now is almost classified as a ‘dying’ lake that is full of filth, dirt, pollutants, and conflicts of interest in various magnitudes.

This particular issue has been taken up by NPP in its election manifesto wherein the national party commits to a vigorous exercise of reorganizing the entire functioning of lake management with reference to international guidelines. The party commits thus, “NPP shall ensure more inclusiveness in the management of Loktak lake area with adherence to Ramsar Convention guidelines” (4.5.6.).

The adherence is a reflection to the several criteria of defining Ramsar sites of particular importance. As per this definition, Loktak is no longer a small piece of asset for Manipur State only. It now garners to global biodiversity network by supporting migratory water birds flying across two significant flyways, namely, the Central Asian Flyway and the East Asian-Australasian Flyway.

By virtue of Manipur being located in a highly biodiversity sensitive hotspot – the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot – and inclusive as part of the tropical rainforest zone expanding across South East Asia, Loktak’s significance in global terms is magnified manifold. It is for this reason that the management of the freshwater lake becomes relevant to be more precisely viewed from the scientific lens rather than simply through engineering aspects.

The fault with the current system of lake management with specific reference to Loktak has been the unscientific manner of approach and treatment that basically had created more problems than in finding appropriate solutions.

The enactment of a law that sought to protect the lake had rather created a Catch-22 situation where lake managers and local communities have locked horns in an unending spate of conflict that have seen absolute violation of human rights and a threat to the existence of the indigenous fishing community who thrive in one of the only known “natural floating villages in the entire world”.

NPP’s manifesto, therefore, comes as a ‘silver lining amongst the dark clouds’ for the marginalized fishing community who long have been hounded and threatened by State over the years. The denial of the existence of the Champu Khangpok Floating Village by the State is the living testimony of State’s denial of rights of the indigenous people. NPP’s manifesto, when transliterated into actuality, hopefully will redo the damages and usher in new hopes for the lake and every aspect of life it supports.

The National People’s Party’s “People’s Action Document 2022” was drafted by a team of young think-tank headed by NPP Youth Front’s national president Ratika Yumnam. Incidentally, Yumnam has long been associated with issues concerned with the marginalized fishing community of Loktak Lake.

It may be recalled that recently veteran congressman Jairam Ramesh, who looks after Manipur’s affairs for the Congress, met representatives of State’s civil society organizations to discuss various issues plaguing the State, and of which issues on Loktak Lake was prominently discussed. Ramesh did assure Loktak representatives that their concerns would be addressed by the Indian National Congress. Time and tide will reveal how much truth was there in the assurance given.

 (The writer is a media professional working on environmental issues. He can be contacted at [email protected])

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