Conference on Documenting History - Written and Oral Histories of Manipur

Imphal, October 12 : For more than 63 years of Indian republic, it has come to light that the history/histories of 45 million of its citizens living in 8 states of the Northeast region of the country are absent in schools, colleges and university text books. This is one of the major cause of the wrong perception and discrimination of people of Northeast region when they travel for study and work in different parts of India. Concerned citizens,scholars in the region and beyond felt that this needs to be urgently rectified

Understanding and noticing this major lacunae, team of Manipur Women Gun Survivor Network led by its founder, Ms Binalakshmi Nepram called on Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) chairperson on 14 Sept 2012 in New Delhi and shared this major concern. ICHR is a premier body of
Ministry of Human Resource dealing with historical research. As an immediate follow-up to this meeting, Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) team lead by the Chairman Professor Basudev Chatterji resolved to come to Manipur on 13 October 2012 to assess the situation and start work to rectify the absence of history/histories of Northeast Region.

At the occasion of the ICHR in Manipur, team at Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network (MWGSN) and Northeast India Woman Initiative for Peace(NEIWIP) will be organising the conference "Documenting History - Written and Oral Histories of Manipur", to be held from 10.30am to
2.30pm at the Conference Hall, Classic Hotel, Imphal, Manipur. The event will be participated by eminent historians and professors from Manipur. Some of prominent historians attending conference are Professor Gangumei Kabui, Dr MC Arun, Professor Amar Yumnam, Mrs Arambam Ongbi Memchoubi,Professor N. Joykumar and many others. A former Advocate and present Manipur MLA, RK Anand will be gracing the occasion as Chief Guest.

The theme of meeting will be on Manipur. The state home to over 33 major ethnic communities have their own tradition and cultures and strong historical background. It has its own indigenous chronicles
which dates back 3000 years back called the “Cheitharol Kumbaba” or “The Royal Chronicle of Manipur”. In addition to this the state has rich oral history in the form of folktales, folksongs, lullaby,
church records, private letters of the 2nd World War period etc. which has been passed over the years.

As mentioned above, documentation of proper search and documentation of materials of historical importance of Northeast India is very much needed as it will help in better understanding of this region and in turn help in bringing peace and development.