Inner Line Permit - Does Arunachal need it?

This is the better half of the question that traverses down the abyss of insurmountable reasons to understand Arunachal vis-a-vis explore the same. This interesting short write-up caught up my eyes, and not to forget the numerous discussions or arguments as one might say - on the need for ILP - I had been part to.

“Arunachal Pradesh…exotically yours”

Sign in Miao, Arunachal Pradesh, February 2008: Nicholas Farrelly

Writing slogans for a tourism campaign is not, I imagine, ever an easy task. In Arunachal Pradesh the government has long used “Arunachal Pradesh: Gateway to Serenity” as its core message. Apparently there is a controversial history behind it.

Slogans aside - for better or for worse the tourist industry has never really taken off in the state. Of course, travel to all parts of Arunachal Pradesh is still subject to relatively strict permit regulations that are designed to control the movement of all non-Arunachalis. This means that many casual visitors, particularly domestic tourists, are discouraged from jumping through the necessary bureaucratic hoops. From time-to-time, one does hear murmurs that the permit system will be abolished in the medium-term.

It is an issue on which there will probably remain starkly divided feelings for years to come.

-- by Nicholas Farrelly


The bone of contention is undoubtedly the ILP( Inner Line Permit) which has a significant part of our Historians framing their own sets of theory about the necessity and paucity of what the real situation demands. Mr. Nicholas, certainly won't be the loner with such a feeling on ILP and the relative significance it has, which makes it a relative phenomenon of the time constraints - just like any other tangibles that goes obsolete gradually.

However, this argument would have mixed responses from Arunachali people who are apprehensive about the detrimental aspects of volume of unregulated inflow of people. Which, subsequently would aggravate the worsening condition prevalent in Arunachal.
I am made to believe that, Arunachal is a beautiful place. This becomes the most positive comment and innocuous remarks; I get about Arunachal, from people that I meet and upon knowing that I hail from Arunachal Pradesh. As for the Capitalist bent of thoughts that I keep; these remarks seldom pacifies me, about my concern for my State. Ya, you heard it right – a capitalist bent with some socialist curves. Call it a negatively skewed view of Arunachal or whatsoever – But, I want to put forth that, the so called christened virginal beauty of Arunachal seems to correlate with the deprivations of developments that we have faced since decades.
Always been the Beauty – and so shall we for eternity !
The one liner seems to suffice the reality and rationality of being always connoted with the word “ Beauty “ and idea of materializing it.
It would take a lot to understand or at least realize the upper strata of frustrations that we can actually keep for our self - that we remain a beautiful state only for the reason that we have always been aloof of Developmental aspects, be it in terms of infrastructure, education wise, or economically.
Arunachal - the unexplored paradise ?
I don’t get the essence of the un-exploratory mode that we are still subjugated with; “post - our realization” that Tourism could do a hell lot for the imminent facelift our state requires – in fact the only viable option available to us at the moment.
OK – the topic is getting drifted. But, all I would say is we need to think why we remain the same old – unexplored paradise, ever since Mr.X coined it for the first time.
The objectives of Inner Line Permit can be better understood by taking two stand points – Pre-independence and Post-independence objectives.

Pre-Independence objectives:
• Keep the semi-savage tribes at bay from people from plains – security concerns etc. Any infringement with this Law and subsequent consequences (of any nature) would be strictly out of GOI jurisprudence.
• Commercial activities were to be strictly monitored and hence could be carried out only on the basis of a Pass.
Implication of such a regulation certainly was to lessen the burden and the troubles Indian Government could or would like to keep any.
So the frameworks of these laws had more to do with British attitudes toward mainland Indians ( section of people worth ruling ) and the Tribal Indians ( people unworthy of taking account of or even notice).
The Indian govt. had to keep up with the some of the laws ( in fact most of the laws ) that British people had framed for India. But, the rationality and implication of the same had to change accordingly.
The Britishers had formulated this Permit system to keep mainland Indians safe from the semi-savage tribes, but post-independence rhetoric of the same got changed. Now, the ILP law stood for protection of Tribal people from seemingly and understandably advanced mainland people.
This could have showered respites to a Tribal person – if he had any deep thought about how GOI is so much concerned about the ethos of Democracy, and the need to keep everyone equal. But, the preponderance nature of further depriving the Tribal was far from over.
With such a Law at hand, Arunachal obviously had no other option but to “remain unexplored”. So, the Permit system law that was framed in 1873 had to undergo massive face-liftings, taking care of the sensitivities involved with this issue. It was imperative on the part of the GOI to come up with better definition and reasons to back up, such a law, to accrue the fact that Arunachal Pradesh was an important factor from strategic standpoint. It was in 1952, at the opening session of ST and Scheduled areas conference in New Delhi, Pt.Jawaharlal Nehru delivered his speech, mostly based on his thoughts about upliftment of the backward sections of the society and develop them. But, strictly by avoiding imposing anything on them ( tribals).
So, the post objectives had to change and they were:
1. Encourage try people in every manner; develop their traditional arts and cultures, without imposing any regulations on them.
2. Protection of Tribal rights in land and forests matter.
3. Avoidance of allowing too many non-arunachalees into tribal territory.
4. Sense of co-operation to inculcated among Tribal and plain people.
5. To judge results not by statistics or the amount of money spent, but by the quality of human character that is evolved.

Beautiful objectives I would rather say, but the lately evolved natural tendency of human beings to incline with the definition of WANTS and the means to satisfy the same, hardly gets a touch.

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Arunachal Pradesh and the Chinese Connection

Ya, the heading of this post is ambiguous by its nature. But, certainly not an ambiguous statement for the Indian media. Name it - be it the TOI, HINDU, or any other leading dialies or weeklies - they have plethora of things to write about, at least the nonsensical thing pertinent to Arunachal Pradesh.

One would notice, most of the news, I mean the supposedly highlighted and important news about Arunachal, remains to be about the unsubstantial territorial claims of China being made.

Tawang and some other parts of Arunachal Pradesh are claimed to be an integral part of China, thats what at least the beacon of our informational sources highlights. I don't get an iota of why such misinformations needs to be misinformed through the major media houses.

Now, when we talk from marketing point of view, I guess, everything that has a chinese tag these days sells. Same rhetoric could be applied for the Indian news that somehow wants to add a bit of chinese in them. World market is overwhelmed by flooding cheap chinese goods these days. Now, I don't understand why the same logic has to be applied here, ie, the Indian media bringing in chinese everytime, Arunachal needs to be mentioned.

Media and Central government apathy cornered for Arunachal Pradesh is not a new thing to be pondered upon.

Lately, I am having a tough time explaining lot of my friends ( from mainland India ) whenever they start asking me about the " Chinese claims " being trumpetted by media, again and again.

A double standard at its work - They ( media ) find it an important relevant fact to describe the chinese claims ( which is something we can do least about ) in their headlines, but never bothered about printing down, what Arunachali exactly wants.

Yes - We want to be heard. We want the whole nation to know that Arunachal still remains the most backward state with rampant corruptions everywhere and a zero level of civic sense that seems to find a popular call amidst the youth.

Arunachal would be really grateful to all of the media houses if they could use the columns and the sections of newspapers they waste in talking about the meaningless claims of China upon Arunachal, and talk about the Real term needs of the hapless people, who have nothing but to face every wraths of the politicians and their chamchas.

I am pretty sure there could be lot many other Arunachalis staying outside the state for studies, works etc and are facing the questions similar to what I face ... and a subsequent feeling and the stare that you start getting, with an innocuous presumptions of you having been a Chinese rather than an Indian all these years.

Please, my fervent request to all the preposterous self-acclaimed FREE Press houses of India, stop playing games.



But, who CARES?

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Second Hand Smoke

I choose smoking over drinking, but that's something people warn me about all the time. Reason - you need an occasion to drink and there are times to do the same. But smoke - you can do it anytime of the day you want. And smoking can be a lot many times harmful than the alcohol...

I don't get the essence of choosing the mode of killing yourself. " Different forms of suicidal acts " - I would rather say. I come up with this question every other time, why should it sound so attractive or rather say, so glorious about the immaculate act of killing yourself - by either hanging yourself or jumping from the roof of the tenth floor building. The idea remains the same - You kill yourself.

Smoking, as people would put up - helps you ease tension. This again flummoxes me! How can smoking ease my tension, when I know for the fact that - I get tensed when I don't smoke. So there is a vicious cycle that engulfs the self-made hypothesis of smoking for good. Good thing being - that you're freed from tensions of the world. To be honest with you - I start my day with a different kind of tension. A kind of tension, which has its root culminating to the biological aspects of my rudimentary and bowel canals. Ya - getting the adequate pressure for the potty without a cigarette is near to impossible thing. I knew the scientific reason for that, which was something I had studied during my school days. Good thing is - I don't remember it now. So the obfuscating part of getting further embroiled with complicated aspects of the toxicities involved with my dear cigarettes and the aphrodisiacs fragrance of its smoke.

However, my very intention of writing this post was to write about why Passive smoking is harmful... and this has certainly deviated a way long - Ya, finally, me taking the side of cigarette.

But, however this shouldn't be a thing of concern for the rest of the folks, non-smokers alike, which becomes a victim of my incessant effusions of Secondhand Smoke(SHS), which is also known as Environmental Tobacco Smoke(ETS).

Before I further research or google down on the various aspects of why Passive smoking is actually more harmful than the actual smoking( as most of the people tells me ), I want to highlight what is that I had always thought about the same.

OK ---> I have been telling this to a lot many people upon being asked or questioned over the supposedly myth of " Passive smoking being more harmful than actual smoking ".
My answer, suffixed with some rhetorical scientific explanation would revolve around the Chemistry lessons that we had during our school days.

" See, the smoke that a smoker inhales consists mostly of CO2, and upon puffing out the smoke, some sorts of oxidation process occurs ( was it because of abundance of O2 outside ) due to which CO2 gets converted to simply CO ( carbon mono-oxide),which is regarded to be much more dangerous than its CO2 counterparts.

Well, thats what I have held it all these times. And I am certainly not sure if its how it works.

I shall get back to details with more scientific convulsions and confusions pertinent to the context of Smoking, in my next post.

This much for today ....

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