One of the most intrepid Community Correspondents in the IndiaUnheard network, Mercy Kamei is from the minority Rongmei Naga Tribal community in Manipur. Taking risks to report hard-hitting stories of insurgency, violence, injustice and neglect, Mercy speaks out for her community and others like them who have been denied basic rights and are wrongly persecuted as enemies of the state…
Prices of commodities continue to rise in Manipur even after the economic blockade is lifted, students worst hit.
The population of Manipur continues to suffer the after effects of the economic blockade as prices of commodities continue to rise. Following the lift on the economic blockade, the government solicited the stabilization of prices however, shopkeepers continue to sell commodities at exorbitant prices.
Although the entire population has suffered the price hike, students are the worst hit.
“I’m facing a problem because the price of tomatoes and all that, that used to cost Rs 30-40/kg, now cost Rs 100. It’s even hard to find rice nowadays,” says a student. Community Correspondent Kamei Mercy added that the prices of LPG cylinders had gone up from Rs700-800 to Rs 1500.
When the students in Manipur took to the streets to protests against this continued price hike, they were arrested by the police and released the same day. “The students should be in classrooms, not out on the streets protesting. It is not enough for the government to merely command the shopkeepers to stabilize prices. They must see to it that it is being implemented,” adds an infuriated Kamei Mercy.
In this video, we can see a success story of a Public Health Centre that got renovated and functional with the effort of a Community worker, Ms Laxmi Kaurav.
In this video of UPS Manwan Awoora school, Kupwara, Kashmir, the community correspondent Pir Azhar shows us that there are nine classes for 250 students, and due to lack of space, the lower primary classes are held outside in the open. Also the school has only 7 teachers.
