IMPHAL, OCTOBER 14: The much awaited “Manipur Culture Policy” and three gazettes the Gazetteer of Manipur, the Gazetteer of Ukhrul, and the Gazetteer of Churachandpur was released at a simple function in Imphal on Thursday.
Manipur Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh released the policy in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam and other cabinet ministers, Chief Secretary O Nabakishore, Commissioner for Art & Culture K Radhakumar, Director for Arts & Culture K Sushila, and the director of Information Public Relations Meghachandra Kongbam, among others at the Cabinet Hall of the CM’s secretariat.
The Manipur Culture Policy is an outcome of years of endeavour by the department of Art & Culture with contributions from scholars of the state.
It contains three parts: Introduction, dealing with the definition of culture; objectives, dealing with the strategies to preserve, promote and enrich the culture of Manipur which is composite and plural in nature; plan of action, emphasising on the mode of action to be taken in fulfilling the objective of the policy.
The policy proposes to form a body called the Manipur Cultural Advisory Board comprising 30 members of experts and eminent personalities in various fields of culture.
Out of it, 20 members are to be elected by recognised cultural institutions / organisations in the state. 10 members are to be nominated by the government to render more autonomy and prevent direct involvement of the government in the fulfilment of the objective of the policy. The culture policy shall be reviewed every 10 years.
Also, the Gazetteer of Manipur which gives concise information on the geography, history, habitat, art and culture, administration etc of Manipur is being brought out after a gap of more than 100 years since EW Dunn first published in 1905.
E-cabinet in Manipur: For the first time in the history of Manipur, the cabinet meeting with the state Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh in the chair goes digital with the introduction of e-Cabinet in Manipur on Thursday.
The cabinet meetings traditionally require about 20 sets of cabinet memorandums which typically will have a number of annexure. A cabinet memorandum, on the average consists of about 15-20 pages which multiplies to about 400 pages of printed material.
“In the e-cabinet, i-pads were provided to Chief Minister and Ministers to conduct Cabinet Meetings in the electronic/digital mode,” the Chief Minister’s office sources said. “With the e-Cabinet Application, the Cabinet Memorandums with all the annexure are digitally uploaded onto the e-Cabinet Application and can be accessed by the Cabinet Department and the Cabinet Ministers through the Internet.”
The e-Cabinet Application implemented in Manipur is to go paperless and have an automated workflow and decision making process in an efficient manner digitally.
The whole process of receiving the proposal from Departments, to finalisation of the Agenda list and approval by the Cabinet is totally automated. The memorandums and the associated Cabinet decisions will be archived for future reference.
The application is designed and developed in-house by the department of Information Technology, Manipur and is of the first initiatives in government of Manipur to utilise IT and e-Governance in an effective manner at the highest level of decision making authority.
Field visit of trainees: The trainees of the 7-day basic course in news reporting on made a field visit to the Hill Hornbill express, Senapati and Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Henbung, 5 km south from Senapati District headquarters on Friday.
Twenty trainees of the course including nine female trainees organised by the State Institute of Journalism, DIPR Manipur took part in the field visit under the guidance of the President of Manipur hill Journalists Union, Sothing Shimray and the editor of the Hill Hornbill Express Peter Adani, editor of Herald Today John Basho Pao who were the guest faculty members of the ongoing course which was started from October 10.
At the Hill Hornbill Express Printing Press, Senapati, Editor Peter explained how its news staff such as Reporters,Sub-Editors were working in the press to publish the daily successfully. At the KVK, Henbung, the trainees took the interview the officials of the KVK and noted down the story of Vermi Culture, Kiwi cultivation and Emu rearing.
During the field visit, the editor John Basho advised the trainees to note down very clearly whatever they had seen in the spots and try to write a good story of their visit.
Their stories would be published in his newspaper, he added. Sothing Shimray also said that the trainees should write a news story accurately and comprehensively in constructive manner.
The Basic Course which is being held at DRDA Conference Hall, Senapati district HQ will be concluded on October 17 after evaluating the news stories of the filed visit submitted by the participants. It will be followed by the distribution of the certificates to the participants.
