Thread by @NamasteNiHao

#PowerfulIndia : "The last village to be brought on the national power grid was Leisang village in the Senapati district of Manipur ". Sharing my experience of living fr a month in Senapati dist
Yr was 2007. I was selected for national internship with 22Assam Rifles , Manipur

After a back-breaking train journey that started from Pune-Mumbai-Kolkata-Assam and the 4 hour bumpy ride on NH-2 Imphal- Dimapur highway , we finally reached the 22Assam Rifles HQ at Maram, Senapati district. At that time electricity was a luxury, hot water for bath using wood

During our fieldwork, we got to travel across the various small villages hidden in mountain tops in Senapati dist and nearby districts. The areas were devoid of any development, factories. One village ransacked other. People charged their mobile phones paying 5rs at nearby shops

Maoists had robbed the development potential of Manipur. Even on the day we went to Imphal, I witnessed 3 protests, there were bandhs declared every other day , rickshaw strikes and life on standby, disruption was the normal. District collector office was in shambles, no work

People would always ask me and my friend to be careful as Maoists would normally kidnap outsiders- tourists, contract workers frm other states & keep them as ransom against the state govt. Even though govt & maoists reached truce, they were given own camps,yet dev scared to enter

Young college students from Don Bosco College whom we interviewed and the school visits we undertook came as jolt when they would often ask us "which country do you come from?". The disenfranchisement with remainder of India was strong, coupled with little to no development

I always wondered why such places of natural beauty are the ones that hold deep scars of hatred, of civil war, bloodshed. I would often discuss with our very enterprising Colonel who headed 22Assam Rifles about these issues. He was a loved man among locals. Did a lot for them

He too wished for peace and development for the people here. He had a humanitarian approach to the maoist problem there and cultivated confidence and respect among the people there. Even while leaving the place, he often thought about development and transformation of the region

Today when the last village in Senapati disctrict has been brought under the national power grid, it sparks a hope within me to see that it is a beginning of development for these people. They can charge their phones in their own house, own a TV, become connected with all of us

This is not a small achievement of the govt and we must deeply appreciate and understand the positive ramifications of this single act of connecting the mountainous , difficult to reach , place to the power grid . Jai Hind

A memento presented by the Colonel and officers of the 22 Assam Rifles 😊