Somingam PS

PhD Scholar @TISSpeak, VillageCowboy @Naga Hills (Zomia). Reader in Anthropology of Public Policy (Forest), Tribes, Northeast India, Borderland.

[Somingam PS @PsSomingam]

Latest contribution on Borderland Social Work from Indo (Naga)- Myanmar Borderland perspective, with Ramachan A Shimray. https://t.co/hVMm0IkKx8

[Somingam PS @PsSomingam]

Deeply disturbing! Everyday fresh violence and the cycle continues. There is absolutely no credibility left for the Assam Rifles in Manipur. For Nagas, the current situation is rewiring back to pre-1997 heavy militarisation period.

[CJP-NAGALIM @CJPNAGALIMP4RTY]

🌐SHOCKING!
Student Leader Beaten, Women Fired Upon by the 40th Assam Rifles in Broad Daylight.

UKHRUL, June 7:

In a brazen, blood-chilling act of state-sponsored brutality, the 40th Assam Rifles today turned their guns and fists on unarmed civilians including defenseless women for the unforgivable crime of demanding their constitutional rights.

FIRST BLOW: Student President Beaten for Peaceful Protest.

Mathotmi Kasar, the fearless president of the student body Katho Katamnao Long (KKL), was targeted and mercilessly beaten. Also, 15 plus women and a Media person were injured.
Their crime? Exercising the democratic and constitutional right to freedom of expression and peaceful protest.

Witnesses say Kasar was singled out, cornered, and assaulted, a chilling message from the paramilitary force to anyone who dares question their authority.

SECOND OUTRAGE: Bullets Rained on Tangkhul Naga Women.

In a horrific escalation at 3:00 PM today in New Heaven, personnel of the same unit allegedly opened fire on Tangkhul Naga people with women bearing the brunt of the attack.

Yes, you read that right. Women. Unarmed. Targeted.

As bullets flew, mothers, daughters, and grandmothers ran for their lives. The Assam Rifles whose sworn duty is to "guard the nation" instead turned into hunters of the very people they are meant to protect.

THE TRIGGER: An Illegal Outpost No One Approved.

This bloodshed did not come out of nowhere. On June 4, the KKL issued a fiery press statement demanding the immediate removal of an illegal outpost, an armed camp planted by the Assam Rifles without consent, without notification, without any respect for village authorities.
As per the Manipur Village Authority (Hill Areas) Act, 1956, no security entry to the village is allowed without proper consent.

The village said no. The student body demanded justice. The Assam Rifles responded with fists, bullets, and terror.

THE QUESTION THAT BURNS.

Is this "disturbed area" or occupied territory?

If peaceful protest and democratic dissent invite beating and women catch bullets for standing their ground and then Manipur is no longer a state of India. It is a war zone ruled by impunity.

ACT NOW. SPEAK NOW.

Human rights cannot wait for an investigation that never comes. The blood of Tangkhul Naga women is in the hands of the 40th Assam Rifles today.

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[Rishika Pardikar @rishpardikar]

🚨 Documents of the ₹81,000cr Great Nicobar project fail to acknowledge existence of tribal villages and hunting and foraging grounds. A big reason: there has never been a systematic government effort to map tribal areas in these rainforests #GroundReport https://t.co/FdC54FzmVa

[Somingam PS @PsSomingam]

Radio and I. #Digital drought. #Borderland #Field Diaries #Indo-Myanmar.

[R Lungleng @rlungleng]

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has recently approved construction of 57 roads in Manipur, for which funds have been sanctioned under Central Roads and Infrastructure Fund. Sadly, all of these roads are only confined to the valley; not even 1 for the hill. Total Km - 317.49, total fund - 217.50 Cr.

You do the judgement, I'm providing you the fact.

[Somingam PS @PsSomingam]

Excuse me! Learning how to handle Twitter. 😃

[LSE Review of Books @LSEReviewBooks]

"Roluahpuia foregrounds a bottom-up approach, an everyday nationalism embedded in the vernacular domain of the Mizo people."

Read @PsSomingam's review of Roluahpuia's Nationalism in the Vernacular @CambridgeUP 👉 https://t.co/dStnP8CgAJ

[Sarah Milne @MtMajura]

My book with @UZPress is here!! It is a decade-long project #ethnography, tracing the social and political life of a major conservation intervention across scales, from #BINGO head office in DC, to field sites in #Cambodia. Blurb here: https://t.co/5mWLXUQfT5
1/🧵

[Jenpuna (Richard Kamei) @richardkamei]

Few years later, my essay is out.

Tribes are not left behind on the path of progress and civilisation, as the narrative tries to have us believe otherwise.

[Somingam PS @PsSomingam]

Find my review here (link below) on @DollyKikon’s book ‘Living with Coal and Oil: Resource Politics and Militarisation in Northeast India’. A book with intensive ethnographic accounts. I reviewed it during #CovidPandemicLockdown.

[Asian Ethnology @AsianEthnology]

We are pleased to announce the publication of Asian Ethnology (82-2), featuring articles related to India, Japan, Korea, the Maldives, and China. All content open access.

https://t.co/sNXtaXxCuE

[Somingam PS @PsSomingam]

Happy to share my latest article titled ‘Timber Assemblage, Militarization, and Entangled People’s Lives at the Indo (Naga)-Myanmar Borderland’ - Somingam PS, 2024 https://t.co/NyFrhnv1a9

[Somingam PS @PsSomingam]

FIELD is calling…📻 World of Reflexivity. #Border #Indo(Naga)-Myanmar #Borderland.

[Debanjali Biswas, PhD @DilebJaan]

#SAAG2023 over last three days was an incredible space to share 'Countercurrents' with peers and established scholars in anthropology of south Asia. Facilitated by @moonjiboi @SOASanthro🤓Shout outs to @SambhaviGanesh @PsSomingam @manabika_m @thomherzmark @ryder_withawhy @rh478

[Naga Students’ Union Delhi @NagaDelhi]

Naga Students' Union Delhi appeals to all Nagas to participate in the Twitter campaign which is schedule for tomorrow(09-09-2023).

[Somingam PS @PsSomingam]

Lest we forget! #PochuryBlackDay, #6thSeptember1966

[LSE Review of Books @LSEReviewBooks]

"Roluahpuia foregrounds a bottom-up approach, an everyday nationalism embedded in the vernacular domain of the Mizo people."

Read @PsSomingam's review of Roluahpuia's Nationalism in the Vernacular @CambridgeUP 👉 https://t.co/dStnP8CgAJ

[Somingam PS @PsSomingam]

@ChampionsLeague Undisputed King Benzo!

[Somingam PS @PsSomingam]

@ndtv Thank you NDTV🙏🏻