Acquiring free domain names might not seem important to some of you at first, but bear in mind that speculators (who sometimes reap $millions by reselling them) have been buying them up ever since the first one was registered in 1985. Being willing to pay such a huge sum for a domain name might seem ridiculous to anyone who has never created a website. For those who have, however, it's pretty much common knowledge that the more accurately a domain name reflects a website's subject matter or name, the more that it could help to increase that site's first-time and/or repeat visitors all by itself. And due to the fact that the total number of registered domain names has risen to over 330 million, the value of a domain name that can enable a website to stand out amidst this growing clutter has grown as well. For instance, the price for the "Com" version of the first one I bought 14 years ago (Amendment28.Org) has risen to $10,000.

I have focused on acquiring civic engagement types of domain names that could potentially be used to help us rise above the intense partisanship and political gridlock that has developed in our country, and effectively work together towards the achievement of social and governmental goals we hold in common. My intention has been to hold on to each one of these impactful domain names until I could find an organization or individual I believed could be relied upon to make good use of it. And I never planned to make a profit, but to donate them or charge only what it costs me to purchase and maintain their ownership—which has been about $100 apiece. (Ownership of domain names is not permanent. Each one must be officially registered, which is paid for in yearly increments. And if a registration isn't renewed in time, one's ownership of that domain name is terminated.)

Unfortunately, after more than a decade of seriously examining and gradually eliminating every existing organization I thought might be capable of putting one or more of my domain names to good use, I came up empty. That's when I starting thinking that it will take the creation of an entirely new type of nationwide organization that is capable of handling all of them. And that's what I'm giving you the opportunity to do.

The rest of this background section will be devoted to explaining what has driven me to attach such importance to the creation of a nationwide system of civics clubs; why I've chosen to trust such relatively young and inexperienced individuals as college students with turning that vision into reality; and some specific projects I recommend the members of those clubs undertake over the next few years.

Although Mr. Dreyfuss did an outstanding job of describing the problem and its seriousness, this video didn't explain what he meant by such statements as "what you have to do is get it back;" and that we need to "relearn the tools of reason, logic, clarity, dissent, civility, and debate;" However, the following statement and video from the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools covers that quite well:

"In recent years, civic learning has been increasingly pushed aside. Until the 1960s, three courses in civics and government were common in American high schools, and two of them ('civics' and 'problems of democracy') explored the role of citizens and encouraged students to discuss current issues. Today those courses are very rare. What remains is a course on 'American government' that usually spends little time on how people can – and why they should – participate as citizens."

And judging by this excerpt from Florida's current "Requirements for a standard high school diploma," the state we reside in has been one of the worst offenders: "Three credits in social studies.—A student must earn one credit in United States History; one credit in World History; one-half credit in economics, which must include financial literacy; and one-half credit in United States Government." This doesn't make much sense in light of the fact that, of the 24 credits required for graduation, eight are electives!

And regarding those in our country who move on to higher education, guess what? "The vast majority of our colleges have made a course on the broad themes of U.S. history or government optional." For those of you who are inclined to assume that merely being exposed to a collegiate environment for 2-4 years ought to make up for such widespread deficiencies in our civics education, the major findings of a Civic Literacy Report from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute will be a real eye-opener:

• A College Degree Fails to Promote Active Civic Engagement Beyond Voting

• Greater Civic Knowledge Trumps a College Degree as the Leading Factor in Encouraging Active Civic Engagement

• Civic Self-Education Increases Active Civic Engagement; Video Games Detract

That so many people in positions of power have been ignoring this problem for the past half century is difficult to understand, particularly in light of the point of view our country's Department of State has been disseminating to the rest of the world through this and other means. (Note: With the exception of the following quotation's title, the highlighting in bold is not in the original.)

"Democracy and Education

"Education is a vital component of any society, but especially of a democracy. As Thomas Jefferson wrote: 'If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never shall be.'

"In contrast to authoritarian societies that seek to inculcate an attitude of passive acceptance, the object of democratic education is to produce citizens who are independent, questioning, and analytical in their outlook, yet deeply familiar with the precepts and practices of democracy. Vanderbilt professor Chester E. Finn, Jr., said in his address to educators in Nicaragua: 'People may be born with an appetite for personal freedom, but they are not born with knowledge about the social and political arrangements that make freedom possible over time for themselves and their children....Such things must be acquired. They must be learned.'

"From this perspective, it is not enough to say that the task of education in a democracy is simply to avoid the indoctrination of authoritarian regimes and provide instruction that is neutral concerning political values. That is impossible: All education transmits values, intended or not. Students can indeed be taught the principles of democracy in a spirit of open inquiry that is itself an important democratic value. At the same time, students are encouraged to challenge conventional thinking with reasoned arguments and careful research. There may be vigorous debate, but democracy's textbooks should not simply ignore events or facts that are unpleasant or controversial.

"'Education plays a singular role in free societies,' Finn states. 'While the education systems of other regimes are tools of those regimes, in a democracy the regime is the servant of the people, people whose capacity to create, sustain, and improve that regime depends in large measure on the quality and effectiveness of the educational arrangements through which they pass. In a democracy, it can fairly be said, education enables freedom itself to flourish over time.'"

1. In 2001, The Joe Foss Institute was created. It has a wide variety of programs, most of which are covered in this video:

The goal of The Civics Education Initiative mentioned in the video, which has probably been the most highly publicized and effective of any organization's efforts thus far, is to require "high school students, as a condition for graduation, to pass a test on 100 basic facts of U.S. history and civics, from the United States Citizenship Civics Test." However, although it has already been successful in 14 states, its website openly acknowledges that it is only "a first step to ensure all students are taught basic civics about how our government works, and who we are as a nation…things every student must learn to be ready for active, engaged citizenship."

2. In 2004, the previously mentioned Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools was created. Aside from the video and other efforts at publicity, its website's "Action Center" page includes a petition to "the President of the United States, the United States Congress, the United States Secretary of Education, the Governors of each State, each State Schools Chief, all State Legislators, all State Boards of Education, each local Superintendent and School Board to take action now to strengthen and improve civic learning (civics, history, economics, geography, service learning linked to the classroom) policies, standards, assessments and funding."

3. In 2006, the same year in which his previously shown video was filmed, Mr Dreyfuss created The Dreyfuss Civics Initiative. Its purpose is to "revive the teaching of civics in American public education to empower future generations with the critical-thinking skills they need to fulfill the vast potential of American citizenship." Among other things, it has established a Civics Discussion Club "to get the general public to think critically and discuss how we can improve our country."

Unfortunately, as noble as these and many other efforts have been, they just don't seem to be enough to get the job done by themselves. Here's just one example of the difficulties they've had: In spite of how informative and inspirational the 3 previously shown videos might seem, the number of "views" they've received over the total of 16 years they've been online is under 75,000. And that's at YouTube, where a single video submitted this year has already been viewed 135 million times ! So helping these and other organizations to spread awareness of this issue will be one of the most important initial goals for your civics clubs.

Of course, the purpose of creating a nationwide system of civics clubs is much broader and more long term than merely restoring formal civics education to its accustomed place in K-12 curriculums. Whereas a solid formal education in civics (especially in our high schools) could symbolically be seen as the root structure of our country's "tree of liberty;" the goal of this nationwide system of civics clubs will be to serve as the trunk of that tree in the years ahead. Carrying this symbolism one step further, whatever national, state, or local activities these clubs will engage in (alone, or in conjunction with other social and political organizations) can be looked upon as the branches. And with every success of these civics clubs, however small, one or more fresh leaves will burst forth on the tree of liberty.

In an interview with PBS's Frontline, the researcher in the above video (Dr. Giedd) provided a great deal more information on this subject. Some excerpts are provided below.

"One of the most exciting discoveries from recent neuroscience research is how incredibly plastic the human brain is. For a long time, we used to think that the brain, because it's already 95 percent of adult size by age six, things were largely set in place early in life. ... [There was the] saying. "Give me your child, and by the age of five, I can make him a priest or a thief or a scholar.

"[There was] this notion that things were largely set at fairly early ages. And now we realize that isn't true; that even throughout childhood and even the teen years, there's enormous capacity for change. We think that this capacity for change is very empowering for teens . . .

"So if a teen is doing music or sports or academics, those are the cells and connections that will be hard-wired. If they're lying on the couch or playing video games or MTV, those are the cells and connections that are going [to] survive."

Although words like adolescent, teen, and young were often used in the video and interview when discussing this critical period for the development of your brains, don't forget that research shows it normally lasts until our mid-twenties:

• University of Rochester - "The rational part of a teen's brain isn't fully developed and won't be until he or she is 25 years old or so."

• Mental Health Daily - "All behaviors and experiences you endure until the age of 25 have potential to impact your developing brain."

• MIT - "As a number of researchers have put it, 'the rental car companies have it right.' The brain isn't fully mature at 16, when we are allowed to drive, or at 18, when we are allowed to vote, or at 21, when we are allowed to drink, but closer to 25, when we are allowed to rent a car."

One of the first things you'll find out if you research civics clubs is that a lot of them have chosen to use "civic," rather that "civics." I chose to include the "s" for one big reason: To reduce the confusion created by this and other webpages dealing with Honda Civic clubs, one of many problems that those who starting forming civics and civic clubs a century ago didn't have to deal with in their far less technologically-advanced times.

And if you dig a bit deeper in your research, you'll find that another group of college students was engaged in creating their own nationwide system of civic clubs (without the "s") way back in 1906. You'll also see that The Intercollegiate League of Civic Clubs they formed was considered to be so important that delegates from the 14 participating universities were invited to an "informal talk" with President Theodore Roosevelt at the White House. (I wasn't able to find anything out about why it failed to catch on, but I don't think it's overly important because our modern world is so radically different from theirs.)

From what has previously been discussed in this background section, you have a pretty good idea of the overall purpose of these civics clubs. As to how they should actually operate, you have a lot of active civic and civics clubs out there that you can study, and whose elected or appointed officers and advisers you can consult with. In particular, I'd like to draw your attention to the Madison Civics Club. It is significant for several reasons, starting with the fact that it has managed to stay in operation for over a century (other than a brief closure during WWII). Another interesting characteristic is that it has operated (albeit at different times) as both an active and crusading organization of many accomplishments, and as one focused more on the common dictionary definition of civics as being merely the study of our rights and responsibilities as citizens.

I recommend that you don't limit yourselves to examining organizations that identify themselves as civic(s) clubs, however. For instance, there's a great deal that can be learned from well-established "public interest" organizations such as Common Cause, Public Citizen, and the 96-year-old League of Women Voters (LWV). And there's also a great deal that can be learned from well-established "service" organizations such as the Lions, Rotary, and Kiwanis clubs—all 3 of which predate the founding of the LWV.

And the most important procedural policy I hope you'll establish for your civics clubs, at every level, is that important decision-making should be made in as democratic a fashion as is reasonably possible. After all, just about any definition you can find of "civics" involves studying the rights and duties of citizens. And there's no better way for students and citizens in a democracy to accomplish that than through experiential learning. Here as well, there are a lot of organizations whose procedures you can study and learn from. On the local level, I would put Portsmouth Listens right at the top of the list. Since 1999, it has been utilizing a form of deliberative democracy in which: "The key has been a commitment to empanel citizens in small groups of 8-12 people, charge them with the responsibility of deliberating like a jury or policy board, and honoring their resulting conclusions."

And on the national level, I believe that America Speaks has provided the best procedures to study and learn from:

Unfortunately, it "closed its doors" 2 years ago after 19 years of operation. However, there are a number of other national level organizations that are still in operation, and whose activities are well worth studying. And although they might not have engaged in as large scale activities as America Speaks, there are at least two of them that possess a feature which might prove to be of even more value: Local representatives.

1. The National Issues Forums has been around since the 1980s, and it has a number of "network partners" here in Florida (including 2 at UF).

2. The National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation (NCDD) has been in existence since 2002, and has one representative at UF.

And there is also at least one organization that is worth taking a look at on the international level. Stanford University's Center for Deliberative Democracy has been "devoted to research about democracy and public opinion obtained through Deliberative Polling" around the world for over 10 years now.

No matter how you choose to operate internally, however, I urge you to do as was recommended earlier in this background section regarding outside activities: Look upon your system of civics clubs as being the trunk of our country's "tree of liberty," with formal high school civics education being the tree's roots. And whenever there are social or political problems that a majority of your members want to address, always try to "branch out" by contacting and offering assistance to well-established organizations with expertise in those areas.

I believe that your members and your fellow citizens will be better served by working together with (rather than competing against) other reputable organizations. A lot of them have been doing wonderful things on our behalf for many years, after all, but have recently fallen on hard times. This is primarily because they (like so many other well-established businesses and nonprofit organizations) have had a great deal of difficulty adapting to the monumental changes in communications technology, especially social media and the powerful handheld devices that are rapidly become ubiquitous.

Before bringing this section on civics clubs to a close, I'd like to caution you against moving too far, too fast. In a free society such as ours, there is a natural tendency for the most enthusiastic and capable individuals to rise to the top of organizations. When that happens in the business world, it spells success. When it comes to citizen-based organizations, however, just the opposite often happens. And that's primarily due to their leadership being too gung-ho and wrapped up in their work, thereby losing touch with the limitations imposed on most of their fellow citizens by their day-to-day lives.

I've seen it happen time and time again: A civic engagement organization is formed by one or more highly-accomplished, dynamic individuals. With each success, the level of their membership, donations, and expenses (paid staff, rental space, etc.) tends to increase. This encourages them to increase the frequency and scope of their activities, which tends to increase the level of their membership, donations, and expenses even further. On and on this cycle goes, until they eventually reach a point at which they are stretching the time and resources of their supporters to the breaking point.

Then, rather than scaling back the frequency and scope of their activities, they double down by increasing the frequency and urgency of their appeals for support—alienating and gradually driving away more and more of their supporters. And this goes on until their organization becomes a mere shell of its former self, looking very much like a dinosaur facing extinction to anyone (especially young adults) looking for an organization to support (and possibly join) in that organization's area of expertise.

And with those last words of advice, I leave the creation and operation of this system of civics clubs in your capable hands—with the understanding that I'll be available to add my two cents' worth whenever it's asked for.

And besides, I'm not recommending that you try to accomplish this overnight, or that you drop everything else to focus on it. By all means, take your time and strive to accomplish it in a series of steps such as the following:

• On January 1 or some other date early n 2017, publicly ask for suggestions from all the important sources you can think of (including members of Congress). And as they come in, compile them and list all the important individuals and entities that endorse each one.

• After you've allowed sufficient time for everyone to weigh in (perhaps 9 months), set up panels of members within your civics clubs to analyze them and make their recommendations for a "Top 10" list.

• Once that is accomplished (perhaps after 6 months), take all their recommendations into consideration for the compilation of an official "Top 10" list. And on a propitious date in 2018 (perhaps July 4th), announce the activation of 10 separate petitions directed to the National Civics Club. Each one of the petitions will be devoted to one of the Top 10 recommendations for our country's next constitutional amendment, with the understanding that the 3 which gather the most signatures (or "votes") will comprise the final 3 choices.

• After a predesignated time period (I suggest at least another 6 months), close all 10 petitions. Then start all over again with another round of voting, which will determine the final winner. This time, however, I recommend that only members of the National Civics Club will be entitled to vote. This is not only justified because they are the ones who will have the primary responsibility for doing what it takes to get the next amendment passed, but because it will be a good promotional tool for getting more people to join your civics clubs.

• Once again, after a predesignated period (another 6 months?), close the polls and announce the winner on as propitious a date as possible (perhaps July 4th again?). And then the ground game begins, with the first step being to initiate a petition to Congress requesting its passage. You will be well into 2019 by this time, but not so far that you won't have plenty of time to get it passed before the next congressional election in November, 2020. And even if you fail in that first attempt, it would make a great issue to publicize for that election—placing all those who didn't support its passage in danger of not being reelected.

In spite of that minimum being raised from its initial level of 5,000 to 100,000 in January, 2013, over 300 responses like these recent ones have been issued since the petition site was activated 5 years ago. And as to whether any of them have ever accomplished anything beyond eliciting an online response, the Obama White House recently provided "a look at some of the petitions that jumpstarted conversations between citizens and their government on important national issues and drove real government action."

Just because it has proven itself worthwhile, however, doesn't guarantee that one of President Obama's successors won't pull the plug on it. And there's reason for concern about President-Elect Trump's intentions: As of this petition's submission on 12-3-16, the only means that he has provided for interacting with him (or his transition team) at his GreatAgain.Gov website was this "Hear more from the transition team" e-mail page.

That's why I recommend that, once you have used this domain name to establish a website entitled "White House Petitions," the first petition you create and promote should be similar to the example highlighted in bold below. (And by the way, your website needn't be equipped to prepare and process petitions on its own—not now, not ever. All you need to do is display duplicates of the petitions you are encouraging your fellow citizens to sign, and then provide links to the originals at the White House's We the People petition site. And until President-Elect Trump is sworn into office on January 20th, you can use nongovernmental petition sites such as this one to prepare and process any petitions directed to him.)

To: President-Elect Trump

Air India has asked the Government of India for a bailout package of Rs.10,000 crores (about $2 billion) from the central government to get out of the financial mess it finds itself in. Everyone knows it is the mismanagement of Air India corporate heads which has taken it to this stage. We know many reasons for the loss of Air India. We can hope Air India Corporate will learn from these pitfalls and rise up from this difficult situation.

As there are many Indians living across the world and we NRI's are the bread basket for every Airlines flying into India. Most of Air India’s flight operations are to Bombay or Delhi and having not many direct flights to our home city. This is a major drawback in the part of Air India and we have to opt for foreign carriers while returning to India. Apart from that difficulty in transfers in Bombay or Delhi cheaper airfare and warm hospitality in foreign Airlines are some of the compelling reasons to travel in a foreign Airline.

Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav told AI will turnaround in 3 years. We can hope he will take necessary measures to turnaround in the current situation. Even though travelling on Air India or visiting an Indian Embassy is a worst experience in our life, let us give a chance to Air India to come out of this present situation. We Non Resident Indians can provide our support to Air India and contribute to a large extent in helping it to recover from the present crisis by making it a point to travel by our national Airline.

Signers please mention your closest international airport in your country and closest international airport in your state in India. (eg.London- cochin, New York-Bangalore, Vienna-Madras etc).

Friends, it is now the time for us to repay the trust and value that Air India has placed in us. Let us re-affirm our patriotism and bring Air India, our country’s Flag Carrier out of the ‘Red’.

Save Air India forum aims to submit a request petition to Civil Aviation Minister Mr. Praful Patel to start a direct flight to major cities from your inputs in the petition like London- cochin, New York-Bangalore, Vienna-Madras etc which will help NRI's in UK, US, Austria, Canada, Switzerland and Australia etc. It will save our journey time and can extend a supporting hand to Air India too. Please name your nearest airports while signing the petition. The more the people, better the chances of getting a direct flight in that sector.

There are many chartered flights operating from Europe bringing tourists to many cities in India with fully booked flights. Adding to it, direct flight is definitely a boost for the tourism sector too.

So we request all our Non Resident Indian friends to sign up this petition campaign and forward to your Indian friends also. Indian community organisations please circulate this petition to your members.

We have worked alongside a highly credential group of scientists and advocates to make sure that the Australian ginger industry was able to provide a well researched, evidence based response to the Draft IRA.
The scientific evidence states clearly and unequivocally that imports of Fiji ginger will result in the introduction of pathogens putting at serious risk the future viability of the Australian Ginger Industry. Even though these pathogens have been declared as risks DAFF Biosecurity continue to ignore and fail to protect the Biosecurity interests of Australia and our environment.

We need to safeguard Australian farmers from the ruin that can be caused by these pests.

AGIA has now been granted a Senate Inquiry to encourage DAFF Biosecurity to re-address the risk mitigation outcomes.

We ask for your support.

We are told that “Pride London is already the biggest Lesbian and Gay Pride event in the UK, next year it will host WorldPride 2012. The event will provide the global LGBT community a chance to come together to celebrate the progress that has been made in achieving equality, and to give those who can’t march safely in their own country a secure environment in which to do so.”

The title “Shame London” as in contrast to "Pride London" is the true title for the marches that are permitted to go through its streets and any other city or town that hosts such atrocity.

One would think that a country that has been taken down of its high horse by God to grovel in bankruptcy has the arrogance to shake its fist in God’s face and parade itself to the world as a country that condones and boasts in perversity.

This petition is against one of the largest supermarket chain “Tesco” the supermarket where you buy your groceries and car fuel is a major sponsor of it. Does this not call for a change of attitude towards “Tesco”?

Tesco say “Following this year's successful sponsorship of the family area at Pride London, we are pleased to have been invited to support World Pride in 2012 and are delighted to offer £30,000 to sponsor the family area again. World Pride is one of the wide variety of community and charitable events that we will be supporting next year.”

I would call on all Christians to sign this petition and let Tesco know just what you think of this sponsorship and that now you withdrawing your business from them.

This is a must for all Christians as Jude in his day wrote “it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” Now in our day this is no less important!

This decision has demonstrated a lack of knowledge of the logistics of the cattle industry, and the wide-ranging impact that this industry has on the whole of Australia.

We ask that the same levels of emotion that have been demonstrated for animals are applied when considering the lives of the many men, women and children that will be affected through the loss of a means of income with the closure of this market. There has already been a decrease in domestic cattle prices since the implementation of this ban, reducing the already tight profit margins of graziers who in recent years have had to survive floods and drought. Reduction in graziers’ profits will impact on the small towns where they shop, which in turn will impact on the regional cities that supply the small towns, and so forth. Crippling this industry will affect all Australians, many of whom are already struggling.

We urge the Federal Government to lift the ban on the live export of cattle to Indonesia before further damage is inflicted on the Australian economy, and allow trade to recommence to the Indonesian abattoirs that comply with Australian and international welfare standards.

Australian Defence Forces have been used in a small capacity to help search and rescue operations and clean up in SE QLD but the damage is far reaching and our present civilian and defence resources are spread thin across Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.

Bringing home the troops and their hardware will enable a strong and widespread recover operation to proceed.

Defence expenditure will be focused on disaster recovery.

The well being and peace of mind of Australian Defence Force families will benefit directly through family members being removed from combat duty.

On December 16th 2010, the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) published a consultation document announcing the Modernisation of the Coastguard for the 21st Century.

The plan is to shut 10 Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centres, leaving 9 in the UK, with only 2 providing 24hr cover, and no 24hr coverage based in Wales. One of the Rescue Centres proposed for closure is MRCC Milford Haven.

Please also take the time to visit the National Online Petition to Save All UK Coastguard Centres.

http://www.petitiononline.com/ukcghq/petition.html

We, the People of Cambodia, believe that such decision and action seriously undermine the Constitution of Kingdom of Cambodia, on the ground that the new borderline demarcation initiative is the implementation of the 2005 Treaty which is supplemental to the previous Land Border Treaty of 1985. The Treaty of 1985 had no legal standing whatsoever due to the fact that it was forged under a foreign occupation, when the Socialist Republic of Vietnam’s military was propping up the puppet government of the People’s Republic of Kampuchea (PRK).

The Constitution of the Royal Kingdom of Cambodia, on Policy, Chapter IV, Article 55, stipulates that any treaty and agreement incompatible with the independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, neutrality and national unity of the Kingdom of Cambodia shall be annulled. Therefore, the Constitutional Council of Cambodia needs to reject this new map.

No one ever thought that in Malta you could get mugged in your own street, just outside your own home! What has this country come to? Have we fallen in love with the EU to the extent that we want our crime levels to mirror those of most states?

A friend of mine moved to Malta recently as “it is a safe place to bring up your children”! At this rate, if the authorities do nothing about it, these lovely words will carry no more weight!

Are the respective authorities on the ball on this subject? Should we revert to Neighbourhood Watch in highly sensitive villages and towns, to tackle this issue? What are we waiting for? Some real serious accident to happen, perhaps? An over-protective parent or boyfriend, acting impulsively to save their valuables, ending up seriously injured at the hands of these criminals?

Apropos, the 9th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas slated for January 7-9, 2011 in New Delhi - the Manipuris all over the world join the 24 million strong Indian diaspora to welcome the initiative to lay an elaborate platform for growth of Indians domestic and abroad. We are happy to note that India’s North East Region will be focused during this event and that the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) is an organiser.

While we acknowledge the special efforts of the government of India to boost the economic development of India’s backward NE Region, we would like to draw your attention to the fact that some of India’s archaic policies remain conflicting many of the new development initiatives in the Region defeating their purposes and objectives. One such policy potentially stopping the Manipuris from benefitting from the new programs of the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) is the Protected Area Permit (PAP).

PAP restricts the visit of foreigners to Manipur. It restricts even the overseas Manipuris born in India who wish to visit their home state, Manipur. The purpose of PAP as stated by the Indian Home Ministry is “protection of culture” of the people in certain places in the country. We do not understand in what way foreigners visiting Manipur for business or tourism can harm the Manipuris while they cannot do this to other Indians. In this age of globalization, the physical segregation of the people in Manipur from the overseas Manipuris and other foreigners does not relate anything to the protection of their culture. Rather, keeping them barricaded from foreigners will diminish their competitive abilities resulting in a crippled population. Manipuris have endured two millennia long history of their own, professed rich culture and performed illustriously in many fields at any level. They need exposure to a wider arena of competition and not protection in an enclosure to sustain their heritage.

PAP obliterates the rights and privileges of Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) or Person of Indian Origin (PIO) as these apply to the Manipuris. With OCI an overseas Manipuri will not have the right to freely visit and stay in his or her homeland in India while other overseas Indians enjoy these privileges. Even obtaining PAP by an overseas Manipuri for visiting Manipur sometimes poses an insurmountable problem as its application process is incongruous with that of visa timing.

The Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), Ministry of DoNER, and MOIA are trying to create grounds for attracting investments from overseas Indians and foreigners in tune with India’s robust growth in all spheres. We assert that Manipuris in Manipur and elsewhere deserve a fair role in this cherished program. We fear that in the present circumstances, the progress India wants to make in the NE Region will go lopsided favouring the states without PAP in the same region while Manipur remains hamstrung by it. PAP makes India’s genuine efforts to help its diaspora an unfair play leaving Manipur deprived of the opportunity. India’s “Look East” policy envisages a large scope of interactions between India and various peoples and governments of the South East Asian countries through the North East corridor. PAP will significally fetter all steps in this initiative.

In spite of its beauty, natural resources and vivacious people Manipur had to witness a general decline in value system among its populace during the past four decades of its socio-political strife. Perhaps a paradigm shift may be required in India’s development approach in the NE Region from the subsidy dispensing mode to a capacity building one. Removal of PAP is one essential step in this line.

We are concerned that PAP opposes India’s commitment of equality of rights, privileges and opportunities to its citizens as enshrined in its democracy.

Based on the reasons described above we strongly believe that removal of PAP from Manipur is a socio-politically and economically sensible act for the Government of India.