Women's Movement in Manipur Against Alcoholism and Human Rights Violation

Int. Jr. of Contemp. Res. in Multi. PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL Volume 4 Issue 6 [NovDec] Year 2025 320 © 2025 Dr. Sanabam Gunajit Mangang, Konsam Tama Chanu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY NC ND).https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Research Article Women’s Movement in Manipur Against Alcoholism and Human Rights Violation Dr. Sanabam Gunajit Mangang 1*, Konsam Tama Chanu 2 1 Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Manipur International University, Imphal, West Manipur, India 2 PhD Scholar, Department of Political Science, Manipur International University, Imphal, West Manipur, India Corresponding Author: *Dr. Sanabam Gunajit Mangang DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17853884 Abstract Manuscript Information Women in Manipur are active in the spheres of politics, social and economic. Whenever there is any crisis, particularly Meitei (plain dweller) womenfolk of Manipur come forward for quick and precise resolution. The period from the 1960s to the 1990s was the worst period for women in Manipur. This was the period were almost all the male folk were indulging in alcoholism and drug abuse. The movement of Nisha Band was precisely to fight against the alcohol addiction of Manipur menfolk. Women folk of every locality or leikai began to organise a group that generally comprises elder women folk to curb the sale, transportation and consumption of alcohol. It further covered the issue of drug abuse by the youngsters and domestic violence against women. The movement has enabled to successfully curbed the menace of alcoholism and has evolved into the Meira Paibi, which later became a strong force of the third eye of democracy in Manipur. The Nisha Band movement was inspired by the women’s role in resolving the food grain scarcity crisis in Manipur and successfully fighting against British rule. The period 1970s was a phase of political turmoil in Manipur as the insurgency movement that had once been lost resurfaced again. Following this, the security forces began to crack down with harsh force, leading to a persistent pattern of human rights violations. Once Nisha Band was literally changed to Meira Paibi, or the women torchbearer, coming forward to protect the human rights violations under the Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSP) 1958. India has its own mechanisms, like the law court and the National Human Rights Commission, to deal with human rights violations. Most of the agencies to protect the rights of citizens were almost paralysed in Manipur with the existence of AFSPA. It was the women's movement that came forward and successfully safeguarded human rights in Manipur. ▪ ISSN No: 2583-7397 ▪ Received: 14-10-2025 ▪ Accepted: 29-11-2025 ▪ Published: 08-12-2025 ▪ IJCRM:4(6); 2025: 320-322 ▪ ©2025, All Rights Reserved ▪ Plagiarism Checked: Yes ▪ Peer Review Process: Yes How to Cite this Article Sanabam Gunajit M, Konsam Tama C. Women’s movement in Manipur against alcoholism and human rights violations. Int J Contemp Res Multidiscip. 2025;4(6):320-322. Access this Article Online www.multiarticlesjournal.com KEYWORDS: Nisha Band, Meira Paibi, Armed Forces Special Power Act, Human Rights, Alcoholism, Drug Abuse. Int. Jr. of Contemp. Res. in Multi. PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL Volume 4 Issue 6 [NovDec] Year 2025 321 © 2025 Dr. Sanabam Gunajit Mangang, Konsam Tama Chanu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY NC ND).https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 1. INTRODUCTION The women's movement in Manipur is characterised by a history of strong female activism, particularly in response to social, economic and political issues. Some of the prominent women’s movements are the two Nupi Lan (Women's War) and the Nisha Band movement, later transformed into the Meira Paibi movement. The two Nupi Lan, occurring in 1904 and 1939-40, saw women protesting against British colonial policies and economic exploitation. And the Nisha Band movement, emerging in the 1970s, focuses on combating social ills like alcoholism, drug abuse and human rights violence. The period from the 1960s to 1990s was the worst period for women in Manipur, particularly Meitei (plain dweller). This was the period were almost all the male folk were indulging in alcoholism and drug abuse. The movement of Nisha Band was precisely to fight against the alcohol addiction of Manipur menfolk. The menace of alcoholism reached its peak by the late 1960s, mainly influenced by the movies (personal communication, 20 Sept 2025). Male folk, mainly the Meitei, often visited the local alcohol vendor and Schedule Tribe village (Hao Khul), mainly Kakhulong, Major Khul, Mochi Khul, Keishamthong Kabui, Hiyangthang, Tarung Khul, and Ragailong for alcohol consumption (Personal Communication, 13th October 2025). Besides fighting against the abuse of intoxicants, the women come forward in safeguarding human rights, and this marks the rise of the Meira Paibi movement. Women’s movement in Manipur covered the issue of drug abuse by the youngsters, human rights protections and domestic violence against women. The women’s movement has enabled to successfully curbed the menace of alcoholism and has evolved into the Meira Paibi, which later became a strong force of the third eye of democracy in Manipur. In the late 1970s, Manipur was engulfed in political turmoil in the form of insurgency. This led to the rise of a peculiar political situation in Manipur wherein fake encounters and custodial deaths became daily affairs under the Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSP) 1958 (Personal Communication, 13th October 2025). 2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Aruna Chanu Oinam and Purnima Thoidingjam, in their article ‘A Brief Review of Meira Paibi: A Women’s Movement in Manipur,’ narrated that the meaningful participation of women in society brings valuable changes in society. The women leaders prioritise the issues at hand, be it social, family, community, state or country level. Meira Paibi of Manipur shows positive outcomes of women's participation in community progress. Every woman in India must learn from such groups and get the courage to fight against gender inequity, personal, family, social and community problems. The women must believe that they are not less than a man. There is no one to change the status of women until the change starts from themselves. The women's commitment to solving problems like peace building, dealing with conflict situations, the menace of alcoholism, drug abuse, etc., has been rightly shown by Meira Paibi of Manipur. Everyone must take equal responsibility at all levels, and inspiration can be taken from the Meira Paibi movement. Waang Akoijam and Dr Reena Singh (2024). Manipuri women have played a huge role as agents of change and protest, be it women warriors of the Nupi Lan (directly translates to: Women’s War) who fought in the 1904 and 1939 wars or the Meira Paibis (Women Torch Bearers) women and their night vigils to keep their sons safe from army atrocities. They also take the burden of picking up the pieces after every act of violence, every social unrest, every conflict that takes lives and destroys homes. Gaps The scholars fail to bring forth the evolution of Meira Paibi from Nisha Band. Further, it also missed out the contribution made by the Manipur women folk to the social, political economic and safeguarding the human rights of Manipur. 3. OBJECTIVE The study intends to explore the role and contribution made by the women of Manipur in curbing alcoholism and drug abuse and fighting against human rights violations. Women’s contribution to social movements and political movements is not new; nevertheless, the women’s movement in Manipur may be totally different. The aim and objective of this article is to relay the activism of women in Manipur. 4. METHODOLOGY The study will be entirely based on empirical research, employing content analysis, direct or indirect observation, or narrative analysis to identify patterns of gaps in existing knowledge. This method involves data collection, interviews, and collecting data from both secondary as well as primary sources. Manipur’s Women and Intoxicants The excessive and extensive portrayal of drugs and alcohol in movies encourages youth to drink and smoke (Pechmann, 2010). The broadcasting of consumption of drugs and alcohol by the actor and actress has created a favourable environment for the consumption of drugs and alcohol to the viewer (Gautam, 2017). Keeping this argument in mind, the movies that were telecast in Manipur might have contributed to the excessive abuse of drugs and alcohol. According to government reports, the substance use disorder has become more complex as the user consumes alcohol, cannabis, opioids, sedatives, various inhalants and others (Government of Manipur Draft Policy, 2020). This might be the probable reason for the sudden rise in the abuse of intoxicants by the men of Manipur. Whenever there is war or poverty or any sort of crisis, the foremost and obvious sufferer is womenfolk. As they say, indeed, the women of Manipur were the worst impacted and sufferers of intoxicant abuse. Thereby, women were compelled to take proactive action in the form of Nisha Band. Every woman of the household comes out to fight the menace of illicit drug abuse and alcoholism by male folk. The women realised Int. Jr. of Contemp. Res. in Multi. PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL Volume 4 Issue 6 [NovDec] Year 2025 322 © 2025 Dr. Sanabam Gunajit Mangang, Konsam Tama Chanu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY NC ND).https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ the need and necessity to form a formidable group mainly responsible for dealing with drug abuse and alcoholism. Thus, Nisha Band was formed in every corner of the plain areas of Manipur. Women in the concerned localities gathered their strength and asserted their capabilities in checking and controlling the persons who were involved in the selling and drinking of liquor, as well as those persons involved in the transaction of the liquor business. The women in groups at this stage were known as Nisha Bandish, and their organisations as Nisha Bandh organisations (Aruna Chanu Oinam and Purnima Thoidingjam, 2020). Nisha Band is derived from two combined words, Nisha and Band. ‘Nisha’ in the Manipuri dialect means intoxicant, and ‘Band’ means completely ban, thus, Nisha Band means ‘intoxicant ban’. This group of people mainly comprises old and elderly women, and they are proud to define themselves as Nisha band. In this way, the women of Manipur once again come forward to save the Manipur society. Slowly and slowly, the womenfolk began to gain confidence and began to indulge in solving any available problems and issues. The history tells the story of Manipuri women’s valour in fighting against the British, and this inspires most of the womenfolk to act and behave like their ancestors. This gave rise to the Meira Paibi Movement from Nisha Band. Manipur’s Women and Human Rights The word Meira Paibi is the combined word of Meira and Paibi. Meira in Manipuri means torch or flame, and Paibi means female bearer; thus Meira Paibi means women torch bearer. The Nisha Band slowly changing into Meira Paibi is a clear indication of real women empowering themselves. This was compelled by the existing political situation of Manipur. As Manipur was engulfed in the more intricate insurgency and counterinsurgency operation, the gross persistent pattern of human rights violations became a daily affair. And the State Human Rights Commission was not properly functioning; the Nisha Band movement was compelled to evolve itself as Meira Paibi. Meira Paibi's main task became to multiply manifold; they began to act as a judicial, opposition party of a democratic government, human rights activist, environmentalist, moral policing groups, defender of women and inferior against bullying, etc. The fake encounter, custodial death, third-degree torture, forceful disappearance, kidnapping for ransom, and wrongful detention became a daily affair of the state. In this juncture, it was only the Meira Paibi that came forward to act as a protector and problem solver. The women folk, beginning from early evening, guarded their respective locality that falls under their jurisdiction till early morning, protecting the civilians from forceful arrest, fake encounter, kidnapping and monetary demand by some unlawful organisation. With the imposition of the Armed Forces Special Power Act 1958 in Manipur, security forces, in the name of curbing the menace of insurgent, acted with impunity in all their actions. They often abuse the power bestowed upon them for harmony and a peaceful society. It was the Meira Paibi that intervened and often prevented unwanted incidents from occurring. 5. CONCLUSION Manipur women are indeed active in politics, and often fight for social and economic justice. Womenfolk of Manipur come forward in the form of Nisha Band to fight against alcohol addiction, drug abuse, and vanguard for human rights. The women's movement in Manipur can be regarded as a third eye of democracy in Manipur. The women of Manipur had played a major role in resolving the food grain scarcity crisis, fighting against drug addiction and alcoholism, and safeguarding the human rights of Manipuris. They often come forward in handling the political turmoil of Manipur. The women's movement in Manipur can be regarded as an example of women's empowerment. It was the women's movement that came forward and successfully fought against the misuse of power under AFSPA and safeguarded human rights in Manipur. REFERENCES 1. Oinam AC, Thoidingjam P. A brief review of Meira Paibi: a women’s movement in Manipur. The Research. 2020;9(2):20–23. 2. Government of Manipur. Notification No. 19/24/2012S(SW), Social Welfare Department, Secretariat. Imphal: Government of Manipur; 30 Jun 2020. 3. Pechmann C. Smoking in movies. Health Commun. 2010; 25:578–579. doi:10.1080/10410236.2010.496828. 4. Gautam SK. Portrayal of drugs and alcohol in Indian cinema: a reflection of cultural practices in the twenty-first century [Internet]. ResearchGate; 2017 [cited 2025 Oct 2]. 5. Akoijam W, Singh R. Feminist perspectives in Manipuri movements: women’s agency and collective action in The Mothers of Manipur: Twelve Women Who Made History by Teresa Rehman and Women’s Movement in Manipur by Thokchom Binarani Devi. Int J Creat Res Thoughts [Internet]. 2024;12(4) [cited 2025 Aug 22]. Creative Commons (CC) License This article is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. About the corresponding author Dr. Sanabam Gunajit Mangang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Manipur International University, Imphal, India. His academic interests focus on political institutions, social movements, human rights, and regional politics, with a commitment to research and teaching in contemporary political issues.