Dissent and Torture

                                   Photograph@Arijit Sen -All Rights Reserved


Irom Sharmila, 42, a woman with unkempt black hair and a disarming smile, has long advocated for the repeal of India's Armed Forces ( Special Powers) Act, or AFSPA, which gives the Indian Army legal immunity for its various brutal actions. She has been arrested again and again since starting a hunger strike in November 2000. "I have spent 14 years of my life chewing my tongue just for violence on all sides to end", she said.

My Report for US-based Women Under Siege Project

Nagaland, before elections

                                        Photograph@Arijit Sen -All Rights Reserved


We travelled to Nagaland for a report before the Assembly elections in the state's 50th year.
This photograph of cadres belonging to the NSCN-IM, a Naga rebel group in a ceasefire with the Government of India for the last 15 years, was taken during an earlier visit to their headquarter near Dimapur.
This is the link to the Nagaland news documentary

Meghalaya Elections

                                            Photograph@Arijit Sen -All Rights Reserved

Photograph taken on our way to Shillong earlier in February. We were in Meghalaya for this report on the Assembly elections in the state. 

A Manipur morning

                                                        Photograph@Arijit Sen and Tomba--All Rights Reserved

Early morning at a village in the Tamenglong district of Manipur. December 2012. And then this in one corner (below)

                                                          Photograph@Arijit Sen -All Rights Reserved

And this in another (below)

                                                          Photograph@Arijit Sen -All Rights Reserved

Survival moves

                                                           Photograph@Arijit Sen -All Rights Reserved

After Jorhat we travelled to Imphal, the capital of the northeastern Indian state of Manipur. The state has 42, 116 people who are HIV+. Manipur is quite close to Burma. The porous border with Burma and proximity to the infamous Golden Triangle drug route ensures drugs are easily available in Manipur. Add to that a life stifled under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. Many intravenous drug users in Manipur struggle to survive in this state. Leading the battle for survival is the Manipur Network of Positive People. Formed in 1997, currently it has 2000 members who are countering fear, ignorance, social stigma and helping build a community based organisation. It is not an easy job to say the least. We had visited MNP+ in 2007. When we were there in December 2012, it was our second visit after five years.

A mad green soul

                                                                         Photograph@Arijit Sen -All Rights Reserved

In December 2012 we also travelled to Jorhat in Assam to meet Jadab Mulai Payeng, a green hero. For the last thirty three years of his life he has been crossing this river and planting trees near an isolated sandbar of the Bramhaputra river and has single-handedly given rise to a forest.

                                                                         Photograph@Arijit Sen -All Rights Reserved

A Burning Lake

                                             Photograph@Arijit Sen and Tomba--All Rights Reserved

From 1984 development promises have engulfed Loktak lake in Manipur--one of the largest freshwater lakes in India. First came a hydel project and now the government wants to evict fisherfolk to save the lake. Photograph taken by Tomba on location during the filming in November 2012. A short Loktake Video Report