Arun Kumar | January 27, 2017 | Manipur
In this chirpy market, there is a woman busy weighing a kilo of fish in one corner, while at another, a woman is knitting and selling fresh woollen clothes. At another part of this famous bazaar, customers are hurriedly buying fresh fruits and vegetables from women clad in traditional bright-coloured clothing called phaneks and innaphis. The market, the Ima Keithel, is one tourist spot that you will find on almost every list of ‘Places to Visit’ in Manipur’s capital city Imphal.
Literally translating into ‘mother’s market’, this all-women market is one of a kind. It is a 500-year-old bazaar with multiple stalls run exclusively by women. The stalls sell things ranging from food items including spices and herbs to earthen pots, metal, stoneware, utensils, jewellery and bamboo. Stalls selling local cuisine are also abundant. These cheerful, friendly women, in between setting their stalls and tackling customers, also find time to discuss social and political issues of the state. All the women here are running their own businesses and not a single man is found selling anything here. Known to be a part of the Manipuri tradition, Ima Keithel is a sign of women’s equality and independence.
(The photo story appears in the January 16-31, 2017 issue)
For decades, policing has followed a familiar sequence: a crime occurs, the police respond, an investigation produces records and those records become part of the institutional memory of the criminal justice system. Artificial intelligence is beginning to alter that sequence. Instead of merely recording
“We are making a Constitution forever and not only for today.” Shibban Lal Saksena said this in the Constituent Assembly on June 15, 1949. He was warning that a ruling party might one day choose a loyalist to run India’s elections. Seventy-seven years later, the Supreme Court is wrestli
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by prime minister Narendra Modi, has approved implementation of the ITMS Project by Delhi Police at an estimated cost of Rs.1,789.52 crore, inclusive of taxes. The project will cover 42 identified traffic corridors and will be implemented in three
The extraordinary transaction volumes and value (₹29.82 Lakh crore in August 2026 alone) of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) have made it not only an Indian success story, but a global one. In 2024, UPI accounted for nearly 49% of the world’s real-time payment transaction volume, with more th
Diplomacy is akin to an art, wherein the summitry, conflict resolution and negotiations form apt constituents of the entire context of deal making and “playing for keeps” in the international arena. The Xi-Trump summit in Washington last week, in which the American president broke all conside
Moving to Delhi-NCR for education can be an exciting experience for students from Northeast India. It gives us a chance to meet new people, experience a different culture and become more independent. But living away from home also comes with challenges that people who have not experienced them may not al
