Email: action service of CORE autonomous humanita Torture and Trauma is an Transcultural Centre for The Economic and Social Council indigenousConsultative Specialstatus inthe UN with an NGO peoples’ is CORE of 1860 Societies Registration Act under the Manipur Registration No.98 of 1987 Territories Eastern Himalayan Human Rights in India’s Centre for Policy and Indigenous n Peoples’ tio a c u d n E & tio a h c is r n a a e g s r e O R r o f e tr n e C CORE Website: [email protected] Human to Humane 1 Imphal 795001, MANIPUR Tel/Fax: +91 385 244 13 19 st Floor, Ibotombi Building, H2H www.coremanipur.org Asian Highway No. 1 Post Box No. 99 Loisanglen: 244 73 71 Babupara rian India ians/manipuri Govindas the population of this was found to be 1,100 only," give a wide range of numbers, however. thatthepony populatio alongwith comparisons from previous census figures to clearly illustrate, LivestockupdatedalsoquotedfigurethatCensusanregard,wishthisis2003”. withwe In evidence population madepony was policy. addresspostal month. Thedraft policy document text. a becomesparagraphs, it suggest we stage,draft Private sector, wide dissemination associationpolo conservation, development,sustainable other owners, and pony measures, of role the fundsallocation infrastructure,shifting likeresources, grazinggrounds, pony like tabular form a in place Comments and general public to submit comments to the draft for conservation policypolicy. state and development. a establishWewelcome to exercisethe invitation overdue longextended toall stakeholdersundertaking a Manipur in particular. 1860,suchandasitsmandate includes policy matte and general public (Pt ManipurGovernment of Organi Introduction PONY “MANIPUR DRAFT THECONSERVATION REGARDING AND DEVELOPMENT SUGGESTIONS POLICY”, AND 8 COMMENTS MISCELLANEOUS POLICY PAPER # 4/2016 . ) dated) 8 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. ain eerh E & Research sation In March 2016, it was reported that firsttheIn Forthe ease ofreading and reference of suchpolicy documents, especially inthe Thedraft policy may begin with a Gove the that note to pleased is organisation The TheCORE isa registered are These and Suggestions th - November2016) inwhich aninvitation wasextended to etc. pony The time frame for comments and suggestion may be extended up with , income etc , Konthoujam for comments. /media introductory - h cmet ad ugsin sbitd y h Cnr for Centre the by submitted suggestions and comments the rl o Vety of…role facing F x o o te ocr ofc fr n cmet aot h draft the comments about any for office concern the of No. ax n inManipurn isindeed “dwindling rapidly”. mayal , ht l paragraphs numbered. all the Without are numberingthat of , tourist attraction,distribution of Manipuri pony and its habitat, ey & nml Husbandry Animal D & Vety. n , role of state and its agencies, role of NGO, civil society, role of - : extinction A atclr iue a qoe fo te “17 the from quoted particular was figure A . vial calne o ae atclr eeecs o the particular references to make avoidable challenge to uain CR) n epne to response in (CORE) ducation so society underthe Manipur Societies Registration page be . rwh ae n dah rate death and rate growth AH, & introduce ( http://www.business - 116030400505_1.html to the draft policy, a referencethedraftpolicy,tothemadea was briefintroduction informati " [ I d ] n the livestock census conducted in 2012, inManipuri TH n euain n communication, education andon, rs concerningrs Indiageneralin NOVEMBER 2016 according to epartment - standard.com/article/news aswell ) grounds,current scenario, whereinsome points may . net f aiu is Manipur of rnment , demographic changes, rslto o the of resolution a . There shouldbe full (No.1/16/2 Differentreferences Veterinary Minister 14 all Manipuri November 2016 stakeholders th Quinquinal - 16 to one Act - pony Vety and of -

Page 1 20. 19. 18. 17. 16. 15. 14. 13. 12. 11. 10. 9. 8. thefoothills or any other areas around/adjacent to th Under medicine, nutrition, grazing grounds, fodders, There The districts, Valley Manipur the to confined exclusively is Manipurparticularly in w pony of culture and breeding the breedingmaybevery difficult theinhill districts duethetoterrain andfodder scarcity issues. Additionally, Theestablishment of“abreeding tract inevery District” may benot desirable orfe participate and make us of such a facility for “cryobreedingassuch purposes. needto establish a “PonyBreeding Facility” with modernstud maintainingregard maintenancewithto bloodlines trueobviousbreeds.goodan andandHowever, ofmademention breedingnois facilities. Measur concern, expressed inthe section,that the practice of early Under they going to take up in this draft policy? membersecretary Thereare “ 4, section/Article the Under subsidy scheme to pony owners, nutrition productionpony,of objectiveourplacein can we beManipuri Maypony?of years? What is our target in 50 years? What have the government. of M title of the draft policy. Int With reference to the draft policy’s text itself, we have the following comments. present draft policy so that the concern is well wouldfounveryIthelpfulbe proper thataauthentic recordthe of ( that the total pony population respectively.” has declined femalesto justof Manipur 1,101.”Pony as per 440the Livestock Census 2003 was and 1,898 while the Livestock Another malesnews Census report 2012 from had The reported Assam Tribune 597 dated 19 of comprising 1037, numbered( Pony of population filedManipurtheby RidingPolo Association& (MHRPA)lessthan 500whereasis 2011 thetotal in ComptrollerandAuditor General Indiaof report the In ( 2327only de has Manipuri of number “ mentioned it that is dates, it reference to no with India, Equines in The Inthe website ofthe conservation http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/detailsnew.asp?id=oct2016/oth054 http://www.imphaltimes.com/it https://web.archive.org/web/20100525212416/http://nrce.nic.in/eqindia.htm The areport dated 22 hedraft board may consider patenting the aiu Pn i bcmn a ednee seis ih h ttl ouain f es hn 0. A 500. than less of population total the with species endangered an becoming is Pony Manipur objective isa need to add plan SectionNo.(Feeding6 PlanManipuri of Pony.) Section , establish, . ” no ManipuriPony Conservation and Development policy” - room ” ithin the domain of the . This should be an important consideration. preservation”facility.aCommunitysuch placedmentionedinbased be owners may should No.(Breeding5 strategies oftheBreed.) should be added in the board,theadded inshould be of theofdraft policy needs more inputs. s to run theofficerunto an integratedan system surveillances,of enforcement of nd for reductionmortalityof rate,reduction/ reduceprevalence castration/gelding, improve NATIONALRESEARCH CENTRE ONEQUINES July2015 inthe Imphal Times, it is mentioned that “it may ponyowners, animal lovers, etc. inthe board. s forpony owners. (subsidyschemes rae datcly A pr aet aa h pplto o Mnpr pony Manipuri of population the data latest per drastically. As creased grazing areas, impact on the state economy and income - articles/item/3238 ( osiuin f aiui oy eeomn Board Development Pony Manipuri of Constitution /board Manipuri pony . What are the powWhatarethe fencing, gears, etc ( i.e the Manipuritheconservationi.epony developmentand board saysthatthe population Ponyof according to2014 census ded. . ebreeding tract may be declared as reserve/preserved - pony Forexample, th , wenote, that available so October2016 menti castration/geldingby owners presents a problem , a numbera , measures havebeen listed. There a is - a endangered table er and functionsander thisboard?ofWhat role are . ) Manipuri for entrepreneur (IndianCouncil of Agricultural Research) theword “ form whatarewe going to anipur Theboard mayinclude - , e , treasure Pony cattletrespass, fodder production, .g. s mte o cnen ht the concern that of matter a is ) done so far for the conservation e Development onedthat “ radicationspecific disease, of populationreflectedis thein ). - , be of ponylovers, pony owners, asible.For instance, pony - - called‘wastelands’ near manipur surpris , etc. ( T achieve “is ) ingtoknow hetotal number ) missinginthe a the ) secretaryor innext 10 word that es is ) , .

Page 2 30. 29. 28. 27. 26. 25. 24. 23. 22. 21. the comparative study of the cult However, Under taken up together with the Department of Art & Culture,education,uses,assuch awareness Education, raising, community participation tourism.and materialsregarding the MuseumPony Under authorityspecifically an byestablish renewal provisions and inspection regular requires considered, which be may system licensing A owners. by lands private homestead and on keeping pony for framed regulations be should wish to keep. Just providing maintenance costs only hasupfinancial no meaningsupport to interestedas such pony keepers tobuild appropriate andhealthy Understables forthe they this endangered species. uponto give a cleardirection along with mandatory independentItethical is unclearoversight what i to all research concerning in the physical activities curricula of schools. activitiesand events being proposed, wesuggest that horse riding may formally orderto re Under and betting minimalland acquisition and displacement Imphal City of lieu of explored locationscommunities in Other be should ago. years experiment 50 than this more ofthe late Maharaj 50s and early 60s, Imphal indeed had a race course designatpropositionas it isa common knowledge that race courses SectionThefurther management, Pologroundsthevalley indistricts withadequate infrastructures initiatedbemay theand provision to lend teeth local this tolaudable entrusted beidea. “should developed communities be to and grounds polo clubs”, polo village the draft The again.mentioned. issue management However,the there is no m Under a Such ponies. for policyregulation draft present themust ensure envisioned in measures that the community include that ownership framed be andshould participation is mandatory. Suchrules framing make no sense when ther Manipur. The Itmay benoted that the State has been developing and formulating many laws and rules concerning land in Yaralpat, Khongampat, Waithoupat, Lousipat, Ikopencroachermajornaturalthesereserves commons.Patgovernmenttoanda and itselfis so forth. surr its Lamphelpat and pathetic example of The ponies, have themselves become “endangered species”encroachment, in Manipurreclamationlandgrabbling.land dueand Wetlands theirtosurrounds, and the conducive verythe government’sto neglect. so for the purpose of shelter, fodder production and grazing area for the ponies. This is a very crucial issue as the - ald wsead” n h Mnpr aly ae en ail srnig vr h years the over shrinking rapidly been have Valley Manipur the in “wastelands”called Section No. 11 (Organisation of Eco Sectio SectionNo.12 (Inclusion ofpony literatures intext books) Section(Incentives10 eto N. (oy ae Employment Based (Pony Opportunities) 9 Section No. merely - . establishand popul nNo. 8 (Development of Permanent PoloGround and Race Courses) Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Draft Rules 2016 conservation and development. or introducing literature may not be useful unless the curricula in schools and colleges include s meant by“scientific utilization of Manipuri Pony”. We suggestthat this idea be expanded Manipuri Kujmar ed for such activities. mentionsracecoursethatashoulddeveloped be Imphalinteresting inanCity. Thisis historycultureManipuriandtheof Pony. Thisinitiative wouldhavemultipurpose PriyabrataSingh. It did not last long. Some important lessons may be learnt from Resource C arizethe culture of horse riding and provide continual impetus to the various ProgrammesPonytokeepers.) ure of the Manipuri Pony and other ponies in Asia. entre - tourism Activities.) eare no regulations to be implemented. AWetlands Regulation ht showcasesthat ud i a ey biu cs i pit wee h State the where point, in obvious case very a is ounds ,keeping in mind that racing isall aboutgambling requirelots of land and infrastructure, During the ed in the Palace Compound. This was an initiative permanent exhibitiona , it may be pertinent to establish a Manipuri , it is extremelyisit , important provideto start etc. w se ay da big included. being ideas In many see we , , we,find the idea very interesting too. ention of an appropriate budgetary circulated earlier is a case in point. incentives will be abused. Proper be This initiativeThis shouldbe introducedand included te examplesOtherinclude ,we havecome across n kes archival keepsand board including u to due with ,

Page 3 33. 32. 31. Concluding Remarks Attention A alsoWe further suggest that such formal submissions bealso uploaded onthewebpage theofVeterinary & finalizing this policy will give due attention to commentsand suggestions are submitted policy. Our draft theinthe sincere opportunity comments to this giving forhope Manipur for Governmentthat the the of concerned thank We authorities developing and the proposed “Manipur and Scientific Committee” be established under this policy,We suggest whichthat should dueto be the multidisciplinary manytechnical and and specialised advisory issues to Inthat conclusion,ar the development of the policy is much needed for this much loved but equally neglected animal. nimal H Email: Government of Manipur Under Secretary (Vety.& A.H.) Shri usbandry : Saicchingpuii [email protected] Department for all to read. i Pony Development Board such submissions. ” . CORE Elders’/Executive Council President Dr. Laifungbam Debabrata Roy e includedin this policy, a “Technical

Page 4