Disclaimer- We are expecting a question in this year mains as the government has honored 10 freedom fighters from North-East India this year.
- Kanaklata Baruah
- Bhogeswari Phulkarni
- Rani Gaidinliu
- Kushal Konwar
- Moje Riba
- Gopinath Bordoloi
- Tirot Sing
- Shoorvir Pasaltha Khuangchera
- Matmur Jamoh
- Sambhudan Phonglo
“Martyrdom does not end anything, it only a beginning”. The axiomatic truth in the words of late Mrs. Indira Gandhi finds full reflection in the roles played by people of North-east in Indian freedom struggle.
Deep buried in oblivion, the tales of fortitude and indomitable spirit come alive only in the teachings of classrooms but fail to mesmerize posterity with inspiration. The teeming millions in the rest parts in India are not even aware about the sacrifice of these noble people from north-east, who laid down their lives for their motherland fighting against the British imperialism. Unfortunately, the brave daughters and sons from the soil of north-eastern states are yet to get recognition from the people of India for the courageous leadership in the battle of freedom against the British.
Let’s know about some of the legends who fought valiantly against British imperialism till their last drop of blood.
Bhogeswari Phukanani-
It was the year 1942 and her eyes were spewing venom as she marched along with other revolutionary during the turbulent time of ‘quit India movement’. Despite being a housewife and mother of eight children, she dared to attack and set free the office of Congress in Berhampur town of Assam. As the British police had laid a siege of the building, it was her exemplary courageous act with other revolutionaries that freed the building. On the auspicious occasion of “panchveer divas”, literally she and the revolutionaries added a golden leaf to the history of Indian freedom struggle. Born on 20th September 1885, this fifty-seven year old brave lost her life to the bullets of British Police while struggling for her life in the hospital for 20 days.
U. Tirot Singh:-
Anyone has heard about a war being fought between two groups of people, where the first group has guns, canons, and other sophisticated arms and ammunitions to strike the enemies quite from a distance, whereas the other group of people has only sticks, stones, spears, and swords. Yet, the people of the second group do not step back in trepidation but engage the fierce enemy in guerrilla warfare. This is the truth about a war, where the heavily armed British forces had an encounter with the tribal people of Khasi Hills.
The incident took place, when the British gained control of Brahmaputra valley but were in search of ways to connect Guwahati with Sylhet in Assam. Realizing Khasi hill would come in-between the two places, when the construction of the road gets started, they made a pact with the chief of the tribes in Khasi hills- U. Tirot Singh to get help in the completion of roadwork. But as it was customary with the British diplomacy, Tirot Singh was deceived in the end. Furious, he waged a war against the British that lasted for four years. Fighting bravely, Tirot Singh was ultimately captured as his followers died one-by-one. He was deported to Dhaka and jailed there till death.
Shoorvir Pasaltha Khuangchera
Every Indian is aware about great freedom fighters like Khudiram Bose, Subhash Chandra Bose, and Saheed Bhagat Singh but no one has heard about Shoorvir Pasaltha Khuangchera of Mizoram. Being the first Mizo leader, he fought with British forces in the year 1890, when they invaded Lushai Hills. As the British captured the hills, Pasaltha Khuangchera died, fighting to the last drop of his blood. Regarded as a deserving character for receiving Bharat Ratna posthumously, his bravery, strength, and righteousness find few parallels in the contemporary history of India.
Rani Gaidinliu
This fiery female leader in Indian freedom struggle gets often compared with Rani Laxmibai for her courageous acts during the days of freedom fighting. At a tender age of 16, she began a movement against the British imperialism demanding end of colonial rule and resurgence of Zeliangrong religion and Naga self-rule. The British administration captured her and she was sentenced to life imprisonment. The first Indian prime-minister and freedom fighter, Jawaharlal Nehru was amazed at her courage and will-power and gave her the title “Rani”. After independence, she was released from jail and continued her works for the poor and down-trodden in the same spirit and determination. She was awarded Padma Bhushan for her tireless efforts for the cause of Manipur people in North-east.
Kanaklata Baruah, 17, was shot dead by the Britishers in Assam’s present-day Biswanath district while going to hoist the natinal flag at a local police station. On the same day, about 150 km away at Barhampur in state’s Nagaon district, Bhogeswari Phukanani, a 57-year-old mother of eight, was killed for the same reason by the British Police.
Arunachal Pradesh’s freedom fighter Moje Riba will be honoured as he was the first person to hoist the tricolour at Dipa village in Arunachal Pradesh on August 15, 1947.Riba was arrested by British Police for participating in the Independence struggle and distributing pamphlets during the Quit India Movement.
The news related to it :-
Ten freedom fighters from the Northeast that include three women, who are largely unfamiliar to the rest of the country, will be honoured by the central government as part of the 70th Independence Day celebrations.
It is part of NDA government’s plans for visits by Union ministers to the birth places of ‘forgotten heroes’ and sites of freedom struggle to honour the bravehearts.
Kanaklata Baruah, 17, was shot dead by the Britishers at Gohpur in Assam’s present-day Biswanath district while going to hoist the national flag at a local police station. On the same day, about 150 km away at Barhampur in state’s Nagaon district, Bhogeswari Phukanani, a 57-year-old mother of eight, was killed for the same reason by the British Police.
Kanaklata was leading her group of unarmed villagers following Mahatma Gandhi’s Quit India Movement when she was shot dead at Borangabari near Gohpur.
Bhogeswari and her colleague Ratnamala were leading a procession at Barhampur when they came face-to-face with police officer Captain Finish, who snatched the flag from Ratnamala.
When Bhogeswari saw it, she hit Captain Finish with the pole of the flag. A furious Captain Finish pulled out his revolver and fired at Bhogeswari, who succumbed to injuries.
Naga spiritual and political leader from Manipur Rani Gaidinliu will also be honoured as part of the “forgotten heroes” programme.
Ranima, as she was popularly and affectionately called, led a movement against the British colonialism in 1930s and the struggle soon turned into a battle to uproot British from Manipur and Nagaland.
She was in jail for 14 years and was released from jail only when India got independence in 1947.
Another freedom struggle hero of Assam, who will be honoured, is Kushal Konwar. He was hanged by the Britishers for derailment of a military train at Sarupathar in Golghat district in 1942.
Arunachal Pradesh’s freedom fighter Moje Riba will be honoured as he was the first person to hoist the tricolour at Dipa village in Arunachal Pradesh on August 15, 1947.
Riba was arrested by British Police for participating in the Independence struggle and distributing pamphlets during the Quit India Movement.
Assam’s first Chief Minister Gopinath Bordoloi will be honoured as it was due to his continuous fight that Assam remained with India after he foiled the design of Muslim League to include the Hindu-dominated state into East Pakistan during “grouping” scheme.
Tirot Sing, one of the chiefs of the Khasi people in the early 18th century will also be honoured.
Sing fought against British attempts to take over control of the Khasi hills.
He died on July 17, 1835 under house arrest in Dhaka.
Shoorvir Pasaltha Khuangchera, the first Mizo leader to fight Britishers in 1890, will also be honoured.
As the British invaded Lushai hills (Mizoram), Shoorvir died fighting them.
Matmur Jamoh was a freedom fighter from Siang district in Arunachal Pradesh who will be honoured.
Jamoh had killed a British assistant political officer Noel Williamson in 1911 as he did not like the British interference of people’s day-to-day life while his followers killed another British officer Gregeorson.
Jamoh was soon arrested and sent to Cellular jail in Andaman where he died in obscurity.
Freedom fighter from Assam’s Dimasa tribals Sambhudan Phonglo will also be honoured for his contribution during country’s freedom struggle.
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Petrol in India is cheaper than in countries like Hong Kong, Germany and the UK but costlier than in China, Brazil, Japan, the US, Russia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, a Bank of Baroda Economics Research report showed.
Rising fuel prices in India have led to considerable debate on which government, state or central, should be lowering their taxes to keep prices under control.
The rise in fuel prices is mainly due to the global price of crude oil (raw material for making petrol and diesel) going up. Further, a stronger dollar has added to the cost of crude oil.
Amongst comparable countries (per capita wise), prices in India are higher than those in Vietnam, Kenya, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Venezuela. Countries that are major oil producers have much lower prices.
In the report, the Philippines has a comparable petrol price but has a per capita income higher than India by over 50 per cent.
Countries which have a lower per capita income like Kenya, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Venezuela have much lower prices of petrol and hence are impacted less than India.
“Therefore there is still a strong case for the government to consider lowering the taxes on fuel to protect the interest of the people,” the report argued.
India is the world’s third-biggest oil consuming and importing nation. It imports 85 per cent of its oil needs and so prices retail fuel at import parity rates.
With the global surge in energy prices, the cost of producing petrol, diesel and other petroleum products also went up for oil companies in India.
They raised petrol and diesel prices by Rs 10 a litre in just over a fortnight beginning March 22 but hit a pause button soon after as the move faced criticism and the opposition parties asked the government to cut taxes instead.
India imports most of its oil from a group of countries called the ‘OPEC +’ (i.e, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Russia, etc), which produces 40% of the world’s crude oil.
As they have the power to dictate fuel supply and prices, their decision of limiting the global supply reduces supply in India, thus raising prices
The government charges about 167% tax (excise) on petrol and 129% on diesel as compared to US (20%), UK (62%), Italy and Germany (65%).
The abominable excise duty is 2/3rd of the cost, and the base price, dealer commission and freight form the rest.
Here is an approximate break-up (in Rs):
a)Base Price | 39 |
b)Freight | 0.34 |
c) Price Charged to Dealers = (a+b) | 39.34 |
d) Excise Duty | 40.17 |
e) Dealer Commission | 4.68 |
f) VAT | 25.35 |
g) Retail Selling Price | 109.54 |
Looked closely, much of the cost of petrol and diesel is due to higher tax rate by govt, specifically excise duty.
So the question is why government is not reducing the prices ?
India, being a developing country, it does require gigantic amount of funding for its infrastructure projects as well as welfare schemes.
However, we as a society is yet to be tax-compliant. Many people evade the direct tax and that’s the reason why govt’s hands are tied. Govt. needs the money to fund various programs and at the same time it is not generating enough revenue from direct taxes.
That’s the reason why, govt is bumping up its revenue through higher indirect taxes such as GST or excise duty as in the case of petrol and diesel.
Direct taxes are progressive as it taxes according to an individuals’ income however indirect tax such as excise duty or GST are regressive in the sense that the poorest of the poor and richest of the rich have to pay the same amount.
Does not matter, if you are an auto-driver or owner of a Mercedes, end of the day both pay the same price for petrol/diesel-that’s why it is regressive in nature.
But unlike direct tax where tax evasion is rampant, indirect tax can not be evaded due to their very nature and as long as huge no of Indians keep evading direct taxes, indirect tax such as excise duty will be difficult for the govt to reduce, because it may reduce the revenue and hamper may programs of the govt.