The politics in poll-bound Manipur may revolve around the economic blockade, but women traders of Mother’s Market here want their shops damaged in an earthquake a year ago to be repaired soon.For empowermentMother’s Market or Ima Kheitel’ in Manipuri is centuries old and is the largest women-run market in Asia. It is not just a market but a sign of empowerment of women.More than 5,000 women sell fish, vegetables, bamboo and metal craft, dry fish, phaneks’ (sarongs) and innephis’ (stoles), herbs, bangles and other items in it.But an earthquake on January 4 last year damaged many structures in the market.Our market got badly damaged in the earthquake. One year has passed but the repair work is still going on and we are yet to get back our shops, Yasomati, a trader, said. Shopping hubEarlier there used to be scattered shacks without walls where women ran their shops. Later the State government shifted it to a more organised and safer place, Khwairamband Bazaar, where it evolved into a shopping hub of traditional Manipuri artefacts for tourists. But the 2016 earthquake destroyed part of the market and it is still lying in rubble.The women traders said whichever party comes to power should ensure that they get back their shops soon and the government comes out with social security schemes for them. As we have shifted to a nearby place, our business has been hit as the area is very congested. We don’t have much space, said Hansitha. We are not able to work after a certain age. So we want economic and social security schemes from the government, said another trader in her 60s.Opinions on whom to vote in the elections vary, but all of them are thankful to Congress president Sonia Gandhi for gifting them the RCC market shed in 2010.
2016, The Hindu