The latest edition of Mission Manipur turns its attention away from official visits and political posturing to the lives of the women who continue to bear the weight of Manipur’s unending crisis. The episode travels through relief camps and resettlement sites of the Vaiphei tribe—one of the worst-hit communities in the hill districts—to understand what it means to remain uprooted for nearly three years. Their accounts reveal a landscape shaped not by state support but by fraying supplies, premature talk of dismantling camps, and a daily grind of uncertainty. Yet within this harsh terrain, listeners encounter vivid expressions of self-reliance and quiet determination, voiced by displaced women who refuse to let neglect define their futures.

From the shrinking resources at Lanva camp to the church-funded resettlement efforts on Saron hills, these conversations expose the stark gap between official claims and the lived conditions of more than 60,000 people pushed out of their homes. The episode lingers on the story of Hoichong Vaiphei, a farmer who once grew ginger on her land in Kamuching and now transforms a tiny 200-square-foot shelter into a flourishing patchwork of plants. Her makeshift garden—with Roselle shrubs and crops coaxed out of clay-heavy soil—is representative of a form of defiance that stands in contrast to the state’s abdication of responsibility. Through these voices, the episode asks what survival looks like when institutions fail, and how communities carve out dignity and continuity in the face of abandonment.

Credits:

Reported and narrated by Greeshma Kuthar

Edited by Abhijeet Parimi

Team Frontline

Saatvika Radhakrishna

Siddarth M

Mridula V

Kavya Pradeep M

Shruti Paliwal

Produced by Frontline