Thingnam is an independent journalist based in Manipur in north-eastern India.
She writes for various press agencies and publications including Women’s Feature Service, India Together, Inter Press Service and Eastern Frontier. Her Better Half column in a Manipur newspaper, The Sangai Express profiles Manipur women achievers.
Thingnam has worked with the National Council of Educational Research and Training, the United News of India and North East Sun. She is also an award-winning translator.
Because there is so much violence here in Manipur that the newspapers have no space for anything else. Every day the stories are all about how many people were killed, how many arrested, plus some politics-related news. But is life limited to these issues? Haven't people got other choices? Don't they have the right to development and to build a better life? That's why I attempt to focus on 'other' issues.
I am a realist. I know that what I write will only reach a few people and amongst them only a handful will take the time to think about what they’ve read. But I keep doing it in the hope that my writing will make a difference to those few.
My priority issues are women and children. In Manipur the main issues that are reported about are conflict, HIV/AIDS and politics. But these are linked to my own issues - or at least I try to establish those links. For example, I focus on how conflict impacts on women and children, what role political decisions play in the process, how women and children are affected by HIV/AIDS, etc.
All our work is informed by a set of core values:
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