Clad in their colourful traditional costumes, the Nupis went round Imphal before assembling in front of the local cantonment to demonstrate. ''In our localities, the soldiers often come looking for our brothers. Once they are picked up, they just vanish. Then we have to shake up the army top brass. But it is not merely Indian soldiers who have to reckon with the women's groups in Manipur. Manipur is next door to Burma, from where heroin flows into local markets.
Unemployment is rampant and frustrated youths are often on drugs.
The Nupis have their own way of forcing alcoholics and addicts to reform. We just beat them up. In most cases, men have given up drinking after the humiliation,'' says Jhumar Sharma of Kakching village, on the outskirts of Imphal. Those who do not are forced to go to counselling centres, most of which are also run by women. In neighbouring Tripura and Meghalaya, and also in some parts of Assam, women's groups have become very powerful.