Locating the recent success of candidates from Manipur in the civil services examination in the larger context of the state's deteriorating education system, this article offers insights about a society which worships money and power and devalues education, knowledge and merit. It also discusses the disproportionate attention that big construction projects - which are equated with "development" - and security threats receive from the centre and the state leadership, at the expense of basic needs of the people.
