Miraculous Cancer Curing Plant of Chawilien, Saikot (Churachandpur District) also known as Damdwai
Monday, June 30, 2008
Miraculous Cancer Curing Plant
Miraculous Cancer Curing Plant of Chawilien, Saikot (Churachandpur District) also known as Damdwai
a busy Moreh Market
A market run by women vendor at Moreh, a border town adjoining Tamu in Myanmar(Burma). Most of the vendors are Burmese.
Assam ranks as ‘most corrupt’ State
New Delhi, Jun 30 : Assam has earned the dubious distinction of being the most corrupt State in the country, on the basis of corruption in 11 vital services. Corruption level was alarming in four other States, as well. The latest India Corruption Study 2007 conducted jointly by Transparency International and Centre for Media Study and released by Vice President Hamid Ansari on Saturday is embarrassing news for Assam, where corruption level was described as ‘alarming’. The four States, which follow Assam include Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
The grouping of States on corruption reflects position of States in the context of eleven services. The eleven services included ‘basic services’ like PDS, hospital service, school education, electricity and water supply services and ‘need -based services’, like land records, registration, housing service, forest, NREGS, banking service and police service (traffic and crime)). The study does not include operational irregularities in the system and even corruption that does not involve citizens directly.
The study covered all 31 States and Union Territories and is focused on the poorest and rural areas. It included below the poverty line people (BPL) in both rural areas and urban slums.
The level of corruption in all the 11services studied in Assam and Madhya Pradesh was alarming. In Delhi and West Bengal, for example, corruption level was moderate in most services surveyed. Among smaller States of the north-east, like Nagaland and Goa, corruption level was alarming, whereas in Meghalaya and Sikkim, it was very high. In Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur the level was high, while in Tripura and Mizoram it was found to be moderate.
The total bribe amount involved in a year in BPL households availing the eleven services is estimated at Rs 8,830 crore. Based on the incidence of bribe paid by sample BPL households, an estimate is made for the total amount paid as bribe by BPL households in the country during the last one-year in the eleven services.
School education (up to class XII and government schools) among the 11 services studied stands last in the ranking meaning the level of corruption is the lowest among all. While police service stood number one. The land records and registration and house and plot, which are specially tailored for BPL households, stand at two and three respectively in the rank.
The level and extent of corruption in police service was high in all States, as if it is universal – but the ranks of other services show variations across the States. Given the nature of need-based services, which are monopolistic or involve asset creation or volume, these services ranked high on corruption as compared to basic services.
Releasing the report, the Vice president said the report brings to light the negative impact of competitive politics on targeted schemes aimed at the poor. It has reported instances of BPL, SC/ST and other vulnerable households of being told by political activists of a linkage between benefits and electoral preferences.
“This, to the extent it is true, amounts to political corruption in its damaging form since it undermines the very institutions of democracy at all levels. A national consensus at its avoidance is thus imperative,” he opined.
The grouping of States on corruption reflects position of States in the context of eleven services. The eleven services included ‘basic services’ like PDS, hospital service, school education, electricity and water supply services and ‘need -based services’, like land records, registration, housing service, forest, NREGS, banking service and police service (traffic and crime)). The study does not include operational irregularities in the system and even corruption that does not involve citizens directly.
The study covered all 31 States and Union Territories and is focused on the poorest and rural areas. It included below the poverty line people (BPL) in both rural areas and urban slums.
The level of corruption in all the 11services studied in Assam and Madhya Pradesh was alarming. In Delhi and West Bengal, for example, corruption level was moderate in most services surveyed. Among smaller States of the north-east, like Nagaland and Goa, corruption level was alarming, whereas in Meghalaya and Sikkim, it was very high. In Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur the level was high, while in Tripura and Mizoram it was found to be moderate.
The total bribe amount involved in a year in BPL households availing the eleven services is estimated at Rs 8,830 crore. Based on the incidence of bribe paid by sample BPL households, an estimate is made for the total amount paid as bribe by BPL households in the country during the last one-year in the eleven services.
School education (up to class XII and government schools) among the 11 services studied stands last in the ranking meaning the level of corruption is the lowest among all. While police service stood number one. The land records and registration and house and plot, which are specially tailored for BPL households, stand at two and three respectively in the rank.
The level and extent of corruption in police service was high in all States, as if it is universal – but the ranks of other services show variations across the States. Given the nature of need-based services, which are monopolistic or involve asset creation or volume, these services ranked high on corruption as compared to basic services.
Releasing the report, the Vice president said the report brings to light the negative impact of competitive politics on targeted schemes aimed at the poor. It has reported instances of BPL, SC/ST and other vulnerable households of being told by political activists of a linkage between benefits and electoral preferences.
“This, to the extent it is true, amounts to political corruption in its damaging form since it undermines the very institutions of democracy at all levels. A national consensus at its avoidance is thus imperative,” he opined.
Manipur journalists say they will defy militants
Imphal, Jun 30 : The Journalists Association in Manipur has decided to defy militants and has unanimously agreed not to succumb to pressure exerted on them by various underground groups.
Last week, media houses stopped the publication of newspapers in protest against a threat issued to them by some factions of militant groups.The militants threatened to respond with bullets if press statements issued by them were not published by the Manipuri press.
“It’s not new in Manipur. Media people have been facing this for a long time,” said Saratchandra Sharma, a journalist.
An emergency meeting of the All Manipur Working Journalists’ Union was also held to deal with the militant threat.
Chaoba Sharma, another journalist, said: “I think it is time that the All Manipur Working Journalist’s Union and editors take a very firm stand o what to publish or not to publish. Once a decision is taken, we should stand by it, whether to publish it or not.”
Citizens in Manipur have expressed concern over the threat to media.”It is very unfortunate. The media should be given all free scope to deal with the public interest. No one, even the militants, revolutionaries or anybody, let them be king or emperor, should interfere with the media,” said N. Binoy Singh, the President of the Senior Citizens Forum.
Last week, media houses stopped the publication of newspapers in protest against a threat issued to them by some factions of militant groups.The militants threatened to respond with bullets if press statements issued by them were not published by the Manipuri press.
“It’s not new in Manipur. Media people have been facing this for a long time,” said Saratchandra Sharma, a journalist.
An emergency meeting of the All Manipur Working Journalists’ Union was also held to deal with the militant threat.
Chaoba Sharma, another journalist, said: “I think it is time that the All Manipur Working Journalist’s Union and editors take a very firm stand o what to publish or not to publish. Once a decision is taken, we should stand by it, whether to publish it or not.”
Citizens in Manipur have expressed concern over the threat to media.”It is very unfortunate. The media should be given all free scope to deal with the public interest. No one, even the militants, revolutionaries or anybody, let them be king or emperor, should interfere with the media,” said N. Binoy Singh, the President of the Senior Citizens Forum.
Mizo cops seize huge arms cache
Aizawl, Jun 30 : In one of the biggest arms hauls in recent times, Mizoram police seized 19 AK-47 assault rifles along with 12 magazines and 8,307 rounds of live ammunition from insurgents and arms smugglers near Aizwal on Saturday, police sources said on Sunday.
The sources told PTI that two militants belonging to Dima Halam Daoga (DHD) and six former Bru Liberation Front of Mizoram (BLFM) militants, who were trying to rearm themselves, were arrested in this connection besides, an arms smuggler from Myanmar and a local vehicle owner.He said that the six former BLFM cadres led by its former communication secretary Lalthazuala were frustrated due to the Centre’s failure to release funds for their resettlement and were intending to regroup and restart arms insurrection.
“Self-styled ‘Lieutenant’ Phaijen Langthasa and ‘private’ Paul Dutta of DHD were also working together with the former Bru rebels to procure arms from Aizawl,” he said.
“Police also confiscated Rs 9,84,000 in cash meant for the purchase of arms from Aizawl,” he said.
The sources told PTI that two militants belonging to Dima Halam Daoga (DHD) and six former Bru Liberation Front of Mizoram (BLFM) militants, who were trying to rearm themselves, were arrested in this connection besides, an arms smuggler from Myanmar and a local vehicle owner.He said that the six former BLFM cadres led by its former communication secretary Lalthazuala were frustrated due to the Centre’s failure to release funds for their resettlement and were intending to regroup and restart arms insurrection.
“Self-styled ‘Lieutenant’ Phaijen Langthasa and ‘private’ Paul Dutta of DHD were also working together with the former Bru rebels to procure arms from Aizawl,” he said.
“Police also confiscated Rs 9,84,000 in cash meant for the purchase of arms from Aizawl,” he said.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
FCI rice bags for Mizoram off-loaded near Silchar
Aizawl, Jun 29 : A truck bearing the number MZ-05-0202, which was loaded with 380 bags of rice from Ramnagar FCI near here, meant for Lunglei FCI in Mizoram for public distribution system was off-loaded at Syedpur village along the Silchar-Aizawl Highway, 8 km away, last night.
On a specific tip-off, a police team from Rangirkhari police outpost reached the spot and took control of the truck to discover that 69 bags of rice had already been unloaded and stocked in the house of one identified as Hussain Uddin Laskar.
Police arrested the driver of the truck Jamal Uddin and labourer Sahabuddin Laskar, engaged in off-loading of the rice bags. Hussain Uddin Laskar and the handyman of the truck, who were involved in the illegal operation, however, evaded arrest and are absconding. Investigating officer SR Barbhuiya, found prima facie involvement and collusion of Hussain, Jamal Uddin and the handyman in the murky affair.
On the basis of the statement of the driver, Ashok Sarda, owner of the truck, a businessman of Janiganj was also taken into custody. Later, he was released. It turned out that the statement of the driver was fabricated to implicate Sarda in order to extricate himself from being arrested.
Barbhuiya said, after investigation and interrogation, an FIR has been filed against the accused and chargesheet framed against them. Officer-in-charge of the police outpost is now looking into the case for initiating legal action against them under relevant provisions of the law.
T Deshmukhya, Divisional Manager of FCI, when contacted said, “once the consignment of rice or any foodgrain is taken out of our godown, our responsibility is over”. Insiders in FCI say, pilferages of rice and wheat as well as sugar all the way from Guwahati to Silchar and beyond on road or train are masterminded by unscrupulous elements, who have virtually floated a syndicate and hardly care for any deterrent action.
On a specific tip-off, a police team from Rangirkhari police outpost reached the spot and took control of the truck to discover that 69 bags of rice had already been unloaded and stocked in the house of one identified as Hussain Uddin Laskar.
Police arrested the driver of the truck Jamal Uddin and labourer Sahabuddin Laskar, engaged in off-loading of the rice bags. Hussain Uddin Laskar and the handyman of the truck, who were involved in the illegal operation, however, evaded arrest and are absconding. Investigating officer SR Barbhuiya, found prima facie involvement and collusion of Hussain, Jamal Uddin and the handyman in the murky affair.
On the basis of the statement of the driver, Ashok Sarda, owner of the truck, a businessman of Janiganj was also taken into custody. Later, he was released. It turned out that the statement of the driver was fabricated to implicate Sarda in order to extricate himself from being arrested.
Barbhuiya said, after investigation and interrogation, an FIR has been filed against the accused and chargesheet framed against them. Officer-in-charge of the police outpost is now looking into the case for initiating legal action against them under relevant provisions of the law.
T Deshmukhya, Divisional Manager of FCI, when contacted said, “once the consignment of rice or any foodgrain is taken out of our godown, our responsibility is over”. Insiders in FCI say, pilferages of rice and wheat as well as sugar all the way from Guwahati to Silchar and beyond on road or train are masterminded by unscrupulous elements, who have virtually floated a syndicate and hardly care for any deterrent action.
$120mn ADB loan for Assam to tackle floods
Guwahati, Jun 29 : The draft report of the about US142-million-dollar North Eastern Integrated Flood and Riverbank Erosion Risk Management (NEIFRERM) Project, Assam has provided the vision and first integrated water resources management development initiative to solve Assam’s flood and erosion problems in four reaches. The reaches proposed to be protected by the project are –Dibrugarh town and its adjoining Nagaghuli and Mohanaghat, Matmara and its adjoining areas in Lakhimpur district, Bonkuwal-Moriahola-Diffalupathar in the upstream of Kaziranga National Park and Palasbari-Gumi and adjoining areas of Kamrup district.
It has also provided for a carefully planned paradigm shift from living with floods to managing floods in line with national and state policies and regulations. This plan is built on a better understanding of the risk environment and it is integrated with disaster preparedness, said the executive summary of the project report.Briefing mediapersons on the report, Mr Knut Oberhagemann, leader of the NEIFRERM Project Preparation Technical Assistance Team, said here this morning that the project was conceived in a manner that could facilitate the sustainable development of the floodplains of Assam in support of the overreaching goal of reducing poverty.
This will be achieved by substantially lowering the risk associated with flooding and riverbank erosion. This will encourage more productive land-use in selected areas of the Brahmaputra floodplains.
Providing a more stable and predictable physical environment will reduce direct financial pressure on poor households and support more productive land-use and overall economic development.
The risk reduction will be achieved through a combination of structural and non-structural measures, directly relevant to improving the local risk environment, planned in a participatory manner and implemented and maintained with direct community involvement.
The approach is in line with the demand of the mostly poor floodplain dwellers for permanent solutions. Poor people will have the option of remaining in a less risky environment instead of migrating to other areas.
Of the project cost of around US142 million dollar, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) assistance will be around 120 million dollar, that is around 85 per cent of the project cost, said the NEIFRERM Technical Assistance Team Leader.
Member of the ADB Mission Mr Kenichi Yokoyama said that the report would be presented separately to the Governments of India and Assam and the ADB Board in July next. If they accept the concept of the report, the fact-finding process would start.
The process will make the document a property of these three parties. The appraisal process of the project is expected to be complete by January next, subject to the concurrence of the three parties.
Following this, the negotiation will start and approval to the project is expected to be by the middle of the next year. But the ADB wants strong specific actions from the State Government as to how the infrastructures are being maintained and also on the sustainability, quality of services and participation, etc.
Only after getting the right assurances from the State Government on the above points, the project will be approved by the ADB, he said.
He also apprised the mediapersons that there was a scope to ‘rationalise’ the loan amount – that is either to increase or to reduce its cost, depending on the steps of the State to maintain quality, sustainability, etc., of the infrastructure.
It needs mention here that the process to prepare the report started in May last year with a time-frame of 13 months. Of the total project cost, 90 per cent will be extended by the Union Government as grant, while ten per cent of it will be the loan component of notional nature, as per the present arrangement between the governments at the Centre and in the State.
It has also provided for a carefully planned paradigm shift from living with floods to managing floods in line with national and state policies and regulations. This plan is built on a better understanding of the risk environment and it is integrated with disaster preparedness, said the executive summary of the project report.Briefing mediapersons on the report, Mr Knut Oberhagemann, leader of the NEIFRERM Project Preparation Technical Assistance Team, said here this morning that the project was conceived in a manner that could facilitate the sustainable development of the floodplains of Assam in support of the overreaching goal of reducing poverty.
This will be achieved by substantially lowering the risk associated with flooding and riverbank erosion. This will encourage more productive land-use in selected areas of the Brahmaputra floodplains.
Providing a more stable and predictable physical environment will reduce direct financial pressure on poor households and support more productive land-use and overall economic development.
The risk reduction will be achieved through a combination of structural and non-structural measures, directly relevant to improving the local risk environment, planned in a participatory manner and implemented and maintained with direct community involvement.
The approach is in line with the demand of the mostly poor floodplain dwellers for permanent solutions. Poor people will have the option of remaining in a less risky environment instead of migrating to other areas.
Of the project cost of around US142 million dollar, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) assistance will be around 120 million dollar, that is around 85 per cent of the project cost, said the NEIFRERM Technical Assistance Team Leader.
Member of the ADB Mission Mr Kenichi Yokoyama said that the report would be presented separately to the Governments of India and Assam and the ADB Board in July next. If they accept the concept of the report, the fact-finding process would start.
The process will make the document a property of these three parties. The appraisal process of the project is expected to be complete by January next, subject to the concurrence of the three parties.
Following this, the negotiation will start and approval to the project is expected to be by the middle of the next year. But the ADB wants strong specific actions from the State Government as to how the infrastructures are being maintained and also on the sustainability, quality of services and participation, etc.
Only after getting the right assurances from the State Government on the above points, the project will be approved by the ADB, he said.
He also apprised the mediapersons that there was a scope to ‘rationalise’ the loan amount – that is either to increase or to reduce its cost, depending on the steps of the State to maintain quality, sustainability, etc., of the infrastructure.
It needs mention here that the process to prepare the report started in May last year with a time-frame of 13 months. Of the total project cost, 90 per cent will be extended by the Union Government as grant, while ten per cent of it will be the loan component of notional nature, as per the present arrangement between the governments at the Centre and in the State.
Grasshoppers’ invasion not a good sign
Kohima, Jun 29 : Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio has expressed concern over the recent invasion of grasshoppers here opining that the phenomenon ‘is not a good sign’.
Speaking on the sidelines of Rajya Sabha election at the Nagaland Assembly Secretariat yesterday, Mr Rio said although such invasion contained no visible threats, it probably indicated a change in climatic conditions fuelled by global warming.He also cited a few abnormal phenomena like bamboo flowering in Mizoram and subsquent rodent menace. The Department of Agriculture was conducting studies on grasshoppers’ invasion and it had asked the district agriculture offices to report any damage caused in cultivation, according to Rio.
Meanwhile, Director of Agriculture Dr Supong Kietzer informed a local daily that strict vigil was being kept since the first week of June when invasion began. Field staffs were also detailed to keep watch on whether the grasshoppers affected farming.
Dr Kietzer elaborated that the insects belonged to Mitu-grasshopper species, adding that the cause of the invasion was yet to be ascertained. Meanwhile, the winged creatures, under strong source of light, attracted hundreds of people adding delicacy to the meals of Naga people.
The Health and Family Welfare Department is keeping strong vigil on the consumption of grasshoppers, confirming no complaint has been received so far.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Rebels apologise for market blast
Imphal, Jun 28 : The Peoples Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (Prepak) today owned up to the grenade attack at Ningthoukhong market yesterday and apologised for its action.
Ten people, including two minor girls, were injured when a China-made hand grenade hurled by three youths exploded in front of a group of protesters at the market in Bishnupur district of Manipur. In a statement, publicity and propaganda secretary in-charge Aheiba Angom admitted that the attack was a “big mistake” and assured the people that such an incident would not take place again.
Tension ran high in the district today with various citizens’ organisations and militant groups pouring scorn on the attackers. The market remained closed for the second consecutive day.
Earlier, a joint action committee formed by residents of the area gave the Okram Ibobi Singh government time till tomorrow to track down the attackers and punish them, failing which it had threatened to organise more protests. A blockade on the Imphal-Churachandpur road this morning was lifted after the police intervened.
Yesterday, shopkeepers and meira paibis (women activists) staged a sit-in at the local marketplace after members of the Prepak allegedly demanded mobile handsets from the shopkeepers.
Though there was no fresh trouble today, there was heavy deployment of security personnel in and around the market.
The shops, however, remained closed as the shopkeepers and meira paibis continued their sit-in protest.
The Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup, United National Liberation Front and Prepak’s Chinglemba Mangang group had strongly condemned the attack.
Ethno Heritage Council, a rights group, termed the attack as an act of senseless violence.
The director-general of police, Yumnam Joykumar Singh, today said the police and security forces have been put on maximum alert in the four valley districts of the state to check movement of armed militants.
Ten people, including two minor girls, were injured when a China-made hand grenade hurled by three youths exploded in front of a group of protesters at the market in Bishnupur district of Manipur. In a statement, publicity and propaganda secretary in-charge Aheiba Angom admitted that the attack was a “big mistake” and assured the people that such an incident would not take place again.
Tension ran high in the district today with various citizens’ organisations and militant groups pouring scorn on the attackers. The market remained closed for the second consecutive day.
Earlier, a joint action committee formed by residents of the area gave the Okram Ibobi Singh government time till tomorrow to track down the attackers and punish them, failing which it had threatened to organise more protests. A blockade on the Imphal-Churachandpur road this morning was lifted after the police intervened.
Yesterday, shopkeepers and meira paibis (women activists) staged a sit-in at the local marketplace after members of the Prepak allegedly demanded mobile handsets from the shopkeepers.
Though there was no fresh trouble today, there was heavy deployment of security personnel in and around the market.
The shops, however, remained closed as the shopkeepers and meira paibis continued their sit-in protest.
The Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup, United National Liberation Front and Prepak’s Chinglemba Mangang group had strongly condemned the attack.
Ethno Heritage Council, a rights group, termed the attack as an act of senseless violence.
The director-general of police, Yumnam Joykumar Singh, today said the police and security forces have been put on maximum alert in the four valley districts of the state to check movement of armed militants.
Mizoram youth’s decomposed body found
Bangalore, Jun 28 : A 25-year old youth from Mizoram was found dead in his room in the city, police said.
The body of Vansanjlura was found in a decomposed state by the city police in his room in the Cubbonpet area.
The neighbors alerted the police after foul smell emanated from the room.
The body had been sent for autopsy to determine whether it was a case of murder or suicide, police said.
The body of Vansanjlura was found in a decomposed state by the city police in his room in the Cubbonpet area.
The neighbors alerted the police after foul smell emanated from the room.
The body had been sent for autopsy to determine whether it was a case of murder or suicide, police said.
Postmen to check human trafficking
Shillong, Jun 28 : With their job taking them to the remotest parts of the state, postmen in Meghalaya will be assigned a new task — report on human trafficking cases.
An NGO, Impulse, has entered into an understanding with the postal services to reach out to the remotest villages in the North-east for disseminating information on human trafficking.“People in remote villages of the region do not have access to any sort of information, be it on the very notion of human trafficking or available ways and measures for their redressal.
They are hesitant to go to the police station and report cases of missing children from their localities or villages,” the team leader of Impulse, Hasina Kharbhih, said.
The project includes setting up of common service centres (CSC) in post offices as coordinating locations in the region.
“The postman will distribute awareness pamphlets. Also upon receiving any information on missing children or persons, he will intimate the information to the coordinator placed at the CSCs,” Kharbhih says.
About 44,000 children go missing in India annually and only 22 per cent of them are traced. Most of them are victims of human trafficking.
The director of postal services (NE region), I Pangernu Sang, said post offices in the region were the most frequented and most reliable places.
“In many villages, letters are still read out by postmen who are regarded as trusted friends. The initiative to use postal services to create awareness will empower people in networking with law-enforcing agencies to combat the crime,” he said.
Friday, June 27, 2008
First Mizo Padma Bhusan laureate dead
Aizawl, Jun 27 : Capt L Z Sailo, the first Padma Bhusan awardee among the Mizos, died at his Mission Veng residence here yesterday following protracted illness.
He was 84 Capt Sailo is survived by wife and five children. Born at a small village of Sialhawk in eastern Mizoram, Sailo joined the Indian Army in 1941. After completing intermediate science while serving in the army, he was promoted to Viceroy Commission Officer, and later served in several foreign countries under the UNO Peace KeepinAfter retiring from the army, Sailo gave his full time to serve the Mizo people and strived for the reunification of various Mizo ethnic tribes across the NE region.
He was awarded the Padma Bhusan in 2007 in recognition of his social services and contributions to the Mizo literature. He has more than 400 essays, 2000 songs, 14 published books and 30 unpublished books to his credit.g Force.
ULFA 28 Bn for unconditional talks
Dibrugarh, Jun 27 : The leaders of the 28 battalion of the ULFA, who declared a unilateral ceasefire, today said that they wanted unconditional talks between the Government and the outfit for political solution of the problems.
Addressing mediapersons at Jagal village in the Amarpur area of Sadiya today, former commander of the 28 battalion of the ULFA, Mrinal Hazarika said that they wanted direct talks between the Government and the ULFA. He admitted that they had reservations on a few members of the People’s Consultative Group (PCG), formed by the ULFA to hold initial parleys with the Government to pave the way for direct talks. However, he refused to name the PCG members about whom they have reservations.
Hazarika said that for the last two years, they have been requesting the central leaders of the ULFA to come for unconditional talks with the Government in the interest of Assam, but they did not receive positive response. Today, he once again reiterated his appeal to the central leaders of the ULFA to come forward for unconditional talks with the Government.
The ULFA leader revealed that till date, they have not signed any formal ceasefire agreement with the Government, but at the same time, he said the Government responded positively to their unilateral ceasefire declaration.
Hazarika said in the next 20 years, the ethnic population of Assam would become minorities in their own land and this should not be allowed to happen. He said they would soon hold talks with all democratic organisations of the state on the threat faced by the ethnic people of the state.
Hazarika also admitted that since June 24, he was contacted twice by the ULFA commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah. But he refused to divulge the details of his talks with Baruah.
Vihokhu Siege Ends in Blood and Smoke
Dimapur, Jun 27 : Cadres of the NSCN (IM) today razed the “NSCN/GPRN” headquarter based at Vihokhu village after two days of intense gun battle. Today’s gun battle started from 3 am and lasted till 12 noon. The fighting which broke on June 24 night ended with the camp going up in flames and leaving seven cadres dead inside the camp. However, it remains to be ascertained to which faction the slain cadres belonged.
Heavy gunfire and even explosions could be heard from nearby Vihokhu village, where the public, district administration, police and security forces had gathered and tried to intervene in the gun battle. Womenfolk carrying white flags and shouting slogans demanding restoration of peace, slowly marched to a check gate leading to the camp. The marching public was served warnings and intimidating blank shots from the NSCN (IM) cadres manning the check gate.The scene after today’s incident showed that NSCN (IM) cadres had overrun the camp, leaving forty three vehicles and almost all the dwelling burnt to cinders. A “NSCN/GPRN” functionary disclosed that around 150 to 200 heavily armed NSCN (IM) cadres laid siege to the camp and attacked the main check gate, later overpowering rival sentries. Also, information gathered from the public at the scene said that the NSCN (IM) cadres attacked from two flanks and overran the rival cadres who were defending the camp.
The “NSCN/GPRN” functionary informed that all his top leaders and commanders are still “intact” and they would carry out their “mission of attending Naga unity.” It is reported that the top leaders and commanders in the camp left the previous night when there was heavy rain.
A cadre belonging to the “NSCN/GPRN” who managed to escape from the gun battle and ran straight into the public procession at around 11: 38 am. The cadre informed that the attackers had taken position at all the strategic positions. All top functionaries have already left the camp and there is no one else, he added.
Casualties
Conflicting reports on the number of casualties are being received. However, seven dead cadres were recovered from the camp. Police said that four of them are said to be “NSCN/GPRN” cadres, two NSCN (IM) cadres and one “Kuki” person, who is still unidentified. The “NSCN/GPRN” cadres admitted to have had four casualties and two injuries; However, NSCN (IM) sources flatly denied that they suffered any casualty. “Brig” Phungting Shimrang of the NSCN (IM) said that his outfit suffered only one injury.
However, an “NSCN/GPRN” functionary attached with the Publicity Cell asserted that the NSCN (IM) suffered casualties. He claimed that ten bodies are lying at “Konyak Basti” near Vihokhu, which however are not “NSCN/GPRN” cadres.
Police has confirmed that a cadre of the NSCN (IM) was among the seven found slain in the camp. Meanwhile, reports have been received that in a separate battle at Setrongsh village near Doyapur sub-division two “NSCN/GPRN” cadres and a NSCN (IM) cadre have been killed. Police identified the “NSCN/GPRN” cadres as “sgt” Ekshe Sumi son of Ustuomi village of Satakha and “sgt major” Danial Pochury of Akhegho village in Meluri while the NSCN (IM) cadre has been identified as “sgt major” Venda Shan who is of “Burmese origin.”
An NSCN (IM) source informed that after getting confirmation about the arrival of three Maruti Gypsy vehicles at around 3:00am in the village’s area, the NSCN (IM) cadres surrounded them. In the ensuing gun battle, one of its cadres and two “NSCN/GPRN” cadres were killed.Moments of uncertainty
The hours this morning at Vihokhu were a mixture of tension and uncertainty, with the public and police fearing for the worst about the number of casualties inside the camp. Earlier, rumours had spread that the warring cadres were prepared to shoot at any one who tried to approach the camp and intervene. However, the womenfolk steadily marched on with the IRB and security forces closely following them, until they reached the check gates. At one point, at around 11:20 am, IRB personnel taking position at the paddy fields retaliated back when they were “fired upon”. An Assam Rifles jawan said that the armed cadres were shooting at the security forces and this was being responded to with fire. He informed that the IRB and the AR personnel have entered the camp and asked the public to move ahead.
NSCN (IM) cadres manning the check gate had even warned the marching womenfolk and the public not to move an inch forward.
Negotiations
The district administration, DMC chairperson, public leaders and GBs and DBs as well took to negotiating. An NSCN (IM) “major” who “negotiated” with the public and district administration demanded a four-hour period for them to regroup and leave. However the administration gave them only two hours. After one and half hours, at 12:30, NSCN (IM) cadres retreated towards Seithekima and Xelhoshe. The public rushed inside the camp.
“They (NSCN-IM cadres) were planning to hang out around here,” said an administrator. “But we were not going to allow that” he said.
Aftermath of battle
Ashes flew from what was before the incident thatched dwellings belonging to the “NSCN/GPRN” functionaries, the publicity cell “office”, the conference hall and other dwellings belonging to the outfit. 43 vehicles (2 Vans, 14 gypsies, 14 Boleros, 7 Maruti Cars, 2 Alto, 2 bikes, 1 Tata Indica, 1 Honda City) were totally burnt. A bulldozer at the site was also damaged and set on fire.
Womenfolk expecting the worst, from inside the camp began wailing and weeping after seeing two dead bodies near the check gate. Anxious civilians went about announcing that the public had arrived and asked for any injured cadre that could still be inside the camp, to step out for help.
Dead bodies were found near bunkers and in trenches; half-cooked meals were found placed on hearths while the smell of burning tyres permeated the air. Tin roofs were incinerated and crumbled sheets of metal while combat fatigues were strewn here and there; some people were seen even collecting empty shells inside the camp. Police, district administration, NGOs and public scoured the site. There are apprehensions that the situation may turn more volatile and take to a worst turn in the days to come.
Condolences
Condolence poured in from both the NSCN (IM) and the “GPRN/NSCN” over the death of their cadres today. “Brig.” Niki Sumi of the “NSCN/GPRN” saluted “the brave soldiers who laid down their lives in defense of Naga nation.” “May almighty God instill courage and pride to the families of our national heroes and martyrs,” he stated in a condolence message.
Also, the NSCN (IM) paid homage to late “sgt maj” Venda who was killed on June 25 at around 10 pm during an attack on an outpost at Tsetungse (Sangtam) village under Dhansiri sub-division in Dimapur. “The NSCN also express sympathy to the bereaved family members and pray that the almighty God bless and give strength to them to face this sorrow and tragedy,” it stated in a message issued through the MIP.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Grain of benevolence
Aizawl, Jun 26 : When the rat army devours acre after acre of crops in Mizoram, one granary overflows with philanthropy.
Lalbiakdiki, wife of state chief secretary Haukhum Hauzel, has set up a granary with her own funds to help starving villagers during mautam or the dreaded famine following rats devouring and destroying crops and grains.
Once in every 50 years, when the bamboo plants flower, hordes of rodents feast on the fruit, which experts say increases their fertility. They multiply at an alarming rate and attack farmlands for food.
Though the catastrophe strikes once in five decades, its is impossible for the government to pre-empt the disaster even with meticulous planning.
Since you can’t stop the rats, Lalbiakdlki decided that stocking up for the calamity would be the next best thing to do.
So Joseph Buzum (buzum meaning granary) was born out of one woman’s foresight and generosity.
Lalbiakdiki said she named the granary after the biblical figure of Joseph, the confidante of a Pharaoh, who built a granary for Israelis who suffered miserably during a famine in ancient Egypt.
Around 300 villages spread across three most affected districts of the state have benefited from Lalbiakdiki’s project. “The idea struck me after seeing the poor villagers who used to come to my husband seeking help. Initially, I started it with my own contribution. Soon, other friends and relatives chipped in with donations,” Lalbiakdiki said.
In the fifties, Laldenga’s “famine front” helped hundreds of impoverished souls in Mizo villages.
More than 50 years later, Lalbiakdiki is trying to single-handedly manage what a whole “front” struggled to do.
Telegraph India
Racial profiling at club, North-East girl denied entry
New Delhi, Jun 26 : In a disturbing incident of alleged racism at a popular club in South Delhi a girl from the North-East was barred entry on the basis of where she is from.
Dolma (name changed) says she feels humiliated but is speaking up for the rest of her community.
“It may be my voice, but I’m representing all the people of my community who have had similar experiences,” she says.She claims bitter discrimination is what many people from the North-East often face in the Capital. Last week, at Urban Pind a popular South Delhi club, the bouncer allegedly barred her entry, even while letting her two friends in, a German and a South Indian.
“The manager asked my friend about my nationality and when she replied that I belong to the North-East of India he said she doesn’t have the right profile to enter. I was embarrassed and humiliated,” explains Dolma.
“I had no choice but to send the club a legal notice which said that they have violated someone’s fundamental and human rights,” says High Court advocate Enatoli Sema.
However Urban Pind maintains that not only do they employ people from the North-East, but also have salsa nights on Tuesdays that is led by North-Easterners. They maintain that the allegations of racial profiling against them are completely false.
The management says that they were just abiding by regular club rules and have no discriminatory policy against any caste or race.
But this is not the first time or the only club where such an incident has occurred, people from the North-East say discrimination against them is on the rise in the Capital.
“I think just because one owns a property doesn’t make you above the law, one still needs to abide by the laws of the country and I think it’s high time people realise that this is discrimination,” says writer Amrit Sharma.
“If tomorrow they turn around and tell us that people from the North-East cannot enter a mall or a family restaurant, then what are we supposed to do and where are we supposed to go, how are we supposed to feel and react to that,” demands Dolma.
These questions do not have to be answered to just Dolma but also to all those people from the North-East who have faced discrimination in the Capital who want answers on weather these baseless rules out do an individual’s fundamental rights.
Oxygen for dying scripts
Tinsukia, Jun 26 : About a year ago, an Australian foundation startled linguists by revealing that somewhere in the world one language dies about every two weeks.
A fervent research began to unearth the dying dialects and three of the most endangered languages were found in Assam’s backyard.
Tangsa and Singpho and Tai are now spoken by less than 40 people in Tinsukia’s Margherita subdivision.Even if the scripts survive, the songs and poetry will be extinct in less than a decade, linguists feel.
To save these language communities from extinction, a German foundation has come forward to provide the essential logistics to record the grammar, poetry and songs for posterity.
The Volkswagen Stiftung Foundation will also help in documenting Tai traditional manuscripts.
“There are fewer than 40 individuals across the three communities who have the knowledge of the traditional culture, language and poetics to be able compose and sing traditional songs/poetry. In these societies, no clear distinction can be drawn between song and poetry,” said Palash Nath of the department of linguistics, Gauhati University, who is part of the project.
According to linguists, nearly half the 7,000 languages spoken in the world today are likely to disappear in the next 100 years.
“The rate of language extinction far exceeds that of birds, mammals, fish or plants,” said David Harrison, professor of linguistics at Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania.
Work on the three language groups has already begun.
“We have visited a number of villages inhabited by members of these communities. We have spent a lot of time there and have interacted with villagers, both old and young, enquiring about their old songs. We have also recorded a number of such songs sung by people who the community thinks can sing them,” Nath said.
The scholar has also found ways to preserve some old traditional instruments.
“We look for people within the community who can make such instruments and request them keep the tradition alive,” he said.
Stephen Morey of the Research Center for Linguistic Typology, Australia, who is the principal investigator in the project, said the aim was to record as much of these languages as one can and then archiving those recordings, which will also be available for members of those communities. All these recordings will be sent to the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics at Neimegen in the Netherlands for digital archiving.
“The fact that scholars are taking an interest in the languages may encourage speakers to make more efforts to preserve their script,” Morey said.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Church-NGO platform working for electoral reform in Mizoram
Aizawl, Jun 25 : After its initiative in ensuring that by-elections in Tlungvel and Chawngte assembly constituencies in late 2006 was relatively unostentious, an organisation in Mizoram is working to ensure that this could be replicated in the Mizoram assembly elections due later this year.
Allegations of use of money and muscle power by political parties in elections led to the formation of the Mizo People’s Forum (MPF), an organization floated by the churches and major NGOs, on June 21, 2006.The MPF is now led by Rev H Vanlalauva, moderator of the Mizoram Presbyterian Synod, the biggest and most powerful church in the state.
MPF leaders said that according to its suggestions joint public meetings could be organized on a common platform for all candidates which would bring down expenses and waste less time of the candidate and the people.
Also, expensive and noisy street concerts to make people attend public meetings and ostentatious feasts to attract voters could be done away with, they said.
The MPF, a leader said, investigated complaints of money being given to the people and made the findings public.
The MPF was formed by representatives of the conglomerate of churches and major NGOs like the Young Mizo Association (YMA), the Mizo Hmeichhe Insuihkhawm Pawl (MHIP) or women’s federation and Mizoram Upa Pawl (MUP) or elders’ association to work for political and electoral reforms.
The objective of the Mizoram Presbysterian Church, the main proponent of the policies of the MPF, was to do away with the party system.
Synod Social Front activist Bonny Lalrindika said that fanatical loyalty to a particular political party prevented the voter from selecting the best candidate in the constituency.
The first political party in Mizoram, the Mizo Union, formed a year before the independence was extremely fanatical about abolition of chieftainship and the popular way of showing resentment to the chiefs was throwing stones at the roofs of their houses, he said.
Hardcore Mizo Union activists used to say, ‘I will vote for the party candidate even if he or she is a frog,’ he said.
However, though it seems to be a good approach, the Presbyterian Church’s Social Front is yet to make any headway on this line.
While many people hail the efforts of the MPF to reform politics and election process, many others, including intellectuals, were sceptical about its pragmatism.
“Unless there is a will to bring about a radical change in the election process without consideration to hurt the political prospect of major political parties, metamorphosis of the political and election scenario will never occur”, a journalist said.
He said, the reality was that even the powerful church, which forced the state goverenment to impose prohibition in the state and the YMA which launched anti-drug campaigns, dared not go so far as to antagonize all political parties.
The church and the NGOs have members belonging to different political parties, which was a hard reality that confronted the MPF, its critics say.
In order to effectively reform the electoral process, there was need for legislation so that criminals, including corrupt politicians would not be allowed to contest elections, university teacher Lallianchhunga said.
The constitution of the MPF was also the outcome of numerous allegations of the use of insurgent groups from across the border and money power during the state assembly polls in 2003.
‘Fake abduction’ of three candidates of Suangpuilawn constituency on the Mizoram-Manipur border, allegedly due to the intervention of armed insurgent group from Manipur, also contributed to the rise of the vigilante organization.
Media reports said that no major political party was free from using insurgent groups from across the border and money power.
It remains to be seen, however, whether the coming elections in the state will be free from malpractices.
Novice trekkers find lost US craft
Itanagar, Jun 25 : Two adventurous government employees without a clue about trekking scaled a Changlang hill to unearth the wreckage of a World War II aircraft that had eluded explorers for 60 years.
Tokong Pertin and Maksam Perme with tribal hunter L. Komrang for a guide ploughed through inaccessible jungles and found the US fighter plane wreckage nearly 600km from Itanagar last week.However, they could break the news of their feat to the media only on Friday after they returned to Itanagar.
The excited government officials immediately contacted the US consulate in Calcutta. A four-member team comprising US defence experts is scheduled to arrive in Arunachal Pradesh soon to visit the spot and retrieve the wreckage.
This is the first discovery after the US and India recently reached an agreement to co-operate in search operations for hundreds of US aircraft that had crashed in Arunachal Pradesh during the war.
The Allied Forces, of which the US was a part, had their base in Ledo in Assam from where the planes would take off to drop supplies to troops in Kunming in China.
“It was an arduous task for us. We had to trek nearly seven hours through dense forests. We lost our way on a number of occasions. It was really a challenge for us to locate the place,” Pertin said.
He had learnt about the “strange rounded objects” — the wreckage — from local Tangsa tribesmen during a visit to Changlang earlier.
“We had to cancel trips twice to the site a couple of years ago. This time, too, the weather almost played spoilsport but we decided to push on. We were determined to scale the steep peak nearly 2,000 metres above sea level.”
“It appeared that the plane had crashed headlong into the ground as its nose was buried deep,” he added.
The local Tangsa tribemen had warned the officials against venturing deep into the jungles, which they believe is home to an evil spirit, the jakhang.
The hunter, too, was not keen to venture into the forests and it took a lot of persuasion on the part of the officials to convince him.
The adventurers found damaged wings, the engine, and propellers with long blades. They even established the identity of the manufacturer after they found the word “TITEN” written in English.
“As a government employee with no training and equipment, we could not dig out the remains of the aircraft. On seeing the small-sized single turbo engine and propellers fitted in the nose of the aircraft, it can be presumed that it might have been either shot down or lost its way and rammed into the hilltop during the war,” he added.
World Bank grant for piggery project
Guwahati, Jun 25 : It’s soon going to rain money for Kokrajhar farmers and juicy steaks for pork lovers.
A pilot project funded by the World Bank will identify 50 self-help groups in the district and assist them to set up piggeries. Each of these groups would be given 10 piglets and enough fodder for one year.
The joint director of animal husbandry and veterinary department, Mrinal Das, said this is the first project of its kind and a challenging task.“If we could make the project a success in two years, the World Bank will assist us in establishing a major piggery in the district with a capacity of over 100 pigs at a time,” Das said.
A pig farmers’ association will be formed to look after the farms. The project will begin in three months and first priority will be given to women self-help groups, he said.
A Kokrajhar-based NGO, Discovery Club, will assist the department in the project.
The animal husbandry department is also planning a massive scheme to grow fodder to meet the shortage of farm food in the state, the joint director said at a seminar-cum-workshop at the Kokrajhar Basic Training Centre.
“The state at present has a huge scarcity of fodder. There is a short fall of over 35 lakh tonnes of fodder in the state. So we are planning to launch a massive cultivation scheme to meet the shortage.”
The council head-cum-joint director of the department, P.C. Karmakar, said the two-day seminar-cum-workshop was organised to motivate field functionaries, to discuss opportunities in the field and upgrade technical knowledge regarding artificial insemination.
“Agriculture and animal husbandry is the single largest employer and the highest contributor to the Net Domestic Product, which is about 40 per cent, and animal husbandry alone contributes 80 per cent. This explains the importance of the animal husbandry in the economy of this (BTC) area,” Karmakar said.
“The department is extending services to a network of 58 state veterinary dispensaries, 53 veterinary sub-centres, 38 stock centres and three key village centres in the four districts of Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa and Udalguri,” Karmakar said.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Israel gives nod to citizenship of NE Messianic Jews
Imphal, Jun 23 : People from the North East India region (majority of them are from the Chin-Kuki-Mizo group) professing Messianic Jews faith, who were once denied citizenship in Israel on the ground of being ‘converted’ can now apply for Israeli citizenship as per the green signal coming from the authority of Israel recently after several years of its struggle for it.
Disclosing this information, the United Messianic Youth Council (UMYC), India, the apex body of the Messianic in India headquartered at New Lambulane in Imphal East on Sunday said that in April 2008 the Supreme Court of Israel has entitled Messianic Jews to Israel citizenship according to the Law of Return, overturning a previous ruling fifteen years back.Fifteen years ago, it may be mentioned, the Court rejected a petition by Messianic Jews “who demanded to be recognised as Jews so as to automatically receive Israeli citizenship according to the Law of the Return’ citing that Messianic Jews had converted and therefore they were no longer Jewish.
Since then the state of Israel has refused to grant all requests for citizenship as per the Law of the Return to Messianic Jews.
In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court of Israel ” the judgment which is available with Newmai News Network ” has on April 16 this year overturned its previous ruling and ruled that Messianic Jews can get the Israeli citizenship according to the Law of Return as per a petition filed by the US based United Messianic Jews Congregation.
The court ruling comes after several petitioning by the Messianic Jews immigrants to Israel High Court after the Interior Ministry refused to grant them new immigrant status and citizenship according to the Law of Return. Messianic Jews are now entitled to Israeli citizenship if a person’s father is a Jew, according to a precedent-setting ruling handed down two months back by the Court.
The Israeli law defines a Jew as ”a person who was born of a Jewish mother or has become converted to Judaism and who is not a member of another region”.
It may be mentioned that, there are sizeable people in the North Eastern region of India following the Messianic Jews faith particularly among the Chin-Kuki-Mizo communities.
A number of people professing Judaism sect have been migrating to Israel every year.
However, the Messianic Jews ” precisely known as Jewish-Christians ” were denied citizenship by the Israeli government though direct Judaism followers from any country of the world were access citizenship.
The Messianics are now entitled to receive equal treatment under Israeli Law of Return.
An elated UMYC general secretary PK Thomas said that the judgment is like a dream come true and expressed hope that the decision will surely bring unity and it will act as a cementing piece towards peace and unity among the Messianic Jews living in this part of the globe.
The Messianic Jews faith had first been making its presence felt in 1975 in the state of Manipur.
It made its first contact with the Israeli government in the early part of 1980s under the leadership of Rabbi H Reuben, says G Lienboi, an evangelist working with the UMYC, while interacting with NNN on Sunday in Imphal.
Since its inception, the Council has submitted three representations to the Israel government for the recognition of the followers as Jews, he said and added that on April 1, 2005, Solomon Amar, Chief Rabbi of Israel appended official recognition of the Chin-Kuki-Mizo communities of the North East India as the Manashe (lost tribe) of Israel.
There are around 10,000 members of the Messianic Jews in Manipur alone, Lienboi claimed.
He further claimed that apart from followers from the Chin-Kuki-Mizo tribes, it has also followers of the faith from some villages in Tamenglong district, belonging to the Zeliangrong tribe of the state.
Assam eyes grades for tea quality
Jorhat, Jun 23 : Assam is on its way to becoming the first state in the country to classify tea according to its quality to clinch back its reputation in the world market.
Industry and power minister Pradyut Bordoloi said the state government was now scouting for a quality certification agency to carry out the classification at the 71st annual general meeting of the Assam Tea Planters’ Association (ATPA) held at the Tea Research Association conference hall here last evening.He said the government has been pulled up a number of times for quality, both within and outside the country and hence decided to classify the quality of tea produced by both the organised and unorganised sectors at all costs.
“We will go for an A, B, C grade certification for tea produced in Assam, which will only fetch higher prices in the market. We will be the first tea-producing state to go for such a classification in the tea sector by an independent agency. I would, therefore, request the tea fraternity to co-operate with the state government’s initiative to help wipe out the bad name earned by Assam tea in the last few years,” Bordoloi said during his hour-long speech at the meeting.
The government’s decision came after several international buyers, who purchase huge quantities of Assam tea, raised questions about the Maximum Residual Limit (MRL), which is a measure of the maximum permissible pesticide residue, in the brew. There have even been instances when reputed buyers have rejected consignments because of the MRL crossing permissible levels.
Bordoloi said the state government was planning to open a second tea auction centre in Jorhat as the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre has failed to shoulder the burden of auctioning of around 500 million kg tea produced.
“Jorhat with its natural resources, the Tea Research Association and the Assam Agricultural University is the perfect location for setting up a new auction centre and we hope to give it a shape very soon. Consultations with various agencies are on,” the minister said.
Replying to complaints from planters about the shortage of power, the minister said the state government had initiated several measures to streamline the power scenario in the state and promised visible changes within a few months. “We will encourage anybody who wants to put up micro-hydel projects which can produce power up to 25MW using whatever resources — a river, rivulet or anything. No permission is required for that,” the minister said.
The state government had already prepared a list of 100 tea gardens, which have the resources to put up such micro-hydel projects and a company, Assam Power Project Development Company, has been formed to look into such proposals.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Sonia Gandhi in Mizoram
Aizawl, Jun 15 : Congress President Sonia Gandhi today said the Centre will have to see if central fund meant for mitigating the famine caused by gregarious bamboo flowering in Mizoram is being judiciously spent.
Gandhi, who visited six remote villages by helicopter, later told reporters that the Centre allocated Rs 125 crore to combat the famine caused by ”Mautam’ or gregarious bamboo flowering in the state.The UPA chairperson said that though an additional fund of more than Rs 40 crore was disbursed to the state government later, “hunger and shortage of food” remained.
Gandhi addressed Congress workers after her return from a trip at Lengpui Airport near here.
She first visited four villages in the south western part of the state affected by Mautam famine and two villages in north western part, including Rajiv Nagar hamlet, affected by the famine.
Congress sources said she came here to see for herself the sufferings of the common people hit by Mautam and share their sufferings, the first visit of her after becoming chairperson of UPA.
Gandhi returned to Delhi from Lengpui airport in a special aircraft.
news
Itanagar, Jun 20 : The ‘thwack’ of axes hitting wood and the periodic grinding of saws is audible as one enters the village of Sunapur in Lakhimpur district in Assam on the banks of the River Subansiri. Here on the border of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, there is no jungle but there are trucks on the river embankment loaded with timber and men busy working away with wood.This is the beginning of the river Subansiri’s journey into the plains flowing down from the hills of Arunachal Pradesh which is damming the river for a hydel power project.Its course holds timber— the equivalent of gold here. Everything from mere twigs to massive logs of wood, float down from the vast forests upstream and are trapped in the sand. The community of Sunapur only has to shake the wood loose from the river bed and tow it to the banks.
The wood is worth Rs. 4,000 for a load with “A small commission thrown in to the forest department for a special timber permit”, says Gurudev who has spent his entire life fishing and collecting wood from the river.
Typically five men work to load each lorry load and women and children chip in to cut and stack the wood.
But what was once a healthy harvest of wood has dropped. “You can say for every one rupee of wood we used to get, we get 10 paise worth now,” the workers say. They blame the massive 2,000-Mw Subansiri Lower hydroelectric project under construction a few kilometres upstream in Arunachal Pradesh.
Activists allege the downstream issues were never taken into consideration before its sanction. “You tell us how will the livelihoods of these communities be compensated? Their agriculture is not very viable because of the sandy soil, thus they supplement their income by harvesting from the river – wood, fish and boulders,” say Keshav ‘Bhai’ Krishna and Rajan of the People’s Movement for Subansiri Brahmaputra Valley.
They allege that the Assam government has been a “mute spectator” to this dam and others being planned upstream in the Brahmaputra basin. They point out that the environmental and economic impact on Assam’s communities due to the dams has not been studied.
They say the only instance that got the Assam government’s ear was when the National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC) asked for a sum of money because the dam would “provide flood mitigation benefits downstream”.
The Assam government for its part has not signed an MoU with the NHPC, even though half the dam is in its territory, for two principal reasons – negligible free power from and a border dispute with Arunachal Pradesh. But it cannot deny the existence of micro-economies that depend on the river as a few kilometres upstream on the Brahmaputra, where the mega bridge at Bogabil is being built with thousands of tonnes of stone harvested from the riverbed.
Friday, June 6, 2008
NREGS lifts living standard in Churachandpur
Imphal, Jun 5 : National Employment Guarantee Scheme NREGS has enhanced the living standard of the people in Churachandpur more than any other Governmental schemes by raising the laborers coffer, a study revealed today.
Extended over a week, the survey conducted by a team of reporters based in Churachandpur including this correspondent, took in accounts the observations of hand loom weavers and traders, brick field proprietors and laborers, school principals and vendors.Of the groups included in the survey, handloom traders were the groups that receive a major blow while its weavers turned out to be the main beneficiaries.
Proprietor of Ngainou Wool House, S Sanglian told the survey team that a weaver usually takes a week to complete one traditional shawl earlier but with the introduction of NREGS, the same weaver now takes about 28 days to complete the same.
Despite reviewing their wages from Rs 60 to Rs 80 per shawl since March this year, their supply failed to revive, he said.
At the average, NREGS has affected about 35 percent of the supply in handloom industry and increase the weavers’ wages by 6 percent.
On the trend of months tuition fees paid to schools, S Liankhanlal, Principal of Ebenezer Academy said his institution witness 50 to 60 percent improvement this year.
“Last year there are student who didn’t have complete text book even up to December, but this year everyone is equipped with their text complete with their notes by March,” he said.
He nevertheless like other principals interviewed, claimed that payment on tuition fees has improved by 5 to10 percent.
Another trade badly affected by the NREGS seems to be the brick fields.
Availability of unskilled labourers, mostly women deteriorate to an extent that brick field owners were forced to raise their wages from Rs 65 per 1000 bricks to Rs 80 since January.
The team also unveiled that peoples’ purchasing power has increased by 5 to10 percent.
Partei of Kawnpui, a variety shop owner said her shop was never better off than this year ever since she open the same several years back.
At an average, the survey team revealed that NREGS has increased the wages of daily labourers by 5-10 percent and that money circulation was three fold in comparison with the pre-NREGS period.
TSE
Extended over a week, the survey conducted by a team of reporters based in Churachandpur including this correspondent, took in accounts the observations of hand loom weavers and traders, brick field proprietors and laborers, school principals and vendors.Of the groups included in the survey, handloom traders were the groups that receive a major blow while its weavers turned out to be the main beneficiaries.
Proprietor of Ngainou Wool House, S Sanglian told the survey team that a weaver usually takes a week to complete one traditional shawl earlier but with the introduction of NREGS, the same weaver now takes about 28 days to complete the same.
Despite reviewing their wages from Rs 60 to Rs 80 per shawl since March this year, their supply failed to revive, he said.
At the average, NREGS has affected about 35 percent of the supply in handloom industry and increase the weavers’ wages by 6 percent.
On the trend of months tuition fees paid to schools, S Liankhanlal, Principal of Ebenezer Academy said his institution witness 50 to 60 percent improvement this year.
“Last year there are student who didn’t have complete text book even up to December, but this year everyone is equipped with their text complete with their notes by March,” he said.
He nevertheless like other principals interviewed, claimed that payment on tuition fees has improved by 5 to10 percent.
Another trade badly affected by the NREGS seems to be the brick fields.
Availability of unskilled labourers, mostly women deteriorate to an extent that brick field owners were forced to raise their wages from Rs 65 per 1000 bricks to Rs 80 since January.
The team also unveiled that peoples’ purchasing power has increased by 5 to10 percent.
Partei of Kawnpui, a variety shop owner said her shop was never better off than this year ever since she open the same several years back.
At an average, the survey team revealed that NREGS has increased the wages of daily labourers by 5-10 percent and that money circulation was three fold in comparison with the pre-NREGS period.
TSE
Free treatment for BPL families at RIMS
Imphal, Jun 6 : With frequent threats and disturbances from the side of UGs in the functioning of Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), a situation has been created where the officials of RIMS are able to take up necessary measures in time for providing free medical treatment to patients belonging to BPL families.
Disclosing this to The Sangai Express, an official source from RIMS conveyed that as a follow up action to the announcement made by Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Ambumani Ramadoss during his twoday visit to the State last month, the Union Ministry has issued instruction to work out the necessary arrangements and submit the estimated cost at the earliest possible so that free treatment of BPL patients can begin from either July end or beginning August this year.Unfortunately, as a result of frequent threats and intimidation including violence perpetrated inside RIMS campus, none of the officials have been able to concentrate on their work.
This has created a situation in which the promises made by the Union Minister may not be translated into action in time, the official rued.
Explaining that under the Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN) of the Government of India, free medical treatment specially for Cancer and Heart diseases are being provided to patients belonging to BPL families and this facility can be availed in hospitals like AIIMS at Delhi very easily, the official observed that besides other difficulties, as they are required to go to Delhi, patients from Manipur do not even try to get such benefits.
As such, the announcement of the Union Health Minister for providing free treatment to BPL patients in Manipur at RIMS along with setting up of a corpus fund has become something untenable.
To neutralise these ills and implement the scheme, RIMS officials need to work out a detailed report on the numbers of patients admitted to RIMS in a year and how many of them belonged to BPL families, how much medicines are required for treatment as per the prescription written by the attending doctors.
But the RIMS officials have not been able to dispense with their duties due to frequent threats and disturbances, the official reiterated.
The official further disclosed the issues related to hiking the number of MBBS seats in RIMS to 150 and providing free treatment facilities to BPL patients are among the agenda to be taken up for discussion during the meeting of Board of Governors to be attended by Union Health Minister at Delhi on June 12 .
However, as RIMS officials have not been able to prepare the required report, not to mention the necessary ground works, the discussion is not likely to have any result.
Once the facility for free treatment is introduced in RIMS, many patients coming from BPL families would be benefiting not only in cases related to minor and major operations but also in treatment of Cancer and Heart diseases, the official said, adding that necessary medicines and medical investigations would be provided free of cost to the BPL patients.
TSE
Disclosing this to The Sangai Express, an official source from RIMS conveyed that as a follow up action to the announcement made by Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Ambumani Ramadoss during his twoday visit to the State last month, the Union Ministry has issued instruction to work out the necessary arrangements and submit the estimated cost at the earliest possible so that free treatment of BPL patients can begin from either July end or beginning August this year.Unfortunately, as a result of frequent threats and intimidation including violence perpetrated inside RIMS campus, none of the officials have been able to concentrate on their work.
This has created a situation in which the promises made by the Union Minister may not be translated into action in time, the official rued.
Explaining that under the Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN) of the Government of India, free medical treatment specially for Cancer and Heart diseases are being provided to patients belonging to BPL families and this facility can be availed in hospitals like AIIMS at Delhi very easily, the official observed that besides other difficulties, as they are required to go to Delhi, patients from Manipur do not even try to get such benefits.
As such, the announcement of the Union Health Minister for providing free treatment to BPL patients in Manipur at RIMS along with setting up of a corpus fund has become something untenable.
To neutralise these ills and implement the scheme, RIMS officials need to work out a detailed report on the numbers of patients admitted to RIMS in a year and how many of them belonged to BPL families, how much medicines are required for treatment as per the prescription written by the attending doctors.
But the RIMS officials have not been able to dispense with their duties due to frequent threats and disturbances, the official reiterated.
The official further disclosed the issues related to hiking the number of MBBS seats in RIMS to 150 and providing free treatment facilities to BPL patients are among the agenda to be taken up for discussion during the meeting of Board of Governors to be attended by Union Health Minister at Delhi on June 12 .
However, as RIMS officials have not been able to prepare the required report, not to mention the necessary ground works, the discussion is not likely to have any result.
Once the facility for free treatment is introduced in RIMS, many patients coming from BPL families would be benefiting not only in cases related to minor and major operations but also in treatment of Cancer and Heart diseases, the official said, adding that necessary medicines and medical investigations would be provided free of cost to the BPL patients.
TSE
Tripura observes 12-hour bandh
Agartala, Jun 6 : Tripura observed a bandh on Thursday in response to a 12-hour bandh called by the ruling Left Front while left parties in Assam called for an Assam Bandh on June 9 to protest against the hike in prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas price.
The Assam government has decided to reduce sales tax on petrol and diesel by one rupee in response to an appeal made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.Normal life came to a standstill in Tripura’s capital Agartala as educational institutions, shops and business establishments, banks and financial institutions remaining closed during the bandh hours.
PTI
The Assam government has decided to reduce sales tax on petrol and diesel by one rupee in response to an appeal made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.Normal life came to a standstill in Tripura’s capital Agartala as educational institutions, shops and business establishments, banks and financial institutions remaining closed during the bandh hours.
PTI
Creaky bridges of trouble
Silchar, Jun 5 : Hundreds of residents of south Hailakandi cross about a dozen decrepit wooden bridges to work every day but the creaks of rotten wood have remain inaudible to the administration despite several complaints.
There are 14 bridges in the 70-km stretch between Lala town in Hailakandi and Bairabi on the Assam-Mizoram border.Of these 14 bridges that cut through National Highway 154, only two are concrete — the rest are of creaky wood.
The wooden bridge at Baldabaldi near Jamirabazar, for instance, collapsed two months ago, but all the government did was build a bamboo sub-way to “help residents”.
The crash snapped road link with Mizoram via Bairabi.
From Baldabaldi to Bairabi, around 35,000 people are cut off from the rest of the country.
Residents met excise and border areas development minister Gautam Roy recently and sought his intervention to get the bridge repaired.
Roy has asked the National Highway Division of State PWD in Silchar to take up the matter urgently.
Telegraph India
There are 14 bridges in the 70-km stretch between Lala town in Hailakandi and Bairabi on the Assam-Mizoram border.Of these 14 bridges that cut through National Highway 154, only two are concrete — the rest are of creaky wood.
The wooden bridge at Baldabaldi near Jamirabazar, for instance, collapsed two months ago, but all the government did was build a bamboo sub-way to “help residents”.
The crash snapped road link with Mizoram via Bairabi.
From Baldabaldi to Bairabi, around 35,000 people are cut off from the rest of the country.
Residents met excise and border areas development minister Gautam Roy recently and sought his intervention to get the bridge repaired.
Roy has asked the National Highway Division of State PWD in Silchar to take up the matter urgently.
Telegraph India
Mizoram opens NE’s first therapeutic garden
Aizawl, Jun 6 : Mizoram Governor M M Lakhera has urged people to lend efforts towards preservation of herbal reserves. Inaugurating a therapeutic garden, Enabling Greens, the first of its kind in the North East here yesterday, Mr Lakhera expressed concern over the continuous degradation of medicinal plants.
Speaking at the function chaired by RIPANS director Dr Lalthnapuii, the governor said people preferred modern-day medicines to medicinal herbs. Despite that the latter groups are found abundantly in the country, including Mizoram, Mr Lakhera said the garden had various therapeutic elements like energy zone, aquatic body, charkha, potter’s wheel and medical corridors.New Delhi-based JPSMS project coordinator Dr Kamal Saxena gave technical reports in the inauguration function held here at the RIPANS campus that was attended by officials concerned and students and staff of the Regional Institute of Paramedics and Nursing Sciences.
UNI
Speaking at the function chaired by RIPANS director Dr Lalthnapuii, the governor said people preferred modern-day medicines to medicinal herbs. Despite that the latter groups are found abundantly in the country, including Mizoram, Mr Lakhera said the garden had various therapeutic elements like energy zone, aquatic body, charkha, potter’s wheel and medical corridors.New Delhi-based JPSMS project coordinator Dr Kamal Saxena gave technical reports in the inauguration function held here at the RIPANS campus that was attended by officials concerned and students and staff of the Regional Institute of Paramedics and Nursing Sciences.
UNI
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Coffins pile up in Dimapur
Villagers watch the mass funeral of the NSCN rebels on Wednesday. Picture by Eastern ProjectionsKohima, Jun 5 : Another internecine clash and rows of corpses. This seems to have become the fate of Dimapur and its neighbouring areas.
Fourteen activists of the Khaplang faction of the NSCN were killed in a fierce gun battle with the Isak-Muivah group on the outskirts of Dimapur this morning. The former struck back later in the day, killing two from its rival camp.The clashes came as NSCN (I-M) chairman Isak Chishi Swu today called for reconciliation and peace among the warring Naga groups.
Khaplang faction’s spokesperson Akaho Assumi confirmed that they had lost 14 cadres during a clash with the rival faction between Xelhoje village and Seitekema C village near 7th Mile off Dimapur this morning.
He said Isak-Muivah activists surrounded their cadres near Xelhoje village around 5am and pounded them with rockets and heavy machine-gun fire. “We have lost 14 of them — 13 from the Sumi Naga tribe and one from Yimchungur tribe.”
However, sources said the Khaplang activists were on their way to attack the Isak-Muivah camp at Seitekema but, as the latter got wind of it, were attacked instead.
The Khaplang cadres came under heavy firing as they neared the rival camp, leaving nine dead. Five of them died when a rocket exploded in their midst.
Of the Khaplang cadres killed, a commander was identified as “major” Hekuto Sumi of Yemishe village under Zunheboto district. A “captain” was also killed, but the identities of the rest could not be ascertained, as the Khaplang group did not allow police and the administration to retrieve the bodies.
The militants later retrieved the bodies of their comrades and took them to Nihoto village, not far from the site of the clash.
Quoting sources, Dimapur police said 14 bodies had been retrieved from the spot.
The firing continued till afternoon, but there was no report of any casualty on the NSCN (I-M) side. Sources in the outfit said there was no casualty on their side and they had seized 11 weapons, including AK-47 rifles, from the Khaplang group. They refused to make any further comment about the morning’s incident. Other sources said one NSCN (I-M) cadre was injured.
The Khaplang group struck back in the evening, gunning down two rival activists and injuring another at Singal Basti in Dimapur. He was rushed to a hospital.
Villagers residing in the area said they could hear loud explosions and did not go to their fields today. The situation is tense in the area as cadres from both the factions are still holed up there.
Today’s incidents have come as a surprise to people as top leaders of the two factions are striving for reconciliation and unity among the Nagas. Swu had spoken to NSCN (K) chairman S.S. Khaplang recently. But the NSCN (I-M) still considers the rival cadres at Vihokhu camp near Dimapur as “rogue elements” working against the wishes of the Naga people.
Telegraph India
India rebel groups’ feud kills 11
Guwahati, Jun 4 : At least 11 Naga rebels have been killed when two rival separatist factions clashed in the north-east Indian state of Nagaland, police say.
Police said 10 of the dead belonged to the Khaplang faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN).The clash with the Muivah faction took place in a village not far from Nagaland’s commercial centre, Dimapur.
The NSCN is the strongest separatist group in the north-east. It split in 1988 and has seen in-fighting since.
‘Huge panic’
Rebels of the Muivah and the Khaplang factions fought with rifles and light machine guns in Seitikhima, near Dimapur town, police said.
“The gun battle started early on Wednesday and lasted for three hours. There is huge panic in the area,” a Nagaland police official said.
Both factions blamed each other for starting the fighting.
Kraibo Chawang, spokesman of the Muivah faction, told the BBC that their fighters had killed 10 guerrillas of the Khaplang group.
“We crushed them when they tried to attack our camp at Seitikhima,” he said.
One of the dead belonged to the Muivah faction, police said.
A spokesman for the Khaplang group, Kughalu Mulatonu, told the BBC that the Muivah group had launched an unprovoked assault on their fighters .
“They are escalating the conflict and we have to hit back,” he said.
Split
Last month too, 14 fighters of the Khaplang group were killed in a clash with the Muivah group at the same place.
Nearly 50 people, including civilians, have been killed in and around Dimapur in intensified fighting between the two Naga factions.
The NSCN split in 1988, when Burmese Naga rebel leader SS Khaplang parted ways with the main group, led by Thuingaleng Muivah and Issac Chisi Swu.
Both factions have been maintaining a ceasefire with the Indian security forces since 1997 but they have been fighting viciously against each other.
More than 400 rebels have died in factional clashes between these two groups since 1988.
BBC News
Police said 10 of the dead belonged to the Khaplang faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN).The clash with the Muivah faction took place in a village not far from Nagaland’s commercial centre, Dimapur.
The NSCN is the strongest separatist group in the north-east. It split in 1988 and has seen in-fighting since.
‘Huge panic’
Rebels of the Muivah and the Khaplang factions fought with rifles and light machine guns in Seitikhima, near Dimapur town, police said.
“The gun battle started early on Wednesday and lasted for three hours. There is huge panic in the area,” a Nagaland police official said.
Both factions blamed each other for starting the fighting.
Kraibo Chawang, spokesman of the Muivah faction, told the BBC that their fighters had killed 10 guerrillas of the Khaplang group.
“We crushed them when they tried to attack our camp at Seitikhima,” he said.
One of the dead belonged to the Muivah faction, police said.
A spokesman for the Khaplang group, Kughalu Mulatonu, told the BBC that the Muivah group had launched an unprovoked assault on their fighters .
“They are escalating the conflict and we have to hit back,” he said.
Split
Last month too, 14 fighters of the Khaplang group were killed in a clash with the Muivah group at the same place.
Nearly 50 people, including civilians, have been killed in and around Dimapur in intensified fighting between the two Naga factions.
The NSCN split in 1988, when Burmese Naga rebel leader SS Khaplang parted ways with the main group, led by Thuingaleng Muivah and Issac Chisi Swu.
Both factions have been maintaining a ceasefire with the Indian security forces since 1997 but they have been fighting viciously against each other.
More than 400 rebels have died in factional clashes between these two groups since 1988.
BBC News
NREGS lifts living standard in Churachandpur
Imphal, Jun 5 : National Employment Guarantee Scheme NREGS has enhanced the living standard of the people in Churachandpur more than any other Governmental schemes by raising the laborers coffer, a study revealed today.
Extended over a week, the survey conducted by a team of reporters based in Churachandpur including this correspondent, took in accounts the observations of hand loom weavers and traders, brick field proprietors and laborers, school principals and vendors.Of the groups included in the survey, handloom traders were the groups that receive a major blow while its weavers turned out to be the main beneficiaries.
Proprietor of Ngainou Wool House, S Sanglian told the survey team that a weaver usually takes a week to complete one traditional shawl earlier but with the introduction of NREGS, the same weaver now takes about 28 days to complete the same.
Despite reviewing their wages from Rs 60 to Rs 80 per shawl since March this year, their supply failed to revive, he said.
At the average, NREGS has affected about 35 percent of the supply in handloom industry and increase the weavers’ wages by 6 percent.
On the trend of months tuition fees paid to schools, S Liankhanlal, Principal of Ebenezer Academy said his institution witness 50 to 60 percent improvement this year.
“Last year there are student who didn’t have complete text book even up to December, but this year everyone is equipped with their text complete with their notes by March,” he said.
He nevertheless like other principals interviewed, claimed that payment on tuition fees has improved by 5 to10 percent.
Another trade badly affected by the NREGS seems to be the brick fields.
Availability of unskilled labourers, mostly women deteriorate to an extent that brick field owners were forced to raise their wages from Rs 65 per 1000 bricks to Rs 80 since January.
The team also unveiled that peoples’ purchasing power has increased by 5 to10 percent.
Partei of Kawnpui, a variety shop owner said her shop was never better off than this year ever since she open the same several years back.
At an average, the survey team revealed that NREGS has increased the wages of daily labourers by 5-10 percent and that money circulation was three fold in comparison with the pre-NREGS period.
TSE
Extended over a week, the survey conducted by a team of reporters based in Churachandpur including this correspondent, took in accounts the observations of hand loom weavers and traders, brick field proprietors and laborers, school principals and vendors.Of the groups included in the survey, handloom traders were the groups that receive a major blow while its weavers turned out to be the main beneficiaries.
Proprietor of Ngainou Wool House, S Sanglian told the survey team that a weaver usually takes a week to complete one traditional shawl earlier but with the introduction of NREGS, the same weaver now takes about 28 days to complete the same.
Despite reviewing their wages from Rs 60 to Rs 80 per shawl since March this year, their supply failed to revive, he said.
At the average, NREGS has affected about 35 percent of the supply in handloom industry and increase the weavers’ wages by 6 percent.
On the trend of months tuition fees paid to schools, S Liankhanlal, Principal of Ebenezer Academy said his institution witness 50 to 60 percent improvement this year.
“Last year there are student who didn’t have complete text book even up to December, but this year everyone is equipped with their text complete with their notes by March,” he said.
He nevertheless like other principals interviewed, claimed that payment on tuition fees has improved by 5 to10 percent.
Another trade badly affected by the NREGS seems to be the brick fields.
Availability of unskilled labourers, mostly women deteriorate to an extent that brick field owners were forced to raise their wages from Rs 65 per 1000 bricks to Rs 80 since January.
The team also unveiled that peoples’ purchasing power has increased by 5 to10 percent.
Partei of Kawnpui, a variety shop owner said her shop was never better off than this year ever since she open the same several years back.
At an average, the survey team revealed that NREGS has increased the wages of daily labourers by 5-10 percent and that money circulation was three fold in comparison with the pre-NREGS period.
TSE
Manipur farmers encouraged to grown more lemons
Imphal, Jun 5 : Grow more lemons - this is the mantra of a Manipuri NGO to help farmers increase production of the citrus fruit in an area of Ukhrul district.
The Information Centre For Hill Areas Manipur (ICHAM), the NGO, in collaboration with Kachai Fruit Farming and Processing Co-operative Society (KFFPCS) planted 25,000 lemon saplings at Kachai village, about 90 km east of here, last week.“Our target is to plant at least 40,000 saplings,” said ICHAM president N Rajendro. ICHAM would provide the remaining saplings for plantation at KFFPCS’s 30 hectare farm.
All the 300 households of Kachai village grow lemons, with each family having between 20 to 1000 lemon plants.
PTI
The Information Centre For Hill Areas Manipur (ICHAM), the NGO, in collaboration with Kachai Fruit Farming and Processing Co-operative Society (KFFPCS) planted 25,000 lemon saplings at Kachai village, about 90 km east of here, last week.“Our target is to plant at least 40,000 saplings,” said ICHAM president N Rajendro. ICHAM would provide the remaining saplings for plantation at KFFPCS’s 30 hectare farm.
All the 300 households of Kachai village grow lemons, with each family having between 20 to 1000 lemon plants.
PTI
Delhi team on recce in NC Hills
New Delhi, Jun 5 : A worried Centre will send a team of officials to assess the latest situation in the North Cachar Hills district in Assam taking into consideration that suspended goods and passenger trains would eventually lead to a food crisis in at least two states of the region.
After the attacks by the Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel) on labourers working on the gauge conversion project in Assam, only nine of the 27 stations on the Lumding-Badarpur rail link are operational today.The ninth station was opened today. However, passenger trains are still suspended on the route that is the vital supply link for Manipur and Mizoram to the rest of India.
When all trains were stopped for 10 days on May 15, goods trains carrying food supplies to the two far-flung states could not reach their destinations.
A delegation led by special secretary (internal security) M.L. Kumawat will visit area this week. The team is likely to include the director-general of the Railway Protection Force (RPF), M.K. Sinha.
The Lumding-Silchar-Jiribam gauge conversion project was declared a national project by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh this year. Over the past two days, Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi held meetings with the Prime Minister, home minister Shivraj Patil and defence minister Pranab Mukherjee where security in the North Cachar Hills topped the agenda.
While Gogoi has blamed the NSCN (Isak-Muivah) besides the DHD (J), it has also been blamed for delaying security to the vital rail link.
At present, of the five goods trains and three passenger trains, only goods trains are running during the day. “Night trains are still suspended at night because of the security scare. As for passenger trains, they will run soon,” Samir Goswami, chief public relations officer of the North East Frontier Railways said over phone.
The delegation’s visit to the area is significant also because routine maintenance on the railway link has resumed. Usually, maintenance is carried out in the hill section of the 185-km railway route before the monsoon sets in.
Beefing up security during this period will be an imperative for the line to remain functional and assure smooth supply of food grains to Manipur and Mizoram.
The alternative road routes, National Highway 39 from Dimapur-Imphal and National Highway 53 connecting Silchar to Manipur are both affected by militancy.
Telegraph India
After the attacks by the Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel) on labourers working on the gauge conversion project in Assam, only nine of the 27 stations on the Lumding-Badarpur rail link are operational today.The ninth station was opened today. However, passenger trains are still suspended on the route that is the vital supply link for Manipur and Mizoram to the rest of India.
When all trains were stopped for 10 days on May 15, goods trains carrying food supplies to the two far-flung states could not reach their destinations.
A delegation led by special secretary (internal security) M.L. Kumawat will visit area this week. The team is likely to include the director-general of the Railway Protection Force (RPF), M.K. Sinha.
The Lumding-Silchar-Jiribam gauge conversion project was declared a national project by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh this year. Over the past two days, Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi held meetings with the Prime Minister, home minister Shivraj Patil and defence minister Pranab Mukherjee where security in the North Cachar Hills topped the agenda.
While Gogoi has blamed the NSCN (Isak-Muivah) besides the DHD (J), it has also been blamed for delaying security to the vital rail link.
At present, of the five goods trains and three passenger trains, only goods trains are running during the day. “Night trains are still suspended at night because of the security scare. As for passenger trains, they will run soon,” Samir Goswami, chief public relations officer of the North East Frontier Railways said over phone.
The delegation’s visit to the area is significant also because routine maintenance on the railway link has resumed. Usually, maintenance is carried out in the hill section of the 185-km railway route before the monsoon sets in.
Beefing up security during this period will be an imperative for the line to remain functional and assure smooth supply of food grains to Manipur and Mizoram.
The alternative road routes, National Highway 39 from Dimapur-Imphal and National Highway 53 connecting Silchar to Manipur are both affected by militancy.
Telegraph India
Arunachal moves ASI for Tawang heritage tag
Itanagar, Jun 5 : One of Asia’s biggest and most revered Buddhist treasures — the magnificent Tawang monastery — could finally see the “scientific preservation” of its priceless relics with the Arunachal Pradesh government moving the Archaeological Survey of India for granting it heritage status.
Years of monumental neglect have taken their toll on the monastery’s 400-year-old relics, but the state government has finally woken up to the danger. “It is already very late, but we have moved the ASI for the heritage tag. Once the ASI moves in, the monastery and its relics could be preserved in a scientific manner,” Tage Tada, the director of the state research department said.Considered a cornerstone of Buddhist faith, the monastery is an architectural marvel besides being a treasure house of rare manuscripts and artefacts. Nestled amidst picturesque snow-clad hills, it was built in 1680-81 and is the second largest monastery in Asia after the Potala monastery of Lhasa in Tibet.
The monastery in Tawang is famous for its 8.3-metre-high golden Buddha statue. It also houses a library, which is a treasure trove of valuable sculptures, scriptures, manuscripts and other old books, both handwritten and printed. Its museum has rare and beautiful artefacts, including some personal possessions of the 6th Dalai Lama, who was born in Tawang.
Tada said many 17th century artefacts like exquisite paintings, mostly murals and staco, had faded beyond restoration. These paintings, portraying Buddhist mythological tales and dance forms of Monpa tribesman, are known for their sheer grace and finesse.
“However, the remaining paintings and other Buddhist artefacts made of wood and metals can be preserved in a scientific manner to ensure that they survive the ravages of time,” he added.
Tada said several scriptures and manuscripts depicting the Jataka Tales were also facing the danger of extinction.
The ASI had tried to help the monastery in 2003, but had to back out in the face of opposition from the monastery authorities and local people.
A monk in the monastery, Lama Sanglu, admitted that a team of the ASI and officials of the state research department were obstructed by the Lhangekhang or a group of lamas.
The lamas’ argument was that “if outsiders were allowed to work on the premises, it would desecrate the sanctity of the monastery”.
Another state government official said, “The monastery authorities have now realised the necessity of proper preservation to save invaluable artefacts.”
Besides proper preservation measures, the “heritage tag” will also ensure a steady flow of central funds to the monastery for its maintenance.
“In a tribal state like Arunachal Pradesh, where people are least aware of the artistic and aesthetic values of heritage sites that bear testimony to the glorious past, it is the government which must initiate measures to educate people on the importance of such sites,” the official added.
S.K. Manjul, the superintending archaeologist of the ASI’s Guwahati circle, said: “The apathy of the monastery authorities to protect and renovate it is very sad. Hopefully, things will look up. We will do whatever is required once we get a formal request from the government.”
Telegraph India
Years of monumental neglect have taken their toll on the monastery’s 400-year-old relics, but the state government has finally woken up to the danger. “It is already very late, but we have moved the ASI for the heritage tag. Once the ASI moves in, the monastery and its relics could be preserved in a scientific manner,” Tage Tada, the director of the state research department said.Considered a cornerstone of Buddhist faith, the monastery is an architectural marvel besides being a treasure house of rare manuscripts and artefacts. Nestled amidst picturesque snow-clad hills, it was built in 1680-81 and is the second largest monastery in Asia after the Potala monastery of Lhasa in Tibet.
The monastery in Tawang is famous for its 8.3-metre-high golden Buddha statue. It also houses a library, which is a treasure trove of valuable sculptures, scriptures, manuscripts and other old books, both handwritten and printed. Its museum has rare and beautiful artefacts, including some personal possessions of the 6th Dalai Lama, who was born in Tawang.
Tada said many 17th century artefacts like exquisite paintings, mostly murals and staco, had faded beyond restoration. These paintings, portraying Buddhist mythological tales and dance forms of Monpa tribesman, are known for their sheer grace and finesse.
“However, the remaining paintings and other Buddhist artefacts made of wood and metals can be preserved in a scientific manner to ensure that they survive the ravages of time,” he added.
Tada said several scriptures and manuscripts depicting the Jataka Tales were also facing the danger of extinction.
The ASI had tried to help the monastery in 2003, but had to back out in the face of opposition from the monastery authorities and local people.
A monk in the monastery, Lama Sanglu, admitted that a team of the ASI and officials of the state research department were obstructed by the Lhangekhang or a group of lamas.
The lamas’ argument was that “if outsiders were allowed to work on the premises, it would desecrate the sanctity of the monastery”.
Another state government official said, “The monastery authorities have now realised the necessity of proper preservation to save invaluable artefacts.”
Besides proper preservation measures, the “heritage tag” will also ensure a steady flow of central funds to the monastery for its maintenance.
“In a tribal state like Arunachal Pradesh, where people are least aware of the artistic and aesthetic values of heritage sites that bear testimony to the glorious past, it is the government which must initiate measures to educate people on the importance of such sites,” the official added.
S.K. Manjul, the superintending archaeologist of the ASI’s Guwahati circle, said: “The apathy of the monastery authorities to protect and renovate it is very sad. Hopefully, things will look up. We will do whatever is required once we get a formal request from the government.”
Telegraph India
Mizoram’s domestic workers vulnerable to abuse:NDWMUT
Aizawl, Jun 4 : The Mizoram unit of the National Domestic Workers Movement Welfare Trust (NDWMWT) has contended that a large number of domestic workers in Mizoram, mostly Myanmarese migrants, are being subjected to not only sexual, but also verbal and physical abuse.
Police today arrested a person after the organization filed an FIR with the Bawngkawn police station on behalf of a 16-year-old Myanmarese migrant, who was allegedly molested by her employer on May 30.The organization also alleged that the accused had earlier molested several of his maidservants. NDWMWT programme coordinator Moses Lalsangzuala said some of the victims of sexual abuse did not reveal their ordeal out of shame and fear of losing their jobs.
Meanwhile, the Chin League of Women stated that there were more than 3,000 Myanmarese girls working as domestic help in Aizawl alone. The NDWMWT has been working for the welfare of the domestic workers by holding counselling sessions and workshops. So far, it has provided job placements to 20 and vocational training to 15 domestic workers.
Extreme poverty and military excesses, including rapes, in their own country had driven the Myanmarese girls to neighbouring Mizoram, where fear still haunts them , a social worker for Chin women told UNI here.
The NDWMWT had been endeavouring to educate the domestic workers about their rights and protection, but the message could not be reached out to the majority of them due lack of social awareness.
“We conduct workshops every Sunday which is their only off day, but only 20 to 30 of them turn up. This is mainly because many of them do not want to be identified as Myanmarese migrants for fear of deportation. At the same time, their employers do not allow them to attend the workshop,” a NDWMWT worker said.
UNI
Police today arrested a person after the organization filed an FIR with the Bawngkawn police station on behalf of a 16-year-old Myanmarese migrant, who was allegedly molested by her employer on May 30.The organization also alleged that the accused had earlier molested several of his maidservants. NDWMWT programme coordinator Moses Lalsangzuala said some of the victims of sexual abuse did not reveal their ordeal out of shame and fear of losing their jobs.
Meanwhile, the Chin League of Women stated that there were more than 3,000 Myanmarese girls working as domestic help in Aizawl alone. The NDWMWT has been working for the welfare of the domestic workers by holding counselling sessions and workshops. So far, it has provided job placements to 20 and vocational training to 15 domestic workers.
Extreme poverty and military excesses, including rapes, in their own country had driven the Myanmarese girls to neighbouring Mizoram, where fear still haunts them , a social worker for Chin women told UNI here.
The NDWMWT had been endeavouring to educate the domestic workers about their rights and protection, but the message could not be reached out to the majority of them due lack of social awareness.
“We conduct workshops every Sunday which is their only off day, but only 20 to 30 of them turn up. This is mainly because many of them do not want to be identified as Myanmarese migrants for fear of deportation. At the same time, their employers do not allow them to attend the workshop,” a NDWMWT worker said.
UNI
Creaky bridges of trouble
Silchar, Jun 5 : Hundreds of residents of south Hailakandi cross about a dozen decrepit wooden bridges to work every day but the creaks of rotten wood have remain inaudible to the administration despite several complaints.
There are 14 bridges in the 70-km stretch between Lala town in Hailakandi and Bairabi on the Assam-Mizoram border.Of these 14 bridges that cut through National Highway 154, only two are concrete — the rest are of creaky wood.
The wooden bridge at Baldabaldi near Jamirabazar, for instance, collapsed two months ago, but all the government did was build a bamboo sub-way to “help residents”.
The crash snapped road link with Mizoram via Bairabi.
From Baldabaldi to Bairabi, around 35,000 people are cut off from the rest of the country.
Residents met excise and border areas development minister Gautam Roy recently and sought his intervention to get the bridge repaired.
Roy has asked the National Highway Division of State PWD in Silchar to take up the matter urgently.
Telegraph India
There are 14 bridges in the 70-km stretch between Lala town in Hailakandi and Bairabi on the Assam-Mizoram border.Of these 14 bridges that cut through National Highway 154, only two are concrete — the rest are of creaky wood.
The wooden bridge at Baldabaldi near Jamirabazar, for instance, collapsed two months ago, but all the government did was build a bamboo sub-way to “help residents”.
The crash snapped road link with Mizoram via Bairabi.
From Baldabaldi to Bairabi, around 35,000 people are cut off from the rest of the country.
Residents met excise and border areas development minister Gautam Roy recently and sought his intervention to get the bridge repaired.
Roy has asked the National Highway Division of State PWD in Silchar to take up the matter urgently.
Telegraph India
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
CID on trail of dummy medical students
Guwahati, Jun 4 : At least 10 MBBS students currently studying in various Assam medical colleges had engaged dummy candidates to appear for them in the combined entrance examination of 2005-’06, the CID said today.
This shocking piece of information came a day after the investigating agency arrested a fourth semester student of Assam Medical College and Hospital in Dibrugarh, Atikul Hussain, with his father and sister, on charges of hiring a youth to write the entrance examination for Atikul in 2006.The answerscripts of the 10 students who allegedly used impersonators to write their entrance exams to Gauhati, Dibrugarh and Silchar medical colleges have been sent to the forensic science laboratory for “matching”, a CID official said.
“All of them (the 10) will be formally arrested very soon on completion of the necessary formalities,” inspector-general of police (CID) Dilip Kumar Bora said.
Atikul’s arrest yesterday was the outcome of a CID investigation into alleged anomalies in the medical entrance examination in the state.
“Atikul’s father Afzal had paid Rs 2 lakh to one Kundan Kumar of Bihar for writing the exams for his son while his sister Afrina has established the link with the racket,” a source said.
Afrina was a classmate of Mahboob Alam, who was arrested by the CID with two other students of Assam Veterinary College, Shimanta Kumar Singh and Rakesh Kumar Sarma on June 13 last year on charges of running a “dummy candidate racket”.
“Afrina struck a deal with Kundan Kumar through Alam to sit for her brother in the exam. After Kumar wrote the exam for Atikul and he cleared the test, Afzal paid Rs 2 lakh to Alam,” the CID officer said.
Kundan is absconding.
The Hussains, who are residents of Hatigaon, have been booked under Sections 419, 420 and 120 (B) of the IPC.
Atikul and Afzal, who is a retired employee of State Co-operative Marketing and Consumers Federation Limited (Statfed), were remanded in five days’ CID custody while Afrina was sent to judicial custody after being produced in the court today.
Twenty-eight persons have been arrested by the CBI in this connection so far.
The state government handed over the case to the CID in 2006 after receiving a large number of complaints about anomalies in the medical entrance examination.
Telegraph India
This shocking piece of information came a day after the investigating agency arrested a fourth semester student of Assam Medical College and Hospital in Dibrugarh, Atikul Hussain, with his father and sister, on charges of hiring a youth to write the entrance examination for Atikul in 2006.The answerscripts of the 10 students who allegedly used impersonators to write their entrance exams to Gauhati, Dibrugarh and Silchar medical colleges have been sent to the forensic science laboratory for “matching”, a CID official said.
“All of them (the 10) will be formally arrested very soon on completion of the necessary formalities,” inspector-general of police (CID) Dilip Kumar Bora said.
Atikul’s arrest yesterday was the outcome of a CID investigation into alleged anomalies in the medical entrance examination in the state.
“Atikul’s father Afzal had paid Rs 2 lakh to one Kundan Kumar of Bihar for writing the exams for his son while his sister Afrina has established the link with the racket,” a source said.
Afrina was a classmate of Mahboob Alam, who was arrested by the CID with two other students of Assam Veterinary College, Shimanta Kumar Singh and Rakesh Kumar Sarma on June 13 last year on charges of running a “dummy candidate racket”.
“Afrina struck a deal with Kundan Kumar through Alam to sit for her brother in the exam. After Kumar wrote the exam for Atikul and he cleared the test, Afzal paid Rs 2 lakh to Alam,” the CID officer said.
Kundan is absconding.
The Hussains, who are residents of Hatigaon, have been booked under Sections 419, 420 and 120 (B) of the IPC.
Atikul and Afzal, who is a retired employee of State Co-operative Marketing and Consumers Federation Limited (Statfed), were remanded in five days’ CID custody while Afrina was sent to judicial custody after being produced in the court today.
Twenty-eight persons have been arrested by the CBI in this connection so far.
The state government handed over the case to the CID in 2006 after receiving a large number of complaints about anomalies in the medical entrance examination.
Telegraph India
Assam wants life terms for rhino poachers
Guwahati, Jun 4 : The Assam government has proposed tough anti-poaching laws ranging from heavy fines to life imprisonment to combat a rise in the slaughter of rhinos by organised crime syndicates.
“We are contemplating certain amendments to the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 for an increase in the prison term for poachers from three to 10 years and doubling the quantum of fine to Rs.50,000,” Assam Forest and Wildlife Minister Rockybul Hussain said on Tuesday.“If a poacher repeats the crime we want life imprisonment so as to deter people from carrying out rhino poaching,” the minister said.
The decision to introduce tough laws comes in the wake of a rise in rhino poaching at the famous Kaziranga National Park, besides other wildlife sanctuaries in the state.
If the amendments come through, a poacher will be tried by a senior court, one with a sessions judge.
Armed poacher gangs have slaughtered 10 rhinos so far this year in Kaziranga and Orang sanctuaries for their horn.
“We are committed to protecting the rhinos and have hence deployed additional frontline staff at Kaziranga, besides devising other strategies to combat poaching,” Hussain said.
As per latest figures, some 1,855 of the world’s estimated 2,700 one-horned rhinos lumber around Kaziranga - their numbers ironically making the giant mammals a favourite target of poachers.
“It is really unfair when some organisations and individuals accuse our forest guards of being hand in glove with poachers. Such statements demoralise the workforce,” the minister said.
Last year, 18 rhinos were killed by poachers, the first time in a decade that the number of rhinos killed in a year in the park touched double digits.
Between 1980 and 1997, some 550 rhinos were killed by poachers in Kaziranga - the highest being 48 in 1992.
There was a reduction in the number poached between 1998 and 2006, with 47 killed during this period. The decrease was attributed to intensive protection mechanisms and a better intelligence network, coupled with support from local villagers living on the periphery of the park.
Organised poachers kill rhinos for their horns, which many believe have aphrodisiac qualities besides being used as medicines for curing fever, stomach ailments and other diseases in parts of Asia.
Rhino horn is also much fancied by buyers from the Middle East who turn them into handles of ornamental daggers, while elephant ivory tusks are primarily used for making ornaments and decorative items.
Profits in the illegal rhino horn trade are staggering - rhino horn sells for up to Rs.1.5 million ($38,000) per kg in the international market. Once extracted, the rhino horn is routed to agents in places like Dimapur in Nagaland, Imphal in Manipur and Siliguri in West Bengal.
The route for rhino horn smuggling is an interesting one - a possible route is to Kathmandu via Siliguri and then to China and the Middle East. The other possible route is from Imphal to Moreh on the Manipur border with Myanmar and then via Myanmar to Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and China.
IANS
“We are contemplating certain amendments to the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 for an increase in the prison term for poachers from three to 10 years and doubling the quantum of fine to Rs.50,000,” Assam Forest and Wildlife Minister Rockybul Hussain said on Tuesday.“If a poacher repeats the crime we want life imprisonment so as to deter people from carrying out rhino poaching,” the minister said.
The decision to introduce tough laws comes in the wake of a rise in rhino poaching at the famous Kaziranga National Park, besides other wildlife sanctuaries in the state.
If the amendments come through, a poacher will be tried by a senior court, one with a sessions judge.
Armed poacher gangs have slaughtered 10 rhinos so far this year in Kaziranga and Orang sanctuaries for their horn.
“We are committed to protecting the rhinos and have hence deployed additional frontline staff at Kaziranga, besides devising other strategies to combat poaching,” Hussain said.
As per latest figures, some 1,855 of the world’s estimated 2,700 one-horned rhinos lumber around Kaziranga - their numbers ironically making the giant mammals a favourite target of poachers.
“It is really unfair when some organisations and individuals accuse our forest guards of being hand in glove with poachers. Such statements demoralise the workforce,” the minister said.
Last year, 18 rhinos were killed by poachers, the first time in a decade that the number of rhinos killed in a year in the park touched double digits.
Between 1980 and 1997, some 550 rhinos were killed by poachers in Kaziranga - the highest being 48 in 1992.
There was a reduction in the number poached between 1998 and 2006, with 47 killed during this period. The decrease was attributed to intensive protection mechanisms and a better intelligence network, coupled with support from local villagers living on the periphery of the park.
Organised poachers kill rhinos for their horns, which many believe have aphrodisiac qualities besides being used as medicines for curing fever, stomach ailments and other diseases in parts of Asia.
Rhino horn is also much fancied by buyers from the Middle East who turn them into handles of ornamental daggers, while elephant ivory tusks are primarily used for making ornaments and decorative items.
Profits in the illegal rhino horn trade are staggering - rhino horn sells for up to Rs.1.5 million ($38,000) per kg in the international market. Once extracted, the rhino horn is routed to agents in places like Dimapur in Nagaland, Imphal in Manipur and Siliguri in West Bengal.
The route for rhino horn smuggling is an interesting one - a possible route is to Kathmandu via Siliguri and then to China and the Middle East. The other possible route is from Imphal to Moreh on the Manipur border with Myanmar and then via Myanmar to Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and China.
IANS
Poorly-framed ‘ceasefires’ add to Manipur chaos
Imphal, Jun 4 : The suspension of operations, SoO, agreements maintained by the Indian Army with several insurgent groups in Manipur for several months now appear not to have the desired effect.
Incidents of wanton extortion, monetary demands and abductions for ransom continue unabated and has even increased after the SoOs came into effect, the influential civil society group, the United Committee, Manipur (UCM), pointed out in a memorandum submitted to the Governor of Manipur, Dr Shivinder Singh Sidhu, seeking his urgent intervention.Citing the present situation of chaos in the border town of Moreh, where border trade has been paralysed for several days because of huge monetary demands imposed by an armed insurgent group, the Kuki National Army, on the Imphal-Moreh highway, the UCM said it was a clear indication of the unrestrained freedom allowed to the militant groups under the SoOs.
The Kuki National Army is one of several ethnic Kuki militant groups observing suspension of operations with the Indian Army.
“Rather than curtailing the unlawful activities of these groups, the SoO has enabled the groups to carry out subversive activities more freely and openly,” the UCM contended.
Asking if these groups have been provided with license to kill, harass and exploit innocent people, the UCM questioned why these activities were taking place despite presence of thousands of security personnel.
While appreciating the intentions behind the SoOs, the UCM called for a more pragmatic policy to tackle the problem of insurgency. It said the interest of the public should be kept paramount by the government in its efforts to settle the problems besetting the state.
Several armed insurgent groups of Manipur mostly belonging to ethnic Kuki groups have signed suspension of operation with the Indian Army. The Manipur government had initially objected, as the agreements were made without its knowledge or consent. However a move is currently under way for the state government to formally participate in the SoOs after framing appropriate ground rules, including restrictions on the movement of militant cadres, and disclosure of their strength and firepower.
SNS
Incidents of wanton extortion, monetary demands and abductions for ransom continue unabated and has even increased after the SoOs came into effect, the influential civil society group, the United Committee, Manipur (UCM), pointed out in a memorandum submitted to the Governor of Manipur, Dr Shivinder Singh Sidhu, seeking his urgent intervention.Citing the present situation of chaos in the border town of Moreh, where border trade has been paralysed for several days because of huge monetary demands imposed by an armed insurgent group, the Kuki National Army, on the Imphal-Moreh highway, the UCM said it was a clear indication of the unrestrained freedom allowed to the militant groups under the SoOs.
The Kuki National Army is one of several ethnic Kuki militant groups observing suspension of operations with the Indian Army.
“Rather than curtailing the unlawful activities of these groups, the SoO has enabled the groups to carry out subversive activities more freely and openly,” the UCM contended.
Asking if these groups have been provided with license to kill, harass and exploit innocent people, the UCM questioned why these activities were taking place despite presence of thousands of security personnel.
While appreciating the intentions behind the SoOs, the UCM called for a more pragmatic policy to tackle the problem of insurgency. It said the interest of the public should be kept paramount by the government in its efforts to settle the problems besetting the state.
Several armed insurgent groups of Manipur mostly belonging to ethnic Kuki groups have signed suspension of operation with the Indian Army. The Manipur government had initially objected, as the agreements were made without its knowledge or consent. However a move is currently under way for the state government to formally participate in the SoOs after framing appropriate ground rules, including restrictions on the movement of militant cadres, and disclosure of their strength and firepower.
SNS
Manipur tops insurgency-related violence in 2007
Shillong, Jun 4 : Manipur tops the list of insurgency- related incidents and casualties in the past one year. The Union Home Ministry status paper on internal security situation spelt out 414 militancy-related incidents in the Northeastern region, where 131 civilians and 171 extremists were killed.
In the past one year, there were 153 militancy-related incidents in Manipur alone. Fifty-seven civilians lost their lives and 64 extremists were gunned down, revealed the status paper.Altogether, there were 153 incidents reported in which the security forces lost 39 men. In Nagaland, the number of insurgency-related incidents was reported as 67, in which 15 civilians and 10 extremists were killed.
The paper reveals that during the same period, there were 152 incidents in Assam, in which 55 civilians lost their lives and 35 extremists were killed. The security forces lost seven men in the process in Assam.
Tripura known for its volatile situation witnessed 31 reported incidents, where two civilians and three extremists were killed. As per the status paper, there is not a single casualty on the security force in the past one year in Tripura.
Violence in Meghalaya was negligible with only three reported incidents and only one civilian being killed.
NNN
In the past one year, there were 153 militancy-related incidents in Manipur alone. Fifty-seven civilians lost their lives and 64 extremists were gunned down, revealed the status paper.Altogether, there were 153 incidents reported in which the security forces lost 39 men. In Nagaland, the number of insurgency-related incidents was reported as 67, in which 15 civilians and 10 extremists were killed.
The paper reveals that during the same period, there were 152 incidents in Assam, in which 55 civilians lost their lives and 35 extremists were killed. The security forces lost seven men in the process in Assam.
Tripura known for its volatile situation witnessed 31 reported incidents, where two civilians and three extremists were killed. As per the status paper, there is not a single casualty on the security force in the past one year in Tripura.
Violence in Meghalaya was negligible with only three reported incidents and only one civilian being killed.
NNN
Village counts gains of a battle between states
Guwahati, Jun 3 : Sometimes even a controversy can do a world of good.
At least, this holds true for Lampi (known as Langpih in Meghalaya) in Kamrup district, which is set to become the next big thing on Assam’s tourism map.
Even before the unknown and unexplored Lampi hit the headlines for being the bone of contention between Meghalaya and Assam, the Kamrup district administration shot a video of its hills and waterfalls for chief minister Tarun Gogoi, who promptly wanted it developed as a eco-tourism site.Sources in the chief minister’s office said deputy commissioner R.C. Jain, credited by most for giving a new lease of life to the moribund Assam State Transport Corporation during his stint as its managing director, has been entrusted with the job of executing Project Lampi.
Of course, there will be help from the minister in-charge of the district, Himanta Biswa Sarma, who laid the foundation stone of a health centre there and the AGP MLA Jyoti Prasad Das who feels that tourists no longer need to think about Shimla or Shillong once Lampi was ready.
Lampi is a planner and architect’s paradise. Being largely unexplored and sparsely populated, it provides an open field for development.
And once it’s connected by road, it will be a two-hour drive from Guwahati.
But what about the dispute over Lampi, with Meghalaya accusing Assam of trying to occupy its little hill destination?
“Well, the local populace, which is a mix of Khasis, Garos, Rabhas and Nepalis, earn their livelihood by cultivating orange, ginger and maize, and desperately want development and are apparently backing the Kamrup administration,” a source said.
“Only the Khasis feel that the area is in West Khasi Hills. The area has been under the Kamrup administration and we are happy with the development plans,” Lampi gaonburah Chakrabahadur Chetri said.
Giving a sneak-peek into the “beautiful” work in progress, Jain today said the whole idea was to develop Lampi into a popular hill station of Assam.
“Its tourism potential is immense. Along with Kamakhya, Umananda, Hajo and Sandubi, Lampi will also be an added attraction for tourists. To retain its basic character, we issued a circular while carving out the 28-km road from the hills from Kamptoli to Upper Lampi in December-January that there would be no land settlement or allotment. We would like to develop the area in a such a way that its basic character can be retained,” Jain said.
It may take a little longer for Lampi to be transformed into a tourist hotspot, but the controversy around it has already made it a household name in both Meghalaya and Assam.
Telegraph India
At least, this holds true for Lampi (known as Langpih in Meghalaya) in Kamrup district, which is set to become the next big thing on Assam’s tourism map.
Even before the unknown and unexplored Lampi hit the headlines for being the bone of contention between Meghalaya and Assam, the Kamrup district administration shot a video of its hills and waterfalls for chief minister Tarun Gogoi, who promptly wanted it developed as a eco-tourism site.Sources in the chief minister’s office said deputy commissioner R.C. Jain, credited by most for giving a new lease of life to the moribund Assam State Transport Corporation during his stint as its managing director, has been entrusted with the job of executing Project Lampi.
Of course, there will be help from the minister in-charge of the district, Himanta Biswa Sarma, who laid the foundation stone of a health centre there and the AGP MLA Jyoti Prasad Das who feels that tourists no longer need to think about Shimla or Shillong once Lampi was ready.
Lampi is a planner and architect’s paradise. Being largely unexplored and sparsely populated, it provides an open field for development.
And once it’s connected by road, it will be a two-hour drive from Guwahati.
But what about the dispute over Lampi, with Meghalaya accusing Assam of trying to occupy its little hill destination?
“Well, the local populace, which is a mix of Khasis, Garos, Rabhas and Nepalis, earn their livelihood by cultivating orange, ginger and maize, and desperately want development and are apparently backing the Kamrup administration,” a source said.
“Only the Khasis feel that the area is in West Khasi Hills. The area has been under the Kamrup administration and we are happy with the development plans,” Lampi gaonburah Chakrabahadur Chetri said.
Giving a sneak-peek into the “beautiful” work in progress, Jain today said the whole idea was to develop Lampi into a popular hill station of Assam.
“Its tourism potential is immense. Along with Kamakhya, Umananda, Hajo and Sandubi, Lampi will also be an added attraction for tourists. To retain its basic character, we issued a circular while carving out the 28-km road from the hills from Kamptoli to Upper Lampi in December-January that there would be no land settlement or allotment. We would like to develop the area in a such a way that its basic character can be retained,” Jain said.
It may take a little longer for Lampi to be transformed into a tourist hotspot, but the controversy around it has already made it a household name in both Meghalaya and Assam.
Telegraph India
Union Tourism Ministry sanctions Rs 10 crore to Arunachal
Itanagar, Jun 4 : The Union Ministry of Tourism has sanctioned Rs ten crore to Arunachal Pradesh during March this year, for setting up an Institute of Hotel Management (IHM) in the state capital.
Official sources said here today the construction of the institute will be completed within two years.
The initiative of establishing the institute has been taken up by the National Council of Hotel Management and Catering Technology (NCHMCT) and it would open more such institutes in the Northeastern region, the sources added.All the states in the region have been sanctioned one IHM each by the Union Ministry of Tourism with a time frame of 18 months for completion of the projects.
The NCHMCT would open four institutes in the region - one each in Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, the sources said.
The construction work of the project would start soon under the supervision of technical representatives from the Tourism Ministry, the sources added.
UNI
Official sources said here today the construction of the institute will be completed within two years.
The initiative of establishing the institute has been taken up by the National Council of Hotel Management and Catering Technology (NCHMCT) and it would open more such institutes in the Northeastern region, the sources added.All the states in the region have been sanctioned one IHM each by the Union Ministry of Tourism with a time frame of 18 months for completion of the projects.
The NCHMCT would open four institutes in the region - one each in Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, the sources said.
The construction work of the project would start soon under the supervision of technical representatives from the Tourism Ministry, the sources added.
UNI
Mizoram’s domestic workers vulnerable to abuse:NDWMUT
Aizawl, Jun 4 : The Mizoram unit of the National Domestic Workers Movement Welfare Trust (NDWMWT) has contended that a large number of domestic workers in Mizoram, mostly Myanmarese migrants, are being subjected to not only sexual, but also verbal and physical abuse.
Police today arrested a person after the organization filed an FIR with the Bawngkawn police station on behalf of a 16-year-old Myanmarese migrant, who was allegedly molested by her employer on May 30.The organization also alleged that the accused had earlier molested several of his maidservants. NDWMWT programme coordinator Moses Lalsangzuala said some of the victims of sexual abuse did not reveal their ordeal out of shame and fear of losing their jobs.
Meanwhile, the Chin League of Women stated that there were more than 3,000 Myanmarese girls working as domestic help in Aizawl alone. The NDWMWT has been working for the welfare of the domestic workers by holding counselling sessions and workshops. So far, it has provided job placements to 20 and vocational training to 15 domestic workers.
Extreme poverty and military excesses, including rapes, in their own country had driven the Myanmarese girls to neighbouring Mizoram, where fear still haunts them , a social worker for Chin women told UNI here.
The NDWMWT had been endeavouring to educate the domestic workers about their rights and protection, but the message could not be reached out to the majority of them due lack of social awareness.
“We conduct workshops every Sunday which is their only off day, but only 20 to 30 of them turn up. This is mainly because many of them do not want to be identified as Myanmarese migrants for fear of deportation. At the same time, their employers do not allow them to attend the workshop,” a NDWMWT worker said.
UNI
Police today arrested a person after the organization filed an FIR with the Bawngkawn police station on behalf of a 16-year-old Myanmarese migrant, who was allegedly molested by her employer on May 30.The organization also alleged that the accused had earlier molested several of his maidservants. NDWMWT programme coordinator Moses Lalsangzuala said some of the victims of sexual abuse did not reveal their ordeal out of shame and fear of losing their jobs.
Meanwhile, the Chin League of Women stated that there were more than 3,000 Myanmarese girls working as domestic help in Aizawl alone. The NDWMWT has been working for the welfare of the domestic workers by holding counselling sessions and workshops. So far, it has provided job placements to 20 and vocational training to 15 domestic workers.
Extreme poverty and military excesses, including rapes, in their own country had driven the Myanmarese girls to neighbouring Mizoram, where fear still haunts them , a social worker for Chin women told UNI here.
The NDWMWT had been endeavouring to educate the domestic workers about their rights and protection, but the message could not be reached out to the majority of them due lack of social awareness.
“We conduct workshops every Sunday which is their only off day, but only 20 to 30 of them turn up. This is mainly because many of them do not want to be identified as Myanmarese migrants for fear of deportation. At the same time, their employers do not allow them to attend the workshop,” a NDWMWT worker said.
UNI
Miracle cancer curing herb in Churachandpur
Saikot, Jun 3 : Appreciation has come from many quarters to Chawlien Hmar, 82, of Saikot village in Churachandpur district for discovering a herb which may prove to be a miracle cancer curing remedy.
The herb is traditionally known as Zanlung Damdei and found in Saikot village and its vicinity.Hearing of his success, a team of scientists from the Institute of Bioresource and Sustainable Development in Takyelpat under the initiative of the project coordinator Mohindro Singh Khaidem of the Manipur Small Farmers and Agri Business Consortium, collected the Zanlung Damdei plant along with the potions made from the plant from the Chawlein Cancer Medicine Research Agency in Saikot yesterday for sceintific research to find out the chemical component of the plant.
The IBSD team including natural product scientist, Ch Brajakishore with the objective of tapping the potential of this bioresource to convert it into an asset for the state during a visit yesterday.
It was also a rare moment for the team to see the working of the open air laboratory at the Saikot research centre where the plant extracts are prepared with the traditional hand pounding method after the green leaves and tender shoots are obtained from the forest.
Depending on the quantity of leaves adequate water is mixed with it. Though the source of the water could not be ascertained so far there are no reports of patients suffering side effects or from water borne diseases.
The resource persons who visited the research agency commented that the open air laboratory was not that hygienic and there were chances of infection.
They also observed that there were chances of extinction of the life saving plant if the present trend of harvesting the plant continued without replanting and also there were possibilities of major side effects due to adulteration by undesirable toxic plants.
The resource persons further said that unless intellectual property rights are registered soon by the state the plant could be misused by unrightful owners. Therefore, the research and development institute working in the state should immediately intervene and conduct a detailed study of the plant and on the other hand the concerned department should take up measures for its sustainable growth and protection from exploitation.
Hundreds of patients today wait to get treatment given by Chawlein Hmar with his plant extract at the Chawlein Cancer Medicine Research Agency in Saikot village, about 6 kms from Churachandpur town. Most interestingly as the plant has become popular, small vendors and shops on the roadside have the green plants and extracts filled in plastic bottles with plant saplings displayed for sale at their stalls.
An analysis of the chemicals and the medicinal value of the Zanlung Damdei plant will be done by the IBSD scientist through various processes taking more than 45 days in order to confirm its medicinal properties, and if the scientists are able to prove its usefulness in curing cancer and other ailments, the IBSD will propose to the Central and state governments the need for its extensive cultivation and give credit to Chawlein Hmar for the discovery, an official of the IBSD mentioned.
IFP
The herb is traditionally known as Zanlung Damdei and found in Saikot village and its vicinity.Hearing of his success, a team of scientists from the Institute of Bioresource and Sustainable Development in Takyelpat under the initiative of the project coordinator Mohindro Singh Khaidem of the Manipur Small Farmers and Agri Business Consortium, collected the Zanlung Damdei plant along with the potions made from the plant from the Chawlein Cancer Medicine Research Agency in Saikot yesterday for sceintific research to find out the chemical component of the plant.
The IBSD team including natural product scientist, Ch Brajakishore with the objective of tapping the potential of this bioresource to convert it into an asset for the state during a visit yesterday.
It was also a rare moment for the team to see the working of the open air laboratory at the Saikot research centre where the plant extracts are prepared with the traditional hand pounding method after the green leaves and tender shoots are obtained from the forest.
Depending on the quantity of leaves adequate water is mixed with it. Though the source of the water could not be ascertained so far there are no reports of patients suffering side effects or from water borne diseases.
The resource persons who visited the research agency commented that the open air laboratory was not that hygienic and there were chances of infection.
They also observed that there were chances of extinction of the life saving plant if the present trend of harvesting the plant continued without replanting and also there were possibilities of major side effects due to adulteration by undesirable toxic plants.
The resource persons further said that unless intellectual property rights are registered soon by the state the plant could be misused by unrightful owners. Therefore, the research and development institute working in the state should immediately intervene and conduct a detailed study of the plant and on the other hand the concerned department should take up measures for its sustainable growth and protection from exploitation.
Hundreds of patients today wait to get treatment given by Chawlein Hmar with his plant extract at the Chawlein Cancer Medicine Research Agency in Saikot village, about 6 kms from Churachandpur town. Most interestingly as the plant has become popular, small vendors and shops on the roadside have the green plants and extracts filled in plastic bottles with plant saplings displayed for sale at their stalls.
An analysis of the chemicals and the medicinal value of the Zanlung Damdei plant will be done by the IBSD scientist through various processes taking more than 45 days in order to confirm its medicinal properties, and if the scientists are able to prove its usefulness in curing cancer and other ailments, the IBSD will propose to the Central and state governments the need for its extensive cultivation and give credit to Chawlein Hmar for the discovery, an official of the IBSD mentioned.
IFP
