Monday, September 29, 2008

Five NLFT insurgents arrested

Agartala, Sep 29 : Five insurgents of the outlawed National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) have been arrested by security forces from two different places, police said on Monday.

Acting on a tip-off, a contingent of Assam Rifles raided Sailut, a remote tribal hamlet in North Tripura district on Sundaynight and nabbed four insurgents of the outfit with arms.
Police said the insurgents were forcibly collecting subscriptions from the villagers adding the Assam Rifles personnel recovered three guns and one grenade and some subscription receipts.

In a separate incident, jawans of the Tripura State Rifles (TSR) arrested one insurgent of the same outfit during a raid at Dhumjakarai, a tribal hamlet in Dhalai district yesterday. No arms were recovered from his possesion.

Police said they stepped up their patrolling in the remote and insurgency hit areas to ensure peaceful celebration of Durga puja.

India Post to disburse micro-credit in the Northeast

India Post is now poised to disburse micro-credit to Women Self Help Groups in 8 states and the NorthEast in a tie-up with NABARD. The states are Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh. The scheme was so far operational in five districts in Tamil Nadu on a pilot basis. Post Offices in Tamil Nadu have successfully disbursed credit to the tune of Rs. 1.35 crores to 165 Women SHGs. No default has been noticed in the repayment.
Around 2,900 groups have so far been formed for credit linkage with the post offices in the districts of Sivaganga, Pudukottai, Tiruvannamalai, Thanjavur and Tiruvarur. 2000 Post Offices in 9 postal divisions are involved in this operation. Post Masters have been specially trained in nurturing SHGs and making inspections. 9% simple interest is charged on the loans out of which India Post has a share of 3% and the remaining 6% goes to NABARD.

The scheme helps the Postal department in cross selling its financial and insurance services to the members of the Self Help Groups, thus strengthening their financial & life security. It also underlines the continuing relevance of rural Post Offices and their closeness to the public.

The success of the scheme reinforces that among the rural people, the Post Office remains the preferred office for financial services, a fact that has come out in successive surveys. Post Offices in the country have already disbursed about 2900 crore rupees as wages to the beneficiaries of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). The total number of accounts opened for NREGS payments is about 1.5 crores. The number of Post Offices disbursing the wages across 21 states is over 70 thousand (including Head Post Offices, Sub Post Offices and Branch Post Offices). Andhra Pradesh has the maximum number of over 94 lakh accounts.

An important concern of the NREG Scheme is that every worker is paid his/her wages for the work done expeditiously and correctly. With a view to address this concern, the Government had decided that payment of wages to the workers will be done only through Banks or Post Offices. Starting with the Andhra Pradesh Postal Circle in 2005, payment of wages under NREG Scheme has now been extended to 19 Postal Circles in 21 States.

India Post and the State Bank of India have launched a unique joint project in Punjab to provide banking facilities in the unbanked areas. The rural masses in the state can now access the loan and deposit schemes of the State Bank through post offices. The facility has already been set up in 43 post offices. The target is to extend the arrangement to 600 more post offices. Post Masters of rural postal branches have been specially trained for this purpose.

The joint venture mainly focuses on rural customers who are in need of loans but unable to reach banks. The post offices will carry out all the front office jobs for the State Bank relating to loans and deposits, including disbursement of loans. The loans will, however, be sanctioned by the SBI.

Besides delivery of mails, the basket of services being offered by Post Offices in rural and remote areas has been growing all the time.

Assam ready to invite Black Widow for talks

Guwahati, Sep 29 : Following the green signal from the Centre, Asom Government is going to invite the Dimasa militant outfit, Black Widow, for discussion to work out the modalities for ceasefire, intelligence sources said.

According to sources, the State Police Department has already had a telephonic conversation with Black Widow “commander-in-chief” Niranjan Hojai, who is reportedly in Kathmandu along with the outfit’s chief Jewel Garlosa. Sources said the formal letter to the Dimasa outfit for talks will be handed over to its emissary within three days.
Both Garlosa and Hojai, according to sources, will be present at the meeting the venue of which has not been finalized as yet.

After the last Unified Command meeting on August 29, the State Government had sent a proposal to the Centre seeking its approval for discussion with the Dimasa outfit that has been in a unilateral ceasefire since March 29.

According to intelligence sources, the approval from the Centre for talks with the Dimasa outfit reached Dispur on Tuesday last.

Sources from NC Hills, on the other hand, link the latest move taken by Dispur and New Delhi on the terror front in the hill district with the forthcoming general election. According to sources, of late the Congress and its betenoire ASDC have been inching towards each other with the latter’s relationship with the BJP in the NC Hills Autonomous Council turning sour.

This development ahead of the Lok Sabha election has much to do in the political equation in the hill district.

Mizo students ask Myanmar migrants to leave

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izawl, Sep 29 : The Young Mizo Association (YMA), an influential students’ body in Mizoram, has served quit notices to Myanmarese migrants for allegedly harassing girls in a village, YMA leaders said Monday.”We have asked Burmese migrant workers to leave by Oct 4,” YMA leader Lalrinsanga told reporters.

The immediate provocation for the quit notice was a brawl at Thanhril village, about 20 km north of capital Aizawl, between villagers and Myanmar nationals over the alleged harassment of some Mizo girls by migrants.
There are about 30 Myamnar nationals living in Thanhril.

“The Burmese migrants also physically assaulted a local Mizo boy who came to the rescue of the women,” Lalrinsanga said.

The YMA leader, however, said there were a large number of law-abiding Myanmar migrants in various parts of Mizoram.

“We have to decide on whether or not to allow the other migrants to stay in Mizoram,” the YMA leader said.

Most of the Myanmar nationals in Mizoram are engaged in stone quarries, farms, road construction works and other odd jobs.

From time to time the Mizoram government evicts migrant workers who enter the state illegally although similar physical features makes it difficult to identify them. There are no exact figures available about the number of migrants residing in the state. Mizoram shares a 510 km long unfenced border with Myanmar.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Stepchildren Of Assam’s Pride

I’m lucky!” the Britisher had exclaimed upon discovering this prime patch for tea cultivation in Assam. This is how the Amluckie tea estate earned its name. However, luck was definitely not on the side of Sisul Tanti, a chowkidar of this garden owned by the Assam Tea Corporation Limited (ATCL). ATCL did not pay him Rs 1.15 lakh as Provident Fund (PF) dues, after deducting it from his salary throughout his service.For 12 years, Tanti suffered from diabetes but got only Rs 10,000 from his PF as an advance for treatment. When Tanti died on October 4, 2006, his, comprising his wife and his three minor children, got only Rs 20,000 of the total PF amount. Two years later, Tanti’s wife and children are still waiting for the remaining sum, which they should have received within 15 days.

Tanti’s family is not alone. Pohandia Tanti, a permanent worker of the garden died during the working period, but his family is yet to receive any compensation, gratuity or PF. In fact, no PF contributions from these workers have been deposited by the ATCL since 1998 under the Assam Tea Planters Provident Fund Scheme. Lakhon Kalindi, a permanent worker recalls a similar situation a few years ago when workers had to eat wild plants to beat starvation.

The once full-fledged hospital in the tea garden lies dilapidated, with no doctors or pharmacists. A health assistant at the hospital, who did not wish to be named, said: “We don’t keep indoor patients, nor do we have laboratory facilities.” They refer serious patients to the neighbouring towns of Nogaon, Samaguri and Tezpur. For common ailments, They hand out medicines from their stock.

In 1972, 759 tea gardens of Assam were declared sick. As many as 359 gardens were said to be in a bad condition. Of these, 15 were adopted by the government, which set up the ATCL to improve the plight of the workers.

However, what should have been ‘model’ tea gardens have, in fact, become the shame of Assam. Mismanagement, financial irregularities and incompetent administration in the 15 government-owned ATCL gardens have so ruined them that the workers are on the verge of starvation. These gardens, located in Golaghat, Jorhat, Sonitpur, Silchar and Nogaon districts, have been overburdened by liabilities.

Says Pallab Das, General Secretary of All Assam Tea Tribes Students’ Association (AATTSA): “These gardens should have been ideal gardens. But everything has failed including government sche mes like the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan. People here die of common ailments like diarrhoea, malaria and even gastroenteritis.”

The condition of the gardens started going from bad to worse in the late 1990s. In fact, the government has, from time to time, tried to review the state of affairs in these gardens. It set up an empowered committee in 2001 to suggest both short- and long-term measures for the revitalisation of the ATCL. The only recommendation of the committee followed was the selling of the ATCL office in Guwahati to meet salary requirements.


The situation is grim. Workers have been living without wages and rations for the past few weeks. “Workers face starvation and an acute water shortage. Most try finding work in the neighbouring brick kilns and construction sites,” says Krishna Tanti, an activist.

Ironically, the plight of these tea workers, brought to Assam as indentured labourers by the British, has not improved in independent India. Dipankar Banerjee, a historian at Gauhati University, says, “it is an example of lopsided economic growth that the workers who made a tremendous contribution to the state’s economy are dying of starvation.”

Even the wages in ATCL gardens are lower than in other gardens. Bhagirath Karan, Chairperson, Congress Tea Cell, says, “The workers in other gardens in Assam get Rs 54, but ATCL garden workers get Rs 48. They work for six days and get wages for only five days. Since October 2007, they have been getting single rations, but even that has stopped.”

The situation is so bad that while PF contributions have been deducted from workers’ wages, nobody bothered to give a statement of accounts at the office of the Assam Tea Planters Provident Fund scheme. “There are many who have retired and died without getting their PF money,” adds Karan.

Karan also adds that the Board of Directors has not been constituted for the past two years and everything is handled by the Managing Director. “There is practically no transparency in any financial dealings. Private companies have made a fortune using the same soil, climate and workforce,” he adds.

Many feel that in order to revive these gardens, extensions should be made in barren land and new ones planted. Among ATCL’s big liabilities are its high number of permanent workers and poor productivity. The yield per hectare is also much below the Assam average.

Pawan Singh Ghatowar, President, Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangh, says, “The government is not competent to run these gardens. It doesn’t have the expertise or the managerial know-how to operate the gardens. Liabilities have increased beyond the actual value of these gardens.”

He feels that a viable alternative has to be found to solve the livelihood crisis for the thousands of workers in the gardens. There are about 16,000 permanent workers, and 350 employees and dependents who have not been getting their legal dues including gratuity, PF, subsidised rations or minimum wages. “One solution could be to hand these gardens to big tea companies,” he says.
Realising that these tea workers are a substantial votebank, the government has announced a slew of measures by roping in the Public Health Engineering Department and the National Rural Health Mission to resolve the water and medical facility crisis. But like all government schemes, these relief measures will take time. Till then, basic amenities will remain a dream in these government-owned tea estates and the workers will continue to suffer in ignominy.

Finally, Dust of NU Mess Settles

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ice Chancellor of Nagaland University, Professor Kannan and NUTA leader Rosemary Dzuvichu shaking hands after the successful reconciliatory meeting at Kohima today.
The meeting was attended by the Naga Hoho and representatives of frontal civil organizations including the NUTA and NU officials. This photo was taken by Chief Secretary Lalhuma, who had chaired and convened the meeting on behalf of the State Government.

Dimapur, Sep 27 : Officials of the state government, Nagaland University, representatives of the NUTA and Naga civil society met today and decided on a number of affirmations to resume the institution’s long-defunct academic activities.
A joint statement was received here today where it was decided that the vice chancellor of Nagaland University shall, with immediate effect, revoke the suspension of eight members of NUTA and also drop the charges being framed against them in departmental inquiries.

All the members of NUTA are to resume their academic duties on the day following the revocation of the suspension orders against the eight teachers. The teachers are also to simultaneously withdraw their resignations from the various university councils, committees, departments as well as their demand for the removal of the VC, Registrar and the Controller of Examination.
The NUTA, the PGSU and the non-teaching staffers are to refrain from any form of agitation that could result in disruption of normal functioning of the university or academic classes in the campuses. All the grievances of the teachers, students and non-teaching staffers are now to be addressed to the university through a grievance cell, constituted by the university “within one week”.

The joint statement was appended by Nagaland Chief Secretary Lalhuma, VC Prof. K Kannan, president of NUTA Rosemary Dzuvichu, presidents of the PGSUs, and presidents and leaders of the Naga Hoho, Naga Mothers’ Association, the ENPO, NSF, ENSF, AWO, NSCF and ANCSU.

Interestingly, while the imbroglio in the university stood resolved with the intervention of the state government and civil society, hundreds of post-graduate students continued with their peaceful office-picketing of the university head office today.

As the joint meeting began at 1 PM in the Chief Secretary’s conference hall, the agitating PGSU students were seeing anxiously waiting for the outcome of the meeting, in uncertainty. However, as the long wait drew to an end at around 4.30 pm with news on the successful outcome of the meeting trickling in, jubilant students were heard singing “we shall overcome”. Of course, some could be seen taking a playful jibe or two at the withdrawing Fire and Police personnel who were deployed at the site of the agitation.

During the joint meeting, it was learnt that various speakers had fired salvos both at the Vice Chancellor and also the NUTA for the imbroglio. Some of the speakers, it was said, had also lashed out at the vice chancellor with allegations of fuelling the problem on tribal and communal lines.

North East girls caught in sex racket? Govt orders probe

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ew Delhi, Sep 26 : The government has ordered an inquiry into reports of girls from the northeast being trafficked to Malaysia for sex work. NGOs claimed that as many as 150 girls were reported to have been promised jobs in Singapore but landed up in clubs in Kaula Lampur instead.

The ministry of overseas Indian affairs (OIA) has ordered an inquiry into the reports. “I am looking into the matter. We have also alerted our embassies in Singapore and Malaysia,” Vayalar Ravi, OIA minister said. The minister has directed the Protectorate of Emigrants (PoE) officer to track records on the basis of which these girls were taken.

Complaints were received from Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR) and Shakti Vahini regarding trafficking of girls from Zeliangrong community in Tamenglong district in Manipur. The two NGOs were alerted after three girls escaped from their traffickers in Malaysia and were rescued by a priest. He, in turn, got in touch with NPMHR, Unifem and Shakti Vahini.

Shakti Vahini’s executive director Ravi Kant said, “This information only hints at what could be a larger racket of human trafficking from the N-E.” While details are not forthcoming, NGOs said that a Singapore-based group was recruiting girls not just from Manipur but Guwahati, Kolkata, Dimapur and Shillong. NGOs also claimed that five girls on their way to Singapore were intercepted and rescued at Dimapur recently.

The N-E has emerged as a source-transit-destination point for trafficking of women and children. The region’s proximity to the country’s porous borders has made human trafficking from Nepal and Bangladesh easy while girls from Manipur, Nagaland and Assam find their way to Delhi, Mumbai and southeast Asian countries.

Human trafficking, coupled with trafficking of drugs and arms, has left the entire region in turmoil and internal strife. Concerned over the increasing number of fake recruiting agencies, the ministry has planned to strengthen the Emigration Act that will allow authorities to take stringent action against fraudulent agents. The amendments to the legislation are in the pipeline.

Manipur Rural Bank, the latest target of militants in Manipur

Imphal, Sep 26 : It looks as if the militants in Manipur cannot differentiate between those who try to control them and the ones who are just devoted to the service of common man.

The recent victim of militants belonging to the banned outfit Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) was Manipur’s rural bank. The militants forced the bank to close down for an indefinite period while making the hapless staff of the bank go for a sit in demonstration against widespread militant activities.
Manipur Rural Bank has 18 branches throughout the state. It works for the uplift of the rural masses.

The militants demanded a sum of one million rupees as ransom money from the bank and threatened the bank’s staff with dire consequences if they failed to pay up.

The staff turned furious and expressed their anguish in Keishampat asking the militants to withdraw their demand. B.Bimal Singh, Branch Manager, Porompat MRB Branch, said: “For the last few months some underground groups were demanding money from our bank. Earlier, we requested many times through media not to demand any monetary demand from us. We are a very small bank and this is the only Rural Bank in Manipur and we are serving the poor people. And the under grounds have demanded a huge sum of money.”

L. JoyKumar Singh, Employee, MRB, said: “We are sending a message to them that we are fed up of such type of demands and please let us work in peace for the sake of the people.” Manipur Rural Bank one of the premier banks of Manipur, and has more than 30,000 depositors.It is concerned with the welfare of the rural masses and most of its depositors are from rural areas of the state.

Raghumani Singh, Branch Manager, MRB Kongba Bazaar, said: “Actually we are serving the poor people of my locality. So, such kind of demand we never expected. If such kind of demand is made very frequently in the presence of our local people than it will affect our business to a greater extent. So, I would like to appeal anybody any organization not to make any sort of demand like this.”

This is not the first instance that the militants have targeted a bank. Earlier this year, the United Bank of India in Imphal as well as some other banks in other parts of Manipur were under attack by the militants.

Even the UBI was forced to close down for indefinite period following a hefty monetary demand.

No doubt those who claim to fight for the interests of the people of the state are the real road blocks in the development of the resource rich state.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Churachandpur bamboo seminar begins


Ccpur, Sep 21 : The two-day seminar on “Commercial cultivation of bamboo” under the National Bamboo Mission organised by the forest development agency, Churachandpur started today from 9.30 am at the KKL complex.

The programme was inaugurated by Rupachandra, additional DC Churachandpur as chief guest and two resource persons, namely KS Tawmbing, MSF, DFC and PV Guite, MFS, ACF who imparted knowledge on management of bamboo as well as potentials and prospects of bamboo.
A large number of farmers from various places also attended the seminar. PV Guite while giving a lecture on bamboo plantation and its importance for places where we live, said that bamboo can be utilized for house construction and many other purposes and by taking ideas from people who have the know how it can be very helpful to raise the level of our living standard.

Management of the bamboos at various stages of its growth is very important, he said adding we are endowed with so many useful natural gifts and if we know how to utilise them we would be the luckiest.

KS Tawmbing highlighted the seven types of bamboo and their various stages of growth in which they need care and support.
He said bamboo can be planted for its shoots only and for the bamboo trunk itself.

They mature at three to four years and by then they have to be cut down. He also said during winter their roots should be exposed to the air and then cover it again so that they will produce more roots. The seminar will continue till tomorrow.

Influx tops newly-elected KSU agenda


Shillong, Sep 21 : The issue of influx tops the priority list of the newly elected body of the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU). The elections of the executive body of the KSU was held in Shillong today. Samuel Jyrwa and Hamlet Dohling respectively retained the posts of president and general secretary . There are a couple of new faces in the executive body.

Speaking to newspersons today, Samuel Jyrwa said, “Our pursuance of influx will be further pronounced”, adding, “strong emphasis will be on the implementation of the multi-identity card system that has been approved by the State Cabinet”. On influx, Jyrwa said, “We will vigorously follow up this agenda because these illegal immigrants are not only a threat to the identity of the State but to the security of the people at large”.
“We will leave no stone unturned and along with the other student bodies in the region. We will take the issue with the right earnest,” stated the re-elected KSU president. Listing the opposition to the proposed uranium mining in West Khasi Hills as another focal point of the newly-elected executive body, Jyrwa said, “Our resolution is clear that under no circumstances, will we allow uranium mining in the State”.

The attributes related to their opposition to uranium mining is due to possible inflow of outsiders, environment degradation and health hazards. Other issues topping the agenda is on the education policy. Thrust will be based on a follow-up action to ensure the all-round well-being of the student community.

Economic blockade was unfortunate: Arunachal Govt

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tanagar, Sep 21 : Economic blockade by Assam Sankhyalaghu Yuva Chatra Parishad(ASYCP) at Banderdewa on Thursday was unfortunate, said Arunachal Pradesh Government spokesman Tako Dabi.

Addressing a meeting here last evening, Dabi said the NH 52 blockade at Banderdewa was likely to effect ‘operation clean drive’ by various students’ unions in Itanagar and Naharlogun.
Operation clean drive was a routine duty of the administration to check inner line permits (ILP) which is mandatory for every Indian citizen to enter Arunachal Pradesh as per the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation 1873, he said.

Thousands of people under the banner of ASYCP blocked the national highway for about five hours in the morning on Thursday as a result of which traffic movement came to a grinding halt.

They were alleged of unnecessary harassment and injustice against a particular community and genuine ILP holders during the operation clean drive. Crowd also pelted stones and damaged vehicles when police resorted to lathi-charge over the agitating people to disperse them.

Later agitator’s withdrew blockade after Papum Pare Deputy commissioner Bidol Tayeng and Superintendent of police (SP) Hibu Tamang and SP Syed Ataur Karim of North Lakhimpur, Assam rushed to the spot and assured the agitators to look into their grievances.

Clarifying Government’s stand over ILP checking conducted by students’ union, Dabi, said no union was authorised to do that on behalf of the Papumpare district administration.

If anyone has been victimised complain should be lodged with the police and law will take its own course, he added. Denying allegations that the drive was against the Muslim community and that they faced atrocities before being driven out, the government spokesman clarified that only 103 people were detected during the operation clean drive including 77 Hindus, 23 Muslims and 3 Christians without ILPs and deported them on September 12.

The Government spokesman appealed to all the sections of people to exercise restraint and lend their full cooperation to maintain peace and communal harmony among different communities.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Police personnel checking the mobile phones of passers by launching a drive to ascertain the owners of SIM cards


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PCC chief’s post
‘Gaikhangam will stay on till next year’
By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Sep 19 : Though the term of Gaikhangam as the president of the Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee has expired, he will continue to occupy the post till the middle part of next year, said a reliable source from within the MPCC while speaking to The Sangai Express today.
However there may be some changes among the other office bearers of the MPCC ahead of the Parliamentary election.
Despite the fact that the term of Gaikhangam as the president has expired and the signature campaign which was submitted to the AICC as well as the meetings held to demand his removal and installation of a fresh president, Gaikhan-gam will continue in his post till the middle part of next year, said the source.
As reported in this paper earlier, the pressure mounted on the AICC to demand the removal of Gaikhangam will cut no ice as the AICC never bows to pressure tactics, said the source further.
The Congress Working Committee which recently met at Delhi also did not discuss the removal of Gaikhangam, added the source.
Explaining, the source maintained that it is not only Gaikhangam whose term has expired but also the term of the presidents of the district and block level of the Congress. The term of the other office bearers has also expired, said the source and reminded that even the term of Sonia Gandhi as the president of the AICC has expired.
Pointing out that election of the president of the Pradesh Congress Committee is a cumbersome process, the source said that prior to the change in the presidency of the MPCC, changes are first effected at the grass root level, followed at the block level and then district level and at the Pradesh Congress level.
So this in effect means that though the term of Gaikhangam as president has expired, he will not be immediately asked to step down.
Notification of the election is also yet to be issued.
On the other hand, since a change in the presidency of the Pradesh Congress Committee just ahead of the Parliamentary election may not prove healthy for the Congress, there is as such no plan to effect a change at the moment.
Though the AICC or Congress leaders have not officially issued any statement, there have been enough hints that Gaikhangam will continue in his post till May next year.
On the other hand, some changes may effected among the office bearers of the MPCC before the Parliamentary election. The changes will effected to strengthen the party ahead of the Parliamentary election.
Gaikhangam who recently returned after attending the CWC meeting convened a meeting of all office bearers of the MPCC today at 2 pm, said the source.
During the meeting Gaikhangam briefed the officer bearers of the MPCC of the CWC meeting as well as his inputs at the meeting pertaining to the preparations being taken up for the Lok Sabha polls.
Keen to win both the Parliamentary seats in Manipur, the CWC discussed at length the strategies to be adopted in Manipur, Gaikhangam informed the meeting.

Kuki girls raped in Diphu

Diphu Sep 20 : According to delayed information, two sisters of a Diphu based Kuki family were raped in a hotel at Dimapur, on September 13. An FIR was lodged by the guardian of the victim with Diphu police on September 16.

According to sources, the two minor girls aged 15 and 11 years were taken to Dimapur on September 13 by two person namely Peter, a resident of Mahadev Tila near Haflong town and Chhara, a resident of Chaltlang locality of Aizawl, Mizoram who identified themselves as friend of their uncle.
The duo took them to Dimapur on the pretext that Diphu market was not proper for decent garment shopping. On reaching Dimapur, they rented a hotel and virtually kept the girls locked in the hotel room. The duo went out and came back drunk in the evening and tried to force the girls into drinking.

Both the girls were raped successively, one after the other. Fearing that the guardian of the minor girls would not spare them, one of the accused fled from Dimapur itself while the other brought the girls to Diphu and escaped.

Meanwhile, Kuki Students’ Organization, Karbi Anglong District and Kuki Movement for Women’s Right Assam region Karbi Anglong cell has condemned the incident in strongest terms and has demanded exemplary punishment for the rapists. The two organizations have also demanded compensation from the government for future treatment and welfare of the two girls.

Arunachal students serves Quit Notice to illegal Bangladeshis

Itanagar, Sep 20 : The citizenship row in Assam has spilled over to adjoining Arunachal Pradesh with an influential students’ group serving quit notices to illegal Bangladeshis, triggering a violent reaction from minority organisations in the bordering areas.

On Thursday, an estimated 10,000 supporters of the All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU) resorted to an impromptu blockade on the National Highway 52 along Assam - the lifeline of the landlocked state of Arunachal Pradesh.
The student protestors halted traffic to and from Arunachal Pradesh, besides vandalising a few vehicles bearing Arunachal Pradesh registration numbers and physically assaulting some passengers. The immediate provocation for the highway blockade and the subsequent assaults was a quit notice served by the All Nyishi Students Union (ANSU), an influential students’ organisation of Arunachal Pradesh, asking all illegal Bangladeshis to leave the state immediately.

The notice was served earlier this month, but on Sep 12 ANSU supporters started taking law into their hands and went about physically evicting people belonging to a linguistic minority group.

“Genuine Indians who were working as contract workers and daily wage earners were forcibly driven out with the law enforcing authorities a mute spectator to the entire drama,” Ziaur Rahman, an AAMSU leader, told IANS. “This was nothing but unnecessary and unlawful harassment of minorities from Assam living in Arunachal Pradesh,” he added. The situation was brought under control with police from both Assam and Arunchal Pradesh brokering peace with AAMSU activists by assuring that no genuine Indians would be harassed in the name of detecting and expelling Bangladeshis.

Meanwhile, Arunachal Pradesh Home Minister Jarbom Gamlin said there were about 8,000 Bangladeshi migrants in the state. The ANSU’s drive to free the state from illegal migrants was supported by the government. “We support any move to free our state of migrants,” Nabam Tuki, president of the state unit of the ruling Congress party, said.

The ANSU, fearing a backlash from the AAMSU in adjoining Assam, clarified that they were not targeting people of a particular religious community.

“We have made our intentions very clear. The drive was launched to free the state of illegal Bangladeshi migrants, not to harm or harass anyone,” ANSU president Niglar Veo said. But one thing is for sure, the repercussions of the anti-foreigners uprising in Assam spearheaded by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) is being felt in the adjoining state although the drive against Bangladeshis has never been an easy one with the politics of citizenship reigning supreme in this region.

Silver jubilee celebrations of North East Beauty Pageant

Shillong, Sep 20 : The Miss North East Pageant will provide more than a feast for the eyes when its silver jubilee celebrations begin in Shillong on October 10.

The occasion will comprise more than just a bevy of beauties walking down the ramp.

The organisers of the event, Fashion Society, Shillong, will host the two-day North East Festival, beginning on October 10, in collaboration with the government-run North East Forum of Indigenous Culture and Arts.

Visitors can gorge to their heart’s content on the ethnic cuisine available at the festival. All the northeastern states, including Sikkim, will participate in the event.

Declaring the names of the 18 contestants for the beauty pageant last night, the chairman of the society, Aldous Mawlong, said, “Through the events, we hope to attract both domestic and foreign tourists as the event will bring together the rich cultural heritage of the region.”
The biggest and oldest contest of its kind in the region, the Meghalaya state government supports the event as an occasion to attract tourists.

The contestants are Moom Darang and Taba Chommi (Arunachal Pradesh), Stuti Choudhury and Diksha Das (Assam), Linphoi Devi and Pratima Devi (Manipur), Kyntiewlin Rapthap and Layla Iarisa Kharkongor (Meghalaya), Manuni and Meseli (Mizoram), Akum Naro and Imsu Lemla (Nagaland), Tashi Lepcha and Supriya Pradhan (Sikkim) and Rini Deb Burma and Uma Reang (Tripura).

The pageant, to be held at the Crinoline Swimming Pool in Shillong on October 11 evening, will also feature singers and performing artistes from Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur and Tripura, including Sikkim.

Part of the proceeds will go to the Jowai Presbyterian School, which was recently gutted in a fire.

Formed in 1983, the Shillong Fashion Society has been promoting fashion and arts and undertaking charity work as well.

According to Mawlong, the society has made remarkable strides in bringing the culture of the northeastern region to the fore by promoting weavers, designers and artistes.

The society had in the past invited celebrities like Zeenat Aman, Moon Moon Sen, VJ Kim, actress Sushma Reddy, model Kelly Dorjee and renowned models like Shikha Swaroop, Natasha, Rahul Roy and worked with famous choreographers like Kaushik Ghosh.

Krishnamurthy’s report accepted, dope test guidelines issued

New Delhi, Sep 20 : Following the acceptance of the recommendations of TS Krishnamurthy’s enquiry report on Laishram Monika by the Government of India, the Union ministry of youth affairs and sports has issued detailed guidelines for dope testing procedures to create a clean and healthy environment for sports in India.

Former chief election commissioner TS Krishnamurthy was appointed last month by the Government to examine the circumstances and issues connected with dope testing of international weightlifter Laishram Monika.
In the report, Krishnamurthy mentioned, “It is no doubt true that the testing process and the result thereof had been kept under suspense for too long a period, notwithstanding the various reasons advanced by the NDTL contributing to the delay. In my opinion, this is an area where immediate intervention is called for from the ministry so that in future no such lapses take place and proper guidelines to be given to NDTL so that a contingency plan is also available with the laboratory in case of unforeseen anticipated delays.”

The sports ministry, in its communication sent yesterday to the director general, National Anti-Doping Agency, director general, Sports Authority of India, president, Indian Olympic Association, president and secretary general of all national sports federations stated, “it is important that all efforts be made to prevent Indian athletes and supporting personnel from using illegal and artificial performance enhancing drugs and at the same time to promote a healthy lifestyle among our athletes. While it is necessary that athletes are tested periodically both ‘in competition’ and ‘out of competitions’ for dope in accordance with internationally accepted norms, it is also necessary that the athletes should be given the due respect and regard while the tests are being done on them and that the procedure adopted for testing should be fully transparent and unbiased.”

It also stated, “For athletes who spend most of their productive years in pursuit of excellence in their sports, it can come as a great setback and mental shock if they are accused of or imposed with sanctions on the basis of ad-hoc or arbitrary procedures and inaccurate results. While there should be no leniency towards athletes for whom the use of illegal substances or methods has been established, it is absolutely necessary that according to the rules in force the procedures must be fully and meticulously followed.”

The guidelines which came into immediate effect mentioned, “The testing laboratory will adhere to the international standard for laboratories when processing samples ensuring that the chain of custody is maintained at all times. ‘A’ samples will be analyzed and the ‘B’ samples will be securely stored and may be used to confirm an adverse analytical findings from the ‘A’ sample.”

“The laboratory will complete the analysis of the samples in the time stipulated under the international standard for laboratory. The report of the laboratory will be sent to the Sports Authority of India (SAI) within 24 hours after the analysis is completed.”

“The SAI will, after the procedures for decoding etc. ensure that the results ‘negative’ or ‘positive’ or “ where further investigations are required” in respect of athletes are communicated to the concerned national federation within 48 hours of receipt of report from the laboratory. The national sports federations, after receipt of the report from SAI will ensure that the concerned athlete is communicated in writing the results within 48 hours of receipt of the report by the federation from SAI.”

“Once the athlete has received the notification and before the national sports federation imposes a provisional suspension the athlete must be given a provisional hearing prior to the imposition of the provisional suspension or a provisional hearing as soon as possible within 10 days after the imposition of the provisional suspension.”

It may be mentioned that weightlifter Laishram Monika was not allowed to take part in the Beijing Olympic Games 2008 following the last minute withdrawal from the Indian contingent on the charge of positive dope test.

India approves water supply project for Shillong

N
ew Delhi, Sep 20 : Ministry of Urban Development has approved Water Supply Project (Phase-III) for augmentation of water supply to Meghalaya’s capital Shillong.

The Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (CSMC) of the Ministry has cleared the Project in order to set up water transmission system in the State to cover all areas of Shillong urban agglomeration. The proposed project envisages improvement of the water supply in the whole municipal area of Shillong.
The Project will address the major problems of water losses due to leakage in the existing transmission main and distribution system. Shillong Municipal Board would implement the Project. The Centre has allocated Rs 17,414.748 lakh as total Central assistance under JNNURM. The first instalment of Rs 5,353.69 lakh, which is 25 per cent of Central share, has been approved, official sources said.

The CSMC has also sanctioned three Community Participation Fund (CPF) proposals in Guwahati. The primary objective of the fund is to create capacities in the communities to effectively improve their living environment.

The three CPF proposals approved by CSMC for Guwahati, Assam includes the Kharguli Hills Housing Tenant Association, Guwahati, at a cost of Rs 10.44 lakh, Anindita Mahila Samaj (Rs 10.26 lakh) and Brihattar Khargulli Abasar Prapta Karmachari Janakalyan Samiti (Rs 10.43 lakh).

Small projects below Rs 10 lakh are sanctioned by CSMC under CPF proposals. The proposal must be endorsed by at least 51 per cent of voters of the area and signed by the elected representative of the ward.

Mizo election dept issues EPICs to 98% Bru voters


A
izawl, Sep 20 : A team of officials from Mizoram Election department issued electoral photo identity cards (EPICs) to 98.65 per cent of Bru voters, now lodged in six relief camps of neighbouring North Tripura district.

State’s Joint Chief Electoral Officer Lalhmingthanga said the total number of Bru voters who received the EPICs are 6,479 while the total number of Bru refugees included in the voters’ list are 8,061 as per the draft electoral rolls of 2008.
“Our officials conducted the survey inside the six relief camps and there are 6,627 voters identified as bona fide residents of Mizoram…” he said.

The team from Mizoram was conducting the survey in the six relief camps under the watchful eyes of the representative from the Election Commission, he said.
Thousands of Bru refugees fled Mizoram and migrated en masse to neighbouring Tripura during 1997 after Bru insurgents, who declared armed insurrection against the Mizoram Government and the Mizo people, instructed them to take refuge in that State.

They have been languishing in the relief camps ever since the underground Bru National Liberation Front (BNLF) and Bru Liberation Front of Mizoram (BLFM) signed agreement with the state government and came overground.

The Centre’s failure to release fund earmarked for repatriation of the Brus from Tripura was attributed to the hurdle that prevented the implementation of the repatriation process.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

No permanent camp of Indian rebel groups in Myanmar


Shillong, Sep 18 : Claiming that there are no permanent camps of Indian insurgent groups in Myanmar, the Assam Rifles today said the army of the neighbouring country is acting against the ultras present in its territory in coordination with it.

“As far as our information goes, there are no permanent camps of Indian insurgent groups in Myanmar. But the groups tend to set up temporary shelters in the country. We have been coordinating with the Myanmarese army and there has been operations against the rebels on both sides of the border,” Assam Rifles DG Lt Gen K S Yadava told reporters here.
He said the groups have set up shelters in the thick forested terrains along the border and it is not easy to flush them out.

“Anyone can move around within certain limits of the border as per laid rules. Such a scenario is bound to foment the movement of the militants to and from the boundary,” the DG said.

Yadava’s statement comes in the backdrop of reports that some militant groups of the region like the ULFA were using Myanmar for regrouping and carrying out its subversive activities from its bases in the neighbouring country.

US Consulate concerned about Uranium smuggling

Shillong, Sep 18 : Reports of uranium smuggling from Meghalaya have attracted the attention of the United States of America. Well placed sources in the Meghalaya police have confirmed that the US Consulate at Kolkata has been making enquiries about the alleged uranium smuggling from Meghalaya even as investigations have revealed that these reports of uranium smuggling are mere fraudulent acts perpetrated by a few individuals.

Nothing definite is known about the nature of the queries made by the US authorities but Meghalaya police was lucid in terming the alleged uranium smuggling as a mere fraud case. While investigating into the seizure of the suspected mineral two weeks ago from West Khasi Hills, police picked up a total of five people with the last one being Hep John from Wahkaji. On Monday Hep John was remanded to two days police custody, however in a bizarre twist to the case the same court released him on bail a few hours later.
Sources in the police said, “The tests performed by the officials of Atomic Mineral Division (AMD) in Shillong confirmed that the smuggling is not uranium ore. The real report will be shortly furnished by AMD.” “Even the packet used by the alleged smugglers, all hailing from the same district, is totally different from the one made by AMD while packing the mineral”, said the police source.

Police further added that there is no need for concern as this is nothing but a hoax call and could be the handiwork of a few unscrupulous miscreants out to earn quick money by fooling unsuspecting and gullible people. Yet the keen interest shown by the US Consulate has raised many an eyebrow and the question doing the rounds is, why the US officials are so concerned about the incident and why seek so much information about it.

‘Restricted entry hindering tourism growth in northeast’


New Delhi, Sep 17 : Contrary to what the government says, tourism experts believe the restrictive system of entry to several states in India’s picturesque northeast is a big hurdle for those wanting to visit the region.

“The restrictive entry system in some states in the northeast is one of the bottlenecks which projects a wrong image of the region and discourages tourists from visiting the region,” M.P. Bezbaruah, the former tourism secretary who hails from the northeast himself, told IANS.
The northeastern region, which consists of eight states, each with a wealth of natural heritage, has ironically not been able to cash in on its tourism potential, failing even in the domestic market.

For instance, despite boasting of rolling meadows, tea gardens, hills, varied tribal cultures and wildlife parks, the region gets only four percent of the five million foreign tourists to India.

The restrictive entry system, which requires special area permits to visit the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland, is often cited as one of the main bottlenecks.

For these states, a foreign tourist has to travel in groups of four and go through a government approved travel agency. The permit’s validity is also for a stipulated short period of time. This is done for security reasons as many states in the northeast are border states and are home to insurgent groups.

To travel through north Sikkim, an Inner Line Permit (ILP) is required.

However, there are no restrictions while visiting Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura.

Mani Shankar Aiyar, the minister for Development of the North East Region (DoNER), has said the permit system is not all that complicated and that tourists can travel without much hassle.

But Bezbaruah said this is one factor that hasn’t helped stakeholders like tour operators in boosting the region’s prospects.

“The restricted area permit system, some at the central level, some at the state level, would have their justification. More so, if the security is at stake. But the end result is that the tourist finds the entire process very hassling and is deterred from coming to the region,” he said.

Manoj Jalan, vice president of Purbi Discovery, a tour operating agency that has been organising tours to the northeast for years now, said it was a pity that now, when other states are diversifying into different tourism sectors - monsoon and medical tourism, for instance - the northeast was still far behind.

“The northeast is an emerging destination, with a wealth of natural beauty. To simply state a few statistics, of the total percentage of tourists that India gets, northern India gets the chunk at 49 percent.

“Western India gets 29 percent, southern India gets 18 percent and northeast India - just four percent,” Dibrugarh-based Jalan said during a visit to Delhi.

Jalan, who has been working in the sector and is familiar with the ground realities, laments that the restricted area permit is one of the constraints in promoting tourism in the region.

“We know that the insurgency problem here is a constraint. But then, which region is free of any problem? The fact is that people, even at the centre, are not aware of the ground realities here and promote a wrong image on safety issues.

“The policymakers need to take a hard look at the realities and, in association with the private sector, play an active role in promoting tourism - whether it’s tea tourism, botanical, cultural or wildlife - in the region,” Jalan said.

Bezbaruah added: “Tourism requires awareness - of the people, the policy planners and the industry - about its importance for socio-economic development for it to grow. Unfortunately, such awareness is not in strong evidence in the northeast though everyone talks about it.”

“Let’s start with promoting domestic tourism to clear wrong perceptions,” he said.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Rs 500cr package for Assam

Guwahati, Sep 15 : The Centre today announced a Rs 500-crore relief and rehabilitation package for flood-hit Assam after an aerial survey of Majuli in Jorhat and Kamalpur, Rangia and Phutimari in Kamrup district.

After the survey, Union home minister Shivraj Patil went into a huddle with chief minister Tarun Gogoi, revenue minister Bhumidhar Barman and senior state government officials at the airport.
Barman had accompanied the home minister on the trip.

After the meeting, Patil said from the presentation given by the Assam government, he gathered that breach of embankments was the primary cause of floods in most parts of the state.

There are two ways to tackle the problem, he said.

One would be the immediate measures, and other, a long-term plan to tame the rivers flowing from the Himalayas.

The Rs 500-crore package, of course, was for “immediate” relief and rehabilitation measures.

Of the total grant, Rs 300 crore would be released immediately.

After the first instalment was utilised, the remaining Rs 200 crore would be released, he said.

If required, more funds would be provided.

He said apart from relief and rehabilitation measures, the funds should also be utilised to repair the breaches in the embankments.

“There will be no dearth of funds for tackling the problem. One thing should be clear. Sometimes your state will get more funds than another state, sometimes it will get equal funds and sometimes it will get less. The funds are provided in proportion to the requirement of the state. If more funds are required, it will be made available to the state,” he said.

On the long-term measures, Patil stressed the need for a joint effort by the Assam and Arunachal Pradesh governments to tame the rivers flowing from that state.

He said according to an initial estimate, the plan would require about Rs 83,000 crore over 15 to 20 years.

Assuring that funds would not be a constraint, Patil said if needed, international funding agencies, too, would be tapped.

He also asked the state government to manage from its own resources smaller relief measures like providing ex gratia to the family of the 35 people who died in the floods.

Relief fund for disaster victims goes missing

Aizawl, Sep 15 : The Mizoram Kuthnathawktute Joint Action Committee, a joint committee of laborers and farmers association in Mizoram has accused the state government of misusing funds meant to provide relief for victims of disasters due to the torrential rainfall last year which led to devastation of farms, small factories and displacement of over hundred families.

F Lalnienga, chairman of the committee claimed that the committee has reason to believe that the Mizo National Front (MNF) government has misused the ‘Flood/Monsoon Relief’ fund meant to provide aid to victims of the flood for distributing free supplies of rice to MNF party members.
F Lalnienga went on to say that the fund was sanctioned after a joint proposal was submitted by the joint action committee and the state government under the National Calamity Contingency Fund. However, the fund was misused and only went to members of the MNF party. “The state government never called upon our help for distribution of the fund but chose to rely on the central Young Mizo Association (YMA) and the church instead,” he said.

The joint committee asked the state government to reveal the distribution of the fund through the RTI Act and found that no fund was received during 2007-2008. The central government sanctioned Rs. 23.52 crores for relief during the fiscal year 2007-2008, 9.78 rupee crores of which has been released. The state government explained that as the fund has not been received in full, the fund has not been released by the state till today.

Speaking at the Aizawl Press Club today, F Lalnienga beseeched that a number of farms and fish farms were devastated by torrential rainfall last year. As a result of this and the Mautam famine, farmers and cultivators in the state had to rely on relief funds for their livelihood. Various farmers’ association decided to form a committee and had a meeting with the chief minister, chief secretary and department heads on September 24, 2007 for making proposal to the central government for sanctioning of relief fund for victims of natural disaster.

Deputy Commissioners of each district gave report on the extent of damage suffered in their respective districts. After reports were sent in, the state government submitted proposal for relief fund to the central government after which the central government sanctioned Rs. 49.60 crores on June 2, 2008 under the National Calamity Contingency Fund. “However, the funds sanctioned still have not been distributed to the victims of the disaster. We are now giving a deadline to the state government to distribute the relief fund before the end of September 19, 2008 to victims of the disaster. We do not wish to resort to violence but we are willing to sacrifice everything we have until we get our fair share from the state,” Lalnienga said.

The Mizoram Kuthnathawktute Joint Action Committee is a committee set up by representatives of the All Mizoram Farmers Union, Mizoram Cultivators and Labors Union, Zoram Kuthnathawktu Pawl, Zofishfed, Mizoram Fish Farmers Association, Mizoram Passion Fruit Growers’ Association and the Zoram Anthurium Growers Association.

Meghalaya Christians for ban on VHP, Bajrang Dal


Shillong, Sep 15 : As clashes continued in Orissa, Meghalaya Christians have demanded banning of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal blaming them of “terrorising” the people of the community.

The demand was voiced at a peace rally at Jowai on Sunday where thousands of Christians, including members of prominent organisations, political leaders and government servants participated.
The meeting resolved to send a six-point memorandum to the President, demanding adequate steps to stop the violence, allow freedom of religion and relief to the victims.

Various leaders who spoke at the rally asked the Centre to ban the VHP and Bajrang Dal, blaming them for the “continued carnage” in Orissa.

Later, the protesters took out a procession with black flags, shouting slogans for peace and freedom of religion.

Chairman of the Meghalaya Public Service Commission Willy Suchiang chaired the meeting while church leaders and political leaders cutting across party lines attended the rally.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Crew members, actors and actresses and director of Black Rose pose for the lens


First Tangkhul film after 10 yrs...
Black Rose blooms on hills of Ukl
By Our Staff Reporter
TONGOU (Ukhrul), Sep 14: After a gap of 10 years, a feature film in Tangkhul dialect titled Black Rose was released finally drawing a large crowd at the village community hall of Tongou located 51 kms from Imphal along Mahadeva-Tolloi Road in Ukhrul district yesterday.
Directed by MK Wungkathing, a private English school Principal by profession and an enthusiastic filmmaker whose works are already acknowledged by many Tangkhul movie buffs, Black Rose is said to be made in a record time of one month.
The fledging Tangkhul film making industry had a natural death some 10 years back after imposition of restriction on screening films at night time by various social organisations on the alleged ground that encouraging such nocturnal entertainment programmes were detrimental to the growth of moral character of the youth while screening of the films during day time was not so profitable.
However, when the influences of films in other languages started having a serious impact on Tangkhul culture, the public and social organisations of Tangkhul commu-nity felt the need to rekindle interest in film making in Tangkhul dialect and finally the ban was relaxed. Thus, the movement of film making in Tangkhul dialect picked once again on the picturesque tiny hamlet Tongou , considered as the ‘Hollywood of Ukhrul district’ under the craftsmanship of MK Wungkathing, who has already directed over 20 films before the ban.
Comprising cast and crew members mainly from among the villagers of Tongou, the new Tangkhul film which was formally released during a function yesterday was attended by president of Information Centre for Hill Areas of Manipur (ICHAM) N Rajendro and social worker Ng Phaningshang as chief guest and functional president respectively.
The main theme of the film running over 2 hours is based on the proverbial saying of ‘pride comes before a fall’ (Watonna Wanglaga Kwakna Phamdek-e in Manipuri or Kanana Chuka Hai Akha, Hangkhana Pamdekhaowa in Tangkhul dialect). The film also deals with the problem of drug abuse among the youth.
Interacting with The Sangai Express, MK Wungkathing said shooting of the film was done and completed within the month of June last.
Exhilarated by the response of the people to his first work after a decade, Wungkathing said that he now wants to make a Manipuri film which can reach out to a wider audience.
43-year of age now, Wungkathing’s foray into film making goes back to 1990 and since then he directed/produced over 20 films. Some of his films like ‘My last day at Ukhrul’, ‘Imphal Turel Mapanda’, Khipawui Khayon, etc, have won many awards including Best Jury Award, Best Story, Best Camera, Tangkhul’s Best film nomination. After 1996, Wungkathing completed dissociated himself from film making until the Black Rose comes his way. 26-year old Ng Horthingchong Nulong, who is being cast as a supporting actor in the film, said that although it was her first film, she would like to act in a Manipuri film in future. Speaking at the occasion of releasing the film, Rajendra stated that if Tangkhul films could reach out to more audience, it would help in better understanding of each other’s culture, language and tradition among the people of State.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Assam asked to submit report on funds utilisation

Centre should treat Assam floods as natural calamity: AGP

Huge amount has been kept unspent

Guwahati, Sep 11 : Though Assam has been allocated Rs. 210.62 crore under the Calamity Relief Fund for the year 2008-09, the Finance Ministry has not released the first instalment of the central share (Rs. 78.78 crore), due to be released in June, owing to non-submission of an utilisation report by the State government.
This was disclosed in a letter written by Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs V. Radhika Selvi to Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) MP from the Lakhimpur Lok Sabha constituency Arun Kumar Sharma.

The letter was in response to the MP’s letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on June 14.

Ms. Selvi said the State government had been requested to expedite the submission of an utilisation report to the Finance Ministry to enable them to release the said amount. The government had not submitted any memorandum seeking additional assistance from the National Calamity Contingency Fund in the wake of floods during 2008, she pointed out.

Dr. Sharma, who distributed copies of Ms. Selvi’s letter to journalists here on Wednesday, alleged that the letter exposed the Congress-led State government’s indifference to the woes of the flood affected people.

Sufficient funds

The Union Minister also said the State government had sufficient balance from the available funds to meet the cost of flood relief operations.

The funds, according to Accountant General, amounted to Rs. 643.57 crore at the end of 2007-08.

Mr. Sharma and three other AGP MPs – Birendra Prasad Baishya, Kumar Dipak Das and Sarbananda Sonowal – alleged that while the ravaging annual floods had rendered thousands homeless, destroyed cropped land and lakhs of people were crying for relief and rehabilitation, the Tarun Gogoi-led government failed to submit a utilisation certificate and thereby deprived the flood affected people from due central assistance.

They also wanted to know why such a huge amount was kept unspent when thousands of people, displaced due to erosion and staying on embankments for years together, were yet to rehabilitated and not given adequate relief.

The AGP MPs also accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of discriminating the flood affected State people by not announcing any special assistance while promptly announcing special package for the flood affected in Bihar.

They said the Prime Minister should resign as a member of the Rajya Sabha from Assam as he had “failed to respond to the woes of lakhs of flood affected people of the State he represented in Parliament.”

Reacting to an from Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari to MPs to contribute Rs. 10 lakh each from the MP’s Local Area Development Scheme funds for reconstruction projects in flood-hit areas of Bihar, the AGP MPs urged Mr. Chatterjee and Mr. Ansari to issue similar appeal for Assam.

Statewide demonstration

The Assam State Kisan Sabha on Wednesday called for a State-wide farmers’ demonstration on September 16 to highlight a 10-point charter of demands such as declaring Assam’s flood and erosion problem as a national problem, distributing relief materials to the flood-hit families till the harvest of the next crop, desilting the cropped land, giving a compensation of Rs. 1 lakh to those rendered homeless and providing free seeds of Rabi crops by November and jobs to the flood-hit people under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

Strict rules for PAN sought


Shillong, Sep 11 : The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) has urged income tax commissioner H. Raikhan to issue PAN cards only to those applicants who provide necessary documents to prove that they are residents of Meghalaya.

The KSU in a letter addressed to the commissioner recently said there was a trend of issuing PAN cards to people who do not produce any valid documents including photo identity cards.

IRB kids protest ‘eviction’


Imphal, Sep 11 : It was a long day of demonstrations in Imphal.

In one, the children of IRB personnel demonstrated at the gate of the Kangla Fort, three days after their mothers had done the same, to protest against the government’s decision to evict them from the fort.
In the other, students and sportspersons, led by the coordinating committee spearheading the Monika Devi campaign, took out a rally after which the government warned the Centre that the state would burn if the probe into the weightlifter’s case failed to nail the culprits. The failure would be construed as an act of discrimination against people of the state, it added.

The children of IRB personnel demanded an alternative place to stay if they were shifted from Kangla. “We have come from far-off places in the hills. Our village does not have any school. If I go back to my village I would not be able to attend classes. My father is a rifleman and cannot afford to rent a place in Imphal,” T. Haokip from Churachandpur district said.

As part of the security for Ibobi Singh and Raj Bhavan complex, the government has decided to remove the families of the IRB from Kangla seven days after the September 1 attack on the chief minister’s office complex.

Nearly 250 children of IRB personnel live inside the fort and study in Imphal schools. Many of them are from far-off places such as Jiribam, 222km from Imphal.

However, after the quit notice, the government has not made any attempt to forcibly remove the families.

Another protest was organised by the Democratic Students’ Alliance of Manipur, All Manipur Students’ Federation and Manipuri Students’ Federation under the aegis of the coordinating committee.

The committee warned that it would approach international sports organisations seeking justice if the ongoing inquiries failed to book the guilty officials.

It had suspended its decision not to send Manipuri players to national and international games in view of the CBI inquiry and the probe by former Chief Election Commissioner T.S. Krishnamurthy.

Manipur has missed nearly 10 national and zonal meets. The meeting also resolved to move court against the sports officials who had “conspired” against Monika.

7,000 kids caught in refugee tangle


Guwahati, Sep 10 : The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has set a 40-day deadline for providing food vouchers to 7,000 Reang tribal children caught in a refugee tussle between Mizoram and Tripura.

A similar timeframe for submitting action taken report has been set vis-à-vis thousands of Adivasi and Muslim children languishing in relief camps in western Assam following ethnic riots in 1996.
A cloud of uncertainty has been hovering above these children ever since 32,000 Reangs or Brus fled ethnic riots in Mizoram in 1997 and took shelter in adjoining Tripura. The Mizoram government’s refusal to accommodate most of these refugees in the electoral rolls – Assembly elections in the State are due in less than a year – has stonewalled Tripura’s repatriation efforts.

“Whether in Assam or Tripura, these children are being denied nutrition, immunization, proper sanitation, health facilities and education. We have asked the governments to appoint nodal officers to specifically look into the children’s woes,” said NCPCR chairperson Shantha Sinha here on Wednesday. Most of the children, she added, were born in the refugee camps and are regarded as “nobody’s babies”.

Led by Sinha, a NCPCR team visited camps of displaced persons in Assam and Tripura from September 5. The Tripura trip followed complaints from the New Delhi-based Asian Indigenous and Tribal Peoples’ Network that 7,000 refugee children were virtually starving after denial of ration cards. Tripura has since re-surveyed the camps and has pledged ration cards by October.

According to senior officials in Agartala, the refugee problem was weighing down heavily on Tripura. “Even intervention from the Union government as well as the National Human Rights Commission has failed to cut any ice,” a senior officer said.

The refugees, housed in six makeshift camps, have refused to budge until they are assured of safety back home in Mizoram. “The Mizoram government has played into the hands of parochial organizations like Young Mizo Association and Mizo Zirlai Pawl who call us outsiders,” said refugee leader Elvis Chorky.

Notably, Mizoram’s stand goes against the Election Commission of India’s guideline for inclusion of the refugees in the voters’ list. Some 18,000 voters living in the camps had earlier been given electoral photo identity cards.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Fears over Assam vigilante violence


The BBC’s Subir Bhaumik reports from the north-east Indian state of Assam on how thousands of young vigilantes from indigenous communities have been hounding out people they denounce as “illegal migrants” from Bangladesh.

At least 10 Muslims were found dead in various districts of Assam in the last two weeks of August and many more are missing after being kidnapped.
Some Assamese and tribal people have also died in clashes during strikes by minority groups.

Hundreds of Muslims of Bengali origin have been handed over to the police by the vigilantes. The veteran Assamese Communist leader Promode Gogoi has even demanded the setting up of camps to accommodate them.

The Assam government enforced a curfew and imposed shoot-on-sight orders in the violence-hit districts of Udalguri, Sonitpur and Darrang, with the army put on alert.

“The situation is very tense in these areas,” admitted Assam police chief RN Mathur.

‘Law into own hands’


Organisations representing minority groups in Assam, most of whose members are Muslims, held strikes to demand protection, claiming that most of those hounded out are “bonafide Indian nationals”.
“We are against anyone from Bangladesh settling down in Assam, but why should these youth groups take law into their own hands?” asked Badruddin Ajmal, chairman of the United Democratic Front which represents minorities in Assam.

“They are nabbing poor Muslim labourers from various districts and taking them to the police, but most of these are Indian nationals who are being harassed and deprived of their livelihood.”

But youth groups like the All Assam Students Union (AASU) say the government has done nothing so far to check the “illegal infiltration from Bangladesh” and young Assamese are now getting restive.

“Assam’s demography has changed drastically over the decades and most of our border districts have a Bangladeshi majority now,” the AASU’s chief adviser, Samujjal Bhattacharya, argues. “Unless we stop the flow, the Assamese will become foreigners in their own land. We will be reduced to a minority all over Assam.

“Our boys have taken to the streets because the government does nothing, except chase votes,” Mr Bhattacharya alleged.

Motorcycle attacks

Students organisations from tribal groups like the Karbi and the Dimasa have joined six Assamese student-youth groups to hound out the so-called illegal migrants.
From Dibrugarh and Tinsukia in the north to Kokrajhar in the west, supporters of the regional youth groups go round on motorcycles, looking for “Bangladeshis”.

“They enter Muslim settlements and ask for documents. If we cannot produce them, we are beaten up and dragged to police stations, but if we do, the papers are torn to shreds,” said Akhtar Ali, a rickshaw-puller evicted from the northern district of Sibsagar in August.

Tribes like the Bodos and Adivasis (descendants of central Indian tribes brought to Assam by the British to work in the tea gardens) have also joined the anti-migrant drive.

In places like Rowta, former Bodo and Adivasi guerrillas, once sworn enemies, have joined hands to kidnap and kill Muslims.

Some Muslim imams have been kidnapped by the motorcycle gangs.

“Loss of land to Muslim migrants has always been a major issue with the indigenous tribes in these districts and it could spark large-scale violence again,” warns Assamese scholar Uddipana Goswami. “The government has to be very, very careful.”

Hard-hitting judgement
Justice BK Sarmah said illegal Bangladeshis were all over Assam

In 1951, Muslims made up a quarter of Assam’s population. Now the figure is close to one-third.


Nine of Assam’s 27 districts now have Muslim majorities and most of these are migrants of East Bengali origin.

This time, the spark for the Assamese vigilante action came from a hard-hitting judgement by Justice BK Sarmah of the Guwahati High Court in July.

Justice Sarmah ordered the deportation of more than 50 Bangladesh nationals who had “fraudulently acquired” Indian citizenship and had even become voters in Assam.

“It is no longer a secret that illegal Bangladeshis have intruded every nook and corner of Assam, including forest land. They have become kingmakers in Assam,” the judge observed in his verdict, in which he criticised police and civil authorities for inaction.

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi is critical of the verdict because it has sparked an anti-migrant drive that could disturb the state’s fragile law and order.

Mr Gogoi needs the support of both indigenous Assamese and migrants to win most of the state’s 13 seats in next year’s parliamentary elections.

“We will detect and deport all illegal Bangladeshis but nobody should take the law into their own hands. We will not tolerate that either,” Mr Gogoi told the BBC.

But unless Mr Gogoi and his administration act decisively and speedily, some fear that Assam could again slide into chaos and conflict - as it did in the early 1980s, when more than 3,000 people died during an anti-migrant campaign that lasted some six years.

US to extend more help for development of NE region: Thornhill

Kohima, Sep 9 : With the relations between India and the US improving, the Northeastern region would receive more help for its rapid development, Deputy Public Affairs Officer in the United States Embassy in New Delhi Elizabeth Thornhill said.

Addressing a press conference here yesterday, Ms Thornhill said as the relations between India and the US were improving gradually, the Northeastern region could expect more help from the US in the near future for its rapid development.
Ms Thornhill is presently in Nagaland on a three-day tour to the state.

She also delivered lectures on elections in the US at the Kohima Law College and met the state Additional Director of Arts and Culture as well as members of the local Rotary Club.

She is scheduled to deliver lectures on the US elections at a private college today and later proceed to Dimapur, where she will meet the members of Dimapur Ladies Club and Dimapur Press Club.

She will deliver lectures at the Patkai Christian College tomorrow from where she will fly back to Kolkata on her way to New Delhi.

Veterinary association to sue Mizo Govt

Aizawl, Sep 9 : The Mizoram Veterinary Service Association has issued a warning to the State Government, vowing to take their case to the court if their demands for revision of their pay are not settled before the upcoming Assembly elections.

Officials of the MVSA on Saturday had a meeting with the press at the Aizawl Press Club where they stated their resentment over the slow working of the MNF Government in revising their pay, which the members claim is overdue.

The MVSA declared that they should enjoy the same pay as medical doctors as this has been the norm since long.

Hmar Mizo Question: Re-figuring understanding

The discussions in misual.com and elsewhere that have been beating empty vessel after the two unwanted incidents - the killing of a Lusei-speaking Mizo in Manipur’s Churachandpur and the ambush - that involves the HPC(D) have stirred the Hmar-Mizo question to a disgusting extent.

As a human being I loathed bloodshed and violence and if such behaviour could be transferred, one should as a human being exile oneself from such conduct. However, in the course of our discourse, a constructive inculcation of reason is the need of the hour when emotions blindly hit the alarm that are attached to the vessel. It could injure more when the tongue does not wag in accordance with reason. It makes much noise, the odd notes, which I am already tired of, from the very fact of me being a member of Hmar as well as Mizo.

From the various comments that also reflect the ignorance of the collectivity, who are again proud members of Mizo, there arises a serious problem of one’s understanding of the Hmar identity and its relation and interrelation with the diverse Mizo identity. Out of these comments, I strongly sensed the omission of the historical construction of Mizo identity and Mizoram, where the significance of the Hmar people is seemingly shelved.
There are also visible unhealthy presumption of some, of Hmar as something outside the Mizo identity. This should end for good. We are suffering a Mizo blindness, which made us poor reactors where we allow ourselves to divorce our reason from all our other senses that eventually paralysed our ability to harmonise the being and identity within ourselves. As much as the need for no insistence to submit Hmar as Mizo, I find no meaning for any Mizo to outside Hmar from Mizo just because an armed group bearing Hmar happens to act within the State boundary of Mizoram. If, supposing, every member of Hmar is counted as member of HPC (D), then, majority of the Mizos in Mizoram would be a potential member of that group from the very fact of them being a Hmar, as the population of Hmar in Mizoram is the highest, if compared to the various other tribes - Ralte, Lai, Paite, Sailo, et al. My point is that collectivising Hmars for any deed of one group or party is a blunder, which should not be digested at any point of time. Moreover it itself is negating Mizo, which means negating oneself to include oneself. And if anyone thinks that exercising Mizo identity would go down well by poking and pricking Hmar, I could not think of any worse design that would fragment the house in shamble. Worst, it is ignorance seeking a sealed valve for an exit by employing the blurry headlight of emotion. The same headlight has been instrumented by the armed MNF in their glorious days, but to include only small sections of the Mizo nation within a boundary called Mizoram; and that resulted in people from Mizoram carrying Mizo tribe certificate, which belittle us as a people; for Mizo is not just a mere tribe.

As I went through the posted comments, I was reminded of Foucault’s mistake to acknowledge about the unequal complementarity of doer and done to in the homoerotic practices that once were occupied their discourse. There are too many amongst us who also committed the same mistake, which is, but, serious. One reason is because our faculties are not rooted to our history. Even if we look at the current history, it is evident that from the first tribal IAS officer, who is a Hmar Mizo to the first Cabinet Minister in undivided Assam (A Thanglura), to the martyrs and heroes of MNF cadres to who’s who in Mizoram today, who would dare to ignore the Hmars from Mizo? The Mizo Union movement that started in 1946 was led by Hmar Mizo like Pachhunga, HK Bawichhuaka, et al. The same movement spreaded to Manipur with the Hmars taking the lead and resulted in the first Manipur Mizo Union General Assembly in Pherzawl, a Hmar village. In the interest of the Mizo Union movement, it was the Hmars who boycotted the first election in Manipur in 1948. But when Mizoram was conceived, self serving Mizo leaders failed to even look beyond Tuivai and Tuiruong (Tipaimukh) rivers. History has a clean record of who the blunders were. Who the blunder would dare to be Brutus again? Forgetting the Hmars or even trying to do that in Mizoram would be as much as a vain attempt to rewrite the New Testament of the Bible without Jesus.
It would be easy to mistake the Hmar people as different or indifferent as they are divided by five state boundaries in the North East itself. Besides, their ability as a people, to preserve and still used Hmar as a spoken/written language seems to have marked them out as different from what is conceived as “Mizo” in Mizoram. Language has acted as a potent marker for identifying identities. This must be one reason why the use of Hmar language was not, to put it softly, encouraged for preaching, composing, teaching, singing, when Christianity was taking its roots in its early phase in the Lushai Hills. It is interesting to note that Hmar composers, pastors, and preachers, then, asserted about the need to worship and praise God in their own language. That was when , when Hmar dialect was finding its place, many of the equally rich Mizo dialects/languages met their early death. Again, it is interesting to know that Thiek/Thiak dialect is still popular and widely used in Assam’s NC Hills. So, to carve a Mizo identity out of the many languages and dialects that it has today, would only end up with othering our own selves. Or are we already witnessing the process of othering ourselves from what is visible with people from Mizoram. But Mizoram is not a village, or is it? I think the imagination of who a Mizo is from the clogged door and window of Mizoram did not leave any space for our diversity to sink in. When we could understand and accept the multiplying and equally diverse Christian denominations/cult in Mizoram, I wonder why we allow to failed our imagination to go beyond the limit that we have set for ourselves.

We ought to understand the existence of a people fragmented by more than four State boundaries and their quest for belongingness. Today those boundaries have come to dictate who an insider and outsider is. This itself tends to act against the Mizo identity, which is in the nation making process. Or should we say a notion in the making process. Whatever it is, reminding ourselves the process that we are inevitably into would enlighten us about the need to inculcate reason as we intervene with our free expression. With our firm attachment to these man-made boundaries, who a Mizo is should not be let too loose to get lost in definition or translation. The sanctity of these boundaries cannot be interpreted when it comes to identifying a Mizo; for a Mizo is not holed up in a village with narrow wall.

Today, it is unfortunate that State boundaries have acted to distance or border us. However strong that forces might be, they should not be given a space to pollute the identity that is undergoing its courses of change.

Did anyone remember that during the HPC movement in the early ’90s, it was the Government of Mizoram who stirred, funded and armed a band of innocent Hmar boys and sent them to Manipur’s Churachandpur district to play the eye for an eye game. The leader of the armed group himself was Lalchung Buhril from the Thiek/Thiak clan. I remember those were bloody days. Did anyone care that it was let loose by the State itself? Who, from Mizoram, at that time, raise a voice to condemn the State government from spreading the fire? Not even the Press or the reverred Church. Today as we celebrate the blame game, the same Leviathan has not yet shed its dirty linen. Everyone knows that it is the same old man at work, which is why we should never overlook the reality that we are already digressing from. While we are a witness to the return of the Frankenstein monster we must not be robbed of our faculties. Conceiving things indifferently from what they really are would not even serve the blown out emotions that we fervently nurse. We are all victims of the unholy design that was set against us.

A free-for-all in Karimganj forces cops to fire in the air

Silchar, Sep 8 : A disagreement between two groups over the construction of a building on a mosque land led to a free-for-all at Nilambazar town in Karimganj last night, forcing police to fire in the air and send patrol teams to pre-empt further clashes.

Though there were no reports of unrest this morning, personnel from the Assam armed police and 15 India Reserve Battalion continued to patrol National Highway 44, which cuts through the town on the Indo-Bangladesh border.
Karimganj deputy commissioner Bhupendra Sharma said trouble began when two groups began attacking each other with sharp weapons following a quarrel over construction of a building on a plot adjoining the central mosque in the town.

The clash soon spilled into a nearby market, with a group vandalising a number of shops.

At least eight shops were damaged in the three-hour rampage.

A police team rushed to the market and fired three rounds in the air to disperse the mob.

A group, however, began chasing the policemen, injuring two of them.

The injured policemen were rushed to Silchar Medical College Hospital and Nilambazar Hospital.

Sharma, accompanied by additional superintendent of police Hemanta Kumar Das reached the spot soon after.

The deputy commissioner said he would call a peace meeting with important citizens and religious leaders in the evening.

He said the police had been asked to file a report, on the basis of which an FIR would be lodged.

Arrests would subsequently be made as a precautionary measure.

Manipuris protest against militancy in the State


Imphal, Sep 8 : In spite of the Manipur Government signing suspension of operation orders with different militant groups in the state, underground groups continue to harass common people. Besides, there are reports of an assassination bid on the life of State Chief Minister Ibobi Singh.

The latest victims are the staff and officials of the agricultural department in the state. The abduction of one of the officers has spread panic and led to protests against militant groups.
M. Norendro Singh, the abducted assistant agriculture official is the only earning member in his family and the threat to his life is a threat to six other members of his family. Fear and a sense of anxiety is visible in the family of the abducted official of the agriculture department. They wonder why militants target the common people and take them captive when they talk about being concerned about the people.

“He is the one who runs the family, looks after the children’s education and takes care of all the problems in the family. It would be very difficult for us if he is not there as we will not have the strength to live on,” said M.Rita Devi, wife of Norendro Singh

L. Pashot Devi, a local resident, while emphasizing that the people want peace in the society said, “There is no peace in the society. We don’t know if our kidnapped sons will return to us. These things have happened not only in my family but with many others also. Many people have faced such troubles and difficulties earlier also. It is my request that such problems should be immediately solved so that the civilians can live in peace.”

R.K. Nayasana Devi, Director of the state’s agriculture department said, “This will effect us, not directly but indirectly to the farmers and in the way to production of the food grains, purchase of essential commodities for our livelihood. So, in some four to five years, I am sure that these conditions would lead to famine in Manipur.”

If people are the at the receiving end of militants, so is the state’s authority that is proved by an assassination bid on the life of the state Chief Minister Ibobi Singh recently.

According to police reports a bomb fired by suspected militants exploded outside his official residential complex. The attack is supposed to be a desperate reaction
from some of the militant outfits, which are feeling the heat of heightened action against them by the state police.

In reaction to the kidnapping, people and officials of the agricultural department held a sit in protest.

With Manipur trying to increase the land available for agriculture and ensure food supply to all the parts of the state, the kidnapping of the staff by the militant groups has sent a wave of panic among the workers. They have been wondering as to how they can work freely and discharge their duties in such an atmosphere.

NCPCR team visit Tripura refugee camps


Agartala, Sep 8 : Following the complains of Asian Indigenous and Tribal People`s Network (AITPN) of not including 7000 children living in Bru refugee camps of North Tripura, a team of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights(NCPCR) conducted public hearing in the area today.

Official sources said NCPCR team arrived here last evening on a three day visit.
A meeting is scheduled to be held tomorrow between them, Chief Secretary and other top officials of the state, sources informed.

Meanwhile AITPN officials told UNI that it had conducted survey on Bru internally displaced families and found that more than 94 percent of the camp inmates have documents issued by the authorities of Mizoram to prove their bonafide residence of Mizoram.

”We placed the record before the Supreme Court but neither Tripura nor central government ever attempted to verify the bonafide of the Brus to counter the lies of the Mizoram government”, Santosh Chakma, legal officer of the AITPN pointed out.

Criticising Zoramthanga government, he underlined that Bru families had been forced to leave their home and hearths following communal clashes in 1997 and it was established that the backward Bru tribes were physically tortured by the Mizo tribals and had evicted them from their ancestral home.

Despite persuasions, central government failed to accord approval for inclusion of 1514 children in the ration cards even after the recommendation of Tripura government way back in 2004, he alleged.

About 31,000 Bru families had to leave their homes in Mizoram following ethnic clashes in 1997 and took shelter in Tripura’s Kanchanpur subdivision.

WWF to wrestle for more women candidates in Mizo polls


Aizawl, Sep 8 : Although Mizo women have commanded dominance at the workplace, their presence in the state Legislature is still almost a nil during the past twenty years.

In a ‘gung ho’ gesture, the newly-formed Women Welfare Front(WWF) has rolled up its sleeves to wrestle for female candidates in the upcoming Assembly polls slated for November.
Constituted by the women members of the village councils (local administration) across the state, the WWF has urged all the political parties in the state to field as many women candidates as possible for the 2008 elections. And the orutfit will go all out to ensure that the fairer sex favours female candidates in the polls.

”No home is complete without a woman, so is the state Assembly House. As much as we need women in our homes, we need them in the Assembly,” WWF secretary Darhmingthangi said yesterday.

The WWF has met all political party leaders, except those of the ruling Mizo National Front, and garnered positive responses from them.

”Chief Minister and MNF president Zoramthanga was not available on the day we tried to meet him. We will meet him in a few days,” Ms Darhmingthangi said.

”We have a number of highly qualified women in our society.

Despite the fact that Mizo women contribute immensely to the state’s economy, we are deprived of opportunities when it comes to politics.

At least ten seats must be reserved for women,” Ms Darhmingthangi felt.

The state’s largest women’s body Mizo Hmeichhe Insuihkhawm Pawl (MHIP) also extended full support to the WWF agenda.

”There are large number of female MLAs in other states and also several women members in Parliament. Mizo women are in no way inferior to their counterparts. It is high time for Mizo women to participate in the state administration,” MHIP president Rozami told UNI here yesterday.

At present, there are about 43 female members in the village councils across the state.

Ever since Mizoram attained statehood in 1972, there have been only three women MLAs in - Thanmawii (1978), K Thansiami (1979) and Lalhlimpuii (1987).

Monday, September 8, 2008

7003 arms allotted for 2008-09 by MHA

Imphal, Sep 8 : The Union ministry of home affairs, MHA allotted 7003 arms of different model and bombs along with ammunitions and accessories to the Manipur police for current fiscal year 2008-09 under modernization of police forces even as a total of 1383 arms of different brands along with ammunitions and magazines are in the DG-Pool of the state police department as reserved.

A well placed official source said that these arms and ammunitions were received by the state police department under the government of India funded modernization of the state police forces scheme and the state authorities are also in the process of procuring another huge consignment of these weapons allotted under the same scheme last year.
Under the same scheme a total of 554 vehicles of different make had been allotted to the Manipur Rifles, IRB units and district police as per requirement on priority basis and another 98 numbers of vehicles of different make are being received to meet the current shortage of vehicles.

The state police department is currently facing shortage of 51 percent vehicles for use in maintaining law and order of the state. Out of the total 1382 arms in the DG Pool as per the source, 1114 are 7.62 mm SLR IAI, 100 are AK-47 rifles, 168 are 5.62 SLR with 2557 magazines of the 7.56 mm SLR, 2310 magazines of AK-47 and 1000 magazine of 5.56 LMG.

Of the total number of ammunitions 36,1,850 rounds are 6.56 CTN, 660011 rounds are cartridge 7.62×39 mm, 43,0,830 rounds are 7.62 mm CTN. Apart from these there are 321003 numbers of 7.62 mm BDR ammunitions, three numbers of .38 special cartridge and 3177 numbers of 51 mm Mortar HE bomb in the DG Pool, the source said.
Further, the state home department has already paid for procurement of 2000 numbers of 7.62 SLR rifles along with 1320 magazines, 54 numbers of equipments of 51 mm mortar E-4, 82,500 rounds of cartridge 7.62 mm ball BDR, 1,70,280 cartridge 7.62 mm CTN, 12828 rounds of 9 mm cartridges, 4944 rounds of 7.62 mm cartridge, 3708 numbers of rifle grenade HE 36, 641 bomb 51 mm MOR ILLG, 1442 bombs 51 mm HE, 221142 MC 9 mm IAI cartridge, 480 number each of carbine MC 9 mm IAI, SQAI insp charge and sling for carbine, 1440 numbers of magazines, 48 numbers of chest for carbine, 12,150 numbers of magazine 2A (SLR Mag), 413820 rounds of 7.62 mm ball BDR, 306 numbers of 5.56 mm excaliber, 54 numbers of projector grenade and 5760 of 9 mm carbine.

The arms and ammunitions are to be procured from the different ordnance factories and the same will be lifted soon as the factories intimated the state authorities, the source added.

Apart from this MHA has also allotted a total of 7003 arms and bombs along with huge quantity of ammunitions of different kinds to the Manipur police department for the year 2008-09, said the source adding that funds for procurement of the allotted arms and ammunitions have also been made available by the state government.

The allotted arms included 72 numbers of 51mm mortar E-1 with CES, 315 LMG 5.56 mm INSAS along with 12060 magazines, 546 numbers of 7.62 mm SLR IAI, 194549 numbers of 5.56 mm CTN, 4070 numbers of 51 mm mortar HE bomb, 500 numbers each of 51 mm mortar illuminating bomb, 51 mm mortar red bomb and 51 mm mortar smoke bomb, 62169 7.62 mm CTN cartridge and 10712 magazines of 7.62 mm SLR.

The state police department has put up a list of the projected arms and ammunitions meant for 4th and 7th IRB personnel to the MHA for sanction, the source said.
The arms projected include 118 of 9 mm pistols (59 each for each battalions), 236 magazines (118 each), 320 SM carbine 9 mm (160 each) with 3840 magazines (1920 each), 1350 (675 each) 7.62 mm SLR IAI with 8100 magazines (4050 each), 36 (18 each) 7.62 mm LMG/INSAS LMG with 864 magazines (432 each), 36 (18 each) 7.62 mm SLR with grenade projector and another 36 (18 each) of 51 mm mortar.

The projected quantity of ammunitions were 8732 (4366 each cartridge of SA 9 mm ball, 222750 (111375 each ) 7.62 mm BDR cartridge, 25992 (12996 each) cartridge of 5.56 mm CTN, 756 (378 each) rifle grenade (SLR) with 7sec detonator, 3296 (1648 each) 7.62 mm ballistic/ND cartridges, 2628 (1314 each) of 51 mm mortar HE bomb, 1224 (612 each) of 51 mm mortar smoke bomb, 576 (288 each) each of 51 mm mortar green, red and mortar para illuminating bombs.

Meanwhile, from April 2007 till date, police department has procured 554 vehicles of different kinds to meet the shortage of vehicles in the state police force units and district police.

However, the police department still have 51 percent shortage of vehicles affecting the mobility of the force adversely, the source observed. The procured vehicles include five Bolero, 14 NBP Tata 407, 224 motor cycles, 241 BP Gypsy, seven BP Gypsy, two anti-riot vehicles, three ambulance, nine water tanker, four prisoners van and 45 Tata 207 (DI).

Another 98 numbers of vehicles of different make are being received under the scheme for modernization of state police force and are in the pipe line.
The procured vehicles have been distributed in the different units of the Manipur Rifles and district police.

The vehicles includes 30 BP Mahindra Rakshak, 46 NBP Gypsy, NBP Tata 407, two each of ambulance, Tata 1613/TC and motorcycles