NC Hills Dist Council dares CM to prove charge

Guwahati, May 22 : The ASDC-BJP-led NC Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC) members today brushed aside the allegation of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi that the Autonomous Council had a nexus with the Jewel Garlosa faction of the Dima Halam Daogah (DHD-J) as ‘false, baseless and concocted.’ The Chief Minister had levelled the above allegation against the Autonomous Council at a press conference here on Tuesday.

The members of the Council also demanded of the State Government steps to address the other crucial issues of the hills district like compensation to the families of those killed in recent violence and for resuming railway services in the hills section and lifting of economic blockade by truckers.

The Council members, including Chief Executive Member Depolal Hojai, described the Congress as the founder of extremism in the hills district. “The Congress is supporting extremism till date.”

The members of the Council also called upon the Chief Minister to state in unambiguous terms in what way the Council was ‘hobnobbing’ with extremist organisations. They also requested him to refrain from making such ‘sweeping’ comments from the secured precincts of Dispur.

The Council members, Kulendra Daulagupu, Mohet Hojai, Prakanta Warisa, Debojit Thaosen and CEM Depolal Hojai regretted the attitude of the Congress Government towards the Council and described it as conspiratorial.

“The comment of the Chief Minister smells of a conspiracy to dislodge the democratically elected ASDC-BJP ruled autonomous council in NC Hills,” said Depolal Hojai.

Condemning the bloodshed and mayhem in the hills district, Hojai said that the State Government instead of blaming the ASDC-BJP coalition should take the initiative to resolve the vexed problem by taking the non-Congress Council into confidence.

Another Council member Debojit Thaosen asserted that the problem in the hills district had worsened because of the dilly dally attitude of the Government. “The Government always resorts to a delaying tactic and that is hampering the peace efforts,” said Thaosen daring the State Government either to finish off the extremists or to resolve the issue through dialogue.

“The Government has deployed 41 companies of security forces in the hills district and regrettably even after such huge presence of security forces, the Government has failed to protect people and projects,” said Thaosen.

The Council members firmly said that extremism in the hills district could not be solved through security forces. “Only through dialogue, the situation could be changed.”

Former Member of Parliament and member of the Council Prakanta Warisa alleged that the Congress was behind the birth of all extremist outfits in the hills district and it is an open secret now.

Mohet Hojai demanded of the State Government steps to hand over law and order either to the Council or to the Central Government. “The Chief Minister should not blame others for his failure,” he said.

Meanwhile, State BJP president Ramen Deka criticized Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi for his ‘frivolous comments’ on the ASDC-BJP-led NC Hills Autonomous Council and described Gogoi’s suggestion for creating a battalion of surrendered militants even after the presence of six thousand security personnel in the hills district as highly ridiculous.

AT

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Farewell to arms in merry bonfire

Worried parents breathe easy as kids’ toy guns go up in flames

Keinou (Bishnupur), May 22 : If Ernest Hemingway’s classic A Farewell to Arms were to be written afresh, this tale from Manipur could very well be the plot of another heartwarming story.

Over a hundred children from Keinou and its neighbouring villages in Manipur’s Bishnupur district today made a bonfire of their toy guns — almost real-looking AK-47s, 9mm pistols, M-16 rifles and machine guns — igniting a novel campaign to stop children from playing with violent toys.

M. Rohit Singh saw his AK-47 go up in flames, but he seemed more relieved than sad. The toy had injured his best friend during the Yaoshang festival in March this year while they were playing a “war game”.

But at the Keinou playground — where the bonfire was lit — most of the happy faces were that of the parents, who decided on the campaign after having to nurse their children with injuries sustained while playing with the toys. The injuries often led to bitter quarrels among the parents.

“Most of the children in our locality and the state these days prefer these toy guns to anything else. Playing with these toys is dangerous as many children sustain injuries,” said a parent, Mangi Leima.

Marjit Khuman, another parent, agreed with Leima. “The bullets could damage the eyes of the children, if hit,” he said.

Some of the guardians said their wards preferred to “shoot” mostly in the “head”. They even spoke of “ambushing” their friends while playing with the toys.

Though no case studies have been done on the effect of the toys on children, the parents were worried about the psychological fallout of these toys on their children. Many of them apparently exhibit an undesirable fascination for weapons.

“We are worried that playing with the toy guns would have a negative impact on the minds of the children when they grow up. Manipur is a place where violence is a daily phenomenon. So we want to keep our children away from the gun culture,” another parent, Rani Devi, said.

The parents, who vowed to keep their children away from toy guns in future, took out a rally to encourage others to follow their example. The children also took part in the rally, with many carrying placards reading “We don’t want guns, we want football”.

Telegraph India

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Shillong schools shine in ICSE

Shillong, May 22 : Shillong students led the Northeast in the ICSE examinations with all five schools in the Meghalaya capital dishing out 100 per cent success in the results declared yesterday.

However, students in the region had to pass an agonising night as the they were able to get their full results only today because of an Internet failure all throughout the day yesterday.

All the five schools in Shillong affiliated to the Council for the Indian School Certificate examinations, Pine-mount School, St Edmund’s School, Loreto School, Meghalaya Police Public School and Shillong Public School, had 100 per cent success rates.

Pinemount School also had 100 per cent results in ISC (Class XII) examination.

Arindam Chaudhuri of St Edmund’s School got the best percentage of marks from among all the students in the state who appeared in the ICSE examination but it was Meghna Chada Marak who was the topper among the tribal students in the ICSE examinations.

Meghna, incidentally, is the daughter of former deputy chief minister Debora C. Marak, and a student of Pinemount School. Meghna secured 90.66 per cent marks.

Candidates of Assam schools too did not fare badly.

From the Pinewood Residential School in Tinsukia, 17 candidates were successful with seven of them getting star marks (more than 75 per cent).

Topper Dixita Kakoty, who secured 84 per cent in the exams, said she had to spend some restless moments before she got the results.

The atmosphere at Sanskriti The Gurukul in Guwahati was of joy today following brilliant performance of students at the ICSE and ISC results declared yesterday.

In both results, the school scored 100 per cent pass percentage. It is the only ICSE affiliated school in Guwahati.

B.K. Bansal, a chartered accountant and resident of Silpukhuri, was very happy as her youngest daughter Saloni was the topper from the school in ICSE, with 94.8 per cent marks.

Tripura’s two schools, Holy Cross Higher Secondary School and St Paul’s Higher Secondary School, have also done fairly well in the ICSE and ISC exams.

Holy Cross achieved 100 per cent success in the ICSE exam with all its 129 candidates securing the pass percentage.

Anurima Baidya performed best in Tripura by securing 96.2 per cent marks. In the ISC exam too, Holy Cross maintained its 100 per cent success rate.

The success of St Paul’s School is not as bright as its rival but still it did fairly well. Of the 78 students who appeared for the ICSE exam, 95 per cent of them passed.

The students of Don Bosco School at Kheti in Khonsa, district headquarters of Tirap district, came up with a good show securing 100 per cent success in the ICSE.

However, the authorities of the Assam Valley School in Balipara in Sonitpur district did not provide the results despite repeated requests.

“We can give the results only after the headmaster gives us permission,” said an official at the headmaster’s office.

Telegraph India

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IAF to deploy UAVs to combat insurgency in North-East

Shillong, May 22 : Indian Air Force will deploy for the first time unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to combat insurgency in Northeast India.

“At least one squadron of UAVs would be deployed by the year-end in the Northeast,” Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief in Eastern Air Command (EAC) Air Marshal S K Bhan said.

“The aircraft, called ‘bird’ by the force, can survey up to 250 km from its station. Sensors and cameras fitted to the aircraft can detect developments and movements on ground. It would be handy in the deep jungles of Arunachal Pradesh and other inaccessible areas,” Bhan said.

The move assumes significance in the wake of reports about regrouping of militants in the jungles of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and North Cachar Hills and Karbi Anglong districts of Assam.

Rough terrains have given an edge to the militants, with security forces facing difficulties in controlling their activities which led to a spate of violence in the region in the last few week.

An UAV aircraft has two teams of pilots, one external and another internal. The external pilot controls the flight of the aircraft while the internal one controls the sensors and cameras to spot movements on the ground.

The Air Marshal said the aircraft would increase intelligence inputs of the security forces and help deal with the insurgents efficiently.

Agencies

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