Thursday, May 29, 2008

PRISM demands fresh probe into pastor’s death

Aizawl, May 29 : The PRISM (People’s Right to Information and Development Implementing Society of Mizoram) today demanded a fresh investigation into the alleged murder of Reverend Chanchinmawia.

“The fact that Revd Chanchinmawia had received threat mails several times due to his outright criticism of the Government, the circumstances of his death, the manner of the police investigation and the missing of the weapon of crime (found near the pastor’s body) indicated that his murder had been meticulously planned,” the PRISM stated in an appeal submitted to the court of the ADM(J), Chawngtinthanga. The organization also appealed to the court to initiate a fresh probe into the matter.

Revd Chanchinmawia, a pastor of the Khatla Presbyterian Church and president of the Mizoram Presbyterian Synod-sponsored Mizoram People’s Forum, was found dead under mysterious circumstances at his quarters at Khatla on October 1, 2007.

Initially, he was believed to have committed suicide, based on the statements of his wife and their maidservant. However, this theory raised doubts on the day itself.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT), however, could not find any evidence to support the homicide theory. The SIT report was submitted to the court on December 6, 2007.

Meanwhile, all the Opposition parties also demanded a CBI probe into the death.

UNI

Aizawl no longer a cool place

Aizawl, May 29 : With mercury rising rapidly, ice-cream sells like hot cakes in the sun-baked Aizawl city, which used to be one of the coolest places in the country, and the temperature recently shot up to an unprecedented 34 degrees celsius.

The principal scientific officer of the science and technology wing in the state planning department, Vanlalzara, said that the steep increase in temperature in Aizawl was because of a high rate of urbanisation and increased vehicular emission.

“The slash-and-burn system of cultivation and degradation of forests also contributed in fair measure to the temperature rise in the city,” he said.

However, C Ramhluna, principal chief conservator of forests of the state Environment and Forest department, begged to differ on the degradation of forets being the contributor.

“The forest cover in Mizoram is 88.63 per cent which is the highest among all the states of the country. It is also increasing every year,” he said.

He reasoned that fast urbanization and resultant pollution were the principal causes behind the rise in temperature.

PTI

Mizoram’s little masters want to cash in on IPL

Aizawl, May 29 : Mizoram’s cricket is like it’s morning weather, hidden in mist and rain. But on the ground, Mizoram’s little masters are looking ahead to sunny weather as cricket fever catches up with a state known for it’s passion for football.

Joshua, a member of the Durklnag Cricket Club, is only nine years old, but his passion for cricket is infectious.

He says his favourite IPL team is Mumbai Indians and his favourite cricketer is Sachin Tendulkar. And when asked what would he like to excel in if he becomes a cricketer, he says he is a fast bowler.

The captain of a team, Vawnlal Ruata, was busy passing on his skills. Once a member of the national cricket academy who played alongside Robin Utthapa, Ruata is keen to jump on to the IPL bandwagon.

“If they are ready to give me a contract definitely, I am ready even now. It’s a career for me personally and also good for Mizoram to have a player participating in IPL, ICL and a tremendous booster for northeastern states,” says he.

Cricket is spreading fast and deep in the hill state. The Cricket Association of Mizoram was formed in 1992 and with eight first division clubs and 24 second division clubs, it’s appealing to the BCCI for recognition.

At a time when everyones breathing T20, Mizoram is slowly but surely picking up its stance to face the rest of the country.

CNNIBN

Northeast India is poised to tap economic potential

India’s remote northeast region has been both blessed and cursed by its geography. The region is rich in natural resources but is landlocked and surrounded by China, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan, leaving it impoverished.

The eight-state region may finally get a chance to start living up to its economic potential with several projects to enhance

connections with Southeast Asia and to increase outlets for such commodities as organic foods, orchids, tea, coal and oil.

Now, the only way to move major quantities of goods between northeast India and Southeast Asia is through Bangladesh.

But authorities in Myanmar and India are nearing final approval of a $100-million river project giving northeast India direct access to the Indian Ocean through Myanmar, said Abhijit Barooah, chairman of the northeastern chapter of the Confederation of Indian Industry, India’s premier business association.

The project envisages facilitating movement of cargo from India’s Mizoram state to Myanmar’s port at Sittwe, via the Kaladan River.

In addition, talks have begun between companies in northeast India and Thailand after a trade-promotion conference in Bangkok in October, said Lemli Loyi, assistant general manager at the state-run North Eastern Development Finance Corp. Loyi expressed hope that the talks would result in increased business and possible joint ventures.

India first enunciated a “look east” policy, an economic and strategic orientation toward Southeast Asia, in 1992. It had its genesis at the end of the Cold War, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Having lost the Soviet economic and political support on which it had relied, the Indian government embarked on a program of free-market restructuring at home and sought new markets and economic partners abroad.

Officials envisaged that the eight northeast states — Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura and Mizoram — would emerge as a trading hub for two dynamic regions connected by a network of highways, railways, pipelines and transmission lines. The region is home to about 40 million people.

But progress has been slow. The region’s isolation dates to the 1800s.

“Nineteenth-century British colonial decisions to draw lines between the hills and the plains, to put barriers on trade between Bhutan and Assam, and to treat Burma as a buffer against French Indochina and China severed the region from its traditional trade routes — the southern trails of the Silk Road,” said Sanjib Baruah, a professor of political science at Bard College in New York and an expert on northeast India.

The British built railways and roads mostly to take tea, coal, oil and other resources out of Assam and into the rest of India and also to Europe.

The problems increased with the partitioning of India and Pakistan in 1947. Bangladesh broke away from Pakistan in the 1970s.

Barooah said trade would be boosted by an expected move by the Indian and Myanmar governments to expand the list of mostly agricultural commodities allowed to be traded by land between northeast India and Myanmar, from 27 to 42 items.

“The northeast is the closest land mass connecting the dynamic economies of south and Southeast Asia,” said Pradyut Bordoloi, Assam’s minister for power and industries. “Besides deep-rooted cultural linkages, we can reap multidimensional benefits in this era of regional economic cooperation.”

Bordoloi is closely associated with a campaign to reopen the World War II-era Stillwell Road, connecting Assam’s town of Ledo to southwest China.

“If reopened, this would be the shortest surface route to Yunnan province of China and other Southeast Asian countries hooking onto the trans-Asian highways,” he said.

The road served as the supply line into China during Japan’s wartime occupation, but it was shut after India’s independence from Britain in 1947.

Bordoloi said his campaign to reopen the road, initiated after he became a state legislator in 1998, scored a victory when India upgraded the road to a full-fledged national highway, developing it up to the Indo-Myanmar border.

Officials say infrastructure development, power, bamboo-based industries, orchids and organic foods are prospective areas of cooperation with Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand.

But significant hurdles remain, including concerns that booming trade relations may fuel rises in insurgency, narco-terrorism and AIDS, all of which plague the northeast. Security in the region is tight, with the army out in force to combat armed groups battling for greater autonomy or independence from India.

“The official restrictions that prevail in northeast India — in terms of travel, land and labor markets — are hardly conducive to intensive cross-border economic relations,” said Baruah, the political science professor.

“Both the reality of insurgencies in the region and the security anxiety of the government of India . . . are major obstacles to dynamic cross-border economic ties,” he added, calling current efforts hardly more than “a bare beginning.”

Also, Baruah said, it was difficult to imagine a big increase in trade given the political situation in military-led Myanmar.

India’s relations with China, a country it has long regarded with distrust since a 1962 border war, would also have to become much more relaxed, Baruah said.

LA Times

Indian Govt holds talks with NSCN-IM

New Delhi, May 29 : Amid clashes between rival Naga rebel groups, the Centre today held a meeting with NSCN-IM to carry forward the ongoing peace process in Nagaland.

The meeting discussed the proposals submitted by both sides to find out an early amicable solution to the six decade old insurgency problem in the northeastern state.

“The meeting was held to asses the proposals in order to find out a formula which is acceptable to both sides,” an NSCN-IM spokesman told the media.

The five-member Naga group was headed by senior NSCN- IM leader V S Atem while the government team was led by Special Secretary (Internal Security) in the Home Ministry, M L Kumawat.

The meeting also took stock of the prevailing situation in Nagaland where at least 20 people were killed following clashes between NSCN-IM and newly formed faction NSCN (Unification) and expressed concern over it, sources said.

There were some hiccups in the peace process but both sides expressed optimism to overcome them and carry forward the peace process, they said.

The NSCN-IM agreed to a ceasefire with the Centre in August 1997. Initially the ceasefire was renewed for one year till July 2005 when the rebels insisted for a six month extension which was again extended for another six months in February 2006.

However, in the talks held in Bangkok in July 2006, both sides have agreed to extend the true for one more year. Last July, at a meeting held in Dimapur, both sides agreed to extend the ceasefire for indefinite period. The two side have held numerous rounds of talks within India and abroad since 1997.

PTI

Cell phones ban in schools

Shillong, May 28 : The Meghalaya government has banned the use of mobile phones and consumption of tobacco in all educational institutions of the state. Official sources said here today that a notification, banning use of cell phones and consumption of all kinds of tobacco products in educational institutions, had been issued to all the heads of schools and colleges in the state.

The decision was taken after the consensus that it was improper to allow the use of cell phones inside classrooms as it could affect the concentration of students. The intake of all kinds of intoxicants inside schools and colleges was also prohibited as it is injurious to health.

The step to infuse a sense of discipline among the students was also taken.

UNI

Call to check trafficking

Shillong, May 28 : Human trafficking is a $ 9million business per year and the same amount of money is spent on the detection and rehabilitation of the victims by various governments, says a United Nations report.

Despite the efforts, trafficking of women and children is on the rise and the Northeast corner of the country is no different.

The chief of Women’s Rights and Human Security Unity, United Nations Development Fund for Women, Delhi, Archana Tamang, today called for better co-ordination between police and NGOs for effective detection of such cases.

Addressing a meeting, organised by Impulse, an NGO, for law enforcement agencies, the state social welfare department and NGOs at the police headquarters here, Tamang said the number of victims rescued was much less than those trafficked and co-ordination was essential to detect the cases.

The commissioner and secretary of Meghalaya social welfare department, A. Bhalla, said several cases of trafficking went unreported. Officials of the department admitted that the exact number of victims of human trafficking from the state was yet to be ascertained. They said the department would carry out a survey with the help of Indian Council of Social Science and Research from June.

The officials also promised to look into the demand for setting up a home for trafficked women and children and stressed the need to launch an awareness programme and activate the existing anti-trafficking committee.

East Khasi Hills superintendent of police A.R. Mawthoh pointed out several loopholes in the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act.

He advocated stringent punitive action and bail provisions and women judge to look into the cases.

Telegraph India

NSCN leaders break 20-yr ice

Kohima, May 28 : It’s been exactly 20 years since they spoke to each other.

After his talks invitation to his rival group’s chairman, S.S. Khaplang’s deputy went unanswered and even the Church’s efforts at unification fell flat, NSCN (I-M) chairman Isak Chishi Swu went that extra mile and called up his former comrade in the undivided NSCN to talk peace.

Sources told The Telegraph that Swu spoke to Khaplang to accelerate the reconciliation and unification process between the Naga militant outfits.

This is for the first time since the split in the NSCN in 1988 that the two top militant leaders from the rival groups had a conversation. The talks come in wake of rising factional clashes in Nagaland.

Before the conversation with Khaplang, Swu had invited the NSCN (K) army chief Khole Konyak to Bangkok. The apex Naga tribal body, the Naga Hoho, too, confirmed the telephone conversation between the two leaders.

Kevilietuo Angami, vice-president of Naga Hoho, said there were at least two telephone conversations between Swu and Khaplang. He said the NSCN (I-M) chairman had called up Khaplang from Chingmai in Thailand, recently.

Sources said Khaplang was eager to push forward the ongoing reconciliation and unification process between the two NSCN factions. “There were at least two telephone conversations,” a source said, adding that Khaplang had even agreed to attend the recently concluded Chingmai Naga conclave sponsored by the Naga Reconciliation Forum but was prevented from doing so because of “differences” in his own group.

However, sources said contact between the top leaders of the two factions would continue. The Chingmai Naga reconciliation conclave was also attended by several foreign organisations from the US and the Philippines to broker peace and unity among the warring Naga groups.

Representatives of various Naga organisations also attended the meeting.

Recently, a senior kilonser (minister) of the NSCN (K), Kughalu Mulatonu, said there was no point going to Thailand to attend the reconciliation meeting as the Nagas were already united.

He also criticised the “reconciliation forum” of trying to help Muivah escape from India.

The NSCN (I-M), however, skipped today’s meeting of Naga organisations and factions held in Kohima under the aegis of the Joint Forum of gaonburas (village chiefs) and dubashis (chiefs of Naga customary courts).

The joint forum has called for a yearlong ceasefire between the Naga factions with immediate effect. At a similar meeting on December 7, the factions, in the presence of gaonburas and dubashis, agreed to a six-month truce but failed to keep their commitment.

Today’s meeting was attended by gaonburas and dubashis of all the 11 districts and representatives of Naga Hoho, Naga Mothers’ Association and Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation.

Quoting NSCN (I-M) members, a senior official from the joint forum said the outfit skipped the meet because of a prior commitment but agreed to abide by whatever decision was taken today.

Telegraph India

Aiyer to survey famine-affected areas

Imphal, May 29 : The Sinlung Indigenous Peoples’ Human Rights Organisation(SIPHRO) of Manipur today announced that DoNER Minister Mani Shankar Aiyer has promised to visit Tipaimukh in June to take stock of the famine-affected areas of the state.

Making this statement, the organisation’s Secretary Lalremlien Neitham said, ”The members of SIPHRO yesterday appraised the Minister in New Delhi of the acute food scarcity and spread of epidemics in Tipaimukh sub-division under Churachandpur district of Manipur due to bamboo flowering.

Bamboo flowering recurs every 48-50 years and due to its recent recurrence, the sub-division is suffering under acute famine conditions and epidemics. About 50 people, mostly infants, have died due to an unknown disease. The Manipur government had sent doctors to the affected area, but they could not reach the remote villages, which were the most affected by the disease.

As a result, the worst-hit villages were cut-off from medical attention and left to fend for themselves, the organisation claimed. The Muli bamboo species that started flowering again from 2006 has resulted in rapid multiplication of pests like rodents, insects and wild animals.

”These animals destroyed the crops and rendered the self-reliant ”jhum” farmers without any harvest,” the organisation members said and added that this made famine inevitable and the agrarian population, who were totally dependent on their jhum fields, lost their livelihood.

Discussing the spread of famine in the region, the secretary said that Tipaimukh is one of the epicentres of the natural phenomenon and there were no Public Distribution System (PDS), godowns, or Village Grain Banks, where the farmers could have stored their produce safely. ”Even National Highway 150 that passes through the sub-division has not been maintained for more than 20 years,” he alleged. ”In the face of this situation, AAY and BPL rice were being sold at as high as Rs 18 in some villages and for Rs 21 and Rs 25 in other far-flung villages,” he alleged.

UNI

KNF decries Govt’s attitude on SoO

Imphal, May 29 : Expressing concern over the conduct of the State Government of Manipur and its security agencies toward resolution of the longstanding political problem of Kuki community, Kuki National Front (KNF) has alleged that the Government of Manipur has been dragging its foot over the ceasefire initiated by the Government of India with the Kuki insurgent groups.

In a statement, information and publicity secretary of KNF LH Stephen said that the attitude of the Government of Manipur toward the Kuki community and Kuki insurgent groups is very disappointing.

Contrary to the positive step initiated by the Government of India toward resolution of the long standing political problem of Kuki community through signing of ceasefire agreement with Kuki UG outfits so as to create conducive atmosphere for peaceful negotiation, the Government of Manipur and its security agencies have been carrying out all sort of atrocities against the Kuki community.

Such action would not encourage any insurgents to come forward to the negotiating table, Stephen said.

Condemning the alleged cold blooded killing of KNF defence secretary Mangboi hours after he had gone to attend a meeting with the Indian Army Authorities at Leimakhong to discuss the issues related to SoO, Stephen said that such action would hardly create trust or lead Manipur to the path of peace.

The Government of Manipur must realise that the spirit and aspiration of the Kukis to establish a separate State and safeguard the interest of the Kukis cannot be crushed with military might.

Cruelty and violence will breed moire violence and without peace, there cannot be any form of progress and development in the land, Stephen observed.

He further pointed out that if the Government of Manipur wants peace and development in Manipur, it must be sincere in its efforts and be realistic in its approach.

The Government of Manipur should also shun away from its policy of discrmination and differientiation in its dealing along with realisation that it is only through peaceful negotiation, respect for every communities’ political, economic and human rights and freedom of choice, not through brute force or suppression by military might that a long lasting peace can be achieved.

TSE

Guwahati to have NE’s first biotech park

Guwahati, May 29 : To boost growth and development of indigenous technology and their absorption by the industrial sector, the State Government has come forward to set up a Biotech Park in the capital city, which would be the first such endeavour in the North East. The Guwahati Biotech Park, whose preliminary work is going on, would be taking research activities in the area of biotechnology to a new high apart from adding a touch of dynamism to the overall aspect of science and technology.

When contacted, BC Barbaruah, Joint Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Government of Assam informed that the Guwahati Biotech Park Society has been formed comprising experts in the field.

It may be mentioned here that as part of Government of India’s ambitious programme to promote newer developments in the field of bio-technology, emphasis is on establishing biotech parks and incubators in the country which are expected to become selfsustainable. Like the existing biotech parks in the country, the Guwahati Biotech Park is expected to thrive after the initial support from the State Government.

“The venture would be on a public-private partnership,” said the official adding that discussion was on with all the stakeholders including the universities and technical institutions in the State.

The existing biotech parks in the country have facilitated research and development simultaneously, leading to commercialisation of indigenous biotech products. The facilities in the biotech parks are customized in keeping with the business plan and objectives of the executing agencies and the Guwahati Biotech Park would be no different, concentrating on the major bio assets of the State which can change its economy.

“Assam is rich in biotech resources and there is lot of opportunities in the field of biotechnology,” said the official adding that there has been impressive employment generation on subsequent stages in the places where biotech parks have come up.

AT

Cracker project on track

Dibrugarh, May 29 : The Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymer Ltd (BCPL) today said the gas cracker project was on track and that it would be completed within the stipulated timeframe.

The chairman and managing director of BCPL, U.D. Choubey, today told the media that a major portion of land required for the project have already been acquired.

Of the 3,030 bighas earmarked for the project, the Dibrugarh district administration has handed over most of the land to the BCPL, barring a 300-bigha-plot.

“We expect that the remaining minor portion of land, which in no way is hampering construction activities at the project, would be handed over to us by the local administration within a very short period of time,” Choubey added.

“We have also obtained necessary environmental clearance from both the central and the state government agencies. Most important, the agreements for supply of feedstock from Oil India Ltd, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd and the Numaligarh Refinery Ltd are already in place and, therefore, there should not be any doubt about the project being delayed,” he said. He kicked off the fencing work on the project site.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had laid the foundation stone for the project at Lepetkata in Dibrugarh district on April 9 last year.

Dibrugarh additional deputy commissioner Nareswar Upadhaya said the administration had made provisions for rehabilitation of 66 families displaced by the project.

Compensation of around Rs 47 crore had been disbursed till now.

Telegraph India

Dibrugarh varsity lures NE students

Dibrugarh, May 28 : For students in the northeast who often migrate outside their home state for better education, here’s some good news. Assam’s Dibrugarh university is planning a number of job-oriented courses, including one in nanotechnology and a flying course for commercial pilots.

The university has been given a grant of Rs.146 million for infrastructure development by the 12th Finance Commission, said Vice Chancellor K.K. Deka.

“Besides upgrading the existing infrastructure, we plan to add an IT building and a core engineering building with the grant. Also, we plan to develop infrastructure for clinical research, for biotechnology and nanotechnology,” Deka told IANS. “Hopefully, the work should be completed in two years,” he added.

Dibrugarh University, which was established in 1965, is one of the premier universities of the state, attracting students from not only Assam but some neighbouring states also.

“Because of lack of proper infrastructure, many students of Assam, and indeed the northeast, leave their home states for higher studies outside. With the development that we have undertaken, we should hopefully be able to address this issue,” Deka said.

Some of the other courses which the university plans to start are bachelors in electronic and communication engineering, material sciences and nanotechnology and one in performing arts too. The university will be one of the few in the country to offer a course in actuarial sciences, where mathematical and statistical methods are applied for risk assessment in the insurance and finance sectors.

“What we are concentrating on is quality, job-oriented courses to the students. In recognition of the demand for professionals in the tea industry, which is of utmost importance in Assam, we started a postgraduate diploma in tea technology and plantation management last year. And it has got a very good response,” he said. Deka, although upbeat about the developments taking place, feels that changing the mindset of the people will be crucial.

“You can’t have quality, job- oriented courses for subsidised rates. A student won’t mind spending heavily on courses in institutions outside Assam, but here they are just not ready to do so,” he said. The university recently introduced a range of subjects - computers, petroleum technology and management to mass communication, journalism, rural development and women’s writings.

Rashmi Borah, a student of the university doing her bachelors in education, said the initiatives would help in attracting students.

“After school, most of the students here either go to Guwahati for their higher studies or outside the northeast itself. But with so many courses and all very job-oriented, I am sure most students will now rethink their decision to leave the state.

“The course in tea management especially is very good. It addresses the need of one of the most important industries of the state,” she said.

IANS