Delhi plans Cachar quake study centre

Silchar, Jul 3 : The tremor-prone Barak Valley will get a hi-tech earthquake research centre, to be built on the campus of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) at Silicoorie near Silchar.

The Union ministry of science and technology has cleared a proposal for the centre, which will be the first such institute in the Northeast to be exclusively devoted to the study of earthquakes.

NIT Silchar has been asked to prepare a feasibility report on this proposed Seismic Activities Research Centre. Delhi will provide Rs 25 crore for it.

Sources said the Centre was keen on building the institute in Cachar since it was the focal point of the tremor-prone Northeast.

Three geological faults which trigger earthquakes are all located near Cachar.

The Dawki fault in Meghalaya lies on the district’s northwest, Sitakunda-Tecknaf fault stretches from Bangladesh and another fault in Myanmar reaches out on its eastern flank.

T. Oldham, a geologist, said a major earthquake ripped through Cachar and its adjacent areas in 1869, leaving behind a trail of devastation.

Another major tremor hit this region on December 31, 1984, in which at least 20 people died in Sonai block near Silchar and cracked several buildings, including a mosque.

Three major tremors jolted the district in November 1996, May 1997 and February 2001.

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India Children’s Choir to perform after parade

At the bandshell Tuesday in Edgewater Park, four girls of the India Children’s Choir dance to the click clack of sticks held by four boys of the choir. The choir sang songs about the conversion of the Hmar tribe of headhunters to Christianity in the early 20th century and of the pursuit of the remote tribe’s children for education. The India Children’s Choir returns to Albert Lea to perform at about 8:15 p.m. July 3, roughly 15 minutes after the Third of July Parade, at Fountain Lake Park.

In the middle of a 10-month tour of the United States, the 22-member children’s group India Children’s Choir will stop in Albert Lea Thursday to be in the Third of July Parade and perform a free concert afterward at the Fountain Lake Park Gazebo.

They will perform the same musical drama that they did June 24 at Edgewater Park called “Headhunters to Hearthunters,” where they told the story of their people’s transformation from being fierce headhunters just two generations ago to now being ambassadors for Christ.

The event will begin at roughly 15 minutes after the parade at the Fountain Lake Park Gazebo on the north end of Broadway. That should be about 8:15 p.m.

At the performance, there will be a table set up with homemade goods and other items from India, along with CDs of the children’s music for sale. This event is sponsored by Youth for Christ’s Prairie River Camp in Bricelyn.

“We wanted to bring the children as a gift to the community,” said Renee Groskreutz, assistant director of Prairie River Camp.

The choir’s tour is organized by Bibles for the World, an organization that was founded in 1972 with the dream to give the Bible to every family on earth.

From the hills of Manipur in northeast India, the children perform in churches, chapel services for ministries, schools, retirement homes and civic events all over the world.

The choir and the Bibles for the World organization came about after the transformation of their tribe’s people in the early1900s when a Gospel of John was given to the tribal leaders.

In 1955, Bob Pierce, founder of World Vision, along with evangelist Billy Graham brought a man named Rochunga Pudaite, a second generation Christian from the tribe, to Wheaton College in Illinois to translate the entire Bible into their language. Rochunga later developed the Bibles for the World organization.

Now, about 98 percent of the people in Manipur are Christians.

The children in the choir, who range in age from 8 to 12, are direct descendants of those former headhunters.

They have previously performed in evangelical mega-churches such as Robert Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral, Chuck Swindoll’s former church in Fullerton, Calif., and Charles Stanley’s First Baptist Church of Atlanta. They have also appeared on numerous television programs, as well as in other churches, schools, retirement homes and other venues.

The performance is free, though a donation will be accepted after the event. Proceeds go to the Bibles for the World organization. People are asked lawn chairs or blankets.

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Three bidders jockey for north-east Indian air rights

New Delhi, Jul 3 : Up to three airlines are bidding for the right to operate a dedicated regional airline for India’s north-eastern states, the Press Trust of India reports.

One of the bidding airlines is state-run Alliance Air (now renamed Air India Regional after its merger into Air India), the other two are Universal Empire and Ace Airlines .

“Three airlines have participated in the tender for the regional airline,” Minister for Development for North-Eastern Region Mani Shankar Aiyer told the PTI.

The government wants the airline to use Guwahati as its hub and serve 11 regional airports currently operational in the region, including Dibrugarh, Tezpur, Jorhat, Silchar, Dimapur, Imphal, Agartala, Aizawal and Bagdogra.
In return, the winning airline will be eligible to receive government subsidies from the North Eastern Council, which wants a regional air service operational by the end of this year.

The PTI reports that 25 new airports will be built under a five year plan and a projected 400 monthly flights operational by the end of next year.

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Band of Brothers to cheer up famine-hit Mizos

Aizawl, Jul 3 : The ‘Band of Brothers’ from Nagaland landed on the soil of famine-hit Mizoram with a mission to fight mautam (bamboo flowering) by means of a ‘Fraternity Concert’ Greeting the local denizens at Lengpui Aiport, team’s project director G Sema said yesterday the people and government of Nagaland could not sit still unless their Mizo brothers recover from mautam famine.

Mr Sema hoped that the Fraternity Concert, to be staged at Vanapa Hall here on Friday, would bolster the bond of brotherhood between the Mizos and Nagas.

A Nagaland Music Task Force had been set up under the state’s youth resources and sports department, which comprises Nagaland’s top band ‘Ecstacy’ as well as topper and finalists of the ‘Nagaland Idol’ reality show.

Two top Mizo officials in the Nagaland government–Chief Secretary Lalhuma and Additional Chief Secretary Lalthara–are also involved in the project. Mr Lalthara told newspersons that donations of Rs 20 lakh had already been obtained for mautam relief.

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