Saturday, July 19, 2008

Miley Cyrus shocked to see fan-crowd at NY concert


Washington , Jul 19 : Teen sensation Miley Cyrus was taken aback when she saw the unexpected turnout of fans desperate to get a glimpse of her performing at a free concert in the Big Apple.

The Hannah Montana star thought that her Friday gig in New York would turn out to be a big flop, but what happened was quite contrary to what she had expected.Her performance at Bryant Park for breakfast show Good Morning America saw the crowd pouring in from all quarters.

The singer was surprised to see thousands of fans cheering for her, despite her not performing as her TV alter-ego Hannah Montana.

Cyrus was also worried that her recent photo controversies would keep people away from the morning show.

“I was extremely nervous until today, and now I”m like so excited. Everyone actually showed up, Contactmusic quoted her, as saying.

She added: “I was like, `OK, there are going to be two people, and they”re going to be paparazzi.”

Wary Heirok says ‘no’ to SPOs


Imphal, Jul 19 : Fearstricken villagers in Heirok, who only two months ago had cheered a government initiative to arm them against militants, today said they did not want deployment of special police officers.

Thousands of people marched through the village roads in Thoubal today and gathered at a playground to adopt a one-line resolution: “Heirok no longer wants SPOs.”The U-turn on the “empowerment” issue came after the Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup and the United National Liberation Front imposed restrictions on the movement of villagers, including students, as a punishment for accepting the government’s proposal for deployment of SPOs.

Militant threats forced more than 300 students studying in schools and colleges in various parts of the state to return home and remain confined to the village.

The two rebel outfits, however, responded to an appeal by a women’s organisation and lifted the restrictions for 10 days with effect from July 11 to give people time to take a final stand on the issue.

The volte face, however, could not have been more badly timed. The 300 SPO recruits from Heirok are on the verge of completing their monthlong police training at the 2nd Manipur Rifles training centre in Imphal and joining their new jobs.

The government, however, appears adamant on deploying the force at Heirok.

“There is no change in the government policy of raising the SPO force for Heirok. We don’t want to make much comment on this issue,” a senior government official said tonight.

The rallyists, however, urged the government to recruit the SPOs in the state force, a demand the Okram Ibobi Singh government is unlikely to accept.

“Heirok accepted the SPOs without knowing its full implications. Now we are apprehensive that we will be caught between three guns (one from the militants, one from the government forces and another from the SPOs),” Khundongbam Kumudini, president of the women’s organisation, said.

Laishram Mandir, secretary of the action committee, maintained that Heirok had demanded weapons for each house for self-defence and not SPOs.

The village had demanded weapons after militants mowed down three youths during Holi festival in March.

“Taking advantage of the gullible nature of the villagers, the government went ahead with the SPO plan. Now we know what an SPO is and we don’t want a village force that would be used by the government in counter-insurgency operations,” he said.

While Heirok rallied to keep SPOs at bay, two citizens’ groups today vowed to put an end to the “disappearance” of minors by drumming up mass support against child-lifting and recruitment of minors by militant organisations.

The United People’s Front and the Ethno Heritage Council have convened a meeting of professionals, including lawyers, citizen bodies, meira paibis and teachers, on July 21 to take a united stand on the abductions. Official sources put the figure of missing children to 13 since May 1 and admitted that there were several cases that went unreported.

“We want suggestions of people from all walks of life to end this trend of child-lifting or recruitment by armed groups. Hence this meeting on July 21,” L. Ratan, secretary of the council, said.


Rains elude Cherrapunjee experts arriving


Shillong, Jul 19 : The monsoon magic at Cherrapunjee, the wettest place on earth, appears to be fading by the day, with locals seemingly coming to terms with a new sobriquet for their land - the world’s first wet desert.

Meteorological records show that this year during the monsoons, the hill town, now called Sohra, has received about 700 mm less rainfall till June 30. While the normal rainfall in the first 30 days of the monsoon is 2793.9 mm, Cherrapunjee received 2092.6 mm.Officials in the Regional Meteorology Centre in Guwahati hoped that the deficit would be supplemented in the next couple of months of the season.

The average annual rainfall at Cherrapunjee from 1973-2007 (35 years) is 11,952.2 mm.

Due to two consecutive years of below average rainfall in 2005 and 2006 the average has been pulled down to under 12,000 mm. 2007 received little more than the average rainfall at 12,646.8 mm.

The total rainfall at Cherrapunjee in 2005 was 9,758.0 mm and in 2006 8734.1 mm. In 2001, it was 8971.5 mm.

The decreasing rainfall statistics has prompted the authorities to rush experts to study the factors leading to the lessening rainfall.

A team of experts from the Union Ministry of Forest and Environment is expected to arrive shortly to also study the causes leading leading to massive deforestation.

Officials said the team would study and recommend measures to prevent the ecological balance from being disturbed.

Earlier, the state government had inked an agreement with the Centre for International Agricultural Development Cooperation (CIADC) of the Israeli Agriculture Ministry for technical collaboration in rainwater harvesting in Cherrapunjee.

The CIADC of the Israeli Agriculture Ministry would provide sustained education on rainwater harvesting and creation of structures for it besides funding pilot projects for regenerating forest cover.

Cherrapujee receives about 20,000 tourists annually and tourism here depends more on the fame of it being the world’s wettest place.

While tourism department officials were yet to come up with records of recent tourist flow to Cherrapunjee, they said the unrest in the Kashmir valley and Darjeeling have, to an extent, made more visitors opt for the hill station to beat the summer heat.

PTI

Naga, Mizo students protest move to scrap BEFR

Kohima, Jul 19 : The Naga Students` Federation (NSF) and Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) or Mizo students union, have jointly resolved to fight against the move to scrap Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR), 1873, which is protecting the influx of outsiders into the tribal states of the north east region.

NSF president Imchatoba Imchen and MZP vice president S Lalrinawma in a joint statement issued late last night, while taking serious note of the recent Public Interest Litigations (PIL) filed against the Government of Mizoram, seeking to scrap the BEFR 1873 resolved to jointly fight it and termed the attempt as “tantamount to non-violent genocide of the ethnic and indigenous people.”“Without the BEFR, the influx of outsiders, coupled with the entry of foreigners from neighbouring countries, owing to our porous borders, would have reduced the Nagas, the Arunachalise and the Mizos as a minority in our own lands,” the joint statement said.

They also expressed that the people of the north eastern states, where BEFR is not currently extended, need to be protected by the said regulation and therefore urged upon the Union government to extend the same to all the eight states of the north east region.

Further, the two organizations also resolved that the three affected states would observe a protest demonstration on July 21 in the respective capitals by sitting in dharna in front of the Raj Bhawans to mark resentment against the move to scrap the BEFR, 1873. Follow up action would be determined progressively depending upon the situations, they added.

Special police force leaves Manipur village vulnerable

Imphal, Jul 19 : The Senior Citizens’ Forum, Heirok, has urged Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh to abolish Special Police Officers (SPOs) in their village. The 300 SPOs, who are undergoing firearms training, should be absorbed in the police or paramilitary forces, a memorandum said.

Early this year, the government said the SPOs would be recruited in areas where the police could not penetrate. But, as SPOs were not recruited in other villages, was Heirok being singled out to earn the wrath of militants, the memorandum wondered.The forum said government employees could not venture out and attend office, nor could farmers and daily wage earners go to work. The government arrangement to sell rice at Rs 11 a kg in fair price shops was meaningless as the villagers had stopped earning money.

The militants of the United National Liberation Front, the Kanglei Yawol Kunna Lup and the Kangleipak Communist Party had imposed a ban on the villagers for daring to recruit SPOs. Five activists who had mobilised the villagers for SPO recruitment were given death sentence in absentia.

The villagers demanded they be given firearms to protect themselves from the militants, who had killed two girls and a boy and injured some others during a folk dance festival on the night of March 24.

Nine militant groups active in Assam


Guwahati, Jul 19 : State Forest and Environment Minister Rockybul Hussain today said in the State Assembly that nine militant outfits, with a total cadre strength of 2,275, are operating in Assam.

The Forest and Environment Minister was replying to a short-notice question in the State Assembly on behalf of the Chief Minister, who also holds the Home portfolio.
The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) is the most powerful militant outfit with 1,175 cadres, he said.
The other powerful groups include the United Liberation Front of Barak Valley (ULFBV) with a cadre strength of 250, Dima Halom Daogah (Jewel) (DHD-J) with 240 and Karbi Longri NC Hills Liberation Front (KLNLF) with 225 cadres.

Of the other militant groups, the Muslim United Liberation Tiger of Asom (MULTA) has 160 cadres, All Adivasi National Liberation Army (AANLA) with 90, Hmar People’s Convention (Democratic) (HPC-D) with 50, Harkat-ul-Mujahiddin (HUM) with 45 and Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA) with 40 cadres.

Of the militants currently in jail, the ULFA has 249 cadres behind the bars, while the KLNLF and AANLA have 20 each and DHD has 17.

Meanwhile, in reply to separate questions, Hussain said 14 cadres of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), currently under ceasefire with the Government, have been killed either by miscreants or in encounters with security forces since the truce was declared.

The ceasefire agreement was signed on June 1, 2005, and several rounds of talks have been held since, with the group submitting its charter of demands on May 1 last, which the Government is examining, the Minister said.

Four species of birds in Mizoram critically endangered


Aizawl, Jul 18 : Out of more than 500 species of birds in Mizoram, four have been declared critically endangered, one endangered, five vulnerable, seven near threatened and nine restricted, noted ornithologist Dr Anuwaruddin Choudhury said.

Dr Choudhury has recorded 479 species of birds in his book ”A pocket guide to the Birds of Mizoram”, released by Mizoram Environment and Forest Minister Dr R Lalthangliana’n at Guwahati on Friday.
”Among the rare species of birds, Chinese Babax is found only in Mizoram within the Indian limits. Mrs Hume’s Pheasant is the state bird of Mizoram and among other worth-watching species are Blyth’s Tragopan, Khasi Hills or Dark Rumped Swift, Great Pied Hornbill and White-Winged Wood Duck,” Dr Choudhury said.blyths_tragopan

”There are past records of Great White-beillied Heron and Rufous-necked Hornbill. The status of rare green Peafowl is not known,” he added.

Environmentalists have held the jhum agriculture, logging and cultivation in the valleys, hunting and the proposed hydro-electric projects responsible for the large-scale habitat destruction.

gp_hornbillMizoram has two national parks - Murlen and Phawngpui or Blue Mountains - nine wildlife sanctuaries and six important bird areas.

”The aim of the book is to provide an up-to-date checklist on birds with brief description of a few threatened and notable species found in the state,” the author said.

”However, the ultimate aim is to generate awareness and interest on bird conservation in the state. I hope that this book would be of use and interest to broad section of readers, including birdwatchers, general tourists forest officials, students and researchers et al,” he said.

Mizoram falls under the ‘Indo-Burma global biodiversity hotspot’ and the ‘Eastern Himalaya Endemic Bird Area’.

The entire state is hilly and mountainous and is also at a higher altitude than many countries, including the Netherlands and Switzerland.