Tea tribes push for Rs 500cr & ST

Guwahati, Sep 1 : The tea community, the Congress’s most loyal vote bank, has threatened to launch an anti-party agitation if a host of its demands, including a Rs 500-crore package and Scheduled Tribe status, were not fulfilled before the parliamentary elections.

Two influential tea organisations met last night to launch a joint movement for the socio-economic development of the community and ended up drawing the charter of demands.
The All Assam Tea Tribes Students Association (AATTSA) and the All Adivasi Students’ Association of Assam AASAA, which discussed the nitty-gritty of their movement last night, felt the government had long exploited the differences in opinion between various tea organisations and hence it was time they launched a united effort.

“In the last panchayat elections, the AATTSA had decided to boycott it, whereas we (AASAA) were in favour of putting up our own candidates. As a result, the Congress took advantage of our divergent views,” said an AASAA leader.

The student organisations said this time all political leaders of the tea/Adivasi community cutting across political lines have endorsed their four-point charter of demands.

AATTSA leader Prahlad Gowala said apart from the economic package, the two student organisations also demanded 15 per cent job reservation for the community in all government services and three ministerial berths.

At present, there is only one minister from the community in the Tarun Gogoi-led government.

Gowala said they have sought three ministerial berths since the community constitutes 20 per cent of the total population of the state. “Since we constitute 20 per cent of the state’s total population, it is natural for us to get 20 per cent representation in the ministry,” Gowala said.

The community’s long-pending demand for Scheduled Tribe status was also included in its current list.

At the end of the meeting, the list of demands was faxed to the chief minister in the form of a memorandum by the two associations, Gowala said.

The associations wanted of the government to fulfil their demands before the parliamentary elections.

If the demands were not fulfilled before the elections, the organisations would aggressively campaign against the ruling Congress.

“The Congress cannot go away with the votes of our community so cheaply every time. This time we will ensure that it do some serious work for our development to get votes in return,” Gowala added.

The tea community traditionally supports the Congress and despite agitation and resentment against Dispur, the community has steadfastly stood by the party during elections.

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Now, Arunachal Assembly sans Opposition; BJP cries foul

New Delhi, Sep 1 : Opposition in the Arunachal Pradesh Assembly is non existent now with the lone BJP member joining the ruling Congress.

Amid the BJP crying foul over the incident, Congress said the trend is not healthy for democracy, but defended recruiting the saffron party legislator into its fold.
General Secretary of the Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee, T C Tok argued that if anyone wants to join the Congress on his or her own free will, the party cannot say no. “It is obvious that we like to make our party strong”.

The incident has proved that no one can thwart the party from being in power in the hill state, he said.

“Absence of any opposition MLA in an assembly is definitely not healthy for democracy, but we can do nothing in this regard,” Tok told PTI over phone from Itanagar.

Congress has ruled Arunachal Pradesh, since it attained statehood in 1987 except for a brief period during which Gegong Apang, a Congressman who revolted and formed the Arunachal Congress, switched loyalty to the BJP during his stint as chief minister in 2003.

The government then was formed by the Arunachal Congress-led coalition United Democratic Front. The front members joined the BJP while still in power.

In the 2004 Assembly elections, BJP won only nine seats and formed the opposition. Incidentally, Apang rejoined the Congress before the elections.

In June last year, eight of the saffron party members joined the Dorjee Khandu-led Congress government.

A few weeks ago, the lone BJP MLA, R T Khunjuju, gave his allegiance to the ruling Congress, leaving the 60-member House without an opposition member.

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Over 100,000 affected by bamboo flowering in Churachandpur

Churachandpur, Sep 1 : A total of 16,050.13 hectares of cultivated land was damaged and 1,03,558 persons (58,179 adults and 45,379 minors) from 14,307 families in 264 villages affected by bamboo flowering in four sub-divisions of Churachandpur district, said a statement of the Co-ordinating Mautam Famine-Aid quoting an district administration report.

The Co-ordinating Mautaam Famine-Aid (Mautaam Puuktaw) is organizing a concert on the theme “Concert for Hungry” on September 5 under the joint initiative of the Mizo Zaimi Inzamkhawn and Zogam Artists Association with representative artists from ZOMUS.
The concert is aimed at driving funds for helping the bamboo flowering affected people of the four sub-divisions of Tipaimukh, Thanlon, Henglep and Singngat of Churchandpur district.

The district administration estimated that in 2007 a total of 16,050.13 hectares of cultivated land was damaged and 1,03,558 persons (58,179 adults and 45,379 minors) from 14,307 families in 264 villages ( out of 359 villages in Tipaimukh, Thanlon, Henglep and Singngat Sub-Divisions) of the district directly affected, it said.

Sangaikot tribal development block of Churachandpur sub-division was not included in the initial estimates but subsequently suffered the same calamity, the joint statement said.

The bamboo flowering locally known as Mautam is concurrently affecting the contiguous areas of Mizoram state. However, the glaring and unhappy difference is that the government of Mizoram is quite ably managing the crisis in their areas, it lamented.

The state relief measures are successful to the extent that some of Manipur’s affected villages at the border with Mizoram are buying rice at the lowest of rates as supplied by Mizoram government to its affected villages.

With inadequate assistance from the state government, the affected villagers are fighting a lonely and losing battle against this frightening occurrence that showed its fangs from late 2006.

The exponential increase of rodent population has devoured and laid waste to standing crops since then. This cyclical visitation has always been disastrous for the hill-folk of the region from time immemorial, the Co-ordinating Mautaam Famine-Aid observed.

More than 75 percent of the people still depend on traditional jhum cultivation and the last two years of Mautam has led to drastic fall in annual foodgrain production and a food crisis.

Further, in this particular Mautam, the problems are compounded by several unexplained events, viz. the sudden deaths of more than 30 children in Thanlon and Tipaimukh sub-divisions; animal plague and emergence of swarms of locust-like creatures, it observed.

By now, the situation is so grim that the affected people are in the throes of a famine/death-like situation, in spite of interventions by the government, they lamented.
However, the statement of the Co-ordinating Mautaam Famine-Aid said that with the successful implementation of the NREGS is in the affected areas, the plight of the people remains unchanged, simply because what was supposed to be a flagship programme of the Central government is just filling the yawning gap made by the state’s indifference.

The financial requirement for providing famine relief was calculated by the district administration at Rs. 19 crores. The additional foodgrain requirement was worked out to be more than 8000 quintals of rice per month, the statement said adding that the inter-ministerial Central team who surveyed the area on April 30 and 31 this year observed “With or without Mautam famine the people are already suffering from severe poverty,” it recalled.

On August 2008, the government distributed only 4,500 quintals of rice under its ‘Mautam relief’. Some concerned NGOs like Aid Zomi Japan, Chennai ZCF, EFICOR, etc have been extending assistance in terms of a truck-load or two. But such help is frightfully inadequate, considering the enormity of the calamity.

Providing sufficient rice - the staple diet - to the affected people is undoubtedly a gigantic task. So given the smallness of the state government’s relief measures till date, it would be unrealistic and dangerous to expect that the government alone will be able to ensure food security to each affected citizen for several years, they stated.

So, “We should collectively shoulder the responsibility of saving life … it’s a mission, a call … that one cannot ignore. It is a challenge that we must face, and a noble war that must be fought to be won,” it quoted.

Unless we do what can be done today, tomorrow may be too late for the hungry and hopeless who are anxiously awaiting your helping hands, the organizer of the Mautaam Famine-Aid concert said while appealing all concerned individuals and groups to become a participant in the herculean effort to mitigate the sufferings and fear of death … by starvation … of one’s own citizens, the more so because the affected inhabit a remote unheard corner of India.

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mizo bamboo dance

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NATURE’S FURY : The road diversion which has come up on NH-39 near Zubza following the sinking of a stretch of the road

Landslide on NH-39 at Nagaland
Road diversion built, loaded trucks still stranded
By Our Staff Reporter
KOHIMA/IMP, Aug 31 : With a large number of goods laden trucks still stranded on NH-39 following landslide and sinking of about 100 metres of road near Zubza in Nagaland and with the downpour compounding matter, the 89 Road Construction Company has started building a road diversion in right earnest to pave the way for the vehicles.
Though the road diversion has come up, fully loaded trucks are still stranded as there is apprehension that the new diversion will not be able to take the weight of the loaded trucks.
A team of media persons was escorted to the affected parts of the highway by the FCS Department today.
Located about 6 kms towards Dimapur from Kohi- ma, a stretch of about 100 metres of the highway had sunk forcing the Government to go in for the diversion option.
Closely monitored by the Kohima DC Suchapra, SP of Kohima police RH Kikon and Colonel Sandip of the BRTF Project Sewak the work on the diversion is on in full swing and efforts are on to procure WBM.
Light vehicles and trucks not loaded are allowed to pass through.
Since there is the apprehension that the diversion may not be able to withstand the weight of the fully loaded trucks, in the face of the heavy down pour, only light vehicles are allowed to pass through.
A late evening report said that altogether 79 loaded trucks including 16 trucks carrying fertilisers and 24 oil tankers are stranded near Piphema as they cannot pass through the landslide area at Zubza.
Interacting with the media near the landslide spot, officials of Nagaland Government said that they have already intimated to the Government of Manipur not to let goods laden trucks carry more than 15 tonnes during Monsoon. The suggestion of the Nagaland Government was made in line with experts recommendations.
The place where the road has sunk is identified as a sinking zone, they said and added that this is not the first time that the road stretch there has given way.
Officials recalled that a long stretch of road sank in 1990 and again 1991 at the same spot. There is also a similar record of 1981.
About 100 metres of stretch of the road has sunk to about 10 metres and even at the time of filing this report, the road is still continuing to sink at the rate of one or half a metre per day.
Personnel of the BRTF opined that over and above the fact that the stretch is a sinking zone, what has compounded the matter is the terrace cultivation taken up on the side of the hills by the roadside, making the stretch more vulnerable.

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