north east online - north east india news

Agartala, Sep 29 : Five insurgents of the outlawed National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) have been arrested by security forces from two different places, police said on Monday.

Acting on a tip-off, a contingent of Assam Rifles raided Sailut, a remote tribal hamlet in North Tripura district on Sundaynight and nabbed four insurgents of the outfit with arms.
Police said the insurgents were forcibly collecting subscriptions from the villagers adding the Assam Rifles personnel recovered three guns and one grenade and some subscription receipts.

In a separate incident, jawans of the Tripura State Rifles (TSR) arrested one insurgent of the same outfit during a raid at Dhumjakarai, a tribal hamlet in Dhalai district yesterday. No arms were recovered from his possesion.

Police said they stepped up their patrolling in the remote and insurgency hit areas to ensure peaceful celebration of Durga puja.

India Post is now poised to disburse micro-credit to Women Self Help Groups in 8 states and the NorthEast in a tie-up with NABARD. The states are Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh. The scheme was so far operational in five districts in Tamil Nadu on a pilot basis. Post Offices in Tamil Nadu have successfully disbursed credit to the tune of Rs. 1.35 crores to 165 Women SHGs. No default has been noticed in the repayment.
Around 2,900 groups have so far been formed for credit linkage with the post offices in the districts of Sivaganga, Pudukottai, Tiruvannamalai, Thanjavur and Tiruvarur. 2000 Post Offices in 9 postal divisions are involved in this operation. Post Masters have been specially trained in nurturing SHGs and making inspections. 9% simple interest is charged on the loans out of which India Post has a share of 3% and the remaining 6% goes to NABARD.

The scheme helps the Postal department in cross selling its financial and insurance services to the members of the Self Help Groups, thus strengthening their financial & life security. It also underlines the continuing relevance of rural Post Offices and their closeness to the public.

The success of the scheme reinforces that among the rural people, the Post Office remains the preferred office for financial services, a fact that has come out in successive surveys. Post Offices in the country have already disbursed about 2900 crore rupees as wages to the beneficiaries of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). The total number of accounts opened for NREGS payments is about 1.5 crores. The number of Post Offices disbursing the wages across 21 states is over 70 thousand (including Head Post Offices, Sub Post Offices and Branch Post Offices). Andhra Pradesh has the maximum number of over 94 lakh accounts.

An important concern of the NREG Scheme is that every worker is paid his/her wages for the work done expeditiously and correctly. With a view to address this concern, the Government had decided that payment of wages to the workers will be done only through Banks or Post Offices. Starting with the Andhra Pradesh Postal Circle in 2005, payment of wages under NREG Scheme has now been extended to 19 Postal Circles in 21 States.

India Post and the State Bank of India have launched a unique joint project in Punjab to provide banking facilities in the unbanked areas. The rural masses in the state can now access the loan and deposit schemes of the State Bank through post offices. The facility has already been set up in 43 post offices. The target is to extend the arrangement to 600 more post offices. Post Masters of rural postal branches have been specially trained for this purpose.

The joint venture mainly focuses on rural customers who are in need of loans but unable to reach banks. The post offices will carry out all the front office jobs for the State Bank relating to loans and deposits, including disbursement of loans. The loans will, however, be sanctioned by the SBI.

Besides delivery of mails, the basket of services being offered by Post Offices in rural and remote areas has been growing all the time.

Guwahati, Sep 29 : Following the green signal from the Centre, Asom Government is going to invite the Dimasa militant outfit, Black Widow, for discussion to work out the modalities for ceasefire, intelligence sources said.

According to sources, the State Police Department has already had a telephonic conversation with Black Widow “commander-in-chief” Niranjan Hojai, who is reportedly in Kathmandu along with the outfit’s chief Jewel Garlosa. Sources said the formal letter to the Dimasa outfit for talks will be handed over to its emissary within three days.
Both Garlosa and Hojai, according to sources, will be present at the meeting the venue of which has not been finalized as yet.

After the last Unified Command meeting on August 29, the State Government had sent a proposal to the Centre seeking its approval for discussion with the Dimasa outfit that has been in a unilateral ceasefire since March 29.

According to intelligence sources, the approval from the Centre for talks with the Dimasa outfit reached Dispur on Tuesday last.

Sources from NC Hills, on the other hand, link the latest move taken by Dispur and New Delhi on the terror front in the hill district with the forthcoming general election. According to sources, of late the Congress and its betenoire ASDC have been inching towards each other with the latter’s relationship with the BJP in the NC Hills Autonomous Council turning sour.

This development ahead of the Lok Sabha election has much to do in the political equation in the hill district.

A
izawl, Sep 29 : The Young Mizo Association (YMA), an influential students’ body in Mizoram, has served quit notices to Myanmarese migrants for allegedly harassing girls in a village, YMA leaders said Monday.”We have asked Burmese migrant workers to leave by Oct 4,” YMA leader Lalrinsanga told reporters.

The immediate provocation for the quit notice was a brawl at Thanhril village, about 20 km north of capital Aizawl, between villagers and Myanmar nationals over the alleged harassment of some Mizo girls by migrants.
There are about 30 Myamnar nationals living in Thanhril.

“The Burmese migrants also physically assaulted a local Mizo boy who came to the rescue of the women,” Lalrinsanga said.

The YMA leader, however, said there were a large number of law-abiding Myanmar migrants in various parts of Mizoram.

“We have to decide on whether or not to allow the other migrants to stay in Mizoram,” the YMA leader said.

Most of the Myanmar nationals in Mizoram are engaged in stone quarries, farms, road construction works and other odd jobs.

From time to time the Mizoram government evicts migrant workers who enter the state illegally although similar physical features makes it difficult to identify them. There are no exact figures available about the number of migrants residing in the state. Mizoram shares a 510 km long unfenced border with Myanmar.

I’m lucky!” the Britisher had exclaimed upon discovering this prime patch for tea cultivation in Assam. This is how the Amluckie tea estate earned its name. However, luck was definitely not on the side of Sisul Tanti, a chowkidar of this garden owned by the Assam Tea Corporation Limited (ATCL). ATCL did not pay him Rs 1.15 lakh as Provident Fund (PF) dues, after deducting it from his salary throughout his service.For 12 years, Tanti suffered from diabetes but got only Rs 10,000 from his PF as an advance for treatment. When Tanti died on October 4, 2006, his, comprising his wife and his three minor children, got only Rs 20,000 of the total PF amount. Two years later, Tanti’s wife and children are still waiting for the remaining sum, which they should have received within 15 days.

Tanti’s family is not alone. Pohandia Tanti, a permanent worker of the garden died during the working period, but his family is yet to receive any compensation, gratuity or PF. In fact, no PF contributions from these workers have been deposited by the ATCL since 1998 under the Assam Tea Planters Provident Fund Scheme. Lakhon Kalindi, a permanent worker recalls a similar situation a few years ago when workers had to eat wild plants to beat starvation.

The once full-fledged hospital in the tea garden lies dilapidated, with no doctors or pharmacists. A health assistant at the hospital, who did not wish to be named, said: “We don’t keep indoor patients, nor do we have laboratory facilities.” They refer serious patients to the neighbouring towns of Nogaon, Samaguri and Tezpur. For common ailments, They hand out medicines from their stock.

In 1972, 759 tea gardens of Assam were declared sick. As many as 359 gardens were said to be in a bad condition. Of these, 15 were adopted by the government, which set up the ATCL to improve the plight of the workers.

However, what should have been ‘model’ tea gardens have, in fact, become the shame of Assam. Mismanagement, financial irregularities and incompetent administration in the 15 government-owned ATCL gardens have so ruined them that the workers are on the verge of starvation. These gardens, located in Golaghat, Jorhat, Sonitpur, Silchar and Nogaon districts, have been overburdened by liabilities.

Says Pallab Das, General Secretary of All Assam Tea Tribes Students’ Association (AATTSA): “These gardens should have been ideal gardens. But everything has failed including government sche mes like the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan. People here die of common ailments like diarrhoea, malaria and even gastroenteritis.”

The condition of the gardens started going from bad to worse in the late 1990s. In fact, the government has, from time to time, tried to review the state of affairs in these gardens. It set up an empowered committee in 2001 to suggest both short- and long-term measures for the revitalisation of the ATCL. The only recommendation of the committee followed was the selling of the ATCL office in Guwahati to meet salary requirements.


The situation is grim. Workers have been living without wages and rations for the past few weeks. “Workers face starvation and an acute water shortage. Most try finding work in the neighbouring brick kilns and construction sites,” says Krishna Tanti, an activist.

Ironically, the plight of these tea workers, brought to Assam as indentured labourers by the British, has not improved in independent India. Dipankar Banerjee, a historian at Gauhati University, says, “it is an example of lopsided economic growth that the workers who made a tremendous contribution to the state’s economy are dying of starvation.”

Even the wages in ATCL gardens are lower than in other gardens. Bhagirath Karan, Chairperson, Congress Tea Cell, says, “The workers in other gardens in Assam get Rs 54, but ATCL garden workers get Rs 48. They work for six days and get wages for only five days. Since October 2007, they have been getting single rations, but even that has stopped.”

The situation is so bad that while PF contributions have been deducted from workers’ wages, nobody bothered to give a statement of accounts at the office of the Assam Tea Planters Provident Fund scheme. “There are many who have retired and died without getting their PF money,” adds Karan.

Karan also adds that the Board of Directors has not been constituted for the past two years and everything is handled by the Managing Director. “There is practically no transparency in any financial dealings. Private companies have made a fortune using the same soil, climate and workforce,” he adds.

Many feel that in order to revive these gardens, extensions should be made in barren land and new ones planted. Among ATCL’s big liabilities are its high number of permanent workers and poor productivity. The yield per hectare is also much below the Assam average.

Pawan Singh Ghatowar, President, Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangh, says, “The government is not competent to run these gardens. It doesn’t have the expertise or the managerial know-how to operate the gardens. Liabilities have increased beyond the actual value of these gardens.”

He feels that a viable alternative has to be found to solve the livelihood crisis for the thousands of workers in the gardens. There are about 16,000 permanent workers, and 350 employees and dependents who have not been getting their legal dues including gratuity, PF, subsidised rations or minimum wages. “One solution could be to hand these gardens to big tea companies,” he says.
Realising that these tea workers are a substantial votebank, the government has announced a slew of measures by roping in the Public Health Engineering Department and the National Rural Health Mission to resolve the water and medical facility crisis. But like all government schemes, these relief measures will take time. Till then, basic amenities will remain a dream in these government-owned tea estates and the workers will continue to suffer in ignominy.

V

ice Chancellor of Nagaland University, Professor Kannan and NUTA leader Rosemary Dzuvichu shaking hands after the successful reconciliatory meeting at Kohima today.
The meeting was attended by the Naga Hoho and representatives of frontal civil organizations including the NUTA and NU officials. This photo was taken by Chief Secretary Lalhuma, who had chaired and convened the meeting on behalf of the State Government.

Dimapur, Sep 27 : Officials of the state government, Nagaland University, representatives of the NUTA and Naga civil society met today and decided on a number of affirmations to resume the institution’s long-defunct academic activities.
A joint statement was received here today where it was decided that the vice chancellor of Nagaland University shall, with immediate effect, revoke the suspension of eight members of NUTA and also drop the charges being framed against them in departmental inquiries.

All the members of NUTA are to resume their academic duties on the day following the revocation of the suspension orders against the eight teachers. The teachers are also to simultaneously withdraw their resignations from the various university councils, committees, departments as well as their demand for the removal of the VC, Registrar and the Controller of Examination.
The NUTA, the PGSU and the non-teaching staffers are to refrain from any form of agitation that could result in disruption of normal functioning of the university or academic classes in the campuses. All the grievances of the teachers, students and non-teaching staffers are now to be addressed to the university through a grievance cell, constituted by the university “within one week”.

The joint statement was appended by Nagaland Chief Secretary Lalhuma, VC Prof. K Kannan, president of NUTA Rosemary Dzuvichu, presidents of the PGSUs, and presidents and leaders of the Naga Hoho, Naga Mothers’ Association, the ENPO, NSF, ENSF, AWO, NSCF and ANCSU.

Interestingly, while the imbroglio in the university stood resolved with the intervention of the state government and civil society, hundreds of post-graduate students continued with their peaceful office-picketing of the university head office today.

As the joint meeting began at 1 PM in the Chief Secretary’s conference hall, the agitating PGSU students were seeing anxiously waiting for the outcome of the meeting, in uncertainty. However, as the long wait drew to an end at around 4.30 pm with news on the successful outcome of the meeting trickling in, jubilant students were heard singing “we shall overcome”. Of course, some could be seen taking a playful jibe or two at the withdrawing Fire and Police personnel who were deployed at the site of the agitation.

During the joint meeting, it was learnt that various speakers had fired salvos both at the Vice Chancellor and also the NUTA for the imbroglio. Some of the speakers, it was said, had also lashed out at the vice chancellor with allegations of fuelling the problem on tribal and communal lines.

N
ew Delhi, Sep 26 : The government has ordered an inquiry into reports of girls from the northeast being trafficked to Malaysia for sex work. NGOs claimed that as many as 150 girls were reported to have been promised jobs in Singapore but landed up in clubs in Kaula Lampur instead.

The ministry of overseas Indian affairs (OIA) has ordered an inquiry into the reports. “I am looking into the matter. We have also alerted our embassies in Singapore and Malaysia,” Vayalar Ravi, OIA minister said. The minister has directed the Protectorate of Emigrants (PoE) officer to track records on the basis of which these girls were taken.

Complaints were received from Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR) and Shakti Vahini regarding trafficking of girls from Zeliangrong community in Tamenglong district in Manipur. The two NGOs were alerted after three girls escaped from their traffickers in Malaysia and were rescued by a priest. He, in turn, got in touch with NPMHR, Unifem and Shakti Vahini.

Shakti Vahini’s executive director Ravi Kant said, “This information only hints at what could be a larger racket of human trafficking from the N-E.” While details are not forthcoming, NGOs said that a Singapore-based group was recruiting girls not just from Manipur but Guwahati, Kolkata, Dimapur and Shillong. NGOs also claimed that five girls on their way to Singapore were intercepted and rescued at Dimapur recently.

The N-E has emerged as a source-transit-destination point for trafficking of women and children. The region’s proximity to the country’s porous borders has made human trafficking from Nepal and Bangladesh easy while girls from Manipur, Nagaland and Assam find their way to Delhi, Mumbai and southeast Asian countries.

Human trafficking, coupled with trafficking of drugs and arms, has left the entire region in turmoil and internal strife. Concerned over the increasing number of fake recruiting agencies, the ministry has planned to strengthen the Emigration Act that will allow authorities to take stringent action against fraudulent agents. The amendments to the legislation are in the pipeline.

Imphal, Sep 26 : It looks as if the militants in Manipur cannot differentiate between those who try to control them and the ones who are just devoted to the service of common man.

The recent victim of militants belonging to the banned outfit Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) was Manipur’s rural bank. The militants forced the bank to close down for an indefinite period while making the hapless staff of the bank go for a sit in demonstration against widespread militant activities.
Manipur Rural Bank has 18 branches throughout the state. It works for the uplift of the rural masses.

The militants demanded a sum of one million rupees as ransom money from the bank and threatened the bank’s staff with dire consequences if they failed to pay up.

The staff turned furious and expressed their anguish in Keishampat asking the militants to withdraw their demand. B.Bimal Singh, Branch Manager, Porompat MRB Branch, said: “For the last few months some underground groups were demanding money from our bank. Earlier, we requested many times through media not to demand any monetary demand from us. We are a very small bank and this is the only Rural Bank in Manipur and we are serving the poor people. And the under grounds have demanded a huge sum of money.”

L. JoyKumar Singh, Employee, MRB, said: “We are sending a message to them that we are fed up of such type of demands and please let us work in peace for the sake of the people.” Manipur Rural Bank one of the premier banks of Manipur, and has more than 30,000 depositors.It is concerned with the welfare of the rural masses and most of its depositors are from rural areas of the state.

Raghumani Singh, Branch Manager, MRB Kongba Bazaar, said: “Actually we are serving the poor people of my locality. So, such kind of demand we never expected. If such kind of demand is made very frequently in the presence of our local people than it will affect our business to a greater extent. So, I would like to appeal anybody any organization not to make any sort of demand like this.”

This is not the first instance that the militants have targeted a bank. Earlier this year, the United Bank of India in Imphal as well as some other banks in other parts of Manipur were under attack by the militants.

Even the UBI was forced to close down for indefinite period following a hefty monetary demand.

No doubt those who claim to fight for the interests of the people of the state are the real road blocks in the development of the resource rich state.

Ccpur, Sep 21 : The two-day seminar on “Commercial cultivation of bamboo” under the National Bamboo Mission organised by the forest development agency, Churachandpur started today from 9.30 am at the KKL complex.

The programme was inaugurated by Rupachandra, additional DC Churachandpur as chief guest and two resource persons, namely KS Tawmbing, MSF, DFC and PV Guite, MFS, ACF who imparted knowledge on management of bamboo as well as potentials and prospects of bamboo.
A large number of farmers from various places also attended the seminar. PV Guite while giving a lecture on bamboo plantation and its importance for places where we live, said that bamboo can be utilized for house construction and many other purposes and by taking ideas from people who have the know how it can be very helpful to raise the level of our living standard.

Management of the bamboos at various stages of its growth is very important, he said adding we are endowed with so many useful natural gifts and if we know how to utilise them we would be the luckiest.

KS Tawmbing highlighted the seven types of bamboo and their various stages of growth in which they need care and support.
He said bamboo can be planted for its shoots only and for the bamboo trunk itself.

They mature at three to four years and by then they have to be cut down. He also said during winter their roots should be exposed to the air and then cover it again so that they will produce more roots. The seminar will continue till tomorrow.

Shillong, Sep 21 : The issue of influx tops the priority list of the newly elected body of the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU). The elections of the executive body of the KSU was held in Shillong today. Samuel Jyrwa and Hamlet Dohling respectively retained the posts of president and general secretary . There are a couple of new faces in the executive body.

Speaking to newspersons today, Samuel Jyrwa said, “Our pursuance of influx will be further pronounced”, adding, “strong emphasis will be on the implementation of the multi-identity card system that has been approved by the State Cabinet”. On influx, Jyrwa said, “We will vigorously follow up this agenda because these illegal immigrants are not only a threat to the identity of the State but to the security of the people at large”.
“We will leave no stone unturned and along with the other student bodies in the region. We will take the issue with the right earnest,” stated the re-elected KSU president. Listing the opposition to the proposed uranium mining in West Khasi Hills as another focal point of the newly-elected executive body, Jyrwa said, “Our resolution is clear that under no circumstances, will we allow uranium mining in the State”.

The attributes related to their opposition to uranium mining is due to possible inflow of outsiders, environment degradation and health hazards. Other issues topping the agenda is on the education policy. Thrust will be based on a follow-up action to ensure the all-round well-being of the student community.

I

tanagar, Sep 21 : Economic blockade by Assam Sankhyalaghu Yuva Chatra Parishad(ASYCP) at Banderdewa on Thursday was unfortunate, said Arunachal Pradesh Government spokesman Tako Dabi.

Addressing a meeting here last evening, Dabi said the NH 52 blockade at Banderdewa was likely to effect ‘operation clean drive’ by various students’ unions in Itanagar and Naharlogun.
Operation clean drive was a routine duty of the administration to check inner line permits (ILP) which is mandatory for every Indian citizen to enter Arunachal Pradesh as per the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation 1873, he said.

Thousands of people under the banner of ASYCP blocked the national highway for about five hours in the morning on Thursday as a result of which traffic movement came to a grinding halt.

They were alleged of unnecessary harassment and injustice against a particular community and genuine ILP holders during the operation clean drive. Crowd also pelted stones and damaged vehicles when police resorted to lathi-charge over the agitating people to disperse them.

Later agitator’s withdrew blockade after Papum Pare Deputy commissioner Bidol Tayeng and Superintendent of police (SP) Hibu Tamang and SP Syed Ataur Karim of North Lakhimpur, Assam rushed to the spot and assured the agitators to look into their grievances.

Clarifying Government’s stand over ILP checking conducted by students’ union, Dabi, said no union was authorised to do that on behalf of the Papumpare district administration.

If anyone has been victimised complain should be lodged with the police and law will take its own course, he added. Denying allegations that the drive was against the Muslim community and that they faced atrocities before being driven out, the government spokesman clarified that only 103 people were detected during the operation clean drive including 77 Hindus, 23 Muslims and 3 Christians without ILPs and deported them on September 12.

The Government spokesman appealed to all the sections of people to exercise restraint and lend their full cooperation to maintain peace and communal harmony among different communities.

M

PCC chief’s post
‘Gaikhangam will stay on till next year’
By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Sep 19 : Though the term of Gaikhangam as the president of the Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee has expired, he will continue to occupy the post till the middle part of next year, said a reliable source from within the MPCC while speaking to The Sangai Express today.
However there may be some changes among the other office bearers of the MPCC ahead of the Parliamentary election.
Despite the fact that the term of Gaikhangam as the president has expired and the signature campaign which was submitted to the AICC as well as the meetings held to demand his removal and installation of a fresh president, Gaikhan-gam will continue in his post till the middle part of next year, said the source.
As reported in this paper earlier, the pressure mounted on the AICC to demand the removal of Gaikhangam will cut no ice as the AICC never bows to pressure tactics, said the source further.
The Congress Working Committee which recently met at Delhi also did not discuss the removal of Gaikhangam, added the source.
Explaining, the source maintained that it is not only Gaikhangam whose term has expired but also the term of the presidents of the district and block level of the Congress. The term of the other office bearers has also expired, said the source and reminded that even the term of Sonia Gandhi as the president of the AICC has expired.
Pointing out that election of the president of the Pradesh Congress Committee is a cumbersome process, the source said that prior to the change in the presidency of the MPCC, changes are first effected at the grass root level, followed at the block level and then district level and at the Pradesh Congress level.
So this in effect means that though the term of Gaikhangam as president has expired, he will not be immediately asked to step down.
Notification of the election is also yet to be issued.
On the other hand, since a change in the presidency of the Pradesh Congress Committee just ahead of the Parliamentary election may not prove healthy for the Congress, there is as such no plan to effect a change at the moment.
Though the AICC or Congress leaders have not officially issued any statement, there have been enough hints that Gaikhangam will continue in his post till May next year.
On the other hand, some changes may effected among the office bearers of the MPCC before the Parliamentary election. The changes will effected to strengthen the party ahead of the Parliamentary election.
Gaikhangam who recently returned after attending the CWC meeting convened a meeting of all office bearers of the MPCC today at 2 pm, said the source.
During the meeting Gaikhangam briefed the officer bearers of the MPCC of the CWC meeting as well as his inputs at the meeting pertaining to the preparations being taken up for the Lok Sabha polls.
Keen to win both the Parliamentary seats in Manipur, the CWC discussed at length the strategies to be adopted in Manipur, Gaikhangam informed the meeting.

Diphu Sep 20 : According to delayed information, two sisters of a Diphu based Kuki family were raped in a hotel at Dimapur, on September 13. An FIR was lodged by the guardian of the victim with Diphu police on September 16.

According to sources, the two minor girls aged 15 and 11 years were taken to Dimapur on September 13 by two person namely Peter, a resident of Mahadev Tila near Haflong town and Chhara, a resident of Chaltlang locality of Aizawl, Mizoram who identified themselves as friend of their uncle.
The duo took them to Dimapur on the pretext that Diphu market was not proper for decent garment shopping. On reaching Dimapur, they rented a hotel and virtually kept the girls locked in the hotel room. The duo went out and came back drunk in the evening and tried to force the girls into drinking.

Both the girls were raped successively, one after the other. Fearing that the guardian of the minor girls would not spare them, one of the accused fled from Dimapur itself while the other brought the girls to Diphu and escaped.

Meanwhile, Kuki Students’ Organization, Karbi Anglong District and Kuki Movement for Women’s Right Assam region Karbi Anglong cell has condemned the incident in strongest terms and has demanded exemplary punishment for the rapists. The two organizations have also demanded compensation from the government for future treatment and welfare of the two girls.

Itanagar, Sep 20 : The citizenship row in Assam has spilled over to adjoining Arunachal Pradesh with an influential students’ group serving quit notices to illegal Bangladeshis, triggering a violent reaction from minority organisations in the bordering areas.

On Thursday, an estimated 10,000 supporters of the All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU) resorted to an impromptu blockade on the National Highway 52 along Assam - the lifeline of the landlocked state of Arunachal Pradesh.
The student protestors halted traffic to and from Arunachal Pradesh, besides vandalising a few vehicles bearing Arunachal Pradesh registration numbers and physically assaulting some passengers. The immediate provocation for the highway blockade and the subsequent assaults was a quit notice served by the All Nyishi Students Union (ANSU), an influential students’ organisation of Arunachal Pradesh, asking all illegal Bangladeshis to leave the state immediately.

The notice was served earlier this month, but on Sep 12 ANSU supporters started taking law into their hands and went about physically evicting people belonging to a linguistic minority group.

“Genuine Indians who were working as contract workers and daily wage earners were forcibly driven out with the law enforcing authorities a mute spectator to the entire drama,” Ziaur Rahman, an AAMSU leader, told IANS. “This was nothing but unnecessary and unlawful harassment of minorities from Assam living in Arunachal Pradesh,” he added. The situation was brought under control with police from both Assam and Arunchal Pradesh brokering peace with AAMSU activists by assuring that no genuine Indians would be harassed in the name of detecting and expelling Bangladeshis.

Meanwhile, Arunachal Pradesh Home Minister Jarbom Gamlin said there were about 8,000 Bangladeshi migrants in the state. The ANSU’s drive to free the state from illegal migrants was supported by the government. “We support any move to free our state of migrants,” Nabam Tuki, president of the state unit of the ruling Congress party, said.

The ANSU, fearing a backlash from the AAMSU in adjoining Assam, clarified that they were not targeting people of a particular religious community.

“We have made our intentions very clear. The drive was launched to free the state of illegal Bangladeshi migrants, not to harm or harass anyone,” ANSU president Niglar Veo said. But one thing is for sure, the repercussions of the anti-foreigners uprising in Assam spearheaded by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) is being felt in the adjoining state although the drive against Bangladeshis has never been an easy one with the politics of citizenship reigning supreme in this region.

Shillong, Sep 20 : The Miss North East Pageant will provide more than a feast for the eyes when its silver jubilee celebrations begin in Shillong on October 10.

The occasion will comprise more than just a bevy of beauties walking down the ramp.

The organisers of the event, Fashion Society, Shillong, will host the two-day North East Festival, beginning on October 10, in collaboration with the government-run North East Forum of Indigenous Culture and Arts.

Visitors can gorge to their heart’s content on the ethnic cuisine available at the festival. All the northeastern states, including Sikkim, will participate in the event.

Declaring the names of the 18 contestants for the beauty pageant last night, the chairman of the society, Aldous Mawlong, said, “Through the events, we hope to attract both domestic and foreign tourists as the event will bring together the rich cultural heritage of the region.”
The biggest and oldest contest of its kind in the region, the Meghalaya state government supports the event as an occasion to attract tourists.

The contestants are Moom Darang and Taba Chommi (Arunachal Pradesh), Stuti Choudhury and Diksha Das (Assam), Linphoi Devi and Pratima Devi (Manipur), Kyntiewlin Rapthap and Layla Iarisa Kharkongor (Meghalaya), Manuni and Meseli (Mizoram), Akum Naro and Imsu Lemla (Nagaland), Tashi Lepcha and Supriya Pradhan (Sikkim) and Rini Deb Burma and Uma Reang (Tripura).

The pageant, to be held at the Crinoline Swimming Pool in Shillong on October 11 evening, will also feature singers and performing artistes from Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur and Tripura, including Sikkim.

Part of the proceeds will go to the Jowai Presbyterian School, which was recently gutted in a fire.

Formed in 1983, the Shillong Fashion Society has been promoting fashion and arts and undertaking charity work as well.

According to Mawlong, the society has made remarkable strides in bringing the culture of the northeastern region to the fore by promoting weavers, designers and artistes.

The society had in the past invited celebrities like Zeenat Aman, Moon Moon Sen, VJ Kim, actress Sushma Reddy, model Kelly Dorjee and renowned models like Shikha Swaroop, Natasha, Rahul Roy and worked with famous choreographers like Kaushik Ghosh.

New Delhi, Sep 20 : Following the acceptance of the recommendations of TS Krishnamurthy’s enquiry report on Laishram Monika by the Government of India, the Union ministry of youth affairs and sports has issued detailed guidelines for dope testing procedures to create a clean and healthy environment for sports in India.

Former chief election commissioner TS Krishnamurthy was appointed last month by the Government to examine the circumstances and issues connected with dope testing of international weightlifter Laishram Monika.
In the report, Krishnamurthy mentioned, “It is no doubt true that the testing process and the result thereof had been kept under suspense for too long a period, notwithstanding the various reasons advanced by the NDTL contributing to the delay. In my opinion, this is an area where immediate intervention is called for from the ministry so that in future no such lapses take place and proper guidelines to be given to NDTL so that a contingency plan is also available with the laboratory in case of unforeseen anticipated delays.”

The sports ministry, in its communication sent yesterday to the director general, National Anti-Doping Agency, director general, Sports Authority of India, president, Indian Olympic Association, president and secretary general of all national sports federations stated, “it is important that all efforts be made to prevent Indian athletes and supporting personnel from using illegal and artificial performance enhancing drugs and at the same time to promote a healthy lifestyle among our athletes. While it is necessary that athletes are tested periodically both ‘in competition’ and ‘out of competitions’ for dope in accordance with internationally accepted norms, it is also necessary that the athletes should be given the due respect and regard while the tests are being done on them and that the procedure adopted for testing should be fully transparent and unbiased.”

It also stated, “For athletes who spend most of their productive years in pursuit of excellence in their sports, it can come as a great setback and mental shock if they are accused of or imposed with sanctions on the basis of ad-hoc or arbitrary procedures and inaccurate results. While there should be no leniency towards athletes for whom the use of illegal substances or methods has been established, it is absolutely necessary that according to the rules in force the procedures must be fully and meticulously followed.”

The guidelines which came into immediate effect mentioned, “The testing laboratory will adhere to the international standard for laboratories when processing samples ensuring that the chain of custody is maintained at all times. ‘A’ samples will be analyzed and the ‘B’ samples will be securely stored and may be used to confirm an adverse analytical findings from the ‘A’ sample.”

“The laboratory will complete the analysis of the samples in the time stipulated under the international standard for laboratory. The report of the laboratory will be sent to the Sports Authority of India (SAI) within 24 hours after the analysis is completed.”

“The SAI will, after the procedures for decoding etc. ensure that the results ‘negative’ or ‘positive’ or “ where further investigations are required” in respect of athletes are communicated to the concerned national federation within 48 hours of receipt of report from the laboratory. The national sports federations, after receipt of the report from SAI will ensure that the concerned athlete is communicated in writing the results within 48 hours of receipt of the report by the federation from SAI.”

“Once the athlete has received the notification and before the national sports federation imposes a provisional suspension the athlete must be given a provisional hearing prior to the imposition of the provisional suspension or a provisional hearing as soon as possible within 10 days after the imposition of the provisional suspension.”

It may be mentioned that weightlifter Laishram Monika was not allowed to take part in the Beijing Olympic Games 2008 following the last minute withdrawal from the Indian contingent on the charge of positive dope test.

N
ew Delhi, Sep 20 : Ministry of Urban Development has approved Water Supply Project (Phase-III) for augmentation of water supply to Meghalaya’s capital Shillong.

The Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (CSMC) of the Ministry has cleared the Project in order to set up water transmission system in the State to cover all areas of Shillong urban agglomeration. The proposed project envisages improvement of the water supply in the whole municipal area of Shillong.
The Project will address the major problems of water losses due to leakage in the existing transmission main and distribution system. Shillong Municipal Board would implement the Project. The Centre has allocated Rs 17,414.748 lakh as total Central assistance under JNNURM. The first instalment of Rs 5,353.69 lakh, which is 25 per cent of Central share, has been approved, official sources said.

The CSMC has also sanctioned three Community Participation Fund (CPF) proposals in Guwahati. The primary objective of the fund is to create capacities in the communities to effectively improve their living environment.

The three CPF proposals approved by CSMC for Guwahati, Assam includes the Kharguli Hills Housing Tenant Association, Guwahati, at a cost of Rs 10.44 lakh, Anindita Mahila Samaj (Rs 10.26 lakh) and Brihattar Khargulli Abasar Prapta Karmachari Janakalyan Samiti (Rs 10.43 lakh).

Small projects below Rs 10 lakh are sanctioned by CSMC under CPF proposals. The proposal must be endorsed by at least 51 per cent of voters of the area and signed by the elected representative of the ward.

A
izawl, Sep 20 : A team of officials from Mizoram Election department issued electoral photo identity cards (EPICs) to 98.65 per cent of Bru voters, now lodged in six relief camps of neighbouring North Tripura district.

State’s Joint Chief Electoral Officer Lalhmingthanga said the total number of Bru voters who received the EPICs are 6,479 while the total number of Bru refugees included in the voters’ list are 8,061 as per the draft electoral rolls of 2008.
“Our officials conducted the survey inside the six relief camps and there are 6,627 voters identified as bona fide residents of Mizoram…” he said.

The team from Mizoram was conducting the survey in the six relief camps under the watchful eyes of the representative from the Election Commission, he said.
Thousands of Bru refugees fled Mizoram and migrated en masse to neighbouring Tripura during 1997 after Bru insurgents, who declared armed insurrection against the Mizoram Government and the Mizo people, instructed them to take refuge in that State.

They have been languishing in the relief camps ever since the underground Bru National Liberation Front (BNLF) and Bru Liberation Front of Mizoram (BLFM) signed agreement with the state government and came overground.

The Centre’s failure to release fund earmarked for repatriation of the Brus from Tripura was attributed to the hurdle that prevented the implementation of the repatriation process.

Shillong, Sep 18 : Claiming that there are no permanent camps of Indian insurgent groups in Myanmar, the Assam Rifles today said the army of the neighbouring country is acting against the ultras present in its territory in coordination with it.

“As far as our information goes, there are no permanent camps of Indian insurgent groups in Myanmar. But the groups tend to set up temporary shelters in the country. We have been coordinating with the Myanmarese army and there has been operations against the rebels on both sides of the border,” Assam Rifles DG Lt Gen K S Yadava told reporters here.
He said the groups have set up shelters in the thick forested terrains along the border and it is not easy to flush them out.

“Anyone can move around within certain limits of the border as per laid rules. Such a scenario is bound to foment the movement of the militants to and from the boundary,” the DG said.

Yadava’s statement comes in the backdrop of reports that some militant groups of the region like the ULFA were using Myanmar for regrouping and carrying out its subversive activities from its bases in the neighbouring country.

Shillong, Sep 18 : Reports of uranium smuggling from Meghalaya have attracted the attention of the United States of America. Well placed sources in the Meghalaya police have confirmed that the US Consulate at Kolkata has been making enquiries about the alleged uranium smuggling from Meghalaya even as investigations have revealed that these reports of uranium smuggling are mere fraudulent acts perpetrated by a few individuals.

Nothing definite is known about the nature of the queries made by the US authorities but Meghalaya police was lucid in terming the alleged uranium smuggling as a mere fraud case. While investigating into the seizure of the suspected mineral two weeks ago from West Khasi Hills, police picked up a total of five people with the last one being Hep John from Wahkaji. On Monday Hep John was remanded to two days police custody, however in a bizarre twist to the case the same court released him on bail a few hours later.
Sources in the police said, “The tests performed by the officials of Atomic Mineral Division (AMD) in Shillong confirmed that the smuggling is not uranium ore. The real report will be shortly furnished by AMD.” “Even the packet used by the alleged smugglers, all hailing from the same district, is totally different from the one made by AMD while packing the mineral”, said the police source.

Police further added that there is no need for concern as this is nothing but a hoax call and could be the handiwork of a few unscrupulous miscreants out to earn quick money by fooling unsuspecting and gullible people. Yet the keen interest shown by the US Consulate has raised many an eyebrow and the question doing the rounds is, why the US officials are so concerned about the incident and why seek so much information about it.

New Delhi, Sep 17 : Contrary to what the government says, tourism experts believe the restrictive system of entry to several states in India’s picturesque northeast is a big hurdle for those wanting to visit the region.

“The restrictive entry system in some states in the northeast is one of the bottlenecks which projects a wrong image of the region and discourages tourists from visiting the region,” M.P. Bezbaruah, the former tourism secretary who hails from the northeast himself, told IANS.
The northeastern region, which consists of eight states, each with a wealth of natural heritage, has ironically not been able to cash in on its tourism potential, failing even in the domestic market.

For instance, despite boasting of rolling meadows, tea gardens, hills, varied tribal cultures and wildlife parks, the region gets only four percent of the five million foreign tourists to India.

The restrictive entry system, which requires special area permits to visit the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland, is often cited as one of the main bottlenecks.

For these states, a foreign tourist has to travel in groups of four and go through a government approved travel agency. The permit’s validity is also for a stipulated short period of time. This is done for security reasons as many states in the northeast are border states and are home to insurgent groups.

To travel through north Sikkim, an Inner Line Permit (ILP) is required.

However, there are no restrictions while visiting Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura.

Mani Shankar Aiyar, the minister for Development of the North East Region (DoNER), has said the permit system is not all that complicated and that tourists can travel without much hassle.

But Bezbaruah said this is one factor that hasn’t helped stakeholders like tour operators in boosting the region’s prospects.

“The restricted area permit system, some at the central level, some at the state level, would have their justification. More so, if the security is at stake. But the end result is that the tourist finds the entire process very hassling and is deterred from coming to the region,” he said.

Manoj Jalan, vice president of Purbi Discovery, a tour operating agency that has been organising tours to the northeast for years now, said it was a pity that now, when other states are diversifying into different tourism sectors - monsoon and medical tourism, for instance - the northeast was still far behind.

“The northeast is an emerging destination, with a wealth of natural beauty. To simply state a few statistics, of the total percentage of tourists that India gets, northern India gets the chunk at 49 percent.

“Western India gets 29 percent, southern India gets 18 percent and northeast India - just four percent,” Dibrugarh-based Jalan said during a visit to Delhi.

Jalan, who has been working in the sector and is familiar with the ground realities, laments that the restricted area permit is one of the constraints in promoting tourism in the region.

“We know that the insurgency problem here is a constraint. But then, which region is free of any problem? The fact is that people, even at the centre, are not aware of the ground realities here and promote a wrong image on safety issues.

“The policymakers need to take a hard look at the realities and, in association with the private sector, play an active role in promoting tourism - whether it’s tea tourism, botanical, cultural or wildlife - in the region,” Jalan said.

Bezbaruah added: “Tourism requires awareness - of the people, the policy planners and the industry - about its importance for socio-economic development for it to grow. Unfortunately, such awareness is not in strong evidence in the northeast though everyone talks about it.”

“Let’s start with promoting domestic tourism to clear wrong perceptions,” he said.

Guwahati, Sep 15 : The Centre today announced a Rs 500-crore relief and rehabilitation package for flood-hit Assam after an aerial survey of Majuli in Jorhat and Kamalpur, Rangia and Phutimari in Kamrup district.

After the survey, Union home minister Shivraj Patil went into a huddle with chief minister Tarun Gogoi, revenue minister Bhumidhar Barman and senior state government officials at the airport.
Barman had accompanied the home minister on the trip.

After the meeting, Patil said from the presentation given by the Assam government, he gathered that breach of embankments was the primary cause of floods in most parts of the state.

There are two ways to tackle the problem, he said.

One would be the immediate measures, and other, a long-term plan to tame the rivers flowing from the Himalayas.

The Rs 500-crore package, of course, was for “immediate” relief and rehabilitation measures.

Of the total grant, Rs 300 crore would be released immediately.

After the first instalment was utilised, the remaining Rs 200 crore would be released, he said.

If required, more funds would be provided.

He said apart from relief and rehabilitation measures, the funds should also be utilised to repair the breaches in the embankments.

“There will be no dearth of funds for tackling the problem. One thing should be clear. Sometimes your state will get more funds than another state, sometimes it will get equal funds and sometimes it will get less. The funds are provided in proportion to the requirement of the state. If more funds are required, it will be made available to the state,” he said.

On the long-term measures, Patil stressed the need for a joint effort by the Assam and Arunachal Pradesh governments to tame the rivers flowing from that state.

He said according to an initial estimate, the plan would require about Rs 83,000 crore over 15 to 20 years.

Assuring that funds would not be a constraint, Patil said if needed, international funding agencies, too, would be tapped.

He also asked the state government to manage from its own resources smaller relief measures like providing ex gratia to the family of the 35 people who died in the floods.

Aizawl, Sep 15 : The Mizoram Kuthnathawktute Joint Action Committee, a joint committee of laborers and farmers association in Mizoram has accused the state government of misusing funds meant to provide relief for victims of disasters due to the torrential rainfall last year which led to devastation of farms, small factories and displacement of over hundred families.

F Lalnienga, chairman of the committee claimed that the committee has reason to believe that the Mizo National Front (MNF) government has misused the ‘Flood/Monsoon Relief’ fund meant to provide aid to victims of the flood for distributing free supplies of rice to MNF party members.
F Lalnienga went on to say that the fund was sanctioned after a joint proposal was submitted by the joint action committee and the state government under the National Calamity Contingency Fund. However, the fund was misused and only went to members of the MNF party. “The state government never called upon our help for distribution of the fund but chose to rely on the central Young Mizo Association (YMA) and the church instead,” he said.

The joint committee asked the state government to reveal the distribution of the fund through the RTI Act and found that no fund was received during 2007-2008. The central government sanctioned Rs. 23.52 crores for relief during the fiscal year 2007-2008, 9.78 rupee crores of which has been released. The state government explained that as the fund has not been received in full, the fund has not been released by the state till today.

Speaking at the Aizawl Press Club today, F Lalnienga beseeched that a number of farms and fish farms were devastated by torrential rainfall last year. As a result of this and the Mautam famine, farmers and cultivators in the state had to rely on relief funds for their livelihood. Various farmers’ association decided to form a committee and had a meeting with the chief minister, chief secretary and department heads on September 24, 2007 for making proposal to the central government for sanctioning of relief fund for victims of natural disaster.

Deputy Commissioners of each district gave report on the extent of damage suffered in their respective districts. After reports were sent in, the state government submitted proposal for relief fund to the central government after which the central government sanctioned Rs. 49.60 crores on June 2, 2008 under the National Calamity Contingency Fund. “However, the funds sanctioned still have not been distributed to the victims of the disaster. We are now giving a deadline to the state government to distribute the relief fund before the end of September 19, 2008 to victims of the disaster. We do not wish to resort to violence but we are willing to sacrifice everything we have until we get our fair share from the state,” Lalnienga said.

The Mizoram Kuthnathawktute Joint Action Committee is a committee set up by representatives of the All Mizoram Farmers Union, Mizoram Cultivators and Labors Union, Zoram Kuthnathawktu Pawl, Zofishfed, Mizoram Fish Farmers Association, Mizoram Passion Fruit Growers’ Association and the Zoram Anthurium Growers Association.

Shillong, Sep 15 : As clashes continued in Orissa, Meghalaya Christians have demanded banning of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal blaming them of “terrorising” the people of the community.

The demand was voiced at a peace rally at Jowai on Sunday where thousands of Christians, including members of prominent organisations, political leaders and government servants participated.
The meeting resolved to send a six-point memorandum to the President, demanding adequate steps to stop the violence, allow freedom of religion and relief to the victims.

Various leaders who spoke at the rally asked the Centre to ban the VHP and Bajrang Dal, blaming them for the “continued carnage” in Orissa.

Later, the protesters took out a procession with black flags, shouting slogans for peace and freedom of religion.

Chairman of the Meghalaya Public Service Commission Willy Suchiang chaired the meeting while church leaders and political leaders cutting across party lines attended the rally.

First Tangkhul film after 10 yrs...
Black Rose blooms on hills of Ukl
By Our Staff Reporter
TONGOU (Ukhrul), Sep 14: After a gap of 10 years, a feature film in Tangkhul dialect titled Black Rose was released finally drawing a large crowd at the village community hall of Tongou located 51 kms from Imphal along Mahadeva-Tolloi Road in Ukhrul district yesterday.
Directed by MK Wungkathing, a private English school Principal by profession and an enthusiastic filmmaker whose works are already acknowledged by many Tangkhul movie buffs, Black Rose is said to be made in a record time of one month.
The fledging Tangkhul film making industry had a natural death some 10 years back after imposition of restriction on screening films at night time by various social organisations on the alleged ground that encouraging such nocturnal entertainment programmes were detrimental to the growth of moral character of the youth while screening of the films during day time was not so profitable.
However, when the influences of films in other languages started having a serious impact on Tangkhul culture, the public and social organisations of Tangkhul commu-nity felt the need to rekindle interest in film making in Tangkhul dialect and finally the ban was relaxed. Thus, the movement of film making in Tangkhul dialect picked once again on the picturesque tiny hamlet Tongou , considered as the ‘Hollywood of Ukhrul district’ under the craftsmanship of MK Wungkathing, who has already directed over 20 films before the ban.
Comprising cast and crew members mainly from among the villagers of Tongou, the new Tangkhul film which was formally released during a function yesterday was attended by president of Information Centre for Hill Areas of Manipur (ICHAM) N Rajendro and social worker Ng Phaningshang as chief guest and functional president respectively.
The main theme of the film running over 2 hours is based on the proverbial saying of ‘pride comes before a fall’ (Watonna Wanglaga Kwakna Phamdek-e in Manipuri or Kanana Chuka Hai Akha, Hangkhana Pamdekhaowa in Tangkhul dialect). The film also deals with the problem of drug abuse among the youth.
Interacting with The Sangai Express, MK Wungkathing said shooting of the film was done and completed within the month of June last.
Exhilarated by the response of the people to his first work after a decade, Wungkathing said that he now wants to make a Manipuri film which can reach out to a wider audience.
43-year of age now, Wungkathing’s foray into film making goes back to 1990 and since then he directed/produced over 20 films. Some of his films like ‘My last day at Ukhrul’, ‘Imphal Turel Mapanda’, Khipawui Khayon, etc, have won many awards including Best Jury Award, Best Story, Best Camera, Tangkhul’s Best film nomination. After 1996, Wungkathing completed dissociated himself from film making until the Black Rose comes his way. 26-year old Ng Horthingchong Nulong, who is being cast as a supporting actor in the film, said that although it was her first film, she would like to act in a Manipuri film in future. Speaking at the occasion of releasing the film, Rajendra stated that if Tangkhul films could reach out to more audience, it would help in better understanding of each other’s culture, language and tradition among the people of State.

Centre should treat Assam floods as natural calamity: AGP

Huge amount has been kept unspent

Guwahati, Sep 11 : Though Assam has been allocated Rs. 210.62 crore under the Calamity Relief Fund for the year 2008-09, the Finance Ministry has not released the first instalment of the central share (Rs. 78.78 crore), due to be released in June, owing to non-submission of an utilisation report by the State government.
This was disclosed in a letter written by Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs V. Radhika Selvi to Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) MP from the Lakhimpur Lok Sabha constituency Arun Kumar Sharma.

The letter was in response to the MP’s letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on June 14.

Ms. Selvi said the State government had been requested to expedite the submission of an utilisation report to the Finance Ministry to enable them to release the said amount. The government had not submitted any memorandum seeking additional assistance from the National Calamity Contingency Fund in the wake of floods during 2008, she pointed out.

Dr. Sharma, who distributed copies of Ms. Selvi’s letter to journalists here on Wednesday, alleged that the letter exposed the Congress-led State government’s indifference to the woes of the flood affected people.

Sufficient funds

The Union Minister also said the State government had sufficient balance from the available funds to meet the cost of flood relief operations.

The funds, according to Accountant General, amounted to Rs. 643.57 crore at the end of 2007-08.

Mr. Sharma and three other AGP MPs – Birendra Prasad Baishya, Kumar Dipak Das and Sarbananda Sonowal – alleged that while the ravaging annual floods had rendered thousands homeless, destroyed cropped land and lakhs of people were crying for relief and rehabilitation, the Tarun Gogoi-led government failed to submit a utilisation certificate and thereby deprived the flood affected people from due central assistance.

They also wanted to know why such a huge amount was kept unspent when thousands of people, displaced due to erosion and staying on embankments for years together, were yet to rehabilitated and not given adequate relief.

The AGP MPs also accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of discriminating the flood affected State people by not announcing any special assistance while promptly announcing special package for the flood affected in Bihar.

They said the Prime Minister should resign as a member of the Rajya Sabha from Assam as he had “failed to respond to the woes of lakhs of flood affected people of the State he represented in Parliament.”

Reacting to an from Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari to MPs to contribute Rs. 10 lakh each from the MP’s Local Area Development Scheme funds for reconstruction projects in flood-hit areas of Bihar, the AGP MPs urged Mr. Chatterjee and Mr. Ansari to issue similar appeal for Assam.

Statewide demonstration

The Assam State Kisan Sabha on Wednesday called for a State-wide farmers’ demonstration on September 16 to highlight a 10-point charter of demands such as declaring Assam’s flood and erosion problem as a national problem, distributing relief materials to the flood-hit families till the harvest of the next crop, desilting the cropped land, giving a compensation of Rs. 1 lakh to those rendered homeless and providing free seeds of Rabi crops by November and jobs to the flood-hit people under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

Shillong, Sep 11 : The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) has urged income tax commissioner H. Raikhan to issue PAN cards only to those applicants who provide necessary documents to prove that they are residents of Meghalaya.

The KSU in a letter addressed to the commissioner recently said there was a trend of issuing PAN cards to people who do not produce any valid documents including photo identity cards.

Imphal, Sep 11 : It was a long day of demonstrations in Imphal.

In one, the children of IRB personnel demonstrated at the gate of the Kangla Fort, three days after their mothers had done the same, to protest against the government’s decision to evict them from the fort.
In the other, students and sportspersons, led by the coordinating committee spearheading the Monika Devi campaign, took out a rally after which the government warned the Centre that the state would burn if the probe into the weightlifter’s case failed to nail the culprits. The failure would be construed as an act of discrimination against people of the state, it added.

The children of IRB personnel demanded an alternative place to stay if they were shifted from Kangla. “We have come from far-off places in the hills. Our village does not have any school. If I go back to my village I would not be able to attend classes. My father is a rifleman and cannot afford to rent a place in Imphal,” T. Haokip from Churachandpur district said.

As part of the security for Ibobi Singh and Raj Bhavan complex, the government has decided to remove the families of the IRB from Kangla seven days after the September 1 attack on the chief minister’s office complex.

Nearly 250 children of IRB personnel live inside the fort and study in Imphal schools. Many of them are from far-off places such as Jiribam, 222km from Imphal.

However, after the quit notice, the government has not made any attempt to forcibly remove the families.

Another protest was organised by the Democratic Students’ Alliance of Manipur, All Manipur Students’ Federation and Manipuri Students’ Federation under the aegis of the coordinating committee.

The committee warned that it would approach international sports organisations seeking justice if the ongoing inquiries failed to book the guilty officials.

It had suspended its decision not to send Manipuri players to national and international games in view of the CBI inquiry and the probe by former Chief Election Commissioner T.S. Krishnamurthy.

Manipur has missed nearly 10 national and zonal meets. The meeting also resolved to move court against the sports officials who had “conspired” against Monika.

Guwahati, Sep 10 : The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has set a 40-day deadline for providing food vouchers to 7,000 Reang tribal children caught in a refugee tussle between Mizoram and Tripura.

A similar timeframe for submitting action taken report has been set vis-à-vis thousands of Adivasi and Muslim children languishing in relief camps in western Assam following ethnic riots in 1996.
A cloud of uncertainty has been hovering above these children ever since 32,000 Reangs or Brus fled ethnic riots in Mizoram in 1997 and took shelter in adjoining Tripura. The Mizoram government’s refusal to accommodate most of these refugees in the electoral rolls – Assembly elections in the State are due in less than a year – has stonewalled Tripura’s repatriation efforts.

“Whether in Assam or Tripura, these children are being denied nutrition, immunization, proper sanitation, health facilities and education. We have asked the governments to appoint nodal officers to specifically look into the children’s woes,” said NCPCR chairperson Shantha Sinha here on Wednesday. Most of the children, she added, were born in the refugee camps and are regarded as “nobody’s babies”.

Led by Sinha, a NCPCR team visited camps of displaced persons in Assam and Tripura from September 5. The Tripura trip followed complaints from the New Delhi-based Asian Indigenous and Tribal Peoples’ Network that 7,000 refugee children were virtually starving after denial of ration cards. Tripura has since re-surveyed the camps and has pledged ration cards by October.

According to senior officials in Agartala, the refugee problem was weighing down heavily on Tripura. “Even intervention from the Union government as well as the National Human Rights Commission has failed to cut any ice,” a senior officer said.

The refugees, housed in six makeshift camps, have refused to budge until they are assured of safety back home in Mizoram. “The Mizoram government has played into the hands of parochial organizations like Young Mizo Association and Mizo Zirlai Pawl who call us outsiders,” said refugee leader Elvis Chorky.

Notably, Mizoram’s stand goes against the Election Commission of India’s guideline for inclusion of the refugees in the voters’ list. Some 18,000 voters living in the camps had earlier been given electoral photo identity cards.

The BBC’s Subir Bhaumik reports from the north-east Indian state of Assam on how thousands of young vigilantes from indigenous communities have been hounding out people they denounce as “illegal migrants” from Bangladesh.

At least 10 Muslims were found dead in various districts of Assam in the last two weeks of August and many more are missing after being kidnapped.
Some Assamese and tribal people have also died in clashes during strikes by minority groups.

Hundreds of Muslims of Bengali origin have been handed over to the police by the vigilantes. The veteran Assamese Communist leader Promode Gogoi has even demanded the setting up of camps to accommodate them.

The Assam government enforced a curfew and imposed shoot-on-sight orders in the violence-hit districts of Udalguri, Sonitpur and Darrang, with the army put on alert.

“The situation is very tense in these areas,” admitted Assam police chief RN Mathur.

‘Law into own hands’


Organisations representing minority groups in Assam, most of whose members are Muslims, held strikes to demand protection, claiming that most of those hounded out are “bonafide Indian nationals”.
“We are against anyone from Bangladesh settling down in Assam, but why should these youth groups take law into their own hands?” asked Badruddin Ajmal, chairman of the United Democratic Front which represents minorities in Assam.

“They are nabbing poor Muslim labourers from various districts and taking them to the police, but most of these are Indian nationals who are being harassed and deprived of their livelihood.”

But youth groups like the All Assam Students Union (AASU) say the government has done nothing so far to check the “illegal infiltration from Bangladesh” and young Assamese are now getting restive.

“Assam’s demography has changed drastically over the decades and most of our border districts have a Bangladeshi majority now,” the AASU’s chief adviser, Samujjal Bhattacharya, argues. “Unless we stop the flow, the Assamese will become foreigners in their own land. We will be reduced to a minority all over Assam.

“Our boys have taken to the streets because the government does nothing, except chase votes,” Mr Bhattacharya alleged.

Motorcycle attacks

Students organisations from tribal groups like the Karbi and the Dimasa have joined six Assamese student-youth groups to hound out the so-called illegal migrants.
From Dibrugarh and Tinsukia in the north to Kokrajhar in the west, supporters of the regional youth groups go round on motorcycles, looking for “Bangladeshis”.

“They enter Muslim settlements and ask for documents. If we cannot produce them, we are beaten up and dragged to police stations, but if we do, the papers are torn to shreds,” said Akhtar Ali, a rickshaw-puller evicted from the northern district of Sibsagar in August.

Tribes like the Bodos and Adivasis (descendants of central Indian tribes brought to Assam by the British to work in the tea gardens) have also joined the anti-migrant drive.

In places like Rowta, former Bodo and Adivasi guerrillas, once sworn enemies, have joined hands to kidnap and kill Muslims.

Some Muslim imams have been kidnapped by the motorcycle gangs.

“Loss of land to Muslim migrants has always been a major issue with the indigenous tribes in these districts and it could spark large-scale violence again,” warns Assamese scholar Uddipana Goswami. “The government has to be very, very careful.”

Hard-hitting judgement
Justice BK Sarmah said illegal Bangladeshis were all over Assam

In 1951, Muslims made up a quarter of Assam’s population. Now the figure is close to one-third.


Nine of Assam’s 27 districts now have Muslim majorities and most of these are migrants of East Bengali origin.

This time, the spark for the Assamese vigilante action came from a hard-hitting judgement by Justice BK Sarmah of the Guwahati High Court in July.

Justice Sarmah ordered the deportation of more than 50 Bangladesh nationals who had “fraudulently acquired” Indian citizenship and had even become voters in Assam.

“It is no longer a secret that illegal Bangladeshis have intruded every nook and corner of Assam, including forest land. They have become kingmakers in Assam,” the judge observed in his verdict, in which he criticised police and civil authorities for inaction.

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi is critical of the verdict because it has sparked an anti-migrant drive that could disturb the state’s fragile law and order.

Mr Gogoi needs the support of both indigenous Assamese and migrants to win most of the state’s 13 seats in next year’s parliamentary elections.

“We will detect and deport all illegal Bangladeshis but nobody should take the law into their own hands. We will not tolerate that either,” Mr Gogoi told the BBC.

But unless Mr Gogoi and his administration act decisively and speedily, some fear that Assam could again slide into chaos and conflict - as it did in the early 1980s, when more than 3,000 people died during an anti-migrant campaign that lasted some six years.

Kohima, Sep 9 : With the relations between India and the US improving, the Northeastern region would receive more help for its rapid development, Deputy Public Affairs Officer in the United States Embassy in New Delhi Elizabeth Thornhill said.

Addressing a press conference here yesterday, Ms Thornhill said as the relations between India and the US were improving gradually, the Northeastern region could expect more help from the US in the near future for its rapid development.
Ms Thornhill is presently in Nagaland on a three-day tour to the state.

She also delivered lectures on elections in the US at the Kohima Law College and met the state Additional Director of Arts and Culture as well as members of the local Rotary Club.

She is scheduled to deliver lectures on the US elections at a private college today and later proceed to Dimapur, where she will meet the members of Dimapur Ladies Club and Dimapur Press Club.

She will deliver lectures at the Patkai Christian College tomorrow from where she will fly back to Kolkata on her way to New Delhi.

Aizawl, Sep 9 : The Mizoram Veterinary Service Association has issued a warning to the State Government, vowing to take their case to the court if their demands for revision of their pay are not settled before the upcoming Assembly elections.

Officials of the MVSA on Saturday had a meeting with the press at the Aizawl Press Club where they stated their resentment over the slow working of the MNF Government in revising their pay, which the members claim is overdue.

The MVSA declared that they should enjoy the same pay as medical doctors as this has been the norm since long.

The discussions in misual.com and elsewhere that have been beating empty vessel after the two unwanted incidents - the killing of a Lusei-speaking Mizo in Manipur’s Churachandpur and the ambush - that involves the HPC(D) have stirred the Hmar-Mizo question to a disgusting extent.

As a human being I loathed bloodshed and violence and if such behaviour could be transferred, one should as a human being exile oneself from such conduct. However, in the course of our discourse, a constructive inculcation of reason is the need of the hour when emotions blindly hit the alarm that are attached to the vessel. It could injure more when the tongue does not wag in accordance with reason. It makes much noise, the odd notes, which I am already tired of, from the very fact of me being a member of Hmar as well as Mizo.

From the various comments that also reflect the ignorance of the collectivity, who are again proud members of Mizo, there arises a serious problem of one’s understanding of the Hmar identity and its relation and interrelation with the diverse Mizo identity. Out of these comments, I strongly sensed the omission of the historical construction of Mizo identity and Mizoram, where the significance of the Hmar people is seemingly shelved.
There are also visible unhealthy presumption of some, of Hmar as something outside the Mizo identity. This should end for good. We are suffering a Mizo blindness, which made us poor reactors where we allow ourselves to divorce our reason from all our other senses that eventually paralysed our ability to harmonise the being and identity within ourselves. As much as the need for no insistence to submit Hmar as Mizo, I find no meaning for any Mizo to outside Hmar from Mizo just because an armed group bearing Hmar happens to act within the State boundary of Mizoram. If, supposing, every member of Hmar is counted as member of HPC (D), then, majority of the Mizos in Mizoram would be a potential member of that group from the very fact of them being a Hmar, as the population of Hmar in Mizoram is the highest, if compared to the various other tribes - Ralte, Lai, Paite, Sailo, et al. My point is that collectivising Hmars for any deed of one group or party is a blunder, which should not be digested at any point of time. Moreover it itself is negating Mizo, which means negating oneself to include oneself. And if anyone thinks that exercising Mizo identity would go down well by poking and pricking Hmar, I could not think of any worse design that would fragment the house in shamble. Worst, it is ignorance seeking a sealed valve for an exit by employing the blurry headlight of emotion. The same headlight has been instrumented by the armed MNF in their glorious days, but to include only small sections of the Mizo nation within a boundary called Mizoram; and that resulted in people from Mizoram carrying Mizo tribe certificate, which belittle us as a people; for Mizo is not just a mere tribe.

As I went through the posted comments, I was reminded of Foucault’s mistake to acknowledge about the unequal complementarity of doer and done to in the homoerotic practices that once were occupied their discourse. There are too many amongst us who also committed the same mistake, which is, but, serious. One reason is because our faculties are not rooted to our history. Even if we look at the current history, it is evident that from the first tribal IAS officer, who is a Hmar Mizo to the first Cabinet Minister in undivided Assam (A Thanglura), to the martyrs and heroes of MNF cadres to who’s who in Mizoram today, who would dare to ignore the Hmars from Mizo? The Mizo Union movement that started in 1946 was led by Hmar Mizo like Pachhunga, HK Bawichhuaka, et al. The same movement spreaded to Manipur with the Hmars taking the lead and resulted in the first Manipur Mizo Union General Assembly in Pherzawl, a Hmar village. In the interest of the Mizo Union movement, it was the Hmars who boycotted the first election in Manipur in 1948. But when Mizoram was conceived, self serving Mizo leaders failed to even look beyond Tuivai and Tuiruong (Tipaimukh) rivers. History has a clean record of who the blunders were. Who the blunder would dare to be Brutus again? Forgetting the Hmars or even trying to do that in Mizoram would be as much as a vain attempt to rewrite the New Testament of the Bible without Jesus.
It would be easy to mistake the Hmar people as different or indifferent as they are divided by five state boundaries in the North East itself. Besides, their ability as a people, to preserve and still used Hmar as a spoken/written language seems to have marked them out as different from what is conceived as “Mizo” in Mizoram. Language has acted as a potent marker for identifying identities. This must be one reason why the use of Hmar language was not, to put it softly, encouraged for preaching, composing, teaching, singing, when Christianity was taking its roots in its early phase in the Lushai Hills. It is interesting to note that Hmar composers, pastors, and preachers, then, asserted about the need to worship and praise God in their own language. That was when , when Hmar dialect was finding its place, many of the equally rich Mizo dialects/languages met their early death. Again, it is interesting to know that Thiek/Thiak dialect is still popular and widely used in Assam’s NC Hills. So, to carve a Mizo identity out of the many languages and dialects that it has today, would only end up with othering our own selves. Or are we already witnessing the process of othering ourselves from what is visible with people from Mizoram. But Mizoram is not a village, or is it? I think the imagination of who a Mizo is from the clogged door and window of Mizoram did not leave any space for our diversity to sink in. When we could understand and accept the multiplying and equally diverse Christian denominations/cult in Mizoram, I wonder why we allow to failed our imagination to go beyond the limit that we have set for ourselves.

We ought to understand the existence of a people fragmented by more than four State boundaries and their quest for belongingness. Today those boundaries have come to dictate who an insider and outsider is. This itself tends to act against the Mizo identity, which is in the nation making process. Or should we say a notion in the making process. Whatever it is, reminding ourselves the process that we are inevitably into would enlighten us about the need to inculcate reason as we intervene with our free expression. With our firm attachment to these man-made boundaries, who a Mizo is should not be let too loose to get lost in definition or translation. The sanctity of these boundaries cannot be interpreted when it comes to identifying a Mizo; for a Mizo is not holed up in a village with narrow wall.

Today, it is unfortunate that State boundaries have acted to distance or border us. However strong that forces might be, they should not be given a space to pollute the identity that is undergoing its courses of change.

Did anyone remember that during the HPC movement in the early ’90s, it was the Government of Mizoram who stirred, funded and armed a band of innocent Hmar boys and sent them to Manipur’s Churachandpur district to play the eye for an eye game. The leader of the armed group himself was Lalchung Buhril from the Thiek/Thiak clan. I remember those were bloody days. Did anyone care that it was let loose by the State itself? Who, from Mizoram, at that time, raise a voice to condemn the State government from spreading the fire? Not even the Press or the reverred Church. Today as we celebrate the blame game, the same Leviathan has not yet shed its dirty linen. Everyone knows that it is the same old man at work, which is why we should never overlook the reality that we are already digressing from. While we are a witness to the return of the Frankenstein monster we must not be robbed of our faculties. Conceiving things indifferently from what they really are would not even serve the blown out emotions that we fervently nurse. We are all victims of the unholy design that was set against us.

Silchar, Sep 8 : A disagreement between two groups over the construction of a building on a mosque land led to a free-for-all at Nilambazar town in Karimganj last night, forcing police to fire in the air and send patrol teams to pre-empt further clashes.

Though there were no reports of unrest this morning, personnel from the Assam armed police and 15 India Reserve Battalion continued to patrol National Highway 44, which cuts through the town on the Indo-Bangladesh border.
Karimganj deputy commissioner Bhupendra Sharma said trouble began when two groups began attacking each other with sharp weapons following a quarrel over construction of a building on a plot adjoining the central mosque in the town.

The clash soon spilled into a nearby market, with a group vandalising a number of shops.

At least eight shops were damaged in the three-hour rampage.

A police team rushed to the market and fired three rounds in the air to disperse the mob.

A group, however, began chasing the policemen, injuring two of them.

The injured policemen were rushed to Silchar Medical College Hospital and Nilambazar Hospital.

Sharma, accompanied by additional superintendent of police Hemanta Kumar Das reached the spot soon after.

The deputy commissioner said he would call a peace meeting with important citizens and religious leaders in the evening.

He said the police had been asked to file a report, on the basis of which an FIR would be lodged.

Arrests would subsequently be made as a precautionary measure.

Imphal, Sep 8 : In spite of the Manipur Government signing suspension of operation orders with different militant groups in the state, underground groups continue to harass common people. Besides, there are reports of an assassination bid on the life of State Chief Minister Ibobi Singh.

The latest victims are the staff and officials of the agricultural department in the state. The abduction of one of the officers has spread panic and led to protests against militant groups.
M. Norendro Singh, the abducted assistant agriculture official is the only earning member in his family and the threat to his life is a threat to six other members of his family. Fear and a sense of anxiety is visible in the family of the abducted official of the agriculture department. They wonder why militants target the common people and take them captive when they talk about being concerned about the people.

“He is the one who runs the family, looks after the children’s education and takes care of all the problems in the family. It would be very difficult for us if he is not there as we will not have the strength to live on,” said M.Rita Devi, wife of Norendro Singh

L. Pashot Devi, a local resident, while emphasizing that the people want peace in the society said, “There is no peace in the society. We don’t know if our kidnapped sons will return to us. These things have happened not only in my family but with many others also. Many people have faced such troubles and difficulties earlier also. It is my request that such problems should be immediately solved so that the civilians can live in peace.”

R.K. Nayasana Devi, Director of the state’s agriculture department said, “This will effect us, not directly but indirectly to the farmers and in the way to production of the food grains, purchase of essential commodities for our livelihood. So, in some four to five years, I am sure that these conditions would lead to famine in Manipur.”

If people are the at the receiving end of militants, so is the state’s authority that is proved by an assassination bid on the life of the state Chief Minister Ibobi Singh recently.

According to police reports a bomb fired by suspected militants exploded outside his official residential complex. The attack is supposed to be a desperate reaction
from some of the militant outfits, which are feeling the heat of heightened action against them by the state police.

In reaction to the kidnapping, people and officials of the agricultural department held a sit in protest.

With Manipur trying to increase the land available for agriculture and ensure food supply to all the parts of the state, the kidnapping of the staff by the militant groups has sent a wave of panic among the workers. They have been wondering as to how they can work freely and discharge their duties in such an atmosphere.

Agartala, Sep 8 : Following the complains of Asian Indigenous and Tribal People`s Network (AITPN) of not including 7000 children living in Bru refugee camps of North Tripura, a team of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights(NCPCR) conducted public hearing in the area today.

Official sources said NCPCR team arrived here last evening on a three day visit.
A meeting is scheduled to be held tomorrow between them, Chief Secretary and other top officials of the state, sources informed.

Meanwhile AITPN officials told UNI that it had conducted survey on Bru internally displaced families and found that more than 94 percent of the camp inmates have documents issued by the authorities of Mizoram to prove their bonafide residence of Mizoram.

”We placed the record before the Supreme Court but neither Tripura nor central government ever attempted to verify the bonafide of the Brus to counter the lies of the Mizoram government”, Santosh Chakma, legal officer of the AITPN pointed out.

Criticising Zoramthanga government, he underlined that Bru families had been forced to leave their home and hearths following communal clashes in 1997 and it was established that the backward Bru tribes were physically tortured by the Mizo tribals and had evicted them from their ancestral home.

Despite persuasions, central government failed to accord approval for inclusion of 1514 children in the ration cards even after the recommendation of Tripura government way back in 2004, he alleged.

About 31,000 Bru families had to leave their homes in Mizoram following ethnic clashes in 1997 and took shelter in Tripura’s Kanchanpur subdivision.

Aizawl, Sep 8 : Although Mizo women have commanded dominance at the workplace, their presence in the state Legislature is still almost a nil during the past twenty years.

In a ‘gung ho’ gesture, the newly-formed Women Welfare Front(WWF) has rolled up its sleeves to wrestle for female candidates in the upcoming Assembly polls slated for November.
Constituted by the women members of the village councils (local administration) across the state, the WWF has urged all the political parties in the state to field as many women candidates as possible for the 2008 elections. And the orutfit will go all out to ensure that the fairer sex favours female candidates in the polls.

”No home is complete without a woman, so is the state Assembly House. As much as we need women in our homes, we need them in the Assembly,” WWF secretary Darhmingthangi said yesterday.

The WWF has met all political party leaders, except those of the ruling Mizo National Front, and garnered positive responses from them.

”Chief Minister and MNF president Zoramthanga was not available on the day we tried to meet him. We will meet him in a few days,” Ms Darhmingthangi said.

”We have a number of highly qualified women in our society.

Despite the fact that Mizo women contribute immensely to the state’s economy, we are deprived of opportunities when it comes to politics.

At least ten seats must be reserved for women,” Ms Darhmingthangi felt.

The state’s largest women’s body Mizo Hmeichhe Insuihkhawm Pawl (MHIP) also extended full support to the WWF agenda.

”There are large number of female MLAs in other states and also several women members in Parliament. Mizo women are in no way inferior to their counterparts. It is high time for Mizo women to participate in the state administration,” MHIP president Rozami told UNI here yesterday.

At present, there are about 43 female members in the village councils across the state.

Ever since Mizoram attained statehood in 1972, there have been only three women MLAs in - Thanmawii (1978), K Thansiami (1979) and Lalhlimpuii (1987).

Imphal, Sep 8 : The Union ministry of home affairs, MHA allotted 7003 arms of different model and bombs along with ammunitions and accessories to the Manipur police for current fiscal year 2008-09 under modernization of police forces even as a total of 1383 arms of different brands along with ammunitions and magazines are in the DG-Pool of the state police department as reserved.

A well placed official source said that these arms and ammunitions were received by the state police department under the government of India funded modernization of the state police forces scheme and the state authorities are also in the process of procuring another huge consignment of these weapons allotted under the same scheme last year.
Under the same scheme a total of 554 vehicles of different make had been allotted to the Manipur Rifles, IRB units and district police as per requirement on priority basis and another 98 numbers of vehicles of different make are being received to meet the current shortage of vehicles.

The state police department is currently facing shortage of 51 percent vehicles for use in maintaining law and order of the state. Out of the total 1382 arms in the DG Pool as per the source, 1114 are 7.62 mm SLR IAI, 100 are AK-47 rifles, 168 are 5.62 SLR with 2557 magazines of the 7.56 mm SLR, 2310 magazines of AK-47 and 1000 magazine of 5.56 LMG.

Of the total number of ammunitions 36,1,850 rounds are 6.56 CTN, 660011 rounds are cartridge 7.62×39 mm, 43,0,830 rounds are 7.62 mm CTN. Apart from these there are 321003 numbers of 7.62 mm BDR ammunitions, three numbers of .38 special cartridge and 3177 numbers of 51 mm Mortar HE bomb in the DG Pool, the source said.
Further, the state home department has already paid for procurement of 2000 numbers of 7.62 SLR rifles along with 1320 magazines, 54 numbers of equipments of 51 mm mortar E-4, 82,500 rounds of cartridge 7.62 mm ball BDR, 1,70,280 cartridge 7.62 mm CTN, 12828 rounds of 9 mm cartridges, 4944 rounds of 7.62 mm cartridge, 3708 numbers of rifle grenade HE 36, 641 bomb 51 mm MOR ILLG, 1442 bombs 51 mm HE, 221142 MC 9 mm IAI cartridge, 480 number each of carbine MC 9 mm IAI, SQAI insp charge and sling for carbine, 1440 numbers of magazines, 48 numbers of chest for carbine, 12,150 numbers of magazine 2A (SLR Mag), 413820 rounds of 7.62 mm ball BDR, 306 numbers of 5.56 mm excaliber, 54 numbers of projector grenade and 5760 of 9 mm carbine.

The arms and ammunitions are to be procured from the different ordnance factories and the same will be lifted soon as the factories intimated the state authorities, the source added.

Apart from this MHA has also allotted a total of 7003 arms and bombs along with huge quantity of ammunitions of different kinds to the Manipur police department for the year 2008-09, said the source adding that funds for procurement of the allotted arms and ammunitions have also been made available by the state government.

The allotted arms included 72 numbers of 51mm mortar E-1 with CES, 315 LMG 5.56 mm INSAS along with 12060 magazines, 546 numbers of 7.62 mm SLR IAI, 194549 numbers of 5.56 mm CTN, 4070 numbers of 51 mm mortar HE bomb, 500 numbers each of 51 mm mortar illuminating bomb, 51 mm mortar red bomb and 51 mm mortar smoke bomb, 62169 7.62 mm CTN cartridge and 10712 magazines of 7.62 mm SLR.

The state police department has put up a list of the projected arms and ammunitions meant for 4th and 7th IRB personnel to the MHA for sanction, the source said.
The arms projected include 118 of 9 mm pistols (59 each for each battalions), 236 magazines (118 each), 320 SM carbine 9 mm (160 each) with 3840 magazines (1920 each), 1350 (675 each) 7.62 mm SLR IAI with 8100 magazines (4050 each), 36 (18 each) 7.62 mm LMG/INSAS LMG with 864 magazines (432 each), 36 (18 each) 7.62 mm SLR with grenade projector and another 36 (18 each) of 51 mm mortar.

The projected quantity of ammunitions were 8732 (4366 each cartridge of SA 9 mm ball, 222750 (111375 each ) 7.62 mm BDR cartridge, 25992 (12996 each) cartridge of 5.56 mm CTN, 756 (378 each) rifle grenade (SLR) with 7sec detonator, 3296 (1648 each) 7.62 mm ballistic/ND cartridges, 2628 (1314 each) of 51 mm mortar HE bomb, 1224 (612 each) of 51 mm mortar smoke bomb, 576 (288 each) each of 51 mm mortar green, red and mortar para illuminating bombs.

Meanwhile, from April 2007 till date, police department has procured 554 vehicles of different kinds to meet the shortage of vehicles in the state police force units and district police.

However, the police department still have 51 percent shortage of vehicles affecting the mobility of the force adversely, the source observed. The procured vehicles include five Bolero, 14 NBP Tata 407, 224 motor cycles, 241 BP Gypsy, seven BP Gypsy, two anti-riot vehicles, three ambulance, nine water tanker, four prisoners van and 45 Tata 207 (DI).

Another 98 numbers of vehicles of different make are being received under the scheme for modernization of state police force and are in the pipe line.
The procured vehicles have been distributed in the different units of the Manipur Rifles and district police.

The vehicles includes 30 BP Mahindra Rakshak, 46 NBP Gypsy, NBP Tata 407, two each of ambulance, Tata 1613/TC and motorcycles

Shillong, Sep 8 : Cleanliness is next to godliness. For Danzil Adrian Mark Kahit and Nada D. Wanbah of St Anthony’s Higher Secondary School in Shillong, the true meaning of the phrase, however, has not come from their textbooks but a trip to Thailand.

Sponsored by the Thai government for a familiarisation trip after being nominated by the Industries and Trade Fair Association of Assam (ITFAA), the duo were the first students to visit the Southeast Asian hotspot on an “official invitation”. The association is the organiser of the carnival.

“If there is anything we the people of the state and the entire Northeast can learn from the people of Thailand, it is cleanliness. The roads, streets, houses and the parks are sparkling clean. That is amazing given the sheer number of people in Thailand,” Kahit today said.

They have recently returned to Shillong.
As the chosen cultural ambassadors, the two students will impart lessons to the people on cleanliness at the International Shillong Shopping Carnival under way by giving tips on how not to deface public places.

The Industries and Trade Fair Association of Assam, had nominated the two students for the trip after consultation with the local dorbar (traditional institution), a spokesperson for the association said.

He added the “trip was aimed at strengthening the bonds between the Northeast and Thailand and youngsters have a natural ability to pick up ideas”.

Though the visit of the students was part of an educational tour, they also had a familiarisation at an international cooking school known as Suan Dusit International Cooking School.

“The cooks there taught us how to cook Thai food and it was a good experience. There are many things in common in our food habits which include their preference for traditional boiled or steamed dishes,” Wanbah added.

The students were impressed by the ardent belief of the people in their religion, tradition and culture “which needs to be followed by the people of the Northeast. We are becoming too western”, said the two students who spent a week in Thailand.

Mark said the places they visited include Bangkok, Chitralada and Ayutthaya. At Chitralada, the students were amazed by the thriving cottage industries set up at the project site of Doitung. The project was introduced by the Queen of Thailand to provide employment opportunities to the youths and wean them away from opium.

They will share their experience with the 50 artisans of the Northeast who are taking part in the carnival.

Agartala, Sep 8 : Resentment is brewing in six Bru refugee camps in Kanchanpur subdivision due to non-inclusion of over 7,000 children in the ration cards.

A survey conducted by Asian Indigenous and Tribal Peoples’ Network (AITPN) on Bru internally displaced families of Mizoram has found that more than 94 per cent of the camp inmates have documents issued by authorities of Mizoram to prove their bonafide residence in Mizoram.These have been placed on record before the Supreme Court by AITPN but neither the Tripura nor the Central Government had ever attempted to verify the bonafide of the Brus to counter the lies of the Mizoram Government.

The Central Government even failed to accord approval for inclusion of 1,514 children in the ration cards despite recommendation by Tripura Government way back in 2004.

As no approval has been received for inclusion and no survey has been conducted since 2004, no new-born baby has been included for access to food rations and other basic assistance and the other family members have to share their allocated food.

The alleged step-motherly attitude towards genuine citizens has sparked widespread resentment among the refugees, according to Santosh Chakma, Legal Officer of the AITPN.

Alarmed by the ‘development’, a six-member team of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCER) will visit six Reang refugee camps in Kanchanpur subdivision on Monday to hold public hearing over the continuous problem.

After conducting hearing, the team will return to Agartala to hold meeting with State Government officials on September 9, said Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Narayan Debbarma over telephone from Kanchanpur.

The AITPN welcomed the move of the NCPCER to the Bru Internally Displaced Persons’ camps located in Kanchanpur Sub-Division in North district of Tripura from September 7 to 9, he said.

“The Commission is visiting the camps following the complaint of AITPN that over 7,000 Bru children have not been included in the cards for access to ration,” he said.

It is worthy to mention that about 31,000 Bru families had to leave their homes in Mizoram following ethnic clashes in 1997 and took shelter in Tripura’s Kanchanpur subdivision.

Aizawl, Sep 7 : Mizoram capital Aizawl got its first independent FM station on 15 August. Named ‘Zoawi‘(meaning celebrating Aizawl), the station, launched by Prasar Bharati, is positioned ‘for the masses’. This is the second time Mizos get to sample FM, as AIR has been running Lunglei, which airs All India Radio content in the FM band in the city of Lunglei.

‘Zoawi’ will operate only for five hours a day, from 5 pm to 10 pm. The FM station has been made operational using a 3×2 KW old transmitter which was lying unused, say sources. RJs from Mizoram’s main AIR station have been roped in to service the new radio station as well. The AIR main station was set up on year 1966.
Commenting on the public response, AIR’s deputy director of north east region 2, C Lalrosanga said, “People here are very open to a medium like radio. We have received good response from our audience and advertisers as we are the only FM station functioning here. As a medium, we want to do more than just keep it as an entertainment segment in the society.”

The station plays English, Hindi, western and Mizo music for its listeners. The library of the station consists of its own old stock of recordings, new recordings and regional music. The station also telecasts 10 minutes of news at 6.30 pm, sourced from AIR’s main station of Aizawl.

The programming format on the station only changes on Sunday when the station plays devotional songs, as a majority of Mizos visit the church on the day.

According to Lalrosanga, the tiny hilltown state, with a population of less than one million, is full of talent and finding talent for the station for the station would not be a problem. Nor is power supply a problem, since Mizoram is exempt from the power cuts that plague other north eastern states.

The State’s AIDS control society will be the first advertiser on the FM station. The station plans to broadcast for 24 hours a day after a proper infrastructure set up.

Karimganj, Sep 7 : At least 15 people have been injured when police here opened fire to quell a clash between two groups in the district, police said today.

A clash took place late last night at Neelambazaar, 15 km from here, over a land dispute, police said.
Police first fired tear gas shells and then were forced to open fire as some indulged in stone pelting injuring one police official, they said.

The injured were rushed to the civil hospital at the district and at Neelambazaar.

The situation has been brought under control, a senior police officer said.

Maligaon, Sep 7 : The Northeast Frontier Railway will run a total of 29 pairs of Puja specials from September 28 to November 2. Five pairs each will run between Guwahati and Calcutta and between New Cooch Behar and Sealdah. Ten pairs of trains will run between New Jalpaiguri and Sealdah and also between New Jalpaiguri and Howrah.

Four pairs of trains will be run between New Jalpaiguri and Howrah. All these trains will be run as superfast Puja specials, according to a North East Frontier Railway press release.
The 0218 Guwahati-Calcutta Superfast Puja trains will leave Guwahati at 9pm every Sunday and Thursday from September 28 to October 12. The trains will reach Calcutta the next day at 3pm. The 0217 Up Calcutta-Guwahati Superfast Puja special will leave Calcutta at 9.40pm every Monday and Friday from September 29 to October 13. It will reach Guwahati at 3.40pm the next day.

The 0204 Down New Jalpaiguri-Sealdah superfast Puja special will start from New Jalpaiguri at 10am every Thursday from October 2 to 30 and reach Sealdah at 7.40pm the same day. The 0203 Up Sealdah-New Jalpaiguri special will start from Sealdah at 9.05am every Sunday from October 5 to November 2 and reach New Jalpaiguri at 6.50pm the same day.

The 0244 Down New Jalpaiguri-Sealdah weekly superfast special will start from New Jalpaiguri at 6.50 pm every Wednesday from October 1 to October 29 and reach Sealdah at 5.15am. On return journey, the 0243 up Sealdah-New Jalpaiguri weekly superfast special will start from Sealdah at 11.40pm every Thu-rsday from September 30 to October 28 and reach New Jalpaiguri at 10am the next day.

The 0204A Down New Cooch Behar-Sealdah superfast special will start from New Cooch Behar at 7.20am every Saturday from October 4. The 0203A Up Sealdah-New Coochbehar superfast special will start from Sealdah at 9.05am every Friday from October 3.

The 0258 Down New Jalpaiguri-Howrah weekly superfast special will start from New Jalpaiguri at 6.50pm every Sunday from October 5 to October 26 and arrive at Ho-wrah at 4.50am the next morning. The 0257 Up Howrah-New Jalpaiguri weekly superfast special will start from Howrah at 11.55pm from October 4.

AC special: The 0358A Down New Jalpaiguri-Howrah weekly air-conditioned superfast, running with Rajdhani Express rake, will start from New Jalpaiguri at 6.50pm every Friday from October 3.

Guwahati, Sep 6 : The flood in Assam has affected as many as 12 lakh people, out of which, around 17 have died.

However, for most it is a fight for survival they are getting used to in the absence of any real administrative response. The only good news is the level of water in the major rivers is falling.
Though Bihar’s devastating flood is almost unprecedented, the situation in Assam is also very grave. National Highway 31, the main road link between the Northeast and the rest of the country, was snapped last Sunday.

Several areas in the state are reeling under the flood fury. But the difference is that due to the recurrence of flood, the people have learnt how to cope with the water. They are the ‘river-people’.

“We grew up with flood so we know how to live with it,” said a local resident.

It is the third wave of flood in the state and it has been the most devastating. Majuli River Island is the worst hit. Close to Majuli, Dhakuakhana in Lakhimpur is also severely affected. As much as 18 districts across the state are coping with the disaster.

Assam Disaster Management may be grossly inadequate, but the people here have adopted disaster preparedness.

A lady alone manages a family of eleven without any government aid even after her home has been washed away.

“I have received nothing, kerosene or food. But we manage,” said the lady.

G
uwahati, Sep 6 : Assam Police has sought the assistance of its Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to help in tracking an e-mail address, purportedly belonging to a militant outfit that has been issuing threats to the life of North East Students’ Organisation (NESO) advisor Artex Simre. The e-mail, which was sent to the NESO advisor recently, according to police, was sent from Dhaka but the identity of the group or the person has not been confirmed as yet.

High-level police sources in the police department, while confirming about the incident, informed that a team of Assam Police has been asked to work on the case.
However, the sources refused to divulge anything more about the case, saying, “it would be too premature to state any thing as we are combing for specific clues’.

“As the cyber crime cases of Assam Police is looked after by the CID, we have sought their assistance,” the sources pointed out.

Artex Simre, when contacted, though confirmed receiving the e-mail, however, refused to elaborate further.

The Assam Police sources further pointed out that a list of suspects has been prepared by the department and all the precautionary measures in this connection has been taken to ensure safety.

Asked whether the department has tried to established contacts with the Dhaka police in this regard, the sources divulged that they are going about it in a planned manner and if required the law-enforcing agencies in Bangladesh would be contacted.

It needs mention her that this is not the first instance of e-mail threat in the State. An explosion threat was served to the city-based Vodafone office a few months back by an unidentified person.

Aizawl, Sep 5 : Security forces in Mizoram have stepped up operations after a little known tribal rebel group killed four policemen in an ambush earlier this week, fuelling fears of militant activities beginning to take roots in the northeastern state after over two decades of absolute peace in the region.

A police spokesman said rebels of the Hmar People’s Convention (Democratic) (HPC-D) gunned down four security personnel, including a sub-inspector of Mizoram Armed Police (MAP) in Kolasib Tuesday.
‘About 13 MAP personnel were on their way to Saipum carrying monthly salaries and rations for their colleagues guarding the Serlui hydel power complex when they came under attack. Four policemen died on the spot and three were injured,’ said L.T. Hrangchal, Aizawl district superintendent of police.

Saipum is about 145 km north of state capital Aizawl.

HPC(D) has threatened more such attacks and create violence in the state, bordering Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Political reasons were behind the ambush and we warn the Mizoram government that it was only the beginning, HPC(D) said in a statement.

We express our deep sympathies to the police personnel who died due to our political cause for which the Mizoram government was responsible, said the statement signed by HPC(D) information secretary David L. Hmar.

In view of the Tuesday’s militants’ attack, we have alerted all the police stations in the state’s southern and northern region and asked the security forces to maintain maximum vigil, said C. Ropianga, Mizoram home secretary.

HPC (D) is a breakaway faction of the Hmar People’s Convention (HPC), which came into existence in 1986 spearheading a movement for the right to self-determination in the north and northeast of Mizoram.

At the initiative of then Mizoram governor Swaraj Kaushal, nine rounds of talks were held after which a Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) was signed between the Mizoram government and the HPC July 27, 1994, for establishing the ‘Sinlung Hills Development Council’. Later 308 HPC guerrillas surrendered to the government.

However, disappointed with the implementation process of the accord, a section of the cadres parted ways with the HPC, now a over ground political organization, and formed the HPC(D) in 1995.

It may be mentioned that Mizoram was free from all insurgencies since 1986 after the Mizo National Front signed an accord with New Delhi, putting an end to 20 years of bush war in the state. The MNF is now ruling the state.

IMPHAL, Sep 5 : In an apparent reprieve for the peo- ple of Malom and Tulihal areas, Chief Minister O Ibobi has assured the JAC Against the Land Acquisition for Expansion of Tulihal Airport that the expansion plan will be reviewed by an expert committee.
The Chief Minister gave the assurance during a meeting held at his office with members of the JAC today.
Briefing newsmen after the meeting with the Chief Minister JAC president K Nilachandra said that when the Chief Minister was asked about the terms and conditions under which the expert committee will review the plan, Education Minister L Jayentakumar on behalf of the Chief Minister said that necessary details would be given through the local MLA to the JAC.
The local MLA RK Anand of Naoriya Pa-khanglakpa AC also par- ticipated in the meeting.
To discuss the assurance of the Chief Minister and the new development a meeting has been convened by the Joint Committee of the JAC and other civil society organi-sations on Sunday.
If the Government delays in constituting the said expert review committee, then the JAC would go ahead with its agitation, said Nilachandra. “This was made clear to the CM during the meeting,” he added.
The Government had on August 23 published a notification for the process of land acquisition for the expansion of the airport under Section 4 and 5 of the Land Acquisition Act. A one month’s time was given to lodge complaints, if any.
To protest the notification issued by the Govern- ment the JAC started blocking Tiddim line and Mayai Lambi from August 24.
Seven persons were picked up by the police for protesting against the decision of the Government.
This prompted the local MLA RK Anand to get into the act and he along with the JAC managed to free the seven arrested persons after meeting the Transport Minister.
Since the Chief Minister was in Delhi at that time it was agreed that the JAC would talk to him after he returns and today’s meeting meeting was held as agreed earlier.
During the meeting the JAC also submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister.
The JAC president further said that the people living along the airport area have been suffering a lot due to the continuous expansion of the airport.
From the 1940s, cultivable lands have been acquired, he said and recalled that farm lands and fishing ponds were taken over for the airport expansion in 1950, 1966, 1970 ad 1991.
The Government has now decided to acquire an additional area of 690 acres of land for airport expansion, said Nilachandra. On top of this large tracts of land are being occupied by the Army, CPWD while a large number of Government offices have been built in the areas.
To put across his point more forcefully, Nilachan-dra said
that 80 pc of the 24 lakhs population of the State which has an area of only 22,327 square kilometres are farmers.
Out of the total area of land, the land fit for cultivation is only 80,30,000 hectares and on top of this out of the total cultivable land, 50,00,000 hectares have been submerged by the Loktak Lake.
Citing the examples of Sikkim and Mizoram, the JAC president that the airports in these two States are built atop hills and they are being developed. At Guwahati airport there is only one international flight in a week.
The expert review committee should take all these facts into consideration while reviewing the plan to expand the airport.

Guwahati, Sep 5 : The chairman-cum-managing director of petroleum giant Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) has apologised to the people of Assam on behalf of the company for installation of a rig near Rang Ghar in Sivasagar district.

R.C. Sarma’s apology came during a meeting with Union minister for chemicals and fertilisers B.K. Handique in New Delhi yesterday.
Handique had invited ONGC officials to the capital for a discussion on Rang Ghar, the minister said over phone today.

“When I pointed out to Sarma the ongoing controversy over the issue, he admitted that it was a mistake on the part of the company and he apologised to the people of Assam for the same.”

The apology comes days after an ONGC delegation rushed to Guwahati and met chief minister Tarun Gogoi seeking the government’s help to restart operations in Sivasagar.

The company suffered huge losses when the All Tai Asom Students’ Union called a 100-hour ONGC bandh in Sivasagar.

The district burst into protest after ONGC marked a drilling site within a radius of 125 metres from Rang Ghar, Asia’s oldest amphitheatre, built during the Ahom era.

According to regulations of the Archaeological Survey of India, if any drilling or mining activity is to be carried out within a 300-metre radius of a monument protected by it, it must be approved by the archaeological organisation.

The ONGC said it had acquired the plot near Rang Ghar for drilling in 1984.

The Archaeological Survey of India declared it a national monument only on October 28, 2000.

An official press note issued by the chief minister’s office this evening said: “CMD R.C. Sarma apologised on behalf of the ONGC if the sentiments of the local people are hurt because of the incidents. He also admitted that it was a mistake on the part of the ONGC to start operations there.”

“Actually, the whole issue arose because of some misunderstanding on the part of local officials of the ONGC,” Handique said.

“I also took strong exception to the reported remark of some officials that the ONGC would suspend operations in Assam. But Sarma assured me that there was no such plan,” he added.

The ONGC will offer Rs 1 crore to the chief minister for flood relief, Handique said.

Imphal, Sep 5 : The Hmar People’s Convention (D) in a statement expressed surprise over the intention of Senapati Police in taking up investigation of those who were apprehended by the Army at a check-post in Senapati’s Kotlien village despite the fact that SoO has already been signed, reports our CCPur correspondent.

The driver, handy-man and passengers were traveling by a van on August 27.

The apprehended individuals have nothing to do with the HPC (D), and the material seized from their possession were nothing but a book containing the revolutionary history of the Hmar people, said the outfit that also sought the opinion of the signatories that represented the State Government in this regard.

Agartala, Sep 5 : The CBI is all set to seek help from the Interpol to apprehend 14 more accused persons including kingpin of the fake drafts racket that rattled the Tripura’s banking service about two years back.

Investigation so far revealed that, Kamal Hassan and his thirteen associates – all are citizens of Comilla district in Bangladesh, had distributed fake drafts to their Indian counterparts.
Interpol’s help is must if CBI wants to arrest the fourteen accused criminals staying in Bangladesh, sources said.

Though there is no extradition treaty between India and Bangladesh, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was singed in Dhaka recently to nab criminals from both sides.

A four-member CBI team led by Inspector Sanjoy Sen arrived here on Wednesday to inquire the fake drafts scam. They started investigation on how the Union Bank of India passed fake drafts amounting to Rs. 1.80 crore in 2006. Altogether 59 persons were identified as accused in the fake draft rackets of Alraji Banking Corporation and out of them 14 are from Bangladeshi. As the scam’s root is extended to Bangladesh, the state police authorities have handed over the case to CBI on June 22.

CBI suspects that all the fake drafts were computer generated high-resolution copies of original drafts were sent to Indian racketeers from Bangladesh. Several banks in the state had received 161 fake drafts in 2006. CBI sleuths are likely to visit Sonamura, Kanchanpur, Udaipur and Kailashahar subdivision to collect inputs on the fake drafts scam.

On Monday police arrested two persons from Kailashahar subdivision for possessing fake drafts. Based on specific information, police swung into action and arrested Md. Ambar Ali (45) of Magurali and Md. Kuddus Ali (35) of Kailasahar on Monday.

Aizawl, Sep 5 : Mizoram Home Minister Tawnluia yesterday averred that the government will not spare militants trying to destroy the communal integrity and peace in the State.

The Home Minister talked about the militants who killed four Indian Reserve police personnel and injured three others in an ambush yesterday. The Indian Reserve police personnel were escorting salaries of Serlui B hydel project employees near Saipum under Kolasib district bordering Manipur and Assam when the incident took place. The militants started firing as the police refused to surrender.
Paying tributes to the slain police personnel at IR battalion headquarters at Mualvum, a tearful Tawnluia said, “We salute you for laying down your precious lives for the country. The people of Mizoram is proud of your heroic act.”

Tawnluia further said, “Let this incident give the people of Mizoram a new strength and stronger unity.” After the slain police personnel were accorded a full police honour at Mualvum, their mortal remains were sent to their respective homes.

The funeral was also attended by state DGP Lalrokhuma Pachuau, other police high officials and four MLAs and Home Commissioner C Ropianga. The Governor of Mizoram M M Lakhera has also expressed profound grief over the incident and conveyed heartfelt condolence to the families of the slain police personnel.

Manipur-based Hmar underground outfit is strongly suspected behind the ambush. A Manipur-based Hmar underground outfit is suspected to be behind the ambush that killed four Mizo police in Mizorams Kolasib district yesterday.

“The Hmar Peoples Convention(Democratic) or HPC(D) is suspected behind the ambush even though the outfit is yet to claim responsibility,” a police official told UNI here yesterday.

The number of deaths had earlier been reported as six which was later revised to three. “Even though we are yet to ascertain it, the HPC(D) is our prime suspect. There are no other underground outfits operating in the area,” Mizoram police AIG(I) Zorammawia said.

According to police, there were no casualties on the militants side though exchange of fire took place for several minutes. The Indian Reserve Police personnel were transporting salaries for Serlui B hydel project near Saipum under Kolasib district bordering Manipur and Assam when the incident took place. The ultras started firing as the police refused to surrender. Three Mizo policemen were killed in the firing.

The slain personnel were today accorded police funeral at the IR Mualvum headquarters. It was attended by Home Minister Tawnluia and DGP Lalrokhuma Pachuau. Tawnluia condemned such “brutal act that attempted to destroy peace and tranquility in Mizoram”.

Sanjeev Nanda’s conviction in BMW hit-and-run case under the stringent Section 304 (II) of the IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) rather than 304 (A) IPC (rash and negligence) has sent a much-needed message to those who drink and drive.

Nanda is, however, not the first accused in an accident case to be booked under section of 304, in which the maximum sentence is up to 10 years. This year, the Bombay High Court had convicted Alistair Pereira in a similar case under Section 304 paving the way for other courts in the country to widen the scope of conviction under this Act.



Additional Session Judge Vinod Kumar based his judgment in BMW case on the Pereira case.



In a bout of drink-driving Pereira had crushed seven persons sleeping on in the night on a Mumbai footpath. Judge Kumar has convicted Sanjeev Nanda under Section 304 (II) of IPC.



The Section 304 (II) of the IPC is applied to cases where an accused commits a crime with the knowledge that it is likely to lead to death but without intending to cause death. The Section provides for a maximum prison term of 10 years or fine or both as punishment. Here knowledge is important, knowledge of the fact that one’s action may cause death.



The Bombay High Court had dealt with the aspect of knowledge while hearing the matter of Pareira. “I have pursued Pereira’s case in the Bombay High Court and I am of the opinion that it a treatise on the question as to what constitutes knowledge. In fact each and every sentence of that judgment requires to be quoted here but I refrain from it for the sake of brevity,” Judge Kumar observed for the BMW case.



Simply put, the court has held that Nanda had knowledge of the fact that driving fast while being drunk may cause death. That is exactly what happened on the fateful night when Nanda’s BMW crushed six persons on the pavement near Lodhi Road. That is why he has been held guilty under Section 304 (II) of the IPC which is stringent compared to Section 304 (A).

Another aspect of the judgment is that it may provide a boost to a long-standing demand for amendment in laws regarding cases of drink-driving. According to legal experts, this may be one of the rare cases where Section 304 (II) was used to convict an accused.



Do you think drink-driving laws need an overhaul? And in terms of behaviour patterns, are parents to blame for brats behind wheels?

Guwahati, Sep 4 : The North East India committee on relief and development (NEICORD) has been rendering flood relief in North Lakhimpur, a press release stated.

NEICORD has worked in partnership with the North Bank Baptist Churches’ Association (NBBCA), comprising of flood relief committee members of Lakhimpur Baptist Church Association (LBCA) and other church groups. NEICORD provided funds to procure relief packages for 2000 families in the flood-hit areas. They were distributed on August 21 and 22 as a part of the second phase of relief distribution in this region.
The involvement of local community leaders along with members of North Bank Baptist Churches Association (NBBCA) and Lakhimpur Baptist Church Association (LBCA) were utilised for preparation of the beneficiary lists to ensure that the neediest families in these areas were targeted.

NEICORD is keen on ensuring that the local communities work together in order to achieve further development for the people of the communities.

NEICORD is a non-denominational relief and development organisation that works through local partners throughout North East India to encourage the latter to provide ways for their local communities to develop. It is based in Shillong and works under the guidance of Rev. Dr. HM Songate and a board drawn from key church members from each of the North East states. Rev. Pohor Daimary represents this area as ex-board member, the release added.

Imphal, Sep 4 : As a part of an AIDS awareness programme, a theatre group in Manipur staged street plays to educate the people in the State.

The play titled Lanphamda Lan (War in Warfare) is being performed in literally every nook and corner of the region in an attempt to spread awareness about the deadly disease.
The organizers said that it is important to undertake such activities more frequently in the northeastern states where HIV AIDS is on an increase.

“Manipur AIDS society says that HIV is increasing day-by-day through sexual route in Manipur. So, we are trying to make people aware about condoms in each and every village and city,” said Monica Nameirakpam, one of the organisers.

Artists added that they have staged more than 300 plays in all the nine districts of the state so far. They said that they have managed to generate good response as residents throng in large numbers to watch these plays and even stay back to find more information about the disease.

“This is really good because I am able to learn things which I wouldn’t have got to know otherwise. This play will spread awareness among the youth in particular,” said Thimpku, a villager.

The number of people estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS in India is about.47 million discounting earlier apprehensions that India could have up to five million persons affected by HIV. Recent estimates suggest that the number could be between two to three million.

Agartala, Sep 4 : Assam Rifles (AR) jawans recovered a huge cache of arms from the forest area along Tripura-Assam border in the northern part of the state following which police forces of both the states resumed joint counter-insurgency operations in the entire stretch.

Police said here today that acting on a tip-off AR jawans, along with Tripura and Assam police, launched search operations in Suknacherra forest near Chouribari checkgate on the Assam-Tripura border yesterday.
The security forces recovered five high-powered IEDs, one two-inch mortar, two pistols, a China-made carbine, one prismatic compass, a large quantity of live ammunition and some incriminating documents of the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) and Assam-based DHD(J) outfit.

Police believed that the arms were the leftover arsenals of the NLFT, which was trying to revive itself after a long period of disarray following internal dissension, and the jungles have a locational advantage as they are adjacent to the Indo-Bangladesh border.

”They used it a dumping ground for arms and hideout of NLFT militants who cross over from Bangladesh after receiving training and procuring arms there,” a senior police official said and informed that both the states had already stepped up patrolling along the border.

Imphal, Sep 3 : The Manipur Loumi Lup, an apex body of the farmers of the state, has urged Governor Gurbhachan Jagat to help the farmers by ensuring adequate supply of fertilisers.

General secretary of the organisation H Ibobi Singh said the government should solve the crisis faced by the farmers and proper land reforms should be effected.

”As Manipur is a landlocked state, the agricultural sector is suffering due to frequent landslides on National Highway 39. There is shortage of essential commodities as NH 39 is the only road connecting the state with the rest of the world,” he said.

He also urged the government to ensure availability of seeds, power, irrigation facilities, fertilisers and pesticides for the farmers.

Official sources said the Imphal-Dimapur route on NH 39 had been disrupted following incessant rainfall during the past 48 hours.

The Nagaland government has stopped movement of trucks loaded with more than 15 tonnes and as a result large number of trucks are stranded at Nagaland.

The alternative route NH-53 (Imphal-Jiribam) is also not conducive as the bridges cannot support heavy vehicles.

Kohima, Sep 3 : The Local Commission, constituted by the Supreme Court to settle border dispute between Nagaland and Assam, has asked the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Survey of India to help in tracing the original documents on the border dispute.

Official sources said here today that the representatives of the Nagaland government had informed the Commission in its eighth hearing yesterday at New Delhi that they were not in a position to give the written statement unless the original documents, which were purportedly lost by Assam, were returned.
Following the submission by Nagaland, the Local Commission adjourned the hearing and directed the MHA and Survey of India to help the state trace the original documents.

Meanwhile, October 13 has been fixed for a meeting between MHA, Survey of India and Nagaland government to start the work of salvaging the records.

Several important documents in original, belonging to Nagaland, were earlier submitted to MHA and were later passed on to Assam government, which the latter claimed to have lost, and had admitted the same to the Local Commission during earlier hearings.

Aizawl, Sep 3 : A Manipur-based Hmar underground outfit is suspected to be behind the ambush that killed four Mizo police in Mizoram’s Kolasib district yesterday.

”The Hmar People’s Convention(Democratic) or HPC(D) is suspected behind the ambush even though the outfit is yet to claim responsibility,” a police official told UNI here today.

The number of deaths had earlier been reported as six which was later revised to three.

I MPHAL, Sep 2: In the follow up to last night’s blast security has been intensified in the surroundings of the chief minister’s bungalow with restrictions being put on the movement of night traffic on the main roads on the western and northern sides of the bungalow. The restrictions will be effective from 6 pm in the evening till 7 am the next day for an unspecified period.

Security was tightened Tuesday in Imphal area specially on roads passing near the chief minister’s bungalow after last night’s lethod bomb attack by the proscribed PREPAK.

A lethod bomb exploded inside the compound of the state chief minister’s bungalow last night at around 8.10 pm. No casualties occurred in the blast.

Two high level security meetings were also held today to review the law and order situation in the state with special reference to the militant activities in Imphal municipal area where the disturbed area status in not in force, a highly reliable source said.

The joint director north east charge, SIB, Manmohon also called on the chief minister, O Ibobi Singh today. Sources said that the two discussed intelligence input on the militant activities.

Meanwhile, the police as part of security measures in and around the chief minister’s bungalow stopped vehicles of all kinds from passing through the two main roads on the western and northern side of the residence effective from this evening.

The night restrictions on the movement of vehicles will be effective from 6 pm till 7 am, said an order of the senior SP, Imphal west, L Kailun today.

As per the order no civil vehicle will be allowed to come from the Palace Gate side towards Sanjenthong and NH-39, as they will be diverted towards Minuthong or Thumbuthong.

Civil vehicles coming from Imphal bazar/western gate of Kangla towards the chief minister’s bungalow on the NH-39 will be diverted towards Keishampat bridge at Nityaipat, and no vehicles coming from Keishampat bridge and Jail road shall be allowed to come on NH-39 towards the chief minister’s bungalow, as they will be diverted towards the north on the NH-39.

Civil heavy vehicles coming from the Indo-Myanmar side will be diverted towards Pishumthong from Chingamakhong crossing or towards Keishamthong bridge from Singh & Co Moirangkhom.

Meanwhile, the first high level state security meeting was held this morning around 8.15 am while the second one was held this afternoon around 3.30 pm chaired by the chief minister O Ibobi Singh.

Many cabinet ministers and high ranking state police officers led by the DGP, additional DGP and IGP (Intelligence) and SPs of both Imphal east and Imphal west attended the meeting.

In the meantime, lapses on the part of the security detailed along the stretch from Palace Compound to Raj Bhavan and on the northern side of the chief minister’s bungalow was suggested to be behind the intrusion of the militants and the subsequent attack, sources said.

After observing the spot inside the bungalow premises where the lethod exploded, an official of the state police intelligence said that the only possible way to carry out the attack on the chief minister’s bungalow was from the main road running on the northern side of the bungalow.

Except from this direction, there was no other way which the militants could escape after carrying out the attack, the officer who did not want to be named said.

The said road is one of the main entry points to Imphal city and passes beside the chief minister’s bungalow from Palace Compound on the east and connects to the NH-39 which runs on the western side of the bungalow. This stretch of road also passes through the southern side of the Raj Bhavan and connects to the Tiddim road (NH-150).

Being a sensitive area, armed police personnel are detailed at five points between the stretch from Palace Compound to Keishampat junction which is around 500 metres. Armed police personnel are detailed in front of Palace Compound, Sanjenthong, Nupilal complex, Raj Bhavan gate and at Keishampat Junction round the clock.

However, yesterday no armed police could be seen on duty in front of the Nupilal complex, Raj Bhavan gate and Keishampat before the attack took place, he said.

He also suspected that the attackers may have intruded from the Palace Compound side in a four wheeler and after firing the lethod towards the bungalow, escaped towards the Tiddim road passing through the road in front of the Nupi Lal complex and Raj Bhavan gate.

Mention may be made that around an hour after the blast took place, Aheiba Angom, a spokesperson of the proscribed PREPAK owned up the attack stating that they done it as a warning to the chief minister, O Ibobi Singh to rectify his misdeeds.

Aizawl, Aug 31 : A team of officials from Mizoram will hear petitions of Bru refugees living in relief camps in Tripura today to include their names in Mizoram’s voters list and issue photo identity cards to them.

The team would cover Naisingpara, Asapara, Hamsapara, Khakchangpara, Kaskau and Hazarchhera transit camps in Tripura, the sources said, adding they were expected to complete the exercise by September 2.

Representatives of Election Commission of India would oversee the works of the Mizoram officials on the spot, where those included in the voters’ list of Mizoram would be issued electoral photo identity cards.

Thousands of Bru refugees have been living in six relief camps in North Tripura district since the latter part of 1997 in the wake of Bru militancy against Mizoram Government, forcing them to migrate to the neighbouring state.

Guwahati, Sep 3 : Ripples of unrest at Singur in neighbouring Bengal over land acquisition were felt in Assam with CMO sources today saying that differences over the compensation package between the district administration and joint landowners was holding up the Centre’s flagship East West Corridor project.

“The headache is not as acute as in Bengal, but at the same time, it cannot be wished away. It has to be tackled carefully as the opposition is not against the project per se. In some cases landowners are unhappy with the compensation package — some have taken the compensation, others have not. In other cases, relatives have moved court seeking a pie of the compensation package, thereby delaying the acquisition without which contracts cannot be issued,” the source said.
Though the deadline to complete the acquisition process was June, things have got bogged down because of the deadlock over the compensation package. The packages vary according to the location of the acquired land and range between Rs 50,000 and Rs 90,000 a bigha, sources said.

They said the issue was discussed threadbare with the deputy commissioners of four districts — Nagaon, Morigaon, Bongaigaon and Barpeta — through which the corridor passes at a specially convened meeting by the chief secretary recently.

A separate meeting was also held with officials of security, home department, railway and the National Highway Authority of India on the situation in the volatile North Cachar Hills, where the project has been delayed because of militancy.

“The deputy commissioners were asked to expedite the acquisition of land within this month,” the source said.

That the completion of the project, along with the gauge conversion project in North Cachar Hills, has become a topmost priority of the government became clear from an hourlong meeting convened by Raj Bhavan this afternoon. Sources privy to the deliberations said Governor S.C. Mathur appealed to all stakeholders to complete the project at the earliest.

“The governor was briefed by the chief secretary as well as security personnel about the progress as well as steps being taken to overcome hurdles. The governor said it would be difficult to get additional security personnel from outside the state and efforts have to be made to tide over the problem from the state’s own resources. Representatives of both the NHAI and railways assured us that work would start in full swing from October,” the source said.

The 678km corridor between Srirampur and Silchar passes through Srirampur, Bijni, Nalbari, Guwahati, Sonapur, Nagaon, Doboka, Lumding, Maibong and Silchar.

NHAI sources said only 75 per cent of the land has been handed over to them by Dispur. “Security has been the other problem but Dispur has assured us of all possible help to put the project on the fast track,” the source said.

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.

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.

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.