Wednesday, October 1, 2008

One dead as Hindu-Christian violence flares again in India

B
hubaneshwar, Oct 1 : Fresh violence flared on Tuesday in eastern India between Hindus and Christian

s, leaving at least one person dead and eight wounded in an ongoing religious conflict, an official said.

The violence in Orissa state was the latest in a string of clashes that erupted last month and have left more than 30 people dead and scores of churches destroyed.
“At least one woman died and eight were injured, four critically,” senior district official Hemanta Swain said.

The dead woman was identified as Ramani Nayak, 50, but officials would not disclose her religion.

Meanwhile in India’s capital, a national Christian group called for protection, saying the Church was under attack.

“The feeling of most of our people is that of insecurity because the government has not been able to protect them from atrocities,” said the head of the National United Christian Forum and Archbishop of Delhi, Vincent Concessao.

The latest clash between the Kandh tribals and Christians was in Orissa’s Kandhamal district, which has been at the centre of the ongoing violence.

The unrest came one day after both Hindus and Christians in the state had pledged to keep the peace following appeals by officials.

Recent attacks on Christians in India have drawn condemnation from Pope Benedict and the European Union. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the violence as a “national shame.”

The attacks on churches, prayer halls and Catholic-run schools began following the murder of revered Hindu holy man Swami Laxamananda Saraswati and four of his followers on Aug. 23. The killings remain unsolved.

The Hindu newspaper on Tuesday reported a nun was gang raped and a priest who tried to protect her was badly beaten up in front of police two days after the death of the religious leader.

At the root of the violence are long-standing accusations by hardline Hindus that missionaries bribe poor tribals and low-caste Hindus to convert to Christianity by offering free education and health care.

The Hindu holy man had been associated with a radical group opposed to Hindus converting to Christianity.

Solar, wind energy to light up Railways’ premises



New Delhi, Oct 1 : Aiming at reduction of carbon emission by using clean energy, Indian Railways has embarked upon a renewable energy action plan as part of the national policy to address the impact of climate change.

According to the action plan, all zonal railway offices, divisional headquarters and Railways Ministry headquarters will now have solar power systems to light up the premises.
“The lights at the corridors and control rooms of these offices will draw power from solar panel,” a senior Railway Ministry official said. Solar panels will be installed at 44 divisional railway manager offices, he said.

While solar geysers will be installed at railway hospitals and running rooms at 115 places, solar street light systems are to be provided at all railway training centres across the country. Railway’s Oak Grove School near Nainital will also have solar lights at its campus.

“Solar power is being used at a few level-crossings, but we will now expand the solar network to many more crossings which do not have electricity,” the official said.

Railways is also installing a 10-MW wind-power project near Kanyakumari at an estimated cost of Rs 60 crores.

An average wind speed of 14 miles per hour is required to convert wind energy into electricity. One wind turbine can produce enough electricity to power up to 300 homes.

According to the Kyoto protocol, all governments are required to initiate concrete action to reduce carbon emission to save the climate.

The National Action Plan on Climate Change also focuses on renewable energy to mitigate global warming and reduce greenhouse gas emission.

Railways, which consumes about 2,500 MW electricity per day, spends about Rs 5,500 crores annually for electricity. It has earmarked Rs 28 crores for the solar project, which aims at generating 440 KW per day.

Shillong ‘Go green’




Shillong, Oct 1 : The urgent need for environment sustainability will form the core strategy for businesses to thrive in the State. By giving a green touch to operations, service industries will be able to attract more clients as well as cut down on costs.

This was the main theme discussed at the three-day management workshop on sustainability, which is the first of its kind in the country, organized by Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Shillong.
Speaking on the occasion as the chief guest, CEO of Social Venture Capital Company RG Lyngdoh reiterated the need for such endeavours to be replicated across the country given the understanding that green initiatives can create competitive advantage in business.

Citing examples of rampant environmental degradation in the East Khasi Hills, West Khasi Hills and the Jaintia Hills, Lyngdoh stated: “There is a critical need to inculcate ecological sensitivity in the process of strategizing business operations so that our future generations may still have an opportunity to relish the natural environment that is slowly facing depletion in many areas, thanks to profitable but environmentally insensitive business setups.”
Talking to the media today, president of the Executive Education for the Environment Trudy Heller said that “Businesses will soon die out in the State if they fail to understand and inculcate environment sustainability in their business”, adding “Greening will lead to more profits.”

Heller also elucidated on how at present an increasing number of companies no longer think of environmental performance as just about compliance, but for ways to integrate environmental stewardship into their business strategy, operations and innovative designs.

Stating that the people of Shillong are more concerned and with a sense of urgency regarding environmental issues, the heller said, “This programme has seen more receptivity here than in the United States. People are more ready here to take leadership. US companies have a lot to learn from Shillong.”

Burmese soldier killed; villagers forced to search for lost gun

Falam, Oct 1 : The body of a Burmese soldier, suspected to have been shot dead by smugglers, was found on September 26 in the forest near Leilet village in Falam Township, Chin state in western Burma.

The dead soldier was a Lance Corporal of LIB (228) stationed in Tibual village in Falam Township. He was shot dead while on duty monitoring activities of smugglers and other traders trying to cross the Indo-Burma border to Mizoram state, northeast India, according to villagers from Leilet village.
On September 26, the Lance Corporal along with two soldiers returned to camp after duty in the forests near Leilet village. But, the Lance Corporal returned to where he was on duty to pick up something he left behind, a villager quoted the two soldiers as saying.

Becoming suspicious because he was gone a long time, the two soldiers went to the spot and found him dead.

A medical team from Kalay arrived in Leilet to check the body.

“The doctors said he had a bullet hole in the head and cut marks, possibly made by a knife, on his neck,” a villager said.

The soldier’s gun was missing. It is believed to have been taken by the unknown gunmen.

The soldier’s body is yet to be buried as it needs to be inspected by the tactical commander of Chin state Brigadier Hung Ngai, a Leilet villager said.
On hearing of the soldier’s killing, 90 soldiers from Kalay town arrived in Leilet village to help the army in hunting the unknown gunmen.

No organization has claimed responsibility for the killing of the Burmese soldier as yet.

The soldiers reportedly forced the villagers from Leilet, Singai and Hmawngkawn villages, near the spot of the killing to search for the lost gun “All the villagers were engaged in searching for the gun. We could not do our own work. Some suspicious people were also interrogated,” another villager from Leilet who arrived on the Indo-Burma border area said.

He added that some villagers fled to India in order to avoid torture and interrogation by the ruthless Burmese soldiers.

Some village council members from the three villages were summoned for interrogating the murder.

Leilet village is located on the track that is used by smugglers to cross the porous Indo-Burma border from Chin state to Mizoram state.

Move over cops, public nabs militant in Manipur



Irate public caught and thrashed a militant of Kangleipak Communist Party-City Meitei (KCP-CM) who exploded a powerful grenade at the house of a senior Manipur government official in Imphal east district, official sources said.

Sources said KCP-CM militant M. John (24) along with his accomplice identified as Abinash hurled two grenades at the house of Superintending Engineer (Electricity department).
Khamba at Kongpal area near Imphal on Tuesday night at around 8 pm.

While one grenade exploded in the living room of Khamba, the other did not explode, sources said adding seconds after the explosion irate locals apprehended John while Abinash escaped under cover of darkness.

John was severely beaten up by the local residents before he was handed over to nearby Porompat police station, which later admitted him to J N District Hospital in Imphal, sources said.

Sources said the militant admitted that they carried out the attack on the house of Khamba for non-payment of their monetary demand.

Arunachal asked to submit project utilization certificates

Itanagar, Oct 1 : Union Panchayati Raj Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar has urged the Arunachal Pradesh Government to prepare Utilisation Certificates (UCs) to enable the Centre to release more funds at regular intervals.

During his meeting with Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu on Sunday before leaving for Delhi, Mr Aiyar also asked the State Government to expedite the process of devolution of financial power with functionaries to pave way for effective functioning of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) in the State, official sources said here today.
Besides advising for constituting a state task force committee for power devolution to the PRIs and work on activity mapping, the Union Minister emphasised for sensitisation training programme for PR leaders.

“We should ensure that there is no misuse of funds because of lack of experience by the Panchayat leaders who need training,” he reasoned and advised the chief secretary to immediately convene a meeting of all Deputy Commissioners and Block Development Officers to discuss conducting massive awareness training programmes for the PRIs in their concerned districts. He also assured to depute technical consultants from the Centre for imparting training to PRIs.

One of the issues of concern for Arunachal Pradesh is asset maintenance, the minister pointed out and suggested that the state government should find out ways and means to generate non-plan revenues. He was also of the view that the non-plan revenue may be distributed into three equal shares to the State, the concerned department and the PRI.
While Rs 50 crore was sanctioned under the 12th Finance Commission whose first instalment of Rs 6.8 crore had been released, seven more instalments were in the waiting, which would lapse by March 31, he informed. “You need to expedite the expenditure and submit the UCs at the earliest,” he said. Aiyar urged the state government to create awareness through the PRIs on the Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Yojna, Yuva Shakti Abhiyaan and Yuva Krida Abhiyaan which, which he desired to launch in the coming Buddha Mohatsava at Tawang on November 9.

He also highlighted on rural employment through Khadi and Village Industries Commission and opined for building Panchayat Ghars for which the Centre had already sanctioned funds.

Earlier, the Chief Minister highlighted problems of the state government and briefed the Union Minister about the progress of implementation of the Prime Minister’s package.

State Finance Minister Kalikho Pul urged Aiyar to relax the existing state matching share of 25 per cent to 10 per cent considering the very low outcome of the state exchequer, the sources added.