Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Tripura rubber wood industry providing business opportunities and jobs

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ripura, the second largest rubber-growing State after Kerala, is fast becoming an industrial hub in the Northeast. A rubber wood factory plant was recently set up in Tripura’s Anandanagar area, which is the first in the Northeast and the second largest factory in the country.
Tripura Forest Development and Plantation Corporation (TFDPC), a State Government owned PSU, has commissioned the factory at a cost of more than Rs 6 crore and has created direct employment for over 300 employees besides another 1,500 more who are indirectly involved with it.
“The main objective of setting up of this plant is to utilize rubber logs which are otherwise not good to use as fire wood. After 32 years of giving latex the producing capacity decreases and becomes non economical, so rubber trees being a plantation crop it has to be felled after 32 years and replanted. So theses logs are treated and utilized here,” said Alak Paul, Manager of TFDPC. With an aim to utilize the by-products of rubber plantations, the factory is emphasizing on using waste rubber logs for construction purposes, which has a huge demand in the country.
“More than 300 workers work here and though this plant started more than seven-eight years ago but solid rubber wood board production started recently. This board is entirely made from the wood of rubber trees, which are cut down after the phase of latex production is completed,” said Dulal Das, a worker.
“Today there is huge demand of rubber boards in the domestic as well as in foreign markets like Japan, China and Indonesia. This is the biggest unit in the Northeast and it is totally automatic,” he added.
Around 41,000 hectares of land in the State are used entirely for rubber cultivation and produce 23,000 tones of rubber latex annually. Seeing the success of the TFDPC, several investors have shown interest in investing in Tripura.

Delhi disgraceful for NE girls: Union minister

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wo days after the gruesome murder of a Naga teenager in the national capital, a Union minister from the north-east has lashed out at the attitude of the general Delhiite towards women from the region.

Speaking to Headlines Today, Minister of State for Rural Development Agatha Sangma said incidents of women from the north east being molested in Delhi has been quite rampant. The situation in Delhi has been disgraceful, she said.

"We desperately need a more cooperative police and administration. What is also needed urgently is sensitising of the police so that people from the north east feel a part of the system," the minister said.

The police had discovered partially burnt body of Manipuri girl Ramchanphy Hongray from a south Delhi locality on Sunday.

Prior to that, a 21-year-old girl from Arunachal Pradesh, who studies in Jamia Millia Islamia University, was molested in the classroom of a government school in yet another locality of south Delhi. The girl had entered the school campus to complain against some boys who had allegedly teased her while she was passing by.

IITian who killed girl was a pervert: Cops

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IT scholar Pushpam Kumar Sinha, who allegedly murdered a 19-year-old girl from Manipur, is a "pervert and maniac" suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder, the Delhi Police said on Monday.

"On inspecting Sinha's room, we found articles that point to obsessive-compulsive behaviour. He had drawn suggestive graffiti on the walls. Things in his laptop too gave us clues about his mental state. On reading his diaries, we felt he is a pervert and maniacal," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) H.G.S. Dhaliwal.

Dhaliwal said Sinha strangulated Ramchanphy Hongray when she resisted his advances. "The victim reacted angrily when Sinha tried to make advances. He feared she would inform the police, so he strangulated her," he said. "To make it as a case of accident, he put her face on the gas stove and lit it."

Twist in the murder case

IITian Pushpam Kumar Sinha's father claimed on Monday his son was married and that his daughter-in-law was keeping unwell.

Pushpam's wife lives in a housing society in Patna. The guard of the society tried to turn mediapersons away when they visited the complex.

- Headlines Today

Sinha was arrested on Sunday for the murder of Hongray at her second floor accommodation in south Delhi's Munirka area on Saturday. He was doing research in wave mechanics from IIT-Delhi.

"Initially there was no suspicion of foul play, but the post-mortem report suggested she died of strangulation and not burns. We zeroed in on Sinha after a discreet inquiry," said Dhaliwal.

"Sinha had a complex. He wrote in his diary that he was not able to make friends with girls. One graffiti read that 'this is the time to make girl friend. I am finally making someone'," he said.

IIT students complained about Sinha

NEW DELHI: IIT PhD scholar Pushpam Kumar Sinha, accused of killing a teenage Naga girl from Manipur, is also facing an inquiry for alleged
indecent behaviour with female students at IIT. "The complaint against Sinha was filed on September 18 by first and second year girl students of civil engineering branch. They alleged that Sinha used to pass lewd remarks and stare at them on the campus. Two senior professors are probing the allegations,'' said a senior police officer.

During interrogation, Sinha is also reported to have told cops that he was married to a Patna girl in 2003. "But after his wife deserted him in July 2008, he was filled with frustration. After his wife, an MSc in environment sciences and presently residing in Patna, left him, Sinha took up PhD in IIT Delhi in October 2008. The couple have no children,'' said the officer.

According to the police, Sinha has confessed to his crime. Police said that the accused told them that he was desperate to talk to the girl and had developed fancy notions about her. On Friday night, a day before the murder, he approached her room several times, knocking on the door seven times between 3pm and 5pm when Ramchanphy Hongray was alone. But a scared Hongray locked herself inside the room.

Cops believe that the cold response from Hongray angered Sinha, who decided to teach her a lesson on Saturday when she was alone. He allegedly strangled Hongray on Saturday and burnt her face to make it look like an accidental death. But postmortem report hinted at strangulation after which Sinha was arrested on Sunday. On Tuesday, he was produced before a city court which remanded him in judicial custody till November 10.

Sinha initially tried to mislead the police by claiming that he was not present when Hongray was found dead but the victim's elder brother, Yaokhalek, who discovered the body first on Saturday told police that he saw Sinha loitering near the stairs when he went to the house at 6.30pm on Saturday. "This raised our suspicion and we questioned him at length and after four hours of interrogation, Sinha confessed to the brutal murder,'' said an investigating officer.

On Tuesday, Sinha's another neighbour, a woman and her daughter, hailing from North-East, also vacated their rented accommodation in the same complex, said a cop.

Stop attacks on N-E people: Naga women bodies

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MPHAL: Naga women bodies in Manipur have termed the murder of Ramchanphy Hongray a "systematic racial attack" on northeasterners and urged all
concerned to stop such assaults immediately.

Nineteen-year-old Hongray of Greenland in Ukhrul district was allegedly killed after being raped by her fellow tenant Pushpan Kumar Sinha (30), a PhD scholar of IIT-New Delhi, on Saturday night. Five years ago, Leishichon Shaiza, a Naga girl from Ukhrul was murdered in Mumbai.

Hongray went to New Delhi to visit her elder sister who works there. Since she was new, she had to spend most of the time indoors while her sister was away for work. Taking advantage of the situation, Sinha committed the heinous crime.

Expressing shock over Hongray's murder, Naga Women Union Manipur (NWUM), has cautioned that any attempt by Delhi Police to dub the murder as an isolated case will further hurt the sentiments of people from the North-East.

"NWUM believes the media will not shy away from this kind of racial discrimination against people from the North-East," said union president Grace Shatsang on Tuesday.

The Tangkhul Shanao Long (TSL) said attacks on people from the North-East, especially students studying in New Delhi, has given rise to fear psychosis and a sense of alienation.

"TSL is also shocked by the manner in which Delhi Police is trying to divert such issues as isolated cases' instead of ensuring safety of people from the North-East," said a statement issued by its president AS Dinah and general secretary Ys Praising.

CRPF personnel try to molest' woman on train, beaten up

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OKRAJHAR: At least 20 CRPF personnel, returning from New Delhi in the Brahmaputra Mail, were injured in a mob attack after the securitymen
allegedly tried to molest a woman and assaulted her brother at Fakiragram railway station in Assam's Kokrajhar district on Tuesday.

The clash broke out between locals and the CRPF jawans when over 3,000 villagers from Fakiragram and its neighbouring areas rushed to the station following rumours that a woman had been thrown out of a train after being allegedly raped by some security personnel.

According to eyewitnesses, locals threw stones at the two compartments carrying the CRPF personnel and assaulted the jawans with lathis. A police reinforcement, led by additional superintendent of police (Kokrajhar) Kalyan Phukan, rushed to the spot and fired in the air to disperse the mob. A source said the locals also attacked the Howrah-Tinsukia UP 5906. Two students, Sudarshan Shah and Sofikul Islam, were injured in the melee.

Police and GRP personnel have so far detained over 45 security personnel. "Eleven of the detained securitymen are critically wounded. They are being interrogated and cross-examined. They may be arrested later," sources said.

The woman said she had boarded the 4056 Up Brahmaputra Mail from New Jalpaiguri late on Monday evening and was going to Goalpara along with her brother. The two compartments, adjacent to the general coach in which she was in, were carrying jawans belonging to the army, CISF, CRPF, Assam Rifles, NSG and ITBF.

"Initially, they were quite well-behaved. But as the train was approaching Dhupguri, some of the jawans started making advances at me and even beat up Sanjib, my brother," said the woman.

"I tried to resist the jawans. But they tried to throw me out," said Sanjib, who called up his kin at Fakiragram from his sister's cellphone. It was then that the rumour spread and locals rushed to the railway station, waiting for the train to reach Fakiragram.

The jawans, however, denied that there was any molestation bid on the train. "I was talking to my wife when we were suddenly attacked. People started throwing stones at us. Some even entered the compartment. Before we could make out anything, many of us were injured," a jawan said. "We did not get any chance to protect ourselves," another jawan said.

Nobait Deka, a CISF jawan from Guwahati posted with Delhi Metro, was among the injured. He claimed that the jawans had nothing to do with the molestation bid.

Assam launches mobile fair price shops

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he Assam government on Saturday launched a vegetable fair price shop and a mobile sale centre ostensibly to counter price rise.

“Price rise is a global phenomenon, but there are ways to provide respite to the people within the constraints,” said Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi. “Making essentials available at reasonable prices through a mobile service is a step in that direction.”

The initiative of vegetable fair price shops and mobile sale centre was taken by the Assam State Agricultural Marketing Board. It has come at a time when the Opposition and students’ bodies have been railing the government for its indifference to price rice.

Prices of essentials have increased by 30-45 per cent over the past three months, more than 100 per cent in the case of potatoes and onions. “The government has given unscrupulous traders a free hand,” said All Assam Students Union advisor Samujjwal K Bhattacharyya.

But Gogoi scotched allegations of inactivity. “We are keeping a close watch on price rise and have accordingly instructed the district authorities and food and civil supplies department to act tough on whoever is taking advantage of the situation,” he said.

He added that the problem has compounded because of low productivity dictated by climatic conditions. “The demand-supply ratio has widened to a great extent. That is why our government has taken up a slew of programmes like Mission Pulses aimed at increasing productivity,” he said.

Assam, the chief minister reminded, is an agrarian state and the backbone of its economy is agriculture. “Our government wants to ensure that farmers get the right prices for their produce and that is why it has upped its ante against middlemen who are trying to make hay at the cost of the farmers.”

Dorjee Khandu sworn in as Arunachal Chief Minister

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orjee Khandu, who led the Congress to a two-thirds majority in the Arunachal Pradesh assembly elections, was on Sunday sworn in as the fifth Chief Minister of the border state.

Governor Gen (retd) JJ Singh administered the oath of office and secrecy to 54-year-old Khandu, who returns as Chief Minister for a consecutive second term, in a glittering ceremony at the Durbar hall of the Raj Bhavan.

All the newly-elected MLAs were present at the oath-taking ceremony.

Former chief minister Gegong Apang, whom Khandu dislodged from power in 2007, were present along with AICC observer V Narayansami, CWC member Luizinho Falerio and AICC secretary Sanjay Bapna.

Khandu, a former army intelligence officer rewarded for his exploits during the Bangladesh war, had turned a social activist before joining politics in 1980.

He was elected unopposed to the Legislative Assembly of Arunachal Pradesh in March 1990 from Mukto constituency. Khandu was re-elected in March 1995 from the same constituency and was given the portfolio of Minister of State for Cooperation. In 2007, He replaced powerful Apang as the Chief Minister who had ruled the tribal state for 23 years.

Media persons to surrender I-cards in Manipur

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edia persons in Manipur will surrender identity cards issued to them by state authorities in protest against the government's failure in punishing police commandos who allegedly harassed, detained and assaulted two journalists on October 10.

The decision to return the I-cards to the Directorate of Information and Public Relations department was taken at a joint meeting of the All Manipur Working Journalists Union (AMWJU) and editors of local dailies on Sunday, an AMWJU spokesman said on Monday.

The spokesman said that the AMWJU had also submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh through Governor Gurbachan Jagat on Saturday, requesting him to direct the state government to bring to book the commandos involved in the incident.

He said the AMWJU has also demanded transfer of senior police officials of Imphal West district police station to which the commandos belonged.

The I-cards will be returned tomorrow and if still no action is taken against the commandos, the Manipur Press Club building will also be handed over to the state government, he said.

On October 10, two journalists were allegedly harassed, detained and assaulted by police commandos while returning home from duty even after they showed their I-cards at Waheng Leikai area in Imphal.

Tripura troopers secure top commando honours

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roopers of the Tripura State Rifles (TSR), who played a key role in curbing terrorism in the state, have bagged all the 14 top positions in the Police Commando Instructor Course (PCIC) at the National Security Guards (NSG) campus in Manesar, Haryana.

"The daredevil TSR troopers bagged all 14 top positions in the 75-day course held earlier this month at the NSG academy in Manesar," Deputy Inspector General Nepal Das told IANS on Monday.

"The TSR jawans outshone their counterparts from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Orissa, Assam, Delhi and Chhattisgarh in quick shooting, commando actions, running and other events."

The course ended on Oct 21 and they returned home on Oct 24.

Congratulating the troopers, Tripura police chief Pranay Sahay asked the elite combatants to train other TSR personnel group by group so that any extremist elements in the northeastern state bordering Bangladesh could be thwarted.

"The TSR's formation and training have been modelled on the Border Security Force (BSF) and Assam Rifles. Over the years, the elite state force has increasingly become a key combatant force to flush out the militancy from this hilly state," Sahay said.

TSR runs its own counter-insurgency and jungle guerrilla warfare institute at Kachucherra in Dhalai district in northern Tripura, similar to the army's Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School (CIJWS) at Vairengte in western Mizoram.

The TSR was constituted in 1984 to counter terrorism in the northeastern state -- 75 per cent of its soldiers are from Tripura while the rest are from across the country. At present, there are 12 TSR battalions and one more is being raised.

Of the 13 battalions, nine are Indian Reserve battalions -- which means they could be deployed anywhere in India.

Youth killed in Manipur ‘encounter'

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hundrakpam Naotombi’s mobile phone kept ringing through Saturday night. Late on Sunday evening, an unknown man picked it up and reportedly told Naotombi’s wife: “Go to the RIMS (Regional Institute of Medical Sciences) morgue if you want to see your husband.”

When Kundrakpam Ongbi Sonia went to RIMS she found her husband’s body there.

Sonia alleges that four commandos in civvies picked up Naotombi, 26, around 7.30 pm on Saturday from their residence at Ishikha Ningthemcha Khun locality in Manipur’s Imphal east district.

However, the public relations officer of Assam Rifles in a release said that discovering the presence of UG (underground) cadres in Chiru under Irilbung police station “troops of 28 Assam Rifles launched (an) operation in the area and eliminated one UG cadre” at around 12.15 am on Sunday.

The troops reportedly recovered a point 32 pistol with a magazine and three live rounds.

Naotombi, earlier in jail on charges of being a member of the banned People’s Liberation Army, was released in September last year, and was living with his wife and daughter.

An officer-in-charge at the Irilbung station said “a case has been registered and investigations are on”.

Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh has said his government was trying its best to ensure innocent people did not fall victims to counter-insurgency operations. His assurance has yet to mollify three students organisations, which have enforced closure of all schools across Imphal Valley for over a month now.

Cross border movement of insurgents serious: Meghalaya DGP

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ovement of insurgents on Indo-Bangladesh border is a serious matter and without an effective fencing it is difficult to check it, newly-appointed Meghalaya Director General of Police, S B Kakati said on Tuesday.

"There is lot of cross border movement. We have been insisting on this (movement of insurgents) since long. It is a tough job to check the infiltration unless you have an effective fencing, Kakati told reporters after assuming charge.

His comments come a day after BSF Special DG (East) R K Medhekar claimed "there was no increase in movement of insurgents and there was nothing particularly serious along the Bangla border in the eastern sector".

The border fencing erected earlier had become useless. Now, it is being redesigned and once it is in proper shape, the problem should decrease, the state DGP said.

Asked how serious was the cross border movement, Kakati said, "From my experience, I must say it is a serious business".

The Garo Hills in Meghalaya and Assam border is quite porous, particularly those areas in Mahendraganj, Dalu and Mankachar. Assam Police has also been bringing the problem to the notice of the BSF, Kakati, who had served as IG in BSFs North Bengal Frontier besides the ADG (law and order) in Assam Police, said.

HC directs Assam govt to file cases against erring officers

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he Gauhati High Court today directed the Assam Government to register criminal cases against 30 officers of the education department for allegedly giving illegal appointments in primary schools during the last few years.

The division bench comprising Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Biplab Kumar Sarma directed the government to file FIRs for registration of criminal cases against the 30 officers before the State Vigilance and Anti-corruption Cell and submit progress of the criminal investigation within six months.

In its earlier July 13 order, the court took into consideration the affidavit filed by the education department in indicting the 30 officials, who had been found to be involved in such illegal and irregular appointments.

During the hearing today, the state education department counsel submitted that the cabinet decision was yet to be made for regularisation of the teachers and as regard illegal or irregular appointments, some of the erring officers of the education department identified for giving illegal appointments have been placed under suspension.

The court also directed the Advocate General of Assam to apprise the bench of the steps taken by the state government for regularisation of the Operation Black Board (OBB) teachers as per its earlier orders.

Hand-raised wild buffaloes released in the wild

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wo hand-raised wild buffaloes were released in eastern Assam’s Dibru-Saikhowa National Park by the forest department and International Fund for Animal Welfare-Wildlife Trust of India (IFAW-WTI). The buffaloes, rescued as calves separated from their herds six years ago, are being remotely monitored with the help of radio-transmitters fitted on to them before their release.

“There are some 300 wild buffaloes here. We have seen no aberrant behaviour in the two buffaloes released. But these two face threats of confrontation from resident wild buffaloes, but such intra-specific conflicts are natural. I think they will be able to reintegrate into the wild,” said Dibru-Saikhowa divisional forest officer Aniruddha De.

Prior to the release, the two buffaloes underwent prolonged in-situ acclimatization in a 3 hectare area established within Dibru-Saikhowa. They were hand-raised at the IFAW-WTI run Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) near Kaziranga National Park and were relocated to the specified area in December 2006.

The calves, both males, were rescued in August 2002 and November 2003 in Kaziranga. The first calf – barely a week old during rescue – was displaced from its herd due to the floods. The second calf was found alone in the forest. In CWRC, the calves were kept in the mega-herbivore nursery, and were hand-raised by the veterinarians and animal keepers. At Dibru-Saikhowa, they were radio-collared on October 4 in preparation for their release.

With less than 4000 individuals estimated to be remaining in the wild across its distribution range, the wild buffalo (Bubalus arnee) is categorised as an ‘endangered’ species by the IUCN Red List. In India, wild buffaloes are found in Assam, Chhattisgarh and possibly in Madhya Pradesh. The species is listed in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

Wild buffaloes predominantly inhabit alluvial grasslands, riparian forests and woodlands. A single population each survives in the Kosi Tapu Wildlife Reserve in Nepal and Royal Manas National Park in Bhutan. The wild buffalo is also reported from Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand.

In India, threats to the wild buffalo includes interbreeding with domestic or feral buffaloes, as well as competition and disease transmission from the latter which are found foraging even in protected areas. In Assam, the calves are also displaced by natural calamities such as floods, or due to conflicts with humans.

“Dilution of genetic purity of the wild buffaloes through interbreeding with domestic buffaloes is possible. However, the chances of a domestic male breeding with a wild female is remote, considering the ferocity of the wild buffaloes. So the gene flow would be more from the wild to the households rather than the other way around. This has been substantiated by recent genetic studies,” said NVK Ashraf, director of WTI’s Wild Rescue Programme.