north east online - north east india news: Jan 22, 2010

Friday, January 22, 2010

Chamling govt debunks report of higher drop out in schools

The Pawan Kumar Chamling government has debunked as 'inaccurate interpretation' the media reports quoting the Union Human Resources Development Ministry about higher drop out rate of students in Sikkim at 85 per cent and said that the actual figure stood at 25.42 per cent.

Apparently disagreeing with the criteria that may have been adopted by the Union HRD ministry to draw out the figure of students' drop out rate, the state government, in a rejoinder, has said that it has adopted a single window management and information system to track each and every student till the completion of his education by a single tracking system.

The mechanism has allowed the state HRD department to accurately collect the drop out rate using Co-hort analysis Methodology, which the state government, has claimed to be the most scientific methods available to assess school education system.

The drop out rate using the system being adopted in Sikkim stood at 25.42 per cent till 2007-08, it has said.

The state government has sought to counter the higher school drop out rate as projected by the Union HRD report saying that the children of migrant workers who leave the state upon completion of primary education for higher studies and the students belonging to floating and migrant population too have been counted among those dropping out from schools.

Grenade blast in Assam, night trains suspended till R-Day

A grenade attack took place in Assam's Chirang district Friday causing the railways to suspend night trains fearing rebel attacks even as a massive security alert was sounded in the restive northeast region ahead of Republic Day.

A police spokesperson said a grenade exploded near a market in Goilang village in Chirang, about 180 km from Assam's main city Guwahati.

"Motorcycle-borne militants lobbed the grenade near a crowd of people, but it failed to hit the target with no casualties reported," a police official said.

Police blamed the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) for the failed attack.

Meanwhile, the Indian Railways Friday announced suspension of night train services in Assam from 6 a.m. Jan 24 to midnight Jan 27.

"The decision to suspend running of night trains was taken keeping in view security aspects and safety of passengers," said T. Hajong, railways spokesperson.

Five militant groups have called a general strike from 1 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Republic Day, Jan 26.

The five rebel groups that announced their boycott Wednesday through a statement e-mailed to journalists are the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), Manipur People's Liberation Front (MPLF) - comprising several major militant outfits in the state - the Kamatapur Liberation Organization (KLO) and the Tripura People's Democratic Front (TPDF).

These groups are active in Assam, Manipur and Tripura.

Militant groups in the northeast have for years boycotted national events to protest New Delhi's rule over the region and stage violent attacks in the run up to the celebrations to make their presence felt.

Thousands of army, police and paramilitary troopers are standing guard in the northeastern states, particularly Manipur, where militants launched a grenade attack Tuesday near the residence of the state police chief. Three people were injured in the attack.

Militant groups often target vital installations like road and rail bridges, oil installations, besides attacking security forces as part of their design.

Mixed views on re-electing Obama in 2012

Washington, Jan.22 (ANI): Americans are split 47 percent to 43 percent on whether they will given Barack Obama a second consecutive presidential term in 2012.

Looking to the next presidential election, most say they would vote for someone other than Obama.

While 38 percent of voters say they want Democrats to win this year''s Congressional elections, 37 percent want Republicans to win. The remaining 25 percent say "neither" or are unsure.

Among independents, 23 percent want Democrats to win, 22 percent Republicans, 26 percent "neither" and 30 percent are unsure.

Opinion Dynamics Corp. conducted the national telephone poll for Fox News among 900 registered voters from January 12 to 13.

For the total sample, the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. (ANI)

TN woman becomes 1st motorwoman of Southern Rly

Chennai, Jan 22 (PTI) Storming another male bastion, C V Thilakavathy has become Southern Railway's first woman driver of a suburban train that carries thousands of commuters every day.

37-year-old Thilakavathy has been running the Electrical Multiple Unit (EMU) train since last month in busy and challenging suburban routes, dotted with stations and level crossings.

Southern Railways operate EMU train services from Chennai to various suburbs around the city, catering mainly to office-goers and school and college students.

"I was bit tense when I first drove the Tiruvallur EMU train from Moore Market Complex (city suburban terminal) recently. I operated the service perfectly and reached the destination on time", Thilakavathi told PTI.

Her main aim was to become a motorwoman when she applied for Railways and she achieved her aim last month.

Navy to induct its first Shivalik class stealth frigate

New Delhi, Jan 22 (PTI) The Navy is all set to induct by March the Shivalik Class frigates to boost its surface fleet and the warship will be the highlight of the tableau for the Republic Day Parade, apart from the year-long anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden.

"The tableau depicts Shivalik Class of ship to be inducted in the Navy by March this year. INS Shivalik is the first of the three multi-role Project 17 class of stealth frigates of the Navy built by Mumbai-based Mazagaon Docks Limited," Navy's Principal Director (Personnel Services) Commodore Sunil Jetly said here.

Shivalik class, designed by the Navy, would be India's mainstay frigates in the first half of this century, with structural, thermal and acoustic stealth features to augment its potent capability.

YSR's chopper probably not airworthy, says report

New Delhi, Jan 22 (PTI) The helicopter, which crashed last September claiming the life of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S R Reddy and four other persons, was "probably not airworthy" but this was not a contributing factor to the accident, an inquiry has found.

The probe panel, headed by Pawan Hans chief R K Tyagi, also established that there was "no evidence" to indicate any interference in the flight operations by the VIP on board.

The primary cause of the crash of the Bell-403 chopper on September 2 last year was the error of the crew, which after noticing a fault in the oil transmission pressure "was engrossed for vital six minutes before the impact in searching for the relevant checklist from the Flight Manual".

Lt Gen Singh next Army chief

Lt General V K Singh, the Eastern Army Commander and senior-most infantry officer, was on Friday named as the next Army chief and will take over his new post after incumbent General Deepak Kapoor retires on March 31.

The Defence Ministry issued the order after the Cabinet Committee on Appointments cleared Singh's name for the top post, senior ministry sources said here.

He is the third generation officer from the Rajput regiment.

Singh, a graduate of the Defense Services Staff College, Wellington as well as the Rangers Course at Fort Benning, USA and the US Army War College, Carlisle, was commissioned into the 2 Rajput in June 1970 and commanded the same unit when it was positioned along the LoC.

Experienced in counter insurgency, LoC and high altitude operations, Singh was awarded the Yudh Sena Medal for his distinguished service during 'Operation Pawan' against LTTE in Sri Lanka.

He was also awarded the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) for distinguished service while commanding a counter insurgency force.

Singh, who has also seen action in Bangladesh war, served in the Military Operations Directorate at the Army Headquarters and Brigadier General Staff of a Corps during 'Operation Parakram'.

He has also served as an instructor at the Indian Military Training Team (IMTRAT) headquarters in Bhutan.

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