north east online - north east india news: Feb 11, 2010

Thursday, February 11, 2010

10 Assam dists under NFSM-pulses

GUWAHATI: The Union Ministry of Agriculture has included ten districts of Assam for the purpose of growing more pulses under the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) for 2010-11. This was conveyed by Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in a letter to chief minister Tarun Gogoi, an official release said here today.

Pawar said the ministry acceded to the request of the state government to include the districts of Barpeta, Nagaon, Sonitpur, Dhubri, Baksa, Kamrup (rural), Jorhat, Udalguri, Bongaigaon and Kokrajhar under NFSM-pulses programme.

He asked the government to submit an action plan as per the operational guidelines of the NFSM-pulses programme to the Centre indicating the intervention-wise physical and financial targets for 2010-11.

Work on Indo-Bangla Extradition treaty begins: Barua

Bangladesh Industries Minister Dilip Barua today said the process of working out an Extradition Treaty between the neighbouring country and India has begun.

"The process for implementation (working out) of the treaty has started. This was agreed in the meeting between the
Prime Ministers of the two countries in New Delhi recently. It would see the light of the day in due time," Barua told a Meet the Press organised by Agartala Press Club here.

He said, "There is no place for terrorism or any kind of violence in Bangladesh. We would not allow any forces to
use the soil Bangladesh to act against India."

On Sunday, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar in the meeting of Chief Ministers on internal security in New Delhi
alleged that insurgent camps still remained in Bangladesh.

Barua said his country wanted to improve bilateral relations with India in all areas, including trade, commerce
and industries.

He said the Enemy Property Act which later became Vested Property Act would be placed before Bangladesh
Parliament for scrapping. It was enacted when Bangladesh was a part of Pakistan to occupy the land and property of
non-Muslims.

Barua appealed to Indian investors to set up industries in his country as it has emerged as an investment
friendly destination after the new government assumed office.

Manipur senior citizens for political dialogue

Senior Citizens for Society (SCS), Manipur, have urged the Centre to initiate political dialogue with the major insurgent groups operating in the state without any precondition to avoid any further deterioration of the situation.

“Central government should to take up a concrete decision to initiate a political dialogue with the major groups without any precondition”, Prof Laishram Sadananda (Retd) of SCS Manipur said.”Because this is a national issue not regional.”

How long we can tolerate the situation, he questioned while interacting with media persons here on Wednesday. “We know it’s a herculean task but we need to urge our central leaders to pave way for future generation”, he added.

In a Memorandum to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, President of SCS Manipur N Benoy Singh salso aid that the present unrest and conflict situation in Manipur is largely due to the nagging problem of Insurgency in the state which has as many as 30 Insurgent groups with all the adverse ramification to the people who are by and large in favor of peace and normalcy.

“But no lasting and durable peace is possible without solving the Insurgency problem” he observed. Hence in the present situation only pragmatic and rational way out to solve the problem of Insurgency in the state is a free, frank and unconditional political dialogue between the government and insurgent groups.

“The state government should stop killing insurgents if they actually want to hold meaningful dialogue as we know there can be no military solution to this problem”, Benoy asserted.

“We, therefore sincerely appeal the central government to take concrete initiative as early as possible,” Senior Advocate Khaidem Mani, SCS Manipur Secretary informed and added that the process of initiation of the dialogue could be through a people’s consultative committee drawn from among the eminent citizens and public figures in Manipur.

12 school children killed in Arunachal hostel fire

At least 12 school children were charred to death and eight injured in a massive fire that broke out at a private hostel in Arunachal Pradesh, officials said on Thursday.

A police spokesperson said that the fire broke out around midnight at a hostel built with bamboo and hay at Palin in Kurung Kummpy district, 260 km north of state capital Itanagar.

"Right now, we are in the process of evacuating the injured by choppers to hospitals in Itanagar. Twelve bodies have been found," Remu Kemkei, district magistrate of Kurung Kummpy, told IANS.

There were 62 students of a local branch of the Don Bosco chain of schools staying at the privately-run hostel.

"We are investigating the cause of the fire but preliminary reports indicate that it could be an accidental fire as students were studying under candle light since there was no power supply," Kemkei said.

Grenade hurled at senior govt official's residence

Unidentified militants hurled a powerful grenade at the residence of a senior Manipur government official but it failed to explode.

Official sources said the militants lobbed the explosive at the private residence of horticulture and soil conservation technology mission cell director Khuraijam Ratankumar at Ayangpalli area in Imphal East district yesterday.

The unexploded grenade was later defused by bomb experts.

Though motive behind the crime was not known, police were probing whether it was connected with any monetary demand made to the official.

No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the crime.

Tricolour painted on foil, not cake: Assam Governor

The Raj Bhavan has added a twist to the Tricolour cake eating row by claiming the national flag was painted on a silver foil placed before the Republic Day cake.

"A cardboard was used to hold the cake and on the silver foil covering the cardboard was a painted representation of the Tricolour. The cardboard or silver foil was never meant to be cut and consumed," a statement issued on behalf of Assam Governor JB Patnaik said on Wednesday.

"If anyone's feelings have been hurt in this regard, the Governor expresses deep regret and reinterates that there was no intention to show any disrespect or dishonour to the National Flag," it added.

Wipro first India Company to offer 100 percent recyclable and toxin-free computers

BANGALORE - Information technology services corporation Wipro Infotech has claimed to be the first Indian company to build a 100 percent recyclable and toxin-free computer, and joins a small group of manufacturers worldwide who have developed toxic-free electronics.

According to the company, the eco-friendly Wipro Greenware desktops are completely free from harmful chemicals such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs).

The company's range of Greenware Intel Core 2 Duo processor PCs can be easily recycled once their technology becomes obsolete and they pass their 'shelf life'.

"Wipro Infotech has taken significant strides and strong leadership in Green Computing, providing responsible and environment-sensitive computing solutions to our customers," The Independent quoted Anand Sankaran, Senior Vice President and Business Head of Wipro, as saying.

E-waste is fast becoming an environmental hazard in Asia, as expanding stockpiles of obsolete electronics and computer products have been amassing in poor neighborhoods forcing governments to discuss measures to deal with the expanding problem.

Wipro joins larger, global consumer electronics manufactures like Apple, HP and Nokia in the struggle to develop toxin-free electronics. (ANI)

Google $1337 : Google Offers Upto $1337 Reward to find Bug in Chromium Browser

It's a great news for the testing professionals. Now they can earn a lucrative amount thanks to Google. Google has initiated a reward program for the bug tracker of their googlechrome browser.

Chromium browser is already undergoing security testing by group of researchers associated with Google. Now Google has invited external help from research community to make the process more quicker and efficiently bug free. Google is encouraging individuals to participate in Chromium security and scrutinize Chromium's code and behavior.

The program is all about to ensure security of Chromium users. An individual contributing an original and unreported bug will be eligible for rewards. There are several Reward Guidelines.
The base reward for eligible bugs is $500. If the panel finds a severe bug or particularly clever, Google would reward $1337. The panel may also decide a single report actually constitutes multiple bugs.

Everyone is welcome to take part in this ongoing experimental program. But Google has made it clear that it is not going to issue rewards to those residing in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria due to export restriction imposed by US.

Formula to predict time for love and marriage revealed

MELBOURNE - Released just in time for Valentine’s Day, a new formula predicts the time for love and marriage.

Brainchild of Australian statisticians, the equation works on how old you are when you start looking for a life partner, and the absolute oldest you want to be to tie the knot, reports News.com.au.

“Applying maths to matters of the heart is always a dangerous prospect. In human life when you’re dealing with emotions you have to think much harder,” University of NSW School of Mathematics and Statistics professor Tony Dooley said. “But if you want to work out the right moment to start getting serious, this actually gives you a mathematical framework to think about it.”

The university’s statisticians claim a success rate of almost 40 per cent.

“Romance by the numbers

1 Choose the oldest age by which you want to get married, for example, 39. Call this ‘n’.

2 Decide the earliest age at which you’ll start to consider a potential spouse, for example, 20. This age becomes ‘p’.

3 Subtract ‘p’ from ‘n’ (39 - 20), then multiply the result by 0.368. This equals 6.992.

4 Add this to your minimum age.

Result: 27 is your optimal proposal age.” (ANI)

Militants indulge in extortion in Meghalaya

Shillong, Feb 11 (PTI) Suspected tribal militants are reportedly indulging in rampant extortion in mining and forested areas of Meghalaya where a tribal chief was kidnapped last month.

Suspected militants of the nascent Garo National Liberation Army had allegedly kidnapped 58-year-old Chongrin Marak, one of the richest Nokmas (chief of clan) in Garo hills, on January 11, police sources said.

They indicated that the militants had demanded Rs one crore for his release.

Militants of GNLA and Liberation Achik Elite Force (LAEF) have served a number of demand notes in the coal-mine and forested areas of South Garo Hills, East Garo Hills and parts of West Khasi Hills in last few weeks, the sources said.

"We have seized a number of such demand notes. Most of them were signed by the finance secretary of LAEF," South Garo Hills SP Anurag Kumar told PTI over phone.

India-Pak agree on roadmap to resolve water disputes

Lahore, Feb.11 (ANI): In order to resolve the long pending water issues between them, India and Pakistan have agreed on a ‘roadmap’ and decided to hold two additional meetings, besides a routine meeting due in May, over the next six months.

Pakistan’s Indus Commissioner Syed Jamaat Ali Shah said the two sides have decided to hold one of the additional meetings by the end of March, and the other by the end of June to expedite the pace of deliberations to end the dispute.

“The decision is the biggest achievement made during five days of deliberations,” The Dawn quoted Shah, as saying.

The decision was taken on the last of a five-day visit of a three-member Indian delegation.

The three-member Indian team of Permanent Commission on Indus Waters (PCIW) headed by Auranga Nathan inspected the Sutlej, Ravi and Bias river sites.

Shah said the Indian delegation had agreed that settlement of all water disputes must be time-bound because open-ended talks were counter-productive and gave rise to confusion and frustration.

Later, talking to reporters at the Lahore airport before leaving for India, Nathan rejected the notion that the water dispute between India and Pakistan could lead to war.

“After all the two countries have signed an international treaty which includes elaborate dispute resolution mechanism. They not only committed to the treaty provisions but also regularly invoke different provisions to resolve disputes. Under such circumstances, there was hardly any chance of war between Pakistan and India on water issues,” Nathan said. (ANI)

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