Lawmakers should take key role in controlling AIDS

Imphal, Oct 8 : Union Minister of State for Labour and employment Oscar Fernandes today called upon the lawmakers to lead the nation in checking HIV/AIDS.

Addressing the second annual general meeting of the Manipur Legislators Forum on HIV/AIDS, Fernandes, also chairman of the Parliamentary Forum on HIV/AIDS, said the legislators should form forums and start working in their respective constituencies to make people aware about HIV/AIDS.Manipur and Nagaland legislators were taking a leading role by forming forums and urging people to come forward and fight HIV AIDS, he added. “It is easy to control HIV AIDS as a single dose of medicine to infected pregnant woman can stop spread of the disease to the newly born child.
“The problem is identifying the infected persons” he added.

In a country like India where child birth in hospitals and nursing home was quite low. In Manipur it was 30 per cent and in Nagaland it was 16 per cent and the situation was the same throughout the country, he added.

The onus of fighting the disease should not be the sole responsibility of the MPs and the MLAs but the Councillors, Panchayat members should also take a leading role so that the message could be sent to the grass root level, he said.

Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh said the Government was planning to enact a law to ensure that adequate fund was available to the legislators to carry out awareness campaigns in their respective constituencies and to ensure that blood tests be conducted for the people living in these constituencies.

“The trend is alarming in Manipur and the country as the numbers of women living with HIV AIDS have increased manifold. We need to monitor activities in the border areas specially the international border areas with Myanmar so that illegal drug trafficking and movement of militants could be checked” the Chief Minister said.

Manipur shares 400 km of border with Myanmar and the Union Home Ministry has sanctioned fencing of border areas for only ten kilometers at Moreh, Chandel district. “We need to immediately construct a fench in the international border if we want to protect the lives of the future generaltion”, Singh said.

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Durga Puja in the Northeast

In Arunachal
Ministers and MLAs belonging to different faiths, including Buddhists and Christians, joined the people in celebrating Durga Puja at the temple in the ministerial enclave here as puja fervour gripped Arunachal Pradesh.
Nearly one hundred community pujas are being held in different parts of the eastern-most Himalayan State. The State capital with a mixed population of tribals and people from different parts of the country, itself is hosting half the pujas.

Local colour has been added to the traditional festivity with the Goddess donning ‘Gale’, a local attire with tribal ornaments at Chandannagar area.
The colourful pandals, mostly perched on hill tops, could be visible together from any given point in this stadium shaped town with hills surrounding Indira Gandhi park.

While in day time the hills provide perfect backdrop for propitiating ‘Parvati’, the daughter of Himalaya, the olourfully lit pandals light up the evening sky.

Audio systems blaring hymns from different pandals reverbrate amidst the hills. Old timers remember the first puja here was organised at the community hall in the early seventies.

The Puja at Mob-II area completed 25 years last year. Pujas at Kali bari, North Eastern Institute for Science and Technology(NERIST) and Rama Krishna Mission Hospital draw huge crowd every year. Pujas are also being held at district towns, including Pasighat, the oldest town in the State, which sees six Pujas this time against four last year. The Puja at Niti Vihar Durga Temple was re-started by the ministers last year after Dorjee Khandu, a Buddhist, came to power dislodging Gegong Apang in April 2007.
In Mizoram
The Hindu community across Mizoram today started observing Durga Puja with peace and gaiety. “As usual, the Durga puja is celebrated under peaceful atmosphere without any untoward incident.

We are receiving warm wishes and good co-operation from the Mizos. This proves that people of all faiths in Mizoram are maintaining their harmonious co-existence,” Aizawl-based Hindustan Club president and Mizoram law secretary P Chakraborty told UNI here today. On the occasion of the puja, “we the Hindu community here are greeting the peace-loving Mizos for their hospitality,” Chakraborty said.

Mizoram Governor M M Lakhera has visited the pandal to join in the celebrations, Chakraborty said. The puja committee also distributed clothes and other items to the poor families to mark the occasion.

The Assam Rifles, Border Security Force, Border Road Task Force were also celebrating the puja at their respective places. (UNI)

In Tripura
Hundreds of devotees across the state today joined Maha Ashtami prayer, second day of Durga puja, despite fear of terrorist attacks. Security has been tightened in all puja pandals and temples from last night.

According to reports, police have installed full-fledged frisking mechanism including metal detector in five temples where thousands of people have queued to offer prayer.

People in the city used to come out after mid-night but this year a small portion of the dwellers enjoyed puja late night and most of the shops were closed after 2300 hours, said traffic officials adding they put the ‘no entry’ board at 1900 hrs instead of 1500 hrs.

Fear gripped the state with the recovery of at least seven suspicious packets and bags from different places in Agartala during last 48 hours.

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Sikkim to introduce security number plates

Gangtok, Oct 8 : In order to check the misuse of vehicles for carrying out criminal and subversive activities, Sikkim Government has decided to introduce high security registration plates (HSRP) for all vehicles in the State, the Transport department said.
All new motor vehicles would be required to be fitted with the HSRP from October 14, it said in a release here.

All existing vehicles, which were already registered with the Transport department, would also be required to install HSRP within two years in a phased manner, it said.

There are about 40,000 four-wheelers plying on the roads in the State and all of them would be required to be fitted with HSRP.

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Workshop on traditional healing practices in NE

Guwahati, Oct 8 : North Eastern Institute of Folk Medicine (NEIFM) has organised a two days training workshop for trainers on traditional healing practices in Northeast India” at IIBM, Khanapara, Guwahati.

About twenty four resource persons from different Institute and Universities of India and more than fifty traditional healers of Northeast India participated in the workshop.Dr Rama Shankar, Officer Incharge of NEIFM welcomed all the participants and delegates.The workshop was inaugurated by lighting lamps by Verghese Samuel, Joint Secretary, Department of AYUSH.

SK Chadha, IFS, Director AYUSH was the guest of honour where he elaborated the importance of NEIFM and also the importance of traditional folk medicine and its deep rooted cultural, anthropological, social and spiritual linking in the treatment of local people of remote and inaccessible areas of India.

Dr GG Gangadharan, Jt. Director, FMRI, Mumbai, Dr RC Srivastava, Jt. Director, BSI, Itanagar, Prof SK Borthakur, GU Assam and many other scientists have presented the research papers in the workshop. Dr DS Kalita, Principal, Ayurvedic College, Guwahati emphasized the urgent need of conservation of medicinal plant wealth of NE India.

The traditional healers from Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram,Tripura and Sikkim have displayed the medicinal plants and medicines used in their localities. Traditional healers participating in the workshop has discussed about their difficulties like transportation, collection of drugs from forest areas and establishment of mini dispensaries in different areas and methods for the solution of their requirements were recorded for future programme of the institute.

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Arunachal launches PR drive

Itanagar, Oct 8 : A campaign has been launched by the Arunachal Pradesh government to dispel fear among non-Arunachalees about an operation launched by it with regard to a permit needed for ‘outsiders’ to stay and pursue their profession in the State.

The State Government has undertaken a public relation exercise to allay apprehensions among non-Arunachalees about the ‘Operation Clear’ drive recently intensified by the authorities to send out those without Inner Line Permits (ILP), official sources said.
The ILP is a mandatory requirement for Indians from other states to stay and pursue their professions in the state under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873.

The ILPs are verified usually at the entry points to the state and on highways by mobile parties. But whenever there is crime, police parties intensify the checking.

After three persons were arrested in North Lakhimpur district in Asom in connection with the recent murder of two young tribal girls here, the operation was intensified and 103 people were sent out for not having ILPs or for possessing fake ones.

Since the arrested belong to a minority community, the Minority Yuva Chatra Parishad organised an economic blockade for two hours on September 18 when over 10,000 Muslims from different areas of North Lakhimpur blocked NH-52 alleging atrocities on minorities during ILP check.

Though there was no untoward incident except for a stray incident of damage to a few cars bearing Arunachal Pradesh number plates.

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Naga parties discuss women’s quota Bill

Kohima, Oct 8 : Political parties in Nagaland have decided that the 108th Constitution (Amendment Bill) 2008 on Women’s Reservation in the Parliament and the Nagaland Assembly should be widely consulted at the grassroots level before being accepted for implementation.
Sources revealed that an allparty meeting on the examination of 108th Constitution (Amendment Bill) 2008 on Women Reservation was held at the Nagaland Assembly conference hall recently.

However, the representatives of all the political parties including Nagaland Peoples’ Front (NPF), Congress, BJP, NCP, JD(U), RJD, Samata Party, BSP, Independent MLAs and the two MPs of Nagaland expressed that the Bill which had been introduced in the Rajya Sabha is presently under examination. They also agreed to have wider consultation and make in-depth study of the Act in Nagaland context.

The meeting chaired by Nagaland Assembly Speaker, Kiyanielie Peseyie has requested all the political parties to have consultations with their party workers and bring forth written suggestions in the next meeting.

Leaders of various political parties including Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio addressed the meeting.

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