Last Chance For Brus, Slipping Away

The process of repatriation of displaced Bru tribals from Tripura to Mizoram that began in 2010 is set to be wound up. But like earlier attempts, this phase too has seen little success.

Displaced Bru tribals return home to Mizoram from relief camps in Tripura during the 2013 repatriation process.

By Adam Halliday

When and why were the Bru tribals of Mizoram displaced?
On October 21, 1997, militants of the Bru National Liberation Front (BNLF) murdered a forest official in Mizoram, triggering a wave of retaliatory ethnic violence from the Mizos. The Bru National Union or BNU, then the tribe’s apex political body which was demanding an autonomous tribal district, claimed 1,391 Bru houses in 41 villages were burned down and several people were raped and killed. Mizoram Police put the number of homes torched at 325 in 16 villages, and confirmed no rape or murders. Over 30,000 Brus fled to six relief camps in Tripura — Bru leaders blamed the violence, but the official and unofficial narrative in Mizoram remains that the tribals were instigated by the BNLF and BNU. The refugees lived on rations, with few avenues of employment, education and health facilities, and no entitlement to agricultural or other land.

When did the repatriation process of the displaced tribals begin?
For years, Tripura pushed Mizoram to resettle the displaced tribals. The repatriation process began in 2010, and has been monitored and financed by the union Home Ministry. Displaced Bru families willing to return have been identified and, after verified as having lived in Mizoram before 1997, handed rehabilitation packages, and resettled in the villages they had left. Where that was impossible, they were put in the nearest settlement — or at least, within the same assembly constituency.

How successful has the process been?
In November 2009, Bru militants killed a Mizo teenager at Bungthuam village just across the river from Tripura, in an act that was officially seen as an attempt to derail the planned repatriation. Fresh ethnic violence followed, and scores of Bru families fled Mizoram. When the repatriation process did start, however, among the first to return was Elvis Chorkhy, then the tallest leader among relief-camp Brus, who has, along with other leaders, assisted Mizoram in the process ever since. However, despite six formal phases of repatriation having been completed, fewer than 700 of the roughly 5,500 families believed to live in the camps have returned. This is because relief camp leaders have consistently opposed the process — sometimes by organising dharnas and roadblocks — demanding a bigger rehabilitation package and changes in resettlement provisions, and arguing that some of those who have returned have not got the land they were promised. Fears have been expressed for returnees’ security — even though, despite occasional tensions, there has been no violence. Significantly, over 1,000 families have left the camps on their own.
Why is the current repatriation process especially significant?
Mizo groups have been upset over the perceived negative publicity the Bru issue has brought. Matters came to a head before last year’s Lok Sabha elections — more than 11,000 Brus have voting rights in Mizoram, even though, Mizo groups allege, they have refused to return. A statewide bandh was called in April 2014, which helped speed up matters. In January 2015, the Home Ministry, Tripura and Mizoram agreed to a final round of repatriation, with the condition that any Brus who still refused to return would be removed from Mizoram’s electoral rolls, and rations and relief to them would be stopped. A roadmap was prepared, which was accepted by the Social Justice Bench of the Supreme Court, which is hearing a bunch of petitions related to the case. The final repatriation process began on June 2.

Where does the repatriation process stand at the moment?
Mizoram officials set up counters in Kaskau relief camp — the camp closest to Mizoram — and invited any Brus wanting to return home to come for verification. The officials waited three days, but no one turned up. The Mizoram government has said officials will now visit the Khakchangpara relief camp from June 15, and then move forward, camp by camp.

Why is the Bru repatriation experience significant?
It probably shows the difference in the ways different displaced populations are treated in India. Several other Northeast tribal groups fleeing ethnic violence have escaped being confined to relief camps, and the displaced Brus have been seeking relief on par with Kashmiri Pandits and the Sri Lankan Tamils refugees. The Brus have been in their camps for a generation, but their story remains unknown in most of India. The halting repatriation process has lessons for the handling of possible future displacement crises and resettlement efforts.

Mizoram Efforts To Bail Out Affected Farmers

Aizawl, Jun 12  : Mizoram agriculture department has made efforts to bail out farmers in Myanmar border Champhai district affected by deficient rainfall last year, said an official statement on Thursday.

The farmers, mainly engaged in Wet Rice Cultivation (WRC) suffered as the yields from the cultivation dwindled due to deficient monsoon during last year.

At least 99 power tillers were provided to the cultivators at a highly subsidised rate while 188 pump sets were also provided to the farmers at a subsidised rate.

The power tillers were provided as most of the buffaloes used for tilling the cultivation areas were killed by the spell of drought last year, the statement added.

Mizoram: Lifting of prohibition spells bad news for wineries

Following the lifting of prohibition, the vineyard growers’ societies of Mizoram, who also own the twin wineries at Champhai and Hnahlan, have suffered a huge hit.

For the majority of consumers, too, any form of alcohol would do; choosing between spirits and wine was a luxury only for wetter places.

By Adam Halliday

Champhai, Jun 12  : It was an overcast July afternoon last year when Mizoram’s legislative assembly decided to replace an 18-year-old prohibition law. The lifting of prohibition unleashed a cocktail of sentiments. Many in the state opposed it, but just as many were happy and excited to drink legally after a generation had been deprived of this, save through the bootlegs and moonshine route.

Besides, there were some who did not really protest at the start. In Mizoram’s eastern corner bordering Myanmar, home to North-east India’s only vineyards, the effects of lifting prohibition began to manifest themselves gradually in the form of declining wine sales. “By the end of the last financial year, our sales had fallen to roughly half of what it used to be in previous years (when prohibition was in place),” says C Zohmingliana, assistant secretary of the Champhai Grape Grower’s Society, consisting of 279 families who plant the native American Vitis labrusca grape variety used in making wine.

Following the lifting of prohibition, the vineyard growers’ societies of Mizoram, who also own the twin wineries at Champhai and Hnahlan, have suffered a huge hit. Port wine was the only alcohol exempted from the state’s now-defunct prohibition law. For the majority of consumers, too, any form of alcohol would do; choosing between spirits and wine was a luxury only for wetter places.

Almost immediately after the new law was passed — actual legal sales of alcohol began only eight months later — bootlegged spirit volumes registered a jump and prices dropped. This had to partially do with community organisations opposed to public drunkenness curtailing street patrolling and also government agencies previously tasked with upholding the ban on liquor sales finding themselves in a new role — facilitating its plentiful presence.

The potential market for wine in a dry state was realised quite early even after the enactment of the prohibition law. The Mizo National Front government, in 2007, braved Church opposition to make an amendment to the 1997 Act allowing manufacture, sale and consumption of local port wine. As realisation dawned that wine production could mean a source of livelihood for thousands, even those opposing chose to remain silent.

The government further gave both the Champhai and Hnahlan societies seed funds of Rs 80 lakh each — which they topped up with individual loans of Rs 160 lakh from the Mizoram Rural Bank — to build wineries. Apart from these, they received two 10,000-litre capacity fermentation tanks each two years ago from the state horticulture department. State support, both financial as well the amended prohibition policy, helped in boosting sales of the two wineries. Hnahlan alone recorded annual sales of between 1.5 lakh and 1.8 lakh bottles from 2010 (when actual production began) and the financial year ending March 2014. That translated into an annual turnover of around Rs 2.3 crore for this smaller of the two wineries.

But the lifting of prohibition has changed things drastically. During 2014-15, production rose to over 2 lakh bottles, but more than 80,000 remained unsold. The farmers’ collectives are now struggling to stay afloat. Champhai’s Zohmingliana notes that roughly two-thirds of all the grapes produced by the society’s members are bought by the winery.

The Champhai winery has now started supplying concentrated grape juice to a regional manufacturer for use in its line of liquor brands. In January, the society entered into an agreement with Radiant Manufacturing to supply 3.6 lakh litres per year to the company, which owns the Vinho Porto brand of port wines sold across North-East India and Bhutan. Last month, the first two truckloads of 16,000 litres of concentrated juice were flagged off from the society’s facility. Radiant’s CEO, Bheeshma Chand, informs that his company has been using grape juice concentrate sourced from Goa, Maharashtra and Karnataka for its wine manufacturing. Mizoram’s grapes are not only better, but the proximity to Radiant’s facilities makes this an economical raw material sourcing arrangement, he adds.

The Hnahlan growers’ society’s winery, which is 60 km away, has meanwhile sought to experiment with launch of new brands, while also making small batches of grape brandy. The collective, with 156 grower-members, has even hired a new Goa-trained winery manager, PB Lalrinfela, for making aged wine and applying for licences to market them under new brands in the liquor shops that have opened up following lifting of prohibition.

“We can start selling the aged wine in a few months. The grape brandy batches that we have made have all disappeared as sample drinks to visiting officials. We’ve been dry so long, you know,” he laughs.

Repatriation of Brus Cancelled

A camp for identifying bona fide residents of Mizoram was held in North Tripura.- PHOTO: RITU RAJ KONWAR

Aizawl, Jun 9 : The proposed commencement of repatriation of Brus lodged at Kaskau relief camp in North Tripura district was cancelled on Monday as Brus had not turned up for identification at the camp last week.

Additional Secretary for Home Lalbiakzama told PTI that identification of bona fide residents of Mizoram was conducted between June 2 and 4, but not a single Bru approached the officials camping at the Kaskau camp.

Mr. Lalbiakzama, however, said that the repatriation process identification of bona fide residents of Mizoram at Khakchangpara relief camp would be conducted as scheduled from June 15 to June 18. Those who turn up and are identified would be repatriated between June 22 and 26.

“We would undertake the repatriation process as per the time-table set in the Road Map IV for repatriation prepared by the State government and approved by the Supreme Court,” he said.

The Apex Court had last month instructed the Centre and the governments of Mizoram and Tripura to complete the repatriation process of Brus within six months.

Following the court order, the Mizoram government prepared a roadmap for repatriation of around 3,500 Bru families between June to September 2015.

They did not turn up for identification at the camp last week

Mizoram Govt Employee Allege Assault By Policemen in Mumbai

Mumbai, Jun 9 : A 28-year-old youth, employed with the Government of Mizoram, has alleged that he was assaulted by four plainclothes police officers outside a cafe near the Gateway of India here.

According to the youth, he and his two friends were sitting outside the cafe at around 12.50 am when four plainclothes policemen approached and ordered them to go home.

"When we replied that we are leaving in a while, one of them asked me to show my identification card. So I asked them to show their identification cards first since they were in plainclothes," the victim alleged.

"All of them were furious and one of them began beating me up with a baton, even though I told him that I am a government servant. One of my female friends got frightened and she repeatedly requested them to leave me alone, but they turned a deaf ear and continued roughing me up," he said.

"After we began leaving the place, one plainclothes policeman dragged me into a police jeep, took me to the Colaba police station and inspected my identification card," he said.

"Even after assuring them that I am a government servant serving in the Government of Mizoram's guest house in Parel, they detained me in the police station upto 1.40 am," he said.

The victim reported the incident to Mizoram's Resident Commissioner in Maharashtra who is contemplating to lodge a formal complaint.

"Yes, the victim has narrated the incident which is extremely unfortunate. We are contemplating about filing a case against the police atrocity," Resident Commissioner of Mizoram in Maharashtra V Zaithanmawia said.

YMA U-Turn on Census of Chakmas

Aizawl, Jun 8 : Mizoram's most powerful organization, the central committee of the Young Mizo Association (YMA), abandoned its proposed census of Chakmas scheduled to commence from the first week of June.

The YMA's U-turn came after it inked a joint resolution with the central Young Chakma Association (YCA) on Wednesday in southern Mizoram's Chawngte town in Lawngtlai district in the presence of the additional secretary for the state home department Lalbiakzama.

Both the community-based civil societies agreed to cooperate with the government, especially the task force on illegal immigrants constituted by the state government following instructions from the ministry of home affairs to detect and deport illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

YMA leaders said they would watch the activities of the task force and review its decision if they were not satisfied. YMA leaders and student organizations in Mizoram have been raising their voices for years on the issue of illegal immigrants, especially Chakmas, entering Mizoram through the porous 319-km international border with Bangladesh.

Former Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) leader Lalhming Liana said the illegal influx was aggravated by the creation of a separate Chakma Autonomous District Council in the early 1970s.

"When Mizoram, then one of the districts of Assam, was elevated to the union territory statues in 1972, the Centre converted the erstwhile Pawi-Lakher Region into three autonomous district councils without consulting the people and the then government of Mizoram," Liana said.

The separate autonomy for the Chakmas encouraged more Chakmas to enter and settle illegally in the state, he said.

Civil society and student leaders alleged that the decadal growth of the population of Chakmas was abnormal and much higher than the overall population growth in the state.

"We have no reason to doubt that the high rate of growth of the Chakma population has been due to illegal immigration," said Vanlalruata, general secretary of the central committee of the YMA.

Manipur Inspector Denies Link With Militants, Says Mizoram Home Minister Lying

Inspector Tlangthanzuol was accused of having links with the militants by Mizoram Home Minister R Lalzirliana.
Aizawl, Jun 5 : The Manipur police inspector Tlangthanzuol accused of being hand in glove with the HPCD militant group has issued a statement that he neither has links with the militants nor has he transported ammunition for them as alleged.

Inspector Tlangthanzuol was accused of having links with the militants by Mizoram Home Minister R Lalzirliana.

Tlangthanzuol, officer in charge of the Parbung police station in Manipur’s Churachandpur district, has called the neighbouring state’s Minister’s accusations “false and baseless” and that he is filing a defamation case against R Lalzirliana.

The Inspector has also said he had not gone to Tiaulien to investigate the encounter in which HPCD militant Malsawmkima was killed by Mizoram Police on the day R Lalzirliana alleged. He further said that he had gone two days later from a different route.

R Lalzirliana had said in a letter to Manipur’s Deputy Chief Minister that the inspector had transported about 500 rounds of ammunition in his official vehicle for the militants as he was visited the encounter site for an enquiry.

The policeman has been tasked with investigating the encounter.

Bru refugees reluctant on identification for repatriation to Mizoram

Kaskau (North Tripura)/Agartala, Jun 5 : Mizoram Bru (Reang Tribes) refugees in Tripura are reluctant, none of them turning up for identification till the third day on Thursday at Kaskau relief camp in North Tripura district, officials said.

Mizoram-Tripura-Bangladesh border Mamit district Deputy Commissioner representative Victorladam Puiya who had gone for the identification at the Kaskau camp said, "Three identification teams from Mamit and one from Kolashib has come and started identification from yesterday but there is no turn out. We have been waiting from 10 AM today but till now no one has come. We will extend our wait till 4 PM today and tomorrow also we will be continuing this identification process, lest some of them turn up."

"Actually the camp leaders said that they are supporting everything and have conducted public meetings and encouraged everyone to come here. There is no major opposition but they also can't say why they (inmates) did not turn up. It's a bit confusing. We have informed everybody but not a single person has turned up, we don't know the exact reason," he added.

As per earlier tripartite talks between Mizoram Government, Mizoram Bru Displaced People's Forum (MBDPF) and Tripura Government, identification of bonafide residents of Mizoram for repatriation started at the Kaskau camp from July 2 June 2 but not a single family turned up.

The Mizoram Government made arrangements for resumption of repatriation of Brus from the six relief camps in Tripura and proposed to repatriate more than 3,500 families.

The preparations came after the Supreme Court instructed both the Centre and the Mizoram government to repatriate all the Brus within six months.

"We did not go because what is the use in returning as we will not be secure and have land to cultivate there. After two years when the package will be over who will look after us," said an inmate Parvati Reang.

Meantime, MBDPF general secretary Bruno Mesa speaking to ANI at Agartala said: "In this regard, MBDPF have been cooperating with both the government of Mizoram and Tripura and also trying to convince our people to return. To live in relief camp is very unwanted but our people have not turned out in this identification process because after viewing the road-map prepared by the Mizoram government, they found that there is no development and this road-map is very uncertain for their future survivor. The spots selected for rehabilitation is not satisfactory for the (Bru) people as it is mainly in Mizo dominated areas. Moreover, the demands which MBDPF had submitted are also not considered and there is no point agreed by Mizoram Government to be materialized. May be this is the reason why our people have not turned in the identification process."

The MBDPF demanded for allotment of sufficient land to each repatriated Bru family so that they can cultivate after constructing house in Mizoram.

They also demanded for reservation for the Bru people in Mizoram under the primitive tribal category.

The MBDPF leader said that the Mizoram Government needs to change their mindset in rehabilitating the Bru people in their territory so that the roadmap is acceptable to the Bru people who may feel secure after returning to their home state after 18 years.

Beside this they have also demanded enhancement of the repatriation package from the earlier demand of Rs 80,000 per family.

Around 35,000 Bru displaced people of Mizoram for the last 18 years have been living in seven camps in Kanchanpur of North Tripura after an ethnic violence flared up with the majority Mizos.

The Mizoram government had objection on the total number of Brus which according to them is much less.

For the identification of the Brus, the process was supposed to start from Kaskau camp followed by repatriation from June 8.

4 Mizo Families, Who Fled After ‘prophecy’, Return From Myanmar

The group was detained by the Myanmar government at Tamu near Tahan in Myanmar’s Sagaing Division.


The group that returned from Myanmar at the international border near Zokhawthar. (Photo courtesy: DIPR Mizoram)

Aizawl, Jun 4 : Eighteen people from four families who undertook a journey on foot from Mizoram to China to “escape” from Aadhaar enrolment and what they believed to be “an impending darkness waiting to befall the state” returned home on Wednesday after spending over two months in captivity in Myanmar.

The group, including four minors and seven women, are members of a religious sect that lives in Tlangsam village near the eastern town of Champhai, close to the border with Myanmar.

An official from Champhai said they admitted to having been afraid of the Aadhaar project, which they interpret as the number of the anti-Christ prophesied in Christian theology. They also admitted to having undertaken the journey to escape a “blanket of darkness” that has in recent years been prophesied to befall Mizoram by some self-styled modern day prophets, the official said.

The group was detained by the Myanmar government at Tamu near Tahan in Myanmar’s Sagaing Division. Mizos who live in the region, including the late MLA of Tamu, D Thangliana and leaders of the Mizo Thalai Pawl (youth group), intervened on their behalf and tried to get them released. The efforts eventually paid off and the group was finally released.

NLUP Reduces Jhum Cultivation in Mizoram

Aizawl, Jun 4 : New Land Use Policy, the state governments flagship project, has significantly reduced the traditional shifting cultivation or jhumming, said a survey conducted by Consultative Committee for NLUP (CCN) today.

The CCN, comprising experts from the Mizoram University, found that families engaging in jhum cultivation has decreased from 66.

44 per cent of the total families in Mizoram to 46.

14 per cent, after the launching of the NLUP in 2011.

The area under jhum cultivation has also decreased by 22.

52 per cent, according to the survey.

At the same time, number of families engaging in wet rice cultivation have also gone up to 27.

20 per cent of the total families in Mizoram from 16.

19 per cent.

While the number of labour engaged in jhum went down to 29.

54 per cent from 47.

69 per cent, that of wet rice cultivation has gone up to 31.

14 per cent from 18.

17 per cent.

The number of NLUP beneficiaries having bank accounts has also increased to 98.

24 per cent from 46.

81 per cent.

The survey was conducted among beneficiaries who opted for orange plantation in the eight districts of Mizoram.

It covered 6,565 of the total 8,538 who are engaged in the trade.

The survey also found that 68.

35 per cent of orange trees have grown up and are expected to yield good harvest.

However, 25 per cent of the beneficiaries have lost 50 per cent of their orange trees to different factors, including diseases, the survey found.

The survey made several suggestions for improvement of orange orchards.

Orange plantation under NLUP is undertaken in 3100 hectares of land.

Expected to be harvested from 2017, the orange produced in Mizoram is expected to increase by 1095 MT and further to 7838 MT in 2020.

The report of the Study on the success and impact of NLUP under Horticulture Sector in Mizoram: Mandarin Orange was released by Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla.

Last and final Bru repatriation seemingly in doldrums as no one turns up for verification on day 1

Thousands of Bru tribals fled Mizoram in 1997 following ethnic violence between them and the majority Mizos following the murder of a Mizo official by Bru militants.



Aizawl, Jun 3 : Not a single internally displaced Bru tribal turned up for the verification process at Kaskau relief camp in spite of officials from Mizoram setting up counters there as the last and final repatriation process began on Tuesday.

Mamit Deputy Commissioner Vanlalngaihsaka said three teams of officials set up a counter at the camp to verify anyone who wants to return to Mizoram as to whether they are original residents of the state.

The officials would, however, remain there for the next two days before moving on to other relief camps.

If anyone who passes the verification process is willing to return to Mizoram, the state government would provide transportation for them to return to the state from Tripura and resettle them in selected villages where they will be allotted land and given compensation packages.

Tens of thousands of Bru tribals fled Mizoram in 1997 following ethnic violence between them and the majority Mizos following the murder of a Mizo official by Bru militants.

They made their way to Tripura where the neighbouring state put them in designated relief camps where they have been lodged ever since. Tripura has repeatedly said Mizoram should take back the tribals.

Six phases of the repatriation process has been organised since 2010, but these have met with limited success, partly because relief camp leaders have rejected the compensation package saying it is too less.

The Ministry of Home Affairs and the Mizoram and Tripura governments have agreed and told the Supreme Court, which is monitoring the repatriation process, that this would be the last time an effort is made to repatriate the tribals.

Anyone who does not take part would be removed from Mizoram’s electoral rolls (where they have continued to remain after a generation in absentia) and the relief camps disbanded, the sides had agreed.

Mizo Govt Mulling Powers To Police to Prosecute Smokers

Aizawl, Jun 2 : Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla today said the state government has been contemplating on giving powers to the police to arrest and fine those who smoke in prohibited places.

Speaking at a function in Aizawl on the observation of the World No Tobacco Day, Lal Thanhawla said the government was mulling giving authority to all ranks of the police to prosecute smokers who smoke in public places.

He lamented that 67 per cent of the people of Mizoram were using tobacco and tobacco products resulting in the state having the shameful distinction of being the highest incidence of cancer in the country.

This year's theme of the World No Tobacco Day was 'Stop Illicit Trade of Tobacco products' and the day was observed today in the Christian-dominated Mizoram as it fell on Sunday.

Police Inspector Linked to Militants, Remove Him From Probe into Encounter, Mizoram HM tells Manipur Dy CM

The inspector, the Home Minister has said, is allegedly "hand-in-glove" with the group and even transported several hundred rounds of ammunition for the militants when he conducted a spot visit on May 21.
By Adam Halliday

Aizawl, May 29 : Mizoram Home Minister R Lalzirliana has requested neighbouring Manipur’s Deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam Gangmei’s personal intervention to remove a police inspector tasked with investigating the encounter killing of the HPCD militant group’s “Sergeant” H C Malsawmkima.

The inspector, the Home Minister has said, is allegedly “hand-in-glove” with the group and even transported several hundred rounds of ammunition for the militants when he conducted a spot visit on May 21.

Malsawmkima, a Mizoram Police defector, was the main accused in the April 28 ambush on a convoy of three Mizoram MLAs near the inter-state border. The militants killed three policemen and injured six others, including two civilians, in the course of the attack.

Malsawmkima, who decamped with two rifles from an armed police camp in mid 2014 to join the HPCD, was identified as the leader of the group that waylaid the convoy.

R Lalzirliana’s letter details how the Mizoram Police team that shot dead Malsawmkima at Tiaulian (a village near the inter-state border within Manipur) in a pre-dawn operation immediately evacuated the body and evidences from the spot and later filed an FIR at Sakawrdai Police Station in north Mizoram, and how the FIR was transferred to Manipur Police which handed over the probe to Inspector Tlangthanzuala, the officer-in-charge of the Parbung Police Station.

​”​However, a technical input indicated that Inspector Tlangthanzuala is hand-in-glove with HPC(D) and was instigating them to take reprisal action ​Mizoram Police. ​This fact was conveyed to the Manipur Police but with no appropriate positive outcome.

“It was also revealed that approximately 500 rounds of ammunition supposedly sent by HPC(D) leaders from Rengkai to Vangai command via Tipaimukh road on 21st May 2015 was transported by the same officer in a police Gypsy when he proceeded to Tiaulian village in the aforesaid case and was also apparently accompanied by pro-HPC(D) TV cameraman and journalist on a Mahindra Bolero,” R Lalzirliana’s letter said.

​The Mizoram Home Minister requested the Manipur Dy.CM to “kindly look into the matter personally and initiate investigation” against the inspector and appoint someone else for the probe. ​

​​When contacted, Manipur DGP Shahid Ahmad said the Manipur Police was looking into the matter and awaiting final reports about the allegations before taking action against the inspector.

​”We a​re collecting verification into this. It will be verified and necessary action will be taken as per the verification report,” Ahmed said.

Infant Mortality Rate on the rise in Mizoram's Saiha district

Aizawl, May 29 : Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) increased in southernmost Mizoram's Saiha district despite efforts to bring down the IMR by the state health department, Health and Family Welfare department officials said.

The officials, attending the meeting of Saiha District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee chaired by Lok Sabha MP C L Ruala yesterday, revealed 55 infant deaths have already been reported since January till March this year.

It was also reported that the IMR in Saiha was the highest during 2014-2015 among the eight districts of Mizoram.

Experts from the Centre had earlier conducted a study on high INMR in Saiha district and made several suggestions including change of lifestyle, cleaner drinking water and awareness among pregnant women to approach health facilities including health sub-centres.

Mizoram ACB Launches Probe Against 16 Govt Engineers in Corruption Case

The FIR says the accused prepared revised estimates of Rs 1,470 lakh for the projects after they had been completed.
Aizawl, May 28 : Mizoram’s Anti-Corruption Bureau has started criminal investigations against 16 government engineers, including three who have since retired, for allegedly swindling Rs 933 lakh while working on two mini-hydel projects over one and a half decades ago.

The FIR says the accused prepared revised estimates of Rs 1,470 lakh for the projects after they had been completed (ostensibly to pay outstanding liabilities but of which Rs 373 lakh remain unaccounted for).

They are also accused of spending almost Rs 129 lakh to “repair vehicles”, making payments for which no vouchers are available, buying material that never reached the site and ordering unnecessary materials.

Mizoram Govt Asks Home Ministry To Expedite Fund for Bru Repatriation

Aizawl, May 28 : Mizoram government asked the Union Home Ministry to expedite release of fund meant for expenses of the resumption of repatriation of Brus from the six relief camps in neighbouring North Tripura district, scheduled to commence from the first week of June, a senior state home department official today said.

Additional Secretary for Home Lalbiakzama told PTI that a memorandum was handed over by the state government to the visiting Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju during a dinner hosted by the state home minister R Lalzirliana last night.

The memorandum said that the MHA has only released Rs 4.70 crore which would be highly insufficient to meet the expenditure of the proposed repatriation of around 3,500 Bru families.

Mizoram government earlier submitted the Road Map-IV for repatriation of the Brus to the centre and asked for Rs 68 crore for the massive exercise.

The state government also asked the centre to accept 1971 as the cut-off year, as done in Assam, for determination of foreigners coming to Mizoram from neighbouring Bangladesh.

Earlier, the MoS for home denied the allegations that the BJP government at the centre has a soft corner for Buddhist illegal immigrants (Chakmas) while hardening its stance on Muslim illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Rijiju, who came for a two-day visit yesterday left Mizoram today by helicopter after visiting the integrated check post at Kawrpuichhuah, the proposed border trade centre for the Indo-Bangladesh border in south Mizoram's Lunglei district.

Mizoram’s Pain Yet To Heal 29 Years After Peace Accord

By David Lalmalsawma

Author Malsawmi Jacob was in high school when the independence movement in the future state of Mizoram began in 1966. Her father, an army subedar stationed in the hill town of Shillong, now in the state of Meghalaya, predicted at the time that ordinary people would bear the brunt of an armed conflict. He was right.

The two-decade-long revolt by the Mizo National Front (MNF) would lead the Indian government to use war planes against its own citizens for the first time. A “grouping” policy was introduced where villages were burned and civilians herded to guarded centres so that people would be unable to shelter insurgents.

The rebels signed a peace accord with the government in 1986, and Mizoram came to be known as an “island of peace”, unlike neighbouring northeastern states like Manipur, Nagaland and Assam where militant violence continues. But Bangalore-based Jacob, whose new novel “Zorami” tells the story of a girl in the backdrop of the “disturbance”, said for many people who suffered during the insurgency, the pain remains.

Sixty-two-year-old Jacob, perhaps the only Mizo author to have published a novel in English, spoke about why she decided to write about the “ram buai” (disturbance in the land), and why she thinks the decision of the Mizo rebels to take up arms was a mistake.

Q: Why did you decide to write a novel with the insurgency as a backdrop?
A: We were staying in Guwahati in 2002, where I used to contribute to regional news publications. Mizoram was often described as an “island of peace”. I thought about the hardships we (Mizos) went through, and I started wondering how the people from that period are coping emotionally. I wanted to find out.
So in 2004, I travelled to places like Aizawl and Lunglei (towns in Mizoram) and interviewed people who were somehow involved with the insurgency. I asked them to describe their experiences during that period. And it was worse than what I thought. The Mizo people’s hearts have still not healed… I wanted to take a literary approach in describing what I discovered. So I started attempting to turn it into a novel.

Q: Who did you talk to during your research?
A: Those who experienced the disturbance. Some people are well known like Pu James Dokhuma and Rev. LN Ralte. They were part of those who started the peace process so they were well known. I also talked to my own relatives, some of whom have spent time in jail. And some others I met at random in places of gathering, like at a mourner’s house (in Mizo society, whenever someone dies, relatives and people in the society gather for days to mourn) where I asked people to share their experiences. I also read a few books where people documented their experience.

Q: How much truth is there in the events that you described in the book?
A: The backbone is based on real incidents. I just embellished it with my imagination.

Q: You said people are still hurting?
A: Our suffering was so much. Atrocities committed were so much that we still can’t forget it, and our heart still aches. There are a few, the more hardcore ones, who are still talking about whether we should renew the fight for independence.

Q: Did you personally experience the insurgency period?
A: I didn’t because we were outside the state. I was in high school when the disturbance started. My father used to lament about it and often said the people will suffer because of the uprising.

Q: Apart from some short story books and poems, I haven’t seen any novel written by a Mizo author in English. What do you think is the state of Mizo literature?
A: I think there still isn’t enough depth when it comes to Mizo literature. We still have some way to go. It’s beginning to look good – book releases have increased, and writers are also increasing, but we need to improve the quality of work.

Q: Do you think the armed uprising was necessary?
A: My personal opinion is violence should not have been used at all. We were unhappy with the Indian government, the Assam government (present-day Mizoram was then a district of Assam), and it was necessary to show it. But taking up arms was a big mistake because we suffered so much. And for the people who lost their fathers and mothers, who lost their children, no outcome really mattered. We should have fought with peaceful means, according to me.

Q: Was the protagonist Zorami used as a metaphor for the Mizos – their suffering and the influence of the church and spirituality in their culture?
A: Yes, I used the name Zorami deliberately to describe the Mizo people. I also used her as a symbol. (“Zoram” is a term of endearment used to describe Mizoram; “i” denotes the name is that of a female)

Like her, we suffered because of the disturbance, but we can be healed through God – not symbolic worshipping at church etc but achieving peace through an individual discovery of God. That’s what I wanted to show, and what I believe in.

SC Rejects Mizoram Govt Plea on Misappropriation of Funds

New Delhi, May 26 : The Supreme Court has rejected the Mizoram government’s special leave petition against a lower court’s order that the Anti-Corruption Bureau investigate alleged misappropriation of funds in the construction of two mini hydel projects in south Mizoram.

The SC’s dismissal of the government’s plea paves the way for the anti-graft agency to finally begin a probe into an alleged scam the government first allowed and later retracted, a move the Gauhati High Court has termed “enigmatic”.

The People’s Right to Information and Development Implementing Society of Mizoram, or PRISM, had in October 2008 filed an FIR against the state’s Power and Electricity Department (P&E) which constructed the two mini hydel projects.

The complaint pointed out that the estimate for the Tuipanglui mini hydel project rose from Rs 980 lambs in 1992 to Rs 3721 lakhs by 2001 (an almost four-fold escalation over less than a decade), while that for the Kau-Tlabung mini hydel project rose from Rs 482 lakhs in 1994 to Rs 3253 lakhs in 2001 (an almost seven-fold escalation over seven years).

The ACB conducted a preliminary enquiry and found that 13 government engineers led by the then Engineer-in charge of the Mizoram Public Works Department caused a loss of Rs 1.75 crores to the state exchequer while building the two hydel projects.

The ACB conducted two more enquiries following calls for clarification by the Vigilance Department, but each time the agency made out prima-facie cases of corruption.

Finally the Vigilance Department in May 2010 gave the ACB the green light to register criminal cases against 16 government engineers from both the state PWD and P&E departments.
Less than two months later, however, the Vigilance Department withdrew the permission.
PRISM took the government to court over the withdrawing of the permission, but the government argued neither the CAG, the Public Accounts Committee under the state legislature nor a departmental enquiry found cases of misappropriation.

The Gauhati HC however questioned the Vigilance Department action of cancelling the permission for an ACB investigation and doubted the exact extent the other bodies cited by the government during the case arguments might have gone to during their own enquiries. It passed an order that the ACB proceed with the investigation and wind up the case by September this year.

Interestingly, the Mizoram government to hired seven lawyers and approached the SC against the High Court order. The three-judge bench headed by CJI H L Dattu however dismissed the petition saying it is not inclined to interfere with the High Court order.

Mizoram’s 8th Governor Arrives in Aizawl Ahead Of Swearing-in Ceremony

Mizoram has seen eight governors of the state in last ten months.

Lt.Gen (retd) Nirbhay Sharma arrives at Lengpui airport, where he was received by officials led by Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla. (Source: DIPR)

By Adam Halliday

Aizawl, May 26 : Former Arunachal Pradesh Governor Lt.Gen (retd) Nirbhay Sharma arrived in Aizawl on Monday, a day before he is scheduled to be sworn in as the state’s eighth Governor in ten months. Sharma was greeted at the airport by officials led by Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla. He arrived with his wife, daughter and mother-in-law.

The frequent changes in the incumbents of the Raj Bhjavan at Aizawl has caused many controversy in Mizoram, with political and student leaders condemning the state being used as a “dumping ground” of UPA-appointed Governors the BJP-led government wants to sideline or force out of office.

When President Mukherjee visited the state in April, he was greeted by students sporting posters protesting the frequent changes and were seen draped in traditional shawls of mourning.

Mizoram: Tribal district’s chief executive, 5 others suspects in anti-graft investigation for siphoning off teachers’ salaries

The LADC is an autonomous tribal district under the sixth schedule of the Indian Constitution, and is located in Mizoram's southern periphery bordering Bangladesh and Myanmar.

By Adam Halliday

A local court has given permission for Mizoram’s Anti-Corruption Bureau to proceed with criminal investigation against the Chief Executive Member of the Lai Autonomous District Council (LADC) and five others for allegedly siphoning off several crores of rupees meant for teachers’ salaries, including those of ghost teachers.

The LADC is an autonomous tribal district under the sixth schedule of the Indian Constitution, and is located in Mizoram’s southern periphery bordering Bangladesh and Myanmar.

The Aizawl District court gave its assent to the ACB on Thursday after the anti-graft agency submitted it’s premilinary enquiry showing at least Rs 3.19 crores in teachers’ salaries were siphoned off by the District Education Officer, a teacher working as a cashier in his office and two leaders of the district’s teachers’ association, who purportedly also gave Rs 21 lakhs of their loot to CEM V Zirsanga.

According to the preliminary enquiry report submitted to the court, a copy of which is with The Indian Express, DEO Lalduna Chinzah withdrew salaries for more than a hundred teachers worth Rs 1.33 crores in spite of the same already being withdrawn earlier.

Chinzah had also issued Last Pay Ceritifcates for 41 teaching and non-teaching staff who had never been employed by the LADC.

The DEO also withdrew salaries for two ghost teachers which amounts to at least Rs 13 lakhs.
Meanwhile, salaries of three real teachers worth a total of more than Rs 16 lakhs was also withdrawn but the money never reached the trio.

The ACB’s inquiry says at least four others benefitted from the siphoning of funds besides the DEO, who allegedly pocketed more than Rs 73 lakhs.

It says N C Muankima and C Lalchawiliana, respectively the president and secretary of the district’s Middle School Teachers’ Association, took at least Rs 53 lakhs between themselves and of this handed over Rs 21 lakhs to CEM V Zirsanga.

The teacher cum cashier in the DEO’s office Ramengzauva meanwhile is alleged to have gotten Rs 30 lakhs for himself.

Besides these five persons, the ACB has also received sanction to investigate a former assistant education officer named B Vanlalngheta, who is currently poisted in the Art and Culture Department.
The ACB said it examined a total of 48 witnesses including Minister of State C Ngunlianchunga, who was formerly CEM of the LADC before becoming an MLA in the 2013 statewide elections.