Mizo Women Comprise 43.98 Per Cent of The Workforce

Aizawl, Mar 8 : Women folk in Mizoram comprise a healthy 43.98 per cent of the state's total work force, says a new book on economic participation of the fairer sex.

"The population of working women is increasing in the state as they are emancipated a lot here, and they now constitute 43.98 per cent of the total work force," the author Dr Lalhriatpuii has said in her book 'Economic Participation of Women in Mizoram', which was published here last week.

Lalhriatpuii, however, has lamented that in the strict Mizo patriarchal society, the rise of women is often put on brakes especially in the villages.

"Many women in the villages are compelled to perform household chores and have no opportunity to take up any career or jobs outside the confine of the homes and also due to lack of educational qualification amongst the womenfolk," she said.

Finance Panel Recommends Rs 8,805 cr For Mizoram

Aizawl, Mar 8 : The 13th Finance Commission has recommended a package of Rs 8,805.30 crore as grants-in-aid for meeting earmarked and specific requirements during the next five years for Mizoram.

Officials in the State Finance department said here that the Commission’s earmarked allocation included Rs 310.70 crore for local bodies, Rs 47.50 crore for disaster management and Rs 5 crore for elementary education.

Giving importance to environment, the Finance Commission recommended Rs 171.20 crore for forest management, Rs 89 crore for renovation and maintenance of roads and bridges and Rs 13 crore for improvement in justice delivery.

Gen Next in Assam Rejects Gun Culture

Sivasagar (Assam), Mar 8 : Three college students skipped classes and mingled with a crowd Saturday to have a close look at Pradip Gogoi, vice chairman of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), in jail for over a decade and now out on bail. But they weren't impressed.

The separatist leader was released Thursday from the Guwahati Central Jail, ending 12 years of imprisonment. On Saturday he reached his hometown Sivasagar, 360 km east of Assam's main city Guwahati.

A rousing reception was given to the rebel leader at the ramparts of Rang Ghar, an amphitheatre of the Ahom royalty and the place where the ULFA was formed by Gogoi and six others April 7, 1979.

Anup Gogoi, Arindam Das, Nilim Baruah, all undergraduate students of a college here, joined more than 2,000 people at Rang Ghar. A majority of them wanted to welcome Gogoi.

"We came to see Pradip Gogoi but we don't believe in ULFA's ideology nor do we support their campaign," said Baruah.

His friend Anup was in agreement.

"The younger generation Assamese is not interested in the gun culture of ULFA. It was sheer curiosity that brought us here," Anup told IANS.

The mood was loud and clear. Generation Next in Assam is not supportive of ULFA's violent campaign that has claimed thousands of lives and wants to look ahead for a future of hope and progress.

"What have we got from the long years of insurgency? We saw bloodbath and miseries. We want to see Assam grow and would like to compete with our brothers outside the state," Arindam said, as he jumped onto a bicycle to attend his English major classes.

More and more Assamese youth are looking for better career options, visibly tired of the continuing violence and lack of development, a result of the long drawn insurgency.

"It is nice to see shopping malls and multiplexes coming up in almost all the cities and the yearning of the new generation to achieve something in life," said Aprurba Handique, a college teacher.

Said Bhabesh Baishya, a retired government official: "This is a good and healthy trend to see the new generation. It inculcates a competitive bent of mind and craving to do well in life."

Air Force Flying Pilot SSC Officer

INDIAN AIR FORCE
Inviting applications from dynamic Indian Men for a fulfilling Career in the Flying Branch of the Indian Air Force.

7th SHORT SERVICE COMMISSION (SSC) MEN & 36th SSC WOMEN FLYING PILOT COURSE

Course commencing January 2011

Last date of receipt of application: 06/04/2010

For Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep & Minicoy Islands, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Nagaland and Mizoram - Last Date : 13/04/2010

Qualifications :

• An unmarried Male or Female Indian citizen, 19 to 23 years of age
• A first class Graduate in any discipline with Physics and Math at 10+2 level or BE/ B.Tech with minimum 60% marks. Final year students may also apply, provided they would qualify for a degree and submit result by 15 Dec 2009.
• At least 162.5 cms in height and have a leg length in the range 99 cm and 120 cm.

Pay Scale : Flying Officer get salary in the Pay Band Rs.15600-39100 + Grade pay + Military Service Pay

If you meet these requirements, apply on plain A4 size paper (typed or handwritten) in English in the prescribed format and post the application to the address given below by ordinary post to reach latest by 06/04/2010 (13/04/2010 for candidate from far-flung areas), super scribing the envelope : 7 SSC (M)/ 36 SSC (W) F (P) Course (as applicable)

Post Bag No. 001, Nirman Bhawan Post Office, New Delhi-110106

Complete advertisement along with Application Format is available at  Careerairforce

Sachin Wants to 'Pilot' IT Revolution in Northeast

New Delhi, Mar 7 : The government has begun an ambitious programme to wire up the entire northeast and remote border regions with telecom, Wimax and Broadband connectivity and unleash an IT revolution in the region, says Minister of State for IT and Communications Sachin Pilot.
"I believe that the northeast can become a big centre for attracting investments from the private sector - in business process outsourcing (BPOs), knowledge process outsourcing," Pilot, 32, said during an exclusive interaction.

"Young people there have a lot of talent and are easier to train and impart skills to for this kind of work. If we can have rural BPOs then I am sure we can have BPOs in the northeast," he added.

A bulk of the money under what is called universal service obligation fund, collected by the government from private players to meet the demands of rural connectivity, will be deployed in the northeast, he said.

At the start of this fiscal, more than Rs.18,000 crore ($3.6 billion) was available under this fund.

On a mission to do a "lot more" in the northeast that "has not been done so far", Pilot said Assam, for example, will see optical fibre cables laid across the state -- seen as a must for large data transfers required by such service providers.

"We are launching optical fiber cables at the panchayat level in Assam soon. This will be the first state in India to have it," Pilot said, adding Wimax services had already been unveiled there last month.

"We launched Wimax in Chaygaon, on the outskirts of Guwahati in Assam. It's a wireless, high speed internet broadband connectivity -- such that people living in a radius of 15 kilometers can access the internet easily," he said.

Moving beyond Assam, Pilot said the government is also planning a software parks project at Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh, which will be an export-oriented scheme for developing computer software and extending related professional services.

"I have already met the chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh. We are hoping to start this project soon. The state will then have a lot more money from the government of India, which it can't afford now," he said.

India's northeastern region covers the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim.

Pilot said he is also planning to give the satellite phone facilities to villages in the northeast, which are cut off from others due to their location, along with a much-subsidized tariff.

"There are some places of Arunachal Pradesh, which are 12,000 feet to 14,000 feet high -- no spectrum, no mobile phones. Therefore, besides the paramilitary forces, I am trying to give satellite phones to these villages and reduce the call charges," he said.

In Sikkim, Pilot said, the IT ministry has helped in the setting up of a small business process unit and launched 3G services through the state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.

"The chief minister of Sikkim wanted to set up a 50-seat unit through an entrepreneur. So, we not only gave them connectivity but also gave it to them at one-fourth the cost. We also launched 3G services there," the minister said.

"I want that all the states of the northeast to feel as involved in what's happening in New Delhi and Mumbai in terms of new innovative ideas."

Assam Tea Workers Complain of Low Hike in Daily Wage

By Arijit Sen

They have the grueling task of picking the tea leaves, with which you and I brew our everyday morning chai. But these tea plantation workers hardly earn in an hour, what we spend on a cup of tea. They have just received a hike on their daily wage of Rs 58.50.

Dhiraj Kakati is with the Assam Branch of the India Tea Association.... He justifies the hike saying it was decided after several meetings with the INTUC-led tea workers trade union...

Meryl Streep's Oscar Nominations

For most people, getting nominated for an Oscar would be a big deal. For Meryl Streep, it's par for the course. With her brilliant turn as America's culinary patron saint Julia Child in "Julie & Julia," Streep has earned her 16th nomination. That's more than any other actor has ever earned. Let's look back at all of her nominated roles.

2009 Best Actress Nominee
"Julie & Julia"

2008 Best Actress Nominee
"Doubt"

2006 Best Actress Nominee
"The Devil Wears Prada"

2002 Best Supporting Actress Nominee
"Adaptation"

1999 Best Actress Nominee
"Music of the Heart"

1998 Best Actress Nominee
"One True Thing"

1995 Best Actress Nominee
"The Bridges of Madison County"

1990 Best Actress Nominee
"Postcards From the Edge"

1988 Best Actress Nominee
"A Cry in the Dark"

1987 Best Actress Nominee
"Ironweed"

1985 Best Actress Nominee
"Out of Africa"

1983 Best Actress Nominee
"Silkwood"

1982 Best Actress Winner
"Sophie's Choice"

1981 Best Actress Nominee
"The French Lieutenant's Woman"

1979 Best Supporting Actress Winner
"Kramer vs. Kramer"

1978 Best Supporting Actress Nominee
"The Deer Hunter"

Woman on Top Tusker Silk

By Debasis Sarkar

She is a graduate in political science from Guwahati University. And she hails from the erstwhile royal family of the Baruas of Gauripur, now in Assam’s Goalpara district. One would have probably expected her to pursue academics and settle down to a conventional life. But, she wasn’t quite cut out for that.

Parbati Barua, who is now in her fifties, was journeying deep into dense jungles from her childhood with her father, the legendary elephant expert and tamer Prakritish Barua. Interestingly, Parbati’s uncle was Tollywood movie star of yesteryears Pramathesh Barua of Devdas fame.

Parbati’s eight brothers and sisters have all gone down the beaten track. But, thanks to her early experiences with her father, Parbati was destined for the untrodden path. Today, she is a mahout (elephant trainer), arguably one of few women in the world to be involved in such an unusual occupation, and a well-known pachyderm expert. And, just as she did as a child, she spends long stretches of her days and nights in the forests, taming, training and protecting them. Yes, she has a family. But, her children also include three pachyderm ‘daughters’, Lakshimala, Aloka and Kanchanmala and a team of co-workers who help Parbati in her unquestionably out-of-the-box preoccupation.

Parbati, a crackshot at lassoing wild elephants, travels with her team to any part of the country which is in a spot with elephants or where the largest land animal is in distress and dange . She is often called in to thrash out elephant management policies and conservation activities and controlling and capturing wild herds, driving out wild elephants from urban locales and training mahouts. And, one can rest assured that Parbati and her crew will live up to their assignments. And, curiously, this team also comprises three full-grown and well groomed cow elephants who are almost 35 years old. “What we earn out of it makes our lives comfortable,” says Parbati, now the honorary chief elephant warden of the Assam forest department.

Having spent the better part of her life in the wilds, Parbati Barua is lion-hearted. Recently, a 28-year-old rouge bull elephant in Kaziranga killed several people, including the mahout. The Assam forest department decided to step in to gun down the elephant. "I couldn’t imagine such a tragic end to this elephant’s life and took him under my care. In time, the elephant came around on track. It’s now in perfect shape for disciplined work. His new lease of life is my biggest reward," says Parbati.

And, predictably, she takes the risks of venturing into the almost impregnable, dark jungles in her stride. "Every time, I enter a jungle, I think it’s the last time I’ll be around to ramble around them. And, that my end is round the corner. An encounter with a rogue elephant and to put it on leash is a gamble between life and death. At the other end of the scale, an elephant can assimilate 40-50 commands. But, to pull that off, one needs to get a full grip of its psychology and deal with its tremendously high level of intelligence and memory and succeed in tackling its immense strength. Otherwise, you are as safe on elephant back as in your bedroom. Any mistake may end up being fatal. But, isn’t city life also brimming with risks," Barua remarks, lending an insight into her command over her favourite animal.

But, isn’t it strange that the lady, who was awarded the United Nations Environment Programme Global 500 Roll of Honour in 1989, decided to live life dangerously instead of the glamour and glitz of her princely home? "I think it’s in my genes. I had become my father’s assistant even while pursuing my graduation at Guwahati University. So, after his demise in 1988, I decided to plunge into my life with elephants. Even today, it’s more a passion than a profession. As a mahout, I can never retire. I’d like to end life with my elephants just like my father did, says Parbati.

So, the next time you spot a petite woman in her fifties meandering into the mysterious forests to shackle a flock of wild elephants, be sure it is none other than the indefatigable Parbati Barua.