Flip Through Northeast

By Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty

The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) building in New Delhi. photo: V. Sudershan

Valuable books on Northeast India from IGNCA's permanent collection

Way back in 1954, Assam's celebrated poet and politician Hem Barua said in his popular book “The Red River and The Blue Hill” that there is a lot of sudden interest to know Northeast India. What came of that interest five decades ago is nothing much to write home about, but the former Parliamentarian wrote in its foreword that the idea of the book was triggered by a volley of queries he often came across from people he met in his public life outside Assam.

That budding interest in NE India can be considered somewhat well-bloomed now. A festival of Northeast India or an exhibition of crafts from the region are fairly frequent occurrences in the Capital nowadays. Till early this week, there was a first-of-a-kind inter-cultural dialogue between Northeast India and Southeast Asia — regions that bear many similarities — organized by Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. On its campus sprawling across many acres in the heart of the city, there was an abundant flow of northeastern food, culture and craft. And yes, there were books too.

Placed on display at the library of IGNCA were over 200 titles pulled out from its permanent collection spanning a multiplicity of subjects on Northeast India. Hem Barua's “The Red River…” was there too. So were many valuable books, some going back to the 1920s.

A couple of interesting titles came to one's notice, like the “Folk Toys of Assam” (Birendranath Dutta), “Ancient Treasures of Assam”, “Folk Songs of Arunachal Pradesh”, “Beliefs and Customs of Assamese Hindus”, “The Arts and Crafts of Nagaland” “Some Cultural and Linguistic Aspects of the Garos”, “Musical Instruments of Arunachal Pradesh”, “Martial Traditions of North East India” and “Bargit as a form of Raga Misra”, besides writings on various tribes, like “Lusai Kuki Clans”, “The Rahas”, “The Rabhas”, and also a very interesting Boro-Assamese dictionary published in the 1960s. Yet another book worth looking at was an English translation of Gunabiram Barua's play “Ram Nabami”. It is arguably Assam's first modern play on a secular theme.

Priceless information

Between covers, one found a host of priceless information in each title. Say, in “Traditional Performing Arts of North East India”, there was a valuable chapter on Sattriya dance and its classifications.

Each classification was well explored in simple language. The makeup and the costume for the dance also got more than a mention. There were other attention-grabbing chapters in the book, like those on the clown plays of Manipur, the traditional Vaishnavite theatre of Assam and puppetry in Assam.

In Dhaneshwar Kalita's “Traditional Performances of South Kamrup”, there were particularly two interesting chapters on lesser known cultural aspects of Assam — Ai Sakalar Naam, a choral tradition prevalent among Assamese women, and Dhol, Tal Kalia, a local aero phone instrument.

Then there were about a dozen manuscripts procured from the private collection of noted contemporary Assamese writer Maheshwar Neog. Interesting titles included “Babruvahanar Yuddha” by Harsha Vipra, “Krishna Bhakti” by Tarangini and “Devotional Songs” by Aniruddha.

The display of books also had the usual suspect of subject matter on the region — like terrorism, Bangladeshi migrants and security threats to NE India.

(One can access the books as an IGNCA library member.)

Manipur Journalists Union Demands Release of 2 Scribes

By Iboyaima Laithangbam

Imphal, Mar 24 : The All-Manipur Working Journalists' Union has condemned the arrest of two journalists without arrest warrant despite the Supreme Court's directive.

The Imphal East district police arrested on Monday Moirangthem Romeo, correspondent of Doordharshan, Imphal, and a local cable channel, ISTV; and Atom Lukhoi, correspondent of vernacular newspaper Poknapham. They are vice-president and secretary of the All Jiribam Working Journalists' Union (AJWJU).

Reports said the police raided their houses at Jiribam in Imphal East district in the early hours before their arrest. The family members of the journalists were not informed of the reasons. Protesting against the police action, women vigilantes at Jiribam blocked the roads and all shops pulled down shutters.

The AJWJU submitted a memorandum to the government demanding immediate release of the journalists.

Thokchom Radheshyam, Police Superintendent of Imphal East district, alleged that the two journalists were involved in extortion of money for proscribed underground organizations.

View From The Margins

By Sangeetha Devi Dundoo

Passing by Film-maker Kavita Joshi's images of Manipur disturb and engage viewers

In focus Documentary film-maker Kavita Joshi

Manipur is no strange land for documentary film-maker Kavita Joshi. Though based in Delhi, she grew familiar with Manipur while making a film, Some Roots Grow Upwards. The documentary, based on the works of Manipuri theatre director Ratan Thiyam, required her to travel to the state frequently.

Voices of women

This familiarity with Manipur made her relate to the plight of Manipuri women when news of trouble broke out with the custodial killing of Manorama Devi and the naked protest by the mothers of Manipur. “Many video clips of those protests were circulating in Delhi at that time, and I too saw those.

What we saw was horrifying — people being beaten simply because they protested and women protestors being shoved into trucks and dumped miles away from the city. But if you lived in Delhi you hardly ever got to see any of this in mainstream news channels. It was bitterly ironic that so much video coverage of the protests existed in Manipur yet little of it made it to 24 hour news,” she says.

That moved Kavita to make a short film, Tales from the Margins, in 2006. Her film captures the protests, especially non-violent protests by women. The film has since been screened across India and abroad.

Kavita Joshi was in Hyderabad to screen her film at the SN School of Communication and at a screening organized by Moving Images.

In the last four years, screening of the film, she observes, has helped build awareness about the conflict in Manipur. “A lot more can be done and I hope that more people will keep wanting to engage with the situation in Manipur,” she says.

As an independent film-maker who conducts workshops on film-making for students, Kavita contrasts the screenings she had at the University of Hyderabad and Moving Images and says, “Students were keen to know about the nuances of film-making while at Moving Images, there were more questions pertaining to the ‘issue'.” She has been to Hyderabad several times but this visit comes after a gap of a decade.

Talking about her choice of films, she says more than an issue, it's the deeper connect that she feels with an issue that triggers moviemaking.

“In the case of Manipur, it was my personal relationship with the place and the people that drove me to make Tales In Some Roots Grow Upwards,” she says. Now, she is working on a personal narrative about her own family.

Assam Unable to Check Forest Cover Loss

By Rahul Karmakar

Guwahati, Mar 24 : Elephants in Assam apparently have a reason to get killed on railway tracks or risk death by raiding crop fields - shrinking forests.

The death of an elephant - the eighth this year - in Karbi Anglong  district last Friday showed why Assam's killer tracks claim most jumbos (37 per cent of all train-hit cases in India). It also put the spotlight on the state's poor performance vis-à-vis checking forest cover loss.

According to the 'Indian State of Forest Report 2009' by Forest Research  Institute (FSI), India's forest cover (2007 assessment) was 690,899 sq km.

This translates into 21.02 per cent of India's geographical area, well below the desired 33 per cent mark.

The change in forest cover with respect to revised assessment for 2005  was 728 sq km. Expansion of forests in Mizoram (640 sq km), Manipur (328  sq km) and Jharkhand (172 sq km) boosted the figure that doesn't give a  clear picture of deforestation in India.

Among the eight northeastern states - India's green hope - Nagaland lost  201 sq km although 81.21 per cent of its geographical area is under forest  cover. Arunachal Pradesh with 119 sq km and Tripura with 100 sq km were  the other major losers followed by Assam with 66 sq km.

"Between 2000-2009, Assam has lost 374.25 hectares in five national parks,  18 wildlife sanctuaries and 312 reserved forests," said Sanjay Sonowal of green group Assam Van Suraksha Dal. "Compared to 27,826 sq km in 2003, the state's forest cover was 26,748 sq km, a loss of 1,078 sq km in two years."

Sonowal added Assam is also the leader where encroachment of forests is  concerned. Assam Forest Department data for 2005 said 355,980.144 hectares of the state's forests were under encroachment. "This has now increased to  485,678 sq km, and this shows initiatives by forest officials are coming a  cropper."

Assam Forest Minister Rockybul Hussain insisted the situation isn't as bad  as it is made out to be. "Our performance in forest management has  improved commendably," he said.

The one-horned rhino felt the impact of encroachment in 70 sq km Laokhowa Wildlife Sanctuary (Nagaon district) in 1985-86. The last of the animal  was killed during that fiscal.

Elsewhere, particularly the Northern Bank Landscape covering the foothills Eastern Himalayas from the Assam-West Bengal border eastward, elephants are feeling the heat.

"At least 10 elephants and 30 humans are killed every year in increasing  cases of human-elephant conflicts," Nandita Hazarika of the Assam Haathi  Project (AHP) told Hindustan Times. "The elephants are poisoned, shot with  country-made guns or electrocuted with live wires."

Via Hindustan Times

Tripura Gets Tough With Cyber Crimes

Agartala, Mar 24 : The Tripura government Wednesday notified guidelines that propose stringent action, including a 10-year jail term, against those involved in cyber crime.

“If anybody is found guilty of indulging in cyber crime, he can be prosecuted with a maximum of 10-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs.200,000,” police spokesman Nepal Das told reporters.

He said the government has notified guidelines for private cyber cafes and internet dhabas. “If the cyber cafe and internet dhaba owners violate these guidelines, stringent actions will be taken against them,” Das added.

“There shall not be any cabin in any cyber cafe and proper records with detailed identity of the users shall be maintained by the cyber cafe and internet dhaba owners,” the guidelines added.

“Children below the age of 18 years should come to cyber cafe and internet dhaba with their guardians,” said the guidelines.

The spokesman said surprise raids will be conducted on cyber cafes and internet dhabas to ensure adherence to the Information Technology Act 2000.

The government has also designated certain police officials who can be informed by people about cyber crimes.

Project Reducing Man-Elephant Conflict Wins Laurels

Guwahati, Mar 24 : Against the backdrop of frequent man-elephant conflicts in Assam in recent times, a project aimed at securing man's peaceful coexistence with the animal has won international laurels.”

Named Assam Haathi Project, a collaborative conservation project launched by conservationists of the UK-based Chester Zoo and EcoSystems India working together to bring down cases of human-elephant conflict, it has been awarded the prestigious Darwin Initiative of the UK government.

The project manager, Nandita Hazarika, said that no elephant or human death had occurred in the affected villages ever since the project was initiated in 2004 in six affected villages with the help of more than 800 households, local civil society organizations and the forest department.

"We have succeeded in improving the livelihoods of people and safety of elephants in six villages and trained over 130 community members in Sonitpur and Goalpara districts of Assam," she said.

There are, however, many more villages in Assam which require help to cope with conflict incidents and there is much more to be done, Hazarika says.

Invasion of crop fields by elephants is not a new phenomenon, but with increasing rates of deforestation, elephants are forced to venture out for food and come into contact with farmers.

The project's founder and 'Chester Zoo Conservation' manager, Alexandra Zimmermann, pointed out that the situation resulted not only in loss of crops, but also destruction of property and loss of human lives leading in turn to the killing of elephants.

"Our project combines community outreach with good science to bring the conflict under control and protect the lives of people and elephants," he said.

A practical handbook, 'Living with Elephants' in English and Assamese has been produced by the project for affected people and it includes among other things tips on how to help villagers prevent elephant damage to their property and crops.

The handbook includes illustrated step-by-step guide on how to use chilies to deter elephants and explains how to build early warning systems like 'trip wires' and watchtowers.

"We use a variety of measures to protect crops and buildings from elephants. Some of these build on local ideas and knowledge while others are adaptations of other successful projects in southern Asia and Africa," Hazarika said.

The Assam Haathi Project has trained people from elephant-affected communities and these team of field researchers collect information on elephant locations and behavior locality, either through direct sightings, secondary evidence or tracks, or information from local villages, she said.

"This method gives us good information about the elephants and actively involves communities in the work of understanding and managing human-elephant conflict," Hazarika said.

Northeast Bhutan Air Connectivity Soon

Guwahati, Mar 24  : In what could boost connectivity and bilateral trade between Northeast India and Bhutan, the air connectivity project between the two regions is likely to get finalized in May-June of this year, paving the way for Druk Air flights from Paro to Bangkok via Guwahati.

Head of a Bhutanese business delegation to the Northeast, Chen Chen Dorji, while interacting with the media here, said that the process, earlier scheduled to start from this month itself, is awaiting the security clearance and cabinet approval.

Dorji, who is also the vice president of the Bhutan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the 19-member team of business delegates from Bhutan today participated in an interactive seminar on ‘Enhancing trade relations between Bhutan and Northeast India’ organized by the NEDFi.

Emphasizing the need of better connectivity between the two countries to boost the trade ties, he said that primarily the Druk Air would fly the route thrice a week. “The venture would pave the way for the interest of aviation companies from India to start more flights on this route,” he added.

On the key areas identified by the delegation to start business with the Northeast, he said that education is one potential field for the business group of Northeast to invest in Bhutan.

“Moreover, as the security condition has improved in the region, it would be convenient for our students to come to the Northeastern India for higher education rather than going to the far south of India, Pune, Bangalore, Delhi, etc.,” he mentioned.

“Bhutan has always shared a cordial relationship with the NE region which was snapped for some period due to security reasons. Between the Governments of both the countries, relations are very pleasant, but efforts should be made from the Northeastern side to improve people to people relations,” he further mentioned.

Identifying the other key areas of mutual tie-ups, he said that apart from education, information and technology, hydro power, tourism and health sector would be ideal for trade relations between both the countries.

The NEDFi co-coordinated the visit of Bhutanese delegates with support from the Ministry of Development of the North Eastern Region (DoNER).

In another event, the Jikdrel Entertainment, a leading cultural group of Bhutan, will perform a show at the ongoing Assam International Trade Fair on March 25 evening.

Assam Faces Hottest Summer - Scanty Rainfall, Global Warming

Boys frolic in the Brahmaputra to beat the heat in Guwahati on Tuesday

Guwahati, Mar 24 : If you thought last summer was a sizzler, think again. The weatherman says this summer could be the hottest in many years.

The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) at Borjhar today predicted that the state could experience the hottest summer in many years because of scanty rainfall and global warming.

RMC director Hara Govinda Pathak told this correspondent that prolonged rainless conditions had led to a substantial rise in the atmospheric temperature in the state even before the onset of summer. On March 20 and 21, the day temperatures rose to 37 degrees Celsius in the city. In normal conditions, the average temperature on these two days in the past was a pleasant 31 degrees Celsius.

Small towns like Silchar and Dhubri also recorded 34 degrees Celsius on Monday, three degrees more than the normal maximum day temperature at this time of the year.

“If the pre-monsoon rainfall is inadequate, the maximum temperature will stay four degrees above normal on most of the days over the next two months. March has already shown the way with the maximum day temperature remaining at least three degrees above normal so far in most parts of the state. The situation in Guwahati will be the worst. On Saturday and Sunday, the maximum temperature crossed more than six degrees Celsius above normal. If the situation is such at this point of time, one can well imagine the sufferings when the summer will be at its peak,” Pathak said.

He said the maximum day temperatures had crossed the normal limit in March last year, too, but had gradually climbed down towards the end of the month with rainfall.

Guwahati and its adjoining areas recorded a rainfall of 4mm on March 27, 1.1mm on March 28, 8.2mm on March 30 and 27.5mm on March 31 last year. As per data available with the RMC, the city recorded a rainfall of only 1.1mm on March 16.

Though the RMC said there could be one or two spells of rainfall in isolated places in the state, the conditions are still not favorable for the usual pre-monsoon showers, which lash the state in this time of the year.

“So far, we do not see any favorable condition for rainfall till April. There have been no Northwesterly till date because of lack of favorable local atmospheric conditions. Long spells of rain during monsoon are gradually becoming a thing of the past in the state because of the cumulative effect of global warming. Assam recorded 18 per cent deficit rainfall last year. Scientists say the region will experience the ill-effects of global warming much ahead of the other parts of the country. There is a possibility of deficit rainfall again this year, causing rise in temperatures,” Pathak said.