Nagaland Turns To Music as Militancy Subsides

By Peter Chachei

  Dimapur, Apr 14 : Music forms an inseparable part of a Naga's life. The community just loves music. As peace takes root in the state, musicians and music lovers are optimistic about a better tomorrow.

There is no doubting the fact that Nagas are good musicians and can get a crowd giving. Concerts, rock shows, music competitions and festivals are a regular feature in Nagaland.

Youth here are passionate about music and many opt for it as a profession. No surprise then that the music industry here is a vibrant one. Moa Subong and Aren Subong of Dimapur have created an indigenous musical instrument called the Bamhum.

The duo want to popularize this instrument across the country, and even abroad. Nagas need a chance to showcase it at international level, opines musician Aren Subong.

"Nagas are talented. All you need is to be talented for success, we need to move out and go global and showcase our talent at the international level. The creation of a Naga Music Task Force is a positive sign for the music industry and the government has recognized it. So, we can now get loans and other facilities, and, I am sure one day, we will be popular," Subong said.

Rock bands like Divine Connection the Eximonous Group and Azi Tetseo have already made a name in Nagaland. Nesie Merano, another professional musician, foresees a great future for Naga musicians.

"I think Nagas are blessed with the gift of musicians who had privilege to go abroad and study. Because even when I was staying in Delhi, the number of music graduates in Nagaland are more than that in Delhi or Bombay and I am glad that they are back to serve as an inspiration for others," Merano said.

With music studios being set up and the easy availability of high-end musical instruments, the music industry in Nagaland is the growth path. A drop in militancy and the ongoing peace dialogue between the rebel Naga leadership and the Central Government has also given hope to the musicians.

"We have so much of talent in Nagaland hidden, music industry unless we have peace we cannot let it out. So I think it is a positive step and should come to a point where people realize that enough is enough," said Nevi, a local, about militancy and the talks.

People in the state believe things are getting clearer and look forward to a successful outcome of the talks. "I strongly believe that things are getting transparent and people have opportunity to see and hear what is going on at the talks at any level. I have a strong faith that this time talks will be fruitful," said Tali Angh, a singer from Nagaland.

Musicians in India have found a nationwide platform with the advent of talent hunts on television. Many artists from northeast like Debojit Saha from Silchar, Assam, who won Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2005 have already proved their ability.

And musicians from Nagaland are now looking for their moment in the sun.

More Autonomy Assured For Northeast India Tribals

Agartala, Apr 14 : The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government is keen to give more autonomy to the autonomous district councils in northeast India for the development of the tribals, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V. Narayanasamy said Tuesday.

“Congress governments, both at the centre and states, are always sincere for the development of tribals and to grant more autonomy to the backward tribals,” he told reporters here.

In the northeast, there are 16 tribal autonomous district councils (ADCs) - constitutional autonomous bodies to facilitate the socio-economic development of tribals, who constitute 26.93 percent of the northeast’s total population of 38,857,769 (2001 census). Of the 16 ADCs, six are in Manipur, three each in Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram and one in Tripura.

Narayanasamy, who is also a Congress general secretary, was in Tripura to supervise the party’s organizational activities ahead of the May 3 elections to the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC).

“Late prime minister Indira Gandhi and the Congress had taken bold steps to constitute these ADCs in northeast India,” he said, charging the Left Front government in Tripura with utterly failing to ensure the development of the tribals and to solve their problems.

“The CPI-M (Communist Party of India-Marxist)-led Left Front government has been allocating fewer funds for the tribals even though they (tribals) constitute one-third of Tripura’s 3.5 million population,” the minister said.

Criticising the Left Front government, Narayanasamy said that due to its misrule, Tripura has been lagging in many sectors compared to the other northeastern states.

His remarks drew an angry response from the CPI-M. Terming the allegations as “rubbish”, CPI-M Tripura state committee secretary Bijon Dhar asked: “If Indira Gandhi had constitute the ADC in Tripura, why the Congress had boycotted the first ADC elections in 1985?”

“After a long struggle by the CPI-M and its frontal organizations, the ADC had been constituted in 1982, and the Left Front government had over the years strengthened the autonomous body. We want to give more power to ADC,” Dhar, also a CPI-M central committee member, told reporters.

“Congress is responsible for the backwardness of the tribals across the country,” he alleged.

Poor Rain Hits Assam's Ginger Farms

Guwahati, Apr 14 : Depleting rainfall has adversely affected ginger yields. The Ginger Growers Co-Operative Marketing Federation Ltd (GIN-FED) has estimated the total worth of Karbi Anglong ginger in Delhi's Azadpur Mandi (the largest fruit and vegetable market in Asia) to be Rs 20 crore (US$1=Rs 45). 

Raw ginger produced in the district is supplied to different states of India including cities such as Delhi, Siliguri, Kolkata, Punjab and Haryana. From these pockets, ginger in dried and powdered forms reach the Middle East and the West. Sadly, the tribal ginger growers living in the difficult hilly terrain of Karbi Anglong have benefited little from this lucrative export trade. They are also ignorant about the realities of global warming, which is affecting their crop so decisively.

Many of the ginger cultivators here are women and very few among them have gone to school. They have always used their traditional knowledge to grow their ginger and attribute shrinking yields to the fact that there is "less water in the soils of our hills". In fact, water - even for domestic consumption - has become a scarce commodity. These women have to fetch it from earthen wells that have been manually dug in the low-slopes of the hills, since there are some villages that are yet to be covered by the government's safe drinking water scheme.

Jiten Saranfangsa, Managing Director, GIN-FED, explains that even farmers of the Khnobamon area of the neighboring Singhasan hills - the core zone of raw ginger production that produces 80 per cent of the total ginger production in the district and which is considered the finest quality in the country - have reported a decline in production.

Until the establishment of GIN-FED in April 2007, the first ever commodity-based cooperative marketing federation in the Northeast that was set up through the initiative of Dr M. Angamuthu, the then deputy commissioner of the district, poor tribal farmers were exploited both by an oppressive trading customs like the crop-mortgage system, and by individual money-lenders and ginger buyers. Women growers got the worst deal.

Immediately after its establishment, GIN-FED first fixed the minimum rate per kilo at Rs 8 and simultaneously worked towards mass credit linkages for farmers by introducing the Ginger Card or G-Card. GIN-FED also started procuring ginger directly from the growers.

"Prior to the GIN-FED initiative, we were exploited by the middlemen, who gave us only Rs 2 or Rs 3 per kg. This year, while GIN-FED has come forward to procure ginger at a minimum rate per kg of Rs 15, the traders immediately raised their procurement rate to Rs 18," say Rima and Mintu, who are members of GIN-FED Farmers Club.

Furthermore, within a period of three years, the GIN-FED credit linkage scheme has reached out to 7,015 ginger cultivators, 50 per cent of whom are women, says Saranfangsa.

Although growers do organic farming, the practice of shifting cultivation has come in the way of their availing of the organic certificates from agencies since the slash and burn technique produces more carbon in the soil. "We have driven a massive campaign among the farmers to do cultivation in defined areas instead of adopting shifting practices. These efforts have yielded good results," he says.

GIN-FED officials are hopeful that with the organic certification it would only be a matter of time before Karbi Anglong ginger emerges as a distinct brand, along the lines of Assam Tea.

Growers produce mainly two varieties of ginger: Nadia, with high fibre; and Aizol with less or no fibre. Aizol is more in demand and has negotiating value in Delhi and the international market - but growers are often reluctant to cultivate this variety as it is prone to different kinds of disease. Nadia is resistant to bad weather and other adverse conditions. This year the price for Nadia stood at Rs 18 per kg as against Rs 21.50 for Aizawl.

Women play a major role in all the stages of ginger production, from preparing the fields for cultivation to harvesting the crop. They also make sure to plant the Eri (silkworm food plant), chillies and arum-roots, simultaneously with the ginger, to make some extra money for their families.

The effect of the drought that has affected the whole of Assam spells trouble for this year's crop of ginger too. Santosh Sandhan, a senior official of the Department of Agriculture, is not optimistic about the harvest, "Last year's drought means that this year's ginger yield will be affected." 

It takes about ten months for the ginger root to mature and the harvest season is spread out from October to April, depending on climatic zones.

Apart from the "adverse climate", the poor ginger growers have also been victims of an unstable social climate over the years. Unsurprisingly, women are the worst sufferers of the endless conflict in this region between insurgent groups representing different hill tribes. Control of the lucrative ginger trade was, in fact, one of reasons for the violent armed conflict that broke out in 2004 between the Karbi and Kuki insurgent outfits here.

Tribal women growers also speak of other problems: The hill areas do not have a permanent land patta system, and the entire land belongs to the forest department. Ginger growers there use the forest land but are not entitled to land documents or bank loans - barring those facilitated by GIN-FED.

Says Rebika Inghipi, 25, and Rabinson Ingti, 30, of the Kania Ingti village, coming to the root of her problems,  "Even if we have a bumper crop, we cannot claim that ginger gives us our livelihood as the land does not belong to us. We always have to depend on the mercy of the forest department - and this is an uncertain proposition at all times."  

Meghalaya's Fashion Industry Success

Shillong, Apr 14 : The very cozy Meghalaya, is now getting hot with it's flourishing fashion industry. Meghalaya now boasts a host of fashion houses.

Fashion houses selling trendy attire and accessories are mushrooming at Meghalaya. One of the major contributors to the upliftment of the fashion industry is the Fashion Society Shillong, which is a non-profit organization and have been promoting designers, models and weavers of the Northeast for the past 25 years.

"Fashion has developed in the region by leaps and bounds. With the subject taking popularity with the changing fashion technology, and students go for designing not only in Meghalaya but in other parts of the state as well," said Aldous Mawlong, Chairman, Fashion Society Shillong.

This boom has gained more focus on the western and Indian mainland trends. It has also added an additional source of business to the local weaves, local motifs, and some of them have made designs to blend in fusion. All this promises a greater success ahead.

Meghalaya fashion industry is attracting scores of models and designers. One of the models, Dristi Parna Mahanta, said, "Yes, there is a lot of scope of fashion not only for me, but all the models if they take fashion seriously."

Miss North East Pageant has become an annual feature on the region's calendar and also attracts a lot of tourists.

Assam Gears up For Bihu Festival

Guwahati, Apr 14 : Assam is getting dressed up to greet "Bihu", a weeklong annual festival that marks the onset of Assamese New Year. In Guwahati, locals are thronging market to buy the traditional articles, particularly those associated with Bihu.

The merry making festival Bihu is associated with dance, called Bihu Dance, a folk dance in which both young and old people dance, to the sounds of drums and other instruments. Many workshops have been organized to teach Bihu dance to the younger generation.

"Earlier Bihu dance did not happen in cities much as young boys and girls do not know the traditional Bihu dance. So, we are trying to take Bihu dance to its original place, where it was so popular," said Mausami Pathak, a Bihu dance expert.

"With time Bihu dance has been commercialized. We cannot learn traditional Bihu dance from CDs. We learnt a lot here in this workshop," said Bhabesh Deka, a dancer.

Bihu, which falls on April 14, marks the first day of the Hindu solar calendar and the day is also observed in other states like Bengal, Manipur, Nepal, Orissa, Punjab and Tamil Nadu though the festival goes by different names.

Bihu is a time of merriment and feasting and continues, in general, for seven days.The farmers prepare the fields for cultivation of paddy and there is a feeling of joy around.

Weaving is The Traditional Livelihood For Women in Manipur

Handloom weaving is famous in Manipur,a north-eastern state of India.Handloom Industry is the largest cottage industry in Manipur.Only women weave marvelous handloom products.Women weavers from Wangkhei, Bamon Kampu, Kongba, Khongman, Utlou are famous for their skill.

Traditional tribal shawls of various shapes and sizes are available in all over Manipur and other parts of India.These shawls are in great demand in the national and international market.Various dress materials, Dupattas, Bed Sheets, Cushion Covers, Scarfs of exotic colors and styles are available in Manipur.

Weaving is the traditional livelihood for women in Manipur. Tourists can get the glimpses of this fine craft. Among the Meitei, Kabui, Kuki, Thangkhul, Paite, Hmar tribal women are traditionally in this craft. If you want to visit Manipur,there is no direct train service to Imphal.,the capital city of Manipur.

But tourists can travel up to Guwahati or Dimapur -nearest rail station from Imphal -then by bus or by air.

Green Gold Wasted in Mizoram

Aizawl, Apr 13  : Mizoram’s bamboos, which are considered as the state’s ‘green gold’, have literally gone down in production during the past five years due to the government’s alleged failure to extract them properly.

The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India for March 30, 2009 also slammed the Mizoram government for massive loss of funds due to poor implementation of Bamboo Flowering and Famine Combat Scheme (BAFFACOS) during Mautam or cyclic flowering of bamboo that hit the state during 2007-2008.

The CAG report said the state government sustained a loss of Rs 226 crore during 2005-08 as it failed in extracting bamboo before gregarious flowering creating conditions for rodent menace and subsequent destruction of crop.

The projected average yield of bamboo in the state was 29.86 lakh MT as per Bamboo Resource Inventory,2002 and against the average annual yield of 29.86 lakh MT bamboo, the state environment and forests department extracted only 2.36 lakh MT bamboo during 2005-06 to 2007-08 and earned revenue of Rs 6.11 crore, the report added.

The poor extraction of bamboo resulted in the loss of Rs 226 crore to the state exchequer, the report said, adding the state environment and forests department neither took any effort to regenerate bamboo in the affected areas nor took any action was taken to raise the plantations of new species having different flowering cycles to avoid negative effects of flowering.

The report also said the state government incurred expenditure of Rs 29.65 lakh as bounty payment for purchase of 15.10 lakh rat tails during 2006-07. However, the rodents continued to damage jhum paddy, vegetables, fruit and rice cultivation in low-lying areas to the tune of almost 82.88 per cent of cropping areas in the state.

Even after spending Rs 29.65 lakh, the state government could not control the rodent menace effectively, the report added. The CAG report added that different departments which utilized the BAFFACOS fund diverted and misused the allocations to the tune of Rs 23.08 crore by using it for some other purposes having no link with combating the rodent menace and mitigating the sufferings of farmers in the state.

According to Mizoram Remote Sensing Application Centre, the bamboo forest covers an area of 6708.37 sq km, which is 31.81 per cent of the total geographical area of Mizoram.

Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla has stated in the recent budget session that the mahaldari on bamboo had been suspended in order to stop the huge loss and properly tap the resources.

‘’Our bamboo resources have attracted interest from several countries. Vast amount of bamboo resources have been stolen under the mahaldari system. Therefore, we have suspended the mahaldari for bamboo and broomsticks for a more sustainable and profitable system of commercializing our forest resources,’’ the Chief Minister had said.

Lafarge to Pay Rs 100 crore For Afforestation of Meghalaya

New Delhi, Apr 13 : French multinational Lafarge on Monday agreed to the Centre’s proposal to increase its contribution from Rs 90 crore to Rs 100 crore towards afforestation and development of Meghalaya to get speedy permission to resume limestone supply from the state to its cement plant in Bangladesh.

But the Supreme Court insisted on environment clearance for the 116 acres of forest land diverted for mining activities after amicus curiae U U Lalit pointed out that the initial environmental impact assessment was done on the basis that it was barren land with no trees.