140 Bru Refugee Families Return on Day One

Aizawl, May 22 : The first phase of repatriation of the Brus displaced from Mizoram in November 2009 began today with 140 families crossing into the state on day one.

In the first phase, which will complete on May 26, a total of 210 Bru families have been identified for repatriation, sources said.

Official sources said 140 families were from Naisingpara, Asapara and Hazacherrarefugee camps and will be resettled in their original villages of Damdiai, Tumpanglui, New Eden, Kolalian, Baturingpa and K Sarali in Mamit district.

The repatriation earlier scheduled on May 11 could not start as the state government of Mizoram allegedly failed to provide transportation facilities. The transportation facilities was now being organised by the state government of Mizoram with the assistance from the Tripura government. ''The much-awaited repatriation of tribal refugees from Tripura to Mizoram has begun and the authorities have arranged transport and security for them,'' refugee leader Elvis Chorkhy said over phone.

He said 32 Mizoram government officials accompanied by their Tripura counterparts are supervising the repatriation from Tripura relief camps to Mamit district in western Mizoram.

Chorkhy, who is also president of the Mizoram Bru Displaced Peoples Forum (MBDPF), said, ''We shall observe the repatriation and subsequent resettlement of the tribal refugees in their villages and then we shall decide the repatriation of the remaining evacuees.'' Since 1997, around 32,000 Bru tribal refugees have taken shelter in six relief camps in north Tripura, adjacent to Mizoram. They fled western Mizoram after ethnic clashes with the majority Mizos over the killing of a Mizo forest official.

The refugees repatriation from Tripura to Mizoram was stopped in November last year when a mob in the western Mizoram burnt down around 700 tribal houses after an 18-year-old Mizo youth was shot dead by suspected Bru militants.

Following the arson and violence, about 500 Bru families fled to Tripura and joined the Bru refugees already sheltered in the six refugee camps.

The repatriation is taking place after written assurances were given by the the Ministry of Home Affairs about rehabilitation and security of the returnee Brus.

Superstition Keeps Mizos Off Census

Aizawl, May 22 : Census enumerators in Mizoram are facing an unusual problem: a battle between digit and doctrine. Some cults and sects believe the head count exercise, especially the introduction of identity (smart) cards and unique identification numbers, would be ominous.

They referred to "relevant verses" in the chapter on Revelation in the Bible to support their qualms. The census operation commenced on May 15 in this tiny hilly northeastern state with a population of around 10 lakh.

The count was kicked off recording details of chief minister Lal Thanhawla and his wife Lal Rilliani.

Even as the CM appealed to the people of Mizoram to fully cooperate with the census officials in this mammoth task so that correct data could be obtained for proper planning and development works, many Christian sects believed they should not register their names with the government and be given the number of the Beast as mentioned in the Bible.

Revelation Chapter 13 deals with the end of the world which says before the end comes the number and symbol of the Beast or Satan would be distributed to mankind and everybody would be counted by the Prince of Darkness. One enumerator said she saw fear writ large on the faces of some
villagers.

Cuisine From Nagaland is a Runaway Hit at Bangalore Restaurant

Bangalore, May 21 : In India,food varies from region to region in a staggering manner, but this helps bring people together. Nagaland is quite popular among food lovers in Bangalore.

Providing exposure to cuisine, music and culture of the northeast. A private café in Bangalore has been organizing a series of events to create a space for discourse on the northeast region, through food festivals and musical evenings.

Recently, it organized a Naga food festival for residents of the city. Cooked by authentic Naga chefs, the delicious cuisine was served in buffet style.

“It is very different, the food we have here, it is quite spicy, it was properly steamed and none of us had tasted the Naga food before, so it is nice to taste,” said Yogita, a visitor.

“Well I would say that it’s a great opportunity for us to have home food at Bangalore, and we must appreciate the Ants have done things and made it possible that we could have our own food and not only Nagas but we can share it with the Bangalore people also and it is good to be connected with people also,” said Aranth, a visitor.

Smoked meat and fish, pork meat with bamboo shoot, Vunenuo or Special stew chicken were some of the Naga dishes that were appreciated in the southern city.

The Nagas in Bangalore city also enjoyed the feast. The café has plans for more such events to popularize the cuisine, music and culture of northeast.

“Based on the response of people, eventually it is our plan to serve the Northeastern food here. This time it’s Naga, likewise there are other states also like Manipur, Mizoram, Assam, so they have their indigenous cuisines and we would like to showcase them,” said Pradip, an organizer

“I think it’s like a second home to us, because we are able to have same food. I think people should try to come out more of their homes because when they come out more they see things outside their home and learn a lot about different cultures,” said Asan, a visitor.

The cultural diversity of India is amazing. It is this variety that is a special hallmark of the country. What is even more amazing is how India celebrates this diversity with great enthusiasm.

Stir Threat by North Cachar Hills Tribals

Derailed Train during NC Hills Bandh

Haflong, May 22 : The North Cachar Hills Indigenous Students’ Forum and Indigenous Women’s Forum have thanked the people of NC Hills for their cooperation in making the recent bandh a success, a press release issued by the NC Hills Indigenous Students’ Forum, stated.

The indigenous bodies called the bandh to let the people of Assam know that the Government has taken a biased decision in renaming the North Cachar Hills district by ignoring the plight of other indigenous tribal people.

They vowed to agitate until there is bifurcation of the district. The Governor’s notification on Diama Hasao district should be enforced only in Dimasa-inhabited areas barring the ancestral land of other indigenous tribal people, the release added.

Isolation Ward

Blockade of a northeastern Indian state

One state’s secession struggle is another’s unwelcome encroachment

New Delhi, May 21 : A grim prospect looms for Dr Mohen Singh, superintendent of the biggest hospital in Imphal, capital of Manipur, in India’s remote northeast.

Since early April, when protesters blocked the two highways linking Manipur to the rest of India, supplies of medicine have dwindled. On May 10th Dr Singh directed his staff to halt all but emergency operations.

A day later the government airlifted in emergency supplies of rice and medicine. But oxygen canisters cannot be transported by air. In a fortnight, even life-saving surgery will be impossible.

Life in Manipur, wracked by insurgency and under a draconian act giving special powers to the armed forces, is never easy.

The blockade has made it even more perilous. It was started on April 11th by Naga tribes people, in protest at Manipur’s announcement of local elections in Naga-inhabited areas of the state later this month.

Nagas live in several states besides their own, Nagaland. They have fought a six-decade insurgency for an autonomous “Greater Nagaland” including chunks of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

A ceasefire with the government has largely held since 1997. But successive rounds of peace talks have yielded little. Non-Naga Manipuri's, however, who have their own violent secessionist movement, are alarmed by Naga ambitions.

The blockade was given new impetus earlier this month when Manipur’s government stopped Thuingaleng Muivah, the leader of the separatist group with which the government signed the ceasefire, from visiting the Manipuri village where he was born. This sparked violent protests in Mao, a town near the Nagaland-Manipur border.

Mr Muivah planned to address large rallies. He made the unsettling assurance that “we will not claim anything which belongs to the Meiteis”, ie, Manipur’s majority group. Manipur’s harsh response to his planned visit has inflamed Naga secessionists. Mr Muivah, a 75-year-old former guerrilla, has meanwhile dug in his heels and is camping with his followers near the border. Manipur badly needs compromise as well as oxygen.

[ via The Economist Print Edition ]

THANKS to Lalal…

Gorkha Leader Madan Tamang Killed, Darjeeling Tense

Darjeeling, May 21 : Gorkha leader Madan Tamang, president of the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (ABGL), was on Friday stabbed to death allegedly by Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) supporters in this West Bengal town, police said. News of the death led to a spontaneous shutdown in the region.

Tamang, who led the anti-GJM front in the Darjeeling hills, was hit with a kukri (long knife used by Nepalis) at around 9.30am, an official said.

"He was critically injured in the attack and died in the Darjeeling District Hospital," Darjeeling police station inspector-in-charge Indrajit Thapa said.
State municipal affairs minister Ashok Bhattacharya said in Kolkata that GJM supporters had carried out the attack on Tamang.

"The GJM's goons have committed the murder. GJM is a fascist party, which does not want any opposition in the hills. They are opposed to a democratic atmosphere prevailing in the hills," he said.

"We are deeply concerned. The hills are very tense," said Bhattacharya, who hails from Siliguri in Darjeeling district.

As news of Tamang's killing spread, a spontaneous shutdown began in the three Darjeeling hill sub-divisions of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong.
Vehicles in Darjeeling went off the roads, while shops and markets were closed.

On hearing about the attack on Tamang, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee convened an emergency meeting at the state secretariat Writers' Buildings here and directed police and administrative officials to take all measures to keep the situation under control.

Tamang, a vocal opponent of the GJM, had earlier levelled corruption charges against its chief Bimal Gurung. The GJM had then threatened to banish him from the hills.

Northeast India: Media Persons in Trouble

By Nava Thakuria

"...working in the insurgency stricken Assam is becoming increasingly dangerous for the journalists. The ongoing insurgency and unrest among the youth of this region, where a number of armed outfits had been fighting New Delhi for various demands varying from sovereignty to self rule, put tremendous challenges to the working journalists based in the State."

Now it is widely discussed and accepted that the media persons in Assam have to perform their duties under tremendous work load but with low return in terms of salary and other legitimate facilities. The Northeast Indian State witnessed a media boom in the last decade, but the media persons including the journalists continued to be the victim of exploitation by their respective employers. Many times, the low patronage from the management put the journalists in most vulnerable situation.

In fact, working in the insurgency stricken Assam is becoming increasingly dangerous for the journalists. The ongoing insurgency and unrest among the youth of this region, where a number of armed outfits had been fighting New Delhi for various demands varying from sovereignty to self rule, put tremendous challenges to the working journalists based in the State. They are subjected to numerous threats from insurgents, surrendered militants and even the anti-insurgent security personnel time to time.

The statistics reveal that the trouble torn State has lost over 20 dedicated editor-journalists in last two decades. The victims include Kamala Saikia, Deepak Swargiary, Kundarmal Agarwala, Manik Deuri, Prarag Kumar Das, Ratneswar Sarma Shastri, Nurul Haque, Jogesh Uzir, Dineswar Brahma, Girija Das, Monikan Das, Ranbir Roy, Prahlad Gowala, Maslimuddin, Bodosa Narzary, Jagajit Saikia, Anil Majumder, etc. And surprisingly enough, not a single perpetuator had been punished till date.

There is no denying fact that the journalists, who remained vocal against the exploitation faced by the workers in other sectors, have to work in most unsafe ambience. They are denied their due economic benefits recommended by the statutory wage boards constituted by the government and even the relevant labour laws. As most of them work without proper appointment letters, they enjoy little job security. Similarly the insurance coverage for the media persons continued to be awful.

Understanding the importance of such support for the media persons, the pioneer pressmen's organization of the region, Guwahati Press Club has taken a significant initiative. The forum for the working journalists in the prehistoric city has recently appealed the media group owners of the State to provide health and life insurance coverage to their employees. In a formal letter to the media houses, the press club argued that such a benefit would encourage the employees including the journalists to work with more commitment and dedication.

"We observed that not more than 10% journalists and media persons in Assam are being entitled for the benefit of health and life insurance coverage," said in the formal letter to the media groups, adding that they were 'fully aware of the importance of such insurance benefits to media persons in the present socio-political context' of the region.

The letter also informed that if for any reason, the managements were not ready to take the initiative immediately, they might join supporting such an attempt to be taken by the press club in the coming days.

Amid troubles in the region, the media however witnessed a rapid boom in Nineties. Today Guwahati witnesses the publication of more than 20 morning dailies, half of those are in the Assamese language. Most of the dailies are published from more than one centre, whereas three Assamese daily newspapers claim to enjoy around 1,00,000 circulation. Lately, three satellite Television news channels have emerged from the city, adding hundred more working journalists to the team of the sentinels.

Until 1979, newspapers and magazines in Assam were largely focused on social themes, with the editor and the reporter treating journalism as an instrument of social change. The student agitation of the 1980s changed the face of journalism. Print journalism became more aggressive and focused on investigative reportage. Both the print and visual media have created 8,000 direct jobs, and provided indirect employment to 20,000 throughout the state with a population of 26 million. One can guess there are over 500 working journalists in the city.

Though the print media boom is spectacular, there are people, who are apprehensive about the outcome. "We are witnessing the boom since early Nineties, but quality journalism remains elusive in our region. I agree the local media is facing a tough challenge from both national newspapers as well as the electronic media. But still there is room for regional newspapers to play a constructive role in socio-economic growth in this part of India. Unfortunately the existing dailies have failed to make any mark in this respect," says DN Singh, a columnist of the popular portal Assam Times.

However, Ajit Patowary, a Guwahati based senior journalist makes a different point, "Journalists here have to work under tremendous pressure from the managements. As we do not have different beats in reporting, journalists have to cover all the important issues including political, economical, social, and cultural. So it is quite impossible for a journalist to juggle so many assignments."

Various meetings of media persons in the State are raising voices for the basic minimum salary and other economic facilities to the journalists. Anger has been poured at the disappointing condition of the media persons of Assam, where most of them are being compelled to work without the relevant facilities, recommended by various statutory provisions including the Indian Labour Act.

"This is very unfortunate that media persons in Assam have to work with a salary starting with even Rs. 2000 with absolutely no job security. Many times, the journalists (including the editors) are used by the proprietors of media groups for their business (other than media) interest. So in such a chaotic situation, we can hardly expect a fair journalism in the State," commented Rupam Baruah, the president of Journalists' Forum, Assam.

"You can find more than 70 % newspaper employees in Assam, who are deprived of basic minimum facilities such as appointment letter, leave, provident fund, ESI etc," says Hiten Mahanta, a senior journalist based in Guwahati. He also added, "They are emotionally exploited by the management and subjected to no job security. There is no other way than fighting for our dues as recommended by the statutory wage board."

Displaced Brus Heading for Home

By Arlene Chang

Asian Center for Human Rights Bru Camps in Tripura, India.

In conflict-ridden Northeast India, which has recently seen flare ups in Manipur and in the Meghalaya-Assam border region, the news that 259 Bru families are being repatriated from Tripura to Mizoram is welcome news.

Beginning today, around 1,500 people from the displaced Bru population of 37,466 who had been living in six camps in Kanchanpur, Tripura, will be sent back to their villages in Mizoram over three days, in 133 jeeps and vans. They will be accompanied by police on each side of the state border.

“The security from the Bru camps to the border of Mizoram will be taken care of by the Tripura police and beyond that by the police of Mizoram,” said Dilip Chakma, sub division magistrate of Kanchanpur.

Brus are Hindus. They were first displaced in 1997 following attacks on their villages because they demanded the creation of autonomous district councils. The majority population of Mizos, whose main religion is Christianity, was accused of serious human rights violations against the Brus. In November last year, a Mizo boy was allegedly murdered by the Brus, whose villages were once again attacked, forcing 5,000 people to flee.

This is the first time since their initial displacement in 1997 that Brus are being sent back to their villages and rehabilitated, according to Suhas Chakma, director of the Asian Center for Human Rights, a Delhi-based NGO. After the NGO’s intervention, the Ministry of Home Affairs gave the organization written assurance about the rehabilitation and security of the returning Brus.

“The first phase of repatriation should build necessary confidence to start the stalled dialogue for resolving the disputes surrounding the Brus who fled in 1997,” said Mr. Chakma. That will hopefully encouraging the government of Mizoram and the Bru Coordination Committee – a body formed to monitor the process of repatriation – to find a permanent solution to the crisis.

In a letter signed by R.R. Jha, director for the northeast at the home ministry, has also committed to providing all families displaced in 2009 a sum of 38,500 rupees as housing assistance. For those families displaced in 1997, the government offered 41,500 rupees as cash grants and 38,500 rupees as housing assistance (i.e. 80,000 rupees per family). The Brus were also promised free rations for nine months.

The Home Ministry has agreed to provide more than 24.3 million rupees to the government of Mizoram for rehabilitating all 37,000 displaced people. The timeline for repatriating all Brus has yet to be fixed, but Mr. Chakma is “quite hopeful that a solution could be found before the end of the year.”

Amid the worsening plight of displaced tribal villagers in the Maoist insurgency and accusations that the government isn’t doing enough to help displaced people in central India, it is heartening to see one group offered security and assistance to try to return to their normal lives.

[ via wsj blogs ]