Fun Photos From the 177th Annual Oktoberfest in Munich

The 177th annual Oktoberfest kicked off in Munich on Sept. 18 and runs until Oct. 4. Festivities include music, carnival rides, and of course, plenty of beer.

Reality TV star Kim Kardashian visited the Hippodrom tent at Theresienwiese.

Munich's Mayor Christian Ude tapped the first barrel of beer with the traditional "O´zapft is!" (It's tapped!) to start the Oktoberfest beer festival at the Theresienwiese.

Eleven month old pug 'Gucci' is pictured wearing miniature traditional Bavarian 'Lederhosen.'

A woman dips into a mug of beer.

A woman proposes a toast during the festival's first day on Saturday.

A woman drank at the Schottenhamel beer tent on opening day.

The original Oktoberfest in 1810 consisted of a horse race. Beer tents did not appear at the festival until 1818.

Female patrons celebrate in the Hacker beer tent.

Seven Elephants Killed by Goods Train

Forest officials say trains often collide with elephants in the area

Seven elephants were killed after being hit by a speeding goods train in India as they attempted to rescue two young ones on the track.

Officials in West Bengal said five died instantly and two others later succumbed to their injuries. Another elephant was wounded but survived.

The baby elephants became trapped on the track at Moraghat Tea Garden, near Binnaguri in the Jalpaiguri district.

The others wandered onto the line in an attempt to free them.

The track, which connects New Jalpaiguri to Assam, was closed down for several hours after the collision, as other elephants were guarding the dead and injured animals.

'Regular accidents'

Forest officials say that speeding trains regularly hit elephants in the area as the track crosses the elephants' known route, according to the Times of India.

They say they have asked railway officials to reduce the speed limit in the area to prevent such incidents occuring.

Three months ago, an elephant was killed nearby in a similar accident.

Trains have killed 118 elephants in India since 1987, according to the Wildlife Trust of India.

Mizoram Tops in Fighting Air Pollution

Aizawl, Sep 23 : The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has adjudged Mizoram as the state which took the best steps against air pollution under the National Ambient Air Monitoring Programme(NAAMP).

Goa, Kerala and Pondicherry followed Mizoram among the best states in fighting air pollution. These grades were given after examining and investigating the tasks done by those states for the cause of a clean environment.

Mizoram is in the 3rd, 5th, 10th and 28th categories pertaining to forest, climate change, water pollution and wastes respectively. Recently, a conference was held in Delhi among PCB chairmen and secretaries of different states in which Er Dunglena, chairman of Mizoram PCB represented the state.

This conference categorized states according to the measures and steps undertaken by them regarding environment. Accordingly, Uttarakhand was placed on top, whereas Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram were put in the remaining four categories. For the year 2010-2011, Planning Commission has announced incentives of Rs 1849.84 crore for those states that are environmentally aware.

Mizoram has recently received a sanction for air quality monitoring stations under the National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP), Mizoram Pollution Control Board (MPCB) said yesterday.

One station each at Aizawl and Lengpui and two stations each at Lunglei, Kolasib and Champhai will be set up before the jhum burning season between February and March next year, the MPCB added.

Dibrugarh University Union Threatens to Boycott Rahul's Visit

Guwahati/Dibrugarh, Sep 23 : AICC leader Rahul Gandhi will interact with students during a one-day visit to Assam on Thursday but members of the PG Students Union of Dibrugarh University have threatened to boycott his visit saying they do not want a political figure in the campus. PGSU president in-charge Kasturi Nath and

general secretary Arindam Buragohain told PTI that the students were not informed about Rahul's programme either by letter or notice.

"The VC is running an autocratic administration. He did not consult us. He invited the Youth Congress leader, but did not inform the PGSU. We will not allow any person connected with politics to come to the university campus," Nath asserted.

Rahul is scheduled to arrive in Dibrugarh by a special aircraft and go by helicopter to the university for the interaction with students at the Ranghar Auditorium at 10 am, university sources said.

From Dibrugarh he will fly to Silchar in Cachar district and go by helicopter to the Assam Central University where he will have another interaction with 250 students of the varsity before flying to Guwahati, NSUI members said.

Rahul will go to IIT in North Guwahati around 3.30 pm and would interact with the students there.

He would thereafter fly back to Delhi after that.

Dibrugarh University VC K K Deka appealed to the students to take the opportunity of interacting with Rahul as he had chosen it along with IIT-G and Assam University because of its superior infrastructure.

"Rahul's intention is to visit the technical institute of the highest repute, a central university and a state university. After much research he chose Dibrugarh University. He was then invited here. So the allegation of the PGSU that a political person has been invited is baseless. Rahul is not coming on any political mission, but to interact with students," Deka said.

Dibrugarh SP Arindam Kalita said a multi-layered security arrangement had been put in place as per the SPG directives and the campus sanitised.

Organisers NSUI said they had no information whether Rahul would meet the press or the media would be allowed to cover the interactive sessions at the institutions.

Peace is The Way

By Samudra Gupta Kashyap

The Naga movement for a sovereign state, which has been marred by factionalism and violence in the past couple of decades, touched a new landmark when the two warring sides — the Issak-Muivah and Khaplang factions of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN) — signed an agreement this weekend to reconcile on the basis of the “historical and political rights of the Nagas”.

Another faction, the Naga National Council (NNC), the one that had actually launched the armed campaign for a Naga state under the leadership of the now legendary Angami Zapu Phizo, also joined the two NSCN factions to sign the agreement.

While the reconciliation process was facilitated by the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR), the most significant aspect of this effort was the presence of two top leaders of the underground movement, NSCN(IM) General Secretary Thuingaleng Muivah and NSCN(K) leader N. Kitovi Zhimomi. In the words of the FNR, “the leaders patiently listened to each other and emphasised the need for Naga reconciliation and to end all violence and bloodshed amongst the Nagas.”

In the past three or four years, Naga groups, particularly the two NSCN factions, have been busier fighting each other for territorial dominance and expansion. The ground reality is that the more area a group controls, the stronger and financially sound it stays. All the three main factions not only have their respective underground governments, but also collect “tax” from the people at rates that are revised from time to time. Within their respective governments, Muivah and Zhimomi are also regarded as “ato kilonser” — prime minister — of their respective Nagalim.

It has been a fact that though the NSCN(IM) has been in a ceasefire with the government of India since August 1997 and the NSCN(K) followed suit three years later, the two sides have engaged in a series of violent clashes that has left hundreds of cadres dead in the past three or four years. They have also engaged in a war of words, with each calling the other a stooge of the government.

To recall, while the NSCN was formed by Muivah and Khaplang after they broke away from the NNC in the aftermath of the signing of the “Shillong Accord” in 1975, the two subsequently parted ways following clashes in which Khaplang’s followers allegedly killed about 200 of Muivah’s men in 1988. Even after the ceasefires the two factions have signed with New Delhi, there has been a lot of suspicion within the Khaplang faction, because the government has been, for long, talking only to the NSCN(IM). No wonder Kughalu Mulatonu, a senior NSCN(K) leader, even went to the extent of saying, a couple of years back, that the day was not far when the Muivah faction would start singing Vande Mataram!

Factional clashes have also claimed a large number of lives in recent years, prompting the church, traditional institutions like the Naga Hoho and various civil society groups, including the Naga Mothers’ Association, to call upon both sides to put an end to violence in the interest of the peace talks.

While these attempts did not yield much, it was the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR) formed by Wati Aier, a highly respected Naga who heads the Oriental Theological Seminary in Dimapur, which finally managed to put an end to the hostilities. Aier, who has been working on this since 2008, got representatives of the three factions sign the Covenant of Reconciliation at Chiang Mai in Thailand last September, which paved the way for this agreement.

The reconciliation agreement has been already hailed by all quarters across Nagaland. While the Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) has described it as a “landmark in the reconciliation process”, the Naga Hoho has called it “another red-letter day” in the annals of Naga political history. Political parties, too, have not lagged behind in hailing the September 18 agreement.

Now, with the agreement in place, Wati Aier’s FNR has said the signatories should now be engaged in working out their differences in the greater interest of the Naga people. It also reminded all Naga political groups that one without the other would be incomplete. “All of them are part of the jigsaw puzzle of the Naga nation and everyone has a role to play in ushering in an era of peace that Nagaland has been yearning for decades,” Aier said.

Nagaland certainly can no longer afford to seek a solution to the six-decade-old problem with the groups remaining divided. New Delhi has also been insisting that the Naga leaders must come forward with a common voice to hammer out a lasting peaceful solution. It is time Muivah, Khaplang and the others realised the meaning of the old saying: divided we fall, united we stand.

samudra.kashyap@expressindia.com

Dry Fish Hazardous to Health

Though dry fish is a popular delicacy across the country, its consumption is hazardous to human health as the preservative used to keep the fish dry is highly toxic.

Dry fish traders at Kharinasi, Ramnagar and Paradip at the Bay of Bengal widely use the preservative to keep the fish dry for longer for export to states like West Bengal, Assam and Chattishgarh.

Test of samples of a particular class of preservative used in processing dry fish in a Bhubaneswar-based regional research laboratory found substances of Formalin De-Hyde which is often used to preserve the human body.

"It is deadly if consumed raw and if one has to use it for processing dry fish it should be used only in a diluted form," Subrat Das, marine fisheries officer of Paradip zone, said.

However, Hemant Biswal, local unit chief of the Orissa Marine Fish Producers Association, claims that the toxicity content of the preservative is greatly reduced once it is exposed to air.
To put an end to the unethical trade practice, the Marine Fisheries Directorate has clamped a blanket ban on any form of chemical for dry fish processing.

"We have come across reports of dry fish traders using preservatives. As the preservative chemicals are suspected to contain toxicity, orders were issued recently on prohibiting its use," Subrat Das said.

Notices have been served to dry fish manufacturing units, marine fishermen's bodies, trawler operators' associations besides fishermen's cooperative societies. Any deviation would be a penal offence under the Marine Fishing Regulation act, 1982, he said.

Bibhuti Biswal, a spokesman for the traders, defending the use of preservatives argued that it was a common practice among fishing communities across the country and to the best of his knowledge it was not detrimental to human health.

He said that they had stopped using only a particular brand.

Dilip Kumar Biswal, Chief Medical Officer of the Biju Memorial hospital, Paradip, countered the claim, arguing that the samples handed over to them had indeed been found to be toxic and harmful for human health.

The CMO said that the matter had been referred to the higher-ups in the state heath department.

Around 500 families, mostly migrant Bengali-speaking people, are in the trade which they have been plying through generations. Over 100 more families are indirectly employed in the trade.
Apart from Paradip and adjoining fishing villages in Kendrapara district, the other major dry fish production centre is Huma-Sunakhala in Ganjam district which accounted for 3,500-4,000 tonnes of average annual yield.

The produce is transported to places like Rourkela, Talcher, Sambalpur, Bargarh and other parts of western Orissa.

Assam Asks People to be on Guard Against Fake Financial Companies

Guwahati, Sep 23 : The Assam government today asked people to be on guard against fake financial companies while the 'Consumers Legal Protection Forum' reported that a sum of Rs 3000 crore has been swindled in state in past one year.

Issuing a public notice in the media, the government asked people to be aware of such fake organisations posing themselves as financial or banking companies to collect money from the public in rural and urban areas promising high returns.

The government's public notice urged the people to remain alert and not fall prey to illegal activities of such fake companies/individuals, groups "who try to collect money/deposit by making false promises of high returns or interests".

The public were also urged to immediately inform such activities to the district deputy commissioners, subdivisional officers (civil), officer in charge of local police stations.

Meanwhile, CLPF secretary Ratul Mahanta told reporters that at least 15 such fake companies "based in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and even USA during the last 12 months collected Rs 3040 crore from people across the state before disappearing with the money".

"In the Bodo-dominated Baksa district alone there were 1200 complaints with the forum about the fraud companies based in Delhi and Chennai. Legal notices were sent to those companies but they were returned to us as the addressees could not be found", Mahanta said.

The huge amount of money syphoned out of the state was calculated on the basis of the investors' complaints and the post-dated bank cheques that bounced after the companies disappeared, he said.

"Some of the companies operated for a year, some six months and a few for less than three months..", forum's chief coordinator Ajoy Hazarika said.

Attacks on North Eastern Women and Equality

By Walter Fernandes

One more Naga woman’s modesty was violated at New Delhi this week. Once again some fundamentalists are planning to repeat what they did in March after an attack on a woman from the Northeast. They circulated a leaflet and a statement on the internet that women from the Northeast are themselves to blame for the attacks because they are Christians and wear loose clothes which are not in consonance with Indian culture. That provokes men to attack them. In March they claimed at first that Christian criminals had attacked women from the Northeast. When the man arrested for the crime turned out to be of another religion they changed tracks and circulated this leaflet

That reminded one of another incident in 1999. During his visit to Gujarat on 10th January 1999, right in the middle of attacks on Christians, the then Prime Minister Mr A. B. Vajpayee said that the country needed a debate on conversions. Reacting to this statement an editorial in The Times of India on 26th January, 1999 said that such a demand was equivalent to a rapist demanding a debate on the clothes worn by women. That is what the fundamentalist forces did in March and will probably repeat again.

It is not the first such incident in the national capital. Two years ago the Delhi police had prepared a dress code for women from the Northeast. It was withdrawn after protests from the students of the region because of its assumption that North Eastern women were to blame for the attacks. Police records show that around 40 percent of all women molested in the capital region are from the Northeast. Many of them are attacked while returning from work late at night. The attack in March was around midnight when the woman was going to the bus stand to receive her sister who was returning from work. The fact that many women have to travel late at night should have prompted the police to provide additional security. Instead, they shifted the blame to their dress.

These incidents and reaction show the attitude of our society towards women. If they are attacked it is their fault. If a family breaks up it is because the woman was not a good housewife. That attitude was visible in the Parliament during the discussion on the Women’s Reservation Bill on March 8. This bill has been hanging fire for over a decade because men from most parties oppose the idea of women getting real power and ruling the country. A few women here and there may be elected. They should be happy with such tokenism and should not demand real power.

That thinking is not confined to the Hindi belt. Women’s status in the Northeast particularly among the tribes is much better than in North India. But they have very little political power. Even in Meghalaya where all three tribes are matrilineal, their higher status does not extend to the political sphere. The last Legislative Assembly of Meghalaya had three women members. At present there is one. Some states like Nagaland have never elected a woman. The number women legislators is negligible in the remaining states.

Political power is only a symbol of women’s status in a society. A study done in the first decade of the 21st century showed that 64 percent of women in Assam accepted wife beating as a husband’s right. One has seen boys from the Northeast studying in Delhi going around with girls of other communities. But the same boys use their power as officials of their students’ union to ask girls who are friendly with boys of other communities to go back home because it was against tribal culture. A large number of persons in the metropolitan cities take for granted that women from the Northeast are of loose character.

This is the context of women’s demand to be treated as full citizens of the country and of their community. But those who have power refuse to share it with the powerless. The fundamentalists like those who circulated the scurrilous leaflet use religion to justify it. In their thinking only North Indian upper caste Hindus are fully Indian. The rest are second class citizen. The people of the Northeast, especially of the Mongoloid stock belong to this category. That turns women of the region into third class citizens. If they are Christians they go even lower on that ladder. They have no rights, so if they are molested it is their fault and they should not become emotional about it.

During the first International Women’s Decade in 1975, Tarzi Vitaci, a Sri Lankan thinker wrote in Newsweek that the view that women are emotional and not rational was only one facet of the overall attitude towards people whom the powerful treat as inferior. For example, the newspapers that speak of women as weak and emotional are also the ones that present the people of the Third World as inferior. They report “big crowds” joining demonstrations in the West but Asia and Africa only have “unruly mobs” that are not fully rational. They do not have a right to demonstrate particularly against the rich countries.

The above leaflet betrays the same attitude towards women in general and those of the Northeast in particular. It exhorts the people of the Northeast to learn “Indian” culture and not provoke and tempt men. In the fundamentalist worldview, men have all the liberty they need but women should follow the “cultural norms” laid down by men. Every year on Valentine’s Day one sees young men wearing blue jeans asking women to give up western customs and wear only Indian dress.

It is time one recognised everyone’s right to equality. The women’s reservation bill is only one step towards it. It will not achieve equality by itself. Many more changes have to come for our society to live up to the constitutional mandate of gender, caste and religious equality. The solution lies in a movement towards such a just society and not in justifying attacks on women, on Dalits and on tribals in the name of religion or race. Is the country ready for it?