Construction of NH 53 in Manipur in Full Swing

Imphal, Jan 29 : The National Highway (NH) 53, which has emerged as the lifeline of Manipur after Naga groups imposed an economic blockade on NH 39 last year, is one of the Centre's flagship projects in the northeast.

The Central Government has been pumping funds into the northeast for the development of infrastructure that forms one of the pillars of growth.

The work is under progress on National Highway (NH) 53 from Imphal to Jiribam, which is the alternate route to NH 39 for trucks and other vehicles.

The NH 53 became the lifeline of Manipur after Naga sponsored groups imposed an economic blockade on NH 39 last year.

The government has since then shows a keen interest in improving the condition of the highway. The Border Roads Organization (BRO) was sanctioned Rs 392 crores for its repair with a final deadline of 2013. 30 companies of the BRO are involved in the construction that includes the use of more than 600 labourers, out of whom 60 percent are locals.

Work on seven bridges is complete and on the other two is in progress. As of now, 50 percent of the ground has been levelled. About 150 kilometers of the road is said to be in a deplorable state, while the remaining 71 kilometers is said to be in good condition.

"The Border Roads Organization is maintaining this road well and the progress is good. They have started the patching up work, and wherever widening is needed, they are doing it," said Rumpeo Kamai, Chairman, Sekhaino Village.

"The Border Roads Organization is doing good work here and Manipur should contribute towards it. If the highway is not constructed, the people of Manipur will face problems and the government should understand that the highway is needed for the people of Manipur," added Pavitra Singh, a villager.

The work at the construction site, however, often slows down due to problems like land acquisition formalities, instability and militancy.

Militant groups like National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah), National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) and Naga National Council (NNC) extort money from contractors and want a specific percentage of funds allocated for the project. Continuous monsoon showers also affect the work.

Recently, a high level delegation appointed by the Ministry of Home Affairs under the leadership of M C Mehanathon visited the construction site to assess progress.

"We heard reports that the road was in bad condition. So, the ministry deputed me to look into the matter and check how the work was going. The Government is keen that NH 53 should be the alternate lifeline of Manipur," said M C Mehanathon, Director (NE-1), MHA.

"The Border Roads Organization is doing the best and they have deployed their manpower. Now the work is under good progress and roads will improve in next 2-3 months and by 2013 the work will finish," he added

Northeast Fair Gives ‘Cashless Transaction’ A New Meaning

Centuries-old barter mela sidesteps inflation, builds new bridges of communal harmony

PHOTOS : ANJANA DUTTA

By Ratnadip Choudhury

Delhi, Jan 29 : Over the past five decades, Thaneswar Ingti gets to meet his friend Dhanidhar Amsong only once a year.

Dhanidhar treks down the hills of Meghalaya to the plains of neighouring Morigoan in Assam, carrying huge quantities of home-grown items that he had been exchanging over the years with Thaneswar’s fish, sweets, rice powder and rice cakes. Thansewar and his friend are among those thousands of people from different indigenous tribes of the northeast, particularly from Assam and Meghalaya, who gather for three days in a year, without fail, at the nondescript village of Dayang Belguri in Assam’s Morigaon district, where a community fair believed to have started in the 15th century is still keeping alive world’s oldest trade system – the barter system. Popularly called Joon Beel Mela (joon means moon and beel means wetland, as the fair is held beside a large natural water body shaped like a crescent moon) the fair has been a melting pot of ethnicity with people from different communities of the hills of the northeast meeting the dwellers of the vast plains, exchanging their goods only through barter and strengthening the bond of ethnic bonhomie.

“My friend Dhanidhar, like other hill people, brings for us items that we cannot grow in the plains due to flood and erosion. We get to stock our essentials and need not pay for this. Since they do not get fresh fish and sweets, we catch fish for them and prepare indigenous sweets and exchange with them. There is no money involved, no profit and loss equations, its all about trust and love,” says Thaneswar as he helps Dhanidhar pack up his sacks.

This fair is a legacy of Gova Raja, the Tiwa community king who started this fair where the ground rules of getting any item is that there is no use of money, only barter.

The fair serves purposes beyond trade. The northeast had recently witnessed fierce communal clashes between the Garo and Rabha communities. Moreover, high inflation had hit the poor people of the remote villages like never before. So the barter-driven Joon Beel Mela came as a huge respite. People from different tribes – Rabha, Garo, Tiwa, Karbi, Mishing – enjoyed rubbing shoulders with each others as they participated in cock fight contests and community fishing. For most of these tribes, it is the only chance they get the pile up their year’s stock.

“The price rise has also hit us from the remote villages as we do not have sufficient money to get to the cities and buy required items. The transport, staying and shopping have all become so expensive but here the story has remained the same for decades. I have been coming to this fair since childhood. I have seen my parents exchange goods through barter in this fair. After marriage I have kept the tradition going. It’s also about meeting our friends from the hills. I need not think about inflation at least for three days,” says Rita Rabha.

It’s not just the rural folk who find the mela a boon. This time around the mela also saw a lot of people reaching there with home-cooked food from the cities of Assam to exchange for the hill onions the tribals of Meghalaya bring each year.

“I never thought that in this busy city life that we have I will actually have to buy jungle onions on barter, but the price rise has got us back to ancient traditions,” says Bhabesh Kalita, who came from Guwahati. This one-of-its-kind fair has remained confined to the northeast. “Days ahead of the fair, members of Tiwa, Karbi, Khasi and Jaintia tribes come down from the neighbouring hills with various products. They stay together in fairs, build new relations and exchange their products… Many people across the globe who these day teleshop or book products online might not even be able to think of it. The exchange of goods leads to exchange of ideas and feelings,” says senior journalist Mukut Medhi, who has covered the fair on numerous occasions.

Exchange of ginger, bamboo shoots, turmeric, pumpkin, medicinal herbs, dried fish and indigenous sweets takes place in the backdrop of songs and dancing. The Tiwa Raja inaugurates the fair and also collects tax from the tribals as it used to be decades ago. The Assam government has also chipped in to promote the unique fair. It now gives annual royal allowance for the 19 customary kings from different communities under the erstwhile Gova kingdom of Assam. “This is happening spontaneously. It is so cold here yet the people have come here because this event is all about trust. The old trade systems might not be pertinent these days but the fact remains that here you can see there is no fight over any deal because money is not involved. We wish to carry on the legacy for generations to come,” says Jor Singh Bordoloi, the secretary of the fair organising committee from the Tiwa community.

With traditions getting lost in the rat race of globalisation, the Joon Beel Mela stands as a pointer to how ancient social orders still hold good and keep people knitted together.

HT Sangliana Terms Somasekhara Report as ‘Unfortunate’

By M Raghuram & Vidya Iyengar

Bangalore, Jan 29 : The justice Somasekhara committee report on the 2008 church attacks in the state has been dubbed as ‘directionless’ by Christian leaders.

A statement from the Bishop’s office of Mangalore Catholic Diocese said, “The commission had failed to suggest to the government any measures against the organisations and people, who were responsible for attacks on churches and on Milagres Adoration Monastery."

It also rapped the report for not condemning the attack on women and children, or suggesting any action against the perpetrators.

“The report has given contradicting views and some sections had been seriously opinionated which does not give scope for punishing the attackers. The report does not satisfy the Christian community in any way,” it said.

Meanwhile, the vice-chairperson of the national commission for minorities, HT Sangliana, said the report was on expected lines. “I did not expect it to be dynamic or specific, because, the commission was politically appointed,” he said.

Sangliana condemned the panel’s observation that in ‘some incidents, there were indications of self-infliction or collusion or make-believe method to create evidence’.

He also criticised the report for not specifying the action that should be taken against the police officers, who had failed to take preventive measures.

"Actually, the report is not according to the parameters laid by the commission. Somashekara had also suggested, creating a separate police station to look into religious matters, but that is an impractical suggestion,” he said.

Sangliana also said that there was no mention of any compensation that was made to the injured nor to the churches that were damaged.

Ivan D’Souza, a prominent Christian leader in Mangalore, termed the report as directionless and biased.

Don't Become A Porn Addict

Don't become a porn addict (Thinkstock photos/Getty Images)

While a little indulgence doesn't harm anyone, constantly giving into your craving for graphic visual stimuli may do more long-term damage than you can imagine

A man married for 10 years, and father of two, approached a doctor due to his sudden and peculiar inability to get an erection. While all tests proved normal, psychotherapy revealed an age-old fetish. As a teenager, the man had been accidentally exposed to his older cousin changing clothes. The visual stimulated him to such a degree that he masturbated to the memory of that image throughout his life, including when he was with his wife. After many years, when he met his cousin again, post two children she had put on weight and become 'unattractive' in his words.

The sight of the new unflattering figure of his cousin ruined his memory thereby incapacitating him to get an erection. His treatment required a lot of counselling and therapy and he had to be retaught the art of stimulation.

Behind closed doors; on dimly lit computer screens in seedy cyber cafes; in hostel dorm rooms under heavy bedding; and in computer folder's aptly named 'system files', usually lie pages and pages and countless gigabytes of pornography. It's not the highest grossing industry in the world for nothing. It has takers across generations, nationalities and kink quotients.

While most wives and girlfriends either accept it, relish it or chose to ignore it, porn in some form can be found lurking around most homes.

Studies reveal a condition called Sexual Attention D e f i c i t Disorder or S A D D, where over exposure or over indulgence to visual stimuli such as pornography, makes it difficult for a man to have a healthy sexual relationship with his partner. His stimulus is triggered by visual or graphic images instead of an actual woman, making it impossible to sustain intercourse. Dr Rajan Bhonsle, the HOD of sexual medicine at KEM hospital elaborates on the condition and describes the impact that pornography and the like, have on mature adult relationships.

Kink express
SADD can be traced back to three basic sources, the first being a burn-out.

Throughout a man's teenage years, over-exposure to porn and its explicit forms such as pedophilia, multiple orgies, voyeurism, etc. develop acute insensitivity towards the act of making love. The initial reaction to perverse material, which is what most pornography constitutes, is of shock. But over time, it turns to acceptance and enjoyment. This develops into a need for more deviant variety to keep the stimulus sustained.

Gratification through usually masturbation based on visual stimuli, make it difficult for a man to be aroused or stimulated by his partner in bed. This plays havoc in most marriages or relationships since even a very responsive woman is unable to replicate the mood or manoeuvres of what the man is usually attuned to.

While it is not difficult to recover from any addiction, a sexual burn-out is particularly tricky. It takes a lot of time and energy to stay away from sex and channel your sexual energy elsewhere. This is also the primary reason why boys should be dissuaded from over-exposing themselves to pornographic material at a young age.

Multiplicity
Another common cause for SADD between couples is due to the multiple partners the man has before he commits to a monogamous relationship. The multiple variety of partners give them a been there-done-that attitude towards sex which makes it very difficult for a woman with a normal sex drive to stimulate her partner. The man's premarital activity supersedes all sexual expectations he may have from his current partner thereby making it very difficult to sustain or enjoy a healthy physical relationship.

It's a fix
Peculiar fetishes and fixations, like the one mentioned earlier, are another reason why men are unable to perform in bed. Many a times, the visual image of what sort of woman or what specifications of a figure stimulate a man may not exactly match that of their partner.
This leads to disappointment and an inability to find them sexually attractive. While therapy is a common cure, counselling and exercises with your partner through communication greatly aid in rebuilding the idea of sexual attraction for.

How to cut back
- Give yourself a break. Save the sexual excitement for your partner and decrease the frequency of masturbation. When you do self-service, try using your nondominant hand. Since you wont apply the same level of physical intensity, you wont be as easily numbed to the sensations of intercourse.

- Back off the porn. When you masturbate, use your own memory of sex and your own erotic history to stimulate yourself instead of relying on other visual images.

- Connect with your partner. Share fantasies, experiment with role play and involve her in your thought process. Get yourself and her to a point of physical and mental arousal by sharing your thoughts with her. Step away from the computer.

Visa Fraud: 'Didn't Violate Law, Help Us Complete Study'

Washington: Duped by an American university, a harassed group of Indian students has met the Consul General in San Francisco seeking help to complete their studies and claimed that they have not violated any law.

A group of 35 students from Tri-Valley University (TVU) yesterday met Consul General Sushmita Gongulee Thomas. Thomas said she had also sought factual position from the US Government on the status of these students.

"We are seeking factual position (from the US Government) on the status of these students and how these students can be helped in transfer to other colleges, so that they can complete their studies," Sushmita Gongulee Thomas, Consul General of India in San Francisco, said.

On January 25, Thomas said, she wrote to the Office of Foreign Mission, in San Francisco and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement seeking detailed information on this case. She hasn't received any response from them so far, Thomas said.

Hundreds of Indian students,mostly from Andhra Pradesh, face the prospect of deportation from the US after authorities raided and shut down Tri-Valley University in the Silicon Valley on charges of a massive immigration fraud.

"According to the group that came to the Consulate, a large number of students had not violated any visa or immigration rules and were unaware of the fraudulent nature of the school. Their primary concern is to complete their education for which they feel that they should be allowed to seek admission in other schools," said Ashok Kumar Sinha, Consul (Community Affairs), Indian Consulate San Francisco.

"They are also concerned about reports in the media that indicate that all students of the TVU were part of the scam. Many of the TVU students, specially the more recent ones and some who transferred from other accredited universities, were unaware of the true nature of the university and have suddenly found themselves to be victims," Sinha said.

Sinha said the Consulate is taking up the matter with Investigations by Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE).

"The Consulate, on behalf of those students who have not violated any immigration rules, is taking up the matter with ICE to find out how these students can be helped so that they can seek admissions in other universities or can go back honourably to India without forfeiting their chance of ever being able to return to the US," he said.

Currently, their SEVIS information has been blocked by DHS without which they cannot seek transfers or admissions to other universities. "The Consulate is also trying to enlist the support of local immigration attorneys to answer immigration related questions of these students," Sinha said.

According to a federal complaint filed in a California court last week, the University helped foreign nationals illegally acquire immigration status. The university is said to have 1,555 students. As many as 95 per cent of these students are Indian nationals, the complaint said.

Investigations by ICE found that while students were admitted to various residential and on-line courses of the university and on paper lived in California, but in reality they "illegally" worked in various parts of the country as far as Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

ICE has called it as a "Sham University". It also found that more than half of these students were reported to be residing in a single apartment located in Sunnyvale California.

During the course of the investigation ICE found that the university gave the residential address of its students in order to conceal that they did not live in California, said the court papers.

For a student to maintain an active immigration status, they must show proof that they are making reasonable process toward completing coursework and physically attend classes.

Unconfirmed reports said that nearly two dozen students have been arrested or detained so far in various parts of the country.

Meanwhile, affected students with assistance of Indian-American community and immigration attorneys have launched a petition campaign seeking help from the Department of Homeland Security.

"We respectfully plead with you not to penalise us or our families and bring shame to our entire family and the village/ towns we come from, by deporting (removing) us from the US and causing us loss of name, reputation, money, resulting in devastation to us and our families and crashing all of our dreams," says the petition, a copy of which has been posted on the website of the Telugu Association of North America (TANA).

TANA president Jayaram Komati said he has been in conversation and has also met local Congress Representatives from California and urged them to help ensure that the effected students be given the chance to enroll in other institutes of higher learning within the US.

The organisation has also approached Murthy law firm and requested them to approach Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) with the intention to save the effected people from potential deportation and/or detention and argue that they were victims and that they be give the ability to enrol elsewhere.

Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) Web-based technology, SEVIS to track and monitor schools and programmes, students, exchange visitors and their dependants while they are legally enrolled in the US education system.

In their petition, these students said that they have invested a substantial portion of their parents savings to come to the US for studies.

"We thought that we were so fortunate to obtain the F1 visa to enter the US and study here or that we were able to obtain admission and then we could file a change of status to study at this US University," the petition says.

"We relied on the government to do its job and protect us and allow us to complete our education so that we can support ourselves and our families by being able to live in the US for a few years or return to our home countries with a good education and then obtain good jobs in our home countries," the petition says.

"We respectfully request DHS and ICE to favourably consider and provide us with all viable options. For example, we humbly request that ICE provide us an opportunity to continue our education and pursue our lifelong dream to study in the US by allowing us to study at another University within the US by allowing another University to issue us a new Form I-20 and then for USCIS to approve the F1 status with a new University or College, or allow us to file a change of status to another status like an H1B or F2 within the US legally if any such options are available to us with an employer or based on a spouse living in the US," it says.

Source: Agencies

General Motors to Bring Camaro to India

General Motors’ iconic budget friendly sports car Camaro is set for an India entry.

President of General Motors international operations Tim Lee said that FE that the company is going to introduce a right-hand drive for the two-door car which could then make its way into the second fastest growing auto market in the world.

The Chevrolet Camaro was first displayed in India at the Auto Expo last year, but at that time the company had ruled out any immediate plans of introducing the swanky car in India.

Though Lee did not reveal the tentative time period or price of the car, it is expected to fetch a price in the range of Rs 30 lakh plus. This would make the car most expensive offering from GM in India, however this ranks as the cheapest sports car in the world.

"As we go through the development phase of the new generation Camaro we will try and do a right hand drive. But we will not assemble it here," he said. In the US the Camaro base price starts at around $20,000 and goes up to $40,000 (or Rs 18 lakh). Since the company would attract an import duty of 110% since it is a completely built unit (CBU), the price of the car would double. Lee said that with the introduction of the car, GM would use its entry as a brand builder.

"We will not sell a lot of Camaros in India but it will be a brand builder for the company bringing many people to our showrooms," said Lee. Looking back at the 14-year old history of the company in India, Lee said that its performance had been 'spotty' and "incosistent."

He said that going forward the company's focus in India would be to design the best cars and to have a business model which is sustainable and profitable.

"We want to profitable so that we can employ more people in India," he added. Chalking out GM's India plans, Lee said the company is going to look at every segment in the country to increase its sales including a car priced below the Spark.

In fact the company's president and managing director Karl Slym later told FE that the company is mulling introducing an 800 cc powered Spark. This would make it the cheapest offering from GM in its 14-year operations in India so far.

"The 800cc Spark is already available in Europe. And we could introduce the car in India," said Slym. The 800cc Spark was introduced in China, however was later discontinued.

"We need to see whether everything is right before we introduce the car," he said. Last week GM India held a board meeting which was chaired by Lee where a ten-year growth plan was unveiled.

Source: Financial Express

All FIRs on Delhi Police Website From Feb 1

New Delhi, Jan 28 : Implementing the directions of Delhi High Court, the Delhi Police would upload all the new First Information Reports (FIRs) registered on their official website - www.delhipolice.nic.in - from Feb 1.

Anybody can download the same from the website while an accused can also get a copy from the police station by paying Rs.25. The move comes following a direction by the court Dec 6, 2010 when it said that an accused is entitled to get a copy of the FIR within 24 hours of its registration and police cannot deny the request.

'We will be uploading the FIRs from Feb 1. The FIRs will be uploaded from the police stations and the software has been installed,' Delhi Police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said.

An accused can apply for the copy of an FIR at a charge of Rs.25 for four pages and Rs. 10 for each extra page.

According to a senior police official, the court has exempted the force from making public the FIRs related to sensitive issues like terror, espionage, rape, molestation, kidnapping etc.

However, whenever it does not make FIRs public, such a decision has to be taken by an officer not below the rank of deputy commissioner of police and they have to inform the area magistrates.

ISB to Offer Management Programme With Rs 7 Lakh Annual Stipend

New Delhi: Looking to churn out high-quality faculties, the Indian School of Business (ISB) will soon offer a fully-funded Fellow Programme in Management, that will also provide students with an annual stipend of up to Rs seven lakhs.

The Hyderabad-based ISB is planning to start the Fellow Programme in Management (FPM) in September 2011.

" FPM would be equivalent to any PhD programme (in management) worldwide... The programme would be fully-funded and students would receive a stipend of up to Rs 7 lakhs every year," ISB's Dean Ajit Rangnekar told PTI.

A full-time programme, FPM would be for a period of four to five years. With this programme, ISB would focus on creating research-focused people, who would qualify for faculty positions in top business schools.

According to ISB's Senior Associate Dean Sanjay Kallapur , FPM would be introduced from September this year and the first batch is expected to have about 10 to 15 students.

An excellent academic record as well as a good score in GMAT or GRE are among the pre-requisites FPM. Graduates, post graduates and those without any work experience can also apply, he noted.

The academic year for the programme would be divided into five terms, each having a duration of two months. FPM would be offered in seven areas -- Accounting , Financial Economics , Information Systems, Marketing, Operations Management, Organisational Behaviour, and Strategy.

The programme incorporates knowledge and best practices from global business school INSEAD. Regarding expenses related to FPM, Rangnekar said that ISB is expecting to see a cost of about Rs 2 to 3 crore, including stipend to students and salaries to teachers.

Source: PTI