Manipur Rebel Leader Rules Out Negotiations With India

By Subir Bhaumik
 Rajkumar Meghen was arrested last year

A prominent separatist leader in the north-eastern Indian state of Manipur has ruled out negotiations with Delhi.

Rajkumar Meghen, leader of the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), said he was "keen to continue" the armed movement to for Manipur's independence.

Mr Meghen was arrested in Bangladesh and handed to India to stand trial for sedition in November.

The UNLF is the oldest separatist group in the north-east and is estimated to have 5,000 armed fighters.

"I stick to my party's line that we want Manipuris rather than Indians to decide out fate," Mr Meghen told the BBC by telephone.

"We have said we want a UN-supervised plebiscite in Manipur and I have no reason to change my stand on that," he said.

The Indian army says it has regained control of a number of territories which were earlier under the control of the separatist group.

Source: BBC News

'Manipur Law And Order Improving'

Imphal, Mar 9 : Taking into account insurgency-related activities in Manipur, governor Gurbachan Jagat has said law and order situation was showing a sign of a turn-around.

"I am pleased to report that the law and order situation in our state is showing signs of a turn-around," the Governor said while addressing the assembly here on Tuesday.

He said the number of civilians killed and injured has come down from 92 and 117 in 2007 to20 to 53 respectively in 2010. The number of police and security forces personnel killed has also declined from 41 to 5 in the corresponding period.

"On the other hand, the number of extremists arrested has risen from 1296 to 1397 and detentions under the NSA have risen from 145 to 230. In fact, we are seeing signs of improvement which go beyond statistical data," Jagat said.

There is an increasing realization among the general public about the activities of militant organizations.

"This has raised willingness to resist. Wakat Meephams or sit-in protests are promptly organized against underground organizations that kidnap, kill or indulge in extortions," he said.

Tips To Keep Gmail Data Safe

Gmail has an estimated 190 million users worldwide. Many even have multiple accounts, the forwarding and ‘send mail as’ features of Gmail actively encouraging this practice.

Which is why it was a rude shock to roughly 40,000 Gmail users when they logged in last week, only to find that all their data-emails, attachments, chats, contacts and documents-had vanished, and their accounts had been reset. The only thing these unlucky users had in their inbox were the automated ‘Welcome to Gmail’ emails.

However, all was not lost as Gmail keeps multiple copies of the data (even including offline, tape-based backup of user data) and they set about restoring the bug that caused the problem. Google later identified the issue as a software bug in a recently released storage software update.

More than the number of users affected, this obviously got far more attention than it deserved and outlined the importance of not using Gmail as the sole repository for several gigabytes of critical data.

If the recent Gmail bug scared you enough to act, Here are seven different ways to back up all your Gmail data so that any disruption in services, no matter how rare, won't affect you in the least:

Create another Gmail account

In the event of another software bug or system crash, the chances of all Gmail accounts being compromised is minimal. Even when Gmail rolls out new features, they do so in phases - and this is primarily to identify and fix any teething issues.

Therefore, all you have to do is create another Gmail account and import all mails and contacts from your primary account.

To do this, sign in to your new Gmail account, click on the little 'gear' icon in the top right corner and click 'Mail Settings'. Here, under 'Accounts and Import' you'll be able to import mail from your old account.

Switching account

Hotmail may have lost out to Gmail when it comes to number of features, but they still have an estimated 364 million users-the highest in the world for any free email provider. And they want to make it all the more easier if you decide to make the switch from any other free email account to Hotmail.

To do the switch, Hotmail has tied up with TrueSwitch (trueswitch.com). TrueSwitch is normally a paid service that makes it easy to transfer all your email from one account to another. In this case, Hotmail will bear the expense, if you decide to switch. But you can use this feature to back up your Gmail data and still keep on using Gmail.

To use the service, head to secure5.trueswitch.com/winlive and enter all the required credentials.

Gmail-Backup

Gmail-Backup is a software tool which you can download for free from gmail-backup.com. To use it, you need to have IMAP access activated in Gmail. To do this, sign in to your Gmail account, click on the little ‘gear’ icon in the top right corner and click ‘Mail Settings’.

Here, under ‘Forwarding and POP/IMAP’, you can enable IMAP access. Gmail-backup will use IMAP access to create a complete backup of your accounts data on your hard drive.
Depending on how much data you have and the speed of your internet connection, this could take quite a while. Your computer and internet connection will need to be active for the duration of the transfer.

The softwate also has a restore function, to copy locally stored data back into a Gmail account. Gmail-backup’s website also has a forum which can address any issues you may have.

Mailstore

Another free solution for email backup, Mailstore (mailstore.com) can access multiple online email inboxes using POP3 or IMAP access. The process is easy enough; just download the free software and enter in your email credentials. Like Gmail-backup, Mailstore has an online community which can address backup problems.

Gmail Keeper

For a one-time price of $19.95, Gmail Keeper (gmailkeeper.com) offers a Gmail-specific backup tool that is easy to understand and can backup all folders and labels in Gmail (including the inbox, sent mail, starred mail, drafts and so on). It can backup everything as a .ZIP file to your hard drive. It also offers the ability to back up multiple Gmail accounts at the same time.

Backupify

Backupify (backupify.com) can backup all kinds of online services that you use, such as Gmail, Google Docs, Picasa, Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, Zoho and Blogger. Once backed up, you can search through, download or restore the data at any time.

They offer three plans; a free plan that can backup up to 5 accounts with a storage limit of 2GB per account, a Pro 100 plan that can back up 25 different accounts with 20GB storage per account for $4.99 a month and a Pro 500 plan that can back up an unlimited number of accounts with unlimited storage for $19.99 a month.

Local email client backup

This is a no-brainer, and should be done even if you continue to use online access for Gmail and other accounts. Any email client like Mozilla's Thunderbird (mozillamessaging.com/thunderbird), Eudora (eudora.com), Apple Mail, Outlook, Outlook Express or Windows Live Mail can be used to download your mail.

You need to enable POP3 in Gmail (once again in the ‘Forwarding and POP/IMAP’ in the Mail Settings area of Gmail). The settings are simple enough; incoming server name is pop.gmail.com, protocol is POP, port is 995 and your Gmail username and password will have to be entered of course.

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Khuga Dam: Boon Or Bane?

By Ninglun Hanghal



The groundwork for the Khuga multipurpose project was initiated way back in the early 1980s, Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi presided over its inauguration in a 10-minute ceremony in November 2010 and completion took all of 29 years, an unenviable record of sorts.

Located near Mata village some 10 km from the district headquarters town of Lamka in Churachandpur, Manipur, it is popularly called Khuga Dam and locals refer to it as “Mata dam”.

Four months after the inauguration, breached canals and breaks were reported during trail runs that destroyed residential and cultivable land.

When it all started, Churachandpur’s populace was either unaware or indifferent, though some “informed” people whose land came under purview of the dam were already knocking on the doors of the authorities concerned for compensation.

Came the 1990s and construction became apparent because of the huge infrastructure. The site became a “hot spot”, acquiring recreational value as a picnic spot and a favourite for lovebirds. Till then, there were no security forces guarding the dam.

Since 2000, Khuga Dam provided one of the most beautiful background scenes for the camera. Such was the enthusiasm to see the dam being constructed that the Churachandpur District Students’ Union reportedly urged Sonia Gandhi to include the site as one of the state’s tourist spots in anticipation of the lifting of the Protected Area Permit system.

Simultaneously, it began to be heavily guarded by Border Security Force personnel.

The other side of the dam also saw several repercussions. Supposed to have been completed in 1987-88, construction was halted for several years when the district came to a standstill in 1997 because of an outbreak of violence between the Zomis and Kukis and it went through an almost defunct and forgotten stage.

Till the inauguration, many villagers were still to be compensated, not to forget local contractors’ pending bills amounting to Rs 31 crore. There were violent protests in demand for compensation in December 2005 and three persons were killed and several injured in firing by security forces.

According to the audit report of the Manipur Irrigation and Flood Control Department, the original estimated cost of construction was Rs 17.18 crore. Till March 2008, expenditure was Rs 300.77 crore.

As the project continued to be delayed costs too escalated to Rs 335.11 crore and the revised date of completion was extended to 2009.

The audit report stated that the cost of the project was revised several times and stood at 14 times the original estimate by the end of March 2008.

Meanwhile apart from the initial component, irrigation and drinking water supply and electricity generation were added along the way. The project potential estimate was to irrigate 15,000 hectares, provide 10 million gallons of drinking water and generate 7.50 MW.

Comparatively smaller than other proposed mega structures in Manipur and elsewhere, Khuga Dam was visualised as an alternative solution to the problems faced by the people of Churachandpur in particular and Manipur in general.

With agriculture being the mainstay of the region, the priority on irrigation, drinking water and electricity was justified. With more than Rs 300 crore invested, the proposed “output” of Khuga Dam is unlikely to be experienced by the people of Churachandpur.

It may also be mentioned that the audit report of March 1999, on the performance review of the dam, says, “Since 1984, the IFCD, Manipur, carried out construction work on 25.37 km of canal over an area of 40.27 hectares of forest land in Dampi reserve forest without obtaining the required clearance for diversion of forest land.

Barring the unaccounted environmental destruction (that still continues) the overall concept of the multipurpose Khuga Dam project in itself was unpractical and paradoxical.”

As far as irrigation is concerned, Churachandpur is a hill district where jhum cultivation is practised. Few of the plains areas in the adjoining districts have permanent cultivation that requires improved irrigation.

While the idea of irrigation for jhum cultivation in the hilly region is yet to be conceptualised and is, thus, unrealistic to many, people felt, and not without resentment, that the actual benefit would go elsewhere and not to the hill people of this district.

As feared, people are faced with a drinking water scarcity and yet is doubtful whether the water reserved in Khuga Dam would qualify as “clean” for drinking.

Several villagers living in the vicinity of the dam, as also visitors, have reported that the “stagnant water” actually “smells”. Power supply was always a luxury for the people of Churachandpur, and of late the situation is at its worst.

Though the locals were either ignorant or unaware during the implementation of the project, it became the talking point in the later stages.

People waited, hoped and imagined. Now, with the much-hyped project standing tall and ready to function, villagers and supposed beneficiaries feel otherwise.

Those in Churachandpur and, specifically, Lamka live in fear of the dam, for they believe Khuga Dam will fall one day and Lamka will be doomed.

Dialogue Necessary For Bringing Peace in Manipur

Imphal, Mar 8 : Manipur Governor Gurbachan Jagat today said dialogue among representatives of academia, media and all sections of the society on current problems particularly insurgency in the state was necessary for safe-guarding the democracy and peace.

Addressing the Manipur legislative assembly, Jagat said the government has increased the police manpower significantly during the last two years as per the instructions and advice from the Union Home ministry to strengthen the state police.

He said through concerted recruitments, the strength of the state police force has increased from 15, 414 in January 2008 to 24, 618 by January 2011.

The Governor said with some well-coordinated efforts, the government has succeeded in moving 18 militant groups under the two umbrella organisations, namely United People's Front and Kuki National Organisation, into 10 designated camps after signing agreement with the government.

He said as of today 1493 militants were lodged in government-run camps and 709 arms were deposited. The Governor said the law and order situation in the state was showing signs of improvement as the number of civilians killed and injured came down from 92 and 117 in 2007 to 20 and 53 respectively in 2010.

He said the number of security and police personnel killed also came down from 41 in 2007 to five in 2010. On the other hand, the number of extremists arrested has also risen from 1296 in 2007 to 1397 in 2010, he said.

640 Condoms Used Everyday at Commonwealth Games Village

New Delhi, Mar 8 : Athletes and officials at the Commonwealth Games Village seemed to have enjoyed steamy sessions as an average of about 640 condoms were used every day during the 11-day-long sporting extravaganza, statistics from the Delhi government suggest.

Delhi State Aids Control Society has said that it had installed a condom vending machine at the Polyclinics of the Games Village in association with Hindustan Latex Family Promotion Trust (HLFPT) and National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) during the Commonwealth Games to encourage safe-sex among athletes.

Replying to an RTI application, the health directorate of Delhi government has said 7,680 condoms were dispensed, with a daily average of 640 condoms. Besides the Games Village, where nearly 6,000 athletes and officials from 77 nations stayed, authorities had decided to install machines at major hotels, stadium, markets, etc. in the city.

The campaign to promote safe sex started from August 15 to December 1, 2010, during which over 3,300 condom vending machines were to be installed across the national capital. Just before the Commonwealth Games, over 1,200 machines were vandalized or stolen, the reply to activist S C Agrawal said.

Two officials in each district were asked to visit each machine every week to refill them and report the status to the authorities.

She's BACK: Frieda Is Back

Frieda Pinto In 'Miral' Poster

Frieda Pinto returns to the big screen this month as an orphaned Palestinian girl growing up in war-torn Jerusalem. Pinto, who plays the title character in 'Miral,' also starred in Woody Allen's 'You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger' last year.

The official synopsis for 'Miral' follows; scroll down for an exclusive first look at the poster and to watch the trailer. The movie opens March 25.

From Julian Schnabel, Academy Award nominated director of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Before Night Falls and Basquiat, comes Miral, the story of four women whose lives intertwine in the starkly human search for justice, hope and reconciliation amid a world overshadowed by conflict, rage and war. The story begins in war-torn Jerusalem in 1948 when Hind Husseini (HIAM ABBASS, The Visitor, Amreeka) opens an orphanage for refugee children that quickly becomes home to 2000 orphans. One of the children is seventeen year old Miral (FRIEDA PINTO, Slumdog Millionaire) who arrived at the orphanage 10 years earlier, following her mother’s tragic death. On the cusp of the Intifada resistance, Miral is assigned to teach at a refugee camp where she falls for a fervent political activist, Hani (OMAR METWALLY, Munich, Rendition) and finds herself in a personal battle that mirrors the greater dilemma around her: to fight like those before her or follow Mama Hind’s defiant belief that education will pave a road to peace.