Expedition Explores 11 New Caves in Meghalaya

Shillong, Mar 10 : A group explored 11 new caves and mapped 9.5 km of new cave passage during a 18-day expedition in Meghalaya's Jaintia Hills district.

Twenty one cavers, including some from UK, Switzerland, Austria, Romania, Germany and a commander of the Indian Navy, participated in the 19th edition of the International Cave Expedition that focused on the caving areas of Umkyrpong and Kseh.

"A total of four partially explored caves were further explored and eleven new caves explored. Information was collected for about nine new caves. A total of 9.5 km of new cave passage was explored and mapped during the expedition from February 7-24," Meghalaya Adventurers Association general secretary and noted caver Brian D Kharpran Daly, who led the expedition, said in a statement today.

With the new discoveries, the total of caves in Meghalaya is now 1,304, of which 811 are explored and 364 km of cave passage mapped, he said.

The cavers found that the Krem Tyngheng-Diengjem cave system extended up to 21,250 m ?" one of the longest in the Indian sub-continent.

Ancient relic passages were found in the Krem Shalong cave, one of which is extremely beautiful with a profusion of gypsum formations, he said.

"The expedition team included two biologists who recorded and documented 16 species of bats and 100 species of birds," Daly said.

Meghalaya is reported to have thousands of caves, most of which have remained unexplored and many of them are unique in nature. Most of the caves, concentrated in the Jaintia hills, are not just tourist attractions but also repositories of life forms that are presumed to have been lost elsewhere.

Migration From Northeast India Increased 12 Times During 2005-10

By Munize Ali

Guwahati, Mar 10 : Over 414,850 people from Northeast India migrated to mega cities of the country during 2005 and 2010. It is 12 times growth as only 34,000 people had migrated during 2000-05. This fact was revealed in a research study conducted by North East Support Centre & Helpline, a New Delhi-based support centre for migrants from Northeast India.

The research was carried out during January and February 2011 under the title, “North East Migration and Challenges in National Capital Cities.

According to the study, the annual average increase in migration from North East is 13.62%. With 200,000 Northeast migrants in New Delhi alone, that is 48.21% of the total Northeast migrants, the National Capital has emerged as one of the most preferred destinations for migrants from this region.

The study also shows that only 5% of migrants return to North East India after completing their studies or work. It is a matter of concern as it results in brain drain from Northeastern region.

Reasons behind migration

The study provided some statistics about reasons behind the migration. The 66.35% of North East migrants migrate for higher studies, out of which, 78.15% for graduate studies, 11.48% for Engineering/managerial, 6.80% for Research/Ph.D. and 3.57% for medical studies while 35% of migrants migrate for employment opportunities in other cities of India with 15% for Government jobs and 85% for un-organized private sectors. Over, 275,000 students from North East India have migrated to other cities of India.

The main push factor for migration of North East people is lack of educational infrastructure and limited choice of education, followed by unemployment opportunities in the region which are badly affected by socio-political unrest and communal conflicts.

Crimes against NE migrants

Several instances of violence to the migrants have been reported from time to time. North East Support Centre and Helpline has found that North East people in Delhi and NCR continue to face racial discrimination, racial attack, abuse, rape, molestation and killing. The Centre records 96 crimes against the NE migrants in Delhi and NCR, of which, 58% happened against women (34% molestation, 8% human trafficking, 7% beating, 4% rape, 2% attempt to rape), and 26% against men, 5% murder, 6% non-payment of salary, 3% non-refund rent deposit, 1% missing person and 1% media bias. About 78% of North Easterners in Delhi face racial discrimination in different forms which is slightly less compared to the 86% in 2009. The 83% of North East men and the 74% of their women face racial discrimination in Delhi and NCR.

NE needs investment in Education and Economic Development

The research study recommended Investment for Education and Economic Development of the north east region, a political will from Union Government, Delhi Government, and the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) for implementation of the existing laws, policies and plan of actions to end racial discrimination, sexual violence and human trafficking challenges faced by North East communities in national capital cities, establishment of private education institutions and law enforcing agencies to provide full security to the migrants from Northeast India.

source:TwoCircles.net

India Post Launches Online Transaction Service

India Post announced launch of online portal 'e-post office' to provide postal transaction and tracking service online.

New Delhi Mar 10 : India Post announced launch of online portal 'e-post office' to provide postal transaction and tracking service online.

This portal will provide electronic money order (eMO), instant money order (iMO), sale of philatelic stamps, postal information, tracking of express and international shipments, PIN code search and registeration of feedback and complaints online.

"A user can use his debit or credit card to send eMO or iMO online. This will enable one to send money to person at home anywhere in the country," said Radhika Doraiswamy, secretary, Department of Post during the launch.

Through this portal, DoP will also sell products, handicrafts and other products made by small-scale industries.

"Earlier consumers used to go to service providers but now services providers are going to consumers. This is the future of the 21st century.

We have now taken post offices to every citizen of the country through internet," Kapil Sibal, the union minister for communications and information technology (MoCIT) said at the event.

"This portal will also be e-commerce portal for the Department of Post. Products of small-scale sector and handicrafts will also be sold through this portal," Sibal added.

The content of the portal is in English. Sachin Pilot, state MoCIT asked DoP to develop this content in other local languages to expand reach of the portal.

"This initiative will make every netbook, computer a post office. I will urge Department of Post to make this site accessible in various languages," Pilot said.

The next version of the portal is expected to be launched in Bangla and Kannada language. This is the first phase of services that have been launched.

DoP has plans to bring other services also online in next phase of e-post office project, informed Doraiswamy.

Airtel Gets Maximum Customer Complaints

You always hear friends crying, yelling when we talk about Airtel and Airtel Services. Now we know for a fact through this report by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.


Airtel is on top when it comes to receiving customer complaints regarding billing and service related issues

New Delhi. Mar 10 : Telecom giant Bharti Airtel is on top when it comes to receiving customer complaints regarding billing and service related issues with 3,571 complaints filed in the last three years, the Lok Sabha was informed.

"TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) has been receiving complaints against telecom service providers, alleging various problems which include billing, metering and tariff related issues and activation of chargeable value added services without explicit consent of the customer," Minister of State for Communications Sachin Pilot said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

Other telecom major Vodafone received 1,896 complaints. However, Tata Docomo and Idea Cellular were on the bottom of chart with 1,239 and 925 complaints, respectively.

The total number of complaints received during the last three years stood at 10,561. The regulator has forwarded these complaints to the concerned service providers for appropriate action.

TRAI has notified the Telecom Consumers Protection and redressal of Grievances Regulations, 2007 which makes it mandatory for every service provider to establish a three-tier system consisting of call center, nodal officer and appellate authority for redressal of grievances of telecom consumers.

India Govt Proposes To Silence Bloggers

By Atul Thakur

New Delhi, Mar 10 : A government proposal seeking to police blogs has come in for severe criticism from legal experts and outraged the online community. The draft rules, drawn up by the government under the Information Technology Amendment Act, 2008, deal with due diligence to be observed by an intermediary.

Under the Act, an 'intermediary' is defined as any entity which on behalf of another receives, stores or transmits any electronic record. Hence, telecom networks, web-hosting and internet service providers, search engines, online payment and auction sites as well as cyber cafes are identified as intermediaries. The draft has strangely included bloggers in the category of intermediaries, setting off the online outcry.

Blogs are clubbed with network service providers as most of them facilitate comment and online discussion and preserve the traffic as an electronic record, but equating them with other intermediaries is like comparing apples with oranges, says Pavan Duggal, advocate in the Supreme Court and an eminent cyber law expert.

'This will curtail the freedom of expression of individual bloggers because as an intermediary they will become responsible for the readers' comments. It technically means that any comment or a reader-posted link on a blog which according to the government is threatening, abusive, objectionable, defamatory, vulgar, racial, among other omnibus categories, will now be considered as the legal responsibility of the blogger," he explains.

Even Google, the host of Blogger, among India's most popular blogging sites, expressed displeasure at the proposal. "Blogs are platforms that empower people to communicate with one another, and we don't believe that an internet middlemen should be held unreasonably liable for content posted by users," a spokesperson told TOI.

Blogs, which are typically maintained and updated by individuals, have showcased their political importance in recent times and the internet community views these rules as a lopsided attempt to curtail an individual's right to expression.

"If individual blogs are an intermediary, then why can't Facebook and Twitter also be classified as such, as they too receive, store and transmit electronic records and facilitate online discussions," retorts the spokesperson of the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), a Bangalore-based organization, which works on digital pluralism.

"These rules will not only bring bloggers and the ISP provider on the same platform, but the due diligence clause will also result in higher power of censorship to the larger player. Imagine your ISP provider blocking your blog because it finds that certain user-comments fit these omnibus terms," the CIS spokesperson added.

Most experts, including Duggal, see these rules as the outcome of the government's one-size-fits-all approach — at least in regulating online activities — and ask for an amendment to the IT Act.

Mizoram Magistrate Suspended For Threatening Cops

Aizawl, Mar 9 : The district magistrate of Kolasib, Mizoram who had allegedly threatened excise police personnel last year, has been suspended, Gauhati High Court Chief Justice M B Lokur said today.

In reply to Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawlas query, Justice Lokur said here that the district magistrate has been suspended and would be charge-sheeted soon. The magistrate, during December, threatened and later issued an arrest warrant against excise and narcotic personnel posted at Vairengte check gate for seizing some bottles of liquor allegedly bought for him by his staff.

During the meeting held at the Chief Ministers office, Justice Lokur urged the government to put and promote judicial education in the state and strongly recommended establishment of judicial institute for this matter. This, he believed, would be beneficial not only for judicial officers, but also lawyers in the state.

In response to the Thanhawlas request, the Chief Justice promised to arrange a training at Delhi Judicial Academy for Mizoram judicial officers, which they had done for those of Manipur and Nagaland recently.

Praising the Mizo customary laws, the chief justice underlined the need to upgrade and empower the customary courts.

The Chief Minister informed Justice Lokur about the infrastructural development plans for Aizawl bench of Gauhati High Court.

The Chief Justice also observed that Aizawl district court building is too overcrowded causing disturbances to the court proceedings and advised the state government to solve the problems.

Chang: My Hard Work Helped Me Win Jhalak

By Rajul Hegde

Mumbai, Mar 9 : Meiyang Chang, 28, won the fourth season of the popular dance reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa, beating the other finalists Yana Gupta and Sushant Singh Rajput.

The dentist-turned-singer/actor was a non-dancer before he entered the show but improved gradually, and finally beat the better dancers of Jhalak.
Chang and his choreographer Marischa Fernandes won a cash prize of 25 lakh each.

Shushant won the 'Most Spotless Performance award' and walked away with a prize money of 5 lakh.

"Chang has transformed from a non-dancer to a dancer and is the perfect example of an underdog," said Remo D'Souza, one of the judges. "Sushant was performing brilliantly episode after episode but the person who plays the last shot brilliantly is the star and Chang did brilliantly in the finale episode."

After winning the trophy, Chang said, "Jhalak was my best journey in a long time. When I started shooting for the show, I had only one aim: to do my best and master the art of dancing from the best choreographers and dancers (judges Madhuri Dixit  and Malaika Arora Khan). I'm indebted to my choreographer Marischa, the judges and the audience, who believed in me."

Chang added that he did not expect to last till the end. "Being a non-dancer, I was worried about competing with dancers. But after two-three rounds, Marischa assured me it doesn't matter if you are a bad dancer as long as judges feel that you have potential.

"She kept pushing me and I started giving a 100 percent. Sometimes, I would not go home. I feel it's my dedication and hard work that helped me win the title," Chang continued.

Yet, there are rumours that Chang was favoured by the channel, Sony Entertainment Television. "I don't know why you say this. My hard work has appealed to the audience and judges. I wouldn't say that I am the best dancer but I am a good student," he clarified.

Chang claims that the Teen Ka Takda round saw his toughest performance. "It was difficult because I wasn't in town for a few days and we had to incorporate a third dancer for that particular round even though we were new ourselves. We tried hard to get the co-ordination right. Marischa and I had a nervous breakdown! It was really demanding," he said.

Chang is all praise for the judges. "They were very sweet, especially Madhuri Dixit," he said. "Even when the performances were not up to the mark, she would say it in a nice way." 

Will we see him in more reality shows now?  "No more reality shows for me as a participant now," he said. "I wouldn't mind taking part in a show like Fear Factor. After putting in so much of hard work in dance, I think I am fit for a show like Fear Factor now (laughs)"

Chang claims he wants to focus on singing and acting now. "I know that I don't have the face of a hero but I will be happy doing supporting roles," he said.

So what will he do with the prize money? "My girlfriend (singer and former Indian Idol contestant Monali Thakur) has threatened to take away all my money!"

Marischa claims that she wants to go on a long holiday with friends with her booty.

Chang first came into the limelight after he participated in the singing reality show Indian Idol 3. He went on to become an anchor for the IPL, and made his acting debut in Yash Raj Films' Badmaash Company.

China: Mistress Site Vanished

A website set up by Chinese mistresses recently to share their experiences has vanished from the internet following complaints from wives, whose husbands are hooked on to the "other woman", the official media reported on Saturday.

Anyone logging onto www.xeixe.com is now greeted by a site selling women's clothing and all information covering topics of interest to mistresses has been deleted, Shanghai Daily, which first revealed its identity, reported on Saturday.
 
Several women who had paid 100 yuan (Rs 700) to access the website's forums just a few days before the site vanished complained to the daily.

The website had some 1,500 paying members when it shut down. Some questioned whether the site was just a commercial exercise using them as tools for the owners to make money.

The disappearance of the website also cast doubts over its All-China Mistress Right Protection Alliance, a group
which said it was trying to shed mistresses's scandalous image and gain them "social and legal status".

The leader of the alliance and the owner of the website, Sister Three, said in her blog yesterday that the site had to be shut down, against her will, for reasons she did not specify.

Mistresses who were members of the site believed the shutdown was connected with the online festival which ended in angry exchanges between them and cheated wives on Thursday, the daily said.

The website had attracted a lot of public attention, mostly negative. Celebrity TV judge Bai Wanqing even called
police to urge that the website be shut.

"I feel like I've been cheated by the whole campaign and its owner. We gained nothing from it and now everyone is treating us like a joke," said one mistress nicknamed "Sugar".

Sister Three in the meantime asked mistresses to follow her microblog for some "surprises" to come.