India And Myanmar Officials To Hold Talks On Border

Imphal, Jun 10: A sectoral meeting of the officials of India and Myanmar is scheduled to be held on June 14 and 15 to discuss issues like border fencing at Moreh in Manipur's Chandel district, official sources said today (June 10).


The meeting would be held at Kalewa, about 50 kms from Moreh, in Myanmar.


The present construction of the fencing at Moreh has been stopped following objections raised by Myanmar officials that the the construction site included a small area of Myanmar, sources said.

Indian officials had already put their point that the construction was ten feet on Indian side from "no man''s land".

The 14-member Indian delegation would be led by Shambhu Singh, joint secretary (north east), ministry of home affairs, and representatives from Manipur government would also be included in the team, sources said adding that other issues like sharing of intelligence, security situation at the border would also be discussed.

Wannabe Cops On Warpath in Manipur

Sinlung's View: With no jobs on the horizon, any job is a good job. With so much unemployment and so much skill...its always push and shove and its always the undeserving that get the job, WHY? Because they can buy the job.

Where else in the world would you find...people paying money to bureaucrats, politicians to get jobs except in Manipur. A primary school teacher's job costs about Rs 6 Lakhs and depending on the amount and grade it surely increases.

IT'S SAD. Manipur is no longer a jewel of the east but a garbage dump of unwanted job wannabees, unprofessional, skill-less, bribe-minded individuals sucking Manipur in the chasm of oblivion.



Imphal, Jun 10 : A bandh called by a group of candidates. who had appeared for interviews to get recruited as havildars and Constable Radio Telephone Operators (CRTOs) last year in the Manipur police department, failed to evoke response on Thursday.

They were protesting against the state government's delay in declaring results of the interview the candidates had announced the launching of a 36-hour state-wide general strike from Thursday morning.

After clearing the physical efficiency and written tests in July 2008, the 480 candidates appeared for their viva voce test in April and May last year. However, the results have not been declared till date.

The irate candidates claimed that 73 Havildars and 91 CRTOs were supposed to be recruited. They formed an association and launched an agitation seeking declaration of results.

The group has also asked their guardians too back their demands by setting up a similar body.

As decided by the two bodies in a meeting convened on Sunday, the 36-hour general strike was launched from Thursday morning 5am, a key leader of the candidates' association said.

The state government should be held responsible for any eventualities that might be triggered in the course of the stir, he added.

He said the association had no other alternative but to launch the strike as the government has repeatedly delayed declaration of results.

Northeast Indian archbishop is Nominee For Nobel Peace Prize

New Delhi, Jun 10 : The Indian Church strongly supports the candidacy of Mgr. Thomas Menamparampil, SDB, Archbishop of Guwahati, for the Nobel Peace Prize: "It would be a legitimate recognition for the commitment and dedication carried out for more than 25 years to build peace and harmony " Fr. Joseph Babu Karakombil says to Fides, spokesman for the Epioscopal Conference in India. "

Archbishop Menamparampil has been working tirelessly for peace, reconciliation and stability in northeast India for decades, a region marked by continuous territorial conflicts and ethnic clashes.

His work is recognized by religious and civic leaders, local, and is known and appreciated all over India and across Asia. Peace and reconciliation in the name of the Gospel, is the mission to which he dedicated his whole life.

This is why the Indian Bishops support with conviction his candidature for the Nobel Peace Prize, " explains Fr Karakombil.

The salesian Archbishop is currently President of the Bishops ' Conference in Northeast India, while also chairs the Committee on Education and Culture, in the Episcopal Conference of India.

He also works on a continental level and in the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC), he leads the Commission for Evangelization. His work is greatly appreciated by all the Bishops of the continent.

The candidacy of Archbishop Menamparampil for the Nobel Peace Prize was launched by the Italian magazine "The Salesian Bulletin", which remarked how the Archbishop, a skilled mediator and great peacemaker, has successfully contributed to the pacification of at least seven ethnic conflicts in the Northeast India:
that between the Bodo and Adivasi groups (1996);
between Kuki and Paite (1998);
between Dimas and Hmar (2003);
between Karbi and Kuki (2003);
between Karbi and Dimas (2004);
between Bodo and Muslim groups in Udalguri (2010);
and among Rabhi and Garo (2011).

His strategy of mediation, says the Archbishop himself, is only one: "to allow the Word of God to live in the hearts and lives of people and communities that are in conflict.

This is how peace flourishes ".

Sources: Agenzia Fides

Assam Organises Handloom Workshop For Tribal Women

Guwahati, Jun 9 : With an aim to help the tribal women, Assam government has organized a month-long handloom workshop in Guwahati. It is being attended by 50 women from various self-help groups and NGOs in the region.

The workshop is intended to provide training to the tribal women in all facets of weaving, which includes comprehensive production techniques, price calculation mechanism, design development, and effective marketing of the woven products in the country.

The tribal women, for whom it is a liberating experience, are attending the workshop to learn new weaving techniques as it is not possible to gain such exposure while being at home.

The workshop focuses on several aspects which includes technology and different weaving techniques.

The women attending the programme said that it would help them to generate good returns for hand-woven goods if they are marketed efficiently.

Hand-woven clothes are in great demand across the country, particularly the traditional Assamese sari, which is produced in the region and fetches really good prices in the cities.

The introduction of new technology through training is expected to help handloom weavers to produce more number of items in lesser time.

MF Husain Dies in London

London, Jun 9 :  Maqbool Fida Husain, one of India's best-known artists, died of a heart attack at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London at 2:30 am local time on Thursday. He was 96.
 
Mr Husain had been in indifferent health for over a month, reported PTI quoting family sources.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Mr Husain's death is "a national loss." President Pratibha Patil said his death "left a void in the world of art."

In recent years, artists and activists, like Mr Husain, had lamented his inability to live in India because of death threats and legal cases over paintings that Hindu groups described as obscene.   Mr Husain left India in 2006. In 2010, he was offered and accepted citizenship of Qatar and divided his time between homes in Qatar and London.  The government has been criticized by activists and artists for failing to make a rigorous attempt to bring Mr Husain back to India.

After Mr Husain moved abroad, right-wing groups continued to vandalize exhibitions that displayed his work.

Mr Husain repeatedly expressed a yearning to return to India. "My heart will always be in India...it is my beloved land," he said in an interview to NDTV in March last year. "I never felt I was betrayed," he said of India, stressing that he was proud of India's democracy. (Read & Watch: MF Husain's interview to NDTV - March 2010)

Popularly known as the 'Picasso of India', Mr Husain was among the earliest Indian painters to command huge prices at international auctions.

He also directed a few films. In 1967, Husain's first film, Through the Eyes of a Painter, won a Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival.

He often described Bollywood actor Madhuri Dixit as his muse. He made a film with her, titled Gaja Gamini. She was also the subject of a series of paintings he titled Fida. Husain also made a film with Tabu, titled Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities.

Mr Husain began gaining international attention in the late 1940s.  He joined the Progressive Artists' Group, founded by Francis Newton Souza, in 1947. The group was formed to explore a new idiom for Indian art by young artists wanting to break with the nationalist traditions established by the Bengal School of Art.

Honoured with the prestigious Padma Shree, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan, Mr Husain's Battle of Ganga and Jamuna: Mahabharata 12, fetched USD 1.6 million in 2008, setting a world record at Christie's South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art sale.

Mizoram Tribals Demand Their Rights

Aizawl, Jun 9 : The three tribal communities of Lai, Mara and Chakma today submitted a memorandum to the visiting National Commission for Minorities(NCM) vice-chairman H T Sangliana demanding certain rights which they allegedly have been deprived of.

In a joint memorandum submitted to the NCM vice-chairman, when he visited the three autonomous district councils last week, representatives of the three communities urged the commission to clear confusion about the system of funding under Article 275 (1) of the Constitution.

The memorandum said Mizoram's social welfare department denied funds and grants to the Lai, Mara and Chabma tribes.

''The state social welfare department maintained that since Mizos are also tribals, they are entitled to receive funds from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. As a result, the three autonomous district councils of Lai, Mara and Chakma have never shared funds from the said ministry,'' the memorandum stated.

The memorandum alleged the tribal sub-plan had never reached the tribal groups of Lai, Mara and Chakma. Neither the special central assistance, meant for development of tribal-dominated areas, has been extended to the tribal pockets of Mizoram.

The memorandum also highlighted problems faced by students of these tribal groups due to non-reservation of seats in engineering and medical colleges across the country.

To create opportunities for students of these tribal groups, the central government should set up hostels for boys and girls in state and national capitals, the memorandum also appealed.

It also demanded the introduction of advanced education system for tribal boys and girls and the Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship scheme in the three autonomous district councils.

Blake Lively Leaked Nude Photos (NSFW)

Here's the 'Gossip Girl' star, Blake Lively nude photos allegedly leaked online as "100 percent fake," but a popular porn video producer believes the photos are real, and Now Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis is claiming that Lively leaked the photos herself.

Ramdev's Men in Imphal Find No Place To Fast

Imphal, Jun 9 : Baba Ramdev's followers in Manipur are yet to kick off their planned relay hunger strike against corruption they were denied permission to do so in Imphal by the state government.

Members of the Manipur unit of Patanjali Yog Samiti were supposed to begin the fast at Singjamei market in the heart of the capital from Tuesday, but the district administration (Imphal West) did not grant them permission.

On Monday night, police dismantled banners and stands put up by the samiti functionaries at the spot. Six members of the samiti joined the yoga guru in his hunger strike at Haridwar.

Incidentally, N Kali Singh, who led the six samiti members, was one of the many followers of Ramdev to be bashed up by the Delhi police at Ramlila Maidan in the wee hours of Sunday.

Kali, the mandal prabhari' (Zone II) of the samiti, along with five members Sanjoy, Dhananjoy Singh, David Singh, Ramananda Singh and Khaba Singh left for Haridwar on June 3 to join Ramdev in his fast, said the state unit samiti president, M Binodkumar Singh.

"Official sources said the government denied us permission to hold the fast at Singjamei market as the area is a hypersensitive zone'. We were asked to hold our relay hunger strike outside the zone after finding an alternative area," Binodkumar added.

"We have already informed our headquarters of the problem and we will act upon advice from the HQ in our protest against corruption. We are waiting for the instructions of the HQ," Binodkumar, who is also a key yoga instructor in the samiti, added. According to the samiti's plan, 15 members were supposed to begin the fast from Tuesday and replace them with another group of strikers the following day, Binodkumar said.

The samiti was set up in October last year at Chingmeirong here and, since then, its key functionaries have given free yoga training to around 500 people in Manipur.

"As and when we find an alternative place to launch our fast, we will intensify our guru's demand to bring back to the nation the Rs 400 lakh crore black money stashed abroad and to root out corruption by enacting stringent laws like a capable Lok Pal Bill," he added.