Manipur Cabinet Takes No Decision On New District

By Iboyaima Laithangbam

Imphal, Aug 7 : The Manipur Cabinet which met on Friday night failed to take a decision on the formation of the Sadar Hills district.

The All Naga Students' Association Manipur (Ansam) has warned that if the government went ahead with the new district, to be carved out of Senapati district, ignoring the two memoranda it signed with the Ansam and the Naga Students' Federation (NSF) it would not remain silent.

When the Sadar district agitation intensified, the Ansam and the NSF launched their own campaigns saying that land of the Nagas should not be touched.

MoUs signed

Two Chief Ministers, Rishang Keishing and W. Nipamacha, had signed MoUs in this regard.

Official sources said that if any concrete steps towards formation of the new district were taken there would be retaliation from the two Naga students' bodies.

As the Nagas and the Kukis reside side by side it is impossible to carve out the Sadar district excluding the Naga villages and land.

Talking to journalists Ngamkhohao Haokip, president of the Sadar Hills Districthood Demand Committee said the agitation would be withdrawn only when the new district was formed.

The Kuki Stuents' Organisation and others have said the demand should be conceded. They are threatening to impose an economic blockade on NH 39 in Chandel district.

Buildings torched

At least five government office buildings were torched in Sadar Hills on Friday night. Two tribal youths were wounded when the Manipur Rifles troopers opened fire on them.

Meanwhile, the government has made arrangements to bring stranded bus passengers to Imphal through an undisclosed road. Reports say that most of the passengers had elected to walk from the Senapati market to Imphal, a distance of over 70 km. There is no movement of vehicles on the national highway.

Call To Declare Tea As National Drink

Guwahati, Aug 7 : Tea should be made the national drink of India and as a precursor to this Assam should declare the drink that has been serving the country’s people as one of the major unifiers, its state drink.

This was the appeal made by North Eastern Tea Association (NETA) chairman Bidyananda Barkakoty in his presidential address at the 15th biennial general meeting of the association held at the Golaghat NETA Auditorium today. Barkakoty has been re-elected as the NETA chairman for the second consecutive term for 2011-13.

Reminding that tea is the national drink of Britain and China, he urged the Assam government to officially declare tea as the ‘State Drink’ and requested it to persuade the Union government to declare the beverage as the ‘National Drink’.

Talking to this correspondent over phone, Barkakoty said that a drink can become a national drink for a variety of reasons like majority of the people drinking it everyday, because of its representing the regions and customs of the entire country, because of its being produced locally, etc. A national drink is a part of a nation’s identity and self-image, he said.

Arguing that the State also may have its own drink, the NETA chairman said that most of the States have already declared their State birds, animals, flowers and trees in consonance with their respective biodiversity.

Recalling the history of the country’s tea industry, he said that 350 pounds of Assam tea were dispatched to London on May 8, 1838. This consignment of tea was sold at the India House, London, on January 10, 1839. Assam tea was the first Indian offering, which took the world market by storm.

Assam is synonymous to the outside world with Assam Tea. The tea industry of the State is over 180 year-old. The genesis of the tea industry in Assam is the genesis of the tea industry in India. For, Assam is the birth place of Indian tea.

Tea is perhaps the only industry in which Assam has been able to retain its leadership for the past 180 years.

Moreover, Assam produces over 51 per cent of the total tea India produces annually. The annual turnover of this industry in Assam is Rs 5,000 crore and it employs 5 lakh workers permanently and another 5 lakh workers seasonally.

Another 10 lakh people are dependent on the Assam tea industry, be it in the form of employment or services. The contribution of Assam to the total global production of tea is 13 per cent.

Women constitute 50 per cent of the workers engaged in State’s tea industry. And thus it has come out as the single largest employer of women. In Assam, tea is not just a product or commodity, it is a culture, a culture steeped in history.

Besides, the area under tea cultivation in Assam is the single largest area under tea plantation in the world.

The Geographical Indication (GI) right over the Assam orthodox tea has already been obtained, while research works worldwide have proved that tea is a health drink.

Tea industry is helping in maintaining the ecological balance in Assam. Many advanced countries are now in search of such eco-friendly industries.

Further, the progress made by the small tea growers’ movement today has led to the expansion of the tea growing practices to 27 districts of Assam, said the NETA chairman.

In India, about 800 million kgs of tea are consumed annually and consumption of tea is increasing annually at the rate of 3.3 per cent. Indians consume the highest volume of tea in the world. Around 80 per cent of the total tea produced in India is consumed in the country itself and 22 per cent of the tea produced in the world is consumed in the country and 85 per cent of the Indian families drink tea, the NETA chairman said.

After 31 Years, ULFA Drops 'Sovereignty' Demand

By K Anurag

The outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam, led by Arabinda Rajkhowa, has set the tone for dialogue to resolve the over 31-year-old vexed insurgency problem in the state by dropping its main demand for 'sovereignty'.

In its charter of demands submitted to the government of India , the ULFA noted: "Assam and its people were sovereign before the British imperialism snatched away the sovereignty of the people of Assam after the Yandaboo treaty of 1826. Starting from the heroic struggle of Gomadhar Knower, the people of Assam were part of the great anti-imperialist struggle against British imperialism which ultimately resulted in the independence of India on 15th August 1947.

"The questions of negotiations between various constituent entities on mutual adjustment of their respective sovereignties through a written formal agreement therefore cropped up. The results were seen in the Constitution of India. Here naturally the question arise-in a written Constitution with division of powers between the executive, legislative and judiciary at Central and state level with three lists enumerating fields of exercising the power, who is the sovereign or where does the sovereignty lie in the Constitution of India? Secondly, in an ever growing encroachment of each other's powers and in view of the increasing curtailment of powers of the states between the various constitutional entities in Indian scheme of governance is the sovereignty which was negotiated in 1951 still valid?

"Whether the members of the constituent assembly from Assam adequately represented the people of Assam to defend and uphold the rights of Assam is also a question which is shrouded in jurisprudential ambiguity. The continued failure and disinclination of the Government of India to stop illegal immigration from Bangladesh into Assam, which even the Supreme Court, has declared to be a silent invasion, indicates the failure of Government of India to defend the land and the people which it claims to be representing under the agreement of sovereignty i.e. the Constitution of India.

"It is also evident that Assam was allowed to languish in backwardness as other states marched ahead. The people of Assam have suffered historic neglect and disdain at the hands of the Government of India. There were therefore real grounds for a struggle to uphold Assam's inalienable rights, which had also led to the rise of the ULFA.

"It is in this historical context that the United Liberation Front of Assam reiterates the ongoing issues between Assam and India can be honorably and meaningfully resolved peacefully only by a fresh look at the issues of sovereignty so as to ensure that the people of Assam can assert their inalienable rights to control their lands and their resources therein, which they inherit and occupy from their forefathers, for securing their honorable existence and for developing the economy and the society of their state according to their needs and aspirations and also to protect their own identity and develop themselves according to their genius.

"The people of Assam today feel insecure in their own traditional homeland and have been left far behind. To achieve such objectives, United Liberation Front of Assam proposes that negotiations be initiated between India and the People of Assam to bring in measures Constitutional and other wise of wide scope and that certain urgent political, economic, social, cultural arrangements be undertaken and completed within a reasonable time-frame by the Government of India to ensure a peaceful democratic solution of the historical Indo-Assam question.

"In the negotiations, the issues will be discussed under the following broad groupings:

(A)Grounds for ULFA's struggle and their genuineness.

(B)Status report on missing ULFA leaders and cadres

(C) Constitutional and Political arrangements and Reforms-including protection of the identity and material resources of the local indigenous population of Assam.

(D) Financial and Economic Arrangements, including settlement of all royalties on mines/minerals including oil on a retrospective compensatory basis and rights of independent use for a sustainable economic development in future.

(E) Illegal migration-its effect/impact and required remedies including sealing of international borders, river patrolling, development of a native force to man the borders.

(F) Ethnic issues-problems and constitutional restructuring including settlement of border disputes and removal of encroachment.

(G) Education and Health-reforms as required to preserve the identity of the people of Assam and benefits.

(H) Agricultural and Rural Development.

(I) Land and Natural resources-including right of natives to the land, flood control and management.

(J) Industrial Growth-Development of infrastructure, removal of transport bottleneck,development of entrepreneurial skill and efficiency in labour, availability of credit, infusion of capital-leading to industrial take off and right to engage in specific relationship with foreign countries for promotion of mutual trade, commerce and cultural relationship.

(K) Restoration, protection, preservation and spread of indigenous culture of Assam in all its variety.

(L) Amnesty, re-integration and rehabilitation of ULFA members and affected people."

 

Mizos Should Accept They Are Indians: Lal Thanhawla

Aizawl, Aug 6 : With the fight for sovereignty having failed, the Mizos now have no option but to accept their nationality - Indians, Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla said. Mizos should accept that they are Indians.

Any Mizo who refuses to be an Indian is liable to get his ration card cancelled, Lal Thanhawla said while addressing Congress party workers at Lunglei in southern Mizoram today.

Pointing out that Laldenga, who led the struggle for Independence from India in 1966, accepted that he was an Indian when he signed the Mizo Accord with the Indian government in 1986, Mr. Lal Thanhawla said.

If any Mizo refuses to accept that he or she is an Indian, he or she is not represented by the Mizo Accord, he added.

Mr. Lal Thanhawla, who had surrendered his chief ministerial seat for Laldenga after the Mizo Accord of 1986, alleged that Laldenga had signed an agreement, which was later dubbed as the secret agreement with the Indian government in July 1970, which was similar to that of July 1986.

Since there was no independence movement from 1976, the Mizos today should question why there was unnecessary trouble for ten years, from 1976 to 1986, Mr. Lal Thanhawla said.

MNF Accuses HPC-D Of Extortion in Mizoram

Aizawl, Aug 6 : The opposition Mizo National Front today accused the Congress Government of turning a blind eye to the Hmar People's Convention-Democratic (HPC-D) militants extortion spree in northern Mizoram.

According to a MNF statement, the HPC-D militants had been carrying out extortion racket in northern Mizoram, mainly under the Sinlung Hills development council (SHDC), since the Congress government was formed and following the government's inaction the people of this region were living under the mercy of the militants.

Now, the militants have even demanded five to ten per cent money from contractors in any work and 40 per cent from NREGS fund.

Despite the home minister informing the Assembly House that the militants have extorted lakhs of rupees, there is no action from the government, the statement said.

In Vairengte, the village councils were forced to ask the residents through public announcement system to donate fund to the militants to the militants, the MNF's communiqué said.

The MNF pointed out that the mass resignation of the SHDC chairman and all the council members under the threats of the HPC-D was a clear proof that the council was under the militants rule.

The MNF also said UDLA cadres, who kidnapped two ABCI executives in June and later killed Mizoram police's informant Birgurama in Thingliana village, had been actively engaged in underground activities in northern Mizoram bordering Assam.

The MNF claimed four other informants had fled the village in fear of the militants.

The MNF demanded the chief minister and the home minister to stop muscle-flexing at a safe distance and start cracking down on the militants instead.

A Sanctuary Across The Border

Unable to survive the repression in their own country, thousands of Myanmarese have taken refuge in India

By Nilima Pathak

A Myanmarese refugee in New Delhi carries her child on her back during a rally to highlight difficult conditions in her country on June 20, World Refugee Day

Displaced due to political turmoil in their countries, more than 3,00,000 people from different cultural mores have taken refuge in India, the world's largest democracy. These include people from Myanmar, who started coming to India in 1989 because of the military crackdown after the pro-democracy uprising in 1988.

Living as refugees, the very mention of the word "home" brings back numerous memories.

Mary Neihkim, who came to India in 2007, says: "I worked as a teacher in Myanmar. Circumstances forced me to run from my country. The soldiers in Myanmar attempted to rape me and the situation had become so hopeless that it was pointless to approach the authorities for our safety."

Without money and belongings, she crossed the border and reached Mizoram. Staying with a family which provided her shelter, Mary was forced to become a housemaid.

Two months later, when she was threatened by local youth to leave Mizoram, she fled to Delhi. "People in Mizoram do not like Myanmarese nationals staying there due to dearth of jobs. But I can understand their problem," she says. "In Delhi, too, it is tough sharing space with strangers in rented environs. But then we are all sufferers and have no choice but to reconcile with the fact that there is no possibility of going back to Myanmar."

Neihkim is among those who earn a living by weaving their traditional handicrafts, including bags, scarves and shawls. She is now president of Central Chin Women Organisation (CCWO), which looks after the welfare of women of her ilk. She also works for a women's health-care organisation.

In all these years, she has not been able to speak to her mother and her brother back home in Myanmar. "Even when my father died, I could not be with my family. The only communication that I have is via e-mail and that too through family contacts," Neihkim says.

Like other refugees, she may not have dreams of her own any more but is determined to make a difference to many in society who go through similar hardships.

Several youngsters, though carrying the emotional baggage of being a refugee, are not only learning the ways of city life but are also volunteering to address issues of human rights, violence against women and vocational training.

Not knowing what the future of Myanmar, which has been under military rule for the past so many years, will be, they are working towards settling in their present environs.

A United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) official explains: "India has not ratified the 1951 UN Convention on the Status of Refugees and does not have a national refugee legal protection framework. But it continues to grant asylum to a large number of refugees from different countries. While refugees from Tibet and Sri Lanka are protected and assisted by the Indian government, UNHCR is directly involved with groups arriving from Myanmar and Afghanistan. And holders of documentation provided by us are able to obtain temporary residence permits from the authorities."

However, the official admitted that refugees often lived in poverty. Since they do not have the legal right to work, they just about manage to find low-paid employment in the informal job market and are often exploited. "Women and children are vulnerable to violence and instances of child labour are not uncommon," he said.

Though the UNHCR gives a subsistence monthly allowance, only a few fortunate people get that. Because of the lack of domestic legislation for refugees in India, the organisation is unable to provide aid to those in the northeast. That probably is the reason why scores of refugees find their way to Delhi every month.

Thus, for hundreds of Myanmarese refugees circumstances seem no better in the Indian capital. Most cannot speak English or Hindi and the language barrier adds to their struggles.

A young refugee, who fled her homeland a couple of years ago with her two sisters, said, "Our parents were scared that we would be harmed and forced us to leave."

The 20 year old has grown in the past two years, as have many others like her, who have travelled to Delhi to merge with the rest of the Myanmarese refugee population. They primarily live in west Delhi areas, including Janakpuri, Vikaspuri, Uttam Nagar and Hastsal.

Finding life daunting, she says: "We have not had the time to mourn what we left behind. Everyday struggle keeps us occupied and we live by the day rather than have plans for the future."

Rising numbers

• UNHCR figures show that there were 43.7 million displaced people worldwide at the end of 2010.
• They include 15.4 million refugees who fled across borders — 80 per cent of them to nearby developing countries.
• The number of people forced to flee their homes to escape war or abuse has risen to its highest in the past 15 years.
• Slightly more than half of all refugees are children under 18 years.
• According to UNHCR, about 3,700 refugees were given identity cards as asylum-seekers in 2010, while more than 4,500 are still on the waiting list.
• The number of refugees from Myanmar in India at present stands at about 10,000.
• Most of them are pro-democracy activists, who faced persecution at the hands of the armed forces.
• A number of men among them work as security guards and in factories and restaurants.

Nilima Pathak is a journalist based in New Delhi.

Sadar Hill Talks Fail To Break Impasse in Manipur

Security force personnel trying to pacify the mob along the NH-39

Imphal, Aug 6 : Talks between the state government of Manipur and representatives of the agitating Sardar Hills District Demand Committee (SHDDC) today failed to bring any solution to the ongoing impasse. However, there is a development in the talk as the Sardar Hills District Demand Committee (SHDDC) will convene a public meeting on Friday at Kangpokpi regarding the conditions put up by the state government in today's meeting before the SHDDC leaders.

Disclosing to Newmai News Network, a source from the SHDDC said that at around 2:30 pm today, a three-member team of SHDDC met the state government representative which was led by chief minister O.Ibobi Singh. During the meeting which stretched to nearly three hours, the state government laid certain conditions before the SHDDC. The source said these conditions put up by the state government will be discussed minutely in a public meeting on Friday at Kangpokpi.

Meanwhile, SHDDC general secretary Tonghen Kipgen informed NNN over phone that the agitation in Sardar Hills area will continue. It is worth noting that the ongoing economic blockade began on NH-39 and NH-53 from midnight July 31, demanding for the declaration of Sadar Hill sub-division into a full fledged district after public meetings were convened at various places in the sub-division under the aegis of Sadar Hills Districthood Demand Committee (SHDDC) last week. From economic blockade, the SHDDC started it indefinite bandh since Wednesday after three persons were killed on Tuesday during the blockade violence.

"Following the abject apathy of the state government to our demand, we are forced into the decision to call a total economic blockade along National Highways 39 and 53 beginning midnight of July 31 till August 7, which may be extended if the government does not respond positively to the demand for a full fledged Sadar Hills district within the one-week time frame", president of SHDDC Ngamkhohao Haokip had stated few days ago. The blockade will not give any concession to transportation and movement of essential commodities via the two lifelines of the state, he had added.

Thangkam Lupheng, vice president SHDDC, had observed that the people of Sadar Hills have been persistently waylaid by the state government over the past decades, and said that this is perhaps the last attempt as far as the demand for a separate Sadar Hill district is concerned. “If a reasonable and rightful demand for a full fledged Sadar Hill district is not agreed to by the state government, we will be forced to scale up our demand,” he had said without spelling out what exactly he meant by scaling up the demand although it is assumed that it could well be a demand for a separate state.

Haokip had noted that in order to give protection to the hill people under the Constitution of India, Manipur (Hill Areas) Autonomous District Council Act, 1971 was enacted, prior to Manipur gaining statehood, as the government of the day was apprehensive that the cause of the hill people might not be addressed by the establishment. Despite the act having been implemented in letter and spirit in all the hill districts of Manipur, the cause of Sadar Hills autonomous district council has been constantly and relentlessly ignored by successive government in the state, he said.

Earlier the British administration, and later Manipur Constitution Act, 1947 strongly advocated separate administration for the hill areas of Manipur because of the widely held notion that there is nothing common between the plain and the hill people. The Northeast (Re-organization) Act, 1971 and other acts of the Constitution also provide special provision for administration under the 6th scheduled in most Northeast states of India, the president said.

He went on to say that the Manipur (Hill Areas) Autonomous District Council Act, 1971 effectively empowers the state government to redraw district boundaries. And accordingly, given the exigency and the politics of the time, successive state government has instituted a committee to study the boundary of Sadar Hills ADC. Several reports have already been submitted and adjustments have been made, but chief ministers and governors have successively refused to uphold their constitutional duty despite assurances made to SHDDC, he said.

Four Govt offices, three vehicles torched by strikers
Four government offices have been burnt, three private vehicles razed and two cars nastily damaged at different places across the contiguous Sadar Hills Autonomous District Council in Manipur by suspected general strike supporters Thursday on the second day of the indefinite general strike imposed by Sadar Hill Districthood Demand Committee (SHDDC) even as tension mounts for the state government to break the gridlock that has completely crippled the lifelines of the state.

Reports came in early this morning that suspected volunteers of the striking committee set the offices of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) located in Kangpokpi, 45 kms north of Imphal on National Highway 39, in the wee hours today. Documents and records inside Sub Divisional Office (SDO) and Block Development Office (BDO) located at Saitu Gamnom, 30 kms north of Imphal on National Highway 39, have also been completely destroyed by fire set by suspected volunteers of SHDDC. The office buildings were however redeemed from the razing fire by security forces stationed inside the compound, said the report.

While a Maruti Swift car was set on fire yesterday at 10 pm at Motbung, a Maruti Van (MN 06L/1288) and an unidentified Bajaj Pulsar were torched beyond redemption by irate strike supporters at 1:15 pm at Gamgiphai today. Both the incident sites are on National Highway 39. According to a late report, two Maruti cars have also been badly damaged by strike supporters at Henbung early evening today.

A team of Imphal West police commando who indiscriminately open-fired several rounds of rubber bullets and mob bombs yesterday at Bijang and Longjang villages allegedly in retaliation to the general strike have caused severe injuries to at least seven women folks who have now been admitted to KCC hospital in Imphal for further treatment, said Haokai Sithlhou, chairman of the sub committee formed to imposed the general strike which tentatively began on July 31 midnight as a 7-day economic blockade on National Highways 39 and 53 but has been escalated to a general strike since yesterday because of the alleged suppression of the protest movement by state security forces.

“We have taken the pledge to face any eventuality in order to realize our demand for the creation of Sadar Hills ADC into a full fledged district of Manipur,” stated the chairman of the sub committee and has appealed to the state government to desist from using force to suppress the people’s movement.  In the meanwhile, some 500 travelers, including around 100 women, have remained stranded at Senapati district headquarters even as tension escalates along National Highway 39.

Source: Newmai News Network

China Has 'Geographical Advantage' in Border Areas, Rues Govt

New Delhi, Aug 6 : The defence ministry has told a parliamentary committee that China has "geographical advantage" over India along the border between the two countries.

"China has been building its infrastructure. They have advantage of the topography also because they have the Tibetan plateau whereas from our side, the terrain and geography are more difficult," defence secretary Pradeep Kumar told the Standing Committee on Defence.

To counter the infrastructure development by China in border areas, the government has sanctioned various projects to build a road network in the northeastern region.

"Therefore, these roads (Project 73 roads) have been assigned the highest priority by the government," he said.

Under the project, 73 strategically important roads are being constructed by the Border Roads Organisation along the Indo-China border.

For smooth movement of troops and equipment in the region, India has plans of laying three rail lines connecting areas including North Lakhimpur (Assam)-Along (Arunachal Pradesh)-Silapathar (Assam), Missamari (Assam) to Tawang, , and Murkongselek (Assam)-Pasighat (Arunachal)-Rupai (Assam).

In a Standing Committee report tabled in Parliament yesterday, the Defence Ministry had said that the railway line to Pasighat has been declared as a 'National Project'.

"Survey for this project has been sanctioned and is yet to be carried out," it said.

India has been developing its capabilities in the northeast in view of the military infrastructure development undertaken by the Chinese on their side.