The decision was taken in the consultation meeting on control of drugs which was presided by the Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla, an official release said.
It was suggested in the meeting that the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and the Assam Drug Control Act (adopted by Mizoram) should be enforced with state amendments to suit the prevailing problem and the draft Mizoram Drug Control Bill be made more stringent.
Aizawl, Oct 8 : Forest officials have voiced grave concern over the smuggling of wild orchids in Mizoram into neighboring Myanmar.
DFO of Champhai district in eastern Mizoram bordering Myanmar C Vanlalena said in Champhai today the rare species of wild orchids in Mizoram were in danger following smuggling into Myanmar.
''We should take united effort to stop the smuggling of our state’s valuable forest resources,'' he said.
The DFO said they had recovered a number forest goods being smuggled into Myanmar. However, due to shortage of man power and financial constraints, their capacity to check the smuggling was limited.
The district forest office has been organizing extensive awareness in the rural areas, with special focus on the border regions and villages surrounding Murlen National Park that situated in Champhai district.
The DFO expressed regrets over reports that some forest officials still indulged in hunting. He requested the public to report if any forest official were found to be indulging in hunting.
According to state environment forest department sources, different species of orchids worth around Rs 32 lakh were illegally smuggled from north eastern parts of Mizoram to south-east Asian countries.
By Hakeem Irfan
Alleged PLA members Dilip Singh (left) and Arun Kumar.
New Delhi, Oct 8 : The Delhi Police on Friday claimed that the banned People's Liberation Army of Manipur was conspiring to form a 'strong united front' against India along with the Maoists and the Kashmir-based militants.
The nexus came to light following the arrest of two militants of the outfit. N. Dilip Sing and Arun Kumar Singh Salam were nabbed from Paharganj on October 1.
They had been in the Capital for four days and had submitted their identity documents to the owner of the hotel they were staying in. On the basis of information provided by the duo, the Manipur Police arrested three more persons in Imphal.
Dilip, 51, is the head of the PLA's external affairs wing while Arun, 36, is a lieutenant. The special cell said Dilip came to Delhi from the North-East while Arun came from Pune, where he runs a travel agency.
Following the arrests, the Pune police raided Arun's house and seized a laptop and documents containing, among other things, PLA's proceedings in code language and information on intelligence units and security forces. Books on Maoist ideology, guerrilla warfare, battle psychology and counter insurgency were also seized.
"They came to Delhi as both had been instructed by their superiors to discuss the modalities regarding providing logistics, weapons and communication training to the Maoists," special commissioner (special cell) P.N. Aggrawal said.
"The PLA had also provided logistics, training, weapons and communication system to the CPI (Maoist) and had trained their cadre in Jharkhand and Orissa in 2009 and 2010, besides planning to conduct two training camps for the Maoists next year in Myanmar," he added.
The special cell said the laptop and documents seized from the duo revealed that the PLA and the Maoists had agreed on a joint declaration intending to form a 'Strategic United Front' to extend support to each other in their struggle to overthrow the government at the Centre.
After the formation of such a front, their intention was to form a 'Strong United Front' that would include the CPI (Maoist) and the militant outfits in the North-East and Kashmir.
"We also seized documents detailing the PLA's daily expenditure on each individual," a police officer said.
Dilip had joined the PLA's armed wing as a sepoy in 1988 and was promoted to the rank of Captain in 2009. Arun joined the outfit in 1997 as a sepoy and became a lieutenant this June.
Even as 45,139 families of the first phase are getting their second installment of the fund, all the eight district administrators have been instructed to conduct selection of beneficiaries in their respective jurisdictions, the official statement said.
As many as 45,000 families will be selected to benefit from the poverty alleviation program in its second phase for the year 2012-2013.
A baseline survey of beneficiaries had already been conducted across the state with the help of village councils and branches of Young Mizo Association, the largest NGO in the state. The project is divided into four phases, the first two phases covering 90,139 families in rural and urban areas.
The next two phases will cover more families. The deputy commissioner offices and all line departments will help the beneficiaries in selecting their trades, which is expected to be completed by the end of this November. Beneficiaries in the third and fourth phase will also be selected at the same time, but their selection of trades will be done in due course of time.
The DCs and officials of line departments are strictly monitoring the utilization of money by the first phase beneficiaries. A number of families have been found misusing the fund and their names have been deleted from getting the next installment of fund, the official source said.
Monitoring committee has been set up at the district and village level to ensure that the NLUP fund is used by the stakeholders for the right purpose.
The Congress government has laid importance on the monitoring as it was found that the NLUP implemented in its previous term, from 1993 to 1998, was grossly misused by the beneficiaries. This time it has taken every measure to make sure that not even single rupee is wasted.
The Rs 2,527-crore NLUP has been taken up for sustainable land-based economic activities and to remove the age-old jhum cultivation in the state. In the first five years, the NLUP aims to support 120,000 families.
He said the departments of agriculture, horticulture, veterinary, industries, forest, fisheries, sericulture and soil and water conservation would be involved in the scheme.
The NLUP also aims to create 21,480 hectares of bamboo plantation to benefit 10,740 families. Despite the slash-and-burn system of cultivation, Mizoram has a large forest cover area with 75.77 percent of the total land.
The NLUP intends to keep 60 percent of the state s total geographical area under forest cover and the remaining 40 percent for land-based development, officials said.
According to Delhi Cancer registry, Mizoram in India has the highest prevalence of pancreatic cancer. In Aizawl, Mizoram, prevalence rate is 2.3 per 100,000 people per year against the global rate of 1 per 100,000 people per year. Majority of cases in Mizoram are reported in women, he said.
Jobs, who led a mobile-computing revolution with wildly popular devices such as the iPhone, died Wednesday in California, US, after battling cancer for years.
According to medical experts, pancreatic cancer, with a negligible survival rate, is ranked fourth in cancer-related deaths in the US. The cancer form has seen a rise in India.
The global prevalence rate of pancreatic cancer is 1 per 100,000 people per year against the 80 per 100,000 people per year cases of breast cancer - one of the most prevalent cancers among women.
According to global figures, of the 232,000 people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2002, 227,000 died by 2010.
Shyam Aggarwal, Chairman Department of Medical Oncology, Sir Gangaram Hospital, says that pancreatic cancer is an aggressive, fast growing disease which kills its victims within five years after diagnosis.
There are two known types of pancreatic cancer - adenocarcinoma and neuroendocrine tumour. Jobs was affected by the latter, an extremely rare form reported in just five percent of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Aggarwal told IANS.
The tumours are usually located on the head of the pancreas - an organ that helps break down food so it can be absorbed into the body - where they can block the bile duct and cause jaundice.
Pancreatic cancer is less common in India compared to western countries but now incidences of pancreatic cancer are increasing, and since the last two-three years we get one-two cases every month, P.K. Julka, clinical oncologist, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), told IANS.
Julka says that most of the cases that come to them are in an advanced stage and chances of survival are nil. It is generally seen in old people.
Standard treatment for pancreatic cancer includes surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and, most recently, targeted anticancer drugs that may slightly extend patients' lives.
Pancreatic cancer is diagnosed at a later stage in 89-90 percent cases and in such cases we provide chemotherapy, targeted therapy and few other procedures. But patient can survive only 18-24 months, said Julka.
Although there are no specific studies about causes of pancreatic cancer, doctors blame it on sedentary lifestyle, smoking and high alcohol intake. People suffering from diabetes and chronic pancreatic inflammation are also at risk.
There is also a lack of oncologists specialised in treating pancreatic cancer in India and the cost of treatment is very high.
Aggarwal, who is also a member of Pancreatic Cancer India, a group working to spread awareness about the less-known disease, says that this years Nobel Prize winner in medicine Ralph Steinman died of pancreatic cancer in September this year.
By Vivek Ajinkya
Pune, Oct 7 : Jeje Lalpekhlua, Arata Izumi and Shanmugham Venkatesh are confident of putting up a good show against English Premier League side Blackburn Rovers, when the sides meet at Balewadi Stadium here today.
Experienced India and Pune midfielder Venkatesh, named skipper in place of the injured Subrata Paul, warns Blackburn that they won't have it easy as his team will play knowing they have a reputation to protect. "Blackburn is a big team. It is a very good opportunity for us.
As a senior player, my advice to the team is to play freely and without fear. Also what is more important is that we have to think of our fans. We have a reputation to protect in front of home support. We are not focussing on the result. We are more interested in playing well," said the 32-year-old.
Pune FC's Japanese star Izumi knows all about performing in pressure situations, thanks to his experience in the J League. And he thinks his team are well poised in today's game because they have nothing to lose. "We have prepared well for Blackburn. We have studied their players. We just have to perform to our best now. We have to play without fear, without letting the occasion get to us," said the 29-year-old midfielder.
Focus on Jeje
All eyes will be on young striking sensation Jeje. The Mizoram-born forward has a very impressive goal-scoring record for both club and country. Pune FC will be praying their young prodigy comes to the fore. The 20-year-old has already earned himself a regular starting position in the national senior team, having scored five goals in eight appearances for his country. But today, the 5ft 9 inch striker will be up against a much bigger opponent in the 6ft 4inch tall Christopher Samba.
When asked if he has ever been marked by a man as huge as Samba, and if he would be intimidated by the burly defender, Jeje coolly answered: "No (never been marked by someone that huge). But, I'm not afraid, or intimidated. This match will be a great learning experience, and we will give it our best."
Optimism is rising in Myanmar because of a new president who seems committed to reform and opening up the economy.
By Thaung Tun
Since the new president was elected, Myanmar's economy has opened up to foreign investment [GALLO/GETTY]
When former Prime Minister Thein Sein was elected president of Myanmar earlier this year, observers saw him as a puppet of the old regime. They considered the November elections to be nothing more than window dressing and predicted that the military, which had been in the driving seat for over four decades, would still be pulling the strings and running the country in much the same old way as before - out of step with the times and its own people.
Six months into his presidency however, the new president is beginning to prove his critics wrong. Myanmar appears to be moving away from the discredited policies of the past and adopting more open policies. Recent press reports indicate growing signs of palpable change in the country.
Expectations and hopes that real change may be on the horizon have been heightened by the statements of senior European Union and United States officials who visited the country recently. The EU's humanitarian aid commissioner Kristalina Georgieva said she was encouraged by official pledges of greater access to troubled areas.
Derek Mitchell, US Special Representative and Policy Coordinator for Myanmar, stated following his five-day visit that the US recognised and welcomed recent gestures from Nay Pyi Taw - such as President Thein Sein's meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi, the establishment of a national human rights commission, public emphasis on dialogue with ethnic groups and easing of media censorship.
Genuinely committed
The new president seems genuinly committed to reform [GALLO/GETTY]
The rising optimism in the country stems mainly from the fact that new president appears to be genuinely committed to reforms. He has not only made policy statements calling for political reconciliation, strengthening of democratic practices and economic reforms, but also followed them up with action.
He has taken the extraordinary step of meeting with Ms Suu Kyi and inviting her to dinner in the new presidential residence. Observers agree that the photograph that appeared in Myanmar papers, of President Thein Sein standing with Ms Suu Kyi in front of the official portrait of General Aung San, her father and a national hero, sends a positive signal.
Ms Suu Kyi herself has confirmed that there is a sense of spring in the air. In her speech marking the International Day of Democracy, she told her audience: "I believe we have reached a point where there is opportunity for change." She also told AFP the new government appeared genuine in its desire for democratic reform, and that an Arab-style uprising was not the answer to the country's problems.
"There have been changes, but I don't think we're all free or completely free yet. There's still quite a way to go, but I think there have been positive developments," she said.
Derek Tonkin, the former British Ambassador to Thailand and Vietnam and current CEO of non-profit Network Myanmar, sums up the situation when he says: "The government has gone further than many thought likely in term of its declarations of intent, and has demonstrated a keen sense of purpose on social welfare and economic issues."
Still, unsurprisingly, there are doubting Thomases who are not convinced the changes go beyond the cosmetic. Mr Mitchell alluded to this: "I think everybody who follows this country knows that there have been stops and starts, that expectations have been dashed, that things only go so far, and then they stop or they reverse themselves. And I really urged the leadership to prove the skeptics wrong."
Economic awakening
Myanmar's economy too is beginning to stir from the deep slumber of decades of stagnation brought about first by General Ne Win's misguided policies and his experiment with "The Burmese Way to Socialism" and subsequently the sanctions imposed by the US and EU.
According to reports in Xinhua and the BBC, Myanmar received a record US $20bn in foreign investment in the past year alone: $10.2bn was in the oil and gas sector, $8.2bn in electric power, $1.4bn in mining and $66.32m in manufacturing.
The leading investors are China with $7.8bn, Hong Kong with $5.8bn, South Korea with $2.7bn, Thailand with $2.1bn, Britain with $799m and Singapore with $226m.
The statistics are a reflection of the fact that Myanmar is a resource-rich country and that it can attract investors despite Western sanctions, which have clearly been a failure on all fronts. A pro-business approach could have provided the West an opportunity to promote more political, civil and economic freedom in Myanmar.
After decades of military rule, there is rising optimism among the people of Myanmar [GALLO/GETTY]
With the West staying away, China's hand has been strengthened. A number of Chinese corporations are involved in huge hydropower, mining and oil and gas projects across the country. The projects include construction of dams as well as a major pipeline and rail projects across Myanmar aimed at transporting gas and oil to China's landlocked western provinces.
China has also started work on a deepwater seaport and oil terminal on Ramree Island on the west coast of Myanmar. Once completed, oil from the Middle East and Africa will be off-loaded there and transported to Kunming via a 1,100km-long pipeline, which would eliminate the need for tankers to pass through the Malacca Strait.
Myanmar's other large neighbours, India and Thailand, have jumped on the bandwagon to benefit from the opening up of the country. The $110m Kaladan project will connect Myanmar's western coast with India's land-locked northeast states, giving the latter access to the sea and an opportunity to develop greater economic linkages with South-east Asia. The project involves upgrading the Sittwe port and developing a 225km-long waterway between Sittwe and Setpyitpyin in Myanmar along the Kaladan River. It also includes construction of a 62km road from Setpyitpyin to Lawngtlai in Mizoram, where it will merge with India's national highway 54.
Myanmar and Thailand have signed a framework agreement on building a massive deep seaport in Dawei in the south of Myanmar coupled with a road and rail link to Bangkok. The project, which includes a special economic zone, is estimated to cost $13bn.
Seeking the Asean chair
The gigantic infrastructure projects will connect Myanmar to its neighbours and create openings like never before. Other South-east Asian countries like Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam that have experienced similar situations have been able to leap-frog to greater prosperity.
As the world watches with anticipation the evolving situation in Myanmar, it would be in the interest of the international community to see that the reform process does not go awry.
The international community should ensure that President Thein Sein's tentative steps at reforms will grow into larger strides. One way might be for ASEAN to accede to Myanmar's request to assume the chairmanship of the organisation in 2014.
The fact that Myanmar is actively seeking to chair ASEAN's Standing Committee shows that it has come a long way from the time it decided to forgo its turn to chair ASEAN in 2006. It reflects the increasing confidence the new Myanmar government has in its ability to set its house in order and its readiness to undertake the steps necessary to earn the approbation of fellow ASEAN members and dialogue partners.
Under the circumstances, ASEAN may be in the best position to promote more freedoms and openness in Myanmar.
Thaung Tun, a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at ISEAS, is a former Ambassador of Myanmar to the Philippines. He also served in Brussels as Ambassador to Belgium, the Netherlands and the EU. A version of this article was previously published by www.todayonline.com
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.
By Esha Roy
While administrative convenience is important, the issue is mired in the complexities of ethnic identity. Decades of conflict between the Nagas and Kukis — two of the most prominent tribes in Manipur — lie at the heart of the fracas. It’s the Kukis who have been demanding a separate district, and while many members of the tribe say the district will be heterogeneous — for Kukis, Nagas and Nepalis in the area — the man behind the blockade and the president of the Sadar Hills District Demand committee, Ngamkhohao Haokip, admits that the fulcrum of the issue is one of “belonging and identity” for the Kukis.
Currently located in the Naga-dominated Senapati district, the hills-dwelling Kukis complain of centuries of discrimination by the Valley people (the Hindu Meiteis who dominate in Manipur and live in the Imphal valley). Apart from discrimination in terms of development, education and health facilities, the Kukis point out that valley people have traditionally called them “Hao” or untouchables.
Kuki nationalism goes as far back as the 1980s, when the Kuki National Front was formed under the leadership of Ranco Thangboi Kuki in 1988 — primarily to counter the so-called hegemony of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM) in Kuki inhabited and dominated areas. The primary objective of the group was to secure a separate state or Union territory for the Kukis, which they called “Kukiland”. Sadar Hills was one of its main bases. According to some Kuki scholars, the separatist movement emerged because of the long economic deprivation and the fact that the educated class was not getting a share in the power structure. Kuki nationalism in Manipur could now impact Manipuri politics.
Spanning an area of 1,685 sq km and with a population of roughly 180,000, the Sadar Hills will be the second largest district in Manipur — that is, if the Kuki demands are met. Whichever stance the government takes, the ruling Congress risks losing a chunk of its votebank in the coming assembly elections early next year.
On paper, the Sadar Hills already exist as a separate district passed by an act of Parliament in 1972. The Kukis say that, after 39 years, the state government has been unable to implement its own law.
It’s an unprecedented no-give resolution in this year’s blockade — apparent all along National Highway 39, which is dotted with charred trucks and goods carriers. Every village along the highway has pickets of boulders lined across the road where the villagers check incoming vehicles for goods. If any commodity is found, passengers are made to get off and the vehicle is burnt. Alongside the pickets are makeshift tents with women protesters and, in trademark Irom Sharmila-style, Manipuri mothers — or Ima, as they are called in the state — on relay hunger strikes. They have been on hunger strikes since August 16.
Amar Yumnan, a professor of economics at Manipur University, says the issue is more of political supremacy between the tribes. Even within the Sadar Hills, there are two assembly constituencies which have seen strong and very close contests between the Nagas and Kukis — both are equally powerful. Potentially an extremely dangerous trend, Yumnam says that it is the result of increasing ethnicisation of politics in the state, seen in the emergence of new political parties such as the Kuki National Assembly.
Meanwhile, the United Naga Council has already written to Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram protesting the formation of this new district, claiming that most of the Sadar Hills traditionally belong to the Nagas.
The government’s answer to these problems is the reorganisation of the boundaries of various districts, giving the Kukis a separate Sadar Hills, while ensuring that the Nagas continue to retain most of their claimed lands. While both demands will have to be balanced, a lot of dexterous manoeuvring will be required by Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh’s government to convince both tribes that they have indeed been accommodated. If the government does at all manage to achieve a resolution between its two main tribes, it may be the first time in decades that such a conflict will be put to rest — a conflict which has in the past led to various secessionist movements on the part of both Nagas and Kukis. The handling of this one conflict alone may be a landmark on Manipur’s path to being declared a non-disturbed state in the future.
esha.roy@expressindia.com
