Myanmar President in India This Week

Thein Sein​ is visiting India at the invitation of President Pratibha Patil. The invite was extended during foreign minister S.M. Krishna’s visit to Myanmar in June.

By Elizabeth Roche

Myanmar’s civilian President U. Thein Sein. Photo by Bloomberg

New Delhi, Oct 11 : Myanmar’s new civilian president, U. Thein Sein, will be in India this week, the foreign ministry said on Monday, his first visit to the country since taking office after the November polls that brought limited democracy to the military-ruled nation.

Thein Sein’s three-day “state visit” will start on Wednesday, foreign ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said in a post on his Twitter account, but did not give further details.

Thein Sein is visiting India at the invitation of President Pratibha Patil. The invite was extended during foreign minister S.M. Krishna’s visit to Myanmar in June.

The visit was announced on a day a senior US official said there were “dramatic developments under way” in Myanmar, with Thein Sein’s military-backed government showing increasing signs of political reform.

India, the world’s largest democracy, has been criticized by Western countries for being among the few nations to engage military-ruled Myanmar, making investments in the energy and infrastructure sectors, and opposing sanctions as counterproductive, citing economic and security compulsions.

Since assuming Myanmar’s top job in March, Thein Sein, a former general who shed his uniform for the election, has held talks with pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi​, who was released from detention soon after the 7 November polls. Under the previous regime, she spent 15 of the last 21 years in jail or under house arrest.

Reports say Suu Kyi now has been allowed to travel across the country, meet envoys from the US and the United Nations, and address audiences through video-conferencing.

These moves prompted Kurt Campbell, US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, to say on Monday in a speech in the Thai capital Bangkok that there are “dramatic developments under way” in Myanmar including a “very consequential dialogue” between democracy icon Suu Kyi and the leadership, AFP reported.

Campbell made his remarks as Myanmar government officials said a prisoner amnesty, which would include some 2,000 political detainees, was imminent. Rights groups have long said that the release of political prisoners is essential.

US President Barack Obama’s administration has pursued both diplomatic engagement and continued sanctions against Myanmar.

In another surprise move last month, Thein Sein ordered work on a controversial $3.6 billion (Rs. 17,676 crore) mega dam to stop after rare public opposition to the Chinese-backed hydropower project.

Besides India, China has also been a supporter of Myanmar’s former military regime led by General Than Shwe​, investing millions of dollars in infrastructure and other areas.

India, which shares a 1,640km unfenced border with Myanmar, was a staunch supporter of Suu Kyi, but reversed its policy in the mid-1990s when it realized insurgent groups operating in its North-East were using Myanmar as a springboard to launch attacks.

The engagement has yielded dividends. In July, during a visit to India by military junta chief Than Shwe, India signed a mutual legal assistance agreement with Myanmar through which Indian insurgents held in that country can be deported for trial under Indian law—a pact hanging fire for two-and-a-half decades.

India has also been keen to tap oil and gas fields in Myanmar, and fears losing out to China in the race for strategic space in Asia.

AFP contributed to this story.

elizabeth.r@livemint.com

Manipur Seeks Jobs For Ex-Militants

By Sobhapati Samom

Imphal, Oct 11 : Manipur Government is discussing with the Central authorities to recruit the surrendered militants in the Central paramilitary forces for their rehabilitation.

State Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh said this while addressing the media persons in connection with a home-coming ceremony of four cadres of Manipur outfit United People’s Party of Kangleipak (UPPK) here this evening.

Ibobi said the State Government had approached the Union Home Ministry in this regard. He also informed that the priority of the recruitment process will be given to the surrendered militants who fulfil crieria.

Priority will also be given to those surrendered in the recent past. The State Government has taken up the initiative with a view to expedite the rehabilitation process of the surrendered militants, the Chief Minister added.

Welcoming the four UPPK cadres who laid down three sophisticated German made Heckler Koach-33 automatic rifles and Myanmar automatic rifle A-1 along with three magazine and 260 ammunition, he also informed that the State Government is seeking review of existing Centrally sponsored surrendered policy.

State’s police chief Y Joykumar, DGP, who also attended the homecoming function along with his senior police officials also said that some of the surrendered militants have already cleared the recruitment criteria.

Police sources in Imphal said around 240 militants belonging to various armed groups have laid down their arms and joined the mainstream in the last two years. Presently, a verification process of the surrendered militants is on for proper implementation of rehabilitation scheme, it added. So far 106 of them have been verified.

Sangai Deer On The Verge Of Extinction

By Sobhapati Samom
 
Imphal, Oct 10 : Keibul Lamjao, the country’s only floating National Park which is also the only habitat of the endangered brow-antlered deer (locally known as ‘Sangai’) in Manipur, might be most vulnerable to extinction if the temperature continues to rise due to climate change.

“The rise in temperature might increase decomposition rate of the Phumdi materials of the park and it will help in reducing the thickness and subsequent dying of the lake,” Dr NC Talukdar, Director of Institute of Bio-resources and Sustainable Development (IBSD), Imphal, predicted.

“It may subsequently affect the conservation activities,” he warned.

Phumdis are heterogeneous mass of soil, vegetation and organic matters in different grades of decay which plays a significant role in the ecological processes of 286 sq km Loktak Lake. Keibul Lamjao, which floats on the southern part of the lake, was declared a National Park in 1977. The park is home to about 180 Sangai deer as per 2003 census. There are also 11 more Sangai deer at its second home near Eroishemba zoo.

“There are also wetlands in Assam but this kind of phumdis, having a thickness of more than 1.5 metres, are not available due to its warm climatic conditions,” the scientist told this reporter on the sidelines of a recent national workshop on ‘Impact of climate change on biodiversity management in Northeastern India with particular reference to Manipur’.

The IBSD official stressed the need to do more research on how to slow down the pace of climate change in the region by taking up certain mitigation as well as adaptation measures.

The Ministry of Environment and Forest’s first ever comprehensive report on climate change impact prepared by the Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment (INCCA), a network-based programme, consists of over 120 institutions and over 250 scientists countrywide, said minimum temperatures are likely to rise from 1 degree Celsius to 2.5 degree Celsius and maximum temperatures may rise by 1 degree Celsius to 3.5 degree Celsius in Northeastern States by 2030.

Sharing similar thoughts, besides citing a comprehensive study based on Indian Meteorology Department’s 100 years weather records, Dr Nitasha Sharma of the Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, said that the region will be warmer by 2 degree Celsius by 2021-2050.

“Bishnupur district, where a major portion of the Loktak Lake and Keibul Lamjao are located in Manipur, will be more vulnerable”, she said in her presentation on impact of climate change in NE India.

Manipur Economic Blockade Completes 70 Days

Imphal, Oct 10 : The economic blockade by Sadar Hills Districthood Demand Committee (SHDCC) entered the 70th day today, becoming in the process the longest ever blockade imposed on road links to Manipur till date.

The blockade began from July 31 midnight after SHDCC choked the National Highway 39 and 53 – Manipur’s lifelines that meet in capital Imphal from two different directions after cutting through hills inhabited by various tribes. The SHDCC demands creation of Sadar Hills district while the Naga group-United Naga Council(UNC), protesting the creation of the district with Naga inhabited area,called a counter blockade on the above highways and NH 150 from August 21.

In 2005, the All Naga Students’ Association, Manipur, had staged an economic blockade against the decision of the State to declare June 18 as ‘Integrity Day’. The economic blockade, which started from June 19 to August 11 that year, had lasted for 52 days.

Again, last year, another economic blockade was called by the Naga bodies against the government’s decision to prevent the entry of NSCN(IM) general secretary Th Muivah into Manipur. The blockade broke the previous record by 16 days. It lasted for 68 days from April 11 to June 18.

Interestingly, though the blockade called by SHDDC and the counter blockade by the UNC have entered 70 and 49 days respectively on Sunday, there is no sign of any negotiation among the two sides, nor any sign of action from the part of the government to solve the problem. Hence the blockade is likely to continue, forcing many to face the hardship in the State.

The State’s Economics and Statistics Department records published in the local media here estimated that the State has lost more than Rs 250 crore during the last 64 days of the blockade.

Climate Change Affects Orange Production in Mizoram and Northeast India

By Stella Paul

With October, the air is turning a crisp cool all over north east India. Soon, the markets across the region will be flooded with winter vegetables and fruits including oranges. However, this winter will be far less juicer than the earlier ones. Reason? Orange trees are dying, en masse.

To most people, orange production in India is synonymous to Nagpur of Maharashtra. However, a number of places in the Northeast India region –including Mizoram’s Jampuii hills and Tamenglong district of Manipur grow Mandarin orange (Citrus reticulata) in significant quantity. In the year 2008-09 alone, Tamenglong district produced 17,311 metric tons of oranges.

But this season, the production is going to be far less, thanks to a mysterious disease that’s left hundreds of orange trees dead. “The decline actually started in 2000”, says Achungmei Kamei a local whose family owns an orange orchard. “The orange harvest takes place annually in December and January. During these two months, we make our entire annual income. But now, dead trees have resulted in an incredibly precarious situation for us, affecting our livelihoods,” Kamei adds.

There are about 1000 households like Kamei’s, which are involved in farming oranges here, making about Rs. 60,000 minimum every season and a maximum of Rs. 1.5 lakhs. Today all of them are facing an uncertain future.

Mr Katadim, another orange farmer, highlights this reality, ‘farmers like me are in shock and are helpless, because for us these oranges are our only source of income to sustain our families.’

Desperate to counter the situation, orange farmers have started to grow banana plants. Whilst this may go some way to compensate the farmers’ financial loss, it continues to puzzle agricultural experts and civilians on why the orange trees are dying in the first place.

Climate change has been mentioned as a possible explanation but this is nothing more than conjecture; no one knows for sure. After a visit from the India Foundation of Agriculture Research, various interventions were suggested, namely the use of sprinklers and fertilizers, but alas, to no effect.

The juicy oranges have been a big attraction for hundreds of people who visit the Tamenglong Orange Festival – an annual event, held in December. But this year, the festival venue has been shifted to state capital, adding to the woes of the local farmers.

Source: groundreport.com

Anna Adopts Hindutva Laboratory Method

By Madhu Chandra

Anna Hazare who almost became Gandhi II this year on account of his campaign against corruption - seven days fast in April and thirteen days in August. Interestingly, the idea is not originated from Anna himself but from his team mate, he and his team adopted saffron methodology to test a laboratory on his campaign against corruption by choosing Hisar (Haryana) by-election scheduled on 13 October 2011.

Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) in Gujarat along with Vishwa Hindu Parishad and other saffron Parivar ran a Hindutva laboratory test in 2002 just prior to state assembly election. It was declared success with 73 assembly seats won out of 95 seats and promised to adopt same method in other state and successful in the state of Karnataka, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

What was BJP’s saffron laboratory test? The 2002 Gujarat violence describes the Godhra train burning and resulting communal riots between Hindus and Muslims. On 27 February 2002 at Godhra City in the state of Gujarat, the Sabarmati Express train was attacked by a large Muslim mob in a conspiracy. As a result, 58 Hindu pilgrims, mostly women and children of ladies compartment returning from Ayodhya, were killed. The attack prompted retaliatory massacres against Muslims and communal riots on a large scale, in which 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were killed and 223 more people were reported missing.^]523 places of worship were damaged: 298 dargahs, 205 mosques, 17 temples, and 3 churches. Muslim-owned businesses suffered the bulk of the damage. 61,000 Muslims and 10,000 Hindus fled their homes. Preventive arrests of 17,947 Hindus and 3,616 Muslims were made. In total 27,901 Hindus and 7,651 Muslims were arrested. Nearly 10,000 rounds of bullets were fired in police shootings that killed 93 Muslims and 77 Hindus.

This communal riot created, manufactured, supported and engineered has been politically declared as success of Hindutva Laboratory Test in the state of Gujarat. Narendra Mode who engineered the test became Chief Minister of the state and continues till today. Under his regime whoever attempts to speak true of the Gujarat 2002 riot and against him been charged and put behind the bar. The latest is the Sanjay Batt, an IPS Police officer, who is still behind the bar.

Anna Hazare and his team’s version of corruption are interestingly selective. It does not matter about the political communal riots, which have affected hundreds and thousands of innocent lives, who belong to minority and Dalit communities during Gujarat 2002 riots and Kandhmal 2008-09 communal violence.

The biggest corruption in India is the Brahminical philosophy of caste, which has violated highest amount of human rights in India for last 3000 years. Anna Hazare and his team do not intentionally address the issue of caste and its apartheid or because of the invisible forces behind them.

Hisar is known city in Haryana and Haryana is the hub of highest Dalit atrocities that takes every now and then. Jhajjar is added into world record in 2002 for a crime against five Dalits who were skinned alive for skinning a death cow in 2002, Gohana for burning 50 Dalit homes during daylight in the presence of police officers and District magistrate in 2005 and Mirchpur for burning a Dalit father and a daughter alive and latter fifty Dalit homes in 2010.

Anna Hazare, who has become modern day Gandhi, social activists and lawyer Shanti Bhushan and his son Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan, first lady IPS Police officer Dr. Kiran Bedi and Rights to Information Act activist Arvind Kajiriwal, these forms Team Anna, seems nothing bothered of Jhajjar, Gohana and Mirchpur, when they take up Hisar by-election as Hazare Laboratory against India corruption.

Isn’t it too danger for India, if Anna Hazare started to adopting Narendra Modi’s methodology of Hindutva laboratory test to bring his version of Jan Lokpal Bill? Wounds are still unhealed and justice delayed and denied to victims of Hindutva laboratory test in Gujarat and Orissa.

Why not Anna Hazare moves into a political wing or join one if he has claimed that whole nation is with him? Let us not fool ourselves by Times Now’s version of “Hundreds of thousands at Ram Lila ground when Anna Hazare launched out his second fast against corruption from August 16 to 27.” Camera lens cannot capture whole ground of Ram Lila ground, which can accommodate only thirty thousand crowds at most. It was intentionally exaggerated figures of some Television anchors like Anarb Goswami of Times Now. He alone knows why he chose to exaggerate. It was far behind the number required if a Member of Parliament is to be elected.

The repeated denial and decline to the question to Anna Hazare that why does he not join politic to fight against corruption could be due the state of his dilemma between how successful he would be politically and as civil society of his own version. Perhaps he and his team want to wait until Hisar by-election.

Anna Hazare and his team have learnt enough that their version of civil society, claiming to represent whole nation, is incomplete, when Dalits, minorities and OBS leaders came forward that they stand away from their version of civil societies.

Parliamentary Standing Committee on Lokpal Bill, which has expanded from original limited members including the member of National Campaign for People Rights to Information, Civil Societies and Dalit Communities, must have worried Anna Hazare and his team that they can fool India for some time by using English Media but not always.

Let the people of India decide Lokpal Bill, not by the civil society represented by Anna Hazare and his team. Give Lokpal Bill to the people of India during 2014 general election and let the people of India give its verdict on this crucial bill through democratic process.

Danger is the method used Anna Hazare and his team to blackmail the constitutionally elected body of India Parliament. Let the supremacy of Indian Constitution, which is a gift to every Indian citizen, be the supreme and protect its constitutional proceeding of elected parliament functionary and system. Let all mal-functionary and corrupt system be dealt under the supremacy of Indian constitution, not by media hyped up micro-minority middle class because ours is the nation “WE THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE AND OF THE PEOPLE.”

Madhu Chandra is research scholar and social activist base based at New Delhi . He works as Regional Secretary for All India Christian Council and Spokes Person of North East Support Centre & Helpline.

NSCN(IM) Not To Allow Dead Naga Leader's Burial

Imphal, Oct 9 : Wungnaoshang Keishing, a prominent Naga leader and independent MLA of Manipur died and NSCN-IM has said it would not allow his burial at any Naga-settled area in the state. Keishing, a respected leader, hailed from Naga-inhabited Ukhrul and represented the prestigious Phungyar

constituency in the district which was once the seat of former Manipur chief minister Rishang Keishing.

NSCN-IM statement issued from Dimapur and circulated on Sunday said Keishing, who died on Saturday, had 'worked against the interests of Nagas' but did not elaborate.

Sources in his family said his body would be taken to Phungyar, his birthplace on Sunday afternoon for burial.

Keishing (54) is survived by his wife, two sons and two daughters.

Western Economies in Deep Freeze, Expats Look At India For Jobs

Protestors chant and holds signs outside the the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas building in downtown Dallas, Thursday, Oct 6, 2011. (AP Photo)

Mumbai, Oct 9 : As the Western economies continue to remain in deep freeze, more and more foreigners, mostly from the US and Europe are looking at India for jobs, a trend that has seen up to 20 per cent spurt this year, according to head-hunters.

According industry estimates, there are as many as 40,000 expats working in various industries in the country today.

"Hiring of expats has picked up by 15-20 per cent at all levels since last year, mainly on account of India being one of the fastest growing economies offering huge job opportunities," recruitment process outsourcing firm Elixir Consulting manager for International Practices Ratnesh Kumar said.

Increasing number of expats are seeking jobs in the country on account of job cuts in their home countries, coupled with rising outsourcing and high taxes, he said, adding that this is happening more in the US and Europe.

The Indian experience also adds values to the expats' resume, reflecting an individual's ability to adapt and deal with diversity, he explained.

These professionals are mainly being hired in banking and financial services, automobile, pharma and retail sectors, apart from areas, where the domestic industry does not have competency like alternative energy, complex infrastructural sector, etc he said.

"While CXOs are generally offered around $2,50,000 per annum, mid-manager level employees get $80,000-1,25,000 per annum," he said.

The number of foreigners seeking jobs in the country are no longer limited to the middle and senior levels, but is spreading over to beginners as well, he said, adding that at present, there are around 40,000 expats working in the country and the number is still growing.

What is interesting is that these expats are given compensation almost at par with what is being paid in foreign countries.

"Expats, with specialised skillsets, which are not available in the country due to financial or technology constraints such as molecular research, are being offered highly attractive packages," Kumar said.
Companies are also offering attractive leadership positions to experienced expatriates ranging from mid-level managerial roles to departmental heads. However, the attrition rate of expats is around 10 per cent annually mainly due to difficulties in communication and cultural differences, Kumar added.

Echoing similar view, Globalhunt director Sunil Goel said some global companies have their largest centres in the country on one hand, while on the other, many local organisations are also going global.
"So, the expat hiring is becoming the need of the hour, where foreigner from various parts of the globe are taking up multiple roles and are recruited as experts in sectors like infrastructure, healthcare, power and energy, oil and gas and automotive," he said.

According to TeamLease vice-president Rituparna Chakraborty, the country is seeing an increased demand in expats across various industries, especially post the 2008 recession in the developed economies.

"Professionals from Europe, Southeast Asia and the US mostly are being hired mainly by sectors like travel and tourism, retail, aviation, education and sports, where we see maximum traction," she said.

Talking about salary, she said, for most levels it is at par with industry standards, unless they are being brought in for a particular skill, which is niche and is non-existent within the country.