India To Tighten Security Along Myanmar Border

Aizawl, Oct 13 : India will intensify security along the border with Myanmar to check the movement of militants and diverse border crimes, an officer of the Assam Rifles said Tuesday as its chief began a three day trip to Mizoram to review security arrangements.

Four northeastern states – Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram – share with Myanmar a 1,640 km border that is manned by the parramilitary Assam Rifles. The dense forests make the border porous and vulnerable.

‘Assam Rifles Director General Lt. Gen. Rameshwar Roy is now on a three-day visit of Mizoram to review the security arrangements along the Indo-Myanmar border,’ an Assam Rifles spokesperson told reporters here.

He said Roy would visit some border areas to check the vigil mounted along the border area.

‘Roy would review the overall security situation of the northeastern state and the arrangements for guarding the border…,’ the spokesperson added.

The Assam Rifles director general, who reached Aizawl Monday, met Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla and Governor Vakkom B. Purushothaman and discussed security matters.

‘The history of Mizoram is intimately linked with the history of Assam Rifles, who have been the ‘Friends of the Hill People’ for 176 years,’ an official release of the paramilitary force said.

India has decided to strengthen security along the border with Myanmar following reports of militants taking shelter in that country after the Bangladesh government’s crackdown against various outfits from northeastern states, officials said.

Sandwiched between Myanmar in the east and south and Bangladesh in the west, Mizoram has a 722-km international boundary of which it shares 404 km with Myanmar and 318 km with Bangladesh. Most parts of the borders are in hilly terrain, remain unfenced and are porous.

Mary Kom Marches Into Quarterfinals Of National Championships

New Delhi, Oct 13 : The Bhopal crowd turned up in big numbers at the Tatya Tope Stadium to witness the five times world champion MC Mary Kom (51kg) display her mastery in the craft at the 12th Senior Women's Nationals and they were not disappointed.

The 28-year-old opened her campaign at the championship with a thumping victory in her first round bout. Representing her home state of Manipur, she enthralled the audience with her attacking style of play, drubbing Shabana from Delhi. The 2010 Asian Games bronze medallist was leading throughout the fight, never giving the Delhi girl a fleeting chance. She went on to secure her place in the quarterfinals of the flyweight category with a 22-6 triumph on points.

Mary, the current world champion in the 48kg category has moved to the 51kg group owing to her preparation for the 2012 Olympics, as only three weight divisions of the sport (51kg, 60kg and 75kg) are included for the London games. The quarters on Thursday (13th October) will see her lock horns with P Nirosha of Andhra Pradesh, who beat Kavita Gaund of UP 21:6 to secure her QF spot.

Meanwhile Mary's Manipur comrade, L Sarita Devi (51kg) who is playing for the All India Police team at the event, also made a place in the last eight of the flyweight division. The 29-year-old packed some powerful punches against Daljeet Kaur of Punjab, who was completely at bay against the former world champion.

Sarita, the reigning national champion went on to beat Daljeet with a huge margin of 27 points (30:3). In the next round she will go up against reigning national champion for the last two year in the light flyweight division (48kg) Vanlal Duati who is now competing in 51kg. Duati who bagged the gold medal at the 2011 National Games, steam rolled Pooja Verma of Uttarakhand into submission to set up the clash. She was leading 21 to nil when the referee decided to stop the fight.

2010 Arafura Games gold medallist Pinki Jangra of Haryana also cemented her place in the quarters with a win over Meena Kumari of the IABF team. Pinki who was awarded the "Best Boxer" title at the Arafura Games, shot into prominence in the domestic circuit after defeating Mary Kom in the quarterfinal of the 2009 Senior Nationals, and earlier this year she pulled the rug from under Sarita Devi's feet at the National Games in Jamshedpur.

The 21-year-old, who has been tagged as a giant killer, has been in exceptional form this year and might once again prove a difficult opponent for the more experienced boxers. She takes on local girl Nirmala Kohli in the next round.

Also from Madhya Pradesh, silver medallist at the National Games Krishna Thapa outclassed Luxmi Rana of Chandigarh to advance to the round of eight. The 2009 gold medal winner at the Senior Nationals was 12:3 when the fight was stopped. Her next fight is with Rebecca Lalinmawii of Mizoram. Youth World and National Champion Sarjubala Devi of Manipur continued her winning spree as she beat Sanasri Brahma of Assam, a quarterfinalist at the Youth World Championships, in a one-sided affair.

The 18-year-old champion won 28:12 to make way into the quarters, where she will meet A Punyavati of Andhra who doused Ruksar Bano of UP. The fly weight division also witness an upset in the form of Monita Devi of Arunachal Pradesh. The silver medal winner from last year went down against Mamta from Haryana. Monita was out of sorts against the Haryana girl, who took complete advantage as she overpowered the National Games bronze medal winner into a 17:9 defeat.

Pwilao Basumatary, bronze medallist at the Women's Youth World Championship earlier this year, made her place in the last eight of the feather weight division, defeating Meenakshi of Bihar. She now faced Rinki Singh of Andhra Pradesh in the quarterfinals.

Himalayas: The Future Of Solar?

By John Roach

The Himalaya, including the Mount Everest range 87 miles northeast of Kathmandu, Nepal, shown here, have a massive potential to produce solar electricity, a new study finds.

The high peaks of the Himalayas may soon be a beacon for adventurous solar power entrepreneurs, suggests a new study that identified the lofty region as having some of the world's greatest potential to capture energy from the sun.

Other regions not traditionally considered hotbeds of solar power potential include the Andes of South America and Antarctica, note Takashi Oozeki and Yutaka Genchi with the National Institute of Industrial Science and Technology in Japan.

In addition to copious amounts of sunlight, these regions are chillier than the usual suspects such as the southwestern United States and the deserts of North Africa. Colder temps increase the operational efficiency of certain photovoltaic solar cells, which turn sunlight into electricity.

"The Himalayan region is especially attractive because it is near regions with large future energy demands such as China and India," the pair writes in Environmental Science and Technology.

The finding is based on a global analysis of photovoltaic potential that takes into account the effect of ambient temperature, something the team says has not been done before.

Plopping solar cells high up in the rugged mountains will require addressing additional challenges such as building and maintaining the transmission infrastructure to bring the electricity to the cities where it is most needed, the pair notes.

But overcoming those challenges may be worth the hassle especially when factors such as global climate change are added to the equation. China, for example, adds the equivalent of two 500 MW coal fired power plants per week, according to a 2007 MIT report.

"Because CO2 emissions per unit electricity in China and India are larger than those in the developed countries, using PV energy in these regions could have a large mitigation effect on climate change," write Oozeki and Genchi.

Big solar in Antarctica, the team adds, doesn't make much sense — at least with current technology — given the low population there and the fact that it's dark for half the year.

"If some way can be developed to store the generated energy, e.g. in the form of hydrogen or refined metals, then it may be possible to utilize the large potential in this region in the future," the team notes.

 

source: msnbc.com

Government Must Repeal AFSPA: Northeast Civil Society

New Delhi, Oct 13 : Civil society groups and other representatives from the Northeast today demanded the government to completely repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), saying it was a "blot" on the Indian democracy.

"AFSPA is a blot on India''s democracy," Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network (MWGSN) founder Binalaxmi Nepram said in a conclave held here as an initiative for peace in Northeast.

"More than 50,000 people have died and 30 lakh youth in northeast are unemployed," she said.

Noted rights activist Irom Sharmila has been on an indefinite hunger strike on the issue for nearly 11 years now.

"We want the AFSPA to be repealed. We want it to go from Northeast and Jammu and Kashmir. Media has put a lot of emphasis on Irom as a person and not the issue that she fights for," Independent columnist and writer Subir Ghosh pointed out.

"Military defines the situation in Northeast as extraordinary. But how can you have an extraordinary situation for 50 years. How do you define ordinary then?" Professor Akoijam Bimol of JNU remarked.
No other part in India or South Asia has been subjected to such a prolonged violent struggle hampering development as in the Northeast, Prof Bimol claimed.

Highlighting the problems faced in the northeastern region, Prof Bimol pointed out that apart from human rights problems in the states, there is a lack of electricity, infrastructure and development.
"Power cut in Delhi for a few hours created a hue and cry. For the past 10 years, people in Manipur have been surviving on 5-6 hours of electricity everyday," he added.

The two-day conference on ''Working together for a Vision for Peace in Northeast India'' organised by Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network (MWGSN) and Control Arms Foundation of India (CAFI) aims at discussing issues plaguing the northeast and finding probable solutions to them.

One Hundred Outsiders Found in Mizo Bru Camp

Aizawl, Oct 12 : The representatives of major civil societies and political parties in Mizoram, who conducted a joint verification of the repatriated Bru refugees in Mamit district on the Mizoram-Tripura border today claimed to have found more than one hundred Bru’s who were not bona fide residents of the state.

J Lalsailova, the financial secretary of the central committee of the Young Mizo Association (YMA), said that the joint verification exercise was undertaken by three representatives each of the YMA and the Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) or Mizo Students’ federation.

Besides, two representatives each of major political parties a" the ruling Congress, the Mizo National Front ( MNF) and the BJP were also involved. The exercise was conducted between September 19 and 23.

The teams visited the villages where repatriated Bru’s were resettled and conducted the verification exercise in the presence of the Bru Coordination Committee leaders, Lalsailova said, adding that more than one hundred repatriated refugees were identified among the residents as not belonging to Mizoram.

As we will make the final compilation and would submit the list to the state government for further action,a? he said.

Thousands of Bru’s, who had fled Mizoram during the later part of 1997 and also in 2009 due to communal tension, returned to the state since November last year and were resettled in a refugee camp in Mamit district along the Mizoram-Tripura border.

Rihanna Gets Naked & Dirty for Esquire (NSFW)

Rihanna has been on a tear lately with all of her exotic outfits and insane stage antics but it looks like Esquire is bring it back to basics. They have elected Rihanna sexiest woman alive and have a VERY naked and VERY dirty Rihanna shoot to prove their point.

Vehicle Theft on The Rise in Mizoram

Aizawl, Oct 12  : At least 60 vehicles were lifted by miscreants so far during this year. According to police reports, 21 of them have been recovered and many of them were believed to have been taken to others States.

According to the State police record, the total number of cars lifted by miscreants during the last 4 years has gone up to 255. Of these, about half of them were traced out and returned to the owners. As many as 76 vehicles were stolen during 2009 and is recorded as the highest number in four years. While 52 vehicles were lifted in 2008 and 67 in the year 2010.

Mizoram police informed NNN that earlier Mizoram was a market place for stolen vehicles but now vehicles from the state were being stolen and sold outside the state. The police while giving information said, mechanics working in Mizoram are mainly responsible for these activities.

They made a network with the Mizo people for their illegal trade. Most of the vehicles were expensive one like Mahindra Scorpio, Tata Safari and other high quality motors. Even though this trend of stealing vehicles from Mizoram is there, cars stolen from outside the state are still sold in Mizoram and recently police have recovered such cars, police further said.

Police said there are two types of vehicle lifting. One is termed as “stolen car” and the other “finance car”. In case of ‘stolen car’ business a car is lifted by a person and sells to other places.

In case of  the  ‘finance car' dealing,  three persons are required to carry out this trade namely the car owner, an employee at the insurance company and a police officer.

The owner after short period from his purchase, reports to the police that his car has been stolen and claims insurance from the insurance company without much trouble and thereby earn huge sum of money, added police. It is an organised crime where vehicle chassis number, number plates are changed, said Mizoram police.

Source: Newmai News Network

Centre Plans Rs 8,000 Crore Northeast India Highways

New Delhi, Oct 12 : The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is working on a Rs 8,000-crore plan that seeks to turn around the economy of India's north-eastern states by restoring, widening or building 1,500 km of highways.

This is the first time that highway construction in the region is being taken up on such scale with the specific agenda of boosting trade, despite security concerns that had held back development in the past, a senior official said requesting anonymity.

India's northeast, comprising seven states, shares boundaries with China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Mayanmar - countries which offer huge potential for two-way trade through the land route. The region is also seen as a gateway to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or Asean.

"Northeast India has the potential to transform India's trade trajectory with Asean nations," said Chandan Choubey, senior analyst (transportation & logistics) at KPMG Global Services.

Trade between India and the 10-nation Asean crossed Rs 2,50,000 crore in 2010-11.

The ministry's initiative to jump-start highway construction in the northeast follows the flak it received from the Lok Sabha's Committee on Estimates. In a report tabled in Parliament, the committee said most highway projects in the region have overrun their completion schedule.