India's Longest Rail Tunnel Opened in Kashmir

An engineering marvel was unveiled Friday when the Indian Railways opened a 10.96-km long railway tunnel, the longest in the country, that will help connect the Kashmir Valley with the rest of the country, a company release said.

The tunnel, which connects the Jammu region to the Kashmir Valley at Banihal, about 190 km from Jammu, was constructed at the cost of Rs.391 crore, according to Hindustan Construction Corporation (HCC) project manger S. Yala.

The construction took six years.

"The engineering work included construction of a tunnel having a finished width of 8.405 metres and height of 7.393 metres with a provision of three-metre wide concrete road inside the tunnel throughout the length for maintenance and emergency relief purpose," the company said.

"It also required 772 metres long access tunnel section," the release said.

According to an HCC statement in Mumbai, the tunnel, part of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link project of the Indian Railways, passes nearly half a kilometre below the existing Jawahar road tunnel through the rugged Pir Panjal mountains in Jammu and Kashmir.

The tunnel aims at reducing the travel distance between Quazigund to Banihal to only 11 km and providing a hassle-free travel up to Baramulla.

The HCC faces a tough task going through the changing geological strata of the young Himalayan rock, and adopted the New Australian Tunneling Methodology (NATM) for the construction, the statement said.

The project also became extremely challenging as the area sees heavy snowfall in winter, bringing the temperatures down to minus 10 degrees Celsius.

Manipur Cries For Medicines, Doctors Helpless

Imphal, Oct 15 : As the economic blockade in Manipur continues for over 70 days now, the state is raising a helpless wail.

Seriously ill patients are being turned away from hospitals, which are battling a shortage of life-saving drugs, and many are losing their lives.

“It’s a pitiable situation. As a doctor I feel helpless that I can’t help...and have had to turn away many critically ill patients from my hospital just because there is a scarcity of life-saving drugs and oxygen because of the blockade,”

KH Phalin, managing director of Shija hospital in Manipur said.

According to Phalin, ever since the blockade began on Aug. 1, the price of an oxygen cylinder has gone up by four-five times.

“Manipur does not have a medical gas plant of its own and is dependent on Assam. Therefore, because of the blockade, the supply of oxygen is affected. A cylinder that normally costs Rs320 in Assam, costs Rs1,100 here (from local suppliers) and at one time, went up to Rs2,400,” said Phalin, who is a surgeon and runs the state’s biggest private hospital.

The hospital, like many others, also sends its own vehicle to get oxygen cylinders and other supplies from Guwahati in Assam, but has to “pay up to some local groups,” who, according to him, charge up to Rs5,000 to let their vehicle go.

“In two weeks, we have had to reject at least 10 critically ill patients because we are running low on life-saving drugs and are in no position to take their responsibility.

Moreover, we cannot take a risk with our own patients in the ICU and those on ventilator who require 15 cylinders every day,” he added.

“There are cases of people losing their lives for lack of timely treatment and life-saving drugs,” Phalin said.

According to doctors, besides medicines and oxygen, there has been a shortage of medical equipment as well.

Whatever can be brought from nearby states, like Nagaland or Assam, are being arranged by the hospitals at their own cost.

But the impact has been on the medical bills of the patients, which has shot up.

“I hope the centre does something concrete, and urgently, to get us out of this situation. Otherwise Manipur will continue to bleed silently,” Phalin said.

Mary Kom Storms Into National Boxing Semifinal

Mary Kom, the current world champion in the 48kg category has moved to the 51kg group owing to her preparation for the 2012 Olympics.

Bhopal, Oct 15 : Five-time world champion MC Mary Kom of Manipur stormed into the semifinals of the flyweight division at the 12th senior women's national boxing championship on Friday.

Mary boxed her way into last four stage of the 51kg category with a comprehensive 17-0 win over P Nirosha of Andhra Pradesh.

Mary, the 2010 Asian Games bronze medallist, was leading 17-0 when the referee decided to stop the fight and spare the Andhra Pradesh girl of any further distress.

"It was a good victory for me and I had a good rhythm going on. I am happy with the way I have been performing and hope to carry the same form into the semis and most likely the finals as well," Mary said.

L Sarita Devi (51kg) also advanced to the semifinals in the flyweight division.

The former world champion was expected to have a tough battle for a place in the semis against Vanlal Duati of Mizoram, who won the gold medal in the 48kg at the 2011 National Games.

But Sarita, who is playing for the All India Police team, was at her riveting best as she tore apart Duati's defence.

After the opening two minutes of play the score was level at one-all, but with the beginning of the next round Sarita shifted gears and started increasing the margin.

She scored six and seven points in the second and third rounds respectively with Duati only managing four in both.

The final two minutes of play and Sarita launched an offensive onslaught on a worn out Duati. The 29-year-old was relentless with her straight punches and jabs and won the round 12:3 and with it the bout 26:13.

In the same weight category, Pinki Jangra (51kg) of Haryana continued her purple patch as she stormed into the semifinals, beating local boxer Nirmala Kohli, who retired hurt after taking some heavy pounding.

Sarita will take on National Games gold medallist Pinki Jangra in the semifinal, while Mary will be up against Dolly Singh of West Bengal in other last four bout.

Huts Torched in Dima Hasao District

Nagaon/Silchar, Oct 15 : Militants allegedly belonging to a nascent rebel outfit torched eight huts in a Dimasa village in Dima Hasao just hours after the dramatic gunning down of Dima Halam Daogah leader James Dimasa in Haflong last evening.

A nascent rebel outfit — Hills Tiger Force (HTF) — today claimed responsibility for the killing and arson.

Through a text message, one Lunneh Kuki, who claimed to be the information and publicity secretary of the outfit, informed the media that the outfit was responsible for both the acts. “We, the Hills Tiger Force, have shot James Dimasa and burnt one Dimasa village to protest against the move of the government to sign a peace pact with the DHD outfits in the name of peace in NC Hills,” Kuki said.

According to police sources, a group of 10-12 militants entered the Dimasa-inhabited Chota Langren village — 10 km from Haflong — around 1am last night and torched eight huts.

“The militants directed the villagers to come out before torching their houses. They used fuel to torch the huts and left the basti as soon as all the eight huts had burnt down completely,” a police official said.

According to the Dima Hasao additional superintendent of police (headquarters), S.S. Panesar, nobody was injured in the attack, as the militants had not targeted the villagers. The incidents have triggered fears about another round of ethnic conflict in the hill district.

Jadhike Naishe Hasom, the apex body of the Dimasas in Dima Hasao, has called a 5am-to-5pm bandh tomorrow in protest against last evening’s violence.

The Hills Tiger Force, which was formed a year back to carry out an armed struggle to safeguard the rights of the non Dimasas in Dima Hasao, emerged as an influential outfit in the hill district only a couple of months back.

The outfit was reportedly behind the recent attack on a goods train near Haflong town.

“We think the outfit has cadres hailing from neighbouring Nagaland and Manipur,” another police official said.

Intelligence sources today said the outfit has tacit links with the Hmar People’s Convention (Democrats) and the NSCN (K) and is led by Kamchi Naga.

Last evening’s incidents came after a long lull in violence brought about by the surrender of the DHD (J) on October 2, 2009.

Bodos Look Back in Anger: 25 Years Later

With the Centre focussing on the ULFA peace initiative, the Bodo rebels take stock on the silver jubilee of their struggle. Ratnadip Choudhury reports

Fighting fit Bodo rebels at the raising day parade…Photo: Rana Deka

BORBORI CAMP, Baksa, Assam. It looks like the Raising Day celebrations of a paramilitary unit. Rebel commander B Sugreb, 35, dressed in combat gear, a shining 9 mm revolver tucked in his belt, stands in front of rows of cadres. The stern camp commander gives final instructions to his men in the hope that the parade and other events go off with military precision. Six years ago, before the ceasefire agreement entered into with the government, such camps were secret, part of underground activity.

The call to arms came 25 years ago, on 2-3 October 1986, at the height of the agitation for a separate Bodo state. A group of 70 Bodo youths gathered in the remote Odla Khasibari village in Udalguri district. In the dark and dense jungle, after nightlong confabulations, committed Bodo youths decided to go underground and take up arms. The outfit was named Bodo Security Force (BdSF) and was led by Ranjan Daimary alias DR Nabla, who would go on to become India’s most wanted fugitive.

On 25 November 1994, the BdSF rechristened itself the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB).

The Bodo armed struggle has seen its course change abruptly more than once, like the mighty Brahmaputra running through Assam — from statehood to sovereignty and back to statehood again. There was a vertical split on 15 December 2008, when the NDFB held its general assembly meeting at the Serfanguri camp (in Kokrajhar district) and elected Dhiren Boro alias B Sungthagra as the new president of the ‘progressive’ faction, in place of the founder Daimary, who was then holed up in Bangladesh. At that time, the firebrand leader wasn’t ready to give up the call for sovereignty. He is now awaiting release from Guwahati Central Jail for the long-awaited peace talks.

Over the years, operating out of bases in Bhutan, NDFB(P) mastered the art of hitand- run warfare and the running of a parallel administration. But the Operation All Clear launched by the Royal Bhutan Army against Northeast rebels in 2003 broke the faction’s back. In May 2005, the outfit declared a ceasefire. The governmentappointed interlocutor, former Intelligence Bureau chief PC Haldar, held several rounds of informal talks with the NDFB(P). Yet formal talks are far on the horizon.

“The bureaucratic interlocutor can only put things in place,” says the unit’s publicity secretary S Sanjarang. “Delhi should take it further. There is clear double standard. The ULFA peace talks are rolling, but they are neglecting us, although we came forward long back.” Earlier this year, ULFA had agreed to a ceasefire and formal peace talks are expected to be held later this month. For some time now, other rebel outfits of Assam have been opposing what they see as special consideration extended to ULFA and demanding parity for all organisations currently bound by the ceasefire.

Apart from lack of political will, the neglect of Bodo aspirations can be attributed to the ethnic divide. “We have been oppressed by Dispur,” says Rajen Boro, an angry farmer hailing from Kalaigaon in Assam’s Udalguri district. “People in power are mostly Assamese, they crush the tribals. Thus if once again NDFB takes up arms, there will be support from the Bodo people.” Rajen is one of those who has lost his only son to this conflict. The patience of such people, who have had kin making the ultimate sacrifice, is fast running out.

Apart from lack of political will, the neglect of Bodo aspirations can be attributed to the ethnic divide in Assam

CAMP COMMANDER Sugreb also points out the perils of prolonged uncertainty. “Life over ground without action is very different from life underground,” he says. “Our boys are trained guerilla fighters. They also understand that a peaceful solution can be achieved but this delay is increasing frustration.” Exacerbating the situation are a few cases of alleged fake encounters of Bodo rebels, despite the ceasefire. “We will achieve Bodoland, be it in peace or war,” warns hardcore cadre Derek Basumatary. “Our cadres and colleagues have given their lives for Bodoland.”

NDFB(P) has about a thousand cadres, whereas the antitalks faction has only around 100 active boys. Ranjan Daimary still maintains bases in Khagracherri in Bangladesh and Taka in Burma, according to intelligence sources. Independent observers believe that the Centre should not equate NDFB with ULFA.

“NDFB is a homogenous group,” explains Rajeev Bhattacharyya, executive editor of Seven Sisters Post. “They have only Bodos. The cadres are far more disciplined. They still enjoy support in the rural belts of the Bodo heartland. So keeping NDFB waiting would mean trouble in the future. ULFA is different; it is an amalgamation of different communities of Assamese society. But ULFA’s support among the mainstream Assamese society has eroded.”

Earlier, in an interview to TEHELKA, Ranjan Daimary had clearly stated that he is looking at a possible solution to the conflict under the framework of the Indian Constitution. The powerful All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) has renewed its call for a separate state.

On 19 November 2010, 44 Bodo organisations came forward to form an umbrella body called the Bodo National Conference (BNC) to stop fratricidal killings and bring unity. The NDFB(P) has been spearheading democratic means like blockades, hunger strikes and demonstrations, urging the Centre and the Tarun Gogoi government to act fast on the Bodo peace process.

With these tactics, it seems the Bodos are moving towards unity. This is important as according to home ministry sources, the Centre will only start formal talks with NDFB when both factions unite. For that, Daimary will perhaps have to give up the call for Bodo sovereignty once and for all.

Close to dusk, the NDFB flag is gently brought down from the mast and NDFB(P) President Dhiren Boro alias B Sungthagra has the last word, “We declared ceasefire not because we were weak, but because we thought we should give peace a chance. We are now angry about the stepmotherly treatment meted out to us whereas ULFA is being favoured. So if the Centre does not respond soon, our boys can go back to the jungle. They still know how to fire.” Is the Union home minister listening?

Ratnadip Choudhury is a Principal Correspondent with Tehelka. ratnadip@tehelka.com

Cancer Cases Rise Alarmingly in Northeast India

Agartala/Aizawl, Oct 14 : Incidence of cancer has been rising alarmingly in the hilly northeastern region of India, almost half the cases being attributed to consumption of tobacco products, experts say.

According to experts, Mizoram tops the rate of cancer patients with an incidence of 200 in 100,000 each year. Though other northeastern states have an average of 75 to 125 per 100,000, the numbers are higher than the national average.

Over 900,000 people fall victim to this dreaded disease every year in India, they note.

"Compared to 10 years back, the incidence of cancer is 20 to 30 percent higher in the northeastern region, where people have been leading a multifaceted lifestyle due to locational reasons," they said.

Regional Cancer Centre (RCC) superintendent Gautam Mazumder told IANS: "Tobacco and dietary habits were among the main causes of cancer in the northeastern region."

Tribals, who constitute 27 percent of the northeast`s total population of 45.50 million (2011 census) are traditionally heavy users of different types of tobacco products.

According to the latest report of the union health and family welfare ministry, Mizoram (67.2 percent), Nagaland (56.8 percent) Tripura (55.9 percent) have the highest number of tobacco users in India, while, 34.6 percent of the adult Indian population is the national average for tobacco use.

"Incidence of certain types of cancer like oesophagus, lung, mouth, breast and stomach was relatively higher in the northeast as compared to other parts of the country," said Majumder, head of the RCC in Tripura.

Considering the high incidence of cancer cases here, the central government has been setting up at least one RCC in each of the eight states and upgrading the existing regional centres.

"The union health and family welfare ministry had already recognised Dr. B.B. Cancer Institute, Guwahati, Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal (Manipur), Civil Hospital, Mizoram, and the cancer hospital in Agartala as RCCs to provide efficient and cost-effective treatment in the region," a senior Tripura health department official says.

"Besides tobacco and diet habits, consumption of alcohol, pesticide traces in foodstuff and spicy foods were among the main causes of cancer in the region, well-known oncologist Partha Sarathy Sutradhar says.

"Awareness of the causes of cancer and early detection of the infection can reduce the number of cases of the deadly diseases," Sutradhar told IANS.

The health ministry had earmarked 10 percent of the total budget of the National Cancer Control Programme for the northeastern region.

"India needs more than a thousand cancer treatment centres while the country at present has only about 350 such units," says K.A. Dinshaw, director of the Mumbai-based Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital.

"Cancer has emerged as one of the 10 leading causes of death in India," Dinshaw said here at a meeting of oncologists. "It is estimated that there are 2-2.5 million cancer cases at any given time."

There has been a startling 36 per cent rise in the incidence of cancer in Tripura in the past five years.

According to records available with the Tripura RCC, the number of patients registered with the institute in 2006 was 1,263. But the figure increased to 1,386 in 2007, 1,444 in 2008, 1,524 in 2009 and 1,726 in 2010.

According to a recent study by a local social group -- Mizoram Population Base Cancer Registry (MPBCR) -- cancer claims 550 to 600 lives on an average annually in Mizoram, whose total population is just a little over one million.

"The lifestyle of the people of the hilly state, especially their extensive consumption of tobacco coupled with consumption of smoked meat and vegetables, resulted in the high incidence of cancer," the report says.

According to a publication of the National Cancer Registry Programme, Darrang, Kamrup, Dibrugarh, Barpeta and Nalbari districts of northern and western Assam have the highest incidence of cancer.

Parties Demand President's Rule in Blockade-Hit Manipur

Imphal, Oct 14 : Opposition parties Friday demanded imposition of President's Rule in Manipur where a 75-day-long highway blockade has made the prices of essentials shoot up two to four times.

Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh had gone to New Delhi Thursday to discuss the blockade impasse with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P. Chidambaram.

"The chief minister, before leaving for New Delhi, urged the agitators to withdraw the blockade that began Aug 1. But the Sadar Hills District Demand Committee (SHDDC) refused to call off the blockade reiterating their demand that the district should be created first," a government official told reporters in Imphal.

SHDDC began the indefinite road blockade agitation on the two crucial national highways, which link the northeastern state with the rest of the country, demanding the upgrading Sadar Hills sub-division in the Naga-dominated Senapati district in northern Manipur into a full-fledged district.

The United Naga Council (UNC), the apex body of Nagas in Manipur, has also been organising a counter road blockade in all Naga-inhabited areas in northern Manipur, demanding that these areas should not be carved out without their consent.

Manipuris living in Tripura and Assam have also demanded the lifting of the blockade.

The main opposition Manipur Peoples Party (MPP), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and several other parties Friday reiterated their demand for President's Rule in Manipur to normalise the situation.

The parties have been organising sit-ins in Manipur capital Imphal, demanding immediate withdrawal of the economic blockade.

"Party leaders met Governor Gurbachan Jagat several times seeking his intervention to get the blockade lifted in view of the suffering of people. But the governor failed to give a positive response. He has remained silent on the crucial situation," MPP president Nimaichand Luwang said.

BJP has sent a letter to the prime minister and union home minister to dismiss the Congress-led government in Manipur to end the unprecedented distress of people in the state.

Political parties and civil society organisations have also accused the central government of not doing much to help open the national highways to restore supplies of food grain and essentials from outside.

Manipur depends on supplies from outside and trucks carrying essentials and other goods from the rest of India use the national highways (NH 53, NH 37 NH 39) passing through Nagaland and Assam.

Blockade supporters have since also torched at least 30 Imphal-bound trucks, including two carrying medicines, at Nungkao village in the hill district of Tamenlong, 215 km west of Imphal, a food department official said.

The torched vehicles were part of a convoy of about 1,000 trucks, which were being escorted by Manipur State Rifles troopers from Jiribam to Imphal.

Government spokesman and minister N. Biren Singh has admitted that the blockades have created a severe shortage of essential commodities, including diesel and petrol.

People have to wait in long queues in front of petrol pumps, sometimes for an entire day, to buy a few litres of fuel.

Currently, a kilogram of potato costs Rs.40 to Rs.50 in the market while a kilogram of onions is Rs.60 to Rs.70. Prices of other essential commodities have also shot up to double, triple and four times value as the blockade of key highways continued.

Singh told reporters that the government was trying to move essentials and fuel through trucks with security escorts.

"Over 1,000 trucks loaded with essentials and oil tankers are on way to Imphal," the minister added.

Official sources said the state cabinet headed by Singh had met four to five times in the past two-and-a-half months, but no conclusive decision could be taken on the Sadar Hills issue, which has remained unresolved since 1982.

Floh–A Singles-Only Network in Bangalore

By Suma Nagaraj

If you’re in Bangalore, single and are looking for a social circle that doesn’t involve married friends, here’s a great new place to hang out. Floh (Find Life Over Here) is a start-up that aims to bring together urban professionals in their twenties and thirties not with the ambition of setting them up, but to give them a platform to mingle and find interesting people outside their immediate social circles.

Siddharth Mangharam, entrepreneur and founder CEO, hit upon this brainwave after meeting his wife at a cheese-tasting event, an interest they both share. Having realized how increasingly difficult it has become for urban, well-settled single men and women to venture out and meet other singles outside of work and the comfort of friends, Siddharth and his wife decided to pitch this idea to singles within their personal networks, i.e., friends and professional contacts who had hit a dead end in dating.

Having said that, Siddharth is quick to assert that Floh is not a dating site or even a matrimonial one even though it has been instrumental in bringing some singles together. His business model works on the premise that singles have as much right to a happening social life as married people do – in fact, being free from rigid commitments and obligations, singles should find it an active social life easier than their not-single counterparts. There is no matchmaking involved, though. Every member is vetted and personally interviewed by a Floh founder and ‘determined’ whether they’d fit in with the network and enjoy interacting with its existing members before they gain entry.

There is also a very thoughtful right-of-admission reserved – access to Floh is on an invite-only basis, where only an existing member can invite you and refer you to Floh. Siddharth insists he doesn’t want this to balloon to unmanageable sizes and says that it’s not at all about the numbers. Considering the number of women members trump the number of men in the Bangalore venture currently, this ‘security’ measure is much welcome.

S, (name withheld on request), a marketing professional in her thirties, vouches for this. Having been a member since its inception, she’s still single, but welcomes the opportunity to meet like-minded people (or otherwise) outside her hectic corporate life once in a while and let her hair down. Her work and lifestyle have included a lot of travel so far, but she’s now in Bangalore for a good while and highly recommends Floh to single women in Bangalore.

Though this network is open to people in their twenties, Joe, an artist in his mid-twenties, found the  evening event to cater mostly to the 30+ crowd, something Siddharth says depends on the event you attend, since the network caters to people in the 25-40 age bracket. Floh events are bracketed into 4 categories – food (cook-outs), beverages (trips to vineyards, cocktail events) outdoors (nature sports, heritage walks) and cerebral/artsy (theatre workshops, photography). One can choose the event based on their likes and preferences. This way, the chances of meeting like-minded singles increases dramatically, says Siddharth. He tries to organize at least 4-8 events a month and covers a wide variety of interests including the recently concluded and hugely successful paint ball event for the perennially-young-at-heart populace.

With experience at McKinsey & Co. and Microsoft, Siddharth with his latest initiative seems to be poised on the edge of hitherto uncharted territory in urban India. His mantra is perfectly summed up in his own quote: “Emotions are best expressed when two people meet in a no-pressure, natural environment.”

He hopes to expand this to Delhi and Mumbai soon.

Bangalore’s Floh already has close to a 1000 members in 6 months of existence, but they’re handpicked and have to go through the Floh screen to gain entry. Floh’s only requirement is that if you find someone you’d like to date in their network, you’ll have to quit the network – a small ask for a terrific opportunity to meet interesting people and to skip the odious matchmaking ritual by well-meaning but largely irritating relatives and/or having to register on matrimonial sites with no surety of authenticity of profiles.

Note: Visit the Floh blog for write-ups and articles by members.