Manipur Blockade Enters 100th Day

By Oinam Sunil & K Sarojkumar Sharma

Imphal, Nov 8 : The economic blockade of Manipur entered 100 days on Monday, with no sign of respite for its long suffering people. While the Kuki tribals withdrew their agitation from November 1, the Nagas remain unrelenting and continue to block the state's lifelines, the Imphal-Dimapur and Imphal-Silchar highways.

The Kukis, who were the first to call for the blockade from August 1, demanded the creation of Kuki-dominated Sadar Hills district from a portion of Naga-majority Senapati district. The Okram Ibobi Singh-led Congress government assured them that it will look into their demand following the report of district re-organisation committee. It also agreed to quickly grant three more sub-divisions to Sadar Hills area.

This angered the Nagas who protested against Ibobi Singh's assurance to Kukis of Sadar Hills district without consulting them. The United Naga Council (UNC) called a counter-blockade on the two highways on August 21 to oppose any move to bifurcate Naga dominated areas without consulting them. The UNC is also demanding an alternative administrative arrangement for the Nagas of Manipur.

Left without an option with soaring prices of essentials, an angry Ibobi Singh warned protesters of stern action. "We have waited and watched the agitation that has taken a toll on the common people. Our tolerable limit is over," he said.

With assembly elections in February 2012, the Ibobi government was wary of using strong-arm tactic against the agitators. But now that popular opinion in Imphal valley is turning against him, the CM is worried of losing support among the majority Meitei people.

"We stand in queues for petrol which is Rs 240 per litre. I bought a cooking gas cylinder for Rs 1,900 today. This is simply unacceptable. But the government is doing nothing," fumed Ibomcha Singh of Imphal. Another Imphal resident, Mema Devi, said, "For the last 99 days, our kitchen budget has gone for a toss as prices fluctuate every week. Only vegetables prices have not increased much as it is winter now.

In normal times, around 300 trucks and tankers enter landlocked Manipur daily with essentials and fuel. During the blockade, the government could manage to get only 1,200 to 1,300 goods trucks a week. Add to this the cost of escorting these trucks on the Imphal-Silchar and Imphal-Dimapur highways, and the blockade begins to hurt.

Miss World 2011 Crowned: Miss Venezuela Ivian Sarcos

Venezuela's Ivian Sarcos wins Miss World 2011 crown

Emotional moment: Miss Venezuela Ivian Sarcos is crowned winner at the Miss World competition held at Earls Court in London.

Miss Venezuela, Ivian Sarcos, is crowned Miss World 2011 in Earls Court in west London November 6, 2011 REUTERS/Paul Hackett

Miss Venezuela Ivian Sarcos reacts as she is announced winner at the Miss World competition held at Earls Court in London, Sunday, November 6, 2011. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Miss Venezuela Ivian Sarcos reacts as she is crowned winner at the Miss World competition held at Earls Court in London, Sunday, November 6, 2011. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Competitors in the 2011 Miss World final, parade on stage during the opening ceremony of the competition in Earls Court in west London November 6, 2011 REUTERS/Paul Hackett

Contestants stand on stage at the 60th Miss World competition at Earls Court in London, Sunday, November 6, 2011. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Miss Japan, Midori Tanaka, takes part in the opening ceremony of 2011 Miss World final in Earls Court in west London November 6, 2011 REUTERS/Paul Hackett

Competitors in the 2011 Miss World final, parade on stage during the opening ceremony in Earls Court in west London November 6, 2011 REUTERS/Paul Hackett

Competitors in the 2011 Miss World final, parade on stage during the opening ceremony in Earls Court in west London November 6, 2011 REUTERS/Paul Hackett

(L-R) Miss China Chen Liu, Miss Japan Midori Tanaka, Miss India Kanishtha Dhankhar, Miss Hong Kong Hyman Chu and Miss Philippines Gwendoline Ruais pose beside the Thames during a photocall as part of the Miss World 2011 UK Tour, on October 31, 2011 in London, United Kingdom.

Now, Kerala in Afghanistan

Show us the money, we will face the bullets, say Keralites

By Ragesh Nair

Passengers wait at Cochin International Airport

Kochi, Nov 7 : Bombs and bullets, drone attacks, bleak mountains and general destruction are the common images of war-torn Afghanistan.

It would be the last place anyone in his right mind would look for a job. Unless he is the ubiquitous Malayali maverick who, so the joke goes, was ready to serve Neil Armstrong tea when he landed on the moon!

Jokes apart, Afghanistan is the hottest job destination for Keralites who once made a beeline for the Middle East.

According to manpower recruitment agencies, it’s the hefty pay packets that are attracting Keralites to Afghanistan where massive reconstruction is taking place after the Taliban were driven out by invading American forces.

Former president of the All Kerala Manpower Export Association, Mohammad K. Makkar, says there’s a huge demand for labourers in Afghanistan as international companies have set up shop there.

“Particularly electricians, plumbers, welding experts, mechanics, masons and carpenters are in high demand in the US companies. The camp where they stay is called US Labour Camp,” Makkar said.

The US companies prefer labourers from India, particularly Kerala, because they come very cheap compared to labourers from the US. And for Keralites, the salaries are better than those being offered in Saudi Arabia or other Middle East countries. Even though the risks are higher — the US Labour Camps are on Al-Qaeda’s radar — the pay seems to compensate.

According to Paulose K. Mathew, chairman of the Travel Agents’ Federation of India (TAFI), labourers from Kerala are being paid a monthly salary of US$ 1500 (Rs 75,000). Labour from the US or Europe would have to be paid at least US $10,000 a month.

Iraq is another war-torn country that is luring labourers from Kerala for higher salaries than they would get elsewhere. And Libya is expected to go through a period of reconstruction now that it has got rid of Colonel Gaddafi whose last stand has destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure.

Some 50 lakh Keralites work outside India. Saudi Arabia alone employs 20 lakh Keralites. As yet it is unclear how many Keralites work in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, because they are mostly hired from the Middle East.

Emigration rules require that details of the contract, nature and location of job and details of the overseas employer be submitted to the Indian embassy, but many outsourcing agencies, particularly those in the Gulf countries, fly out poorly paid labourers to Afghanistan or Iraq on a visitor’s visa, keeping the Indian Embassy in the dark.

So, it doesn’t come as a surprise when protector of emigrants, Kochi, Mr Adolphus says he is not aware of any Malayalis working in Afghanistan.

“No person has been officially recruited from Kochi to these countries so far. We haven’t given emigration clearance to anyone. May be the workers are going on visit visa,” he said.

Such labour practices can be tricky. Labourers often sign a two-year contract without reading the fine print and land in trouble. Just two months ago, a group of Malayalis in Afghanistan complained that they had been tricked by recruitment agencies.

That will not deter those who hope for a better future for themselves and their families and will follow the money trail wherever it may lead.

Startling facts

* Afghanistan is the hottest job destination for Keralites who once made a beeline for West Asia. According to manpower recruitment agencies, it’s the hefty pay packets that are attracting Keralites to Afghanistan where massive reconstruction is taking place after the Taliban were driven out by invading American forces.

* Iraq is another war-torn country that is luring labourers from Kerala for higher salaries than they would get elsewhere. And Libya is expected to go through a period of reconstruction now that it has got rid of Colonel Gaddafi whose last stand has destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure. Some 50 lakh Keralites work outside India. Saudi Arabia alone employs 20 lakh Keralites.

$1,000 A Haircut: Most Expensive Hairdresser

Rossano Ferretti could be the world's most expensive hairdresser

 

Rossano Ferretti

In the world of costly cuts where a barber is a hairstylist, the $1,000 price tag is certainly hair raising but not unheard of. For some time now, stylists in the West have demanded, and got, anything upwards of $500 for a haircut. Names like Sally Hershberger, Fredereic Fekkai are almost as famous as the heads they tend to. Add Rossano Ferretti ahead of the pack as he set the bar high at $1,000.

In your world, Rs 50,000 could have fetched you an F1 premium seat last week or a laptop, three months' grocery or a sharply tailored designer suit. But in the world of affluence, it is barely a percentage of the latest de la Renta gown or a vintage bottle of French wine. Ferretti, who has styled Lady Gaga, Salma Hayek and even Princess Diana, is unapologetic about his price tag.

In India to launch his second salon at The Oberoi in Gurgaon, the first being at the Four Seasons in Mumbai, Ferretti doesn't cut hair here. He instead lends his name to L'Oreal and its premium hair-care brand Kerastase with which he's been associated for four years now. The staff at the salons is trained by the 51-year-old Ferretti himself with the salon director, Dimitri Lafiandra in this case, having worked with the Italian haircutting honcho for six years.

Today the man, a humble barber from Parma (a place he still calls home "where my wine and whisky cellars are") in Italy, runs 20 salons globally, including Milan, Paris, Madrid, New York and Los Angeles.

The Man, the Method
Buzz has it that it's 'the method' that lets Ferretti set his bar high. 'The method' is the patented haircutting technique - Metodo Rossano Ferretti - that he developed to cut hair.

How can one patent haircutting, you ask. Well, you think of a method that fits the madness, says Ferretti. Working as the stylist for Armani in his early days, he loved the way he could change people's lives through their haircut. For the record, it was he who gave supermodels Linda Evangelista her iconic bob and Christy Turlington her first bangs. The Metodo represents Ferretti's "philosophy and respect for the natural movement of hair".

"It (Metodo) respects hair, the beauty of the person and is all about the natural fall of the hair," he says. Each strand of hair has its own structure and movement: Metodo is based on this fundamental principle. When Ferretti cuts hair, he lets them dry naturally, so that the fall of the hair is wash and go.

According to him, a haircut should have more value than a suit, after all you wear it all the time. But why a haircutting technique patent, you ask again? To gain respect for the profession.

India Uncut

It's been three years since Ferretti cut the ribbon of his Mumbai salon and has been travelling to India every six months. "It's a new country every time," he exclaims. The changes he has noticed: the fascination for long hair is diminishing, there's trust in colour and there's global exposure that's shaping their choices. The haircut at the salon in Oberoi will start at Rs 2,000 for men. The maximum is Rs 6,500 for a style change for women and from a senior stylist.

It's better priced than Kim Robinson India at The Aman in New Delhi where chief stylist Rod Anker charges Rs 10,000 for a cut. The Ferretti salon in Mumbai has already developed a faithful clientele of Bollywood names, politicians and industrialists. Tanya Dubash, Lara Dutta and Jacqueline Fernandes are regulars now.

Now, the Men
Like all Ferretti salons, this salon too has a private room for one-on-one consultations. The Beverly Hills property in the US is built like an apartment with a separate entrance and parking for the celebrity client where no paparazzi can enter. But Ferretti doesn't like talking about his celebrity clients. "I can't mention one without offending the other by not talking about her," he says, maybe alluding to frail celebrity egos.

But as he insists, every woman he styles (and he only styles women except when he shaved the head of his two boys as kids) is a celebrity for him. And now the men are catching up too. "Nearly 25% of my income from Mumbai salon comes from men's styling," he says.

And worldwide too, Ferretti says men are the key drivers of growth contributing nearly 30% towards his earnings, making him wonder if he should start styling men. "This is the fastest growing segment. And once, men have been to a stylist, they will never go back to a barbershop."

Bollywood's Boldest Moments

A still from Love, Sex Aur Dhokha

Arshad Warsi and Vidya Balan in Ishqiya

John Abraham and Udita Goswami in Paap

Emraan Hashmi and Mallika Sherawat in Murder

Emraan Hashmi and Udita Goswami in Zeher

Celina Jaitley and Aftab Shivdasani in Red

Emraan Hashmi and Udita Goswami in Aksar

Know About VoIP Here

Call Using Your Phone, not your Service Provider

VoIP, Voice over Internet Protocol. In layman’s terms — this is the technology that allows you to reroute voice communications over the internet.

You’ve all heard of Skype by now, I’m sure. It’s strange that VoIP is so uncommon on the platform specifically designed to make calls.

At first glance it looks counterintuitive. But think about it — it’s your cell that you’ll keep on you at all times, not your laptop. Why hasn’t the idea caught on then? VoIP has its issues — it’s more prone to noise and latency than traditional phone calls.

Established service providers see it as a threat. International calls are much cheaper using VoIP and as internet becomes cheaper, it will only grow.

For now, remember to install a VoIP client and get a net connection to make your life easier if you need to make international calls or if you’re travelling abroad to a first world location — it’s simpler and cheaper than buying a local SIM or praying for network portability — trust me on this.

Plenty of competitors are in the market — Skype, 3CX, Vyke, Viber — take your pick.

HIV/AIDS Prevalence Rate Alarming in Nagaland

Kohima, Nov 7 : The HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in Nagaland stands at an alarming 78 per cent.

This means 7 to 8 people out of every 1000 people are infected with the deadly virus compared to the national average where only 3 to 4 persons out of every 1000 people.

Dr Hutoka, Medical Officer in-charge of Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) Centre in District Hospital of Dimapur announced this during a sensitization programme on HIV/AIDS held at Signal Angami Basti yesterday. He put the number of people detected with the disease to 12,400 in the state.

He, however, said only 7,500 people had been registered as many people were yet to come forward for treatment despite already knowing their status. He said one of the reasons why the drug administered to the patients has less effect was the late arrival of the patients.

Dr Hutoka encouraged the people to come forward for blood testing and early treatment after detection of the disease. He said 70 patients came to ART Centre Dimapur last month of whom 48 came very late.

Dr. Hutoka said there were over 3,500 people infected with the disease in Dimapur as per record and that only 1,500 were undergoing treatment.

He said 127 people had died of the disease in Dimapur since the establishment of the Anti-Retroviral Therapy Centre at the District Hospital in 2006. Of the 127 deaths, majority of them were within the age group of 25 to 49 and only few were below 4 to 5 years.

He further informed that Post-exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) treatment was available 24 hours at the District Hospital Dimapur where any person who had been exposed to the disease could avail of the service free of cost.

In Manipur, Not Easy To Get Petrol Even For Rs 240/L

Manipur has only one-day fuel left: Govt

Imphal, Nov 7 : The Manipur government on Sunday did some tough talking, threatening that it would be left with no other options but to "use our means" to resolve the crisis arising out of the ongoing economic blockades.

"We will try to negotiate. (However, if problem persists), we have to use our means," Manipur chief minister O Ibobi Singh told journalists here.

The Sadar Hills District Demand Committee (SHDDC) imposed economic blockades on national highways 39 and 53 on August 1 demanding the creation of Sadar Hills district. Soon after, the United Naga Council (UNC), the apex Naga organisation of Manipur, enforced similar blockades on the same routes protesting the government's alleged attempts to bifurcate Naga-dominated areas for creation of the new district.

Last week, the SHDDC lifted its blockade following the government's assurances to look into its demand. But the UNC seems to be in no mood to lift it. The government could not break the ice even after several rounds of talks with it.

Ibobi said if the blockades continued, government would be left with little options. "We have to clear one of the two highways for our survival…We have to face any eventualities," he said. The chief minister said his government was considering bringing in a legislation to ban bandhs and blockades. "There are Supreme Court directives in this regard.
However, at the moment, we want to try and resolve the crisis through negotiations," he said.

The chief minister admitted that the present stock of essential commodities was 'not good'. "However, we are trying to improve the situation".

The state government was using national highway 53 to escort goods-laden trucks into the state once in a week. But to add to its woes, a major bridge in Assam collapsed recently snapping road communication leading to Manipur. "I have spoken to my Assam counterpart. We hope they will do the needful at the earliest," Ibobi said.

There is a short supply of essential commodities in the state following the blockades and the prices have also spiraled like never before.

Petrol and diesel now cost Rs 180-240 and Rs 80-100 a litre in the black market. An LPG cylinder costs about Rs 1,800 to 2,000. The locals say potato now costs Rs 30-40 and onion Rs 60 a kg. An egg costs Rs 10. In fact, there is an acute shortage of essential commodities.

"We want immediate regulation of the prices," says Abdul Haque of All Manipur Students' Union.