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Former Porn Star Sasha Grey Refuses to Back Out of Elementary School Reading Program

Sasha Grey

Former porn star Sasha Grey says she will not withdraw from an elementary school reading program despite outcry from angry parents, according to a report from TMZ.

Earlier Friday, news broke that  a Los Angeles area elementary school is facing some major criticism from parents after the district invited Grey to read to a group of first graders as part of the Read Across America program.

"I committed to this program with the understanding that people would have their own opinions about what I have done, who I am and what I represent," she said in a statement.

"I am an actor. I am an artist. I am a daughter. I am a sister. I am a partner. I have a past that some people may not agree with, but it does not define who I am.

Mizo Church Rejects Ordination Of Women as Pastors

Aizawl, Nov 12 : The Mizoram Presbyterian Church has rejected a proposal to ordain women in the church as pastors or church elders, church sources said.

Synod Executive Committee (SEC), the highest decision making body of Mizoram Presbyterian Church, decided to this effect after the issue of ordination of women was raised during the Presbytery, the second highest conference of the church recently.

Ordination of women as pastors and church elders have become one of the major issues facing the churches in Mizoram, especially the Presbyterian and the Baptist, the two largest and most powerful churches in the state which is predominantly Christian.

The SEC's decision was taken at a meeting here on Thursday.

About 40 years ago, Saptawni, a woman, was elected as church elder by the congregation of the Presbyterian Church's Mission Veng unit in Aizawl, but she was not ordained after the Synod refused to have her ordained.

Dr R L Hnuni, principal of the Baptist Church run Aizawl Integrated Christian Studies, was also denied to be ordained as a pastor by the assembly of the Baptist Church of Mizoram (BCM) in January this year.

Hnuni was earlier recommended by the pastoral committee of the BCM to be ordained as a pastor.

Women's committees inside the churches have been demanding gender equality inside the churches so that they could also become pastors and church elders.

New Farm Tech Doubles Mizoram Rice Production

Aizawl, Nov 12 : The hilly Mizoram is expecting a significant increase in rice production this year, thanks to the new farming technology-- system of rice intensification.

The agriculture department has introduced the improved farming system in different low-lying areas of Mizoram.

It has been experienced that rice produce under SRI is double that of conventional farming system. Agriculture director Dr C Lalzarliana, witnessed harvesting of rice grown under the SRI method at North Vanlaiphai under Serchhip district recently, saw that with the new method the farmers produced approximately 2.5 to 3.0 metric tonnes of rice per hectare of land compared to 1.75 metric tonnes per hectare under conventional method.

The improved technology and mechanisation of rice harvesting gave enthusiasm to the farmers, agriculture officials said. The agriculture director also visited different projects of farming under the district, including vegetable waste compost and terracing under the RKVY scheme.

Agricultural film method is being used to store rain water. It has been experimented that wet rice cultivation can be done with rainwater alone.

The agriculture director informed the farmers that from next season his department would provide the farmers with pesticides and fertilizers. Slaked lime and fertilizers for the rabi season.

Owing to the government s boost on mechanisation of farming, officials in the state agriculture department said the area of jhum cultivation in Mizoram decreased by 36 per cent and that of wet rice cultivation increased by 28.4 % during last year.

While the area of shifting cultivation in 2010-2011 has decreased from 44,947 hectares to 28,562, the area of wet rice cultivation has increased from 9,446 hectares to 12,130 hectares, a source in the department said.

At present, Mizoram produces only 25 per cent of the total rice consumption.

Mizoram produces only 44,950 metric tonnes of rice, against the total consumption of 1,80,000 metric tonnes.

As the government declared bumper rice harvest year, more farmers took up wet rice cultivation.

The department targets to produce 52,000 MT of rice this year. It aims to increase rice produce per hectare of land in WRC from 1.6 MT to 2.5 MT and from 0.9 MT to 1.2 MT in jhum areas.

The Congress government s flagship programme, New Land Use Policy basically aims to do away with the age-old traditional shifting (jhum) cultivation by providing sustainable land-based occupation to the farmers.

ZNP For New System in Mizoram

Aizawl, Nov 12 : Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP), a political party based in Mizoram has advocated for a 'new system' in order to have a better Mizoram. ZNP president Lalduhoma said, a 'new system' is required to create a meaningful change for the better Mizoram.

The ZNP chief said, the people of Mizoram have experienced governments run by several chief ministers and governments in the last 40 years without causing meaningful change in the governance.

The ZNP wants that a new system that has a mechanism to do away corruptions and other malpractices in the state is the need of the hour.

Asserting that the change required by the State and the people can only be achieved through a change in the system which has been advocated by the ZNP.

Referring to the efforts made by the numerous previous governments in the past for improvement of the condition of the people and the farmers in particular, the ZNP president also said, the living condition of the farmers can be improved only when the government finds markets for disposal of their produces at reasonable prices.

The party also passed a resolution calling for the constitution of Mizoram Road Fund Board for receiving funds for repair and maintenance of important roads in the State.

Bias Against News From The Northeast India

By Aditi Nigam

For three days running, lakhs of people in Guwahati stood in serpentine queues to pay their last respects to the legendary singer, Bhupen Hazarika. Around half a million bid him a tearful farewell on Wednesday. Assam-watchers say this was an unprecedented event. However, the singer's fans and ordinary readers in North India, who depend on ‘national' dailies for news from across the country, had to draw comfort from either a photograph or a news item tucked away somewhere in pages 16, 12 or 11.

Worse still is the space given to the over 100-day economic blockade of two National Highways in Manipur, which has dried up supplies of essentials to this North-Eastern state, leading to unimaginable hardship for ordinary people.

The misfortune of both these happenings is that they concern North East India. Any upheaval in the lives of the people living in the eight states in the region — Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Sikkim — is only theirs. Their emotions, demands and needs just don't seem to find any place on the radar of those who decide matters in the newsrooms in the political capital of this country.

It was probably Hazarika's good fortune, as well as that of his fans, that he had moved to Bombay and breathed his last there, and was somehow connected with the biggest news-making industry in India today — Bollywood . This ensured him some space in the ‘national' dailies and television channels initially.

MANIPUR SCENARIO

As for the Manipur economic blockade, it's been more than three months since the two lifeline highways in the region have hit supplies of essential items, such as vegetables, petrol, cooking gas and medicines. Reports say cooking gas cylinders are selling at the rate of Rs 1,500 and petrol at Rs 200-400 a litre, patients are buying oxygen cylinders and life-saving medicines in black.

Can one even dream of this state of affairs being unnoticed by the ‘national' media or the political leadership if, say, the Jaipur or Agra highways were blocked for even a week?

As for our ‘national' political leadership, we all know that the Prime Minister of our country owes his Rajya Sabha seat to this very region (Assam). But we are yet to hear of any reaction of concern, leave alone action from him to end the Manipur economic blockade. Of course, his office did issue a condolence statement after Hazarika's passing away.

What's more, it took the Union Home Minister a good three months to wake up to the grim situation in Manipur. Only after news reports regarding the miseries and sufferings of the people started seeping out, did he decide to land up in Imphal in the first week of November! He expressed concern regarding disruption of peace and harmony, inaugurated a mini secretariat, assured action on the report of the District Reorganisation Commission (the agitating groups are demanding a separate district), and boarded the plane back to Delhi.

The matter rests there, even as the blockade continues.

No wonder, North-Easterners in Delhi and other concerned citizens have taken to social networking sites and alternate news sites to vent their feelings against discrimination by those who call the shots in Delhi's corridors of power and newsrooms.

As one blogger put it — for the ‘national' media, celebrities mean Bollywood and cricket. And as for the ‘national' political leadership — the development of the North East speaks for itself.

No Sex Till Marriage, Vow Mizo Youths

Aizawl, Nov 11 : Those who thought that taboos were a thing of the past might find this uncomforting. More than a thousand young people vowed to refrain from sex before marriage and signed pledges on the issues at Thenzawl town last week.

The youth, who participated at the Salvation Army Youth Congress, signed the chastity pledge organized by the Salvation Army-sponsored Community Health Action Network (Chan).

They inked their promises that they would remain virgin until they marry in accordance with the Christian teachings.

Mizoram chief minister Lal Thanhawla, who attended the Congress, expressed concern at the growing cancer cases and other diseases in Mizoram, caused due to smoking, tobacco consumption and lifestyle of people.

"As Christian teachings emphasize on cleanliness of body and soul, we have to concentrate more on cleaner lifestyles to avoid deadly diseases," said Lal Thanhawla, adding that being the torchbearers of the field the Slavation Army meant generation of more awareness in words and deeds.

The Chan has been working with commercial sex workers and drug addicts to prevent spread of HIV/AIDS and also striving to stop human trafficking.

Supply Of Fuel resumes in Blockade-Hit Manipur

Imphal, Nov 11 : Manipur heaved a sigh of relief on Thursday as the state government took steps to ensure that supply of fuel resumes at 28 selected oil pump outlets.

Fuel though was being sold at an exorbitant price due to the economic blockade that was imposed by certain factions.

The administration has taken the initiative to escort 129 loaded trucks, including 86 oil tankers and 17 LPG bullet tankers into the city.

"There is some sort of relief as most of the pumps are opened and are providing a certain limited amount of fuel through a rationalized system to make the public avail fuel," said Ibochou Singh, a local resident.

Residents said that they managed to get fuel through the rationalized system imposed by the government.

"We appreciate the initiative taken by the government in making us avail the fuel, and has somehow given relief in the hard times," said Meiraba, a local resident.

Manipur has been facing an acute shortage of fuel for more than three months due to a blockade imposed by an ethnic tribal group that has been demanding the creation of a separate Sardar Hills district.

The Sadar Hills District Demand Committee started its agitation on August 1, seeking conversion of the Kuki-majority Sadar hills area in Naga-majority Senapati district into a full-fledged district.

The United Naga Committee, opposing the Kukis' demand, began a counter-blockade.

Lal Thanhawla Wants Mizo Language in 8th Schedule

Aizawl, Nov 10 : The Mizoram government has been taking steps to have Mizo language included in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution, Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla said today.

Underlining that inclusion of Mizo language in the 8th Schedule is necessary to promote the language in the national level, Mr Lal Thanhawla stated that the state Assembly had also passed a Bill to this effect.

To make all out efforts a success, we need to study how language boards in different states have been performing, Mr Lal Thanhawla said while addressing an inaugural function of a two-day national seminar-cum-workshop on Mizo novels, identity, culture and language here.

The state Legislature had unanimously passed a resolution in 1991 urging the Centre to include Mizo language in the 8th Schedule. Emphasising the need for correct usage of language, the Chief Minister said Mizo language teachers, writers, speakers in the radio and TV and journalists are the most important people to protect the Mizo language from dilution.

He felt the need for formation of language development board at the government level.

Praising the initiatives of the Mizoram University s department of Mizo in co-organising the seminar, Mr Lal Thanhawla recalled that the then Congress government in 1997 allocated Rs 16 lakh for establishment of Mizo department in the Mizoram University.

In 2007, the Rajya Sabha rejected constitutional amendment Bill to include Mizo language in the 8th Schedule, moved by MP Lalhmingliana.

The rejection, after summary discussion, forced the lone Rajya Sabha member from Mizoram to stage a walkout. Young Mizo Association (YMA), the largest organisation in the state, had also adopted a resolution in its general assembly held in 1997 urging both Central and Mizoram Governments to include Mizo in the 8th Schedule and had also brought the attention of the then Prime Ministers I K Gujral and A B Vajpayee during their visits to Mizoram.