Mizoram Students in Village Forced To Stay Away From School

Aizawl, Nov 20 : Parents of the 50 students are forced to keep their children away from the government primary school-I at Bualpui North village in Kolasib district which is virtually non-functional.

Aggrieved by poor teaching at the school, the parents prevented their children from attending classes from yesterday, after their repeated complaints to the authorities had allegedly fallen on deaf ears.

The agitating parents planned to submit a letter to concerned Kawnpui sub-divisional education officer (SDEO) on Friday, but postponed it for Monday as the official was not available. According to sources, the school has three teachers, one regular and two contractual SSA teachers for the 50 students.

The head teacher, who is regular, and one SSA teacher came to the school from Kawnpui, about 15-km from the village.

Only one teacher actually lived at the village, the parents said.

The teachers attend school very regularly, but they teach for only one period a day, leaving the students to play outside for the rest of the day, a parent said over phone.

He alleged that some class three students are unable to read and write their lessons correctly, while some others cannot tell a letter M from N.

The old head teacher, who is the only regular teacher, often sent his daughter on his behalf.

When his daughter came, the students learnt better as she is more active than her father, the parents said.

The parents had informed about the poor teaching in the school to the village education committee and the village council who also inspected the school.

The concerned SDEO had also talked to the VEC, VC and the teachers, but without any positive results.

The parents said members of the VEC and the VC also threw up their hands in despair and told them to do whatever we think is good for the school and the students.

Mizo Air Travellers May Miss Kingfisher

Aizawl, Nov 20 : Air travellers in Mizoram are likely to bid goodbye to Kingfisher flights as the cash-strapped private airline is reportedly planning to discontinue services to the state s sole airport.

Sources said Lengpui Airport in Aizawl is among several airports, including Agartala and Silchar in the Northeast, which Kingfisher is pulling out from.

Sources quoted Kingfisher officials as saying air services to these cities had been often disrupted by weather conditions in the past.

However, the state civil aviation officials said they were yet to be informed of the Kingfisher s plans to pull out.

At present, Kingfisher operates flights between Aizawl and Kolkata thrice a week.

The officials said as Air India and Jet Airways operate daily flights, there had been no shortage of air services so far.

Meningitis Claims Lives Of 12 Infants in Mizoram

Aizawl, Nov 20 : At least 12 infants have died due to meningitis during the past 45 days in Mizoram’s Saiha district bordering Myanmar, health officials on Saturday said.

Five infants below the age of one year died during November while seven infants died in October.

14 additional beds have been squeezed into the 50-bedded Saiha district hospitals in view of the rising number of patients, the officials said, adding even free clinics have been organised in the remotest villages to safe the infants.

The officials said the situation in the area might have been aggravated due to malnutrition among locals, especially among the infants.

No Move To Grant Greater Nagalim: Indian Government

By Vishwa Mohan

New Delhi, Nov 20 : The Centre on Saturday informed Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh that there was no move to grant a 'supra state body' status to Nagas settled across the north-east and the negotiators, who have been talking to the NSCN (I-M), had never promised the outfit any such arrangement that may have severe inter-state ramifications.

The 'clarification' comes in response to the objection from all the three states that sought the Union home ministry's views over certain reports on the purported 'move'.

The reports have mentioned that the Centre was considering keeping the Naga-inhabited areas of Nagaland, Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh under a 'supra state body' to enable the Nagas to preserve their culture, identity and customary laws under an umbrella entity, and it would be finalized before Christmas (December 25).

Referring to the 'clarification' made to the states over such reports, sources in the home ministry said the government had nothing to do with the 'move', which was a NSCN (I-M) proposal. The Centre had never agreed to any such proposal, and the outfit badgered the negotiators with it during both 'formal' and 'informal' discussions, they added.

'Greater Nagaland' has been a long-pending demand of NSCN (I-M), who under their leaders Isak Swu and T Muivah have been demanding control over all Naga-inhabited areas in neighbouring Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, ever since they joined talks with the government after signing a 'ceasefire' agreement in 1997.

Sources here said it appeared that people having some vested interests might have involved in some 'misinformation' campaign to test the ground, taking a cue from the NSCN (IM) 'internal' papers - comprising its own proposals and demands - at a time when the Centre was opposed to the demand of 'Greater Nagaland' or any kind of 'pan-Naga supra state body' at the cost of neighbouring states.

They said as part of any peace deal with Nagas, the government would, at best, provide maximum autonomy to Nagaland under existing provisions of the Constitution that may lead to giving them additional financial and legislative powers.

Truth vs Hype: Manipur - The Myth of The Blockade

When we set off from Delhi to report Manipur's 100-day-long economic blockade, we thought we would be telling the story of a massive crisis: a shortage of essentials, soaring prices, a government - State and Centre - that seem paralysed.

But as we discovered very quickly, the ground realities are far more complex, with rising levels of skepticism - even direct accusations by the people. So, what is the true extent of the shortage, especially of fuel? Is it genuine or manufactured?

Are security concerns tying the hands of the state or are there political gains from the blockade? We take a look on Truth vs Hype.

SHDDC Wants Sadar Hills District Inaugurated in Nov

Imphal, Nov 19 : The Sadar Hills District Demand Committee (SHDDC) on Friday met Union home minister P Chidambaram and submitted a memorandum urging him to instruct the state government to inaugurate the Sadar Hills district before November ends.

Leaders of the SHDDC, including its president Ngamkhohao Haokip and general secretary Tonghen Kipgen, have been camping in the national capital for the last few days to lobby with central leaders for early upgradation of the Kuki-dominated Sadar Hills to a full-fledged district.

On October 31, the SHDDC and the state government signed an MoU in which the latter assured the creation of the Sadar Hills district after the chief secretary-headed District Reorgnisation Committee (DRC) submits its report to the government.

With the signing of the MoU, the SHDDC suspended its economic blockade on the Imphal-Silchar and Imphal-Dimapur routes that began on August 1. On the other hand, the United Naga Council (UNC) has been imposing a similar stir on the same supply routes since August 21 to denounce the state government's alleged attempt to bifurcate Naga-dominated area to create new districts.

"Our position on the committee/commission was made very clear to the state government from the initial stage that it should not affect or alter, in any way, the existing boundaries of Sadar Hills," the SHDDC memo said.

The memo added, "Subsequent to the signing of the MoU, we have temporarily suspended all forms of our agitations including economic blockade along national highways till the end of November 2011."

"We believe that this gesture of ours will enable both the Union and state governments to prepare ground for the complete implementation of the said 1971 Act with respect to the Sadar Hills Autonomous District," said the memo, signed by top SHDDC leaders as well as legislator Thangminlien Kipgen, who is also the chairman of the hill areas committee, a statute body of the Manipur legislative assembly.

The SHDDC urged the Union home minister to give "clear but strong instruction" to the state government to inaugurate Sadar Hills as a full-fledged autonomous district before the end of the current month.

"We shall faithfully as well as hopefully wait to see how our 40-year-old grievance is redressed within November 2011, as already agreed upon, by the largest democratic country in the world," the SHDDC memorandum said.

"The Centre should repeal the said Manipur (Hill Areas) Autonomous District Council Act 1971 in case the state government fails again to grant full-fledged district status to Sadar Hills according to the principal objectives of the act and declare the Sadar Hills area as an 'un-administered region of Manipur', it added.

iPhone 4S Pre-Orders Go Live, Starts From Rs 44,500

Airtel has just flipped the switch on iPhone 4S pre-orders. Users will have to pay the full amount online and will get the phone on the day of launch – November 25.

The iPhone 4S is priced at Rs 44,500 (16GB) and Rs 50,900 (32GB). There is no mention of iPhone 4S 64GB variant. The iPhone 4 8GB page at the moment is redirected to Apple’s Hong Kong store.

We will be updating this post through the day, stay tuned. Just for the record, the prices of iPhone 3GS 8GB could be priced at Rs 20,900 and the iPhone 4 8GB at Rs 37,900.

Mizoram Abolishes Permit System For Forest Produce

Aizawl, Nov 19 : The Mizoram government has abolished the mahal and permit systems to avoid wasteful and unprofitable system of exporting forest produce from the state.

Stating this, Environment and Forests Minister H. Rohluna on Thursday said it would be more profitable to export ready-made furniture and handicrafts made by artisans than export bamboo and timber outside the state.

Addressing a press conference here he urged the forest department field staff to be more vigilant in preventing smuggling of forest products including orchids and animal organs.

He also said that prevention of destructive forest fire should not be neglected while making efforts to protect the flora and fauna from poachers and smugglers.