10 January 2012

Female Voters Outnumber Men in Mizoram




Aizawl, Jan 10
: Female voters have edged past their male counterparts by 10,120 votes in the latest electoral roll for Mizoram state assembly elections which has recorded 12,454 new voters, a 1.94 per cent increase from the electoral roll of 2011.

Now, the total number of voters in Mizoram is 6,53,208 which accounted for 58.96 per cent of the total population of a little more than ten lakhs according to the census 2011.

As many as 3,31,664 voters are female, putting the sex ratio in the electorate at 1,031, as against 975 in the census 2011. In the last state assembly elections in December 2008, as many as 3,08,884 of the total 6,11,124 voters in the eight districts of Mizoram were female.

Women had also outnumbered men by 3,816 votes during the 2003 assembly polls. There are 3,418 service voters in Mizoram.

While a total 21187 voters were added, 9422 voters were deleted in the latest edition of electoral roll.

Of the 40 assembly constituencies, Tuichawng in Lawngtlai district has the largest number of voters with 25,198 while Thorang constituency in Lunglei district has the least electors with 12,039.

With some addition, there are now 1,031 polling stations across Mizoram.

Art exhibition in Mizoram


Aizawl, Jan 10 : A painting exhibition was recently held in Mizoram's capital Aizawl where several artists from the region exhibited their work.

The exhibited paintings gave a glimpse of "Traditional Mizoram" to the visitors. Paintings depicted women in indigenous attire,and showed age-old practices and rituals and traditional Mizo villagesl.

The paintings were the work of 12 veteran and budding painters including Lalbutta, Biaklara, and Jerry.who have been exhibiting their work throughout the country.

"Most of our painters paint realistic paintings like nature, traditions and cultures. Most of our audiences like such paintings. I started painting since my childhood and this is my hobby," said Lalbuta, a veteran painter from Mizoram.

The visitors who came to the exhibition appreciated the works of the artists and considered them at par with their contemporaries residing in cities.

"Most of the people participating here are good and talented. They care about their work and have given good strokes in the paintings. I believe our artists have the talent to compete with other artists in plains or other cities," said V L K Dawngluina, a visitor.

Youth in Mizoram are taking keen interest in fine arts.

Some of them even want to take it up as a full time career even though opportunities are limited in the state.

Laltanpuia, is a Mizo painter who started a school to promote fine arts in the state is now doing well and has changed the lives of many.

The artists association has asked for support from the government to level the ground with artists from other states.

"I have been running a school in Mizoram since 1986 where I have been teaching painting but nothing other than that. So if a school of art is there it will be good for the students," H K Jerry Ramliana, a veteran painter. Mizoram

The exhibition was organized under the aegis of Mizoram Academy of Fine Arts

Man Versus Leopard Clash On Camera


A leopard, which attacked a person (R) in a residential colony, is taken away after being tranquillized by zoo officials in Guwahati. The leopard had injured three persons. 

Guwahati, Jan 10 : A labourer who had his scalp ripped off by a rampaging leopard over the weekend has spoken of his horrific ordeal, saying he was trying to save the cat when it turned on him.

Pintu Dey is recovering in hospital in Assam after being badly mauled outside his house in an attack captured in a series of startling and gruesome photographs.
"My two children were inside the house and so I went to save them when I found some policemen aiming to shoot the leopard," Dey, who is in his 40s, told AFP from his hospital bed.

"I pleaded against killing the cat and literally stood between the policemen and the leopard like a shield, and all of a sudden I found myself attacked and blood splattered all over."

The leopard had strayed into a residential area in the centre of Guwahati, the capital of Assam, and attacked another three people, killing one.

Dey also suffered a fractured hand and cuts caused by multiple bites on his hands and legs.

A former journalist and lawyer called Deva Kumar Das succumbed to his injuries on Sunday. The condition of the other two was said to be stable.

Referring to Dey, a doctor in the Wintrobe Hospital told AFP: "I would say the injury is really severe as he lost a lot of blood and his scalp wound is indeed serious."

The cat was later tranquilised by forest officials and taken to the Assam State Zoo in Guwahati. On Monday it was set free in a tiger reserve in Manas, western Assam.

"I wish the government could take care of my medical expenses as my financial condition is not sound," Dey told AFP, explaining that he does casual work but has no reliable source of income.

Thousands of people are attacked by wildlife in India each year, with tigers, leopards, elephants and snakes the most dangerous.

Conservationists blame a decline in the natural habitat for wild animals, particularly dense forest cover in areas surrounding cities, for the deadly incidents occasionally reported from urban areas in India.
09 January 2012

Mizoram govt will not resume talks with Hmar group


Aizawl, Jan 9 : Mizoram government will not resume talks with Hmar People’s Convention (D) ‘merely’ because of the Centre’s pressure to do so, state Home minister R Lalzirliana said on Sunday.

Lalzirliana told PTI here that the Union Home Ministry had recently sent a letter to state chief secretary Van Hela Pachuau instructing the state government to resume negotiations with HPC-D.

“How could the Centre ask us to talk to the outfit now when the Union Home Ministry, a few months back, had itself asked state governments to deal with the insurgent outfits as dacoits? ” he asked.

The Centre had signed Suspension of Operation (SoO) agreement with several north east ultra groups, including HPC-D on the condition that their cadres would be confined within designated camps and that they would deposit their arms with the security forces.

The HPC-D cadres had not only not remained in the designated camps but had also never deposited their arms and continued to indulge in violent and illegal activities, including extortion from across the Manipur border, he said.

“Even if we want to comply with the Union Home Ministry’s diktat, it would be difficult to decide to which faction of the outfit we would engage in the parleys as it now has two of them,” he said.

The Hmars belong to the Chin-Kuki-Mizo group of tribes, and are recognised as Scheduled Tribe under the 6th Schedule of the Constitution of India. Literally, Hmar means North or Northern people, as they are living north to the Lusei people.

Hmars live mostly in the hills of south Manipur, Mizoram, Cachar, North Cachar, Meghalaya, Tripura and Chittagong Hill Tracts.

Although these areas are within different administrative divisions, they are geographically connected.

In Mizoram, the Hmars live mostly in the north, especially in the Aizawl District.

With creation of Autonomous Regional Council for the Hmars, in line with those granted to the Pawi (Lai), Lakher (Mara) and the Chakma, as its objective, Hmar Regional Movement was launched in 1964 at Palsang village in north Mizoram. The movement was mainly fostered by the feeling of neglect by the state government.

The Mizoram government and HPC-D had signed a pact on Suspension of Operation to last for six months on Novemeber 11, 2010 after concluding their peacetalks.

The pact was, however, short lived as several differences cropped up between the two sides and the state government officially announced in July last year that it would not resume talks with the outfit as the Centre had already iniatiated talks with the group. The party apparently stood henceforth as representing the Hmars of Mizoram state.
05 January 2012

Manipur's Women Not Adequately Represented in State Legislature


Imphal, Jan 5 :  After Mizoram, Manipur is the second Indian state where women voters outnumber men. However, the number of female legislators in the state assembly is minimal.

The outgoing ninth assembly has only one woman member in the 60-member house -- O. Landhoni Devi, wife of Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh.

According to an election department official, all the six women, except Landhoni Devi, who stood for election in 2007 lost the race to their male rivals.

Manipur has a total electorate of 1,740,820. Out of this, 889,497 are women and 851,323 are men.

Besides Manipur, another northeastern state, Mizoram has 308,884 women voters as opposed to 302,240 male voters out of a total electorate of 611,124.

“However, very few women enter the political fray and even those who do are rarely elected,” prominent Manipuri writer and intellectual Rajkumar Kalyanjit Singh told IANS.

Several women organisations have been actively spearheading the campaign for women candidates in the state assembly polls.

“Despite constant pressure from various women organisations, very few women candidates were fielded in the previous elections by the political parties. Unfortunately, most of the female nominees were unsuccessful in the poll battle,” said Women Action for Development secretary, Sobita Mangsatabam.

Political parties, including the rulling Congress, Communist Party of India (CPI), the main opposition Manipur People’s Party (MPP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and their allies in Manipur are gearing up to reach out to the electorate. They are also busy in selecting their nominees in the crucial polls.

Polls would be held in Manipur on Jan 28. Counting of votes will be done on March 4.

Insurgents Threaten Action Against Manipur Cong Supporters


Imphal, Jan 5 : Seven major insurgent outfits of Manipur on Thursday threatened action against anyone taking part in the election campaign of the ruling Congress in the state.

In a joint statement, the insurgent bodies, who have a common goal of making Manipur an independent country, said elections were not meant to bring welfare for the people.

Reacting to it, Manipur Assembly Speaker and senior Congress leader I. Hemochandra Singh said India was a democratic country and anybody should be allowed to express their opinions and views.

People should have a free mind to exercise their franchise, he said. The seven organizations are United National Liberation Front (UNLF), Revolutionary People's Front (RPF), Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP), People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK)), PREPAK-Progressive and United People's Party of Kangleipak.

Meanwhile, official sources said unidentified persons exploded grenades at of some Congress offices at Shingjamei, Kwakeithel and other places in Imphal West district.

However, no casualty or injury was reported. In another development, unknown militants exploded two grenades at the house of Congress MLA M Hemanta at Tengtha in Thoubal district late last night but there was no casualty, the sources said today.
02 January 2012

Time To Know Your Neighbours

Carte Blanche - Arup Kumar Dutta

‘For instance, though Tura in Garo hills is hardly a few hours drive from Guwahati, how many of us know who Gamseng is?’

The seven states of the Northeast call themselves the seven sisters, but we rarely see genuine sisterly affection between them. It is only when two citizens from two different communities of this region confront the harsh realities of discrimination in a place like Delhi that they acknowledge their common identity as individuals from the broader entity called India’s Northeast. But within the region itself it is all fangs and claws, with sectarian and community considerations providing grist to mills of politicians.

Take Assam for example. It has border problems with Nagaland, Arunachal and Meghalaya, something politicians from each of the states do not hesitate to exploit. As Assam is the biggest and most strategically positioned “sister” of them all, many communities from the smaller states harbour aversion towards the Assamese, sometimes rightly because the display of arrogance on the part of the latter in the past. Often intense dislike exists between communities within the same state, as in Manipur where the rivalry between two ethnic groups threatens not only to rip apart the social fabric of the State, but also to destroy its economy. In Arunachal, the wondrous diversity of tribal communities has been a bane rather than a boon as far as forging a regional identity is concerned, with each ethnic group choosing to assert their differences rather than commonalities, thereby bringing about societal disharmony.

There are two negative aspects to such un-sisterly behaviour. First, it enables outsiders, especially the astute politicians of the nation’s capital, to pursue the divide-and-rule policy which the British had so effectively used to administer this difficult region. I am sure many non-political but enlightened individuals in every state of this region feel a sense of humiliation when they see political “leaders” from Delhi fly down to their respective capitals to decide who will become the chief minister. It is as if a new brand of imperialists have replaced the British and continued with the latter’s colonial policy. This also explains the decades of indifference and neglect faced by the Northeast till mounting public anger — especially when it assumed the insidious guise of insurgency — as also events such as the Sino-Indian war coerced Delhi to sit up.

At the same time, it has prevented the political leadership of the region from erecting a common platform upon which to voice their grievances at the national level. It is well known that individually the states of the Northeast are under-represented in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, but if they were to unite under a common banner irrespective of their political or community affiliations, they would constitute a formidable bloc. There have been numerous attempts by progressive MPs to form such a common platform but, if actions speak louder than words, not much has been achieved in attaining the objective. A recent report of only one MP from the Northeast being present in the Lok Sabha during the discussion on and passage of a crucial bill relating to the region is a stark reminder of the role being played by our representatives at the national level. In fact, an organisation like Northeast Students’ Union is doing a far better job at voicing aloud the all-too-many common problems besetting the area.

This brings me to the heart of the problem — one of the primary reasons behind our inability to present a common front, as well as the prevalent internecine discord, is that even six decades after Independence and the expansion of communication technology and infrastructure, we know very little about each other’s history, culture and way of life. While some books in English have been written about the divergent communities peopling the hills and valleys of the area, these are mostly targeted towards outside readers. Sad to say, there are very few books in the regional languages of the Northeast about the historical and cultural background of different communities which can inform the people about other ethnic groups apart from their own.

For instance, though Tura in the Garo hills is hardly a few hours drive from Guwahati, how many of us know who Gamseng is? Or why the name Balpakram is so important to the Garos? Gamseng, of course, is the mythical hero of the Achiks as the Garos like to call themselves, while Balpakram is a place of spiritual significance to them. How many individuals in Assam have read the Adventures of U Don Putit written in Khasi, or heard of Khasi icon Saso Tham despite Shillong being just a stone’s throw away?

Or, for that matter, does anyone in Garo or Khasi hills know about the Manipuri hero Lamabam Kamal, or read their classic Khambaton? Not many in other parts of the Northeast know about the Mizo folk hero Chhurbura or read their book titled Lalawmpll. It indeed is surprising that neither state governments nor private enterprise have taken any initiative in the six decades since Independence to acquaint the diverse components of the Northeast about each other’s societies and cultures. Ignorance is the mother of bigotry, while knowledge is the cornerstone of amity. Much of the conflict and strife besetting this region might perhaps have been avoided had we known more about each other!

This is precisely why I congratulate a well-known local NGO, Anwesha, for undertaking a project for inter-regional translation of books in association with the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA). The target-reader at the initial stage will logically be the new generation, but even adult readers will benefit from the project. For the time being Anwesha has started work of selecting six books each from Assamese, Bodo, Garo, Khasi, Manipuri and Mizo and translating them into the above-mentioned languages. It might be a small step for this reputed organisation, but it is indeed a giant step for Northeast!

Though it might sound like a simple project, given the communication constraint in the area, the logistical difficulties were stupendous. Anwesha constituted a nodal committee comprising expert representatives from all the six languages, which, in turn, formed individual language advisory committees in their respective state headquarters. The advisory committees not only selected six suitable manuscripts, but also had these translated into English so that they could then be translated into the other languages. With the completion of the preliminary process, a three-day workshop of various language advisory committee members along with translators and illustrators was held in December to thrash out problems of comprehension in translation and illustration. The final output would be a fantastic 180 books in six different languages of the region retelling folk-literature, depicting adventures of beloved local heroes, humorous short stories for young adult et al. One important component would be six biographical books telling about the lives of important personalities of a particular region. For instance, the biographical book from Manipur has sketches of five famous Manipuri personalities — Lamabam Kamal, Hijam Anganghai Singh, M.K. Binodini, Bir Tyikendrajit and Khwairakpam Chaoba — individuals who should surely have by now become familiar to the other six “sisters” of this region.

With Anwesha leading the way, one can only hope that other organisations would take up similar projects so that we can learn more about each other through the medium of translated books. Government-sponsored publishing institutions of different states can be involved by their respective governments in the exercise so that more books in more languages are covered. As observed by Robert Frost, good fences make good neighbours. But it is my sincere belief that knowing your neighbours makes for even better ones.

01 January 2012

The Converted Warriors

By Esha Roy

Spasmo Proxyvon injection

The Ningthoujams have been battling drugs for years. All four brothers were chronic drug addicts till a few years ago—when the youngest finally went to rehab and became clean for the first time in years. The eldest, 30-year-old Roshan, was the first to start taking drugs in the family. He says veins on his left arm are completely blocked after years of “shooting drugs”. But now, a transformed Roshan has made anti-drugs campaign a personal mission.

For the last two years, Roshan has been working for the Social Awareness Service Organisation (SASO), a non-profit funded by the Bill Gates Foundation, which has led the fight against the HIV in Manipur—one of the states with high number of addicts. There are 50,000 male and 1,600 female addicts, at the last count, and 22 rehabilitation centres, aided by the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Welfare.

“When I was young I was very timid and had severe self-esteem issues. When I was in the class VIII, a classmate brought an Alprazolam tablet (a sedative much abused by addicts in Manipur). Just to prove that I was brave, out of all 62 students in the class I was the only one who tried,’’ says Roshan.

This was just the beginning. Through his teens, Roshan tried various other drugs, finally settling on Spasmo Proxyvon (an analgesic used to ease pain during delivery, addicts call it SP).

Roshan had begun taking the drug orally, but soon started injecting it—sometimes even 10 times a day. “I had tried heroin a number of times but found that I preferred the kick that I got from shooting SP. This is not an over-the-counter drug. It’s available at Rs 50 a strip in black markets around Manipur,’’ he says. He points out that easy availability and low cost of drugs in the state fuel addiction.

Roshan first came in touch with the anti-drugs movement while he was still an addict—when he used to collect free syringes provided by NGOs fighting against the HIV.

“I was unwittingly exposed to a lot of training workshops which they sat me through in exchange for picking up the syringes,’’ he says. He is not the only former drug addict at SASO. Apart from doctors and nurses, all the employees have been drug addicts. “SASO employs 150 former drug users. There are 30 drug users in my drop-in centre alone,’’ he says.

A couple of years ago, the Union health ministry started the Oral Substitution Programme. After years of dealing with addicts, Roshan says, this is what he feels is the single-most successful scheme.

“Basically what we do is put the drug user on a drug called Buprenorphine which, like SP, is an analgesic. But unlike SP, it stops receptors of heroin and other drugs. What this means is that if you have this tablet every day, even if you shoot heroin or any other drug, you won’t get a high.” Buprenorphine facilitates withdrawal from addiction. “So when you are not taking drugs but you’re on this, you don’t feel the otherwise very painful withdrawal,’’ he adds.

However, Buprenorphine is not the only solution. “The problem, funnily enough, is of development as well. The youth in Manipur have nothing to do most of the time, especially in the evenings. They are closeted inside their homes by 5 or 6 p.m. There is all this pent-up energy and nowhere to vent it. They naturally turn to drugs,’’ says Roshan.