Northeast India Pip Others in TV, Auto Growth in Past Decade

By Akshat Kaushal
New Delhi Apr 12 : It wasn’t the developing Bihar or the developed Gujarat that recorded the highest increase in the number of households with televisions, bicycles, two-wheelers and cars in the last decade; it was the long-ignored Northeast India.

Putting aside years of lack of growth that was fueled by a precarious law and order situation, these states are fast catching up with the rest of the country. Data from the Houselisting and Housing Census 2011 showed between 2001 and 2011, in most asset parameters, these states performed better than others. However, compared to other northeastern states, Assam continued to lag.

The census data showed the number of households with televisions in Mizoram rose from 20 per cent in 2001 to 55 per cent in 2011, a 169 per cent rise, the highest in the country. In 2001, Mizoram had fewer households with television than the national average. However, by the end of 2011, the number of such households in the state was eight per cent more than the national average.

A similar rise was seen in the case of Nagaland, Manipur and Tripura. These states registered growth that was more than the national average. Though 43 per cent of households in the rest of the country stopped using radios/transistors, Manipur saw a rise of 26 per cent in the number of such households. The state now has the highest number of households with radios/transistors.

The increase in households with four-wheelers was also impressive. Both Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh showed high growth in the number of households with cars, jeeps and vans. Between 2001 and 2011, these states recorded an increase of over 230 per cent, with Sikkim growing at 267 per cent - the highest rise. In 2001, the percentage of households possessing four-wheelers in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh was lower than the national average. However, by the end of 2011, it was twice the national average.

Nagaland recorded the second- highest increase (126 per cent) after Kerala in the number of households with two-wheelers. Mizoram and Tripura also emerged among the top five states that witnessed the highest increase in the number of households with scooter/motorcycles and mopeds between 2001 and 2011. However none of the northeastern states had more households with two-wheelers than the national average.

An interesting trend was while in the bigger states, people moved away from bicycles to automobiles, households in the northeast continued to buy more of these. Sikkim saw the highest rise of 110 per cent in the number of households with bicycles, followed by Mizoram, Tripura and Meghalaya. However, the rise in Sikkim and Mizoram was also because of a very low base over which the increase was measured.

RACING AHEAD
Households with televisions				Households with cars/jeep/vans
	2001	2011	Increase		2001	2011	Increase
Mizoram	20.44	55.1	169.55	Arunachal Pradesh	2.38	7.9	232.54
Nagaland	18.13	37.9	109.07	Nagaland	3.53	7.8	121.12
Manipur	24.2	47.4	96.12	Mizoram	3.39	7.3	115.53
Tripura	23.71	44.9	89.41	Tripura	1.09	2.2	102.40
Meghalaya	20.89	33.7	61.33	Meghalaya	2.69	5.4	100.68
Arunachal Pradesh	25.70	41.1	59.93	Manipur	3.06	6	96.10
Assam	18.30	27.5	50.28	India	2.50	4.7	87.89
India	31.59	47.2	49.39	Assam	2.05	3.8	85.38
Households with scooters/motorcycles/mopeds				Households with bicycles
	2001	2011	Increase		2001	2011	Increase
Nagaland	2.78	6.3	126.84	Sikkim	0.43	0.9	110.41
Mizoram	6.16	13.8	124.04	Mizoram	3.10	4.3	38.85
Tripura	3.93	8.2	108.89	Tripura	30.57	39.3	28.55
Arunachal Pradesh	6.77	14	106.9	Meghalaya	10.96	13.3	21.35
Meghalaya	2.89	5.4	86.78	Manipur	37.98	44.6	17.44
India	11.71	21	79.29	Arunachal Pradesh	17.42	19.5	11.96
Manipur	11.11	19.8	78.29	India	43.67	44.8	2.58
Sikkim	1.74	2.8	61.14	Nagaland	8.14	7.9	-2.97
Figures in %                                                                               Source: Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India

Assamese Doctor's Schizophrenia Documentary Goes Global

Guwahati, Apr 12 : A London-based Assamese general medical practitioner's documentary film "From London with love, a doctor's message home" has been selected for screening at New York International Film Festival to be held at Los Angeles, America from April 12 to 19. Dr Ranen Sarma's documentary film will be screened on the concluding day of the New York International Film Festival, 2012.

The organizers of the film festival decided to screen the documentary film as it focuses on true stories that reveal the sufferings of millions of schizophrenics in India and also shows people families how to cope with the challenge of schizophrenia.

The documentary film shows how the low-cost but effective 'shared care' treatment has been introduced by doctors to transform the lives of schizophrenics in Assam. The documentary film focuses on the symptoms of schizophrenia and gives basic tips on dealing with the disease, which mostly affects people in the age group of 15 to 30.

Guided by Sarma's principle, general health practitioners and psychiatrists at Barpeta in lower Assam, Misa in Nagaon district and Konwarpur in upper Assam's Sivasagar district are offering to treat schizophrenia patients for lower-than-usual fees. In the shared care policy, a general medical practitioner is constantly in touch with a psychiatrist on the condition of the patient.

The 'shared care' policy put forward by Dr Sarma in Assam is on the lines of a policy by the same name implemented by the British government in England. Sarma is hopeful that the new approach to treat the mentally-ill by a general medical practitioner and a psychiatrist in India will heal millions of schizophrenics in a country where it can take over 100 years for the government alone to treat the mentally-ill.

"From London with love, a doctor's message home" is a documentary film based on Ahir Bhairab (Songs of the Dawn). It is also the first Assamese drama to be filmed in England. The 26-minute documentary portrays the pain of schizophrenics, create awareness among the people and shows that mental illness is totally curable," said Pankaj Thakur, writer of Ahir Bhairab.

Ahir Bhairab, a film on schizophrenics, was also produced by Sarma and the film was a prize winner of the New York Film Festival. The film Ahir Bhairab has been accepted by the British Film Institute.

Mary And Her Idyll Mom

By Shivani Naik

Mumbai She's visibly uncomfortable in these surroundings - the blast of AC for starters, then the sheer number of people milling about in this Mumbai suburban hotel -- a far blaring cry from the laconic peace of the Manipur hills where she comes from. All these years, she hardly found an occasion to leave her idyllic home, let alone speak more than half a dozen sentences to inquisitive strangers. For Akham Kom, an invitation to Mumbai to attend a sponsor event with a mum-theme alongside daughter Mary Kom - who has now trained herself to speak those more than half a dozen sentences, thanks to posers on her punches - is quite a unique experience. One she might want to get used to, for the organisers are facilitating the reticent mum's presence in London where Mary Kom - should she qualify for the Olympics - will fight for a medal when women's boxing debuts at the quadrennial.

Dramatic sacrifices aren't a part of this tale, and the mother doesn't hog even a shred of credit for what her now-famous daughter achieved, or tom-tom about her own contribution. She barely understands boxing, though in recent years, while watching a movie on the sport she is prone to excitedly jump and point out a hook or an uppercut, and wait for her daughter's wry affirmation. Yet in her routine day-to-day plodding to provide the basics for her children including the famed eldest lies the story of unquestioned support for an Indian woman athlete, who London or not, has emerged the most-recognisable boxing figure for this nation.

It's an oft-quoted story of how Mary's father opposed her taking up the duelling sport; that's just half the legend. For when push came to shove, nay, a punch - and he finally relented, he did all that he could to support her: going up in the hills to bring cattle to sell to a slaughterhouse, and disappear for months deep down in the forested valleys looking to collect saleable timber. Akham Kom, as Mary says now, did the crucial bit of letting her daughter pursue precisely what she pleased. To be sure, boxing wasn't the most natural option for girls in her growing-up years. The mother simply followed football as most Manipuris do, but more so enjoyed the one sport that Manipuris rever - Kang. It's a sport that accompanies Manipuri New Year's day celebration where a 'Kang' - flat, oblong ring of lac or ivory is thrown at targets, and engaged in in the backyards in congenial groups. There's much merriment to it, and also some superstitions. So nothing could have prepared Mary's family for their daughter sneaking out, donning oversized gloves and occasionally punching a few boys in the face.

"My mother had no idea of women learning boxing. But whatever my interest, she supported," Mary remembers. Now a mother of twins herself, Mary is doubly reliant on Akham Kom to tend to the kids. "She takes care of them since I can't be home always. And she's told me to focus on competition only," the 28-year-old adds. There was something even more elementary that Mary learnt from her mum. "She taught me hard work," she says. A life of hardships in Manipur was par for the rough course, but it still needed some rule-setting in the house that saw all children share responsibility, irrespective of the gender. "She was always like a boy," Akham remembers, adding, "but she would do every work that a girl would do at home, and also what the men were expected to." Mary still cleans her house, scrubs, cooks and washes, when at home in Manipur.

The mother is appreciative of her daughter's determination. "Once she decided she wanted to do something, she wouldn't let anything come in her way," she recalls.

It wasn't just when the father found out, and threw a giant fit - eventually making peace with his daughter's wishes. Akham had to bear the sniggers of the neighbours too. "They would earlier make fun of my boxing. And mum would get very, very angry. So both of us without saying much to each other I knew I had to prove a point," Mary recalls.

"We were against it initially, but Mary promised that she would not burden us with the costs," the mother, recalls. "She told us that when her friends would spend Rs 10, she would only spend Rs 5.. we had told her earlier on that we might not be able to support her financially. But eventually I decided to support her because she was really keen," says Akham, sitting ramrod straight in her chair, a few inches taller than Mary, looking fit enough to pass off as her sister. As she instinctively puts her arm around Mary's shoulder while pictures are taken, never once preening, nor posing, the frame has the likeness of a family portrait not quite the glitzy Mumbai showy photo-op.

She's watched her fight once in 2006 at the Worlds in Talkatora stadium in Delhi, but never abroad. The sponsor event - happily - is the first time in 2-3 months that mother and daughter meet, owing to Mary's strict training stints, cocooned as she is in Patiala or Pune.

Life's changed at home, but not her mother's blinking eyes everytime one of Mary's opponents have a go at her in the ring, when her meets get televised. "Dad's not afraid, mom always scared. Though she's trying to get interested now. She keeps praying for me," Mary points out. Watching her mother cringe when bouts get a tad aggressive has been easy to comprehend now that Mary herself leaps out protectively when her own kids fight. She claims she will not encourage them to take up her craft. "I don't think I want my kids to take up boxing. I don't know how I took to it!" Mary wonders. "It's very hard," she adds softly, "When winning also, you get punched!" she laughs.

Mary - in the course of her five world championship titles - has borne all manners of punches descending on her, since she moved from 46kg to 48 and eventually 51kg now. "I'm in good shape now. There's always pressure on me. But boxers from other countries are a little scared of me," she says, not quite giving away her exact state of mind ahead of the Olympic qualifiers next month. She's up against a very competitive field in clinching her passage to London, and visibly nervous. Thankfully some things will remain unchanged. " Like the eromba my mother cooks. It's the best," Mary says, dropping all her worries briefly as she thinks of the spicy, soft vegetable stew with a smattering of red chillies - a little like her own game, and finally her personality, which she claims is a more talkative reflection of her mother's.