Mizoram Gas Crisis Limited To Aizawl

Aizawl, Mar 23 : The menace of cooking gas crisis in Mizoram is limited to the state capital Aizawl only while the rural areas are getting normal supply, officials disclosed today.

To mitigate the kitchen fuel shortage in Aizawl, a meeting of top officials here today decided that even those who were issued cooking gas cylinder from the emergency quota from the government should produce LPG consumer card and would be issued only after 15 days from the last time the consumer lifted his LPG cylinder.

The meeting, chaired by chief minister Lal Thanhawla, also decided that surprise checks should be conducted on hotels and restaurant to ensure that only commercial gas cylinders are used in the business establishments.

It also decided that surprise check be conducted on the LPG agents and distributors by a team of magistrate and IOC officials. The meeting also observed that the availability of cooking gas in the black market at anytime indicated some irregularities in the distribution system.

The meeting also expressed grave concern over multiple connections by a single family. According to the records of the state's food, civil supplies & consumer affairs department, there are currently 2.3 lakh LPG consumers in the state for which IOC allocates an average of about 1.2 lakh cylinders a month.

Given the fact that there are 221,077 households in Mizoram according to Census 2011 of which 52.5 percent use LPG for cooking and 44.5 percent still use firewood, a good number of families have multiple connections. The issue was raised by some journalists during a recent TV talk show on the LPG crisis.

Mr Lal Thanhawla reiterated that the cooking gas crisis is not only a national but an international phenomenon.

Even then, the Mizoram had constantly urged the IOC to hike the state's quota. He said if the state's quota is even distributed there would be no such serious shortage. The meeting was attended by food, civil supplies & consumer affairs minister H Rohluna and senior officials of the department.

India’s Human Rights Record To Face Scrutiny

India could face questions at UNHRC on issues ranging from AIDS stigma to religious freedom
By Elizabeth Roche

India’s human rights record will be scrutinized this week with UN member countries expected to quiz the world’s largest democracy on issues including the award of the death penalty, discrimination against minorities, action taken against bonded labour and manual scavenging, at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva.

The once in four years’ scrutiny of India’s human rights record will take place on Thursday. The last examination of India’s rights record under the process known as “Universal Periodic Review” (UPR) took place in 2008.

Other countries whose human rights records will also be up for scrutiny include Algeria, Bahrain Brazil, Indonesia, Britain and South Africa. The review, which started on Monday, will be done by the 47 members of the UNHRC, which includes India’s neighbours Bangladesh, China and the Maldives besides Austria, Norway and the US.

India will be represented by a multi-ministerial delegation headed by attorney general G.E. Vahanvati, said a person familiar with the development.

According to preliminary information, Pakistan is not yet listed among the speakers at India’s review. The Indian government does not anticipate any uncomfortable questions over alleged human rights abuses in Kashmir, the subject of friction between the South Asian neighbours. India and Pakistan have started on a slow process of mending ties after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

“India is confident about its rights’ record. We don’t have anything to hide or defend,” said the person cited above.

“The report is only recommendatory in nature. It is not binding. There is no voting involved and no resolution that India will have to accept,” said the person, adding that the recommendations made in the 2008 review were not fully accepted by the Indian government either.

Still, India could face a number of uncomfortable questions—from steps taken to prevent torture and stigma against HIV/AIDS infected people to ensuring religious freedom, according to a list of queries from countries including Germany and Britain that has been emailed to Mint by the Working Group on Human Rights (WGHR), a group of voluntary and non-governmental organizations that has prepared its own report on rights issues in India.

The WGHR report will be one of the three looked into by the UNHRC members, the others being those presented by the Indian government and the National Human Rights Commission. Other queries that India could face include steps to prevent discrimination against religious minorities, communal violence, declining sex ratio and protection of children’s rights.

“This kind of a review is unacceptable given that we are a democracy and we have been recognized the world over for our credentials,” said former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal. “That India needs to explain itself on human rights is unnecessary given that we have an open system of functioning, a very active civil society and a wide consensus on how to deal with issues.”

In its report, the government has listed laws and legislation passed by Parliament to protect women’s and children’s rights, efforts to bring transparency in governance and protect human rights—especially in insurgency affected areas. On repealing controversial laws that empower the country’s security forces with special powers to combat insurgency, the government report said that these measures were necessary to deal with security challenges. Repealing the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act has been a contentious issue in India with the armed forces opposed to it—specially in dealing with insurgency in Kashmir and Manipur.

Junior home minister Jitendra Singh told Parliament on Tuesday in a written reply that 344 people have been killed because of communal violence in India since 2009.

“We are an open book. In a democracy, little can be hidden,” said the person cited above.

But adverse observations by the WGHR and the NHRC could make the going tough for India in Geneva.

The government report “lacks critical analysis of the actual realization of rights and implementation of laws and schemes in India,” said Enakshi Ganguly Thukral, whose group HAQ is part of the WGHR and looks into child rights’ violations. A WGHR statement said that background documents prepared for the review “point towards serious failures of the state in promoting and protecting human rights.”

Forced acquisition of land for industrialization had displaced and dispossessed a large number of India’s tribals, the statement said, adding that “economic growth is taking place by destroying livelihoods and further impoverishing the most marginalized groups.”

Lawyer Vrinda Grover, member of the WGHR, expressed concern over excessive powers to security personnel in India’s insurgency affected areas like Kashmir and the North-East, holding it responsible for human rights violations and deterring any political dialogue in the “disturbed areas”. Concerns have also been expressed about the rights of Dalits. Though India has an affirmative action programme to empower Dalits, the government has failed to implement the policy, the WGHR release said.

Some of these concerns were also reflected in the NHRC report that also spoke of others—overcrowded prisons, complaints against India’s police forces and bureaucracy for abuse of power and abysmal child and maternal care.

“Given the enormous human rights challenges faced by India, the second UPR offers a major opportunity for India to admit its shortcomings, move from a defensive to a constructive engagement with the UN,” said Miloon Kothari, who heads the WGHR. “It is our hope that the recommendations emanating from this (second) UPR will assist India in moving in the urgently required new direction.”

The Indian Obsession With Fairer Skin Sinks To A New Low

By Amrit Dhillon

The fairness cream industry is gigantic.

A new vagina lightening cream is helping peddle self-hatred to women.

THE Indian obsession with fair skin has always been a distasteful phenomenon. The fairness cream industry is gigantic, with men as well as women lathering these silly potions on their faces to make their skin a few shades lighter.

Pregnant women in rural areas believe they will give birth to light-skinned babies if they consume lots of ''white'' dairy products such as milk, cream, yoghurt, and butter. Dark models and actresses struggle for work as their skin isn't regarded as desirable.

Now an Indian company has taken this bizarre self-hating obsession to a new level with a ''feminine'' hygiene product that not only promises to keep a woman's genitalia ''fresh'' but also lighten the skin around the vagina.

The television ad for Clean & Dry Intimate Wash shows an attractive, modern woman sitting at home looking wistful. Her partner (presumably her husband) is in the same room and seems to be ignoring her.

The next scene shows her in the shower, where a piece of animation shows the unsightly brown hue around her crotch (blurred mercifully) giving way to a lighter flesh colour.

In the next scene, the partner is far more interested in her and the newly confident woman, now in shorts and looking flirtatious, grabs his car keys, puts them in her pocket and invites him to give chase.

He responds by lifting her into his arms lovingly. Clearly all is well between them now that her vagina is lighter skinned. Online, the advert reads: ''Life for women will now be fresher, cleaner and more importantly fairer and more intimate.''

This fairness mania maddens me. If some Jews used to suffer self-hatred, at least you knew it was because previous generations had undergone persecution for centuries. If some African Americans used to have low esteem and tried to lighten their skin and straighten their hair, at least you knew that a history of slavery must have cast a shadow on their confidence.

But what can explain this Indian hatred of the colour of their own skin? Yes, I know that the British Raj was white, but Mughal rule in India lasted much longer and the Mughals were not white, so the ''colonial complex'' theory doesn't quite do the job.

If the theory were correct, Indians would hanker after slanted eyes as the Mughals were Mongols from Central Asia, but Indians refer to their own people from the north-east disparagingly as ''chinky-eyed''.
What is so repugnant about this product is that it is guilty of a double self-hatred - of race and gender. Indian women should be ashamed of their dark skin and, as women, should be ashamed of genitalia that is dark and, presumably, unappealing.

In the West a couple of decades ago, companies tried to peddle a nefarious vaginal spray to keep a woman's private parts fresh. Doctors and feminists pointed out that a daily shower or bath was all a woman needed to be fresh.

In any case, why did the man not need sprays to keep his organ fragrant? And why has no one manufactured a ''skin-tightening'' product to improve the turkey giblets look of male genitalia?

Mercifully, the Indian product has become controversial and Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni (a woman), has asked the Advertising and Standards Council of India to ban it.

Women's groups have been outraged and vocal about the product. As one woman wrote online: ''This is the ultimate insult - skin whitening for your vagina.''

But I wonder how it got this far? You wonder why the advertising team had no doubts about it.

Why no one at the company wondered if such a product was insulting to women. Why the actor and the actress in the ad failed to realise that the idea they were peddling was noxious.

It's bad enough that fairness cream ads make it seem as though a dark-skinned woman will never have a career or get a husband until she is fairer.

But to sell something which is so utterly misogynistic - that hoary stuff that feminism had to fight, about female genitalia somehow being dirty and repulsive, which is why European art for centuries showed women with no pubic hair - shows an astounding degree of ignorance about how the world has moved on from such backward notions.

It is really time for Indians to change their attitude towards their own skin. Just as African Americans launched a Black is Beautiful campaign in the US, so India needs a similar self-affirming movement. Fast.

Amrit Dhillon is a freelance journalist based in New Delhi.

Manipur, Kerala Qualify for Santosh Trophy Semifinals

Cuttack, May 23 : Kerala qualified for the semifinals after notching up a 3-1 victory over Maharashtra in the 66th Santosh Trophy National Football Championships at the Barabati Stadium on Tuesday.

Kerala came from behind to beat Maharashtra 3-1 to top the Group A Quarterfinal round. After this win, Kerala finished on seven points from three matches while Maharashtra ended on six points.

Maharashtra, who won their first two matches and needed a draw to make it to the last four, took the lead in the 8th minute with Kailash Patil converting from the spot. But Kerala hit back soon as Sujit equalised in the 17th minute.

In the second half, Kannan scored twice to seal the issue for Kerala. He scored his first in the 72nd minute and then put it beyond Maharashtra's reach scoring in the 81st minute.

In the Group B decider at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Manipur played a 2-2 draw with Goa and advanced to the semifinal piping Goa on better goal difference.

Both teams finished on 7 points from 3 ties but Manipur had better goal difference (+7) in comparison to Goa's (+3).

For Manipur, Thoi Singh scored the first goal in the 19th minute which was neutralized by Gabriel Fernandes in the 26th minute. Prathesh Shirodkar put Goa in the lead in 45th minute but Govin Singh restored parity in the 70th minute.

Meanwhile, defending champions West Bengal, who had earlier bowed out of the tournament, defeated Punjab 2-1 in their last Group League match.

After Gurmeet Singh (16th minute) put Punjab in the lead, Mohd Mukhtar and Tapan Maity scored one apiece for West Bengal in the 17th and the 87th minute.

West Bengal finished on four points from 3 matches while Punjab couldn't open their account.

In an inconsequential match, Meghalaya beat Uttar Pradesh 3-0. Ronnie scored the first goal for Meghalaya in the 7th minute, while Bansharai doubled the score in the 18th minute. Timmy Ryngkhlem scored the third goal in the 82nd minute.

Meghalaya finished on three points from three matches while Uttar Pradesh lost all their matches.

Hmar Refugees 'Protected' As Per Rule Book: Mizoram

Aizawl, May 22 : The Mizoram government today clarified that the Hmar refugees, who took Shelter in the state in the wake of ethnic violence in Assam during past two years, were given protection as per "standard operation procedure".

The government's statement was in reaction to reports in some vernacular dailies that the displaced Hmars were denied job cards under the NREGS, which sparked off a hot debate in the social networking sites as the Hmars belong to Mizo tribes.

According to the official statement, 39 Hmar families living along Jatinga (Assam) to Bairabi (Mizoram) railway fled to Mizoram during October 14-17, 2011.

While some families were given shelter in makeshift camps in Bairabi, some families stayed with their relatives in other villages.

"Besides giving them free ration, the Mizoram government also provided them with special scheme of daily employment," the statement said.

"However, as the internally displaced people are supposed to be enrolled in the electoral roll and have job cards in their own state, the Mizoram government barred them from getting every facility it provides to the citizens," it added.

As normalcy returned to the Dima Hasao district, all the refugees returned to their homes by October 24 last year, said the government's release.

The government made it clear that there is an all India standard operation procedure to deal with internally displaced persons, and it is under this procedure that the Tripura government has been treating the Bru refugees from Mizoram during the last 14 years.

The Bru refugees were never given job cards by the Tripura government, it said.

It also made it a point that many Hmar families who fled their home states of Manipur and Assam following communal conflicts during the period of 1990 to 2003 have permanently settled in different villages and towns in Mizoram. Understanding their situation, the Mizoram government has never made any attempt to send them back. On the contrary, it treats them equally with the permanent citizens of Mizoram, the statement said.

It's Been Difficult To Reach The Olympics: Mary Kom

By Ismat Tahseen

India's entrant, boxer Mary Kom, chats with BT on finally making her dream come true. India's entrant, boxer Mary Kom, chats with BT on finally making her dream come true.

Mary Kom aka Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom is about to do what no other Indian woman has done before. She's got an Olympic berth (for the first time women's boxing will be included in the programme), making her India's official hope for a gold medal.

Speaking to BT, the 29-year-old who returned on Sunday night from China after competing at the Women's World Boxing Championship event - the only Olympics qualifier for women's boxing - Mary is counting the days to the London extravaganza.

"I don't know yet if I shall be at the inauguration or just go for my event, but I'm thrilled either way," she said.

"It's been difficult to reach here but I'm proud. I hope that I can inspire women in India. We can do much for the sport if the ministry and federation provide the right facilities," she says.

For the first time, she will be taking on the 51-kilo category, having won her last world titles at 48kg. But there is no case of nerves. "I'm not scared, I can face anything, so bring it on!" she laughs. What might worry Mary is when things take on an ugly turn. "Sometimes partiality surfaces, like when a referee might give points to say, a European side. That's why I pray hard the second I enter the ring. I find myself asking God for a fair bout; winning and losing is in His hands."

She knows a thing or two about overcoming pain and obstacles, having taken up boxing at 17 and faced several hardships along the way, with her training being managed by Olympic Gold Quest. Despite a two-year sabbatical (where she got married and had twins) some years ago, she came back to the ring to win two more world championships. In fact, her struggle is also going to be depicted in a movie soon. She affirms. "I am already in an agreement to make a movie on my life. They are finding an actress to play the part and I have heard Rani's name being floated; I wonder how she'll play Mary Kom!" she giggles.

She's also juggling between managing her boxing academy with husband Onler Kom back in Manipur and taking care of her little boys. "I don't want them to take up boxing ever," says the champion, her softer side coming through. "I don't want my kids getting hurt."

Santosh Trophy: Mizoram vs Tamil Nadu Clash Turns Violent

Bhubaneswar, May 22 : On-field violence left a player injured in a quarter-final match of the Santosh Trophy National Football Championship between Tamil Nadu and Mizoram at the Kalinga stadium here on Monday.

In the 53rd minute of the match in which Tamil Nadu beat Mizoram 4-3, the referee red-carded Mizo defender Lal Chhawn Kima for intentional hand-balling to save a free-kick off V R Murugappan of Tamil Nadu and awarded a penalty in favour of the opposition.

However, the Mizos protested the decision and pulled up the referee with abuse and virtually manhandling him. As Tamil Nadu players came in support of the referee, Mizos turned their ire on the opposition and were seen coming to blows in the middle.

In the melee, one Mizo player Lalbiakulua sustained bleeding injury on his nose after being allegedly thrashed by a Tamil Nadu player.

As violence took the centre stage, the play remained suspended for 10 minutes during which the injured player was administered first-aid.

Besides Murugappan and Kima, three others - R Naveen Kumar (Namil Nadu) and Lalrinfela and F Lalrinpuia (Mizoram) - were red-carded for indulging in violence.

Mizoram To Have Normal Gas Supply By Mid-June

Aizawl, May 21 : Mizoram will hopefully have normal gas supply by the middle of June, IOC officials said here today. Reiterating that the gas crisis is a national phenomenon, the IOC officials said that Mizoram is one of the least affected states.

While the shortfall in northern region as of May 3 came to 10828 metric tonnes; it was 6780 metric tonnes in western region, 36313 metric tonnes in southern region and 11677 metric tonnes in eastern region, they said.

"While the backlog in Assam was 5905 metric tonnes, it is 500 metric tonnes in Mizoram," an IOC official said during a meeting with Mizoram's food, civil supplies & consumer affairs minister H Rohluna at the latter's office. Shortage of LPG supply in the international market has bad affected India, they said.

Saudi Arabia's heavy reduction in its gas supply was said to be the major cause of the kitchen fuel's shortage.

India produces about six lakh metric tonnes of LPG against its requirement of seven lakh metric tonnes. The other factors behind the LPG shortage in Mizoram were the recent technical failures and fire that disrupted four oil refineries in the Northeast - Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL), Digboi Refinery, OIL Refinery Duliajan and Guwahati Refinery. NRL that produces 4000 metric tonnes of bulk LPG was closed from April 7 due to a fire incident. It is expected to reopen from June 15. The shortfall in bulk supply to Haldia port in West Bengal was also another factor. Rohluna requested the IOC officials to increase its allocation to Mizoram from 1650 metric tonnes to at least 2000 metric tonnes.

He said that due to the nation-wide shortage, IOC allocated only 1240 metric tonnes to Mizoram during April. Mizoram received 1698 metric tonnes in February and 1873 metric tonnes in March. The IOC officials promised to consider Mizoram's proposal to transfer LPG stock from Borkhola bottling plant in Assam to Mualkhang bottling plant near Aizawl to curb gas tampering on the road.

The IOC officials also granted transfer of consumer cards to 88 consumers in Khamrang village and several others in Aizawl who wanted to shift to a new distributor in Seling. Upgradation of Mualkhang gas bottling plant was also discussed during the meeting. From the IOC, A Panda, (executive director, Assam Oil Division), P Dey, (general manager, North East Integrated State Office), A C Sharma (deputy general manager, LPG) and M K K Peggoo (SDRSM, Silchar) attended the meeting.