Meghalaya Scripts History

Home portfolio for woman minister, budget session from tomorrow

By Andrew W. Lyngdoh

Shillong, March 12: Meghalaya has scripted history yet again as the state will, for the first time, have a woman minister to head the crucial home (police) department.

Meghalaya chief minister Mukul M. Sangma has allotted the crucial department to Roshan Warjri, Congress legislator representing North Shillong constituency.

Warjri is also perhaps the first woman in Northeast and eastern India to hold the vital department.

Andhra Pradesh, which is also ruled by the Congress, has a woman home minister in P. Sabitha Indra Reddy.

Moreover, apart from the home (police) department, the veteran politician from North Shillong will also take charge of home (jails) and the Public Works Department (buildings) departments.

In the earlier Meghalaya United Alliance (MUA) ministry, veteran Congress leader H.D.R. Lyngdoh was the in charge of the home (police) department.

However, in the new ministry, Lyngdoh has lost both the home (police) and the PWD (roads) departments.

The PWD (roads) department has been allotted to the youngest member of the cabinet and new entrant, Sniawbhalang Dhar, a two-time Congress legislator representing Nartiang constituency.

Lyngdoh will now handle the transport, general administration department, district council affairs and cooperation.

Awards announced

Gary Jarman Lamare, who conquered Mount Everest last year, will be awarded the U Kiang Nangbah award for sports by the Meghalaya government.

To 30-year-old Shillongite, a photographer with Discovery channel, became the first individual from Meghalaya to summit Mount Everest on May 25, 2012.

Accompanying nine members of the Army Adventure Wing, Gary, a resident of Lower Lachaumiere in Shillong, scaled the peak in the early hours.

U Kiang Nangbah award for sports is one of the three Meghalaya Day awards conferred by the state government on achievers.

For the U Tirot Sing award for arts and literature, the state government has chosen Streamlet Dkhar, Khasi poet and author. Meghalaya Parents’ Association for the Disabled (MEPAD) general secretary Belbora Wankhar, and Col (retd) Tauro Ignatius Donald will share the Pa Togan Sangma award for social service.

The awards carry a citation along with cash of Rs 1 lakh each.

The decisions were taken this evening in the first meeting of the Meghalaya United Alliance (MUA) cabinet under the chairmanship of chief minister Mukul Sangma.

Budget session: The maiden budget session of the ninth Meghalaya Assembly will be held from Thursday and continue till March 22. After a brief recess, the session will resume from April 8 and will continue till April 18.

The cabinet today approved the text of the Governor’s address, which will be delivered by Governor R.S. Mooshahary on the opening day of the budget session.

Hmar Inpui Tells Gas Explorers To Pack Up

Imphal, Mar 13 : Pointing out that the on-going oil and gas exploration activities undertaken by Asian Oils Private Limited under Jubilant Oil and Gas Private Limited in Hmarram of Churachandpur districts of Manipur has not benefited the indigenous land owners and settlers in anyway and will not do so in the future, the Hmar Inpui (Hmar Supreme House) General headquarters has decided to ban all activities taken up by the companies.

This was decided during the first executive meeting of Hmar Inpui, General Headquarters (2013-2015) held at its Head Office in Rengkai, Churachandpur on March 2 last, said a statement issued by the Hmar Inpui today.

Further, the Hmar Inpui urged the concerned companies to cease all activities, pack their bags and leave the land without any further delay.

The indigenous Hmar peoples will try its level best to see that the machines of the companies are safe in their lands and will see that it is with the owners as soon as possible, the Hmar Inpui statement issued by general secretary, David Buhril and President Dr John Pulamte said.

The Hmar Inpui in particular and the Hmar peoples in general will not have any say or responsibility on the life and security of shirker of this decision and appeal, it added.

Have More Kids, Mizo Church Tells Couples

Aizawl, Mar 12 : The 45th general conference of the Presbyterian Church Women Wing being held at the Republic Veng locality in Aizawl passed a resolution that an awareness campaign advocating women to conceive more children should be launched.

The delegates of the general conference on Saturday decided that the matter should be taken up by the central committee of the Kohhran Hmeichhia or the Women Wing and prepare the detailed programme.

The agenda was initiated by Bungkawn and Bawngkawn Pastoral women wings and they said all Mizo couples should be encouraged to have more children and added that poor couples who have more children should be provided some assistance.

Earlier, the Presbyterian Church leaders have issued statements encouraging Mizo couples to bear more children and the womenfolk seemed to have taken the cue by adopting the resolution.

Though it might be in contravention to the national family planning policy, church leaders have always propounded the concept of multiplying in accordance with the teachings of the Bible in the Old Testament.

They claimed that physical increase in population would lessen the risk of being assimilated by larger communities surrounding the small Christian-dominated state and that economically it would be more advantageous as more Mizo workforce would be produced.

The delegates of the conference also adopted an agenda that decent dress should be formulated for the bride and the bridesmaid during church wedding and the matter was handed over to the central committee.

Mizo Miscreants Blow Up Assam School

Silchar, Mar 11 : In a fallout of the boundary dispute between Assam and Mizoram, suspected Mizo miscreants on Saturday night blew up an Assam government-run lower primary school at remote Kachurthal village near the interstate border under Katlicherra block of Hailakandi district.

A senior police officer said two RCC buildings of Muliala LP School were completely damaged in the blast, triggered by suspected Mizoram-based miscreants. However, there was no report of any loss of life as the blast took place about 11.30pm. The miscreants used explosive materials meant for blasting rocks to carry out the blast, said the officer.

The school, located near the Mizoram border, was hit by a similar blast triggered by miscreants last year, causing damage to the building. The state government later reconstructed the school under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.

Soon after the blast, police and CRPF men from the nearby Ramnathpur police station rushed to the spot and launched an operation to nab the culprits. Cops and locals helped douse the fire caused by the blast.

However, no arrests were made till Sunday evening. Deputy commissioner (Hailakandi) J Balaji and SP Brojenjit Sinha visited the blast spot, 140km from here, on Sunday noon to take stock of the situation. Investigation is on to nab those responsible.

Sources said boundary dispute between the neighbouring states has been a contentious issue for the past many years. In 2007, Mizos formally claimed that Kachurthal village, an area 7km inside Hailakandi under the Assam forest department, is within the boundary of Mizoram. They were opposed to construction of the LP school in question by Assam government.

Assam Police and CRPF intensified vigil along the Mizoram border following Saturday night's incident. Assam and Mizoram share a 119-km interstate border—Hailakandi district shares 80 km and Cachar district 39 km.

According to the state minister for border area development, Siddeq Ahmed, Mizoram has grabbed 1,000 hectare of Assam land over the years. Assamese villagers living in the area said Mizo miscreants collect 'taxes' from the villagers living in the Assam area, and if they fail to pay, the Mizo miscreants take away their belongings.

In 2006, Mizo miscreants dismantled an autorickshaw stand belonging Assamese owners which was well inside Assam territory near Virengti. In April 2005, an armed mob from Mizoram had torched at least 18 houses at Kanglei Punjee and Twipra Punjee villages in Cachar. In December of the same year, Mizo miscreants torched two Assam forest department's watch towers at Kachurthal. After it was reconstructed, they once again blew up a forest department watchtower at Kachurthal in 2009. Earlier in 2004, the Mizoram government demolished an Assam Police camp in Gollacherra forest, which they said was on the wrong side of the border.

The border dispute is a result of a disagreement on the notifications issued under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulations, 1873, and the clarification of Inner-line Reserved Forests on the border areas between the two states.

Arunachal Keeps Hunting

By Nandini Velho

The nature of tribal hunting has changed over the years in Arunachal Pradesh. Earlier it was done for cultural reasons, meat, recreation and retaliation. Nandini Velho now finds the market deciding the fate of wild animals in the State

While Wangta Sagrisow (name changed) talked wistfully about how he had missed a tiger, he had a whole repertoire of stories about the forests and their animals that kept me gripped. So we continued to chat, although my questionnaire interview that aimed to understand the hunting patterns of different tribes in Arunachal Pradesh was long done. Now, as a 68-year-old man, he spends a substantial amount of time looking out of the balcony and into the happenings of his town.

Wangta was once a hunter, who only stopped hunting because of the vagaries of age. We lost no time as he excitedly flipped through my field guides and animal photographs, rehashing memories and contexts about hunting. His gripping narrative was complemented by quick dashes into the kitchen, from where he emerged with a new artefact or two to illustrate his stories in the flesh. He showed me a piece of porcupine stomach which is believed to cure stomach ailments. On another such dash he couldn’t find a piece of bear gall bladder, believed to treat dysentery and tuberculosis. In this case it was given away to a sick family member — usually it would have made its way to the market for the wildlife trade.

Wangta and older hunters grew up to a different kind of relationship with animals, especially with respect to trade. He doesn’t remember such a rampant bear gall bladder trade as exists today, but he once traded a sambar stag horn for a piece of prized Assam silk. However, another middle-aged hunter described in detail his observations of the rarely seen but highly traded scaly anteater, also known as the pangolin. Based on his detailed descriptions, the forests around Pakke Tiger Reserve are likely to be home to the Chinese pangolin as well as the Indian pangolin. Although the Indian pangolin would be a new mammal species recorded in the list of the tiger reserve, we know as little about its life as the threats it faces. After he found out that the trader from Assam sold each pangolin scale for Rs20 (on an average an adult pangolin has 900-1,000 scales), he ruefully told me that he sold the entire skin for just Rs400.

It seemed spending time doing interviews was far too trivial compared with the prospect of indulging in wildlife trade. Hunters and people in the village would often approach us with business propositions related to medicinal plant trade or placing orders for the most wanted species. After being interviewed, or even halfway through a few interviews, a few left mildly annoyed and disappointed.

Some things have remained constant — in part. Across time and space, there has been a marked dietary preference for barking deer meat. Then, they were killed and shared with relatives, but are now sold in the market for a modest amount of Rs150 per kg. While Wangta had killed only 25 barking deer in his lifetime, data from my study shows that other hunters were far more prolific. For example, the barking deer toll per hunter went up to as much as 100.

When the war with China broke out in 1962, Wangta was only 18 years old. He remembers that then one kg of potatoes was just Rs1.30. The potatoes he grew were supplied to all government officers around. This helped him raise money for a shop he planned to open — the first in the village. Today, government officers stationed in these areas are one of the major consumers of the wild meat from ever-dwindling forests, while potatoes and other groceries come from many places.

From these same forests, some species such as marbled cats, clouded leopards and leopard cats were not hunted before. They were considered to be closely related to the revered tiger, as tigers and humans are believed to have shared ancestry in the folklore of Wangta’s tribe. The religious ceremony to atone for killing a tiger is elaborate — hunters who have killed a tiger have to live on the roof of their house till the shaman allows them to re-enter. In death, this is still remembered. The approach to a tomb-stone has more steps built if a person has murdered a human being or killed a tiger, to make it difficult for the victims’ spirits to climb to the tomb when they seek retribution. Although Wangta had missed killing a tiger, others were willing to endure these rituals, especially if the animal had targeted their livestock. He had killed six marbled cats, some of which came for his chickens, but others just for sport — he had not consumed the meat.

The subtlety of hunting for cultural reasons, meat, recreation, retaliation and not hunting is less apparent now. As one hunter observed: “You kill and eat whatever you get unless there is a market for it.” But the future stills holds many uncertainties.

Before leaving, I decided to spend some time and look out from the balcony with Wangta. He pointed to a man working in the field — his son was the only child who had survived from three marriages and 14 kids. In retrospect, he believed that he lost so many children as retribution for hunting too much. His son, he explained, was now a Christian and did not know much about taboos or hunting. He will probably not be able to hunt a tiger in his lifetime as well; but for more than one reason — there might be none left.

The writer is a PhD student from James Cook University, Australia and a research associate with National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore. She thanks Bikram Aditya Roy and Vineeta Rao for assistance in the field

Mizoram Facing Acute Power Shortage

Aizawl, Mar 11 :  Mizoram has been reeling under acute shortage of electricity and the state today could draw between 25 to 40 megawatt of power even as the energy demand was at least 80 megawatt.

Officials at the State Load Despatch Centre (SLDC) said that the power shortage was due to less electricity being produced by the hydro electric projects in the north east as the dry spell continued.

The officials said that most of the villages in the state were without power most of the time and they were forced to undertake perpetual load-shedding in the urban areas due to the huge power scarcity.

The load-shedding period ranged from one hour to two hours and even longer in some places when the power received from outside was extremely low.

The only hydro power in the state to produce power was the 12-megawatt Serlui ‘B’ Hydel Project which produced between two to seven megawatts due to the fact that one turbine was not functioning and there were less water in the dam.

Mizoram Seized Arms Came From Myanmar

Guwahati, Mar 11 : Two days after a huge consignment of arms and ammunition were seized by the Assam Rifles on the outskirts of Aizawl following a tip-off from the Tripura Police, sleuths have confirmed that it had originated in Myanmar and was heading for Bangladesh for use by a breakaway faction of the Shanti Bahini there.

"Interrogations have revealed that the consignment had come from Myanmar through the international boundary in Champhai district in eastern Mizoram, and would have been smuggled out to Bangladesh through Tripura had we not been able to intercept it on time," Mizoram SP, CID (Crime) Joseph Lalchhuana told The Indian Express from Aizawl.

While the police first recovered 23 AK rifles, one Combat Browning Automatic Rifle (CBAR), one 5.56 Automatic Light Machine Gun, 86 rounds of AK-47 ammunition, 67 rounds of CBAR ammunition, 24 rounds of 5.56 automatic weapon ammunition and 30 magazines on Friday, a second operation led to eight AK 47, three magazines and 632 rounds of CBAR on Saturday. Both the recoveries were made from a private farmhouse near Lengpui airport in Aizawl.

This is the first time in recent years that such a huge consignment of illegal arms and ammunition has been seized in Mizoram. In March last year Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla had expressed concern over the state's "porous" international borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh remaining prone to a host of illegal activities, including smuggling of weapons.

"Mizoram shares 722-km long porous international borders with Bangladesh and Myanmar and free movement regime is allowed along this 404-km Indo-Myanmar border. This 404-km Indo-Myanmar unfenced border is characterised by inhospitable terrain covered with dense canopy," Lal Thanhawla had said at the Internal Security Conference of chief ministers in New Delhi last year.

Lalchhuana said four persons have been arrested. Three of them are Bangladeshi nationals who had sneaked into India through south Tripura. "While the three had come to Mizoram and had already made payment for the arms, we are still working on identifying the group that had brought the consignment from Myanmar to Aizawl," the SP said.

The three Bangladeshi nationals — Rabi Chakma, Sabuj Chakma and Mani Tripura — arrested in Aizawl confessed they were members of a breakaway faction of the Shanti Bahini, the armed wing of the Parbattya Chattogram Jana Sanghati Samiti (PCJSS), a Chakma tribal group based in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh.

AAI To Handle Mizoram’s Lengpui Airport

Aizawl, Mar 11 :  Mizoram’s lone Lengpui Airport, the only state-owned airport in the country, would soon be in the hands of the Airport Authority of India (AAI), state civil aviation officials said today.

Saidenga, the Assistant Director of the civil aviation told PTI that the Airport Authority of India (AAI) has, in principle, agreed to take over the Lengpui Airport from the Mizoram government.

“However, many things are yet to be accomplished before the final hand over which is expected after a few months,” Saidenga said adding that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) would also be signed by the state government with the AAI.

He said that the airport, inaugurated in December 1998 by the then Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani, has become old and required huge expenses for repair and renovation and the state government would benefit from the changing of hands which would include maintenance, upkeep, functioning and security of the airport.

He expressed hope that the airport would function better under the AAI as many glitches were there due to communication gap and red-tappism between the state and AAI.