Landslide cuts off Manipur from rest of India, supplies run out

By B M Sunzu


Imphal, Jul 24 : Manipur has once again been cut off from the rest of the country by road for the past one week. This time, it's a crippling landslide that has shut the only motorable highway into the state. Authorities say repairs will be extensive and time-consuming.

Heavy vehicles like trucks that carry essential supplies into the state are stranded in neighbouring Nagaland. This has led to crippling shortages, both in the state capital Imphal and other districts of the state.

This is a yearly routine in Manipur. In the past years, economic blockades on the state's only highway that connects the state to the rest of India led to massive shortage of essential supplies, including fuel and LPG cylinders, and even groceries.

This year the culprit is the massive landslide on the National Highway that connects Dimapur in Nagaland to Manipur's capital Imphal. Not a single truck has managed to pass through the highway since July 16. A way has been cleared though, for smaller vehicles.

Pramod Kumar Singh, an engineer at Border Roads Task Force, in-charge of the highway, says that the cut in the road is so deep that some land will have to be acquired for repair work and it will take time.

There is another road to Manipur via Assam. But most of it is broken down and hardly fit for even smaller vehicles to pass.

The Imphal valley is feeling the pinch the most. Be it petrol, LPG, rations, everything is in short supply in Imphal. The government says they are doing their best to resolve the crisis through urgent repairs, but on the ground people are already impatient.

Are the most dangerous waters in the world off the coast of Indonesia?

By Simone Foxman

Pirate busters. Reuters

 

The world is enjoying a decline in global piracy. By mid-last year, there were 177 attacks or attempted attacks on commercial vessels; this year there have been 138.

Forty-eight of those attacks happened off the coast of Indonesia, in some of the busiest shipping waters in the world. That’s more than double the number of attacks off the coast of any other country, and even then many incidents probably go unreported, according to a report from the ICC International Maritime Bureau. The second-highest number of attacks, 22, happened off the coast of Nigeria.

The statistic doesn’t necessarily make Indonesian waters the most dangerous in the world. The sheer number of attacks in Southeast Asia suggests that commercial vessels are prime targets and law enforcement is too weak to deter the attacks. But patrol boats have been successful at discouraging pirates from threatening ships in the Strait of Malacca, one of the fastest-growing shipping lanes in the world located off of Indonesia. The addition of those patrol boats has helped to reduce piracy attacks in the region.

Also, Southeast Asian pirates are less violent than those in Somalia and Nigeria. Typically armed with knives, machetes, and the occasional gun, these pirates typically stage dramatic robberies on commercial vessels, only occasionally involving armed assault.

Pirate attacks involving assault rifles are far more likely to occur in the Gulf of Guinea. The region has been beset by pirate attacks perpetrated mainly by Nigerians lately. According to the report:

Armed pirates in the Gulf of Guinea took 56 sailors hostage and were responsible for all 30 crew kidnappings reported so far in 2013. One person was reported killed and at least another five injured.

Meghalaya Governor drops 'His Excellency' Salutation Title

Shillong, Jul 24 : Meghalaya Governor Krishan Kant Paul has dropped the "His Excellency" honorific preceding his name for official purposes, a Raj Bhavan official said here on Tuesday.

"The Meghalaya governor has approved the discontinuance of the salutation 'His Excellency' while addressing him at functions within the state," Principal Secretary to the Governor M.S. Rao said. Rao, however, added that the salutation will not be dropped during the governor's interactions with foreign dignitaries.

Shortly after he was sworn in as the president in 2012, Pranab Mukherjee also decided to do away with titles like "His Excellency" and "Mahamahim".

Paul, a former commissioner of Delhi Police, took over as Meghalaya governor July 8.

Mizoram Government Mulling New Drug Policy To Counter Abuse

Aizawl, Jul 23 : After enacting the dry law in Mizoram 17 years ago, the state government is now mulling formulating a new drug policy to combat worsening drug abuse deaths even as social workers accuse the government of dragging its feet over putting the legislation in place. The existing drug laws in the state, including the Drugs and Cosmetic Act, 1940 and the Assam Drug (Control) Act, 1950, are found to be ineffective in tackling the problem and a weak deterrant.

According to official sources, 1,234 people have died in the state since 1984 till May 25, this year. The record maintained by the Excise and Narcotics Department said that of the dead, as many as 1,129 people lost their lives due to abuse of prominent painkillers available in the market.

A senior official of the department said that provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 cannot be used on the sale, possession or abuse of clinical drugs as they are manufactured legally,

"What we need is a stringent local law to combat the clinical drugs widely abused by the youths in the state which will provide harsher punishment," the official said.

Abuse of cough syrups sold over the counter killed around 20 people within two months spanning December, 2012 and January, 2013 while 87 heroin addicts have died since 1984.

Doctors say that some brands of cough syrup become fatal when being taken along with liquor or even wine made from grape.

Though Mizoram is one of the main conduits for trafficking of heroin from the Golden Triangal via Myanmar with which the state shares 404-km porous international border, the main killer of Mizo youths remains the clinical drugs smuggled from neighbouring states especially Assam.

The painkiller drugs become fatal when the youths peel off the capsules and inject the medicine powder into the veins, though the medicines are meant to be taken orally.

This leads to collapse of the veins and blockage of arteries which either kills the user or renders him physically handicapped.

Excise and Narcotics Commissioner, Lalbiakmawia Khiangte, says that more than 500 lakh tablets of a particular drug have been seized by the department officials since 2011 till date.

Officials of the state Drugs Control Administration have seized more than 6.3 lakh tablets during 2012-2013, according to Lalsawma Pachuau, Deputy Drugs Controller.

The main routes of the drugs, identified by the officials, are Delhi-Kolkata-Aizawl-Myanmar, Uttarakhand-Kolkata-Aizawl-Myanmar and Assam-Aizawl-Myanmar.

A government official, who does not want to be named, accuses the government of soft pedalling a strong legislation to effectively deal with the drug menace in the state.

"It may be that the powerful church and the NGOs are not pressuring the state government to enact effective law as they did to impose prohibition," he feels.

Social workers also lament that it took so long to legislate a local drug control law to tackle the drug menace in Mizoram, that also after more than a thousand people died due to abuse of clinical drugs smuggled from neighbouring state of Assam.

Paite Tribe Council Supports Hmar Peace Talks

Aizawl, Jul 23 : Paite Tribe Council (PTC) Mizoram Headquarters today stated that they supported the recently held talks between government of Mizoram and Hmar Peoples Convention-Democratic (HPC-D).

PTC asserted that they want all Mizo clans to share cordial relationship under the Mizo identity.

"In this connection, the recently held talks between the HPC-D and the government and the steps taken up by the state government in the area of Autonomous District Council will be an important mile stone for the unity of Mizoram and the Mizos," the Paite body stated.

Meanwhile, the present terms of Suspension of Operation (SoO) between the Hmar Peoples Concention-Democratic (HPC-D) and the government ends in July. The state government of Mizoram and HPC-D had held talks on July 18 but the outcome was not known.

Reports said the talks on the agenda of SoO extension were inconclusive and both the parties are likely to have another round of talks in the next few days. However, these reports were not confirmed officially. The last meeting between the HPC-D and the government was held in April.

 

Source: Newmai News Network

Fighting Drug Abuse in The Northeast With Music

In a step towards finding a lasting solution to the rampant problem of drug abuse in the country's northeast, a music album "7*7" featuring bands from the seven states of the region has been launched, a non-government organisation said Monday.

"Every third person in the region has been a drug addict at some point in his or her life. That is why we launched this unique project as this is an urgent cause," Khevito Elvis Lee, project manager of 'Be Aware, Support, Care and Inform' (BASIC) said.

"BASIC will organise a concert in November 2013 in Delhi, at which all the seven bands will perform to create awareness, especially among the youth," Khevito Elvis said.

The fund raised through the November concert would be used to support people in need, with a special focus on HIV+ orphans.

Elvis said the worst affected by the drug problem are often not just the victims themselves, but those close to them, especially their families.

"Drug use is rampant and growing among rural youth in the northeast. So we joined the cause, as music could be used constructively and leave a lasting impact on society," Houreilung of the band Alien Conspiracy Theory told us.

The album features Vinyl Records from Arunachal Pradesh, Axis from Assam, Alien Conspiracy Theory from Manipur, Frisky Pints from Mizoram, Afflatus from Meghalaya, Abiogenesis from Nagaland and Borkung Hrangkhawl from Tripura.

Reliance Jio Mulls 4G Rollouts In Assam

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance

Guwahati, Jul 23 : Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJIL), the telecom arm of Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries has started work for rolling out 4G networks services in two telecom services of Assam and Northeast which encompasses seven states.

Top company executives including Tarun Jhunjhunwala, business head and state mentor (east), Reliance Jio met Assam chief minister, Tarun Gogoi recently and informed him about the roll out plan of the fourth-generation services .

In the first phase the company will be investing around Rs 600 to Rs 700 Crore, which will be gradually scaled up. Mukesh Ambani had telephonic conversation with Gogoi and Ambani expressed his willingness to visit Assam shortly.

Gogoi while talking to ET exclusively said, "Ambani has informed me about his company's plan to come here in big way and roll out 4G services. This venture will create job opportunities for more than 3000 people."

He added that Ambani has expressed his desire to visit Assam. An RJIL official added that company has taken an office in Guwahati and recruited around 100 engineers to carry forward the roll out plan.

The official elaborated work of laying optical fiber network (OFC) work has started across the region.

"Around 800 mobile towers will be installed across Assam alone. We are expecting to finish this work by the year end or early next year and things will be ready for roll out by April next year."

Arunachal Pradesh governor calls for better chopper service

Itanagar, Jul 23 : Arunachal Pradesh Governor Lt Gen (Retd) Nirbhay Sharma has asked the Centre for introduction of more helicopter service in the land-locked state to ease out communication bottle necks.
Sharma during a meeting with Union Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh in New Delhi recently made this plea and discussed the overall civil aviation scenario and related projects coming up in different parts of the state, official sources informed in Itanagar today.

Wanting better helicopter service. Reuters

The governor asked Singh to expedite aviation projects in the state and restoration of Lilabari Airport. Sharma said that good air service from fully developed airport at Lilabari must be made operational on highest priority.
Calling for ensuring air connectivity to the state, Sharma said that due to its vastness and tough geographical terrain, Arunachal was largely dependent on helicopters, air services for connectivity. He requested for placing two helicopters at the disposal of the state government – one for
regular passenger service and the other for ration sorties.
On the aviation projects in the state, the governor said that the work progress of NEC funded Tezu Airport is slow.
“The Airport Authority of India (AAI) must be asked to speed up the work. Timely completion of this project will go a long way in improving the connectivity in Arunachal Pradesh,” sources added quoting the governor.
He also called for expediting works related to advance landing grounds (ALGs) and Greenfield Airport, sources added.