Rediscovering Ties - Northeast, Southeast Asia Bridge Gap With Cultural Festival

Guwahati, Feb 23 : Cultural troupes from northeast India and Southeast Asia, took part in a mega cultural event, 'Inter-Cultural Dialogue between Northeast India and South East Asia', which was organized here.

The workshop and Festival of Dance was jointly organized by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, North East Zone Culture Centre and Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakeshtra of Guwahati.

Cultural troupes from Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia, apart from local cultural troupes from Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Manipur, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Assam are participating in the cultural extravaganza.

The organizers say that the idea behind organizing such cultural event is to bridge the gap between northeast India and Southeast Asia, and rediscover old ties between them.

"We have the idea to erect a bridge in between northeast India and South-East Asia. So the cultural exchange between the South-East Asia and northeast India is an age-old relation, and that is what we are going to discover... the age-old relation," said Chabin Rajkhowa, Secretary, Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakeshetra, Guwahati.

Participants from the Southeast Asian countries said they were happy participating in the event.

"I am so happy, I feel very lucky to participate in this programme. Thank you for this chance. I hope we can come here again," said Niwaian Saniassey, a participant from Bali.

Local participants feel that the event would help in promoting peace and harmony.

"These kinds of cultural exchange programs are very important because that helps in bridging the gaps, and I think all we can say is we are thankful to all the organizers for making this event possible, and this will help in promoting peace and harmony," said Anwesha, a participant from Guwahati.

The programme that started in Guwahati, on February 21, will continue till March 12 at Nagaland state's capital Dimapur.

In between, the programme will be held in Shillong, Agartala and Imphal.

Helicopter Service Will Boost Mizoram Tourism, Governance

Aizawl, Feb 23 : Mizoram will introduce helicopter services in the mountainous northeastern state to not only take the administration into remote areas but also to boost tourism, officials said here Tuesday.

"Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla held a meeting last week with the top official of state-owned helicopter services company Pawan Hans. Another meeting between officials of the state government and Pawan Hans would be held to finalize the details of the chopper services," a senior Mizoram transport department official said.

"The proposed helicopter services, with subsidized fare, can be used by tourists to visit tourist spots in the picturesque state. Ministers and officials would also be able to make visits to far-flung areas for administrative purposes."

The government-owned Pawan Hans has been operating for the past nine years in the interior areas of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Tripura and Sikkim with the central government subsidizing fares by 75 percent.

The union tourism ministry in association with state governments has decided to introduce 'Heli-tourism' in the northeastern states by extending chopper services.

"To promote rural tourism, helicopter services would be operated in select tourism spots in northeastern states," said Madhusudhan Bhattacharjee, managing director of Tripura Tourism Development Corp.

Bhattacharjee said that: "The union tourism ministry is scrutinizing the 'Heli-tourism' proposals received from the state governments of the region."

Zoramthanga Under Corruption Scanner

Aizawl, Feb 23 : The former Chief Minister of Mizoram Pu Zoramthanga is now under the investigation of Mizoram Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) following a PIL filed by the anti corruption organization named PRISM.

Zoramthanga is suspected to have misused his official powers for personal gain and accumulating assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

PRISM an Anti Corruption watchdog lodged a first information report (FIR) in June, 2007 with the Mizoram ACB which refused to investigate it.

PRISM filed a PIL at Gauhati High Court against the Government of Mizoram and its investigating agency.

Gauhati High Court passed a judgment that the ACB will investigate the case in 4 months. PRISM has filed 8 PILs and more than 30 FIRs relating to corruptions in Mizoram.

First Mega Independent Power Transmission Project in India

New Delhi, Feb 23 : Today Sterlite Technologies announced about the first independent power transmission project in India.

The company also announced about the LoI (Letter of Intent) which it had received from the PFC (Power Finance Corporation Limited) for the development of an interconnecting power transmission project for the Northeast.

This 800 crore project is awarded on BOOM (Build Own, Operate and Maintain). It will connect the states of West Bengal, Bihar and Assam. The lines will be ready within three years.

“The award of this mega project to Sterlite is a great achievement for the Company. This is in line with our Vision to become a leading player in Power Transmission.”

“The award of this Project provides great scope to diversify into the growing sector of Power Transmission with many similar opportunities available in future”, as stated by the CEO of the company.

Assamese Intellectuals Angry Over "Injustice" to Gohain

Guwahati, Feb 23 : Eminent intellectuals of Assam have urged the Sahitya Akademi to take action against its regional office in Kolkata for allegedly downgrading Dr Hiren Gohain, one of the four editors of a collection of Assamese short stories, Splendour in the Grass.

In a letter sent to the Akademy yesterday, seven intellectuals alleged that names of three other editors appeared ahead of Gohain when the book, an English version of the Assamese short stories, was published in January this year. Moreover, Gohain was mentioned as Translation Editor.

The letter, made available to the media here, said Gohain, a Sahitya Akademi award winning scholar and critic, besides editing had fine tuned the translations in a workshop at Guwahati. He also wrote the preface to the book.

"We condemn this irrational and unethical behaviour by Sahitya Akademi's Regional office, Kolkata and demand prompt and appropriate action," the signatories said.

The signatories include Jnanpith award winner Indira (Mamoni) Raisom Goswami and literatteurs Amalendu Guha, Nalinidhar Bhattacharjee and Harekrishna Deka.

Frustrated at Govt’s Inaction, Opts For Customary Law

AASU to meet AIMSU to discuss on the recent kidnapping

Roing (Arunachal), Feb 23 : Frustrated at the authority for slow pace of action to arrest the culprits involved in kidnapping of Akepi Miuli on Feb 3 last at Sadiya, Assam, the aggrieved family of the victim now wants to take up the matter in accordance to local customary law.

In a meeting held between the victim’s family and the district administration today, the family conveyed that they were loosing faith on the authority.

“Almost a month has passed and the police in Assam keeps repeating the same dialogue of culprits identified, three arrested”, said a family member.

“We are informed that the arrested people are relatives of the culprits and the real kidnappers are still roaming free”.

Giving ultimatum of three days, the family wants the matter to be solved through customary law if the culprits are not immediately arrested.

Accompanying the family members, AIMSU Chief Advisor Tone Mickrow expressing regret over slow pace of action said, “If any person from neighboring state is harmed in Roing, then the culprit is immediately booked. But if any Arunachali is harmed in Assam, then we fail to get justice”.

No loose comments: Ringu
Earlier in a separate meeting with the AIMSU members, Deputy Commissioner YW Ringu asked for all the administrative officials and police officials to refrain from passing any loose comments under any situation.

She was responding after a complaint by Miuli against officials trying to round up the blame of AIMSU’s action in response to kidnapping on him.
Also AIMSU had earlier served ultimatum to police head for passing comments over the union.

AASU Central Committee in Roing
The Central Executive Committee of the powerful All Assam Students Union (AASU) led by its President is in the town to discuss on the recent kidnapping at Assam.

The visiting team will have be having a meeting with AIMSU tomorrow. They will also discuss on dam issue.

MFs Still to Get Popularity in Assam & Northeast: Survey

Kolkata/ Guwahati Feb 23 : Compared to other regions of the country, Mutual Funds have still not gained popularity as an investment vehicle in Assam and North-East, found a recent survey done by Bajaj Capital, India's one of the leading investment advisory and financial planning companies

According to the survey, a retail investor in Guwahati invests about 15 per cent of his income into investment products, the most preferred being life insurances which account for about 50 per cent of the investible surplus.

The survey also revealed that only about 15 to 20 per cent of the investors consult professional investment advisors or financial planners to plan their investments.

Majority of people continue to consult friends or relatives and end up allocating most of their surplus in one asset class rather than a healthy allocation across various asset classes.

The survey also found that investment instruments like high quality company fixed deposits or even safer instruments such as government bonds are preferred by investors of the region.

"The survey results present in itself an opportunity for high quality financial planning for investors in Guwahati, especially in the age group of 25 to 50," said Vinesh Menon, deputy CEO of Bajaj Capital, who was in Guwahati to inaugurate the companies second investment centre.

The company has now established a countrywide network of 150 offices across 85 cities in India.

Located on Bhatapara Road, Hatigaon Chariali in Guwahati, the office will be managed by a team of financial planners, each of whom is trained in need-based advisory solutions.

"Almost 75 per cent of the investor population in Guwahati prefers to put their money in life insurance schemes. We are hoping to reach out to them and provide them sound quality advice across multiple investment avenues including insurance plans and enabling goal based investment products in accordance with their financial needs," Menon said.

Commenting on the company's vision and expansion plans, Menon said the new investment centre in the city will ensure that more investors will now benefit from the company's 360 degree financial planning tool that will determine the most suited investment and insurance products to meet their future goals.

He added that the branch will soon offer demat and stock broking services for those who wish to participate in capital markets.

Assam State Govt to Wait for CAG Report

New Delhi, Feb 23 : Faced with the prospect of ordering a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the financial bungling in North Cachar Hills, the State Government in a smart move, today conveyed to the Centre that it first want to wait for the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report before considering handing over the case to the premier investigating agency.

As reported in this newspaper on Monday, the Centre has already asked the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) to go for a thorough audit of the accounts of the NC Hills Autonomous Council. Besides, the Accountant General too has been roped in to carry out audits of the other autonomous councils set up under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.

Talking to newsmen, Union Home Secretary GK Pillai said that State Chief Secretary PC Sarma called him up today to inform that as CAG has already been ordered to conduct an audit of the account of the NC Hills Autonomous Council, depending upon the finding of the CAG, the State Government would consider ordering a CBI inquiry.

The Union Home Secretary revealed that one of the key areas of the proposed amendments would be to ensure that the accounts of the autonomous councils are audited every year and the audited accounts are made public so as to ensure greater transparency in the functioning and expenditures of the councils.

Yesterday, the Union Home Secretary had said that the Centre was planning to bring certain amendments to the Sixth Schedule and one of the key areas of the proposed amendments would be to ensure that the accounts of the autonomous councils are audited every year.

Meanwhile, the Correspondent, Kanhaiah Bhellary, who broke the story told this newspaper that they stood by the story, which had mentioned the alleged involvement of seven ministers of Gogoi’s council of ministers in the scam running to the tune of Rs 1000 crore.

When asked whether they had received any denial from the National Investigation Agency (NIA), he confirmed, they did, but added that a final decision would be taken by the Editor, whether or not to publish the denial.

Meanwhile, former State BJP president and Lok Sabha MP Ramen Deka on Monday dashed off a letter to the Prime Minister urging him to direct the NIA to file a supplementary chargesheet against the accused persons.

The letter released to the media said that it was shameful that huge amounts of funds meant for development had been siphoned off by unscrupulous people. The Union Government cannot be a silent spectator in this matter, as it was the duty of the Centre to monitor utilisation of funds in the State. The Centre should not brush the NIA’s report under the carpet, the letter said.