Govt Revises Mizoram Tuirial Power Proj Cost

New Delhi, Dec 31 : The government today approved revised cost estimate of Rs 913.63 crore for the 60 MW hydro- electric power project in Mizoram being set up by the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Ltd (NEEPCO).

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today approved the revised cost estimate of Tuirial Hydro Electric Project (60 MW) in Mizoram by NEEPCO amounting to Rs 913.63 crore, including interest during construction (IDC) of Rs 36.57 crore, an official statement said.
The project is scheduled to be commissioned in 36 months from the date of investment approval of revised cost estimate.

The Tuirial project was initially taken up as a central sector scheme by NEEPCO and the project investment of around 369 crore was approved in July 1998.

Mizoram has signed an agreement for purchase of power from this project at Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) rates.

The project will help the state in mitigating the power shortage with a clean source of energy.

The financial pattern of the total cost of Rs 913.63 crore comprises equity of Rs 137.04 crore, loan from financial institutions amounting to Rs 184.63 crore, subordinate loan from the government amounting to Rs 291.96 crore and Grant from DoNER (Department of North Eastern Region) amounting to Rs 300 crore.

Assam CM Invites ULFA Chief to Join Politics

Guwahati, Dec 31 : Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Thursday invited United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa to join politics, saying that let him serve people through politics.

"Let Rajkhowa join politics if he wants to serve people," Times Now quoted Gogoi, as saying.

Gogoi's comments follow the verdict of the TADA court here, which granted bail to him in view of the state government's decision not to oppose his bail application as a part of the government's policy to take the peace process forward.

The banned ULFA chairman is likely to be released from jail on Friday, a year since his arrest after being nabbed by Bangladesh security agencies and handed over to Indian authorities.

The special TADA court, which heard his bail plea today, had deferred the hearing thrice earlier, as the court had sought reports from the home and political department in this regard.

Most top ULFA leaders including ULFA ideologue Bhimakanta Buragohain, vice-chairman Pradip Gogoi, publicity secretary Mithinga Daimary, cultural secretary Pranati Deka and deputy commander-in-chief Raju Barua have been already released on bail.

Assault on Mizo Girl Condemned

Guwahati, Dec 31 : North East Network (NEN) and WIN-G has strongly condemned the cruel and ‘organized’ mob assault on a young Mizo woman on the night of December 27, 2010.

In a statement, the NEN said that this incident reflects the worsening environment of intolerance amongst human beings in a so called civilized society.

“A person is a human being first after which his or her different identities matter. No human being should take the law into one’s own hand. The unjust and serious physical violence of this recent episode is a matter of shame and disgrace to the city and the State administration. It also reflects on our own attitude towards people of different gender and ethnic groups,” the statement mentioned.

The NGOs also said that violence in any form is not to be justified and is not the solution or answer to a concern or problem.

“We demand immediate investigation into the beating of the Mizo woman and her present whereabouts. Social and psychological well being of the woman is important. We also question the role of the police who according to locals of the neighbourhood, where the incident took place, did not take prompt action in this incident, which further aggravated the situation,” the statement mentioned.

The NGOs also urged the government to bring to book the guilty and award appropriate punishment to them.

Facebook Tops Google As Most Visited Website Of The Year

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has yet another milestone to celebrate.

In addition to being named TIME's Person of the Year and seeing the social network he founded swell to over 550 million members, he can also toast a major triumph over Google: for the first time ever, Facebook topped the list as the most-visited website of the year, ahead of giants like Google, Yahoo, YouTube, and Msn.com.

According to data from Hitwise, which provides online competitive intelligence, Facebook "accounted for 8.93 percent of all U.S. visits between January and November 2010."

Google.com made up 7.19 percent of visits and Yahoo! Mail ranked third with 3.52 percent of visits. Yahoo! claimed 3.30 percent of visits, and YouTube 2.65 percent.

Facebook has soared in the rankings as its share of visits has more than doubled in the past year. In 2009, it was the third most-visited site, behind Google and Yahoo! Mail, with 4.26 percent of visits. In 2008 it ranked ninth on Hitwise's list, trailing Google, MySpace, and eBay.

In an odd twist, Google is actually helping to fuel its competitor's rise by sending search traffic to the social network's site: For the second year in a row, "Facebook" was the top search term of 2010. In second place was "Facebook login," with "Facebook.com" and "www.facebook.com" also cracking the list of top 10 most popular queries.

While visits to Facebook have overtaken hits to Google.com, Google-owned properties--which include web video giant YouTube--actually received a greater share of visits, accounting for 9.85 percent of all U.S. visits. TechCrunch observed that Comscore confirmed Hitwise's findings: "Comscore also shows Facebook.com passing Google.com in visits in November but all Google sites as still having more."

The top websites commanded an ever-greater share of web traffic Hitwise noted in its report. "The top 10 Websites accounted for 33 percent of all U.S. visits between January and November 2010, an increase of 12 percent versus 2009," Hitwise wrote.

No Newspaper in Manipur After Editor Arrest

Imphal, Dec 30 : No newspaper was published in Manipur today in protest against the arrest of an editor of a vernacular daily for alleged militant links.

Editor of ''Sanaleibak'' A Mobi was arrested last night for his alleged connection with militant outfit Kangleipak Communist Party-Tabungba group (KCP-T). Two mobile phones and Rs 50,000 in cash seized from him, police said.

Stating that Mobi had no connection with militants, the All Manipur Working Journalists'' Union (AMWJU), condemned his arrest and demanded his immediate release.

Mobi is the vice-president of AMWJU.

Earlier, six editors of local dailies were called by a militant outfit for a ''meeting'' and kept in custody for some days. This does not mean that the editors had connection with the militant outfit, the spokesman said.

No RBI Approval Needed For Bank Branches in Northeast India

Agartala, Dec 30 : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has relaxed norms for setting up bank branches in northeast India and no prior approval of the apex regulatory body is required in this regard, a senior Tripura minister said Thursday.

The clarification came during a meeting between RBI Governor D. Subbarao and Tripura's Finance Minister Badal Choudhury in Mumbai Wednesday. Worry was expressed over the gradual fall in the credit-to-deposit ratio in the region.

'Any commercial and nationalised banks can set up branches anywhere in northeast India without prior sanction of the RBI. The bank authorities can independently set up their branches in the region,' Choudhury said in a statement.

'The RBI governor expressed discontent after learning that banks in some places in the northeast region have been providing banking services through business facilitators and business correspondents instead of setting up of bank branches,' the minister added.

According to him, the RBI governor has told him that the central bank would take stern actions against the unauthorised non-banking finance companies collecting money from people.

'Governor Subbarao said non-banking finance companies not recognised by the RBI, the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority or the Securities and Exchange Board of India cannot do any monetary business or take deposits,' said the minister's statement.

'The Tripura government has undertaken an inquiry against the 84 non-banking finance companies in Tripura alone. The government has also sought advice from the RBI and the (federal) finance ministry about the state's possible steps,' Choudhury stated.

The RBI chief assured to look into issues such as non-availability of currency chests in most of the bank branches, crisis of small-denomination coins and setting up of pension processing centres with the nationalised banks.

'RBI has decided to open its sub-offices in six northeastern states, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Meghalaya, in a phased manner,' the minister added.

2010 Saw Another Change of Guard in Meghalaya

By Rituraj Borthakur

Shillong, Dec 30 : Synonymous with political instability, Meghalaya saw yet another change of guard in 2010, a year which also saw the vexed inter-state boundary dispute raise its ugly head and stepped-up activities of some rebel groups.

Mukul Sangma took over the reins from D D Lapang to become the youngest chief minister of the state on April 20, coinciding with his 45th birthday.

Four-time chief minister Lapang, who could not complete a full five-year term even once, was forced to quit after a revolt in his party.

Sangma became the head of the 22nd government the state saw in its 38-year statehood which is marked by frequent political turbulence.

The year also witnessed a dispute over the inter-state boundary between Meghalaya and Assam following the shooting down of four people reportedly by Assam Police at the disputed village of Langpih on May 14.

Union Home minister P Chidambaram suggested a meeting between the two chief ministers to sort out the matter.

Chief Minister Mukul Sangma subsequently met his counterpart Tarun Gogoi in Dispur in a bid to solve the issue.

During a meeting in Guwahati in June, a committee headed by chief secretaries of both the states was constituted to resolve the boundary dispute.

In February, a blasphemous image of Jesus Christ in a textbook meant for junior students created a flutter in the state. The publisher, Skyline Publication, later tendered a public apology for hurting people''s religious sentiments and regretted the "gross mistake" and promised to retrieve the erroneous book from all places where it was sent.

Following several media reports, New Delhi stepped in to preserve a neglected bungalow in Shillong where Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore had stayed during one of his visits, even as the Vishwa Bharati stressed on the need to restore all historic houses and sites associated with the poet on his 150th birth anniversary.

The state government has of late started renovation works in the Brookside Bungalow at Rilbong, where the poet had stayed for a month and wrote some of his masterpieces in 1919.
In July, ''Sidli Palace'', where Tagore stayed during his last visit to Shillong was razed down by the new owner.

Faced with sharp reaction, the owner, however, assured to preserve the plaques - which mentions the poet''s visit to the city - at the lawn of the demolished house.

Mizo Girl Beaten in Guwahati For Asking Directions

Visitor attacked for asking directions to guesthouse, BJP suspends functionary

By Barnali Handique

Guwahati, Dec 30 : Three women, one of them the vice-president of the BJP’s city district unit, were arrested today for assaulting a Mizo girl yesterday morning.

The three, Juri Das (the BJP office-bearer who also runs a city-based NGO), Monimala Das and Mini Das, were later released on bail, a senior city police official said.

The 23-year-old girl from Mizoram, who was in the city to attend a wedding, was assaulted when she knocked on the door of one of the accused at Nabagiri under Chandmari police station for directions after apparently losing her way while returning to the private guesthouse where she had put up.

But instead of helping her, the woman, along with two other women who gathered there and an unidentified man, hit the girl, accusing her of being inebriated, sources said.

The women also took away her purse and mobile. Then they called up newspersons and when they arrived, beat up the girl again, the sources added.

Later, the women handed the girl over to the police.

But, after taking stock of the situation, the police refused to arrest her. Instead, they handed her over to the caretaker of the guesthouse and took action against the three accused after the caretaker filed an FIR at Chandmari police station last evening.

The officer-in-charge of Chandmari police station, R. Buragohain, said, “The Mizo girl was attacked when she sought help, asking for directions. We booked the three women under Section 143/325 IPC after the caretaker filed a complaint against them. Investigations are on.”

BJP spokesperson Dilip Saikia today said the party had suspended Juri Das following instructions from its state unit president, Ranjit Dutta.

Earlier in the day, the president of the BJP’s Mahila Morcha, Chikimiki Talukdar, had said, “We came to know about this unfortunate incident only a while ago. Juri Das is not a member of the Mahila Morcha but the BJP district committee. We may hold a meeting tomorrow to discuss the matter.”

Several social activists and organisations condemned the incident.

“The girl was a guest in the city and instead of being hospitable, these women attacked her for no fault of hers. One of the accused claims to be a social worker but how can she work for the cause of women if she herself assaults another woman? Whatever may be the reason, no one has the right to take the law into his or her own hands,” Sumitra Hazarika, a woman activist, said.

Hazarika said the girl had to be hospitalised yesterday but was released today. She was, however, too traumatised to be able to speak to anyone, she added.

Writer and social activist Maini Mahanta said, “Such incidents portray us in a poor light and can harm our relations with our neighbouring states. How can we fight discrimination and assaults on people from the Northeast in other parts of the country when women here behave in such a demeaning manner against girls from neighbouring states?”

“We apologise to Mizo society. The entire Assamese society is not like this. Some misguided people are,” she added.

The chairperson of Assam State Women’s Commission, Mridula Saharia, said, “We have requested the police to provide us details of the case. These women had no right to assault the girl and snatch away her belongings. It is very unfortunate.”

Speaking to The Telegraph, Juri Das admitted her involvement in the incident and alleged that some newspersons had instigated them to beat up the girl.

via The Telegraph