Arunachal To Assam Help Against Timber Smuggling

By RIPUNJOY DAS

Dibrugarh, Apr 29 : Forest officers posted under various divisions in Upper Assam will seek the help of the counterparts in Arunachal Pradesh to curb timber smuggling.

The illegal trade has flourished for several years now despite a Supreme Court ban, primarily because of the absence of an effective and cohesive joint mechanism between both states.

Sources said most of the illegal timbers are felled in the hills and forest reserves in Arunachal Pradesh during the winters and kept ready for the rainy season.

“As the rains start, the logs are tied up in rafts and sent down the river with well trained hands in the business accompanying these rafts. Once these rafts reach the destination down in Assam, they are cut into pieces and processed in the illegal bench-saw mills,” a source said.

“Generally the species, which are being brought through this illegal channel, are meckai, teli, chopa, goonsorai, simul, azar, hillock and others, which grow in plenty in the evergreen forest belts of Arunachal Pradesh,” the source added.

“We have proposed a meeting with forest officials of Arunachal Pradesh very soon to discuss the issue. We will have to develop some mechanism. After all, it has to be Arunachal Pradesh which will have to take the first step to curb the illegal trade since it all starts in their territory,” divisional forest officer (DFO), Dibrugarh, Anurag Singh, said.

The additional principal chief conservator of forests (timber) of Arunachal Pradesh, M. Namchoom, while welcoming the proposal from Assam regarding discussions on the issue, denied that Arunachal Pradesh is lax towards curbing timber smuggling. “Blame game will not help solve the crisis. We will have to form joint action teams in the bordering areas, most of which is covered by water, to curb the problem,” Namchoom said.

Illegal timber business is a subject, which many do not wish to discuss, though it has affected the green canopy of the region to a large extent, because of the allegations of involvement of the timber mafia, politicians and a section of corrupt and unscrupulous senior officials of the forest department.

During the winters, timber smuggling goes down considerably as it is difficult to ferry the consignments on rafts across a dry Brahmaputra. Timber smugglers prefer the river route.

However, with the advent of the rainy season and the Brahmaputra in spate, the entire focus is back on the illegal trade.

Indeed, the scale of illegal timber business has been gauged by the volume of timber being seized by the Dibrugarh territorial forest division headed by Singh during the past couple of years.

During 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11, the division seized around 4,600 logs and earned around Rs 70 lakh for the state government when sold through tendering after being confiscated.

The market value of the timber is likely to be around Rs 1.5 crore.

“During these three years, we have also arrested around 50 people involved with the trade and confiscated more than 35 bench-saw mills,” Singh, an Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer, said.

The DFO of Tinsukia wildlife division, Vaibhab Mathur, another IFS officer, said since the beginning of this year, his division seized around 240 logs, which were being illegally ferried in rafts across the Brahmaputra.

The logs were later handed over to the Dibrugarh territorial division, which is the competent authority for such hauls.

“Seizures are fine but it cannot be the end solution to the problem. To bring about a permanent solution we will have to have a cohesive policy between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh so that we can put an end to the illegal trade,” Singh said.

30,000 Northeast Manuscripts Digitized, Micro-Filmed

Guwahati, Apr 29 : In all, 30,000 manuscripts from the NE region have been digitised and micro-filmed by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA). The IGNCA has also digitally photo-documented both the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) protected and non-protected monuments in the NE States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland.

This was disclosed by Dr Ramesh C Gaur, Librarian and Head of the Kalanidhi Division of the IGNCA. He was speaking to this newspaper on the sidelines of a three-day seminar on status of digitisation, digital preservation and access to libraries and archives in the NE India that got under way here today.

Dr Gaur said that most of the manuscripts digitised in the NE region belong to the States of Manipur and Assam. About 82 of them also belong to the Kamarupa Anusandhana Samiti (KAS). The IGNCA has also digitised the materials available with the Assam Directorate of Historical and Antiquarian Studies.

The IGNCA has also received the personal library of eminent Sankardeva scholar Prof Maheswar Neog. It has been donated by Prof Neog’s son Pranabswarup Neog. The IGNCA will be happy to receive such personal libraries of the renowned scholars of the region and these will be preserved under the names of the scholars concerned or the donors concerned, Dr Gaur said.

Both public and private libraries and archives can avail the help of the IGNCA in digitization and digitally preserving their collections on condition that one digitized copy of each of the materials should be made available to IGNCA Kalanidhi reference library for access by the scholars world over.

The IGNCA is also making microfilm copies of the rare manuscripts, books, etc., considering the fact that microfilm is the best media for long-term preservation of such materials.

Earlier, inaugurating the seminar, jointly organized by the IGNCA and the voluntary organization Anwesha at the Indian Institute of Bank Management (IIBM) here, retired IAS officer Jatin Hazarika pleaded for covering the sanchipat manuscripts and the district gazetteers under the initiative undertaken for digital preservation of the rare manuscripts, etc.

He also suggested that the institutions like the Tai Museum should also be involved in the process.

Speaking on the occasion as the guest of honour, former Vice-Chancellor of Gauhati University (GU) Prof N K Choudhury suggested that the personal libraries of the region’s eminent scholars and well-off people should also be covered under the initiative.

The function which was presided over by noted anthropologist and former Vice-Chancellor of the Rajiv Gandhi University, Arunachal Pradesh Prof AC Bhagabati, was also addressed by former director of the CSL, New Delhi Dr Kalpana Dasgupta, Dr Gaur, Paresh Malakar and Dudulmoni Sarma of Anwesha.

In all, 50 library experts from all over the NE region are taking part in the three-day deliberations on digitization and digital preservation of the region’s important records.

Manipur Rebels ‘Leaving Chin State’

By Nang Mya Nadi

Soldiers of India's Border Security Force (BSF), wearing ceremonial dresses, stand at attention during their passing out parade

There has been an apparent decrease in the number of Manipur rebels sheltering in western Burma, according to a Chin news group which claims it may be a result of increased military cooperation between India and Burma.

The rebels have been sheltering across the border in Chin state for more than five years but are on the wane as joint army operations aimed at routing them appear to have been successful. India has also deployed Border Security Forces to tighten security along the porous frontier with Burma.

Htet Nyi, editor of the Khonumthaung news group, said also that there had been a disagreement between the rebels and the Burmese authorities over local heroin production, adding however that “we heard some of [the rebels] were sent deeper into Burma to areas like Sagaing division”.

“We obtained information that the rebels last month were being shipped off to Karen state to fight the Karen National Union.

“There is a wife of a Manipur rebel in Kale [in Sagaing division] and when asked, she said her husband was killed in a fight [in Karen state.] However, the rebels were wearing [Burmese army] badges instead of their own ones so it is not likely the KNU would know [who they are].”

Locals in Chin state’s Tonzan town said the rebels, with the help of Burmese authorities, were abusive to the local population. One man there said that the rebels “forced locals to work as porters when they relocate from one village to another.

“Now life is more convenient for the local population as there are fewer rebels who abuse them. They can now go hunting or pick flowers in the forest with no harassment.”

Indian press said in August last year that Maoist rebels, collaborating with Manipur group the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA), are being trained at bases inside Burma.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his first term in office called the Maoist insurgents India’s greatest security threat – the rebels are believed to be active in a third of the country’s districts.

The northeastern states of India, many of which border Burma, form a fractious and trouble-prone region, with numerous ethnic separatist groups fighting for independence from India.

source: DVB

Assam Endorses Another Anna Hazare - Irom Sharmila!

Guwahati, Apr 29 : A silent protest, which has been buried under mere negligence for a decade, suddenly paved up after the struggle showed by Anna Hazare. Irom Sharmila, suddenly, started receiving support from the masses.

People from all walks of life on Monday, Apr 25 gathered at the Dighalipukhuri area in Guwahati and took part in a candlelight vigil to extend support to the Manipuri girl who has been observing fast from last 10 years.

Enlightening their demands, supporters of the "Iron lady" stated, "The country has failed to understand her. Is there any record of 10-year-long fast anywhere in the world, even during the Independence movement?"

While Anna Hazare held his 5-day long fast for drafting an anti-corruption bill, Irom Sharmila started her agitation to repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers (AFSP) Act, which gives the military powers such as the right to arrest suspected militants without a warrant and to shoot anyone suspected of being a rebel.

Armed Forces Special Powers Act is being implemented in the terrorism dominated states in India and the soldiers are bestowed with tremendous power to tackle the militants.

Sharmila lives in Manipur, the north east state which faces enough trouble - both from the army and the militants. Experiencing the draw-backs of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, Sharmila began her long-battle to protest the anti-terror law.

It seems that Irom Sharmila's struggle remained unheard or has not received much media attention as she is protesting from an ignored state of the country. If she had held the hunger-strike from a metro city like Delhi, she also might have won like Anna Hazare.

Coming Soon: Over 800 FM Radio Stations All Over India

Ambika Soni, Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, inaugurates the first National Community Radio Sammelan for Operational Community Radio Stations of India, in New Delhi

New Delhi, Apr 28 : Over 800 more FM radio stations would be made available when the FM phase-III is rolled out shortly, while 31 new satellite TV channels are awaiting the government's approval, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said today.

"In the broadcast sector, 653 satellite channels had been granted permission till date and 31 are awaiting permission, while the FM Phase-III to be rolled out shortly will ensure availability of 806 radio stations across 283 cities," she said.

Soni was addressing the inaugural session of 'International Colloquium on Freedom of Expression & Human Rights' organised by the Press Council of India here.

She said during the period of global recession, the print industry in India grew at a rate of 6.2 per cent despite the downward growth conditions world wide in the media industry.

"Support was provided to the different newspapers - small, medium and regional - through advertisements released by the government. This created an enabling environment within the industry especially the regional press," she said.

The growing number of newspaper readers within the country is also an indicator of the growth of regional press in different forms and dialects.

She said the newspaper-reading population in India has grown into millions over the years.

Soni said the Government is committed in ensuring level playing field for different segments of the media to promote a sustainable growth process and a robust industry.

She asked the media to avoid 'sensationalism or trivialisation of issues' in pursuit of commercial interests.

"Media ought to act as an enabler, giving voice to the voiceless in order to ensure that every marginal group was heard, seen and involved in the mainstream by highlighting issues that protected and enhanced the dignity and self-esteem of such groups, hence empowering them," she said.

Crowdsourcing Japan's Nuclear Radiation Levels

A group of motivated individuals have come together to create a community approach to gathering radiation data in Japan.

By D. Parvaz

TEPCO executives bow to evacuees in Koriyama to apologise for the accident at their company's Fukushima plant [AFP]

There is a certain element of helplessness to living in northeast Japan right now.

It isn't just dealing with the images – and reality – of the large-scale catastrophe in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami

It's not even the electrical outages, the disrupted train services or the very real fear that another big earthquake – one as massive as the magnitude 9.0 temblor that wiped out entire coastal communities – is imminent.

It's the fear of radiation, invisible, odourless and potentially deadly, leaking out of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant and entering their bodies via contaminated air, food and water.

The only way to get any peace of mind is to get accurate, timely information on radiation levels (which can also fluctuate) and therein, as the Bard would say, lies the rub, because said information is far from accessible.

TEPCO released a rather visually complicated map of radiation zones within the Daiichi plant on NHK state TV

Toshikatsu Watanabe, who lives in Koriyama, around 60km away from the damaged plant, is worried and didn't "expect he would ever be at risk".

Watanabe said he has "respect for the local government", but said the national government didn't "provide enough information".

So concerned are people about radiation that Watanabe said he feels conspicuous when he drives his car – with its Fukushima license plates – to neighbouring prefectures. No one says anything to him, but he knows what they're thinking: That he might live in a contaminated zone.

Further disconcerting is what Watanabe said he's observed – people coming up from Tokyo, taking measurements and leaving.

"But they leave without sharing what they've learnt – we don't know what they've found, they don't share the data with us," said Watanabe.

The elements of anger and mistrust, aimed at the national government and the company operating the unstable nuclear plant, is wearing at the fabric of Japanese society – one based on keeping calm and maintaining the wa (or harmony).

To that end, various groups are posting radiation measurements, but despite best intentions, the information is piecemeal and not exactly easy to understand.

Given that radiation levels 1,600 times higher than normal levels have been detected about 20km from the plant, the zone in which the Japanese government on Friday formally advised residents to leave due to threat of long-term radiation, it's clear that need for clear and plentiful information is as urgent.

More info = Better info

The disaster in Japan has kicked all sorts of activists into high gear – volunteers helping people clear out their tsunami-battered homes, green energy proponents picketing the offices of Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) and a bunch of DYI-ers who are roaming Japan with hand-made Geiger counters (a hand-held device used to measure radiation), recording radiation levels. You read that last part correctly.

"We were getting frustrated with what was being reported in the media, what was being released by TEPCO, what was being released by the government," said Sean Bonner, co-founder of Safecast.org, which is currently partially self-funded, partially funded via a Kickstarter fundraiser.

"The information was just kind of unreliable, not updated frequently, no way to fact-check it... So, we just started thinking: What happens if we go get numbers ourselves? Like, is that an option?"

Apparently so.

Out of thin air, a group of folks based in the US and Japan created a network that distributes Geiger counters to teams of people who record radiation levels in a consistent manner and upload it all to the Safecast site.

Mapped out with radiation readings gathered from other sources, Bonner said Safecast hopes to "paint a more reliable picture of what was going on".

Safecast currently has around 30 Geiger counters out in the field, they have ordered the parts to build another 300, and Bonner said their plan is to have 600 units collecting data within six months.

While he wishes for a shorter timeline, the fact is, Geiger counters are in demand at the moment.

"If we wanted to buy 600 right this minute, we couldn't do it."

Real and present danger

Perhaps the Safecast project might sound a little crazy and ill-advised (a ragtag group of techies zigzagging around  the area around a nuclear disaster some have compared to Chernobyl). But the outcome is pretty empowering.

Bonner said that one of the members of HackerSpace, a collective involved with Safecast, has family just outside the initial evacuation zone in Fukushima Prefecture.

"They were told that the their area was safe, and so the guys from Tokyo HackerSpace took a Geiger counter and drove up there," said Bonner.

"And they're farmers, organic farmers, and they're in this area that they were told was okay, but the numbers were off the charts – they were high. And then 10 days later, that area was evacuated as well."

Watanabe, himself in the advertising business, also said that he appreciates the additional data for that very reason.

Safecast measures radiation on Geiger counters - this one taken at a school 60 km away from the nuclear plant

"The farmers are very worried about their crops – they want to sell produce and get the economy going, but currently, because there's no data or no system to check, they can't export their goods the way they used to."

Another highly vulnerable group are pregnant women, such as Rie Knowles, who lives in Tokyo. Told she should not drink tap water – at least for a time – and not much else, Knowles, who was in her 26th week of pregnancy when the earthquake hit, was left to seek information hither and thither.

"Most of the information I received was from TV and web discussion boards," said Knowles.

"There was also a lot of keitai (cellphone) e-mail from friends circulating rumours. We started to notice that there was bad information going around that way after about 2 days, but by then the TV information had improved."

But then, information reported was also confusing, and most people, including Knowles, who were not sure how worried they should be when they heard that radiation levels in a particular area was 10 times the normal levels.

The general sense people have is that "the information we are given is not the whole picture. Many times we see TEPCO say 'there is no evidence of X', only to find out later that it is because they have not done any checking for X," said Knowles.

In her 32nd week of pregnancy at the time of this interview, Knowles said she's checking Safecast for radiation readings allows her to "relax a little", although she's still avoiding vegetables and milk while sticking to bottled water, which remains in short supply.

The power of the crowd

While Safecast takes pains to make clear that it in no way is trying to undermine the efforts of the Japanese government in terms of trying to keep a handle on radiation levels, it's also quite clear that if all was well, their project would not be needed.

"The measurements that the government gives, we don't know what they measure or how it's measured, if you don't have that information, it's very difficult to put it into context," said Pieter Franken, the Japan representative for Safecast.

"We don't even know if they're measuring inside or outside the building."

Franken also points out that many of the experts offering analysis on the topic of radiation seem to give contradictory information.

"It's a highly politicised topic," said Franken.

Yet, people need to know if where they're living and what they're eating is safe. While Fukushima Prefecture is doing what it can – giving hourly updates for 35 different points of the prefecture, Franken points out that there are around 800 elementary schools in the prefecture.

"The idea is to use the power of the crowd to get lots of data points," said Franken.

"The quality will sort itself out, as we get a much bigger sample size."

Follow dparvaz on Twitter.

source: Al Jazeera

China is Ageing And Growing More Slowly

Country could face social and economic problems as the number of those able to work shrinks.

Half of China's population now live in cities, crossing a historical landmark from a more rural past [EPA]

China's population has shot to 1.34 billion but more people are ageing, a development experts say will likely spur calls for the "one-child" policy to be relaxed.

Census data gathered in 2010 and released on Thursday showed the population in the world's second biggest economy grew by 5.84 percent from the 1.27 billion in the last census in 2000.

This level was smaller than the 1.4 billion some demographers had projected.

As China is fast urbanising and becoming older, these trends augur big changes in the labour market in coming years, the results showed.
The number of potential workers, especially from the countryside, is shrinking and the elderly dependent population is increasing.

By 2010, half of China's population, 49.7 per cent, lived in urban areas. In 2000, 36.1 per cent lived in cities and towns, although that census used a different counting method.

By 2010, 261.4 million Chinese were counted as "migrants", meaning they were residing outside of their home villages, towns or cities. Most of them are farmers from the poor inland who have moved to cities and coastal industrial zones to find work.
'Historial landmark'

"What's significant is that China is for the first time crossing a historical landmark from a country that's dominated by people engaging in agriculture, living in the countryside, to an urbanised society," said Wang Feng, a demographer who is director of the Brookings Institute Tsinghua Center for Public Policy in Beijing.

"Such low fertility and population growth means that China will face a future smaller cohort of young labour for labour supply, and also a much more serious ageing process than people anticipated even 10 years ago or two decades ago."

Those rapid changes have not always been smooth, Ma Jiantang, the head of the National Bureau of Statistics, told a news conference.

"The data from this census show that our country faces some tensions and challenges regarding population, the economy and social development. First, the ageing trend is accelerating, and second the size of the mobile population is constantly expanding."

The results could encourage the government to relax family planning restrictions that limit nearly all urban couples to one child, while rural families are usually allowed two, said Du Peng, a professor at the Population and Development Studies Center at Renmin University in Beijing.

"The total population shows the general trend towards slowed population growth and as well an older population, and in the next five years or longer that will be an important basis for population policy," said Du.

"The ageing of the population appears faster than was expected."

Hu Jintao, the Chinese president, told a meeting of top Communist Party leaders convened to discuss population issues that China will maintain its strict family planning policy.

Demographers advocating changes to the one-child policy took a counterintuitive look at Hu's speech, suggesting his decision to publicly address family planning now meant there was fresh debate among the leadership about how best to manage it.

The proportion of mainland Chinese people aged 14 or younger was 16.60 per cent, down by 6.29 percentage points from the number in the 2000 census. The number aged 60 or older grew to 13.26 per cent, up 2.93 percentage points.

Slower growth
The figures also showed that China's population is growing more slowly than in the past. Between 1990 and 2000, the total population increased by 11.7 per cent.

China's chief statistician, Ma, acclaimed the numbers as a vindication of the government's firm, sometimes harsh, family planning policies.

"These figures have shown the trend of excessively rapid growth of China's population has been under effective control," Ma said.

But one economist said China's slowed rate of population growth and shrinking pool of migrant labour from the countryside could add to long-term pressures driving up wages and prices.

"What really matters is the one-child policy that has created a cliff-fall (in the population) in the last three decades," said Dong Tao, an economist at Credit Suisse in Hong Kong.

"That is starting to show in rural labour markets and the entire economy feels the pain as this becomes a major source of inflation," he said in a telephone interview.   

The shift of the population to urban areas has put great pressure on cities like Beijing and Chongqing and will likely to spur continued high levels of infrastructure spending in coming years.   

The Chinese government's strict controls on family size have brought down annual population growth to below 1 percent and the rate is projected to start falling in coming decades.

Your Monthly EPF Deductions Can Make You A Crorepati

We normally hate any kind of deductions in our monthly salary slips -- either its income tax deduction, professional tax deduction or even an employees' provident fund (EPF) deduction.

Very few of us really know that this small EPF deduction each year can in reality make you a crorepati by the time you retire.

Encouraging fact is that this statement is applicable to even with those having modest salaries. There are many ifs and buts to achieve that, most notably resisting the temptation to withdraw money till retirement.

12 per cent of your basic salary that gets deducted as part of EPF account every month has a potential to make you a crorepati by the time you retire. Most of us are of view that investment is so small and interest rate offered is nothing special. Power of compounding clubbed with a matching contribution from your employer every month can do wonders for you.

Encouraging stats: 8.5 per cent interest earned on the EPF can help a person with a basic salary of Rs 25,000 a month accumulate a mammoth Rs 2.4 crore in 35 years. Sounds unbelievable.

Hard fact: A very few people are able to reach even 1 crore milestone in their careers.

Good news is that the initial draft of the Direct Tax Code has proposed that new contribution to EPF be taxed on withdrawal. However, the revised draft has made EPF fully tax exempt making it once again one of the best debt option available in the market.

Try not to touch your EPF account till you hang your boots. You may have to use it during acute emergencies but other than that avoid poking into this account while you are working. It's not uncommon of people to withdraw their EPF at the stage. Government discourages you to withdraw money as withdrawals from EPF within five years of joining are taxable. Early withdrawal don't allow power of compounding to come to play.

Lesson for everyone

Do not withdraw money from EPF while switching jobs, one should transfer the balance to the new account with the new employer. Remember, this do not happen automatically.

You need to fill 'Form 13' and deposit it with the EPFO. Make this one of your first TODOs things at new workplace as with course of time you will loose track of it and also get preoccupied at new job.

EPFO in addition is coming up with a software enabling online transfer of money from old account to new account. This will reduce both the paperwork and time taken for transaction.

Positives of EPF

Guaranteed returns: EPF is one of the safest debt instruments. Safety of principal and interest earned is very much there. Besides bring discipline in investing, it  serves well to accumulate a corpus for retirement.

Tax exemption for sure: The contributions you make towards provident fund gets you a tax benefit under Section 80C, upto a maximum limit of Rs 1,00,000.

Interest rate fixed by government: The rate of interest on PF account is fixed eveny year during start of financial year by the government of India. The interest is for sure guaranteed and risk-free. The interest is credited to the members account on monthly running balance with effect from the last day in each year. The rate of interest is 9.5 per cent for the year 2010-11 as notified by the Government.

Out of 12 per cent (or 10 per cent as the case may be) of the employer's share of contribution, 8.33 per cent is to be remitted towards pension fund.

VPF option: In addition if you fund your debt portion lagging in your portfolio, you can add more through voluntary increases in your contribution (VPF).

Do not forget loans options against EPF: Your EPF balance can be used as a security for getting loans and thus makes your case strong for sanction of loan. Of course, it can also be utilised during acute emergency.

What if you do not withdraw and do not transfer?

Earlier keeping money in old EPF account was not much of a disadvantage as the amount continued to earn interest till time of withdrawal. But from April 2011, accounts which are inactive for more than three years will stop earning interest.

So there's a distinct disadvantage here apart from the fact that keeping multiple accounts can be a big pain. If accounts are located in different cities, it makes the process more cumbersome. Also a single account gives you a better idea of your current corpus.

Once UID number, which is currently being worked upon, comes into picture, EPF accounts will be portable. So in such a scenario there will be no need to switch funds. The new employer will make all contribution to this account and completely independent of workplace.

Source: Investment-Mantra.in