Aizawl, Jul 25 : The three main accused in the forced prostitution of four Mizo girls in Mumbai were awarded prison terms after the Kolasib district court on Saturday convicted them in the human trafficking case.
The court of chief judicial magistrate of Kolasib district sentenced Zodingliani, 27, aliases Tedingi and Rosy, to seven years imprisonment and her husband-accomplice Sabit Hasta Thapa to one-year imprisonment.
The court also convicted Gopal Dhaka Mondal, who runs a prostitution racket in Mumbai, to six-year imprisonment.
The trafficked girls, who were rescued by Mizoram police in two separate raids, had said they were in Guwahati during the end of last year looking for jobs and were brought to Mumbai from the northeastern city by a Mizo woman Zodingliani and Mandal in the beginning of this year.
Mandal reportedly bought the Mizo girls from Zodingliani and again sold them into sex trade.
The girls were promised jobs in beauty parlours. The incident came to light when one of the four girls called up her parents and informed them of the situation they had been forced into. A case was immediately filed in Kolasib police station and a special team set up to rescue the girls.
The special police team rescued two of the girls on and arrested Zodingliani and her husband on June 21 and rescued the remaining two later on June 29.
The prostitution racket kingpin Gopal Dhaka Mondal was arrested by Mumbai police on June 27 and the court granted the Mizoram police to trial him in Mizoram.
Sources said, Mondal will serve his jail term in Mumbai while the wife-husband duo will serve theirs in Mizoram. Three of the victims are from Vairengte under Kolasib district while one is from Lunglei.
Guwahati, Jul 25 : Cocoa cultivation may no longer be the monopoly of the south. For, the northeast is all set to embark on massive cocoa cultivation. To start with, cocoa will be grown in about 1,000 acre of Assam's Bongaigaon district and the produce will be exported to Swiss chocolate companies.
Bongaigaon district administration has targeted 1,000 families belonging to the Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes and the Below Poverty Line categories and planned to involve them in cocoa cultivation as part of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) - ensuring that the marginalized families get 100 days' work.
Bongaigaon deputy commission Shantanu Gotmare told TOI that it's for the first time that cocoa cultivation has been undertaken in the northeast with government initiative. "The aim is not only to provide work as part of MGNREGA, but also to ensure good returns to the marginalized families through export. We have initiated cocoa cultivation in Bongaigaon district with the convergence of three schemes under MNREGA, Coconut Board and the horticulture department. The cocoa cultivation will be carried out in a mixed way along with coconut and black-pepper. Within five years, farmers can get the benefit from three crops," Gotmare explained.
At present, one kg of cocoa fetches about Rs 160. After five years, each family is expected to get Rs 76,000 by selling cocoa.
About 2.5 lakh improved variety of cocoa saplings have been readied for plantation covering 1,000 acre. The formal inauguration of this new crop variety cultivation will he held on August 3.
The deputy commissioner said cocoa cultivation in the district would be carried out in an organic way. International agencies will be roped in for certifying the produce as organic.
"Cocoa starts yielding from the third year of cultivation. We have already sealed a buy-back arrangement with the India. Organic Farmer Producers Company Ltd (IOFPCL), which in turn will export the produce to Swiss chocolate company," Gotmare said.
The drop in production in leading cocoa producing countries like Ivory Coast and Ghana, has escalated the price of cocoa in the international market. Leading chocolate companies are turning to India's cocoa producing states, mostly in south India.
Cocoa cultivation is going on in a big way in southern states such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Kerala has an estimated 10, 708 hectares under cocoa cultivation, while Andhra Pradesh has 14, 061 hectares. Tamil Nadu has about 6000 hectares under cocoa cultivation, while Karnataka is increasing its cultivation area. Now, Assam is all set to become a cocoa producing state.
"We have gone through the agro-climatic conditions for cocoa cultivation both in Kerala and Assam. We have found the condition in Assam is equally suitable for cocoa production," Gotmare said.
IOFPCL director and Rubber Board member Siby Monipally said, "The northeast has already proved its potential for rubber production. Now we are moving ahead with cocoa ".
Mizoram is perhaps the greenest state in the Northeast. That is what the aerial view tells us. From a distance the mountains of Mizoram do take on a bluish hue. Each time one visits the state there is always something one takes back as a keepsake. This time I learnt that it is the Mizoram Peoples’ Forum (MPF), a citizens’ watchdog, which is the lead protagonist in the clean election campaign in the state and was able to curtail election expenses to the minimum. There are of course other pressure and interest groups that have pooled in to take on this humungous task. This convergence of civil society is characteristic of Mizoram.
Mizoram’s political and social discourses are a class apart. Here is a state where the battle of ideas rages unfettered. Though on the face of it it appears that the Church has absolute control over peoples’ lives, that is hardly the case. Human beings will be human beings. They respond better to libertarian ideas than to diktats. If the Church had such an all-pervasive influence then conformity rather than divergence would have been the order of the day. But moving around in Mizoram you sense that there are divergent views on issues.
What is mind-blowing is Aizawl’s expansion. Mizoram has a population of a little more than a million and Aizawl must be nurturing about three lakh people, according to rough estimates. Building space is naturally dwindling. Since landowners cannot expand their building horizontally, they have expanded vertically. You see six or seven storey buildings perched precariously on hilltops or constructed against a rock face. Yet Aizawl is in Zone V of cities listed in the vulnerable seismic zones.
A visitor once remarked that if an earthquake of about 9 on the Richter scale should hit Mizoram, then most people would be buried under the debris and die of suffocation. I asked some of the elders why the government has given building permission for such unstable structures. They said, “In Mizoram we trust in God, not in human disaster management skills.” That’s some faith, I thought to myself.
But the fact remains that urban migration is taking a toll on Aizawl. However, despite this huge population one observed a high degree of cleanliness in the town. The municipality is obviously doing its job. And surprise of surprises, while states like Meghalaya and Nagaland do not have an elected municipality, the Mizos elected their ward commissioners last November and have a functioning municipality.
Gender-bender
Another surprise! In a state known for its strongly embedded patriarchal moorings, of the 19 ward commissioners elected, six are women, thereby making it a one-third representation of the other gender. Come to think of it, in Nagaland women have recently had to go to court to fight out a space for themselves in the upcoming municipal polls. In Meghalaya, there is an enduring resistance to the very idea of holding elections to the different municipalities on the plea that they violate Article 243 of the Constitution, which states that municipalities cannot be extended to scheduled areas. And while we are debating these silly points, garbage is getting the better of us and almost entering our living rooms. So in this matter, at least, Mizoram is one up on all of us.
Mizoram is also the first state in the country to have crafted a ‘land use policy’ and to have creatively tackled the problem of jhumming by making it more sustainable instead of destructive. The state realises that jhum fields are the only sources of organic farm products, from pineapples to bananas and vegetables to rice. Also, jhum fields allow for multi-cropping, which is good for the soil. Mizoram has also successfully implemented the Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (SALT) and controlled soil erosion through plantation of alder trees to hold soil and fix nitrogen into it.
On record
Mizos are hardworking and meticulous about record keeping. The educated lot believe it is their duty to write books for posterity. Every third person you speak to has written three, four or six books. A civil judge, Dr Lalremchhana, says he has written 22 books. Most tribes are bad at recording events and worse at sitting down to write a book. I was quite impressed by what Lalneih Zovi, an associate professor of public administration at Mizoram University, has done during her tenure as chairperson of the Panchayat Mahila Shakti Abhiyan (PMSA), which actually spearheaded the movement on political representation of women. Zovi has documented every activity of the organisation during her tenure, including money spent for various programmes and activities undertaken. This is a rare feat. It usually does not happen. The small and major accomplishments of women’s movements in the region remain largely unrecorded.
Interestingly, at a consultation held to discuss the progress of the repatriation of Bru people displaced from Mizoram after a series of ethnic violence, it was heartening to see a senior judge, a government officer, representatives of the Young Mizo Association and the Mizo Zirlaii Pawl, the equivalent of the Mizo Students Federation, and the leaders of the Bru Displaced Peoples’ Forum sitting together to thrash out differences without any ill will, although the tension was palpable.
Issues of ethnic identities, homelands, political assertions by different groups are hot potatoes in the Northeast. Questions such as who has the first right to a particular geographical space and whether ethnic minorities need to remain only voters within a state or whether they also have the right to throw up political representatives are contentious issues, often defying solution.
Ethnic conflict
The Mizo Zirlai Pawl were recalcitrant about the repatriation issue. They insisted on the 1995 electoral rolls for identifying the genuine Bru residents of Mizoram, alleging that those in the camps in Tripura today include the Bru/Reang people of Assam and Tripura. But the government representative, David Lalthangliana, officer on special duty, home department, contended that an electoral roll is not a static document and that it lends itself to change nearly everyday. This is because there are inclusions of new names after claims are preferred and deletion of names of deceased persons.
Hence the government was using the 2005 electoral rolls as a basis for identifying the displaced Bru population. It must be said to the credit of the Mizoram government that they have worked out a very clear and coherent road map for resettlement of the Bru people in October 2010 and are following that in letter and spirit. For a country that has no official policy on internally displaced persons , it is strange that the Bru people are categorised as such.
It bears mention that there are nearly 2.5 lakh IDPs who had to flee their hearths and homes because of various ethnic conflicts in Assam and they continue to languish in relief camps. Why is P. Chidambaram, who has given a diktat to the Mizoram government to rehabilitate the Bru people, using a different yardstick when it comes to the IDPs of Assam? Is it because the Bru people have a strong champion in the person of Suhas Chakma of the Asian Centre for Human Rights, which could turn the Bru issue into an international spectacle? The IDPs of Assam, unfortunately, have no interlocutor.
(The writer can be contacted at patricia17@rediffmail.com)
Guwahati, Jul 25 : The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) has commissioned a study to determine the incidence of hepatitis in the Northeast, which is considered to be highest in the country.
The ICMR is the apex body of the Centre for formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research and is one of the oldest medical research bodies in the world.
The head of the department of gastro-enterology of Gauhati Medical College and Hospital and principal investigator for the study, Bhabadev Goswami, told The Telegraph that Arunachal Pradesh has the highest incidence of Hepatitis B infection in the country.
“We also have a very high percentage of Hepatitis C in Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram. In Assam, both the infections are prevalent but incidence of Hepatitis B virus infection is more than Hepatitis-C virus,” Goswami said.
According to him, it has been observed that the prevalence of Hepatitis B and C is very high in the region and the study will shed more light on the actual percentage of incidence in each state and the reasons responsible for the high incidence.
He said they would start work on the study within the next couple of months. The three-year study will cover the entire northeastern region, including Sikkim.
“For the study, we will have centres in all the states from where blood samples will be drawn and tested at the department of gastro-enterology in the GMCH,” the doctor said.
Goswami said Hepatitis B spreads when blood, semen or other body fluid infected with Hepatitis B virus enters the body of a person who is not infected.
He said people could become infected with Hepatitis B virus during birth (from an infected mother to her baby); sex with an infected partner; sharing needles, syringes or any other drug injection equipment; sharing food that has been pre-chewed by an infected persons; direct contact with blood or open sores of an infected person and exposure to blood from used needles or other sharp instruments.
“Hepatitis C usually spreads when blood from an infected person enters the body of someone who is not infected. Today, most people become infected with Hepatitis C by sharing needles and other equipment used to inject drugs,” he said.
“Before widespread screening of blood supply began in 1992, Hepatitis C also used to spread through blood transfusions and organ transplants,” he said.
Goswami, who is also a member of the NGO, Northeast Digestive and Liver Foundation, said the gastro-enterology department of the GMCH and the foundation had joined hands with the World Hepatitis Alliance (WHA) to organise a weeklong hepatitis awareness programme in the Northeast to commemorate World Hepatitis Day on Thursday.
The World Hepatitis Alliance is a not-for-profit international umbrella non-governmental organisation whose membership is composed of organisations working in the field of hepatitis.
“Our awareness campaign will focus on a variety of programmes such as hepatitis screenings for the public, continuing medical education for doctors and creating public awareness, particularly among school students,” he said.
“We feel that it is crucial for the northeastern region to realise the magnitude of this disease. Practically, there is no cure for Hepatitis B and C but we can suppress these diseases with new medicines. Awareness may help us contain the spread of the disease,” he added.
Workers in Indian call centres told if they call on Friday night, Australians "will be smashed, every time". Picture: ThinkStock
Indian call centres get culture training
Told Australians are dumb, drunk, racist
"Just stating the facts, guys. Australia is known as the dumbest continent . . . so speak slowly" - CALL CENTRE TEACHER
INDIAN call centres are teaching staff Australia is the world's "dumbest continent" where people "drink constantly" and are "quite racist".
Staff taught "how to act Australian" are also told to "speak slowly" to customers on the other end of the phone line because they tend to be technologically "backwards".
Indian-based telephone spruikers and helpline operators are also warned that Australians are "touchy" about their pets.
They are also instructed it's OK to hang up on Australians who use the "preferred term for us" - "brown bastards".
The revelations have caused a stir in the US over cultural stereotyping after they appeared in the reputable news magazine Mother Jones.
One of the magazine's writers, journalist Andrew Marantz, spent weeks undertaking training in India with locals at an organisation called the Delhi Call Centre.
"For three weeks, a culture trainer will teach us conversational skills, Australian pop culture, and the terms of the mobile phone contracts we'll be peddling," he says. "Our first job at DCC will be to interrupt Australians at dinner and ask them to switch phone providers."
Marantz told The Sunday Mail he undertook the investigation last year, when there was some publicity about Indian students in Australia facing violent attacks.
The training program taught employees about conversational skills and Australian pop culture in the hope that they would build a rapport with the person they were trying to sell to.
In "dissecting" the Australian psyche in 20 minutes, the teacher told the class, "Just stating the facts, guys. Australia is known as the dumbest continent. Literally, college was unknown there until recently, so speak slowly".
"Technologically speaking, they're somewhat backward, as well. The average person's mobile would be no better than, say, a Nokia 3110 classic."
That revelation "drew scoffs from around the room".
"Australians drink constantly," the teacher warned. "If you call on a Friday night, they'll be smashed - every time.
"Oh, and don't attempt to make small talk with them about their pets, OK? They can be quite touchy about animals."
When one call centre student asked what kind of people lived in Australia, the teacher replied: "Let's admit: they are quite racist. They do not like Indians."
She continued: "Their preferred term for us is . . . 'brown bastards'."
Troubled singer had a long battle with drink and drugs
Devastated after split from director Traviss last month
Father Mitch flies home from New York 'to be with Amy'
Autopsy could take place 'within next 24 hours'
Claims she bought cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and ketamine in the hours leading up to her death
Troubled singer Amy Winehouse died yesterday of a suspected drug overdose at her London home.
The 27-year-old star, who had fought a long and well-publicised battle with drink and drug addiction, was pronounced dead after police were called to her £2.5 million three-storey home in North London.
Sunday tabloids have claimed the singer bought a cocktail of narcotics in the hours leading up to her death.
A source told The People that she was seen buying drugs, believed to be cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and ketamine from a dealer just after 10:30pm on Friday.
Inconsolable: Amy Winehouse, who died yesterday, was said to be distraught about her split from film director Reg Traviss
Distraught: Traviss seen outside the late singer's house yesterday
The source told the newspaper: 'Amy seemed determined to have a big one on Friday night.
'She was out in Camden on Friday evening, but seemed determined to carry on the party back at her flat.'
Her untimely death follows a long list of musicians who have all died at the age of 27, known as the 27 Club. They include rock legends Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain and Rolling Stone Brian Jones.
Amy was said to be devastated and ‘inconsolable’ after being dumped by her on-off boyfriend Reg Traviss, 34, just before she checked herself into The Priory rehabilitation clinic last month.
Traviss, who had previously turned down a marriage proposal from the star, was desperate to help Amy turn her life around, say friends, but when he realised she could not beat her demons he ended the relationship.
Last night, as Winehouse's body was taken to a local mortuary, her heartbroken mother Janis admitted she believed her daughter's death had been 'only a matter of time' when they met just 24 hours before she died.
'She seemed out of it. But her passing so suddenly still hasn't hit me,' she said.
Instead, she said, she preferred clinging for comfort to Amy's own parting words at the end of an enjoyable day they had spent together on Friday.
As mother and daughter kissed on the doorstep Amy told her, 'I love you, Mum'. 'They are the words I will always treasure and always remember Amy by', she said.
Last night Amy’s father Mitch - who had predicted she would die if she failed to quit drink and drugs - said he was devastated but has vowed ‘not to crack up for Amy’s sake’.
The cabbie-turned-singer was on a jazz tour in New York when he heard the news. He said: ‘I’m coming home. I have to be with Amy. I can’t crack up for her sake. My family need me.’
Fans of the singer gathered at her favourite haunt The Hawley Arms in Camden last night after hearing the news.
Amy had been photographed numerous times pouring pints to customers at the pub and candles were lit there as a tribute to the star.
The pub’s owner told the Independent on Sunday: ‘She was a special person with a good soul and this should not have happened. We will sorely miss her.’
Amy had recently completed her third album but the release date was delayed by Island Records when she went into rehab.
She bought her five-bedroom Camden home in 2009 but only moved in this May after spending £200,000 installing a recording studio and gym.
As the investigation to establish the cause of her death began, three people were seen outside the house, which is in one of London’s most expensive streets. They were Mr Traviss, her bodyguard – known only as Neville – and former Big Brother contestant Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace, 32, a long time friend of the singer, who looked distraught.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: ‘Inquiries continue into the circumstances of the death, which at this stage is being treated as unexplained. We do have people we’re speaking to but nobody has been arrested.’
A source said: ‘A number of people were helping police with their inquiries but we are still trying to establish who was with her when she died. It’s fair to say these people are central to police enquiries in piecing together what happened before she died.’
Another police source said that the death was being treated as ‘drink and drugs-related’. A post-mortem is expected to be carried out tomorrow.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said in a press conference yesterday evening that no cause of death had yet been confirmed.
Broken: Winehouse's close friend Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace was seen struggling to control her emotions as she learned of the singer's passing
Upset: The former Big Brother contestant kneels on the floor as she cries over the loss of her friend
He said: 'I am aware of reports of a suspected drugs overdose, but I would like to re-emphasise that no post-mortem has yet taken place and it would be inappropriate to speculate on the cause of death.
'The death of any person is a sad time of friends and family especially for someone known nationally and internationally like Amy Winehouse. My sympathy extends not only to her family but also to her millions of fans across the world.'
A statement from Winehouse's U.S. record label read: 'We are deeply saddened at the sudden loss of such a gifted musician, artist and performer.
'Our prayers go out to Amy's family, friends and fans at this difficult time.'
And a spokesman for the late singer said: 'Everyone involved with Amy is shocked and devastated. Our thoughts are with her family and friends. The family will issue a statement when ready.'
The scene: Amy was pronounced dead yesterday afternoon after emergency services arrived at her house in north London
Tragic: Winehouse's body is seen being removed from her home
Drama: Members of the press and local residents watch as Winehouse's body is taken to the van
WITHIN MINUTES 20M WERE TALKING TO EACH OTHER ON TWITTER ABOUT THE SINGER'S SUDDEN DEATH
Before it was announced on mainstream media the micro-blogging site was responding to the death of the singer and ‘Amy Winehouse’ quickly became one of Twitter’s 'trending' topics.
Trending refers to whichever names or terms are the most talked about at that particular moment. These are defined by the site as ‘most breaking’ topics.
Unlike topics which are discussed for a length of time, such as the phone hacking scandal, trending topics see huge numbers of Twitter users debating subjects as they happen.
Shortly after the confirmation of her death, Winehouse was mentioned in nearly 10 per cent of all tweets worldwide. As there are 200million users this equates to 20million people communicating with one another about her death.
A section of the road where the singer lived remained cordoned off last night. Journalists, local residents and fans gathered at the police tapes, while forensic officers were seen going in and out of the building.
One neighbour, who did not want to be named, said she saw the grief-stricken Traviss, on the ground outside the house.
Amy became a household name in 2006 after the multi-million sales of her five-time Grammy Award-winning album Back To Black, which chronicled her troubled love affair with her former husband Blake Fielder-Civil.
The pair married in Miami in May 2007 but divorced two years later after they both battled drink and drug addictions.
It is also alleged former music video producer Fielder-Civil was the one who introduced the Back to Black star to heroin and crack cocaine.
Amy's father Mitch previously spoke out about how his daughter stayed away from drugs prior to meeting her ex-husband.
In an interview last year he said: 'He's not entirely responsible, she's got to take a portion of the responsibility, but it's clear, it really kicked off when they got together.'
Despite her personal problems the star amassed a £10 million fortune and her album, with hits including Rehab, also helped her find success in America. But she struggled to deal with her success.
On Thursday, she made a surprise return to performing at the Roundhouse in Camden, North London, supporting her goddaughter Dionne Bromfield in an iTunes Festival concert. But fan Simon Grabiner, 19, said she came on stage and ‘stumbled around’ as if she was drunk or under the influence of drugs.
Mr Grabiner, from Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, said: ‘Everyone cheered as they saw her come on, and everyone thought she was going to perform. But she just walked around the stage as if she was drunk or something.
Last public appearance: Amy joined goddaughter Dionne Bromfield on stage during the iTunes festival on Wednesday night
Healthy: Amy was spotted out in London looking healthier earlier this month
‘Her legs seemed to turn to jelly. She gave Dionne a hug, and told everyone to buy her album. Then she just walked off.’
It followed a shambolic performance in Belgrade, Serbia, last month where Amy was booed off stage which led to the cancellation of her European tour.
Yesterday morning a message on her official website said she would be withdrawing from all forthcoming performances.
Cutie pie: Amy looking adorable at the age of two
It read: ‘Amy Winehouse is withdrawing from all scheduled performances. Everyone involved wishes to do everything they can to help her return to her best and she will be given as long as it takes for this to happen.’
Last night Sir Elton John called her ‘a seminal artist’, adding: ‘She was one of the greatest artists this country has ever produced.’
Mail on Sunday columnist and CNN presenter Piers Morgan wrote on Twitter: ‘Such desperately sad news. Supreme natural talent, terrible self-destructive addictive personality.’
Lily Allen tweeted: ‘It’s just beyond sad, there’s nothing else to say. She was such a lost soul, may she rest in peace.’
Singer and actress Kelly Osbourne wrote: ‘I can’t even breath right now I’m crying so hard I just lost one of my best friends. I love you for ever Amy and will never forget the real you!’
TV presenter Peaches Geldof, the television presenter simply wrote ‘RIP Amy Winehouse’. Emma Bunton said: ‘Such sad news about Amy Winehouse. My thoughts are with her family.’
Sarah Brown, the wife of the former Prime Minister Gordon Brown wrote: ‘Sad sad news of Amy Winehouse. Great talent, extraordinary voice and tragic death. Condolences to her family.’
Rest in peace: A signed guitar and a picture of Amy are among items left outside her house
Mourning: Floral tributes are left outside Amy's house as news breaks of her death
Heartfelt: One note from a local resident states how much the singer will be missed in her local community
Sally Bercow, the wife of the Speaker of the House of Commons wrote: ‘Proper upset by Amy Winehouse death. Such a talent lost.’
Radio DJ Fearne Cotton said: ‘Amy was a special girl. The saddest news.’
And referring to the age at which Amy had died, singer Billy Bragg ent a tweet saying: 'It's not the age that Hendrix, Jones, Joplin, Cobain and Amy have in common - it's drug abuse, sadly #27club.'
Singer and presenter Myleene Klass wrote: ‘OMG. Amy Winehouse. Exceptional talent and really nice lady. RIP.’
Family: Amy with her father Mitch, to whom she was incredibly close, and her mother Janis
Shambolic: Amy was booed off stage during a shambolic performance in Belgrade in June
Sara Cox tweeted: ‘Oh no. Was hoping it wasn’t true. RIP Amy. Just such a massive waste. Our thoughts are with her family.’
AMY AND BLAKE: A TROUBLED ROMANCE
Amy married Blake Fielder-Civil in Miami, Florida in 2007 but they were divorced two years later in September 2009.
From the beginning there relationship was fraught with difficulty as they struggled with addictions to crack cocaine and heroin. This led to numerous break-ups and ensuing make-ups.
Three months after they divorced speculation began to mount that they would one more marry. This was supported by the announcement on Facebook where they had both changed their relationship status to married.
But they never actually went ahead with it. Fielder-Civil’s troubles continued and in June of this year was sentenced to 32 months in prison for burglary and possession of an imitation firearm.
Police caught the 29-year-old in a car in February with an altered number plate full of recently stolen possessions.
Winehouse had been working on her long-awaited new album, the follow-up to her 2006 breakthrough multi-million selling Back To Black, for the past three years.
The singer was born Amy Jade Winehouse on 14th September 1983 in Southgate, London.
Winehouse has had a troubled life which has included various stints in rehab for drug and alcohol addiction.
The singer is thought to have been to rehab four times.
In an interview in 2008, her mother Janis said she would be unsurprised if her daughter died before her time.
She said: 'I've known for a long time that my daughter has problems.
'But seeing it on screen rammed it home. I realise my daughter could be dead within the year. We're watching her kill herself, slowly.
'I've already come to terms with her dead. I've steeled myself to ask her what ground she wants to be buried in, which cemetery.
'Because the drugs will get her if she stays on this road.
'I look at Heath Ledger and Britney. She's on their path. It's like watching a car crash - this person throwing all these gifts away.'
In addition, there was a website set up called When Will Amy Winehouse Die?, with visitors asked to guess the date of death with the chance of winning an iPod Touch.
In an interview last October with Harper's Bazaar magazine, Amy was asked if she was happy.
She replied: 'I don't know what you mean. I've got a very nice boyfriend. He's very good to me.'
And, asked if she had any unfulfilled ambitions, Winehouse replied: 'Nope! If I died tomorrow, I would be a happy girl.'
It had seemed director Traviss had helped Winehouse turn her life around. And father Mitch also gave the new man his seal of approval.
Former love: Amy with her ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil
Troubled: Amy battled drink and drug addictions during her short life
In an interview with STV's The Hour programme, he said: 'I'm happy she's got a new boyfriend. I'm happy that she's moving on with her life.'
He said Traviss was a 'very nice, normal bloke'. The pair split in January this year but quickly rekindled their relationship.
In March, Traviss said: 'We've been together nearly a year now and we're very happy. Amy's doing well, she's fine. She's healthy and happy.'
Weight worries: Amy also caused concern with her shrinking frame, and looked gaunt back in 2008 (right)
Winehouse had a hugely successful musical career with the release of her debut album Frank in 2003, and the record considered her breakthrough album - Back To Black in 2006.
The singer featured on the Sunday Times Rich List earlier this year with an estimated net worth of around £6million.
During her career, Winehouse won awards including five Grammy Awards, a Q Music Award for Best Album for Back To Black and a World Music Award in 2008 for World's Best Selling Pop/Rock Female Artist.
AMY WINEHOUSE - THE LATEST MEMBER OF THE '27 CLUB'
The singer's tragic death at the age of 27 puts her in a pantheon of famous musicians who have all died at the same age.
The 27 Club consists of some of the brightest musical talents the world has known but whose lives were cut short at the age of 27.
Club members: Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison are among those who died at the age of 27
They also include Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, charismatic Doors star Jim Morrison and guitar genius Jimi Hendrix, founding member of the Rolling Stones Brian Jones, singer Janis Joplin, Hole bassist Kristen Pfaff, American blues singer Robert Johnson and Manic Street Preachers guitarist Richey Edwards, who vanished in 1995 and was presumed dead at the age of 27.
The causes of death vary with each of them, with drug overdoses, suicides and murder depriving the world of some of its finest musical talents.
The one thing they have in common is how death at a young age has resulted in their memory being romanticised to the extent they have become even more famous in death than in their lifetime.
Aizawl, Jul 24 : Anti-corruption organisation PRISM (Peoples Right to Information and Development Implementing Society) was quick to react to Chief Minister Lal Thanhawlas statement in the Assembly House that explained why the vigilance commission has not been set up.
Terming the reasons cited by Lal Thanhawla as 'lame excuses', the corruption watchdog strongly demanded the Congress government to form the state vigilance commission as per its election manifesto.
The state vigilance commission figured prominently in the Congress partys electoral promises to bring about corruption-free government. Downplaying its own promise indicates that the party is not really committed to uproot corruption as it had promised,'' a statement of Prism said today.
The Chief Minister on Thursday informed the house that the strengthening of the state Anti-Corruption Branch (now Bureau), giving consent to the CBI, the existence of chief vigilance officer, the upcoming Lok Pal Bill and financial constraint made it not necessary to form the vigilance commission.
Calling these 'lame excuses', the Prism claimed that the people of Mizoram voted the Congress party to power because it made commitment to 'uproot corruption'.
''If the state government is no more interested in setting up the most effective tool to fight corruption, it means that it does not really hate corruption,'' the civic organisation said.
The Prism will continue to struggle to ensure that the Lal Thanhawla government forms the state vigilance commission before the end of the present term as it had promised to the people of state.
Agartala, Jul 24 : The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is all charged up to take up the new challenge of uranium mining in Tripura.
ONGC Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) A. K. Hazarika told mediapersons that a pilot project is being launched to explore fields for uranium mining in the riverbed of rivers Krishna and Godavari.
“ONGC is looking for uranium in our fields, because we are drilling many wells for oil and gas, while drilling we encounter with minerals called uranium. But we were not having so many interests earlier,” said Hazarika.
“Now our energy center, which is created for looking different alternative energy, they are identifying these various logs taken long back earlier which were looking for oil and gas, but that logs are also now showing potential for uranium deposition in many of the places,” he added.
Hazarika further said that the ONGC is working towards revamping its ageing infrastructure and technology at the oil fields across the country especially one at Lakwa in Assam.
“For oil and gas business, yes, we have taken one project in Assam for repairing and revamping the assets of Assam for improving the surface bottle necking. So, that is called Assam renewal project,” said Hazarika.
“That will help us in improving the production as well as repairing, removing the surface bottle necking of our process complexes and pipelines, where we are spending around nearly 2400 crores, so already contracts are going on,” he added.
ONGC has signed a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) with Nuclear Corporation of India as they are looking forward to start a nuclear project in the near future.
Hazarika is presently on a two-day visit to Tripura, during which he would meet Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and Minister for Power and Transport Manik Dey with regard to the progress made in the 726 MW gas-based power project at Palatana.
Aizawl, Jul 25 : The three main accused in the forced prostitution of four Mizo girls in Mumbai were awarded prison terms after the Kolasib district court on Saturday convicted them in the human trafficking case. 
