Chidambaram Rejects Northeast Students Face Discrimination

New Delhi, May 7 : Rejecting the contention that students from North East are subjected to discrimination and racial profiling, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday said the government will take every step to ensure their security and asked states to do the same.

"The government of India will take every step to ensure their security and I am confident that all state governments will discharge their constitutional responsibilities to ensure the safety and security of all people residing within that state," Chidambaram said in Rajya Sabha.

He was responding to a calling attention notice by Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley in the wake of deaths of two students from North East in Gurgaon, Haryana and Bengaluru.

Jaitley said, "I call the attention of Home Minister towards issues of racial profiling and discrimination towards students of North East, who go to different parts."

Replying to it, Chidambaram said the state governments were primarily responsible for the prevention of crimes arising out of discrimination, adding, the Centre accorded "highest importance to development of North Eastern region as well as prevention of atrocities against Schedule Tribe and will not countenance discrimination in any form."

Referring to the recent death of Dana Sangma in Gurgaon near Delhi and of Richard Loitum in Bengaluru besides allegations of racial profiling against Tibetans during the recent BRICS summit, he said these have caused disquiet and agitation among the community, specially students from the region.

He said the police is investigating the deaths of both Sangma and Loitam after registering cases and conducting post mortems.

Stressing that students from the region have right to security and peace and they are "free to travel and reside in any part of the country," Chidambaram said it was not correct that the students from the North Eastern states in Delhi were more vulnerable as compared to students from other regions.

"In 2010, 8 cases of offences against women from the North Eastern state were registered and, in 2011, 7 such cases were reported. All cases were investigated and further proceedings are underway," he said.
Admitting that during BRICS summit on March 29, the Delhi Police did detain some Tibetans and their supporters as there was an apprehension that the Tibetan groups would disrupt the summit, Chidambaram stressed that the police have "categorically stated that there was no racial profiling."

"During the checking process some Indians, including a few from the North-Eastern States were also detained for a short while and let off as soon as their identities were confirmed," he said.

He said while the exact number students from North East was not available a number of them resided in metropolitan cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Pune to take advantage of the vast opportunities available in other parts of the country and "it is their right to do so."

Elaborating the steps to address the problems faced by students from North East, Chidambaram said DCP-level officers have designated as nodal officers to specifically address their problems.

"Besides, a North East Connect Cell, headed by a joint secretary-level officer has been formed...to serve as a coordination point with resident commissioners of 8 North Eastern States," he added.

Amanda Seyfried Playing Porn Star Linda Lovelace

Amanda Seyfried is playing porn star Linda Lovelace in the upcoming movie "Lovelace" The poster for the film was just released, with the blonde actress transformed into a brunette with the help of a 1970s style wig. To prepare for the role, she watched Lovelace's iconic porn film "Deep Throat," Seyfried recently told Glamour magazine. HOT SHOTS: Amanda Seyfried. The first thing she noticed? “What surprised me is the amount of pubic hair!"; she said. "I’m pretty sure I would never do a full frontal in a movie—for personal reasons, I wouldn’t really want to show that.” Seyfried has, however, showed other private parts in films, most recently in the 2009 movie "Chloe," where she had a lesbian sex scene with co-star Julianne Moore.

Amanda Seyfried is playing porn star Linda Lovelace in the upcoming movie “Lovelace.”

The poster for the film was just released, with the blonde actress transformed into a brunette with the help of a 1970s style wig.

To prepare for the role, she watched Lovelace’s iconic porn film “Deep Throat,” Seyfried recently told Glamour magazine.

The first thing she noticed?

“What surprised me is the amount of pubic hair!” she said. “I’m pretty sure I would never do a full frontal in a movie—for personal reasons, I wouldn’t really want to show that.”

Seyfried has, however, showed other private parts in films, most recently in the 2009 movie “Chloe,” where she had a lesbian sex scene with co-star Julianne Moore.

Shocking: 87% Professionals Can't Name NE States

New Delhi, May 4 : An overwhelming 87% professionals can't name all the states of North East India, a survey of 458 people from sectors like the media, communication, advertising, public relations, human resources, finance and marketing -- whose media consumption is considerably higher than an average Indian -- has revealed.

The online survey was conducted by North East India Image Managers (NEIim), a group of media and communications professionals hailing from the Northeast and working in metros.

The respondents from Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and were not from northeastern part of the country.

"If majority of our respondents didn't know basic facts about the North East, how can a common man know more about the region," said Abhijit Borah, president, NEIim.

Probed as to why the respondents failed to have much information on North East India, a startling 61% said that they did not see much of north east India on national media.

Interestingly, a whopping 89.7% believed that the New Delhi should give special attention to North East India than what is being given now.

That people from the region have been its best ambassadors is confirmed by the fact that 51.6% of the respondents have known what they know about the Northeast from their interaction with colleagues or friends from North East India. This challenges the stereotype view that northeasterners don't mingle with others.

Also, about 52% of the respondents have a 'negative' perception about this region with their immediate recall of it as "a region riddled with insurgency and most unsafe place in the country" or "people with mongoloid features and weird food habits and an alien culture".

That there is still hope is revealed by the fact 93% of the respondents wanted to know more about the region while 56% felt that government should run special awareness campaigns using various media vehicles at national level to educate people about Northeast, while 43% suggest that school/college curriculum should include more information pertaining to history, geography, culture and economy of the region.

Northeast India is a collective term used to denote the eight (Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and Sikkim) states.

Key highlights:
1. 52% have a highly negative perception about North East India
2. 76% have no idea about any peace talks going on between govt and any militant group of NE
3. 91% have no knowledge about Northeast Industrial Policy
4. 70% respondents won't believe it if one states the fact that three NE states have higher per capita income than the national average
5. 30% of professionals will never go and work in NE even if that best suits their career interest
6. 75% respondents don't know that the current UPA govt has ministers hailing from Northeast
7. 42.7% advocates changes in the educational curriculum to provide more information about NE
8. 56.3% wants government to run mass awareness drive nationwide to educate people on NE.

Can The North East Ever Become Part Of The Indian Mainstream?

North East student Dana Sangma was found hanging in her hostel room in Gurgaon last month after being accused of cheating during an exam.

Mara People Vote on May 3

Aizawl, May 3 : The 32898-strong electorate in the Mara autonomous district council in southern Mizoram will exercise their franchise to elect their representatives to the 25-seat council on May 3.

"All election officials have reached their respective duty posts and everything is in place for peaceful conduct of elections," state election commissioner said.

There are 67 candidates, including two women, for the 25 seats. While Congress party is contesting all the 25 seats, the Mizo National Front is contesting 12 seats and its ally Maraland Democratic Front is contesting 12 seats.

The Zoram Nationalist Party has floated candidates in three seats while 15 candidates are fighting on independent tickets. Candidates from both Congress and MNF-MDF included a good number of newcomers.

Prominent figures included former Lok Sabha member Hiphei, who fights on Congress ticket from Tuipang-II constituency and Zakhua Hlychho, former minister, who contests from Maubawk seat on MNF ticket.

Sources said both are projected for CEM by both forces. Interesting constituencies included Romibawk where MNF district headquarters president C Lalmalsawma Zasai and Mara district PCC president R T Zachawnaw are at contesting.

Girls Outsmart Boys in Mizoram Class 12 Results

Aizawl, May 3 : Girls outshone boys in the HSSLC examinations by securing 61.16 pass percentage against boys' 59.84 pass percentage. A total of 5603 girls appeared in all the four streams - arts, science, commerce and vocational -of which 3427 were declared passed while 3395 boys out of 5673 were successful.

The Mizoram Board of School Education (MBSE) declared the results of Higher Secondary School Leaving Certificate (HSSLC) Examination 2012 on Tuesday, which saw a 60.50 pass percentage in all the streams, a slight decline from last year's pass percentage of 60.63. In the arts, science, commerce and vocational streams, 11276 students appeared, of which 6822 passed, 65 in distinction, 992 in first, 2036 in second and 3729 in third divisions. As many as 591 candidates got compartmental chance.

In arts stream, 7937 students appeared and 4712 were declared successful, with a pass percentage of 59.37 percent, compared to last year's 58.95 percent.

R Lalrinmawii, of Government Chaltlanh HSS, Aizawl stood first with 426 marks out of 500, and Lalfakzuali, of Home Missions School, Aizawl, and Lalramdini, of Synod HSS, ranked second by scoring 400 marks each. Lotera Lalrinpuii, who scored 395 marks, stood at third position.

Female pass percentage in arts stream is 60.98 against boys pass percentage of 57.61. In science stream, 2230 students appeared of which 1326 were declared passed, a making a pass percentage of 49.46, against last year's 62.41 percent. Sujata Sharma, Vishwanidh Singh and Sajid Mashroor, all from St Paul's HSS, Aizawl, ranked first, second and third positions by scoring 444, 441 and 430 marks respectively.

Female pass percentage in science stream is 57.11 against boys pass percentage of 61.34. In commerce stream, 628 students appeared and 382 students were declared successful registering 60.83 pass percentage, a decline from last year's 67.95 pass percentage. Janet C Rosemawii, of Oikos HSS, Aizawl (407 marks); Akshay Kumar, of St Paul's HSS (406 marks) and Mimi Lalzarpuii, of Oikos HSS (394 marks), occupied first, second and third positions respectively.

Girls secured 65.09 pass percentage in commerce, against boys' pass percentage of 57.51. In vocational subjects, a total of 481 students appeared of which 402 passed, making a pass percentage of a whooping 83.58 percent, a significant increase from last year's 66.59 percent.

Vocational subjects include computer technique, computer software application, commercial garment design & making, horticulture, medical laboratory technician, automobile engineering technology, sericulture and office secretaryship.

In the management-wise performance, deficit schools are on the top securing 82.60 pass percentage in arts, 90.82 pass percentage in science and 88.89 pass percentage in commerce. Private schools performed better than government-sponsored schools in arts and commerce with 79.49 pass percentage and 78 pass percentage, compared to government schools' 72.11 pass percentage and 62 pass percentage respectively.

However, government schools did better in science stream with 72.22 pass percentage against private schools' 71.43 pass percentage. As many as 20 schools, with no government school among them, witnessed cent percent pass. The cent per cent pass schools included the newly established Lal Thanhawla HSS at Serchhip. There are four government schools among 17 schools which recorded less than 40 percent pass percentage.

Meghalaya CM Demands Law For Safety Of Northeast Students

New Delhi, May 2 : Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma Monday called for a stringent law to address the safety concerns of students from the Northeast and to regulate the behaviour of the authorities at educational institutions.

Sangma was in the capital to raise the issue of the death of his niece and Amity University student, Dana Sangma, who committed suicide last Tuesday after allegedly being insulted by an invigilator during an examination.

"Institutes often focus on making money and building their brand, pressurising the students and ignoring the issues of their safety and balanced development," he claimed.

Apart from Dana, two more students from northeastern states have died in the past few weeks. While Delhi University student Samiran Saikia of Assam committed suicide, seemingly due to examination pressure, Bangalore student Richard Loitam hailing from Manipur was allegedly beaten to death.

Loitam's death has led to protests in several cities, including the capital, with the protestors accusing his college and hostel authorities of racial discrimination and delaying justice.

Sangma also stressed the need to prevent issues of racial profiling of students from northeastern states and said that 'the growing marginalization of people from the Northeast in different walks of life is a trend that needs attention and careful consideration'.

'Instances of discrimination and atrocities have lots of negative impact and are a threat to the integrity and harmony of the nation,' he added.

Cops Send Dana Sangma Exam Paper To Forensic Lab

By Hakeem Irfan

Meghalaya CM Mukul Sangma's niece Dana Sangma. 

Gurgaon, May 2: The Gurgaon Police, soon after filing a case under the SC/ST Act in connection with the suicide of Meghalaya CM's niece Dana M. Sangma, have sent her answersheet to the forensic lab for examination.

Dana committed suicide in her room at Amity University's Pachgaon (Manesar) campus earlier this week after she was expelled for cheating in an exam.

"Dana's answersheet has been sent to FSL Madhuban to clarify who wrote what on it and check for other details," a Gurgaon policeman said.

The National Commission for Women has also constituted a four-member team for an independent inquiry into the incident.

Meghalaya CM Mukul Sangma will arrive in the Capital on Saturday and meet government officials to take up the issue of discrimination against people from the North-East in Delhi and NCR. He will also reportedly take up the suicide case with the National Commission for Scheduled Caste and Tribes.

"This unfortunate incident has not happened in isolation. Such incidents are triggered because of the psyche of people who label people from the North-Eastern states as inferior.

Whenever I interact with students from these states studying in Delhi, they complain of racial discrimination," Sangma said over phone.

According to the CM, the invigilator had noted that Dana's mobile phone was found in "switched on" mode in her pocket. "It does not infer that she was cheating. Besides, if she was thrown out of class just for this, then something more must have happened to force her to commit suicide," he said.

Amity University, meanwhile, clarified in a detailed statement that Dana was surfing the internet during the exam.

The administration officials said some personal reason might have forced Dana to take the extreme step.

According to the statement, the invigilator took away Dana's paper and asked her to leave the examination hall.

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/gurgaon-cops-meghalaya-cm-niece-dana-sangma-exam-paper-forensic-lab/1/186423.html