Jung Constitutes Committee to Ensure Safety of Northeast People

New Delhi, Mar 6 : To ensure the safety of the people of North-East community living in Delhi, the Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung has constituted a committee under the chairmanship of the Principal Secretary (Home).

The Committee will identify concrete mechanisms to enhance the safety and security of persons from the North-East living in Delhi.

"They will solicit opinions and views of the members from the North-East community living in Delhi to outline key issues. The committee will put in place a system of regular interaction between the district administration, Delhi police and members of organizations from the North-East to discuss problem areas and to identify remedial measures," said a press release issued by the Delhi government.

The committee will work out institutional mechanisms to ensure that the grievances of persons from the North-East are attended to promptly and effectively.

The committee will recommend sensitization measures to be undertaken which will ensure mutual respect and peaceful co-existence between all communities and groups, the release said.

The committee which was constituted on February 28 will have representatives from the North East Community.

Further, Lt Governor Najeeb Jung had asked the police to fast-pace the probe in cases of racist attacks following which Delhi government had also sought an action taken report and comprehensive plan of Delhi Police to deal with racist attacks in the capital.

In a letter to Police Commissioner B S Bassi, Chief Secretary S K Srivastava had asked him to submit the report at the earliest.

The other members of the committee are joint commissioner of police (Security), District Magistrates (South-West, North, South, and New Delhi), deputy commissioners of Police (North, South and South-West), a nominee from the Ministry for Development of North Eastern Region, Government of India.

People from Northeast have faced a slew of attacks in the capital in recent times.

Nido Tania, a youth from Arunachal Pradesh had recently died after he was allegedly assaulted by some shopkeepers in Lajpat Nagar area. Following that a 14-year-old Manipuri girl was raped in Munirka area of South Delhi.

Mizo students safe in Ukraine: Envoy

Mizo students stranded in the trouble-torn Ukraine and Russian controlled Crimea peninsula are safe, according to the Indian Ambassador to the country Rajiv Chandra.

The Indian Ambassador to Ukraine gave the information to the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs after chief minister Lal Thanhawla wrote to the Centre yesterday in this regard, an official statement here said.

Chandra, through the Ministry of OIA, said that there was nothing to worry about the Mizo students and other students from North East.

EVMs made by BEL to be used in Mizoram LS polls: CEO

Election to the Mizoram's lone Lok Sabha seat, to be held on April nine, would be conducted with electronic voting machine (EVM) made by the Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) replacing all the EVMs made by Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), state chief electoral officer (CEO) Ashwani Kumar said here today.

Kumar said that the EVMs used in the last election to the 40-member state legislature on November 25 last were kept in the strong rooms due to the pending case on election petition in the Gauhati High Court.

The CEO said that 23 opposition Mizo National Front (MNF) candidates filed election petition in the High Court asking the court to appoint an expert committee to verify the EVMs alleging that they might be tampered with.

"We brought 1,716 BEL-made EVMs from Maharashtra to be used in 1,126 polling stations and majority of them have arrived," he said, adding that they earlier intended to get the EVMs from Uttar Pradesh, but again changed the decision as the EVMs used in the UP were ECIL-made.

He added that electorate would exercise franchise in the coming election to the lone Lok Sabha seat and also in the by-election to the Hrangturzo assembly seat vacated by state chief minister Lal Thanhawla to be held on the same day.

Rapid Response Medi-Bikes To Hit Aizawl Soon

Aizawl, Mar 5 : Dealing with emergencies has always been a nightmare in Aizawl given its hilly topography and narrow roads. But now the government has come out with a solution to respond to emergencies promptly.

The outgoing director of the state National Health Mission, Dr Gordon Zohmingthanga, has hit upon the idea of introducing "medi-bikes" which can ferry patients faster than the conventional ambulances.

The project has been approved by the Union health ministry and six units of medi-bikes will soon be visible in Aizawl. Mizoram will be the first to introduce this service in the country.

"The idea stemmed from the fact that Aizawl is a tiny hilly city with narrow roads. There are traffic jams. The bike service will ensure healthcare reaches the patient within 20 minutes," he said.

The two-wheeler paramedics team will have life-saving equipment and life-saving drugs and will be attached to the emergency wing of the Aizawl Civil Hospital. "They will act as a Rapid Response Team and reach the patient before the ambulance did," said Zohmingthanga.

Each bike will be allotted two paramedics trained to deal with emergencies. "They will stabilize the patient and once an conventional ambulance reaches the spot, the nurse will accompany the patient in the ambulance while the other paramedic will ride the bike and lead the way. The bikes will be fitted with sirens and beacons," said Zohmingthanga.

The paramedics will work in three shifts. When there are no emergency duties, the paramedics will attend patients at the Civil Hospital.

Mizo CM for Protection of Mizo Students in Ukraine

Aizawl, Mar 5 : Mizoram chief minister Lal Thanhawla today sent letters to Minister for External Affairs Salman Khurshid and Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi asking them to ensure protection of Mizo students now stranded in the trouble-torn Ukraine and the Russian controlled Crimean peninsula.

Lal Thanhawla appealed to the two Union Ministers not only to take measures to protect 30 to 40 Mizo students, but also to monitor their conditions.

He said that the parents of the students were extremely worried and asked the Ministers to instruct the Indian Missions there to ensure the safety of the students and send regular information on the situation.

He also asked the Union Ministers to constantly keep in touch with the Mizoram government on the situation in Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula.

Annual Status of Education Report 2013 for North East States released

By Dr. Syed Ahmed


Imphal: The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2013, the largest household survey of children in rural India, has shown that the enrolment of children in the age of 6-14 in the North East States is quite high compared to many of the States in mainland India. In Mizoram just 0.4% of the children in the age 6-14 are out of school. The percentage of out of school children is also quite low in Tripura (1.1%), Nagaland (1.2%), Sikkim (1.3%) and Manipur (1.5%). However, in Assam 3.8% of children are not in school. All-India average is 3.3%.

Except in Manipur and Meghalaya, the enrolment of children in the age 6-14 in private schools is not very high in NE States. Manipur (70.8%) has the highest private school enrolment in India. However, in Tripura just 6.7% of children are enrolled in private schools. In Assam 17% of the children are enrolled in private schools. The All-India average is 29%.

The percentage of children in the age 6-14 who receive paid tuition is very high in Tripura (65.8%). However, the proportion is quite low in other NE States. Just 3.7% of the children in Mizoram, 13.3% in Meghalaya, 16.7% in Nagaland take paid tuition. All-India average is 24%. West Bengal (73.9%) has the highest percentage of children taking paid tuition.
More than 70% of the children in Standard III-V in Sikkim, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Manipur could read Standard I level text or more. However, just 46.4% of the children in Standard III-V in Assam and 53.6% in Tripura could read Standard I level text or more. More than 60% of the children in Standard III-V in Manipur, Mizoram and Sikkim could do subtraction or more. However, the percentage is quite low in Assam (30%) and Tripura (41.6%).
Over 70% of the children in Standard VI-VIII in Manipur Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim could read Standard III level text. More than 60% of the children in Standard VI-VIII in Manipur and Sikkim could do division. However, just 19% of the children in Assam, 28.2% in Tripura and 29.5% in Meghalaya could do division.
The ASER team visited selected schools in every State to see whether these schools comply with some of the norms and standards of RTE Act. The proportion of schools in NE States that comply with the norms of RTE Act continues to grow.
More than 90% of the schools visited in Manipur, Nagaland and Sikkim meet the RTE norms of pupil-teacher ratio. However, in Assam just 31.3% of the schools visited meet the norm.
Most of the schools visited in NE States did not have facility for drinking water. In Assam and Sikkim just 21% of the schools had the facility. In Manipur 80% of the schools visited had drinking water facility.
However, most of the NE States have toilet facility. Just 2.1% of the schools visited in Sikkim, 3.7% in Tripura and 8% in Mizoram and Nagaland did not have toilet facility. In Manipur 65.4% of the schools visited in Manipur and around 40% of the schools in Meghalaya and Nagaland did not have separate toilet for girls.
Most of the schools visited in NE States did not have library facility. More than 80% of the schools in Manipur and Mizoram did not have provision of libraries in schools.
Mid Day Meal (MDM) was observed being served on the day of the visit in more than 90% of the schools in Mizoram, Tripura and Sikkim. However, MDM was found served in just 28% of the schools in Nagaland and 40% in Manipur.
Except in Manipur (59%) and Tripura (62.2%), the actual attendance of enrolled children in schools is quite high. More than 70% of the enrolled children were found attending schools in Assam (74%), Meghalaya (72%), Mizoram (84.2%), Nagaland (84.4%) and Sikkim (87.6%).
Attendance of teachers was also found quite high in almost all the NE States. More than 80% of the teachers were found attending schools in Assam, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim. However, in Manipur just 70% of the teachers were found in school.
The ASER 2013 - the ninth annual report - was released in New Delhi on January 15, 2014 by Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission.
The ASER 2013 for the States of NE India was released on February 19, 2014 by ASER Centre, Manipur at Manipur Press Club by Former Member of Steering Committee of NER Vision 2020 Prof. N. Mohendro Singh.

ASER, facilitated by Pratham, is the largest annual household survey of children in rural India that focuses on the status of schooling and basic learning. Every year, ASER finds out whether children in rural India go to school, whether they can read simple text and whether they can do basic arithmetic. In 2005, 2007, and every year since 2009, ASER has also included a visit to one government school in each sampled village. Since the implementation of the RTE Act in 2010, school visits in ASER have included indicators of compliance with those norms and standards specified in the RTE Act that are easy to measure. In 2013, ASER visited 14,724 government schools.

ASER 2013 reached 550 districts and close to 16,000 villages, 3.3 lakh households and 6 lakh children in the age group 3-16.

source TwoCircles.net

Mizoram opposition parties holding talks to Form United Front

Aizawl, Mar 5 : All the opposition parties in Mizoram have been holding talks to form an united front against the ruling Congress, sources in the Mizo National Front (MNF), the main opposition party today said.

Leaders of the opposition parties - the MNF, the Mizoram People's Conference (MPC), the Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP), the Maraland Democratic Front (MDF), the BJP and the NCP held the second round of talks yesterday and would again meet on Thursday next, sources said.


The parties were trying to forge an alliance and field a common candidate for the coming Lok Sabha polls and Assembly by-election in Hrangturzo seat, vacated by chief minister Lal Thanhawla.

They also discussed about forming combined opposition to the Congress in the autonomous district council elections.

In the election to the 40-member state assembly, the Congress bagged 34 seats while the Mizoram Democratic Alliance (MDA), an alliance of the MNF, MPC and MDF could manage to win only six seats.

First green campus college in Notheast India

In a first for the North East region, a city-based College was adjudged as having an eco-friendly 'green campus', officials said.

St Anthony's College, one of the leading colleges in the state, affiliated to the North Eastern Hill University here, received the distinction of being the only campus to have passed the ambient air quality testing conducted by the Meghalaya State Pollution ControlBoard, MPSCB chairman M Allya told PTI.

The findings revealed that the presence of Sulphur Dioxide and Nitrogen Dioxide in the college premises was near negligible with their content (in microgram/cubic meters) well below the permissible limits, senior scientist at the board, B Nongbri, said.

The 80 year-old college founded by the Don Bosco Society was recently re-accredited "A" by NAAC with 3.6 out of 4 cumulative grade points, is the only colleges out 63 colleges affiliated to NEHU to have conducted the test.

Having also been recognised by the UGC as a College with Potential for Excellence, it was also identified as an Institutional Bio-Tech hub by the Centre's Department of Biotechnology.