Why India is Planning A New Road Near The China Border

By Subir Bhaumik

India and China disagree over the demarcation of several Himalayan border areas

India has unveiled plans to build a mountain road along the disputed border with China in the country's remote north-east.

The $6.5bn (£4.06bn), 1,800km (1,118 miles) all-weather road will stretch from Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh state to where the borders of India and China meet with Myanmar.

The road will connect sparsely populated and poorly-connected hill communities living in four large frontier districts of Arunachal Pradesh.

It will also help farmers in the mountainous region to transport their organic crops and medicinal herbs to low-lying and busy markets in neighbouring Assam state.

"This road will not boost our defences but help connect far flung communities for economic development denied to them for so long," says India's junior home minister Khiren Rijiju, himself a resident of Arunachal Pradesh.

But Indian military officials say the road will help consolidate Indian defences.

This represents a change in Indian military thinking that has so far opposed developing roads near the border, in case it is used by the Chinese during a conflict for speedy movement inside Indian territory.
The road, however, could could ignite fresh tensions between India and China.

The world's two most populous countries disagree over the demarcation of several Himalayan border areas and fought a brief war in 1962.

'Colonial legacy' Chinese foreign office spokesperson Hong Lei has said India's plan may "complicate" the boundary dispute which he described as a "colonial legacy".

"Before a final settlement is reached, we hope that India will not take any actions that may further complicate the situation. We should jointly safeguard the peace and tranquillity of the border area and create favourable conditions for the final settlement of the border issue," he told reporters in Beijing.

Chinese officials say it is not fair of India to undertake such a huge road building project in an area which is still in dispute.

"Once the dispute is resolved and the boundary is clearly demarcated, India can build such roads in its territory, but it would be unfair to build a road in a disputed territory," says Kong Can of the Yunnan Development Research Institute.

He says India should agree to develop the BCIM (Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar) highway and economic corridor from Calcutta in India's West Bengal state to Kunming in China's Yunnan province cutting through Bangladesh, India's north-eastern states of Assam and Manipur and Myanmar's northern provinces.

"This highway and economic corridor will help integrate our economies and open huge opportunities for developing our under-developed frontier provinces and create a climate of trust that will help resolve the border dispute," Kong Can said.

India is going slow on the project, so far just agreeing to "explore" its possibilities.

Roads in Arunachal Pradesh are poor and make troop movement difficult

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has responded to demands from his security establishment to develop its defences against China, which has reportedly beefed up its military infrastructure in Tibet with a string of new railway lines, roads and at least five new airports.

Also, the rail route to Lhasa is likely to be extended to Nyingchu, close to the Arunachal Pradesh border, Indian military officials say.

"China has vastly beefed up its military infrastructure in Tibet and we are only catching up. Unless we do that, China will always arm-twist us on the border and try to impose a solution on its terms," says Lt Gen JR Mukherjee, former chief of staff in India's eastern army.

Last month India and China pulled back troops after a two-week stand-off near their de facto border in Ladakh. Chinese President Xi Jinping was visiting India when India accused his country of the fresh territorial incursion.

Many believe that has added to Indian apprehensions and could have influenced the decision to build the long border road that now upsets China.

Subir Bhaumik is a former BBC correspondent and author

Hate crime near Delhi, 2 Northeast Men Attacked

By Leena Dhankhar

New Delhi, Oct 16 : A day after the attack on Manipuri men in Bangalore, two young men from Nagaland were severely beaten up in Sikanderpur near Delhi by a gang of locals.

One of the two men from Nagaland who were severely beaten up in Gurgaon. (HT Photo)

The locals numbering about seven, held the men in confinement in Sikanderpur area and beat them up with cricket bats and hockey sticks, a support group for northeast students alleged. After the attack the attackers also cut their hair, and asked them to tell their friends from the northeast to leave the area.

"If you were from Manipur, we would have killed you, " the attackers allegedly told the men.


Combo image of two men from Nagaland. (HT Photo)

The victims were first rushed to a provate hospital nearby, but seeing the injuries were severe, they were taken to the Civil Hospital.

Zoramthanga Ready To Broker Peace if Any Group Wants?

Aizawl, Oct 16 : Former Mizoram chief minister and opposition Mizo National Front (MNF) chief Zoramthanga today said that he was ready to broker peace with any government and insurgent group, if they wanted so.

Addressing a press conference here, former underground leader Zoramthanga said that he had recently held discussion in Delhi with former UK Premier Tony Blair's 'Intermediate group' engaged in brokering peace deals across the globe.

He said that members of the Intermediate group, headed by Blair's right-hand man Jonathan Powell was interested in the time-tested and most successful historic Mizo Peace Accord signed between the Indian government and the erstwhile underground MNF on June 30, 1986.

Zoramthanga had been involved in the Naga peace talks and also in the peace deal with the Garo insurgent group ANVC (Achik National Volunteer Council), which recently signed an accord with the Centre in Delhi.

He was sent to Bangkok to meet NSCN (I-M) leaders Isak Swu and Th. Muivah and also ANVC top leaders including Washington.

The former chief minister said that he did not rule out mid-term poll in Mizoram as the Congress government led by Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla has been facing severe financial crisis and the state was apt for declaration of financial emergency under the constitution.

He alleged that the Thanhawla administration has miserably failed in financial management resulting in severe financial problems.

Attack on Manipuri Student Raises More Questions On The Safety of Outsiders in Bangalore

Bangalore, Oct 16 : A suspected hate crime was reported in Bangalore where a Manipuri student alleged that he was beaten up by people who demanded he speaks in Kannada. Three people have been arrested in connection with the case.

Speak in Kannada, else flee - this was the kind of threat 22-year-old Michael allegedly faced when he went to have dinner at a roadside eatery in east Bangalore on Tuesday night.

"Three men came to us. One of the miscreants told us to speak in Kannada. He said that we need to speak Kannada as we live in Karnataka and and eat Kannada food. They tried to hit us after that," Michael Lamjathang Haokip said.

Speak in Kannada, else flee - this was the kind of threat 22-year-old Michael allegedly faced.

Although out of danger now, Michael sustained injuries on his head. What is shocking is the apathy of the onlookers who did not come to the boy's rescue. The engineering student has been living in Bangalore for the past four years.

Even as the terrified student tried to make an escape and reach the Kothanur police station, the group of men followed him. But luckily a police van reached the spot and the men were taken into custody.
The police have booked the three men under the Rowdy Act for assault and intimidation. But they are refusing to call this a racial attack.

"It should not be termed as a racial attack. Even the victim has told that it is not a racial attack. The three people were drunk and were semi-literate people and in their drunken state, they did this. They don't have authority to beat up anyone. That is why we have taken up this case," said Alok Kumar, Additional CP (Law and Order).

This is not a one of a kind incident for Bangalore. In May 2012, another Manipuri student Richard Loitam was found dead under mysterious circumstances triggering protests across the country. Months after that, a mass exodus of northeastern Indians from Bangalore was triggered by a hoax SMS, threatening the community.

The latest incident only raises more questions about the safety of outsiders in Bangalore.

India Plans Huge Palm Oil Expansion, Forests At Risk

By Shreya Dasgupta
Palm oil, a ubiquitous ingredient in supermarket products ranging from shampoos and cosmetics to processed foods, comes at a huge environmental cost. Between 1990 and 2010, palm oil monocultures replaced over 3.5 million hectares of forest in Malaysia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. This large scale deforestation has resulted in a massive loss of biodiversity and wildlife habitat, best illustrated perhaps by the annihilation of orangutan populations. Moreover, conversion of large peatlands to oil palm plantations releases millions of metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere.

While Malaysia and Indonesia produce over 85 percent of the world’s palm oil, India is its largest importer. This push for import comes from a huge gap that exists between the demand and supply of edible oils in the country. In fact, over 65 percent of the country’s demand for edible oils was met by imports in 2013-14, with palm oil leading the way. Since the early 1990s, India’s palm oil imports have skyrocketed from about 100,000 to over 8.8 million metric tons in 2014. 

To reduce the demand and supply gap, India too has joined the bandwagon of oil palm cultivators. After all, oil palm is economically attractive for many reasons. The oil is very cheap, is the highest yielding vegetable oil crop, and has a variety of uses in consumer products. The Ministry of Agriculture estimates that India has the potential to cultivate oil palm in 1.03 million hectares of land–nearly the size of the U.S. state of Connecticut–and produce four to five million metric tons of palm oil per year. 

In 1992, India launched the Oil Palm Development Program (OPDP) to expand land under palm oil cultivation in six Indian states. In 2004-05 the scheme was introduced in six more states, including those in northeast India – Mizoram, Tripura and Assam. But the growth of palm oil in the country has not been very rapid. To boost oil palm cultivation, the ministry introduced a Special Program on “Oil Palm Area Expansion” (OPAE) in 2011-12 aimed at increasing oil palm production in the 12 states from 50,000 to 300,000 metric tons in the next five years. For this, the OPAE has budgeted over $50 million (Rs 300 crore), mostly to be spent on special incentives for oil palm farmers in the form of subsidies on seeds, irrigation systems and processing units.  

In recent years, the state of Mizoram in northeastern India has pushed hard for oil palm cultivation. But the seemingly lucrative oil palm may come with great socioeconomic and environmental consequences. 

Palm oil and Jhum in Mizoram 

The Mizoram government has earmarked 101,000 hectares of land for oil palm cultivation. Until 2013-14, oil palm plantations covered 17,588 hectares. Expansion of oil palm plantations falls within the government’s New Land Use Policy (NLUP) to wean farmers away from their traditional practice of subsistence farming, called “jhum,” to more economically stable commercial agricultural and livelihood practices. 

In jhum cultivation, farmers burn down patches of bamboo forests to grow an assortment of food and cash crops without addition of any fertilizers or pesticides. After cultivation, they move to newer areas, allowing the older fields to rest and regenerate into forests. While the alternating cycles of forest clearance and regeneration makes it difficult to estimate the extent of deforestation in Mizoram, data from the Global Forest Watch puts the net loss of tree cover in the state at 20,000 hectares from 2001 through 2012—or about 1 percent of its nearly two million hectares of forest cover. 

For many policy makers, (and some ecologists), jhum cultivation is destructive, leading to loss of forests, and low economic growth. Green cover provided by oil palm plantations instead appears to be a more acceptable and profitable alternative. But is jhum as bad as it is made out to be? 

“One of the reasons [jhum is considered destructive] is that ecologists have always compared jhum (or logged, or fragmented forest) to a primary forest, and concluded that primary forest is better for biodiversity,” Umesh Srinivasan, a doctoral student at the National Center for Biological Sciences in Bangalore, India, told mongabay.com. “One of the fallouts has been that people tend to dismiss all non-primary forests as being ‘worthless’ and substitutable…. Oil palm might provide a permanent ‘green cover’, but then so does a lawn! In terms of sustaining biodiversity, this green cover fares quite poorly.” 

In an article published in Economic and Political Weekly, Srinivasan and his colleagues added that jhum also facilitates cultivation of multiple crops organically, and provides a host of other benefits like bamboo, timber, firewood, and edible plant species – “a bounty that an oil palm plantation will never be able to match.” 

Shifting from jhum to oil palm plantations could thus undermine food security in the state. According to TR Shankar Raman, a wildlife scientist with the Nature Conservation Foundation in Mysore, India, who has worked in Mizoram, oil palm plantations are not only replacing the traditional jhum fields that yield multiple food and cash crops, but also areas in valleys set aside for the cultivation of wet rice.  

The notion that jhum is devastating for Mizoram’s forests may need a re-evaluation, he suggested in commentary on the state’s land use policies. 

“Even before NLUP was implemented, despite decades of extensive shifting cultivation, over 90 percent of Mizoram’s land area was under forest cover, much of it bamboo forests resulting from jhum,” he wrote. “Recent declines in forest cover have occurred at a period when area under jhum cultivation is actually declining, while area under settled cultivation is increasing, suggesting that the land use policy has been counterproductive to forests.” 

Oil palm is also a highly water-intensive crop. And several areas of Mizoram demarcated for oil palm suffer from acute water scarcity. 

“There is a fairy long dry season in Mizoram. In fact it is very common to see tankers carrying water, including in Aizawl, Mizoram’s capital,” Shankar Raman told mongabay.com. “So bringing in a crop that requires substantial water input into a landscape where there is a shortage of water seems like bad planning to me.” 

Mindless expansion of oil palm plantations in northeastern India may also be grave news for this biodiversity hotspot’s wildlife. Permanent loss of forests to monocultures of oil palm and a lack of adequate planning are already resulting in increased rates of human-wildlife conflict. 

“Some plantation cultivators next to the reserve have started complaining about wildlife like porcupines and rodents destroying their crops, and are now asking for compensation from the forest department,” said Shankar Raman, who has worked in Dampa Tiger Reserve, Mizoram’s largest wildlife sanctuary. “The areas where oil palms should be cultivated have not been planned well. For instance, they should have avoided buffer areas in conservation landscapes, water sheds, and productive rice valleys.”  

Can oil palm be sustainable in Mizoram? 

Oil palm cultivation in countries like Malaysia and Indonesia has caused widespread forest loss. In several parts of these countries, plantations have forcibly and unethically displaced local communities. To combat such growing concerns, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), an internationally accepted certification scheme, was established in 2004. The strict RSPO standards aim to promote practices that make palm oil production environmentally and socioeconomically sustainable.  

Mizoram’s government has signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with three private companies – Godrej Oil Palm Ltd., Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd., and Food and Fats and Fertilizers Ltd. – which will purchase oil palm fruits from farmers and sell the oil produced in their processing mills to domestic markets. All three companies are currently members of RSPO. 

According to Shankar Raman, however, most of the RSPO standards are not yet in place in Mizoram. And if nothing changes in how oil palm plantations are currently managed, palm oil cultivation will most likely not be sustainable in the long run, he said. Despite the current unsustainable practices, writing off oil palm completely will be neither possible nor desirable, said Srinivasan. Better practices, however, are necessary. 

“For instance, replacing existing crops with oil palm plantations will not really make much difference to biodiversity,” he said.” Also, what we need before oil palm starts expanding in a big way is to identify areas that: (a) are suitable for oil palm climatically, and (b) areas that are biodiversity priorities, and ensure that the areas of overlap are not replaced with oil palm.”  

This article was originally written and published by Shreya Dasgupta,

Northeast Kitchen Stirs Up Taste Of Exotic Flavours

Chennai, Oct 16 : They've made the city their home for decades but a taste of home has been lacking for long. Ramayon Keishing and his wife Nimrim from Manipur have plugged this gap by setting up North East Kitchen, to provide the flavours of home to those who have moved from Manipur and Nagaland to Chennai for work and to study.

Curious Chennai-ites are also flocking to the restaurant with just five tables near Ethiraj College in Egmore to try out the new and exotic food. Ramayon does the cooking while Nimrim serves customers.

"I had two ideas in mind when I decided to open the restaurant," says Ramayon, who has lived in Chennai for close to 20 years. "First, give locals a chance to taste food from the northeast. Second, I wanted to reach out to people from the northeast who don't have access to home food."

Ramayon, who moved to Chennai in 1996 as an accountant for an NGO, is well-versed in Tamil. In 2003, he joined a Korean restaurant in Sriperumbudur as manager. "Over the years, I saw the demand for, and response to, Korean food in Chennai improve. While working at that restaurant, I realised that there was a lot of similarity between the northeast and Korean food. So I was confident that people here would enjoy eating Manipuri food," Ramayon said.

In April, he resigned, took two months to look for a good location and in July, finally opened his restaurant.

Meat is prepared with special herbs and spices from the northeast. He serves food from all the northeastern states such as eromba of Manipur (a spicy, pulpy chutney made of fermented fish and bamboo shoots), bei of Mizoram (steamed vegetables with pork, spinach and bamboo shoot), akhuni of Nagaland and Manipur (made from fermented soyabean). He gets about 30kg of each of the ingredients from Manipur every three months.

Ramayon says the pungent smell of fermented food may put people off at first but they quickly develop a taste for it. "Fermented fish or ngari is used widely in northeastern dishes. Bamboo shoot or soibum is another favourite. "I think I will slowly be able to introduce people to other fermented food from the north east," he says with a smile.

The Long Road To Runway

By Madhumita Srinivasan



Meghalaya-based Daniel Syiem on showing at the London Fashion Week and the increasing awareness about brands in the North East.

“It’s all about the designers and their collection at the London Fashion Week, while in India the focus is on the celebs — who is attending it, and who is walking for whom,” rues upcoming fashion designer Daniel Syiem, but with the genuine hope that the Indian fashion industry will change for the better.

Daniel would know because he showcased his collection ‘Amaranthine’ at the London Fashion Week S/S 2015 last month which was received with much appreciation and interest. His collection was inspired by the natural beauty and resources of his home state — Meghalaya. It featured largely western pieces — from crop shirts and jump suits to dresses and pants — made out of the hand-spun, organic fabric Ryndia, dyed in natural colours like turmeric, violet, ochre, olive, indigo, amaranth and ivory.  “The response was overwhelming,” says Daniel. “They understood what I was trying to portray — all the little details. I was really happy!” Through his collection, Daniel wanted to showcase the rich but dying tradition of hand-woven fabric from his state and other regions in the North-East for which he works closely with the artisans through his fashion label Daniel Syiem’s Ethnic Fashion House established in 2011 along with his partner Janessaline M Pyngrope.

 “My grandfather and father are social activists who work for the people. So in my own way I wanted to do something for my people too,” explains Daniel who started off with a small boutique in Shillong.

 The people of North-East are generally known for being fashionable, but the concept of wearing labels and designer brands is quite new. “It took time for people to understand what I was doing because they used to treat me like some high-end tailor. But over the years things have changed. And there is a lot of talent out there that is still untapped.”  Daniel is currently working on establishing his base and understanding the fabric because it can be quite challenging working with it especially with its limited colour palette. “We cannot do this on our own. We are looking at collaborating with different experts like textile designers. We have a few on board who are trying to see how different prints and dyes can be incorporated and how to revive age-old dyeing methods. This is where my passion lies,” says Daniel.

 Currently, Daniel is busy responding to enquires he received from sellers in Europe after his show and preparing for the London Fashion Week’s Autumn/Winter to which he has been invited again. “The material I work with is more suited to the climatic conditions in Europe, so we would like to tap into the European markets. The response we have been receiving here in India has been positive too.

We have managed to generate some buzz and people are noticing us.” The fashion industry sat up to take notice of this designer who marries Nature with couture after his debut at the Lakme Fashion Week last year.

Northeast Student Attacked in Bangalore, Allegedly For Not Speaking Kannada

Northeast student leader allegedly attacked in Bangalore for not speaking in Kannada

Bangalore, Oct 15 :  An engineering student from the northeastern state of Manipur was attacked in Bangalore last night by men who allegedly demanded that he "speak in the local Kannada language or get lost".

Michael Lamjathang Haokip, who heads a Manipuri students' body, alleges that he and his friends were standing near a food stall when they were attacked with stones by the men. The attackers allegedly demanded to know why they were speaking in English.

"They said you are eating Karnataka food, living in Karnataka. You should speak Kannada or else get lost. They were speaking in Kannada...we nodded and they took it as an insult. They picked up stones and attacked us and I got injured," said the 26-year-old, who was badly hurt in his head.

"I don't know if those three hit us because they were drunk. Just because I am living in Karnataka doesn't mean I have to speak Kannada," he added.

A case of assault has been registered and the three attackers have been arrested.

Boxing champion Mary Kom, who is in Bangalore for a marathon event, was among those who reacted with anger at the assault on a student from her state.

"I don't feel good listening to such news. There should be unity and peace in our country, so that such incidents don't repeat," Mary Kom said.

The incident took place after midnight in the city's Kothanur area, home to a large number of students from other parts of the country.

Michael has alleged in his police complaint that a crowd that was watching the commotion supported the attackers. He was allegedly chased by a mob till he reached a police station.

The Bangalore police say they are trying to confirm whether this was a hate crime or a case of drunken behavior.