Bill To Enable Mizo Women To Inherit Property

The Mizo women will be able to inherit property and their marriages cannot be terminated at the whims of their husbands once the proposed Mizoram Marriage, Divorce and Inheritance of Property Bill, 2014, is passed by the Assembly.

The Bill will be introduced in the next Assembly session beginning tomorrow, SR Zokhuma, Additional Secretary to the Assembly said.

The Bill has already been submitted to the Assembly Secretariat by the government for introduction in the session, he said.

Women organisations in the state have been demanding legislation on divorce and inheritance of property for a long time as the Mizo women can be easily divorced by their husbands as per the Mizo Customary law.

The Customary Law also does not permit women to inherit anything except in special cases.

Mizoram: Seismotectonic Study Of The Indo-Burmese Arc

Aizawl, Nov 12 : Scientists from different parts of the world delivered interesting lectures during a two-day tripartite meeting on the 'Tectonics of the Indo- Burmese Arc', organised by Mizoram University (MZU), in collaboration with Manipur University and NGRI (CSIR), Hyderabad, at MZU concluded today.

Besides scientists, research scholars and students from different parts of the world participated in the meeting. The main purpose of this meeting was to formulate and bring about collaborative ideas on questions concerning the structure of the Indo-Burmese Arc, India - Sunda plate motion, Earthquake occurrence potential, evolution of the Indo Burmese Arc, historical seismicity, paleoseismology, volcanic studies in Myanmar, earthquake precursors and others.

Discussions with regard to the future plan for research on the Indo-Burmese Arc, scientific issues, modalities of implementations, funding and timeframe for the research were discussed today.

Dr Leonardo Seeber, from Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia-University, Palisades, NY, in the inaugural function said that it was important to understand what the hazards were. The Indo-Burmese Arc has a lot of important elements that need to be studied and this cannot be done without the collaboration of scientist, researchers, institutions and others.

The vice chancellor of Assam University, Silchar, Prof Somnath Dasgupta also said collaborative venture will bring about important findings and that support from Assam University is guaranteed whenever necessary.

The vice chancellor Prof R Lalthantluanga in his speech, said "Even Mizoram University is trying to put up several projects for the state as we are in the seismic zone along with the rest of North east India and with oil explorations in the state, we have put up proposals to UGC in the 12th plan to provide us Centre's/departments on this regard, we were however unable to get a full-fledged centre from UGC but certain post were sanctioned to Mizoram University earlier this year, one for disaster management and another for oil petroleum exploration".

India Gearing Up To Build Largest Hydel Power Plant at Arunachal Pradesh

The State-owned NHPC has been given green nod by from the Forest Advisory Committee for Dibang hydel project in Arunachal Pradesh. NHPC is gearing upto approach the Cabinet Committee for a final approval within a year.

India is planning to build it biggest hyde power plant with a capacity of a 3,000 MW at Arunachal Pradesh.

The State-owned NHPC has been given green nod by from the Forest Advisory Committee for Dibang hydel project in Arunachal Pradesh. NHPC is gearing upto approach the Cabinet Committee for a final approval within a year.

"We will execute the Dibang project in partnership with one of the PSUs and the state government at an investment of Rs 15,000-16,000 crore. Due to its large scale, the per-MW project cost will be much less than the average of Rs 7-8 crore," NHPC Chairman and Managing Director RST Sai said.

"Also, we will be able to execute the project faster as there are only a handful of families living at such high altitude and it will save time for their rehabilitation."

NHPC, operates 6,500 MW of hydro power generation capacity. Enthused by the Narendra Modi government's reforms for faster clearances for infrastructure projects NHPC hopes to build more plants.

The delay in clearances and rehabilitation of displaced people had many projects in limbo. As a result the country's share of hydro power generation capacity began to decline.

Accenture building mobile governance platform for Arunachal Pradesh

The contract, worth $70,000, also requires Accenture to develop a web-based portal for the health, police, tourism, disaster management, agriculture, land management, social welfare and employment departments. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/Mint

Hyderabad, Nov 12 : Consulting and outsourcing company Accenture Plc is building mobile platforms and a website for 21 government services of the Arunachal Pradesh government.

Called Arunachal m-Seva, the mobile government system, when completed, will give citizens access to government services ranging from safety and health alerts to employment services and pension benefits, Accenture said in a statement on Monday.

The services of eight state departments will be available on marketplaces such as Google Inc’s Play, Mirosoft Corp’s Windows Phone Store, Apple Inc’s iPhone App Store and Nokia Oyj’s Nokia Store.

Emergency, safety and health alerts will also be shared by text messages (SMS). The contract, worth $70,000, also requires Accenture to develop a web-based portal for the health, police, tourism, disaster management, agriculture, land management, social welfare and employment departments.

“The new mobile government system will provide increased opportunities to help us meet the needs of our citizens in new ways,” Er. Gaken Ete, secretary of Arunachal Pradesh’s information technology department said in the statement.

Arunachal Pradesh, India’s most far-flung state in the north east, has a population of 1.3 million with 66.95% literacy rate.

Its official language is English. The north east, a long-neglected region, has recently seen a spurt in tourism and hydro-electric power projects.

“Arunachal m-Seva is an exciting move toward a more citizen-centered government for the state,” G. Sethuraman, managing director of Accenture’s health and public service business in India said.

Mizoram Presents Tax-Free Deficit Budget for 2014-15

Aizawl, Nov 12 : Mizoram Finance Minister Lalsawta today presented a tax-free deficit budget amounting to Rs 6,770.79 crore for the current fiscal.

Lalsawta explained that he could not present the full budget during the budget session in March and was compelled to seek vote-on-account for two times for a period of eight months due to late finalisation of the state annual plan outlay for 2014-15.

The budget, presented in the state Assembly, has provisioned Rs 3,140 crore under plan outlay and Rs 3,630.79 crore under non-plan expenditure.

The fund is expected to be received under Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR), Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) and North Eastern Council (NEC) now allocated in the plan fund since the past one year.

The closing deficit for the current financial year was estimated at Rs 608.39 crore as against the opening deficit of Rs 357.18 crore. He did not announce any new tax.

In his budget speech, Lalsawta spoke about the acute financial difficulties being faced by the state and stressed on the importance of following strict austerity measures.

NLUP or the New Land Use Policy, the flagship programme of the Congress government in the state led by Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla, continued to be the top priority of the state government. As much as Rs 317.32 core were earmarked for implementation of the programme during the current fiscal, he said.

He said 1.35 lakh families would be benefited under NLUP which aimed at giving sustainable livelihood by engaging in different activities including agriculture and allied services, industries and forest-based income generating activities.

Lalsawta was the first finance minister to deliver budget speech in Mizo language for the second time.

This Mizoram Village Knew No Crime: Until A Teacher’s Arrest For Molesting 27

Saichal, Nov 11 : Till last month, Saichal, a remote village in Champhai district in east Mizoram, had never reported any crime. But that changed last week, with the arrest of a school teacher, H Lalhmingmawia, 30, on charges of molesting at least 27 students — aged between eight to 12 years — since 2011.

The village of about 200 families — most of them related to one another — is still in shock. “Frankly, we don’t even know how we ought to feel,” said P L Zuiliana, a resident.

It was Zuiliana who first heard a group of school girls discussing their teacher’s behaviour on the evening of November 2. “I scolded them and told them not to accuse someone with lies, but one of them replied, ‘It’s not a lie, he touched me till I started bleeding.’ That’s when they got my attention,” recalled Zuiliana.

As word spread, some parents met that night to discuss the issue. Among them was a retired teacher of the lone government primary school in the village — the grandfather of a girl who was allegedly raped thrice by Lalhmingmawia, the last time on October 30. “The next day, we went to the school and told a teacher about what we had heard. We started talking to the girls and made a list of all those who said they had been molested.

In all, 32 girls told us the teacher had touched them in an inappropriate manner,” said the retired teacher.

The police later said 27 girls had been molested. “I asked my granddaughter why she never said anything to me or to her parents or why she did not just cry for help. She said she was always raped behind closed doors,” said the retired teacher.

According to parents of the victims, Lalhmingmawia would ask those who did not know their lessons to stay back for extra classes. That was apparently when he used to molest them.

“We did not see the signs. The girls would wear leggings even when it was very warm. We would scold them, but they would insist on wearing leggings… They also hated the sessions when the teacher asked them their lessons,” said the mother of a victim.

The villagers pointed out that the teacher was an active member of the church’s local Christian youth unit, and was a father of three children — the older two attend the same school. He was hired by the village employment committee in 2011, with the villagers contributing their NREGA wages to pay his salary.

“We are a small village but we wanted to give our children a good education. We got the primary school upgraded to an English medium school in 2011, but we only had one regular teacher who was the headmistress. There were two non-regular teachers employed under the SSA, but we thought it would be a good idea to get a regular teacher from the village and pay him from our own pocket,” said Zohmangaiha, president of the village council.

A day after the matter came to light, the parents of all the schoolchildren were called for a meeting. “Of course some of us were angry and wanted to go to the teacher’s house and take the law into our own hands, but most agreed that we should call the police. The girl’s grandfather reasoned that we should go by law. We respected his plea because he is one of the most educated men here and is also a leader of the church. We have never had a crime in this village, let alone something like this, so we were clueless about what to do,” said C Lalnunpuia, a community leader and vice-president of the village’s Young Mizo Association unit, the state’s largest mass-based voluntary organisation.

On the evening of November 4, Lalhmingmawia went to the retired teacher’s house. “He made some excuse about wanting to talk to my granddaughter… I got very angry and told him he was not allowed to meet her,” said the retired teacher.

The same evening, a contingent of riot police arrived in the village. “We were all surprised. We did not know what they were doing in our village,” said Lalnunpuia. It turned out the child protection office in Champhai had heard of the goings-on at Saichal, and had sent a police team to prevent any violence.

“There was no violence,” said a police officer who was part of the group that arrived in the village. “The only way I can explain the situation is that these villagers are really very innocent. There has never been a crime there and they just did not know what to do.”

The police contingent arrested Lalhmingmawia and took him to Ngopa, the nearest town. Two days later, he was taken to Champhai, the district capital, and sent to judicial custody.

Visitors To Assam Zoo Can Soon View Endangered Pygmy Hogs

By Sushanta Talukdar

An adult pygmy hog. Photo: Ritu Raj Konwar

Will be the only one in the world to have the endangered wild pig

The Assam State Zoo is set to welcome a few pygmy hogs this week, making it the only zoo in the world to have the critically endangered pig.

The pygmy hog (Porcula salvania) is the smallest and rarest of wild pigs. The Pygmy Hog Research and Breeding Centre at Basistha will provide the pigs to the Assam zoo.

Chandan Kumar Bora, divisional forest officer, Assam State Zoo, told The Hindu that a simulated habitat has been created in an enclosure by growing Barenga grass collected from Orang National Park and staff have received training in care for the hogs. Mr. Bora said that the zoo had some pygmy hogs for public viewing from around 1970 till around 1990. Now, after a gap of almost 25 years, visitors would be able to see the pigs beginning November 15.

“It will be only zoo across the world to have pygmy hogs. As sighting of pygmy hogs in the wild is rare, the zoo will provide an opportunity for public viewing of this critically endangered mammal. Gradually, the zoo will also serve as a captive breeding centre,” added Mr. Bora.

Goutam Narayan, project director of the pygmy hog conservation programme (PHCP), said “The pygmy hog is at the brink of extinction, as it has been exterminated from most of its original range in India and Nepal.

“In the past, it was found in a narrow strip of tall and wet grassland plains in the area south of the Himalayan foothills from Uttar Pradesh to Assam, through Nepal terai and Bengal duars. Currently, it is restricted to a single viable population in the wild in Manas Tiger Reserve and a couple of reintroduced populations in Sonai Rupai Wildlife Sanctuary and Orang National Park, all in northwestern Assam.”

19th Century Railway Section in Assam Hills Yearns For Heritage Status

A 47-km portion encircling the picturesque hill station of Haflong has remained untouched, including its century-old buildings mostly made of stones and timber. (Source: Samudra Gupta Kashyap)

By Samudra Gupta Kashyap

Guwahati, Nov 11 : Even as the railways are currently engaged in replacing the 111-year old metre-gauge Lumding-Badarpur Hill Section into a broad-gauge track, a 47-km stretch of the historic line, literally forming a garland around Haflong, Assam’s only hill station, is waiting to be conferred heritage status. The Assam government meanwhile has written to the railways asking them not to dismantle it, so that it could be promoted as a tourist attraction.

While the 225-km Lumding-Badarpur Hill Section – often described as the “most spectacular mountain line of Indian Railways” –  is currently in its last phase of gauge conversion – to be completed by April 2015 – a 47-km portion encircling the picturesque hill station of Haflong has remained untouched, including its century-old buildings mostly made of stones and timber. The 47-km portion has nine stations – Mahur, Migrendisa, Lower Haflong, Bagetar, Haflong Hill, Jatinga, Longrangjao, Mailongdisa and Harangajao – each one a heritage in its own right.

As a group of citizens of Haflong, highly concerned about preserving that 47-km stretch has asked the government to declare it a heritage track and promote it as a tourist attraction, the state government on its part has written to the Railways saying it was serious about retaining and promoting this 47-km stretch as a heritage track. The Hill Section that was considered as a “magnificent engineering feat” of the 19th century, the world’s steepest section (Harangajao-Jatinga) with a minimum gradient of 1:37 will continue to live once a final decision to preserve it is inked.
Officials at the Northeast Frontier Railway headquarters in Guwahati said they were waiting for a “concrete proposal” from the Assam government on how it wants to utilize the 47-km stretch that will be otherwise abandoned and dismantled. “While the Railway Board had recommended dismantling of the Mahur-Haragajao portion because it is not on the new BG alignment, we at NF Railways decided to ask the state government whether it wants us to retain it. The chief secretary replied in the affirmative. Now we are waiting for a concrete proposal from the Assam government,” NF Railway CPRO Sugato Lahiri said.

“The government has already asked the railways not to dismantle the 47-km stretch and the stations on it. We are drawing up a plan to preserve, maintain and promote this portion as a heritage track complete with steam engines and vintage salons,” Dhrubajyoti Hazarika, secretary, tourism, government of Assam told The Indian Express today.

Hazarika said while Jatinga, the village where birds mysteriously flock to commit suicide, has been a global attraction, all the other places along the track including Haflong town together would be promoted as a new package soon. While Haflong has an elevation of about 1685 feet, Jatinga is the tallest station in the Northeast, standing at 2156 feet above sea level.

The NF Railway had in May 2001 made an attempt to introduce what it called the Jatinga Steam Safari from Lower Haflong to Maibong, but that did not continue for long. With the Assam government willing to take it up, a journey on a vintage mountain train will once again become a reality. “Given the beauty of the Barail mountain, an imaginative planning can attract thrill-seeking and nature-loving tourists to this railway, especially because of the mystique associated with places like Jatinga,” said well-known writer Arup Kumar Dutta, whose “Indian Railways:The Final Frontier” is considered an authorative history of railways in the Northeast.

“We are happy that the broad-guage conversion of the Lumding-Badarpur Hill Section is nearing completion. But since the conversion does not affect the 47-km Mahur-Harangajao portion of it that also encircles Haflong town, it will be only too wise for the government to declare it as a heritage and use it for promoting tourism as early as possible,” said a memorandum signed by representatives of 14 organizations of Dima Hasao district.

The signatories also pointed out that the construction of this hill section that was opened in 1903 is inseparable from the story of development of the tribal communities of the district. “Wherever the railway track traversed, development was inevitable. Several small hamlets turned into towns here, while tribal communities moved closer to the railway track and sustained themselves. Now that the broad-guage track is coming up away from this 47-km stretch, the best thing to do is to preserve it, declare it as a heritage track and use it as a tourist attraction. This way the backward district will see a lot of economic activity,” the memorandum said.