18 November 2014

Portal Route To Track Children

By Ngangbam Indrakanta Singh

Imphal, Nov 18 : The Manipur Alliance for Child Rights today demanded that the state government take the help of a portal launched by the Centre to track children gone missing from the state.

Trackthemissingchild.gov.in is the portal launched by the Union woman and child development ministry to serve as a central database of children who have gone missing in different parts of the country.

The ministry on September 18, 2012, launched a web portal to co-ordinate among child homes, police departments and state governments.

The organisation presented statistics of various crimes against children in the past two years. The data showed that 42 children were sexually assaulted, 86 were victims of child trafficking — of them 11 are still untraceable, 46 were victims of bomb blasts, kidnapping, molestation, assault, gun attack, 27 died in different incidents, including rape and communal clashes.

From 2009 till now, the organisation has covered 38 villages of four districts — Chandel, Ukhrul, Bishnupur and Churchandpur — in its survey.

Keisham Pradeep Kumar, convener of the organisation, said, “The number of children who had left the villages is 362, of whom 79 were found outside the state and the rest inside. Of 362 children, 353 were trafficked in the name of studies and nine through promise of jobs, as stated by the family members.”

Montu Ahanthem, the co-convener, said, “This is data collected from just four of the nine districts. From this data, we observe an alarming rise in child trafficking. We are asking the government to introduce ‘track child’ portal in the nearest future.”

The NGO blamed the government for child trafficking as funds for Right of the Children to Free and Compulsory Education are not utilised properly. In another news conference today at the press club, a joint action committee against the rape of a 13-year-old at Koirengei in Imphal West in April demanded punishment of the guilty.

Arunachal Pradesh CM visits Google Headquarters, Seeks Help to Develop Education

Arunachal Pradesh CM visits Google Headquarters, seeks help to develop education New Delhi, Nov 18 : Highlighting various problems associated with the education system in the state, Tuki sought ideas from Google on how to improve it in the state and also impart quality education to each and every student without any bias, an official communique said here today.

The Chief Minister stressed on the importance of improving the standard of the teaching fraternity in the state and urged Google to impart training and know-how to the teachers in the state and bring them at par with international standard.

Google being a pioneer in e-education would be of tremendous help in fulfilling the vision and ideals set by the state government, Tuki observed.

Google highlighted the advancement in education these days and how it has become a pioneer in the field of quality e-education and dedicated team of professionals in this regard.

Google has agreed to make detailed Arunachal specific report and project and bring in solutions keeping in mind the local issues associated with it.

The Chief Minister also requested Google to invest in IT based industries in the state, the communique said.

The Arunachal Chief Minister visited the Google headquarters, Mountain View, California, USA on Saturday on an invitation by Google for the Google Global Education Symposium on Ministers and held talks with the Google Education team led by Caesar Sengupta, vice-president, product management, Michael de la Cruz, Global Head of Education, Bram Bout, Worldwide Director of Education and Gagandeep Singh Puri, Head of Education in India.
17 November 2014

Slicing Off 1,000 km, To Bring Mizoram Closer To The World

mizoroute The distance will come down by 930km to be precise.

By Adam Halliday

Mizoram is set to come closer to the rest of India and the world with a new road linking it to Myanmar, and onward to Kolkata. But first, the project has to take on challenges posed by nature, people and bureaucracy. Adam Halliday reports.

The road is layered with fresh mud from last night’s downpour. An earthmover has removed the small landslip that blocked it, paving the way for construction to continue, but machines trying to lay the tarmac are struggling against the mud. A steadily growing line of vehicles waits to cross the muddied patch. A worker, overseeing the construction, frantically waves at the vans and cars, trying to clear the track.

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Passengers have their eyes set on a steep cliff, apparently worried it might crumble any moment and deposit more mud on the road.

It’s a grind that the construction workers and engineers go through every day, for five years, building a 12-metre-wide, 90-km road from Lawngtlai in southern Mizoram to Zochachhuah village on the Indo-Mynanmar border, running parallel to the Kaladan river. They are now in the process of cutting out the final 5 km of road from the hills.
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By the time the final touches, including laying the tarmac, on the road to be called NH 502A are over, it will be mid-2016, two years beyond schedule. But it will shorten the current time taken to transport goods from Kolkata to Mizoram by three-four days, and the distance by more than 950 km. It will also change the face of Mizoram which, like other north-eastern states, is poorly connected to the rest of the country. The benefit may extend to the rest of the Northeast as well, as NH 502A joins NH 54 to Assam.

With eight-odd bridges, NH 502A will be like no other road in Mizoram. As it moves from Mizoram’s hills to Myanmar’s relatively plain topography, it becomes more levelled, wider and straighter than any other road in the state and with gradual rather than steep curves.

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Curves. That’s what’s uppermost on Lalthanzuala Ralte’s mind. “I keep browsing the Internet for the length of the longest container trucks and then, when I’m on site, try to imagine if they will be able to negotiate the curves comfortably,” says the PWD Executive Engineer, making a wide, winding gesture from his vantage point at Circuit House in Lawngtlai.

mizroam Photos: Adam Halliday The number of curves on the road are down from the original planned 1,081 to 764, although that’s still more than eight twists and turns every kilometre.

NH 502A is part of the much larger, grander Kaladan Multi-Modal Transport Transit Project (KMMTTP). Launched in 2009 by the UPA as part of its ‘Look East’ policy and now being pushed under the NDA’s ‘Act East’ programme, the overall KMMTTP project entails precisely the following: building the 90-km NH 502A to the Indo-Myanmar border; constructing a 140-km highway from there to Paletwa town in Myanmar; developing a river port at Paletwa on the Kaladan river, and connecting it via a 160-km waterway to Sittwe; and constructing a deepwater port at Sittwe to facilitate a sea route to Kolkata’s Haldia port, roughly 540 km away.

Miz2
Though the Kaladan river runs through Mizoram as well, it is too narrow within the state for barges to travel.

A total of 30 bridges will be built over the total 230 km of road route.

The Myanmar end has been progressing slowly. Work on the highway to Paletwa is yet to begin, though building of the waterway to Sittwe and the development of ports at Paletwa and Sittwe is underway.

Officials in Mizoram call the KMMTTP the “future gateway to South East Asia”. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Myanmar this week, MEA Joint Secretary Sripriya Ranganathan called the KMMTTP a “totally win-win kind of a project in which we get the access that we seek to ensure to our Northeast, while Myanmar gets an asset which it will be able to use and that will benefit the people of a fairly backward and under-developed state”.

Miz4
At a camp of RDS Project Limited, one of the two contractors building NH 502A, Joint Managing Director Rahul Garg is poring over a drawing board. Outside the camp are trucks, an assortment of machinery, workmen from Jharkhand and a temporary diesel pump.

Wiping sweat off his forehead, Garg says, “NH 502A’s starting point — the lone fuel station at Lawngtlai — is roughly 800 metres above sea level. Where I am right now is about 350 metres above sea level. That’s a drop of 450 metres in 70-odd km. Zochachhuah, the border village nearly 30 km away, is about 80 metres above sea level. From there, it’s all small hills.”

Geographical challenges apart, there are bureaucratic hurdles too. Ranjan, project manager for ARSS, hopes his workforce of 360 men can begin laying bitumen in a few weeks. He is confident of finishing the 26 km of road allotted to his company by the revised deadline of mid-2016, but for one hiccup: a tribal farmer on the bank of the small Ngengpui stream is refusing to accept the government compensation. Till he does, ARSS will not be able to build a 100-foot-long bridge over the stream. “The bitumen is already stocked, I have my stone crushers and other machinery in place. But I can only wait now,” he says.

Miz5
The Mizoram PWD, the nodal agency, has asked for more funds and a second revision of project estimates. The difficulty can be gauged from the numbers: A workforce of 1,010 (including 51 cooks and 305 drivers and various machine operators) and 154 heavy machinery (including 33 excavators, 10 earthmovers and nine bulldozers) are permanently stationed at various points on the stretch, while contractors have set up four fuel pumps to power their operations. By the time NH 502A is complete, the PWD estimates 9 million litres of diesel would have been guzzled, 3,100 trees felled, 1,80,000 cubic metres of stones papered over with 60,000 barrels of bitumen, and 18 million cubic metres of soil removed. There have been 19 deaths since the project began — 13 due to malaria, six because of on-site accidents.

Heavy monsoons here also mean that the annual work season is just eight months long. Mir Thakur, a mechanical engineer with RDS, says he sat at home in Chandigarh for four months during this year’s rains.

In Myanmar, the story is the same. At Sittwe, more than 1.2 million cubic metres of soil, pebbles and rocks have to be dredged for the deepwater port, while an estimated 1,09,000 cubic metres of sand and pebbles have to be dredged to make the Kaladan river between Paletwa and Sittwe navigable for barges.

Miz6
Sometimes the challenges have been big enough to force a change in course. For example, the initial plan was to link Sittwe with Kaletwa, a town north of Paletwa.

Like in Mizoram, power is erratic in Myanmar, mostly three to five hours a day. And the work season is just five months a year due to flooding of the Kaladan during monsoons, when its water level rises by up to 8 metres.

The Indian contractors insist they can do the job even across the border. Garg of RDS talks animatedly of a night he and his colleagues spent at Kaletwa during a reconnaissance some months ago. Unable to find a hotel, they stayed with a family in a bamboo hut. However, he adds ruefully, a joint venture between RDS and POSCO lost the bid to build the ports at Sittwe and Paletwa and the dredging contract to Essar.

“We will be bidding for constructing a part of the road till Paletwa,” Garg says.

Post-KMMTTP, other roads are being considered to upgrade Mizoram’s infrastructure. Last year, Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla laid the foundation stone for a 120-km road from Laki in Mara-tribe-dominated Saiha district, east of Lawngtlai, to Paletwa. Most tribes in Mizoram, including major ones like Lusei, Mara, Lai, Chakma and Bru, have relatives in either Myanmar or Bangladesh.

In the meantime, some families have already started settling around NH 502A. In fact, 60 Bru families from Darnamtlang village have moved down from the surrounding hills to just the level of the road in spite of objections by the PWD, and even started building a school.

Apart from the local tribes, businessmen can hardly hide their excitement. Expecting that one of the goods to move along the route would be narcotics, and fearing attacks from militants, the Home Department is planning to set up more police stations and check-posts along the stretch.

One “illegality” is already under investigation. Residents in Lai Autonomous District (within Lawngtlai district) have been demanding compensation for “private land”. As per an initial report by the Anti-Corruption Bureau, 1,024 of these “landowners” have made compensation claims for a total of 25,940 sq km of private land. That is 4,859 sq km more than the total area of Mizoram.

Lalrinliana Sailo, chairman of a five-member Estimates Committee, says compensation-related issues are partly behind the PWD asking for a revision of finances by more than Rs 100 crore.

Mizoram To Levy Entry-tax On e-Commerce Purchases

Aizawl, Nov 17 : Mizoram government is mulling levying tax on commodities purchased online, state Finance Minister Lalsawta said in the Assembly.

Speaking during the Question Hour, Lalsawta said, "The state government do not have any intention to stop online shopping even as it has received information that many traders have suffered financially due to e-commerce."
   
"We even know that some shops in Millennium Centre, the largest shopping mall in Aizawl were forced to closed down, as their business was severely hit by online shopping," he said.
   
However, he said that online shopping spree is one of the blessings of the modern world and the government would not like to put an end to it.
   
The Centre and other state governments are also trying to find ways to regulate online shopping and tax the commodities, he added.
   
According to market estimates, total business involved in online shopping in the state is around Rs 87 lakh per month.

Mobile Network Hope For 8000 Villages

By Andrew W. Lyngdoh




Shillong, Nov 17 : Altogether 8,621 villages in the Northeast out of 9,190 unconnected ones will be provided mobile connections under a central plan to bridge the connectivity gap and improve rural telecom infrastructure of the region.
The project will also provide seamless connectivity to national highways through 321 mobile towers.
According to the reply by Union communications and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad recently to Tura MP P.A. Sangma’s letter, more than 900 villages in West, East and South Garo Hills districts of Meghalaya are proposed to be covered under the Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for the Northeast.
“The Centre is committed to providing mobile connectivity in rural and remote areas of the country.

To bridge the connectivity gap and improve telecom infrastructure, a Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for the Northeast has been approved by the government,” Prasad said.
The villages of Garo hills will be covered by 2G mobile connections under the plan, he added.
Garo hills is an example of the low mobile connectivity being experienced in the region.
There are hundreds of areas in the Northeast, which are yet to experience the “telecom revolution” in a befitting way.
Sangma, in his letter to Prasad, said the Northeast requires special attention not only because of existing poor connectivity in the region but also because of the sensitivity of the region, as 98 per cent of the northeastern states’ borders are shared with other countries.
While referring to various villages in Garo hills, which do not have any form of mobile connectivity yet, but have sufficient population to make connectivity viable, Sangma said, “There are some areas along the border with Bangladesh where people are using mobile networks available from Bangladesh due to unavailability of any Indian service provider.”
Sangma said using Bangladesh mobile networks was not only inconvenient for the people in view of the high cost they have to incur, but also unsafe “in terms of people, including BSF jawans manning the border”.
On September 10, the Union cabinet had approved the telecom plan for the Northeast, which entails an estimated expenditure of Rs 5,336.18 crore, to be funded from the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF).
The USOF would fund capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operational expenditure (OPEX) of net revenue for a period of five years.
The project also seeks to increase the connection reliability of the district and state headquarters across the region by providing alternative optical fibre connectivity.
This will ensure that notwithstanding any problem in one route, the voice and data transfer through other routes will keep the district and state headquarters connected.
The project is aimed at covering the uncovered villages in the Northeast and to maintain seamless connectivity on national highways in the region.
At present, there are 43,200 villages in the Northeast. Of this, 8,621 villages (20 per cent) of the unconnected 9,190 villages will be covered through 6,673 towers.
The Indian telecom network is the second largest in the world after China. As on March this year, the country has 933.02 million telephone connections, including 904.52 million wireless telephone connections, with an overall teledensity of 75.23 per cent.
While the urban teledensity is an impressive 145.46 per cent, the rural teledensity is a mere 44.01 per cent.
15 November 2014

Mizoram Assembly adopts resolution condemning racist attacks on people from North East

Aizawl, Nov 15 : The Mizoram Assembly on Friday unanimously adopted a resolution condemning racist attacks on people from the North East and offered its condolences to victims’ families. The resolution also expressed hope that such racist attacks do not happen in future.

Mizo National front MLA Lalruatkima, who moved the resolution, made an emphatic plea for an unanimous adoption, saying in his speech, “India is a country populated by various races — Aryans, Dravidians and Mongoloid. Sometimes there is conflict because of our different religious beliefs and cultural backgrounds.

This is the time for us to fight for an anti-racism law because if we do not, our children and grandchildren will never forgive us for letting this historic moment slip by.

“But even 67 years after Independence, people from the North East have been discriminated against because of the color of our skin, the build of our bodies and even the slant of our eyes. These have even resulted in deaths recently, and we in the North East are deeply hurt by these incidents. North East people have to sometimes work and study outside the region, and there we are discriminated against and even mocked because of our personalities and the kind of food we eat,” he said.

His fellow opposition MLA, Dr K Beichhua, seconded the resolution and said, “This is the time for us to fight for an anti-racism law because if we do not, our children and grandchildren will never forgive us for letting this historic moment slip by.”

Dr Beichhua narrated a story about a female friend who once completed her MBBS in Lucknow, saying, “She often tells me about her daily ordeal over five years as she commuted on a scooter to and from her residence to her college. She says, ‘I sometimes feel no more than an animal because as I ride, bystanders would throw all kinds of things, especially food, at me, even peels of fruits’.
“If these racist actions do not stop, how can we as parents with our children in cities in the mainland not always be filled with worry for their safety?” he asked.

Chalrosanga, a Congress MLA from one of Aizawl’s wealthiest families, also chipped in and said, “I studied in Delhi, and many times I was called a ‘chinky’, which obviously hurt,” before concluding in a lighter vein, “The only upside was that most people used to think all NE people know kung-fu so we hardly got ragged.”

Several Cabinet Ministers put their weight behind the opposition member’s resolution, with Home Minister R Lalzirliana saying, “The trouble is that as we are flowing into the mainstream, which is now irreversible, there are some who seem to object and create obstacles to this.

“If we can make some slight changes to this resolution, I think we should unanimously adopt it,” R Lalzirliana said, referring to several MLA’s contention that the resolution’s call for a strong anti-racism law might not be that effective given the various laws against violence in general already in place.

His colleague, Law Minister Lalsawta, told the house, “I think all of us might have experienced racial discrimination at one point or other in our lives. There is no denying racism still exists. But I wonder how effective it would be if we drafted a law.”

Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla, who has in the past spoken out several times against racism, also took part in the discussion and said, “Sometimes I tell fellow politicians from other parts of the country they are not fit to call themselves national leaders because they would not be able to point out certain states if we gave them a blank map of the country. In this country, most officials and politicians do not accept there are three different races in India. This is unfortunate.

“We welcome this resolution,” the five-time CM said, “We need this to slap them awake from their slumber. Maybe we should even name Nido Tania and victims of other racist attacks. We should condemn racism in more certain terms. There is racism not only in politics, but in sports as well, and many NE athletes who are eligible are sometimes dropped from training camps.”

After a one-and-half-hour discussion, Speaker Hiphei called for a recess and asked MLAs from different parties to amend Lalruatkima’s original resolution that calls for an anti-racism law.

The final resolution, adopted after the recess, declared: “The House solemnly regrets the discrimination and violence against people from the North Eastern region in various parts of the country which has resulted in loss of some innocent lives in some cases and offers condolences to the aggrieved families. The House desires that henceforth such discrimination and violence against people from the region will not take place.”
13 November 2014

The Godfather of Mizo Footballers is Actually A Very Nice Guy

By Pulasta Dhar

He doesn't say a lot. Earlier, it was because he didn’t know Hindi and English. Now, because he doesn’t believe in saying something unless it's worth saying.

As he enters the lobby of the Palladium hotel in Mumbai, he is greeted by a number of people. There is a respect, no -- not fear, in the way they shake his hands. He can be stubborn about many things — including his position on the right wing. At just 5’6” — you may say he is diminutive — but he has an aura.

His eyes are the droopy sort, but he’s fit, has unending stamina — his Delhi Dynamos jacket clinging to his muscles, his calves are massive, he looks you in the eye when he talks. And he is God fearing.
He used his profession to make enough money to shift his whole family from their village to Aizawl.

He has a big house there, two cars — a Hyundai i10 and a Skoda. But his most important achievement is that he opened the doors for footballers from Mizoram to leave their state and flood the sport in India.

Shylo
Mama is the Godfather of Mizo footballers – but he’s a very nice guy. ISL
Vito meant life-giver, Malsawmtluanga means ‘being put by God on the path to succeed’. Vito was better known as Don, Malsawmtluanga is better known as Mama. Both have been dubbed Godfathers — one is fictional, the other is real.

So you’re the Godfather of Mizo footballers? “No, no, no... I’m just Mama,” Shylo Malsawmtluanga told Firstpost in Mumbai.

But you’re treated like a Godfather in Mizoram? “Well, when I walk on the roads, people come to me, they take photos, they ask me when I’m playing next. Papers have transfer rumours about me. Yea, it’s nice to be loved like that.”

But come on, you’re a legend... “No, no... I was just the first to leave Mizoram, become a professional player and to play for so many clubs in India. This was an inspiration to others. I’m aware of the examples I continually set. It’s not pressure, but it’s being aware of your responsibilities,” he sidesteps calling himself a legend — he’s good at it — he’s been doing it for East Bengal, Mohun Bagan, Prayag United, Salgaocar, India and now Delhi Dynamos for far too long.
At 30, Shylo has achieved a lot. He’s won two NFL titles and the prestigious ASEAN Cup in 2003. He has also won the Federation Cup, Durand Cup, IFA Shield and Super Cup.

Any big name from Mizoram — whether it is Lalrindika Ralte (Mumbai City FC) or Jeje Lalpekhlua (Chennaiyin FC) — all followed in his footsteps.

But it hasn’t come easy: “There was a huge language barrier when I moved away from Mizoram. I would secretly cry at the Tata Football Academy in Jamshedpur. But I told myself that football is all I have to back myself up,” he said.

In Mizoram, they used to see his interviews and read about him scoring for East Bengal. It gave all those watching, a chance to dream. Mizoram is perhaps the most picturesque of all the states in the Northeast but it is also one that the rest of India knows little about. The predominant religion is Christianity. Shops shut by 6 pm. There are no caste distinctions either.

But it also means that in a certain sense, it is cut-off from the rest of India. There... yet not something our eyes wander to freely. The isolation is not an easy gap to bridge but Shylo gave them hope.
“He is an inspiration. We used to see his interviews on TV and read about him scoring goals. That is when we thought that we can make it too. We have to leave the state to get recognized in the rest of India,” Ralte tells us in Goa. He, like Shylo, plays on the wing – and at just 22, has played 12 times for India already.

There’s an emotional blog on Feverpitch written by Lalramenga Hmar, where he compares his problems to the ones Shylo faced early in his career.

We had our examinations, and I maintained a steady record of utter malfunction. I can no longer be sure which magazine it was, but I think it was the ‘Lengzem’ monthly which my father had brought with him to show me. It had a picture of a Shylo offering a prayer of gratitude to God after having scored in the Kolkata Derby. I was won over when I read about how he fought solitude and isolation with determination and pure courage. I immediately began to find new hope and fortitude in myself, traits I never knew I had in me, and these traits wrapped me up entirely and sparked in me a fire that would never burn out.

Hmar went onto become the secretary of the Mizoram Football Association – and laid the master plan that led the state to their first Santosh Trophy win last year.

The only strange fact about Shylo’s career is the number of India caps he has won – only three. He doesn’t want to blame anyone, but he agrees that there were times he felt he was unfairly not picked in teams he has represented.

“It has happened, yes. But these things should not bother you. You have to let your football do the talking.”

Doubt, he says, is not in his dictionary. Like many who make it big in their professions, he always knew what he wanted to do. His parents, who worked in paddy fields, never stopped him.

“I was always a good kid. I worked hard, I was okay in my studies. I’ve always respected my coaches and their decisions,” Shylo says, as if to stress on the fact that there’s no bad-boy-footballer in him. There’s no giddiness of stardom – even when he plays, you will see him constantly track back to help his defenders.

The only time he did speak a little sternly was when he recalled those who questioned his capabilities and his conviction.

“In school when they ask you to stand up and say what you wanted to become – I always said ‘professional footballer’. They used to laugh at me. Now, they respect me.”

Unlike the Godfather, who would relax on his leather chair and follow up those lines with a veiled threat, Shylo smiles – the lines near his eyes are comforting, rather than menacing.

Mama is the Godfather of Mizo footballers – but he’s a very nice guy.
12 November 2014

Ban On Firecrackers in Mizoram

By Santanu Ghosh

Aizawl, Nov 12 : The Mizoram government has banned the import and export of crackers ahead of Christmas to curb noise pollution during festivals.

Mizoram home minister R. Lalzirliana said in Aizawl yesterday that this is the fifth time in a row that this measure has been imposed. The government sought peace and tranquillity to guarantee a proper ambience for the observance of this festival.

During Diwali last month, all the eight district magistrates in the state were asked to ban crackers as a precautionary step. The state home minister added that the district magistrates would soon issue orders to ban the import and sale of crackers. Violators will be penalised.

Lalzaliana said as part of an innovative step during Christmas, the state government would introduce organised festive and entertainment programmes and street decorations in various vengs (localities) in the state under the aegis of the Young Men’s Association, the state’s largest NGO with a membership of over one lakh youths.

The government has announced prizes, Rs 50,000, for the best decorated locality, Rs 30,000 for locality coming second and Rs 20,000 for the third.

Official sources in Aizawl said on December 31 night, an entertainment programme would be organised in Aizawl.

The government has also announced a weeklong holiday for Christmas in the state