2825 Criminal Cases Registered in Mizoram

Aizawl, Jan 30 : Police stations and outposts across Mizoram registered 2,825 criminal cases of which there were 45 murder cases and 125 rape cases during January to December 2014, according to the records of the state CID (Crime) branch. 

The records showed that at least one murder case was registered every month and seven murder cases in March and June.             

There were 23 attempted murder cases registered  and except in April at least one attempted murder case was registered every month during the year.      

 Police registered 125 rape cases during the same period and suspected that there were many cases which went unreported including rape of minors.       

 The highest number of case registered was theft at 889 cases followed by 484 cases of burglary while there were 234 people died and 103 others were injured in 132 vehicle accidents during last year.

Mizoram Has More Ration Cards Than its Population

Aizawl, Jan 29 : Mizoram has more ration cards than its total population.

The startling revelation was made in the Statistical Handbook of Mizoram, 2014 released by state planning minister Lalsawta on Tuesday. According to it, there were more than 15 lakh ration cards in the state which has a population of not even 11 lakh (2011 Census).

The population of Mizoram, according to the 2011 census, was 10, 97,206. But as per 2, 65,473 ration cards issued by the state food, civil supplies and consumer affairs department, the figure stands at 15, 43,180 till June, 2014.

The names in the cards issued show that there were 11, 78,563 adults and 3, 64, 617 minors. Officials suspect that many retailers who were selling rice at subsidized rates to the public through PDS fraudulently made fake ration cards so that they could sell surplus rice at higher prices, especially in bulk.

"It was impossible to detect such fake ration cards as the shop owners, in connivance with the leaders of village councils or local councils, approach the food, civil supplies and consumer affairs department for issuing ration cards," said an official.

A leader of Young Mizo Association (YMA) said the YMA had tried to correct the wrong but it was an extremely difficult task.

Mizoram's First Chakma Minister Nirupam Quits Congress

Aizawl, Jan 29 : Mizoram's first Minister from the Chakma community and veteran Congress leader Nirupam Chakma today resigned from the primary membership of the party.

Chakma submitted his resignation as the senior adviser of the Chakma Autonomous District Council Congress Committee (CADCCC) and as primary member of the Congress party to the CADCCC President.

He sent the copies of his resignation letter to AICC President Sonia Gandhi and Mizoram Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) President Lal Thanhawla.

Chakma first contested the state assembly polls in 1987 from Chawngte seat and was elected.

He again won from the same constituency in 1989 and was sworn in as a Minister of State on January 25, 1989 to become the first ever Chakma Minister in the state.

He was again inducted as minister of state after winning the state assembly polls in 1993.

He again won the state assembly polls in 1998 and 2003 during which the Congress sat in the opposition and was denied a cabinet berth after the Congress party returned to power in the 2008 state assembly polls when Nihar Kanti Chakma, a younger man was inducted as minister of state.

He was denied the Congress ticket in the 2013 state assembly and even was not given the post of Chief Executive Member of the Chakma Autonomous District Council (CADC).

Tripura, Mizoram Officials Summoned Over Refugee Repatriation

Agartala/Aizawl, Jan 29 : The union home ministry has summoned Tripura and Mizoram officials to New Delhi Jan 30 to discuss the repatriation of Mizoram's tribal refugees, sheltered in northern Tripura for more than 17 years, officials said Wednesday.

"The home ministry has convened a meeting of officials of Tripura and Mizoram in New Delhi Jan 30 to resume the repatriation of tribal refugees to Mizoram," Tripura's Relief and Rehabilitation Department Additional Secretary Karnamani Das said.

"The (Tripura) state government has been asking both Mizoram and the union home ministry to repatriate the tribal refugees to their villages in Mizoram. A serious socio-economic problem has cropped up due to the long stay of the refugees in Tripura," said Das, who would represent Tripura in the meeting.

Senior officials of the union home ministry would also attend the meeting.

An official in Aizawl said Mizoram Chief Secretary Lalmalsawma held a meeting with the home department officials Tuesday to finalise the strategy for the New Delhi meeting.

Friday's meeting assumes significance in view of the Supreme Court directions Jan 16 about the refugees.

The apex court directed the central and the state governments of Mizoram and Tripura to hold consultations within four months to formulate plans to continue repatriation of the refugees to Mizoram from the Tripura relief camps.

"Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla while speaking in the meeting of the North Eastern Council Jan 2 in Shillong, proposed that those refugees who refused to return to Mizoram despite concerted efforts, should be settled permanently in Tripura," the official added.

"In the last road map for the repatriation of refugees, only 6,647 tribals had returned to Mizoram from Tripura till November last year," the official quoted the chief minister as saying at the NEC meeting.

About 35,000 Reang tribals, locally called "Bru", are staying in six camps in northern Tripura since October 1997 after they fled their villages in western Mizoram following ethnic troubles after the killing of a Mizo forest official.

The refugee leaders in the relief camps said they were reluctant to return to their homes unless their genuine demands were met.

"We have submitted a memorandum to a central government team to solve our 10-point demands, including permanent solution to the ethnic problems," refugee leader and Mizoram Bru Displaced People's Forum (MBDPF) general secretary Bruno Mesha told IANS over phone from Kanchanpur, 190 km north of here.

The refugees' demands include economic rehabilitation of the repatriated refugees, adequate security, allotment of land, employment, free ration for two years and financial assistance of Rs.1.5 lakh per family.

The MBDPF leaders also requested the central government team that till the time they are repatriated to Mizoram, the amount of relief items, including rice, should be increased and their living conditions in makeshift camps should be improved.

Following an order of the Tripura High Court, the union home ministry had last year constituted a seven-member committee headed by Rajiv Gauba, the ministry's additional secretary, to oversee the condition of the refugees in the Tripura camps.

The central team visited the refugee camps last year and submitted its report to the Tripura High Court.

Tripura and Mizoram share a 109-km border.

The Tripura High Court passed its order June 24 following a petition filed by a lawyer.

The refugees also demanded that they should be given facilities and status like that of Kashmiri Pandits and Tamil refugees and should be allotted land. They also demanded creation of model villages in Reang tribals' inhabited areas, better security and sanitation and education for the tribals in Mizoram.

Delhi To Have Special Hostels For Northeast Students

New Delhi, Jan 29 : The central government Wednesday proposed to set up special hostels for students from the northeast region studying in Delhi.

Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Minister Jitendra Singh ordered a sub-committee be set up consisting of representatives from offices of resident commissioners of various states as well as representatives of the DoNER ministry to identify suitable location and land for construction of such hostels.

The minister was addressing a meeting here of resident commissioners of the northeastern states.

The accessibility, security and availability of basic amenities should be important consideration while planning such hostels, an official release said.

Singh also issued instructions for carrying forward negotiations about the venues which were shortlisted as possible locations for these hostels.

The minister called upon the resident commissioners to maintain a regular and closer interaction with his ministry in a more institutionalised manner.

Singh suggested each resident commissioner could collect general information about the profile and composition of the people from his state living in Delhi. This would enable the DoNER ministry to focus its plans on specific needs of students, youth, elderly citizens, women and other sections of society from each state residing in Delhi.

Deal Signed On Grape Sale From Mizoram

Aizawl, Jan 28 : Mizoram's Champhai Grape Growers Society (CGGS) and Radiant Manufacturers Limited signed a deal in Guwahati yesterday in which the Guwahati-based wine making company agreed to buy 3.6 lakh litre of concentrated grape juice from the CGGS annually.

Lalremsiama, Sub Divisional Horticulture Officer and Managing Director of the CGGS told PTI over phone that the agreement was inked on behalf of the Radiant Manufacturer Limited by its Director Roshan Chand and three representatives of the CGGS.

The Radiant Manufacturers Ltd, which used to procure concentrated grape juice from Goa would now buy from Mizoram-Myanmar border Champhai district.

The grape growers, which established its own winery at Tlangsam village in Champhai district, were worried that their sales would plummet after the new liquor law replacing the stringent dry law was in place in Mizoram for the first time in 17 years.

Thangseia, general secretary of the CGGS opined that disposing around 15,000 quintals of grape expected to be produced this year would be a difficult task after the change of the state government's liquor policy and the deal with the Guwahati-based wine-making company was a welcome step.

Close to 500 Bru families return to Mizoram on their own from Tripura relief Camps

By Adam Halliday

Aizawl, Jan 28 : Close to 500 families of the Bru tribe have reported to the Mizoram government that they have “self-repatriated” themselves into the state from relief camps in Tripura since the last formal process in June last year, when less than 280 families returned.

Combined with the more than 530 families who have returned home on their own in the past, the data appears to underline the increasing desire by many to return home, often in secret, from almost two decades of squalid exile despite resistance by community leaders at the camps who want better rehabilitation packages and security.

In all, a little less than 670 families have come home under the formal process, which involves both the Tripura and Mizoram governments announcing dates, arranging for transportation and setting up stalls to facilitate their return.

These formal processes almost always clash with shows of resistance by Bru leaders in the camps, who organize roadblocks and dharnas there to discourage those who want to return. These have been apparently successful, for example in 2012, only seven families returned under the formal process.

On the other hand, as many as 573 families have chosen the “self-repatriation” route in which they sneak out of the camps and simply head towards and cross the inter-state border, only later informing Mizoram government authorities of their return and thus eligibility for the rehabilitation package.

The close to 500 families (455 of them to Mamit district, between 20 and 30 others in Kolasib district) who have reported they have come home on their own await formal verification and thus have not yet been given the rehabilitation packages.

As things stand, what is left of the Mizoram government’s funds for their rehabilitation will no longer be able to meet the expenses required to rehabilitate these almost 500 families if they are all found to be legitimate returnees.

Thousands of families from the Bru tribe fled ethnic tension in Mizoram and settled in Tripura as refugees 18 years ago, where they live in six squalid relief camps.

The Tripura government disallows them from owning land – including for farms – elsewhere, provides them no work under the MGNREGS while they are also not entitled to vote for state elections.

The Brus perforce live on cash and ration doles – Rs 5 per adult per day (Rs 2.50 for minors), 600 grams of rice per adult per day (250 grams for minors) plus Rs 10 per months each to every family for purchasing cooking oil.

The social justice bench of the Supreme Court had earlier this month rapped the centre for providing meagre compensation, and also termed “highly objectionable” the government’s reasoning for the paltry hand-outs – better camp conditions would make the Brus disinclined to return to Mizoram.

The judges’ anger elicited an apology from the Additional Solicitor General.

But Bru leaders have been saying the same thing – that Tripura treats them badly so they are forced to vacate the relief camp land, much of which they say has already been given to local tribals under the FRA.

They also say the state government fears their permanent residence in Tripura because that would greatly add to the tribal population there. Tripura has for generations seen ethnic, often violent, conflict between its Bengali and tribal communities, the latter once in majority but overrun by the former within a few decades after India’s independence and the establishment of East Pakistan and, later, Bangladesh.

Boy Shoots Dead Brother in Mizoram

Aizawl, Jan 28 : An eight-year-old boy has shot dead his elder brother by using their father's hunting gun in Mizoram, police said here Tuesday.

The incident took place late Monday in Serchhip district.

"R.C. Lalchuangkima after returning from the forest, kept his bullet loaded hunting gun in his home Monday night. His son John Kennedy reportedly used the gun to shoot his elder brother David Lalengzuala, who died on the spot," a police officer said.

Kennedy pumped two bullets into his 12-year-old brother's head, said the officer. Police are yet to ascertain the motive behind the killing.