Law for race crimes in India: What does it look like?

Minister of state for Home, Kiren Rijiju reiterated what Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on a law specific to race crimes in India.

Rijiju assured that there would be a specific law in place against race crimes and this would ensure that the punishment too becomes more stringent.

The proposal is to add sections into the Indian Penal Code and also amend the Code of Criminal Procedure. The inclusion and amendment would be necessary to make race crimes more specific in nature so that even the police and the prosecution have greater power to deal with such cases.

Here is what the new law would look like:
The Home Ministry proposes to include a provision in Section 153 of the Indian Penal Code. Further a clause in Section 509 of the IPC will also be included.

Section 153 of the IPC reads- Wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot-if rioting be committed-if not committed.

Section 509 of the IPC reads- Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman.
Under the Indian Penal Code after the inclusion of the new laws, there would be two new sections- Sections 153 (C) and 509 (A).

The inclusion of provisions into these sections would broaden the scope. It would include the word racist, racism or racist remarks.

Protection against racism is guaranteed in the Indian Constitution. However in the Indian Penal Code there is nothing specific.

Once the sections are included into the IPC, the Code of Criminal Procedure would be amended.

Amending the Cr PC is necessary since there is a need to specify the procedure to try and prosecute racism related incidents in India.

The punishment being specified for a racism related incident would go up to five years and fine or both.

Committee recommendations on racism incidents:
Following a spate of attacks on students especially from the North East the Bezbaruah committee was set up.

While making several recommendations the committee proposed to add specific sections in the law to try such crimes.

The committee had taken into account the deposition by various people especially from the North East. They had told the committee that they are often abused with words such as momos, chinkis and Chinese.

Not specific to North East:
While the most racism related incidents have been reported against those from the North East, the new laws would be applicable for the entire country.

It is not a region specific law and would be applicable to incidents across the country. The law is also not specific to incidents against the people from North East only.

More reforms:
The government of India is also proposing to set up Fast Track Courts for speedy trials in cases relating to racism.

Apart from amending the law there is also a proposal to include the history of North East into the text books so as to make people more aware.

The introduction of a special legal cell to help the people affected by racial attacks and slurs would also be set up.

Swine Flu Surveillance Stepped Up in Mizoram

Aizawl, Feb 16 : Mizoram stepped up surveillance in view of Swine flu (H1N1) cases detected and a number of people killed in some parts of the country, state health department officials today said. Dr Pachuau Lalmalsawma, Nodal Officer of the state Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) said that vigil has been maintained since last year and stepped up after the spread of the dreaded disease in Delhi and other states.

Passengers arriving at the lone Lengpui Airport near Aizawl, especially from high risk areas would be screened at the airport premises, Lalmalsawma said. Rapid Response Teams in all the other seven districts were also alerted to maintain strict vigil and also be prepared for any eventualities.

A special laboratory was arranged at the Aizawl Civil Hospital where samples could be collected and a reporting desk at the Emergency department of the hospital. It was also decided that the State Referral Hospital at Falkawn near Aizawl was being prepared to treat any case of H1N1 if any.

Northeast to develop in 10 years if insurgency wanes, says Rajnath

By Syed Sajjad Ali

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh with BSF personnel at Khantlang in North Tripura district on Saturday.- Photo: PTI

The Union Government would develop the Northeastern region in 10 years if insurgency comes to an end, said Home Minister Rajnath Singh in Agartala on Saturday. He said insurgency remains a hurdle in restoring peace and developing the area, and appealed underground groups to shun violence.

Mr Singh and his deputy Kiren Rijiju were on a brief visit to Tripura primarily to review repatriation of Reang refugees stranded in Kanchanpur of north Tripura for past 18 years, but also flew to visit a border area with Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts at remote Khantlang. The Ministers assessed security and deployment of the BSF in the area where extremists of the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) recently stepped up activities.

Back from Khantlang, Mr. Singh and Mr. Rijiju met leaders of 32,000 Reang or Bru refugees housed in seven camps in Kanchanpur and discussed complete repatriation to Mizoram. The refugee leaders submitted a memorandum in which they complained of threat to security and identity to minority tribe people in Mizoram.

Mr Singh later discussed the issue with Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and senior Union Home Ministry officials. Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla was scheduled to attend the meeting but he skipped.

“Bru (Reang) refugees want to return home and the Mizoram government should help towards a solution of the problem. No discrimination should occur with the Reangs,” Mr Singh said but did not give details of the measures to solve the longstanding crisis.

Rajnath Singh also said that development in the Northeast is not taking speed due to insurgency problem. He appealed to the extremist groups to eschew violence to give the Union government 5 to 10 years’ time to work towards overall development of the region.

He warned that the government will not tolerate violence. Reacting to a query on extremist bases in Bangladesh and Myanmar, he said India has a friendly relation with these neighbouring countries and they are cooperating on security issues.

RSS Appropriates A Naga Freedom Fighter’s Story And Her Religion

Rani Gaidinliu had struggled against the British rule and for her people's culture. But that history has been stripped of all context by right-wing groups.

By Richard Kamei

For years, freedom fighter Rani Gaidinliu’s role in the resistance against the British rule had become relegated to the periphery. This year, in the centenary anniversary of her birth, her contribution is being marked again. But these celebrations have come with an invidious attempt by right-wing groups to hijack her narrative into the folds of Hinduism.

Gaidinliu was born in 1915 in a small Manipuri village called Luangkao and into one of the three Zeliangrong tribes called the Rongmei Nagas. Aged 16, she took over the unfulfilled cause of her cousin Haipou Jadonang, the Rongmeis’ spiritual leader. Jadonang’s movement had sought the end of the British Raj besides a revival of the Zeliangrong religion and the establishment of the Naga self-rule (or Naga Raj).

Quickly filling Jadonang’s shoes, Gaidinliu led a resistance against the British. The appellation “Rani” was given to her by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1937. Captured and sentenced to life imprisonment, she spent 14 years in prison, the longest incarceration suffered by any Indian freedom fighter. For this untiring fight against the British Raj, the Indian government awarded her the Padma Bhushan.

However, Gaidinliu’s struggle did not end with the Raj’s departure. Soon after, she began protesting against Christian missionaries who she warned were eroding the Zeliangrong culture and tradition. Till her death in February 1993, she kept up the demand for the creation of a Zeliangrong Administrative Unit out of the states of Manipur, Nagaland and Assam.

Indigenous peoples' battles

Today, Gaidinliu’s legacy is viewed primarily through the prism of her role in the freedom struggle. But there are larger parallels between her movement and the everyday battle of indigenous people worldwide against the onslaught on their resources and way of life.

Rani Gaidinliu’s movement against external forces has been appropriated today by right-wing groups like the Vishva Hindu Parishad and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. They have absorbed her life history into their propaganda, where the British and Christian missionaries are the enemies. What’s more, they have arrogated the religion which Gaidinliu followed as similar to Hinduism.

There is a history to this appropriation. The VHP started to interface with Gaidinliu as early as in the 1960s. Even then, they tried to manufacture a relation between Hinduism and Zeliangrong’s religion. At that time Gaidinliu wanted to protect her people’s custom and tradition from the work of Christian missionaries, so she turned to the VHP as a mark of protest against Christianity.

Tensions had been arising periodically between followers of Christianity and Gaidinliu’s movement, which viewed Christianity as an annihilator of their way of life. But the dispute really boiled over in 1958, when the Naga National Council coined the slogan “Nagaland shall be a kingdom for Christ”. The slogan’s obvious exclusion of Zeliangrong people on the basis of religion sparked Gaidinliu’s ire.

Devoid of all context
Hinduism’s influence had, in fact, reached the region earlier. When Jadonang was spearheading the “Naga Raj” campaign along with a religious movement, the Manipur king had proposed to spread Hindu missionaries’ work in the hill districts.

In the reformed religion launched by Jadonang, emphasis was given to Tingkao Ragwang (a supreme creator). From Vaishnavism, Zeliangrong tribes borrowed the significance of temple. The Bisnu worshipped by Zeliangrong is seen as a variation of the Hindu Vishnu but has its distinct identity in the beliefs of Zeliangrong people. It is also crucial to take note of how people adopting Hinduism and Christianity viewed their animistic religion and culture to be inferior.

It is praiseworthy that Gaidinliu’s struggle is being recognised in the 100th year of her birth. But that fight has been stripped of its context by right-wing groups. The freedom struggle of the Zeliangrong people is now portrayed as a religious movement. The RSS, VHP and the Bharatiya Janata Party have appropriated the story of Rani Gaidinliu to suit their propaganda.

This appropriation reflects in their insistence on addressing Gaidinliu as ‘Ma’ (a conflation of Zeliangrong’s religion with Hinduism) and in their effort to extract solidarity out of Christian missionaries' criticism of Gaidinliu. All this does a disservice to Gaidinliu and her people.

The centenary was marked on January 26 by the RSS, National Committee for Birth Centenary Celebration of Rani Ma Gaidinliu, the people of Zeliangrong, as well as the people of Manipur, Nagaland and Assam. But the celebrations will be incomplete unless her unfulfilled goals are realised and Zeliangrong people reconcile with other ethnic communities with shared histories.

Source: scroll.in

Remote Tribal Community in Arunachal Opens Homestay For Tourists

Traveller Hitesh Saikia said he has stayed with the Tangsa community and it was an amazing experience.

Nampong:  A small tribal community in the hills of Changlang district in Arunachal Pradesh have opened their homes for people to stay with them and have a taste of their culture, food and society.

Some of the families of the Tangsa community near Nampong have opened home stay, inviting tourists to not only stay with them amid the lush green nature cover but also taste their ethnic cuisine, visit the neighbouring hill tops and so on.

Jankhong Morang, a resident of Nongki Bosti in Nampong, has turned his small traditional hut to a home stay where tourists can savour smoked tea called 'phalap', rice beer called 'ju' or 'kham', in addition to a staple diet of steamed rice and boiled vegetables.

During their home stay, Morang said tourists can take the Pangsau Pass, which is only 12 km from Nampong, to visit Myanmar.

"We take tourists to the Pangsau Pass on the 10th, 20th and 30th of each month. They can go up to the border and after crossing the border they can hire motorcycles on the other side run by the Myanmarese youth and visit the lake of No Return," he said.

He said the lake was called so as during the World War II, many aircraft of the Allied Forces disappeared there while flying over it.

"We also take tourists to the hilltops where we cultivate," Morang said.

Traveller Hitesh Saikia said he has stayed with the Tangsa community and it was an amazing experience.

"I have stayed with the Tangsas. It's amazing to stay with the local community... The home stay concept in these areas is a recent phenomenon...," Saikia told IANS.

An official said the home stay provided an opportunity to stay close to nature and enjoy local food.

"They serve local food and one can really enjoy while being in the middle of such lush green nature and serenity," said P. Bordoloi, an executive with the state health department, who frequently visits different locations along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border.

One can call Nongjung Mossang at 09402239426 and Jankhong Morang at 09402223826 to know more about home stay.

Like many parts of the northeast, Arunachal Pradesh too has a history of World War II cemeteries at Digboi in Tinsukia district (bordering Assam) and at Jairampur, about 40 km from Nampong, in Changlang district.

Many tourists visit these historically important sites during their home stay at Nampong to get a peep into the World War II history.

"These graves bear a testimony to those soldiers, unlisted workers and labourers who ventured into the jungle amid blistering heat and laid down their lives during the World War II while being a part of the Allied Forces against the Japanese Imperial Army," reads one of the inscriptions at a cemetery in Jairampur.

India’s first VGF hydro-power project falls through, Mizoram hands it over to NEEPCO

By Adam Halliday

Aizawl, Feb 12 : India’s first proposed hydro-electricity project to be built on a viability gap funding (VGF) basis and PPP mode appears to have fallen flat as the Mizoram government signs an MoU with the North-East Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) to take up the planned project in northern Mizoram.

The project 210 MW Tuivai HEP was cleared in 2013 to become the country’s first VGF-based HEP in 2013, meaning the Centre was willing to foot up to Rs 750 crores of the total Rs 1,750 crores the project is estimated to cost.

The project was envisaged such that it fell under the state sector, meaning Mizoram would have the rights to use as much of power generated for its needs and sell the remaining as it deems fit.

But even then, plans fell through towards the end of last year as banks and private developers shied away from going ahead with the project, leaving the state government to look for other alternatives.

The Mizoram government and NEEPCO signed a MoU to hand over the project, one of Mizoram’s largest in terms of capacity, to the latter on Wednesday night.

The Tuivai HEP is meanwhile being  opposed by local groups including the Hmar People’s Convention or HPC, a militant-group turned political party active in the Hmar tribe dominated regions of north Mizoram.

The HPC has said the dam would submerge farmlands of up to seven nearby villages.

Drive To Flush Out Migrants in Nagaland

Kohima, Feb. 12 : The campaign to flush out "illegal Bangladeshi immigrants" from Nagaland has intensified after the Naga Students' Federation (NSF), the apex students' organisation in the state, decided to spearhead the movement.

After the NSF's decision, more principal Naga organisations joined the campaign to drive out "illegal Bangladeshi immigrants".

The drive against illegal immigrants was first initiated in Mokokchung district by students and an NGO known as Survival Mokokchung.

The Nagaland government has blamed Assam for the influx. The NSF said it would organise tours in all Naga-inhabited areas to create awareness on "illegal Bangladeshi immigrants".

During the tour, Naga student leaders will meet representatives of all apex organisations, administrations and members of municipal councils, town councils, youth organisations, women's organisations, students, wards and colony leaders.

The president of the NSF, Tongpang Ozukum, said they were not against any community or citizens of India, but their movement is against illegal immigrants. He said immigration from Bangladesh has become a serious threat to Naga society.

Nagaland has a large population of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and Nepal and the authorities have failed to check them.

Most of the alleged Bangladeshi immigrants are engaged in agriculture sector in the plain areas and many are construction labourers.

They are also into businesses dealing with garments and electronic items. In Dimapur, the commercial hub of the state, most of the businesses is controlled by alleged immigrants who are mostly concentrated in New Market, Hazi Park, Railway Bazaar and Super Market areas.

Dimapur is not covered under inner-line permit (ILP) system and in its absence immigrants find it easy to enter the state. The NSF and other Naga organisations have been demanding streamlining of the ILP system.

The government has said most of the alleged illegal Bangladeshi immigrants possess Indian domicile certificates which make it difficult to detect the immigrants.

The minority community in the state too has expressed concern over entry of immigrants and decided to support the movement against them.

JNU To Soon Get Hostel For Students From Northeast India

New Delhi, Feb 11 :  A 210-room hostel for North East students will be constructed in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) here, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Monday.

Singh, Minister of State for Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), said he had issued instructions to the officials in the Ministry to set up a website where all the grievances of the people from the North East could be received and appropriately responded to. The officers in DoNER Ministry have been directed to hold regular interactions with youth and student representatives living in the national capital.

"A nodal officer in the DoNER Ministry is proposed to be designated for receiving the calls and inputs from the North East origin people living in Delhi," a statement issued by the Minister's office quoted him as saying.
The hostel in JNU is to be built at an estimated cost of Rs 32.44 crore, which will be a four storey structure with total constructed area of about 12,000 sqm.

"The hostel will have an accommodation of 210 living rooms catering to almost double the number of students, in addition to a dining hall for approximately 270 students, four Warden flats and two common rooms," it said. There will also be provision for balcony with living room, pantry, open space between the rooms and a parking lot, the release said.

Singh was also given a brief technical presentation on the plan and outlay by the engineers and architects of RITES, a Railway Ministry PSU. "This will go a long way in enabling the bright youngsters from the region to come closer to the mainstream life of the country. One more site for a similar hostel has also been identified in the premises of Ramanujan College," he said.

Singh visited the JNU campus today to inspect the site proposed for the purpose. He said the number of students from the eight North Eastern states is constantly on the rise and the Ministry of DoNER has taken upon itself the responsibility to encourage and promote their growth in the union capital as well as in other parts of the country. Once this initiative in the capital is successfully accomplished, similar projects will be taken up in other major cities including Bengaluru, Pune and Ahmedabad, the minister said.