Agartala, Apr 30 : The Tripura Central University will introduce full-fledged MA course in Kokborok language.
Since the 1996, the university has been teaching Kokborok as a six-month certificate course but growing demand for development of the language persuaded governor P.B. Acharya to call for its study at the university level.
A final decision was taken at a recent meeting of the university and the course will be launched from the current academic year.
Disclosing this in an interaction with reporters yesterday, Tripura Central University vice-chancellor Anjan Kumar Ghosh said preparation for the launching of MA course in Kokborok was on.
"The syllabus has been finalised and now printing of books is on. We will hold an admission test for the course as well as for other courses between May 25 and 28. Leading experts in Kokborok, including poets and authors in the language will be inducted as teachers till final appointments are made," said Ghosh.
Tripura's leading poet Ratul Debbarma expressed his "joy and satisfaction" over the varsity's decision: "It will boost the study and process of learning of the language."
However, a script controversy - whether to use modified Bengali or Roman script - still remain unresolved.
Chief minister Manik Sarkar made it clear in a tribal literary conference in 2013 that the majority view of tribals on the script would be accepted by the government.
"Till finalisation of a single original script the language will be studied in modified Bengali script devised by late linguist Kumud Kundu Chowdhury," said Debbarman.
Gurgaon, Apr 30 : A 19-year-old girl from Assam was allegedly raped on Wednesday morning. She works as a support staff in a DLF 1 guesthouse and was on duty around 8.30am when the incident is reported to have taken place.
The girl was at work in the guest house when one of her male colleagues forced himself upon her.
The accused hails from Nepal and works as a cook and support staff at the facility. The girl is reportedly a Naga, hailing from Dima Hasao district of Assam. She has been working in the guesthouse for the past two months, and has alleged that the accused had proposed her for a relationship last month, which she had refused.
According to a representative of a northeast students' centre, the girl initially approached her manager, who after consulting the senior management, requested her to settle the matter mutually with the accused. She refused, but by then, around 12.30pm, the accused had run away. The girl decided to call up the northeast student helpline number, which sent a team of representatives to her help. She was immediately taken to the DLF 1 police station, and then to Civil Hospital for a medical examination.
"She is traumatized. It is shocking that the guest house management did not inform the police, and the accused managed to flee," said Chumbemo M Patton, representing Nagaland at Delhi Police's northeast cell, who helped the girl lodge her complaint.
Representatives of the Naga students union (Delhi) and Zeliangrong students union (Delhi) reached Gurgaon in the afternoon to assist the victim. "We want Gurgaon Police to nab the accused immediately," said a representative from the northeast.
The girl's family, which has been informed about the incident, did not wish to speak to the media. "The matter was reported to the police at around 5pm. The accused had fled by then. We filed an FIR under Section 376 (punishment for rape) of the IPC, and will arrest the accused soon," said ACP (crime) Rajesh Kumar.
Aizawl, Apr 29 : Mizo missionaries in quake-ravaged Nepal declined to be evacuated and wanted to stay back to help those in need, Presbyterian Church's Mizoram Synod leaders on Tuesday said.
Mizoram Synod Mission Board Secretary Rev Lalchhuanmawia said there were no plans to evacuate the missionaries working in Nepal and they did not want to leave the country.
Baptist Church of Mizoram general secretary Rev LH Lianngaia said they had informed two of their missionaries that they could return, but they declined the offer, saying they have to look after the church members in time of crisis.
There were over 50 Mizo families in Nepal working as Christian missionaries, which included seven ordained pastors of the Presbyterian Church, one Baptist church pastor and a Salvation Army Officer.\
Repeated aftershocks forced the missionaries in Kathmandu and their family members to sleep outside the residence of Field Secretary of the Nepal Mission Board Rev Lalrintluanga Ngente on Saturday and Sunday nights, a missionary told his relatives here over phone.
A local church belonging to the Presbyterians was damaged in Lucham, while another under-construction church was also damaged in Padampur, the missionaries said adding, all Mizo missionaries and their family members were safe.
Aizawl, Apr 29 : Major projects under the Mizoram government’s flagship programmes, which have been planned to be continued for another 5 years, were reviewed today in a meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Lalthanhawla.
The meeting, held at the Chief Secretary’s conference room and attended by Finance Minister Lalsawta, State Planning Board Vice Chairman H Liansailova and Chief Secretary Lalmalsawma, PL Thanga, Vice Chairman of NIB and other officers, decided that in order to continue the New Land Used Policy (NLUP) for the development of the State, the plan for joint venture with agencies like North East Region Livelihood Project (NERLP), IFAD, JICA and German Development Cooperation (KFW) may be accelerated.
The meeting reviewed the ongoing joint venture under NLUP with UN agencies and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust.
The meeting also discussed the financial condition of the State government under, in view of the new Central government’s funding pattern, and the plan for continuing the projects.
The meeting decided to hold another meeting soon to chalk out plans in the light of the discussion today.
Aizawl, Apr 29 : Altogether 1,776 women candidates are in the fray for the elections to village councils and local councils, slated for April 30, in Mizoram, which is a strict patriarchal society where full gender parity in politics is still a far cry.
The campaigning for the elections to 536 village councils in six districts and 83 local councils under Aizawl Municipal Council, which came to an end this evening, witnessed a rise in the participation of women compared to past years. C. Lalawmpuii became the first woman MLA in Mizoram in 27 years after she won Hrangturzo Assembly bypoll last year.
This is for the first time the seats are reserved for women in the elections to local bodies, thanks to the state Assembly which passed Lushai Hills District (Village Council Amendment) Bill, 2014, according to which one seat shall be reserved for women in a village or local council having five seats, two seats in village or local council having seven seats, and three seats in village or local council having nine seats.
The state election commission today has imposed some restrictions under Section 126 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 that prohibits "displaying any election matter by means, inter alia, of television or similar apparatus, during the period of 48 hours before the hour fixed for conclusion of poll in a constituency".
An official of the state election commission today told The Telegraph that the preparations for the elections to village and local councils have been done, while security has been beefed up to avoid any untoward incident.
The election commission said a total of 3,96,601 electorates would elect 2,278 village council members for 536 village councils, while 1,92,382 voters would seal the fate of 535 local council members for 83 local councils under the Aizawl Municipal Council area. Altogether 5,894 candidates, of which 1,465 are women, are in the fray for the village council polls in six of the eight districts - Aizawl, Lunglei, Sherchip, Champhai, Mamit and Kolosib.
The number of candidates for the local councils in Aizawl is 1,237. The autonomous district councils, under the framework of the Sixth Schedule, administrate elections in Lawngtlai and Saiha districts.
Of the total 597 polling stations set up for the village council polls, 21 have been declared "sensitive" of which eight are in Kolosib, six in Mamit and seven in Lunglei district. Tight security arrangements are being done at all these polling stations, which are predominantly located in Bru and HPC (D) militants' active zone, sources said today.
The elections are unlikely to be held in six villages in Kolosib district and 25 in Aizawl in northern Mizoram as not even a single candidate has filed nominations in the wake of the diktat issued by the HPC (D) militants to boycott the village council polls. There are 123 village council seats in these villages.
The ruling Congress and the Opposition Mizo National Front (MNF) are the main contenders in the ensuing polls. However, other parties like Mizoram People's Conference (MPC), Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP), and the BJP also fielded candidates. The Congress fielded 2,127 candidates, MNF 1,693, ZNP 594, MPC 86 and BJP 200 for the village council polls, while 501 Congress, 460 MNF, 155 ZNP, 67 MPC and 14 BJP candidates are in the fray for the local council polls.
Meghalaya's unexplored caves hold great promise for cavers and biologists alike
(Thomas Arbenz)
A unique collaboration between cave explorers and biologists has
helped discover rare bats in northeastern India. Now, they’re working
with local tribes, researchers and officials to secure the future of
these flying mammals.
Swiss caving enthusiast Thomas Arbenz is
hooked to the thrill of exploration. For the 61-year-old adventurer,
caves remain one of the few places on earth where no humans have set
foot before.
“It is such a good feeling to step into the unknown,” Arbenz told swissinfo.ch. “You feel like an explorer from the old days.”
It
is this longing to discover new caves that led him to a remote part of
India - more specifically to the state of Meghalaya in north-east India
which has the reputation for being the wettest place on earth. He is a
co-leader of a group of international group of speleologists who
systematically explore and map Meghalaya’s intricate network of caves.
They also contribute to science by helping biologists discover rare bat
species that live in these unexplored caves.
Bats galore
In
2011, fellow Swiss Manuel Ruedi, a biologist at the Geneva Natural
History Museum, accompanied Arbenz on the Meghalaya expedition after
hearing that the cavers routinely come across bats.
“Cavers are
often the first people entering many of those caves,” he told
swissinfo.ch. “So, the likelihood of finding exciting new biological
material is there.”
Ruedi managed to catch some of these bats by
placing special nets at the mouth of the grotto. It turned out that he
had stumbled upon two new species of insect-eating Tube-nosed bats.
“When
you catch a bat that seems a bit different from the other ones, you
don't immediately realise it’s a new species,” he says, adding that
differences can be so subtle that it takes a lot of work to confirm if
it really is a previously undiscovered kind of bat.
After a year of cross-checking with specimens in
historical collections and examining scientific literature, he was able
to prove that he had indeed discovered two new species. He even named
one of the bats after the Jaintia people of Meghalaya as a “thank you”
gesture to the locals who allowed the team to explore their forests and
hosted them.
But the caves of Meghalaya had more surprises in
store for Ruedi. In 2014 he also discovered a new colony of the
extremely rare Wroughton’s Free-tailed bat, the second such population
known to science.
“We were very excited to find a bat colony 2400 km away from the only other known colony of the species,” says Ruedi.
Meghalaya
native and bat researcher Adora Thabah was also present during the
discovery. In fact, she had captured a single individual in 2002 during
her field research for her PhD.
“It was a one-off catch and not
finding another colony was very frustrating,” she told swissinfo.ch. “At
last I was able to solve the mystery and there is now hope for the
species in India.”
She believes that the bats would never have been found without help from the caving expedition.
“There are not many bat researchers in India and it would have been impossible for me to find them by myself,” she says.
Uncertain future
Bats
are regularly hunted and eaten by the locals. To keep the rare bats off
the menu, the biologists and cavers embarked on an awareness programme
to convince people about the importance of protecting them and the caves
they live in.
“The main problem is that the people don’t
understand the importance of bats in the ecosystem,” says Thabah. “It
was explained to them that the bats eat their agricultural pests and
pollinate their fruits, and that they were actually killing and eating a
useful animal.”
However, it is not enough to protect the bat
caves alone. The bats forage for insects as far as tens of kilometres
from the cave. That is why it is equally important to preserve the
forest habitat around the caves. However, deforestation for agriculture
as well as for coal and limestone mining has taken a heavy toll on prime
bat habitat in recent years.
“This is beyond what I can handle,”
admits Ruedi. Instead, he has tried to get the state forest department
officials invested in protecting the bat habitats by informing them of
his discoveries and showing them where the important bat caves are.
Ruedi
has also trained two local researchers who will continue the bat
research and awareness programme to supplement Thabah’s efforts. This
should at least ensure that the forest department officials are supplied
with the information necessary for protecting critical bat habitats in
Meghalaya.
“I was sort of a trigger for bat studies in eastern
Meghalaya but now local researchers are taking the lead,” says Ruedi.
“This is a great long-term outcome for the bats.”
Meghalaya – a caver’s paradise
The
tiny Indian state of Meghalaya - it is just over half the size of
Switzerland - came to the attention of the international caving
community two decades ago. In 1992, a group of four European cavers
began exploring the caves in the Khasi, Jaintia and Garo hills and soon
realised the potential of the region to become a global caving hotspot.
Since
then, the small group has evolved into an annual caving expedition
comprising around 30 cavers from all over the world and calls itself
the Caving in the abode of the clouds project. So far, they’ve identified 1,300 caves, explored 825 of them, and surveyed in excess of 370 kilometres underground.
Most
of the caves in Meghalaya are inaccessible to people who don't know
anything about caving. To explore even easy caves you need to have basic
equipment like head torches, helmets, protective suit and boots. More
technical caves require climbing gear like ropes, carabiners and rope
ladders. To enter river caves you also need neoprene suits, wellington
boots and life jackets.
Besides technical gear, caving expertise
and experience are a prerequisite for any kind of cave exploration.
However, there are two or three “show caves” in Meghalaya that tour
operators take visitors to see.
By Saurav Bora Guwahati, Apr 29 : Mobile handset manufacturer Motorola plans to ride on the growing smartphone market and a tech-savvy population in the Northeast to boost sales of its customised variants in the region.
"The Northeast is a priority region for us. Looking at the demographics here, with a growing population in tune with the latest technology, we plan to expand our footprint here. Service/care centres will be put in place wherever necessary and our marketing will be focused on the region. We also look to engage with our clients through the social media," Marcus Frost, senior marketing director, EMEA (Europe Middle East Africa) & India, told The Telegraph here today.
Motorola, which was acquired by Chinese technology giant Lenovo from Google last year, sells its devices in India through e-commerce firm Flipkart.
"We have assessed the situation and preferred the e-commerce platform over brick and mortar. But we also know the importance of touch-and-feel and plan to set up at least nine brand experience centres in the country and Guwahati is in our scheme of things," Frost said. Motorola, as of today, has over 150 service centres in the country. "We will also be launching motor care vans to take our service to the client's doorstep," he said.
The company today announced the launch of the 3G and 4G versions of the new Moto E range of smartphones. "The new Moto E with 4G network will provide amazing speed with increased bandwidth. Packed with an array of customisation options, the variants are value for money (the 3G version priced at Rs 6,999 and the 4G at Rs 7,999) and suitable for those who choose to migrate from feature to smartphones or opt for an additional phone," Frost said.
The handset manufacturer had last year sold three million units in the country with its Moto E and Moto G variants making up almost 80-85 per cent of the sales.
Silchar, Apr 28 : Goods-laden trucks and other vehicles were not allowed to enter Mizoram from 5am on Monday due to an indefinite economic blockade called by several Assam-based NGOs.
Hundreds of trucks were stranded on either side of the inter-state border between Assam and Mizoram at Lailapur along NH-306 in Cachar district and at Ramnathpur and Jamira along NH-154 in Assam's Hailakandi district.
Hundreds of members of Silchar-based NGO, Forum for Protection of non-Mizos, All Cachar Karimganj Hailakandi Students Association, Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) and civil society groups put up the blockade on the two highways connecting Assam with Mizoram from Monday morning. They also staged protests against alleged atrocities on non-Mizo traders and workers in Mizoram by some NGOs there.
Mihir Lal Roy, an activist, said hundreds of non-Mizos have fled Mizoram due to harassment over the last few weeks. The victims hailed from Assam and were engaged in trade and other jobs in Mizoram under valid permit.
Roy said non-Mizos, particularly those from Barak Valley areas of Assam, are subjected to intimidation and cruelty of various forms in Mizoram. He said it has come to their notice that traders from Barak Valley region are targeted, attacked, threatened and physically harassed and asked by Mizo students and youth leaders to leave the state. The traders are also forced to shut shop, he added.
He added there are instances that business establishments owned by non-Mizos are looted by the miscreants and there have been no effort on the part of the administration to check such activities.
Congress MLA (South Karimganj) Siddique Ahmed, who joined the agitators at Ramnathpur, said the indefinite economic blockade would continue until the harassment on non-Mizos is stopped and normalcy restored in Mizoram.
A senior police officer said so far the agitation is going on peacefully and there was no report of any untoward incident.
