Mizoram officials will undertake the first verification process in Kaskau relief camp.
By Adam Halliday Aizawl, May 21 : Officials in Mizoram’s western districts will start verifying displaced Bru tribals lodged in the relief camps in Tripura on June 2. This will be the final phase of repatriation for the displaced tribals.
Mamit Deputy Commissioner Vanlalngaihsaka said Wednesday that he had held meetings with various village council leaders and community organisations in this regard. “All the groups have pledged their cooperation and said that they will watch out for any untoward incident before and during the repatriation process,” Vanlalngaihsaka told The Indian Express.
Mizoram officials will undertake the first verification process in Kaskau relief camp, during which they will ascertain whether the Bru tribals lodged there are originally from Mizoram. Once that is complete, the officials will provide transportation for the tribals to return to Mizoram. The verification process will then proceed to the other five relief camps, Vanlalngaihsaka added.
Officials in Mizoram’s Home Department have said the repatriation process is likely to be completed by September. While Mamit district is set to welcome home almost 2,600 Bru families, several hundred families might return to the neighbouring Kolasib and Lunglei districts.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court approved an agreement reached between Mizoram, Tripura and the Union Home Ministry that any displaced Bru tribal who continues to refuse to return to Mizoram under the repatriation process will be deleted from Mizoram’s electoral rolls (The tribals continue to vote for Mizoram elections despite staying in Tripura ). The agreement also said that the relief camps would be closed.
Tens of thousands of Bru tribals fled Mizoram in 1997 following ethnic violence with the Mizos. The conflict had been triggered after Bru militants murdered a Mizo official. The tribals fled to Tripura where they were put in relief camps and they have stayed there ever since. Over the years, Tripura has asked Mizoram to take back the tribals.
New Delhi, May 20 : People from Northeast community today came out in support of Shakuntala Gamlin, whose appointment as the acting chief secretary escalated into a row, and said that she is being used as a "punching bag" and made the "scapegoat" in the fight.
They staged a protest outside Delhi Secretariat and later handed over a memorandum to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
"We are hurt by the allegations being made by the government in public. Government should treat everyone equally," one of the protesters, J T Tagam, said.
Protesters blamed Kejriwal of being "partial" to the woman IAS officer from North-East.
"First government recommended her name and later objected to her appointment and then accused her of favouring power companies in a public rally before the media. The Chief Minister should publically apologize to her," another protestor said.
People from the community said "attacking" statement by the Delhi government and Kejriwal towards a lady officer was unexpected and uncalled for. Bringing a lady officer from North-East in between the political fight was unacceptable and should have been avoided.
"She is discriminated against in many ways and this is her character assassination. She is being used as a punching bag in a tussle between the Lt. Governor and the Chief Minister. Kejriwal has been making allegations without any proof.
"We stand by Shakuntala Gamlin. By targeting her, he has targeted the entire community. The Chief Minister should conduct an enquiry and if she is found guilty, we are ready to accept the government's decision. She is being made a scapegoat in a political battle," said Taba Doni, president of Arunachal Student Union, Delhi.
Protesters said the government's decision of not appointing her as the chief secretary was illogical and it should have conducted a check on service background of an officer before recommending his/her name for such a senior bureaucratic post.
They said they will also write to President and Prime minister in this regard.
The confrontation over appointment of Gamlin as the acting chief secretary of Delhi had turned into a full-blown war between the ruling AAP and Jung with Kejriwal alleging that the LG was trying to take over the administration.
Despite Kejriwal's strong opposition, Jung had appointed her to the post on Friday.
From
language to clothes to culture, South Korean soaps on Mizo television
are leaving a lasting imprint on the North Eastern state.
Stay for a
while in Mizoram’s capital Aizawl and you start catching glimpses of
South Korea. Travel around the state and the images emerge repeatedly ‒ in the clothes, the hair styles, even the furniture.
In
Champhai, the district that conducts most of the trade between Mizoram
and Myanmar, business in fairness creams and hair colour is roaring. At
her cosmetics shop which stocks both Indian and imported cosmetics, J
Lalremruati says most customers favour foreign products. People here
think they are not fair enough, she explains. “If the idea is to be more
like the Koreans, then why would they buy Indian creams?”
While teenagers in Delhi and Mumbai mimic Jennifer Aniston’s hairdo in Friends,
Mizoram's young people are looking east. “A girl in one of a Korean
serial wore her hair as a bun to one side of her head,” said Marina, who
works at an Aizawl restaurant. “My friends and I copied her for some
time.” Periodically, she and her friends look for clothes like those
worn by the actors in the serials.
Even the furniture in people’s homes is changing, says Lalnghinglova Hmar, joint editor of the largest-selling Mizo daily Vanglaini.
People are buying furniture that resembles the sets they see in the
Korean soaps. The state even has a store called Gangnam Style.
The
immediate trigger for these changes is well known. In the last eight
years or so, Mizoram, like the rest of the North East, has seen a large
South Korean wave. Korean movies and television serials, dubbed in Mizo
and broadcast every day by around 10 local TV channels, are the most
watched programmes in the state these days.
What is less clear, however, is how this interest in Korean culture started.
The genesis of a boom
Some
trace it back to an evening – about five or six years ago – when a
local cable company played a DVD of a Korean serial. When the channel
cut that telecast to switch to news, it found its switchboard lighting
up. Viewers were calling to ask when the serial would resume. Others
trace it back to a Korean film called The Classic, which
entered India through Manipur and then spread across the North East,
spawning interest in South Korean films. Yet others trace it back to
2001 when a Korean channel called Arirag become freely available across
the North East.
But mere supply (or access) is not enough to
explain the boom. Indian television has been around in the North East
for a long time but it has not been as successful as the Korean
programming.
One school of thought says Korean serials are
popular because they touch – at least those dubbed into Mizo – upon
themes like family drama, comedy and romance. They are very
constructive, said Malsawma Sailo, founder of a television channel in
Aizawl called Nauban.
He cites one of the most popular Korean serials in recent times – Yellow Boots.
“A
woman is hit by a car and she dies. The leading lady, let us call her
our heroine, is implicated and sent to prison. While she is in jail, her
fiancé ditches her and marries someone else. However, our heroine is
pregnant at the time – she is carrying the child of her fiancé – and so,
she becomes a mother while in prison. However, the truth is that she
has been falsely implicated in the accident. And the woman actually
responsible for the accident is the one who has married her fiancé. And
so, once she leaves prison, our heroine plots revenge.”
Why
is it so popular? “There are a lot of scenes to shed tears over,” said
Sailo, adding that the story shows how a family should behave.
But
that plot seems as contrived and emotionally manipulative as any sitcom
from any country on the planet. Besides, this does not explain why
Mizoram went through a similar fascination with American and Hindi films
earlier.
The real answer, clearly, lies elsewhere.
The Hindi and English boom
Perhaps
the answer lies in office of Zonet, one of the two big cable companies
in Mizoram. (The other is LPS.) The channel began showing dubbed Korean
serials in 2009, two years after CDs of the serials had hit the local
market.
Vanneitluanga, the programming head, looks much younger
than his 48 years. He used to work at All India Radio till 2004, when he
decided to start Zonet along with RK Lianzuala, a journalist who had
worked with the BBC.
In a three-hour long conversation,
Vanneitluanga traced the Korean boom back to an early decision to dub
programmes into Mizo. In its initial days, Zonet had one channel
gender-insensitively called Zawlbuk – the Mizo name for the traditional
meeting hall for men. “It is not easy to produce a full-fledged film in
Mizo,” he said. “It is expensive. At the same time, people are used to
the production quality of channels like the BBC. Their sense of
aesthetics is very high. We couldn’t have satisfied our own people.”
The
easiest way to strike a balance, he says, was to translate: “Dubbing is
easy. All we have to do is lip-sync.” In November 2004, Zonet began
airing a dubbed version of Kasautii Zindagii Kay, an Indian soap which, at first glance, rivals Yellow Boots in the plot twists.
It became quite a craze, remembers Sailo. Soon, he said, “both LPS and Zonet were dubbing Kasautii.
They would air it some days after Hindi channels aired it. But they
would air the same episode on the same day. Magazines were featuring
special columns transcribing the serial.”
The serial,
Vanneitluanga explains, met a latent demand. “People wanted to read or
watch something in Mizo.” It was a demand that Doordarshan, the national
broadcaster, was unable to meet. Its Mizo programming lasted just 20-30
minutes a day.
Before long, dubbing of Hindi and English films
was a booming business. LPS, Zonet and a third cable company, called
Skylinks, were running their own translation services, dubbing Kasautii, then other serials like Karam Apnaa Apnaa, and English films like The Ten Commandments.
In
2008, Sailo, a father of two and a graduate in BA (Arts) from Lunglei,
entered the dubbing trade. Till then, he had switched careers repeatedly
– after his BA in the late 1980s, he opened a grocery store. In 1991,
he became the principal of an English school. He shifted next to Aizawl,
where he ran a cement shop. What that did not do well, he moved to
Mamit district and ran an English school. Finally, in 2008, he handed
the school over to others and moved back to Aizawl.
Malsawma
Sailo in the room in his house where he dubs Korean serials. He has
just two voice artists in his team. Whenever needed, he and his wife
pitch in as well.
At this
time, the cable industry in Mizoram had a lot of small players who ran
cable networks in villages and towns. LPS, Zonet and Skylinks were
present in the bigger towns.
Sailo
began buying Hindi and English films from local DVD and CD shops, which
he would then translate and dub. “In a month, we did three films.” He
started by selling these to local operators in Aizawl for Rs 150 a DVD.
Soon however he was getting calls from cable operators elsewhere in the
state. By 2010, the number of his customers stood at 100 and his
business – employing two voice artists, one editor and one translator –
was notching monthly revenues of Rs 45,000.
Within a year,
however, Sailo’s business was floundering. The reason: competition. “A
lot of people were indulging in translation,” says Sailo. DVDs began
going for Rs 100, then Rs 80.
By then, the Korean wave had
already set in. By 2009, said Vanneitluanga, “DVDs of Korean serials had
entered Aizawl. Some of these had English subtitles and people began
seeing those. There were eight or nine local cable companies and
five-six of them would show these serials. That is how this started.”
Sailo
thinks the wave started earlier. “In 2007, the demand for the Korean
serials was moderate. But by 2012, it was very high. Wherever we went,
people were talking about these serials.”
This raises a new question. Why were undubbed Korean programmes doing better than dubbed English or Hindi ones?
A question of identity
To
answer that question, Vanneitluanga referred to 1966. The Mizo National
Front had rebelled against India and liberated Aizawl. “I was nine
years old. I remember standing in a forest near Aizawl while the Indian
Air Force was bombing Aizawl. We were told by Laldenga then – and we
believed him – that a thlawhnavar [a white aeroplane] would come and
drive these IAF planes away. None came.”
This, he says, was a
turning point for the Mizos. “Before that, we thought we were
westerners. We were born and raised in the lap of missionaries. And we
used to think we were Britishers. In Zodin cinema hall, all the movies
we saw were John Wayne, cowboys, western films. We felt they were very
near to us. But gradually, we came to learn that the west is very far
away – we were very remote, very ignorant. The missionaries were gone.
We had to depend on India.”
The menu at JayJay, a Korean-style eatery.
This,
he says, explains some of the fondness for the Koreans. “Our face is
different from that of most Indians. There are ethnic differences – we
are Christians.” For a while, he says, when Indian media came in, they
had to dub what was available. “At the same time, we hate the Bollywood
style of singing and dancing.”
By contrast, he said, “The Koreans
look like us. There are cultural similarities like respecting the
elders. At the same time, they are clean. Their facial structures are
clean. The plots are conservative, ones that Protestants and Catholics
can relate to. Even the way they talk, a slightly musical tone, is
similar to ours.”
Listening to him, it sounded like the Mizos
wished for affinity with a larger group. When asked about this,
Vanneitluanga mentioned people from the North East who had moved to
Israel believing themselves to be the lost tribes of Israel. Perhaps, he
said, “This is because of where we are," he said. "On the western side
of Mizoram, we see you. On the east, we see the Burmese Buddhists.
Neither of you is us. We are an island in the Himalayan range.”
A question of affinity
In
Mizoram, the Korean wave has had predictable and unpredictable
outcomes. Between the Peiteis, Brus, Lais, Chakmas, Maras, Hmars and the
Mizos, the state speaks many dialects. In the expanded Chin tribal
area, which covers parts of Myanmar too, there are even more dialects.
For all their speakers, there is no programming in their native
language. This is partly due to economics – the populations are too
small to support local programming.
For this reason, says
Vanneitluanga, the dispersed Chin population, in Myanmar and outside,
not to Mizoram, watches the dubbed Korean programmes. “I found people
asking me for these when I went to Kuala Lumpur. And when I went to
Singapore.”
Some worry that Mizo, riding on the Korean
programmes, will swamp the smaller dialects. But the programming is
changing Mizo too. “The normal Mizo way of speaking is soft and
sing-song,” said Vanneitluanga. “In Korean, people speak faster. In
dubbing, we have to lip-sync. So, we end up speaking faster too.” In
this drive, he lamented, “Our beautiful descriptive phrases are going
unused. They are decreasing as we do not have the time to describe as we
would like to.”
Lallian Chhunga, an assistant professor in
Mizoram University’s Department of Political Science, added: “The catch
is also that the people who translate are not very good in literature.
They use very colloquial street language and so the way we speak is
changing.”
The endgame
The big question is what next.
When
his dubbing business slowed down, Sailo moved to Zonet as a“partner.
Both LPS and Zonet follow a strategy where they run three or so channels
on their own – general entertainment, sports and religion. Apart from
these, they have partners – individuals like Sailo – who run individual
channels on their own. Sailo supplies 24-hour feeds to Zonet.
Take
another local channel – Ainawn. It focuses on documentaries. It starts
the morning with a dubbed episode of Discovery Health Science. At 7am,
it has cartoons for children. Then, music and a documentary till 1 pm.
An English film after that. And then, dubbed documentaries till 10pm,
followed by another blockbuster movie till midnight. And then, another
movie.
The channel was started because its founder, who did not
wish to be identified, does not like Korean serials. “The reason for
starting Ainawn is there is good programming – National Geographic,
History Channel, etc – but people do not watch this as they cannot
understand what is being said,” the founder told me.
What Sailo
does is similar – a 24-hour feed, with a greater emphasis on
entertainment. He scans sites like ipop, dovamax264 and hancinema to
discover new soaps. How does he decide what will work? “We read the
story online. And based on our experience, it is usually romance and
family drama that works well.”
For all that, the business is starting to struggle now. As happened with the dubbing business, competition is rising fast.
Zonet
and LPS do not pay the partner channels for content, so they make money
by selling ad time. The advertisers are typically local shops. Telecom
companies and banks do not advertise on these channels, perhaps because
of the difficulty in ascertaining viewership.
Ad rates are
ridiculously low. “A company can be channel sponsor or serial sponsor,”
Sailo said. “We charge Rs 10,000 per month. The channel ad is shown
six-seven times in a day. The serial ad is shown around the serial.”
Consider
the economics. Ten sponsors equal monthly revenues of Rs 1 lakh.
However, as the number of channels increase, ad rates have fallen to as
little as Rs 5,000. “If the number of sponsors comes down to five, it
will be hard to survive,” said Sailo. “We might have to start some other
business.”
The boom of South Korean soaps illustrates two of the
larger truths about jobs in Mizoram. In the state, jobs are hard to
come by. This causes a pell-mell rush into new opportunities, followed
by price warfare, making business cycles really short.
The low ad
rates indicate how little money there actually is in the state economy,
the result of the state government’s financial crisis. As it delays
salaries, establishments across the state are reporting less business
this year than earlier.
It’s unclear how long the Korean wave
itself will last. It is mainly seen, says Vanneitluanga, by the educated
rural people, some of the youth, and housewives. Those with better
education prefer English.
“This is a wave," Vanneitluanga said.
"It is not permanent. I wonder how long it will last. Korean culture
really has nothing to do with us – just like that white aeroplane. Our
population is so small. And economic activity is so low. We have no
money and so we cannot go to Korea. Our education is not fit enough to
take us there. I don’t know where this goes.”
Maybe it will be
English. Take Marina, who used to go looking for clothes similar to what
actors wore in these soaps. She is bored now. “These serials are too
long. These days, I watch music videos on VH1,” she said. Other
youngsters are into anime.
Or maybe, as a recent trend suggests,
these films will get more and more customised. In some cases, channels
have changed the entire plot while dubbing, says Vanneitluanga, to make a
film more locally relevant. He cited one scene where a contingent of
marching soldiers are chanting – not 1, 2, 3, 4 – but the Mizo words for
potato, squash, pumpkin and dal.
Like the old journalistic cliche goes, wait and watch.
Following
pressure from the union home ministry and the Tripura government,
Mizoram has finally agreed to take back all the tribal refugees
sheltering in Tripura for the past 18 years.
“The repatriation of refugees expected to start from June 8. A
tripartite meeting between the officials of Tripura and Mizoram
governments and refugee leaders took this decision,” Panisagar
Sub-divisional magistrate Biplab Das told IANS.
He said: “It was decided in the meeting that from June 2 to June 4, a
study would be done about how many of the refugees’ names have been
enrolled in the electoral list of Mizoram. Then sub-divisional level
officials of the two states in presence of the refugee leaders would be
held before starting of the repatriation on June 8.”
According to Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Badal Choudhury,
there are 5,286 tribal families comprising 31,223 men, women and
children sheltered in seven camps in Kanchanpur and Panisagar
sub-divisions under North Tripura district adjoining Mizoram.
The Reang tribals, who locally call themselves “Bru”, have lived in
makeshift camps camps in Tripura since October 1997 when they fled
western Mizoram after the killing of a Mizo forest officer triggered
ethnic trouble.
The Mizoram government earlier refused to take back all the refugees
citing that all the migrants are not the resident of Mizoram.
“In the Friday’s district magistrate-level meeting, the Mizoram
government officials more or less agreed to take back all the refugees
sheltered in Tripura,” said Das, who was also present in the meeting.
The Tripura government team was led by additional district magistrate
of North Tripura district Ranjit Das while Mizoram’s team was led by
Mamit district Deputy Commissioner Vanlalngaihsaka.
Meanwhile, Mizoram’s additional secretary of home department
Lalbiakzama said in Aizawl that following the Supreme Court’s directives
and the decision made in the meeting of the union home ministry in
presence of Mizoram and Tripura governments’ officials on January 30, it
was proposed to repatriate all the remaining tribal families from the
relief camps in north Tripura district.
“The union home ministry has recently released Rs.4.7 crore for the
repatriation purposes, but the amount would not be sufficient for
repatriation of all the remaining Reang tribal families,” Lalbiakzama
said.
The Mizoram government earlier sought around Rs.70 crore financial
assistance from the union home ministry to rehabilitate the repatriated
tribal refugees.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and his deputy Kiren Rijiju had
visited the refugee camps and held talks with the refugee leaders on
February 14 and persuaded the tribal to go back to their villages in
western Mizoram.
Refugee leaders told the central ministers that they were willing to
return to their homes in Mizoram if their 10 points demands, including
security and rehabilitation, were met.
The Mizoram Bru Displaced People’s Forum (MBDPF), an organisation of
the refugees, submitted a six-page memorandum to the central ministers
accusing the Mizoram government of discriminating against them.
The Mizoram government remains ambiguous on the refugees’ demands,
which also included free supply of food grain for two years, and
allotting land to them.
Mizo organisations, however, have opposed the MBDPF’s demands.
Tripura Revenue and Relief Minister Choudhury told IANS: “We urge
upon the central government to ask the Mizoram government to take back
the refugees.”
“The union home minister tried to hold a meeting with the chief
ministers of Tripura and Mizoram to finalise a road map to repatriate
the refugees to Mizoram. However, the Mizoram chief minister did not
attend the meeting nor did he send his representative.”
“It is very unfortunate that the tribals despite being Indians
nationals and permanent inhabitant of a state, are unable to live in
their homeland. This is dangerous for the ethnic amity, stability and
peace,” the minister said.
“A serious socio-economic problem has cropped up due to the long stay
of the refugees in Tripura. The refugees have damaged vast areas in
forests in Kanchanpur causing serious environmental problems,” he added.
“Some refugees are involved in terrorist activities. The refugees
also work for cheap wages, creating an awkward situation for local
labourers,” the minister said.
Ajeet Kumar Rai, 25, was a rifleman with the 39th Assam Rifles and was posted at the battalion’s camp at Mimbung in eastern Mizoram.
By Adam Halliday
Aizawl, May 19 : The Mizoram police has told the Ministry of Defence the 25-year-old Assam Rifles rifleman who died from gunshot wounds to the head while on sentry duty last August committed suicide and was not murdered as his relatives are alleging.
“The deceased had committed suicide due to depression arising from family and work since investigation could not revealed (sic) concrete evidences of murder and conspiracy,” concludes a report submitted by Champhai district SP R P Meena to Jay Prakash, Additional Private Secretary to the Defence MoS.
Ajeet Kumar Rai, 25, was a rifleman with the 39th Assam Rifles and was posted at the battalion’s camp at Mimbung in eastern Mizoram.
His elder brothers Ajai Kumar Rai and Atul Kumar Rai (Atul is also a rifleman with the Assam Rifles and who was posted in Lunglei, also in Mizoram, at the time of his brother’s death) allege Ajeet was murdered by his colleagues after an altercation. They officially filed an FIR on September 8 in Champhai town.
The police at Ngopa, which hosts the nearest police station from Mimbung, were meanwhile unable to examine the body immediately after the tragedy since the Assam Rifles had brought it to Aizawl for post-mortem and for it to be dispatched home to UP by flight the following day. Police had subsequently registered a case of unnatural death and began investigations.
The SP’s report says the Investigating Officer collected the rifleman’s service rifle, an AK-47, as well as 27 live ammunition in it, two empty cartridges and one live ammo still loaded in the gun’s chamber.
The dead man’s finger-prints were also lifted, it said, adding these were among the items forwarded to the Forensic Science Laboratory in Aizawl along with photos of the dead body taken from different angles (the report however says “chance finger prints could not be developed because of oily surface of the firearm”).
The IO examined Rai’s two elder brothers, three men they accused of killing the rifleman as well as more than 20 personnel posted at the Mimbung camp.
Ajeet’s mobile handset was also seized and a Call Detail Report also obtained from which police found Ajeet had spoken to his ex-wife Vineeta Rai just before he died, the report says.
Vineeta was contacted over phone and she told police Rai had told her he wanted to resign from service because of an argument he had had with this colleagues, and mentioned his elder brothers were arranging for him to be married to another woman soon, the report says.
The SP’s report says Vineeta told police Ajeet told her “his brothers were arranging a marriage with another girl he did not want as he still loved her” and also that Ajeet and Vineeta divorced because of pressure from his brothers.
The Assam Rifles had from the beginning said Ajeet killed himself because of problems at home while his family maintained they suspected murder because Ajeet had told them on the day of his death that he had been in a serious argument with his colleagues, claiming some of his colleagues also corroborated their suspicions.
Syed Sarif Khan, who was arrested following an allegation of rape, was dragged out from the central jail by a mob and lynched.
Syed Sarif Khan, who was arrested following an allegation of
rape, was dragged out from the central jail by a mob and lynched,
following which his body was left hanging in the City Tower on March 5.
By Samudra Gupta Kashyap
Guwahati, May 19 :
A judicial commission into the Dimapur lynching began its inquiry on
Monday, asking people to submit written statements in connection with
the ghastly incident.
A public notice issued by the judicial inquiry commission headed by
retired Gauhati High Court judge Justice BD Agarwal issued a public
notice in Dimapur seeking written statements in order to ascertain the
causes and circumstances leading to the incident of vandalism and
forcible entry into the Dimapur Central Jail by a mob and killing of an
under-trial prisoner and another person in the ensuing violence.
Syed Sarif Khan, who was arrested following an allegation of rape,
was dragged out from the central jail by a mob and lynched, following
which his body was left hanging in the City Tower on March 5. Another
person called Inito Swu, who was reportedly amid the crowd, was killed
when police opened fire on the mob after Khan was done to death.
The inquiry commission, through the public notice specifically asked
local dailies/media fraternity, the Naga Students’ Federation (NSF), All
Nagaland College Students’ Union (ANCSU), Naga Council Dimapur (NCD),
Dimapur Naga Students’ Union (DNSU), Dimapur Chamber of Commerce (DCC),
Western Sumi Students’ Union (WSSU), Naga Mothers Association (NMA)
Dimapur, Survival Nagaland (SN), Naga Spear, Naga Blog (NB), GBs’
Federation Dimapur, GBs Union Dimapur, Principals of different schools
and colleges of the town, as well as family members of the victims to
file written statement before it.
The inquiry commission, which also has retired district and sessions
judge Veprasa Nyekha as a member, has been also asked to ascertain the
person/persons, group/groups responsible for the incident, lapses of
dereliction of duty on the part of government officials and public
authorities, a press release issued by the state IPR department in
Kohima said.
Kochi, May 19 : Kerala, which has lost out to Karnataka in terms of domination
in pepper production, is now slipping in cardamom too. North Eastern
variety of large cardamom, which commands nearly double the price of
Kerala’s small cardamom, is likely to outstrip Kerala production in
coming years, going by the Spices Board’s effort in NE region.
The Spices Board has plans to set up a Centre of Excellence in large
cardamom research, common facility centre, training centre and quality
testing lab in 25 acres of land in Arunachal Pradesh. The board also
plans to set up cardamom auction centres in Namsai and Kimin in
Arunachal Pradesh.
States like Assam, Arunachal Pradesh,
Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram are suitable for spice
farming, experts point out.
“Compared to other parts of the
country the North East India is underutilised in terms of spices
production. The potential to cultivate large variety of cardamom is huge
there. The NE region has the potential to grow as a major hub of
cardamom production in the country. Bulk of production in the area is
consumed within India,” said Spices Board Chairman A Jayathilak.
The
price of small cardamom, which is available in Kerala, now trades in
the range of Rs 620-870 per kg. Whereas the price of large cardamom is
in the range of Rs 1,650-1,750 per kg. For the Kerala variety the price
at the same period a year ago was Rs 750-1,030/kg.
Interestingly
the price of large cardamom, which is the major variety produced in the
North East, was in the range of Rs 1,275-1,350 per kg last year. The
prices have increased by almost 30 per cent for the large variety this
year mainly due to low availability and increased demand.
The
cultivation of cardamom comes under the mandate of Spices Board. It is
estimated that around 75,000 hectares of land in India is under cardamom
farming. The major areas are Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu (small
cardamom) and Sikkim, West Bengal (large cardamom).
There
are 16 autonomous district councils (ADCs) in northeast India,
facilitating the socio-economic development of tribals, who make up 28
percent of the region's total population of around 45.58 million.
Agartala, May 19 : The Tripura tribal council will be be made a model autonomous
body in the northeast India, ensuring alround development of tribals,
its new chief Radhacharan Debbarma said on Monday.
"TTAADC
(Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council) would be made a model
and best council in the northeastern region by achieving alround
development of the tribals," the council's new Chief Executive Member
(CEM) Radhacharan Debbarma told reporters.
"Already our council became one of the best tribal autonomous bodies in the northeast India," he said.
"The other tribal autonomous bodies of the northeastern region have
earlier taken lessons from the TTAADC for their alround performances and
welfare of the tribals."
There are 16 autonomous district
councils (ADCs) in northeast India, facilitating the socio-economic
development of tribals, who make up 28 percent of the region's total
population of around 45.58 million.
Of the 16 ADCs, mostly
formed under the Seventh or Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitutions,
six are in Manipur, three each in Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram and one
in Tripura.
Tripura's ruling Left Front led by the Communist
Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) in the May 3 elections to the 30-member
TTAADC retained the tribal autonomous body for the third consecutive
term.
Elections were held for the 28 seats of the 30-member
TTAADC, which has jurisdiction over two-thirds of Tripura's 10,491
square km territory. The government nominates the remaining two members.
All the 28 seats were won by Left candidates, with the CPI-M
sweeping 25 seats. Its allies Communist Party of India, Revolutionary
Socialist Party and Forward Bloc won one seat each.
Radhacharan
Debbarma, a veteran tribal leader of the CPI-M, along with eight
executive members on Monday assumed office at a colourful function at
TTAADC headquarters in Khumulwng (25 km northeast of Agartala), where
Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, his council of ministers, senior political
leaders and top officials were present.
Tripura law department
secretary Data Mohan Jamatia administered the oath of office and secrecy
to the nine executive members, including 54-year-old Radhacharan
Debbarma, a most vibrant face among CPI-M tribal leaders.
The CPI-M replaced Ranjit Debbarma, another veteran tribal leader, by Radhacharan Debbarma in the key post of CEM.
Debbarma would be the chairman (like speaker of the state assembly) of the council subsequently.
Since its formation in 1982, the Left Front has controlled the TTAADC
except on two terms -- 1990-95 and 2000-05. In 1990-95, the
Congress-Tripura Upajati Juba Samity, a tribal party now defunct,
controlled the TTAADC.
The tribal-based local party Indigenous People's Front of Tripura ran it in 2000-05.
The CPI-M enjoys substantial support among the tribals and non-tribals in the state.
After the formation of The TTAADC 33 years ago under the seventh
schedule of the constitution, its authority was upgraded in August 1984
to protect and safeguard the political, economic and cultural interests
of tribals, who constitute one-third of Tripura's 3.7 million
population.
