Unsustainable Traditional Land Clearing in Northeast India

Guwahati, Mar 31 : Traditional land clearing for planting of hill rice and vegetables (jhum) in Northeast India is now a part-time job. Looking at the extent of burning on the hillsides, jhum has gone beyond its sustainability as a way of life. There are too many people practicing it with too little land for a 15-year cycle. And this means that people can no longer simply live off the land...

Nagalim: NSCN (IM) Celebrate Republic Day As Talks Continue

Kohima, Mar 31 : The celebration of 30th Naga Republic Day on 21 March 2010 in Nagaland by both NSCN factions are significant in view of New Delhi’s ongoing peace process with the NSCN (IM) and also its ongoing truce with NSCN (K). Below is an article published by Asian Tribune : The observance of the 30th Naga Republic Day Celebrations on March 21 in Nagaland by two NSCN factions is remarkable...

Hailstorm Wreck Havoc in Northeast India

 Agartala/Aizawl, Mar 31 : Hundreds of houses were destroyed, a large number of trees, electric and telephone posts uprooted and crops heavily damaged in pre-monsoon rains accompanied by strong wind and hailstorm in Tripura, Mizoram and Manipur, official sources said here Tuesday. Officials in the state capitals said the seasonal cyclonic rainstorm accompanied by heavy lightning, which lashed...

Road Map For Bru Repatriation Submitted

Aizawl, Mar 31 : The Mizoram Government has submitted a road map for the repatriation of Bru refugees from Tripura which the Ministry of Home Affairs has accepted in principle, Home Minister R Lalzirliana said today. The Ministry of Home Affairs, though accepting the road map in principle is yet to sanction the Rs 85.27 crore proposed for expenses of the repatriation process, Lalzirliana told the...

NH 40 4-Laning to Begin This Year

Kolkata/ Guwahati Mar 31 : Four-laning of National Highway 40, which connects Shillong, capital of Meghalaya, with Guwahati, is expected to commence in 2010. Work on Shillong bye-pass would also start by the end of this year, said Mukul Sangma, finance minister of Meghalaya, while presenting the state budget for 2010-2011. "Both projects are now at an advanced stage of consideration for award...

Air India Did Not Take Permission Before Using Ao Naga Shawl: Rio

By Deepti Kashyap Kohima, Mar 30 : Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio has informed the state Legislative Assembly that the Air India has imprinted the picture of Ao Naga shawl on the aircraft without the permission of the Nagaland government. Replying to a question of Congress legislator I Imkong on whether the Air India has taken permission to use Ao Naga shawl on planes, Mr Rio said they had...

Media Dialogue Invite on Northeast India: Fallen off the Media Map?

Or, why does the media give so little space to this vast region? The Foundation for Media Professionals (FMP), in association with the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML), invites interested individuals to a panel discussion on whether the mainstream media is neglecting the Northeast at the nation’s peril. Date: March 31, 2010 (Wednesday) Time: 10.30 am to 1.00 pm Venue: Auditorium,...

Moscow Subway Explosions: Dozens Killed By Two Female Suicide Bombers

Photos taken around the scene of the Moscow subway attack. Moscow, Mar 30 : Terror returned to the heart of Russia, with two deadly suicide bombings on the Moscow subway at rush hour, including an attack at the station beneath the headquarters of the secret police. At least 38 people were killed and more than 60 wounded in Monday morning's blasts, the first such attacks in Moscow in six years....

Indian Govt, Indian Army Disagree on Changing Harsh Law

Sinlung Says: Not sure what Indian government is thinking. Can the Bureaucrats, Army Officers, Union Ministers work and have sane thinking if their heads were forcefully pinned down with the cold barrel of the INSAS rifle stuck to their heads. If they can, they are not human beings. Everyone (we mean every citizen) in the states where the draconian law is in place has a story to tell. Their uncles...

India's Remote River of Tea

By Roderick Eime CARRY ON: Hindu men pray to the Hindu Sun God during the religious festival Chhat Puja in Guwahati, Assam. The engines pushed and pushed, churning great clouds of silt in the water, but we were stuck. The Brahmaputra River, a wide voluminous waterway, carries enormous amounts of water and silt all the way from Tibet on its journey to the Bay of Bengal, where it joins forces...

Nasim Akhtor Leads The First Ever Team From Northeast India to Climb Mt Everest

By Teresa Rehman It's a bold decision to take at the age of 53. But Nasim Akhtor, the first woman mountaineer from Northeast India, is as strong as the lofty Himalaya. At an age when most retire from sports, she has taken the ultimate vow - to lead the first ever team from Northeast India to climb Mt Everest. There is no tinge of misgiving to her resolve. "I have everybody's love and prayers," she...

The Learning Curve

‘Having thrown away our tribal values, what we are clinging to today are simply remnants of a lost culture’ By Patricia Mukhim Last week in these columns, I looked at the neighboring state of Mizoram in an effort to understand its society better. After all, a state without a people is a vacuum. The article elicited a phenomenal number of responses from the Mizo Diaspora spread across the universe...

Battle Over Cannons of Waterloo

Aizawl, Mar 30 : Battle lines have been drawn between the Mizoram unit of the Indian National Trust for Art and Natural Heritage (INTACH) and the Assam Rifles over possession of two cannons which were used in the battle of Waterloo in 1815, reports PTI. The Mizoram unit of INTACH said that the two pieces of artillery displayed at the Assam Rifles battalion headquarters since 1892 were taken away...

Tripura Constitutes Police Accountability Commission

Agartala, Mar 30 : The Tripura government has constituted a police accountability commission to ensure "impartial and efficient" policing, an official said here Sunday. "The four-member commission, constituted Saturday, would formulate guidelines for efficient, effective, responsive and accountable policing and identify performance indicators," the police official told IANS. Former Tripura advocate...

Meghalaya Plans ‘Seed Money’ For The Weaker Section

Shillong, Mar 29 : The Meghalaya government has planned to arrange ''seed money'' to the weaker sections of society to raise loans and take up income generating schemes. "The government is planning to introduce a scheme to provide seed capital to beneficiaries to raise loans and take up income generating schemes. This will facilitate the enhancement of the flow of credit to marginal farmers, especially...

The Best Paper Fold Pinhole Ever

We've seen our share of pinhole cameras before, including a room sized pinhole and one that uses Polaroids. However, we've never seen a pinhole camera as nice as the one from Francesco Capponi (AKA dippold) before. You can print it on paper (A4!) so all you really need to have is a printer (and if you are reading this via computer, I assume you have one right to your left). You'd need a thick...

Northeast Woman Makes Computer Learning Easy

Indrani Medhi Guwahati, Mar 29 : A young woman from Assam has achieved honors in the challenging realm of computer literacy. What is more she, along with two co-workers, have earned a patent from the US Patent and Trademark Office last year. Indrani Medhi, an associate researcher with Microsoft, has developed text-free user interfaces designed to help illiterate and semi-literate users for whom...

NIDians Find 6 Places For Design School - Mizoram Included

Mizoram is Best in India For Designs Ahmedabad, Mar 29 : If given the opportunity and support to set up design schools on the lines of the National Institute of Design (NID) across the country, students of NID would choose Chandigarh, Surat, Puducherry, Bhopal, Jamshedpur and Mizoram as the right places. In a programme called Design Concepts and Concerns (DCC), which is a part of the one-year...

Mizo Divorce Ordinance No Longer in Force

Aizawl, Mar 29 : Women in Mizoram will have to continue their fight for equal rights over property after separation and divorce as an ordinance introduced in this regard is no longer in force in the state. The Mizo Divorce Ordinance notified in the official gazette on October 6, 2008, is no longer in force as the session of the Assembly held on December 16 did not adopt it and it expired, Law...

Manipur’s Agriculture Fair Shows New Agricultural Techniques, Products

Imphal, Mar 29 : The northeast region of India has long been recognized as a hub of medicinal and aromatic plants where scientific cultivation of the natural abundance can ensure high benefits to farmers. To showcase new agricultural techniques, organic products and equipment, the agriculture fair was held at the premises of the Central Agricultural University (CAU) in Manipur state. The fair showcased...

NEEPCO Plans 3 New Power Projects in Mizoram

The three proposed hydro-electric projects are 635-MW Chhimtuipui project, 815-MW Lungreng project and 76-MW Mat-Sekawi project Aizawl, Mar 29 : The state-owned North Eastern Electric Power Corp (Neepco) has signed an agreement with the Government of Mizoram to commission three hydro-electric power projects having a capacity of 1,526 MW, officials said. "The power corporation would soon carry out...

Awami League Muzzling Opponents Using Farce of ‘War crimes’

The Awami League was responsible for the murder of 30,000 people and the perpetual incarceration of million in more than 70 camps. It is now trying to absolve itself of the war crimes by trying those who were defending their country. Indian rivers are poisoning half the population of Bangladesh. Bangladesh was created in the name of Bengali nationalism. However the Hindu Bengalis who had opposed...

Northeast Must Take Advantage of Economic Growth

Dimapur, Mar 28 : Northeast India should leverage its rich traditional knowledge, English language proficiency and the newly set up communications and IT facilities to take advantage of opportunities arising out of the country’s growing economy. This was the consensus at the fifth University-Industry Council Symposia on economic inclusion of the region organized here by the Confederation of Indian...

Nagaland Not to Part With an Inch of its Land: CM

By Deepak Gupta Kohima, Mar 28 : Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio has said Nagaland would not part with even an inch of the actual land of the Nagas with Assam, adding even the Supreme Court was finding difficulties in giving judgment on Nagaland-Assam border and the case is still pending in the court. Making the concluding remark on the concerns expressed by the ruling and opposition legislators...

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