Assam Home to Highest Non-Human Primate Species in India

Guwahati, May 13 : With the spotting of Eastern Hoolock Gibbon (Hoolock leucondys) in three reserved forests of eastern Assam, the state has earned the distinction of having the highest diversity of non-human primate species in India.

The additional species were spotted during a survey lead by NGO Aaranyak's primatologist Dr Dilip Chetry in three reserved forests of Sadiya sub-division in Tinsukia district.

Before the Hoolock gibbon survey was undertaken, North East India was known to harbour 11 species of non-human primate out of the total 25 species present in India. Out of those, nine species were confirmed to be present in Assam, Jayanta Pathak of Aaranyak informed.

However, the present study had shown that Assam actually has 10 species, making it the state with the highest diversity of non-human primate species, he said.

The extensive Hoolock gibbon survey was carried out in the month of March-May, 2010, in the reserve forests of Sadiya subdivision.

It was jointly carried out by the Zoology department of JN College, Boko, and the Gibbon Conservation Centre, Mariani, under the leadership of Dr Dilip Chetry, primatologist of Aaranyak, in collaboration with Assam Forest Department. The Primate Conservation Inc, USA, supported the programme.

The survey team not only sighted Hoolock gibbons but also subsequently identified the same as the Eastern Hoolock gibbon (Hoolock leuconedys) on the basis of scientific observations and research, Mr Pathak said.

Though the gibbon survey covered six reserve forests of Sadiya Range yet eastern hoolock gibbon was spotted only in three reserve forests - Hallow gaon, Kukuramara and Kundil Kolia.

''Unfortunately, the survey confirmed the harsh reality that the gibbon population had already been wiped out from other three reserve forests namely Deopani Reserve Forest, Sadiya station North Block and Sadiya Station West Block, of Sadiya Range of forests,'' Mr Pathak said.

Supermodel Noemie Lenoire Attempts Suicide

French model Noemie Lenoir reportedly tried to take her own life on Sunday afternoon. The Gap and Victoria's Secret model was found unconscious in a forest in La Celle-Saint-Cloud outside Paris.

According to the Daily Mail, the 30-year-old model is believed to have taken a potentially lethal cocktail of drugs and alcohol and drugs at the home of her on-again, off-again boyfriend, ex-Chelsea football star Claude Makelele. Makelele is also the father to her five-year-old son Kelyan. After Makelele called the police, Lenoir woke up minutes later and canceled the ambulance. Then she left the house and was again found unconscious by a man walking his dog several hours later on a forest trail.

A source close to the model told the Daily Mail "After coming to, Noemie was in a state of great distress and clearly very ill. She had clearly attempted to harm herself and had fallen unconscious. She was rushed to a nearby hospital and treated for the effects of poisoning. It seems that she may have tried to commit suicide as a cry for help. She's now in a far better condition and recovering."

A spokesman for the Paris police confirmed "A young woman age 30 was found unconscious in La Celle-Saint-Cloud on Sunday afternoon....She was rushed to hospital for treatment for the effects of an overdose. She is now recovering well."

Also according to the Daily Mail, Lenoir had been experiencing "extreme angst" over her romantic relationship with Carl Hirschmann who is involved in a blackmail, sex, and extortion scandal in his native Switzerland. Lenoir has reportedly been visiting him often in Zurich, where the millionaire is accused of giving models vodka-based drinks called "Love Potion," then videotaping them in sex acts before allegedly blackmailing them with the videotapes. Hirschmann, who dated Paris Hilton in 2003, is pleading not guilty.

Lenoir's overdose follows recent suicides by models Ruslana Korshunova, Daul Kim, Lina Marulanda, and Ambrose Olson.

 

Model Noemie Lenoir walks the runway during the Louis Vuitton Ready to Wear show as part of the Paris Womenswear Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2011 at Cour Carree du Louvre on March 10, 2010 in Paris, France. (Photo by Francois Durand/Getty Images)

Model Noemie Lenoir attends the amfAR Cinema Against AIDS 2009 Cocktail Party at the Hotel du Cap during the 62nd Annual Cannes Film Festival on May 21, 2009 in Antibes, France. (Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images for amfAR)

French top model Noemie Lenoir displays an outfit during the Victoria's Secret fashion show at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California, 15 November 2007. AFP PHOTO GABRIEL BOUYS (Photo credit should read GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images)

French top model Noemie Lenoir presents a creation for Jean-Paul Gaultier 20 January 2002 during the spring/summer 2002 haute couture collections in Paris. AFP PHOTO JEAN-PIERRE MULLER (Photo credit should read JEAN-PIERRE MULLER/AFP/Getty Images)

MHA Efforts to Resolve Muivah-Manipur Conflict Fail

By Rahul Karmakar

A woman activist from Naga Students Union Delhi (NSUD) holds a Naga flag as she participates in a rally demanding peace and justice, in New Delhi, India.

Imphal, May 12 : The Centre's attempt to resolve the conflict between Okram Ibobi Singh's Manipur government and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) has come a cropper with both sides sticking to their guns.

The latest crisis evolved from NSCN-IM general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah's desire to visit ancestral village Somdal (in Manipur's Ukhrul district) after 40 years.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) sanctioned the visit, but Manipur CM Ibobi Singh stonewalled it saying Muivah was a fugitive as the ceasefire with NSCN-IM (since July 1997) was not applicable in Manipur.

In a bid to resolve the conflict, New Delhi had on Tuesday rushed Home Secretary GK Pillai to Manipur and Nagaland. He held separate meetings with Singh and the NSCN-IM leadership, but failed to break the ice.

Pillai met Ibobi and other senior Manipur officials on Tuesday and discussed the crisis for about three hours. But the Manipur government made it clear that it could not allow Muivah to enter the state unless the Naga militants dropped the demand of creation of "Greater Nagalim".

Greater Nagalim is the NSCN-IM's concept of a unified Naga homeland comprising Naga-inhabited areas of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Myanmar besides Nagaland. Manipur stands to lose four hill districts if Greater Nagalim becomes a reality.

"We have communicated to Pillai that we cannot allow Muivah to enter the State unless the NSCN-IM drops the Greater Nagalim demand," Manipur minister and government spokesman N Biren said.

On Wednesday, Pillai met Muivah and other NSCN-IM leaders at Viswema in Nagaland and discussed the prevailing situation arising out of the conflict. But the insurgents asserted that Muivah would go ahead with his visit to his native village.

"Yes, we had a meeting with Pillai but there was no breakthrough," senior NSCN-IM leader VS Atem said. "The Government of India seems to be unable to take its stand. They will say something here and something else there. We're very much disappointed."

The Centre had earlier advised Muivah to air-dash to his native village but he declined insisting that he will travel by road. Protests from Manipur sealing of the inter-state border forced a change in his itinerary besides claiming three lives in resultant violence in Naga-inhabited areas of Manipur.

Landslide, Blockade Cuts Off Mizoram, Manipur and Tripura

Shillong, May 12 : Road links to the northeastern states of Tripura, Mizoram and parts of Manipur and southern Assam remained cut off from the rest of India for the second day Wednesday following massive landslides at a major highway in Meghalaya.

The National Highway No 44 at Sunapur and Tongseng in Jaintia Hills district in eastern Meghalaya, bordering Assam, has been blocked since Tuesday morning after heavy rains triggered landslides with huge boulders and trees covering the road.

Sunapur and Tongseng, about 150 km from the Meghalaya capital Shillong, is a landslide prone area and is linked with National Highway No 40 connecting Shillong and Guwahati in Assam, the gateway to mainland India.

'Our men are working round the clock to restore the vital link,' Jaintia Hills district Deputy Commissioner Tining Dkhar told IANS.

The General Reserve Engineering Force (GREF) which maintains roads in the region is using heavy machinery to clear the rubble.

Hundreds of passengers vehicles and trucks carrying essentials have been stranded on both ends of the landslide-hit road. Passenger vehicles were also stranded on the national highway, which is the lifeline for landlocked Tripura and Mizoram.

Naga Forum Receives Bodies of Naga Students

By Iboyaima Laithangbam

Mourners gather to pay their respects at the funeral of two Naga students Chakho and Loshuo as it passes through Mao Gate, the town which straddles the border of the north-eastern Indian states of Nagaland and Manipur, some 32kms south of Kohima, following their deaths in clashes between Manipur policemen and protestors during the attempt of National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM) General Secretary TH Muivah to visit his village.

Mao, May 12 : The bodies of two tribal students, Chakho Mao (20) and Loshuo Mao (20), of Mao gate in Manipur — gunned down by security forces on May 6 — were formally received by activists of the Naga Mothers' Association on Tuesday on behalf of the bereaved families.

The families of the victims and other Naga tribal activists had been refusing to claim the bodies, saying that the forces should be first withdrawn from Mao gate and that Thuingaleng Muivah, National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) general secretary, be allowed to visit Manipur.

A spokeswoman said the burial would take place on Wednesday.

Higher-ups had instructed the police station at Mao to be vigilant on the eve of the burial function to ensure that passions do not run high.

The Naga tribals have been on the war path since May 3 demanding that there be no bar on the visit of Mr. Muivah.

However, the government had said that the visit could not be allowed since he had a “hidden agenda” and cited law and order problems.

The Mao police station had registered cases against unknown persons on May 3 in connection with mob violence. Two Indian Reserve Battalion troopers were seriously hurt during the clash. The mob snatched away one AK-47 rifle and two teargas canister firing guns.

Besides, some police vehicles parked near the station were torched.

Curfew relaxed in Mao

Meanwhile, Mao is slowly limping back to normality. The district administration relaxed curfew for 12 hours from 6 a.m. on Tuesday. Some shops and markets were open.

However, in view of the economic blockade called by the tribal students, no private vehicles were seen. Most of the villagers opted to stay at home.

Members of the Consumers' Club, along with the personnel of the City police, have been raiding several shops to ensure that there was no overpricing of consumer items.

Choking a State’s Lifeline

By Samudra Gupta Kashyap

Guwahati, May 12 : One litre petrol for Rs 150; an LPG cylinder for Rs 1,200. This isn’t a newspaper headline, but the ground reality in Manipur, where bandhs and blockades have become the order of the day. Manipur is right now facing at least three blockades and bandhs — all directly affecting the National Highway 39, the lifeline of the landlocked state that shares borders with Nagaland, Assam and Mizoram, apart from an international border with Myanmar.

If the Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) has stopped Manipur-bound trucks from passing through Nagaland for the Manipur government’s refusal to let NSCN(IM) leader Thuingaleng Muivah enter, the All Naga Students’ Association of Manipur and other Naga civil organizations have blocked NH-39 since April 11 opposing holding of district council elections in the hill districts.

As if these blockades were not enough, the United Committee of Manipur has imposed a “total blockade” of transport vehicles from the Imphal Valley to the Naga-dominated hill districts of Manipur.

The NH-39 also witnessed trouble when groups protesting the May 6 firing at Mao Gate felled trees and placed heaps of rocks to further block the highway.

The result: Manipur faces a severe crisis of essential commodities, with prices sky-rocketing. With supply lines snapped, petrol pumps are fast shutting down and hospitals are running out of medicines. For those travelling to other parts of the country, the only way out is to catch a flight. With buses not plying on NH-39 for several weeks now, people go up to Mao Gate by taxi, cross the inter-state check gate, and catch another taxi after hiking for 2 km.

“Manipur has over the years learnt to live with bandhs and blockades. I would put the blame on the Centre. Movement of goods and vehicular traffic across the country is a fundamental right, and it is for the Centre to ensure that this right is not curtailed anywhere,” says Amar Yumnam, a professor at Manipur University in Imphal.

The state government, however, puts the entire blame on the NSCN(IM). “The situation has arisen because Muivah insists on addressing meetings in different hill districts of Manipur, which we cannot allow in the interest of territorial integrity of our state,” says N Biren Singh, spokesperson of the Congress-led SPF government, from Imphal. “Manipur has been held to ransom by these bandhs, especially since the birth of the NSCN,” Singh, also the state Sports Minister, says.

Accusing the NSCN of regularly targeting the NH-39, he says the outfit collects illegal taxes from vehicles on the highway apart from looting them. “We suffer huge losses due to these bandhs.”

“I have been stuck for 15 days now. First nine days we were stuck at Imphal. Next three days at Mao Gate in Manipur. After the Manipur Police escorted us out on Tuesday, we are now stuck on the Nagaland side because of the NSF blockade,” Sushil Kaushal, a truck driver from Kannauj, Uttar Pradesh, says.

Five trucks heading for Manipur were burnt down on Tuesday by miscreants 1 km short of Mao Gate on the Nagaland side. “There must be over 100 trucks still stuck in Imphal,” says Dilip Kumar Sen, a truck driver from West Bengal. Registration numbers of trucks show that they are from all across the country — Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Meghalaya.

The 436-km NH-39 that takes off from NH-37 at Numaligarh near Kaziranga in Assam and passes 115 km through Nagaland and 211 km through Manipur, ends at Moreh on the Indo-Myanmar international border.

Though no latest figures about bandhs, blockades and their impact on Manipur are available, a study conducted by the state government last year said Manipur suffered an accumulated loss of Rs 1,320 crore due to bandhs and blockades between 2004-05 and 2006-07.

While Manipur witnessed 110 bandhs and 234 economic blockades during that period, the year-wise break-up is: 20 days of bandhs and 60 days of economic blockades in 2004-05, which rose to 48 days and 97 days in 2005-06, and 42 days and 77 days in 2006-07.

The state Department of Economics and Statistics has worked out the impact of these bandhs and blockades on the people of Manipur. The per capita income of the state reduced by 6.10 per cent in 2004-05, 11.79 per cent in 2005-06 and 9.93 per cent in 2006-07, the study said.

The state government is looking at opening the NH-53, a circuitous route via Meghalaya and Barak Valley in Assam to improve its supply position. “We have asked the Army to ensure that the NH-53 remains undisturbed,” says Biren Singh.

Junta Mouthpiece Alleges NLD as Narrow-Minded

By Nava Thakuria

While the international community and media continue condemning the military rulers of Burma for its farce electoral laws, the junta has put forward the argument that the National League for Democracy adopted narrow-minded practices. Junta’s mouthpiece The New Light of Myanmar has come out the headline news that ‘if NLD wants to amend the Constitution it should run for the election and should act in accord with the law calling for constitutional amendment ---’.

Quoting the junta officials, the government-run news paper also urged the Aung San Suu Kyi led NLD to adopt a broader view and ‘not a narrow-minded view’ based on personal and organizational prejudice.

Mentionable that NLD did not register with the Burmese junta controlled election commission and thus faces forced dissolution since May first week. The newspaper of May 12 issue, categorically denied that the present military regime named as State Peace and Development Council has adopted any flawed electoral laws.

“However, NLD criticized the laws unjust and refused to register. We have ensured the all inclusiveness of the elections. It is up to the NLD to decide not to take part,” said in the newspaper.

It also added, “There are three main points that NLD is claiming unjust. The first is Article 6 (c) of Political Parties Registration Law which states that political parties shall protect the Constitution of the Union of Myanmar. The NLD said that it cannot accept the provision as it has called for the amendment of the Constitution. Actually, that provision merely calls for maintaining the Constitution, but does not call for a pledge that parties will never amend or try to amend the Constitution or that the Constitution is not amendable or cannot be amended at all.”

It also pointed out that ‘If NLD representatives are elected, they can initiate discussions on constitutional amendments at Hluttaw and go on with amendment procedures in accord with the provisions. However, amendments cannot be made outside the Hluttaw. Neither the NLD nor the government has the right to do so’.

Recently, the US assistant secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell visited Burma and met many high level minister and officials at Nay Pyi Taw. The newspaper claimed that meeting of Campbell with the SPDC Spoke Authoritative Team, Burmese foreign minister, science & technology minister, labor minister and the chairman of Union Election Commission of Burma with others.

Quoting the election commission, the newspaper reported, “The nation is going to hold the multiparty democracy general elections this year. Nowadays, we have issued Political Parties Registration Law, the election laws and rules and also formed the Union Election Commission. ---- The Election Law and rules also guarantee a free, fair, credible and all inclusive elections”, adding, “Up to now 36 parties have submitted applications to the Commission in accord with the laws and rules. Of them, 31 have been permitted to set up. More parties are expected to submit applications. There are also many who will take part as independent candidates.”

Among those parties, some are formed with Kachin, Kayah, Kayin, Chin, Mon, Rakhine, Shan, PaO, Palaung, Wa, Mro (or) Khami, Kayan, Inn, Lahu and Kokang nationals. In this regard, it can be found that political parties from hilly and plain regions of the whole region, including ethnic races, are allowed to participate in 2010 election, the election commission revealed.

It also assured that the polling will be recorded in front of the public, and vote counting will be carried out at the polling station. Ballot counting will be under the supervision of the returning officer or an assigned staff of the polling station and it will be witnessed by the polling station staff, the public and the representatives assigned by the candidates, the election commission claimed.

The junta-owned newspaper also asserted, “The fact is that the Constitution was ratified with overwhelming public support. Therefore, Hluttaw members who are the public representatives will have the right to make amendments at the Hluttaw in accord with the provisions. If NLD wants to amend the Constitution it should run for the election and should act in accord with the law.

Otherwise it is like making impracticable demands. So its decision to stay away from the election will only further complicate the situation. It will only lead to confrontation.”

2 Killed And Several Injured in Assam Storm

Guwahati, May 12 : Two persons were killed and several others injured in a severe storm which lashed several districts in lower Assam, officials said here today.

Prafulla Das was killed while his wife along with their two children were seriously injured in Abhayapuri in Bongaigaon district.

In another incident, Karimudding Sheikh was killed in Kokrajhar district during the storm which lasted for more than half an hour.

Several houses were damaged, trees uprooted and electric power lines snapped.

Power supply was also disrupted in several places.

The affected districts include Kokrajhar, Dhubri, Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Baksa, Chirang, Goalpara and Nalbari.

The district authorities have been directed by the state government to provide immediate relief and rehabilitation to the affected people.