Indian Govt Asks Banks to Plug Northeast Gap

New Delhi, Aug 10 : The government has asked the public sector banks and state governments of the north eastern states to expand banking network in the northeast states. The issue is likely to be brought up in the forthcoming meeting between the chiefs of state owned banks and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on August 14.

At present, there are 89 unbanked blocks, of which 80 are in the north eastern states, 5 are in Jharkhand and 4 in Jammu and Kashmir.

The government is also planning to allow regional rural banks to open branches in these areas to expand the scope of financial inclusion. The State Level Bankers Committees (SLBCs) have also drawn up plans for financial inclusion in each state.

A government source, who did not wish to be identified said that the finance ministry has asked the banks to partner the state governments in the development of these states while chalking out ways to improve connectivity in states like Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura.

Several issues including security concerns, inter-tribal tensions, widespread insurgencies have thrown up tall challenges for the authorities and banks to carry out normal activities in these areas.

These states border with several other countries including China. These have affected development in the area while providing a barrier to the tourism industry.

The finance minister is likely to discuss issues like credit off-take, interest rates and the implementation of base rate with bank chairmen.

Landslides Hit Mamit Town in Mizoram

Aizawl, Aug 10 : Three houses were damaged in landslides in the main market enclave of the Mamit town in western Mizoram last week.

The quiet town on the western flank of Mizoram, about 200km from Aizawl, is inhabited by around 20,000 people.

Mamit district deputy commissioner Zothankhuma today said 10 houses and shops in the town’s market zone were identified as “unsafe” and he had ordered the evacuation of the residents to a safer location.

He said the state government had asked the directorate of geology and mining to device some preventive measures in the wake of landslides and rockslips.

A few scientists from the Mizoram government’s geology and mining departments under the leadership of the senior geologist Lianngura had made an on-the-spot inspection of the affected areas of the town on Friday to find the reason behind such frequent landslines in Mamit town.

There are around 63 buildings and cottages within the market enclave that fall under landslide-prone area.

Assam Leopard Poached, Leg and Tail Chopped Off

Sonari, Assam, Aug 10 :  Leopard poaching seems to be haunting Assam now. In a horrific incident on Sunday night forest officials found a dead leopard at Sonari in Sibsagar district of Assam.

The leopard is believed to have been poached at Abhayapur Reserve Forest area.

Officials claim that the animal was poached however, the poachers couldn't take away the kill. They fled the spot taking away the tail and one of the hind legs of the animal.

In the past, there have been many instances of leopards straying into tea gardens of Upper Assam. Most of the leopards rescued are usually released in the Abhayapur Reserve Forest.

Assam Farmers Rally Against Chemical Fertilizers

Guwahati, Aug 10 : Farmers gathered at a rice field in a north-central Assam village on Sunday to say no to chemical fertilizers toward ensuring food security.

Dakchaki village in Darrang district has been one of the heaviest users of fertilizers in Assam. The farmers' anti-fertilizer demonstration, organized under Greenpeace India's 'Living Soils' campaign, is seen as a step toward checking the trend.

"Agriculture cannot be sustained without a vibrant soil ecosystem. If the soils are dead, all our efforts to produce food will go waste. We as farmers should take steps to save our soils from harmful impacts of chemicals," said farmer Uttam Deka.

"Assam should learn from the soil degradation crisis now being faced by the states that adopted chemical intensive agricultural practices in the 1960s. We should not wait for problems to appear here, and should promote eco-friendly farming practices at the earliest," said Bhairab Deka, secretary of a local rural NGO.

Living Soils, a nationwide campaign launched in this Assam capital on August 3, calls for a change in government policies to save soils from the harmful impact of chemical fertilizers. This campaign assumes significance with New Delhi acknowledging the agrarian crisis due to soil degradation and initiating a reform in its fertilizer subsidy policy.

"Every year, India spends Rs 50,000 crore on chemical fertilizer subsidies, and this is a major driver that catalyzes intensive chemical fertilizer usage.

Intensive chemical fertilizer usage coupled with complete neglect of organic fertilization practices destroys soil ecosystem, which is home to several organisms," said Gopikrishna SR of Greenpeace India.

"The new Nutrient Based Subsidy policy that was brought in by the government to correct this problem continues to support only chemical fertilizers, and hence fails in its own cause," he added.

Manipur Dam Project Takes 29 Years to Complete

By Samudra Gupta Kashyap

Manipur has created yet another record apart from having remained cut off for 68 days. This one, however, is a positive one — a multipurpose dam project, the foundation stone for which was laid by Manmohan Singh, the then Member-Secretary of the Planning Commission way back in 1981, has been finally completed.

About 76 km south of the state capital, the Khuga multipurpose project near here, which Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh describes as one of the state’s “most prestigious” projects, in fact not only took a little less than three decades to complete, its cost has also shot up by more than 2,500 per cent.

“It is a fact that the cost has shot up over the years. But the biggest thing is that it has been completed after it remained almost neglected for so long,” said state Flood Control and Irrigation Minister N Biren, who took special interest to ensure that the project was completed. It was actually in the past three to four years that the project work was actually speeded up.

The project, built on the Khuga river in Churachandpur district, has already started supplying water to about 8,000 hectares, while five million gallons of drinking water is being supplied to the residents of Churachandpur town 10 km away from the site.

“The government is yet to formally declare the project as completed. We are looking for a date from none other than Prime Minister Manmohan Singh because it was he who had laid the foundation stone 28 years ago,” Biren said. Manmohan Singh was Member-Secretary of the Planning Commission from April 1980 to September 1981.

Initially planned at an estimated cost of Rs 15 crore in 1980, the Khuga project has been finally completed at a total expenditure of Rs 381.28 crore. The project which has a catchment area of 321 sq km, has a reservoir with a capacity to hold 86.08 million cubic metres of water.

But what is worrying the authorities is the reducing rainfall in the area. “Though the normal average annual rainfall in its catchment area was 1320 mm when the project was initially drawn up, the average rainfall has gone down in the past two decades,” said an official in the project.

“The government has already launched a massive afforestation programme in the catchment areas so that we can keep the rain there,” Biren said. The 720 tribal families belonging to 16 villages which had submerged in the dam have been already rehabilitated and included in the afforestation project, he claimed.

The state government also has plans to develop the nearby villages for attracting tourists. “The location being so beautiful and the local people being peace-loving and enterprising, we have plans to develop a couple of tourist villages around the dam site,” the minister added.

Manipur Minister Counters Rebels’ Scam Claims

N. Biren Singh

Imphal, Aug 9 : Manipur’s minister for sports and youth affairs N. Biren Singh today said legal action would be taken if allegations of swindling money meant for development of sports infrastructure and organising games against officials of his department, were found true.

Reacting to Kangleipak Communist Party (Military Council)’s allegation that funds had been siphoned off by some officials of the department, Biren Singh said a senior official had been placed under suspension and a departmental inquiry would be ordered to ferret out the truth.

The outfit exploded a hand grenade at the private residence of sports director W. Boby at Loklaobung in Imphal West on Thursday night. No one was, however, injured.

Claiming responsibility for the attack, the outfit had accused the minister and the director of indulging in financial irregularities in the sports department.

“Legal action, including termination of services, would be initiated if there is any truth in the allegations. No guilty official would be spared,” Biren Singh told this correspondent.

He said the superintendent of the sports department, Naorem Open, had been placed under suspension following allegations of misappropriation of funds.

“Action was initiated before the KCP (MC) had made the allegations,” the minister said. The outfit alleged that Open in collusion with district sports officers had swindled Rs 31.5 lakh sanctioned by the Union sports ministry for development of sports infrastructure and organising games in the districts under Panchayat Yuva Krida Aur Khel Abhiyan scheme.

The aim of the scheme is to create a network of basic sports infrastructure throughout the state and provide universal access to sport in the rural areas.

Under this scheme, to harness talent among rural youths financial assistance is given for development of sports infrastructure, acquisition of equipment and organising sports meets.

The outfit alleged that money was swindled without organising any sports meet.

Boby had clarified that the money was spent for organising sports meets in 10 disciplines in the districts and the boys and girls selected had been sent to national meets.

He said all the district youth affairs officers and sports officers had been instructed to submit detailed reports of utilisation of funds provided under the scheme. “Necessary action would be taken after getting the reports from the district officers,” the director said.

He urged everybody to extend help to the department’s efforts to groom talents and improve infrastructure in the state.

The outfit had also demanded a white paper on the use of the Rs 1 crore provided to the sports department by the Union sports ministry for organising the Queen’s Baton Relay in Manipur for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games.

Biren Singh said the agencies and firms engaged for organising the baton relay were yet to be paid. There was no question of misuse of funds, he said.

Meghalaya Asks Pvt Sector to Partner in Education

By Supratim Dey

Ri Bhoi District (meghalaya) Aug 09 : Concerned over the increasing trend of students moving out of the state and region for higher education, Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma called upon the private sector to partner the state government in providing “sustainable” and “affordable” educational opportunities within the state to stop the “brain drain”.

Sangma said education was a thrust area for his government, primarily to discourage the students from moving out of the state and the region in pursuit of higher education by providing better educational alternatives at home.

He said the Meghalaya government had enacted a law which enables private sector to set up self-financing educational institutions for higher studies as well as private universities in the state. He said that many private players are in the process of setting up self-financing educational institutions in the state in near future.

“Many self-financing institutions are willing to associate with our government to provide better higher educational opportunities in the state,” said Sangma. “Let us exercise collectively how to make quality education affordable and sustainable within the state so as to make it accessible to all sections and stop the brain drain,” he added.

Sangma was speaking at an ‘orientation’ programme at Regional Institute of Science and Technology (RIST) at 9th Mile in Ri Bhoi district recently. RIST is a non-governmental educational institution for higher studies to come up in recent years Meghalaya and is promoted by a “charitable educational trust” – Education Research and Development Foundation (ERDF).

The state, said Sangma, plans to partner NGOs and educational organisations to provide career counseling to students right from class 9 regarding career options and opportunities available in the state as well as within the region.

He said the state government had earmarked a fund and had directed the deputy commissioners of respective districts to identify NGOs for career counseling.

Sangma said that he was concerned over the increasing perception problem of people regarding education vis-à-vis the location. “People have a wrong perception on institutions based on location. Perception should be based on quality rather than on location,” said Sangma. 

“The youth of today are different from earlier generations. Youth now want to achieve and excel in life. So, we need to have availability of good educational institutions right from school level,” Sangma added. The Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management Shillong (RGIIM-S), North Eastern Hill University (NEHU), North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (NEIGRIMS), are some of the educational institutions of national repute that are presently located in Shillong.

Dhaka for Inclusion of Border-Hat Deal with Delhi

By Nazmul Ahsan

Dhaka, Aug 9 : Bangladesh has set a couple of conditions for signing of the Border Haat agreement with India.

It wants the border hat trading be exempted from local tax levied by the Indian state government and establishment of bank branches or money changer booths to check smuggling, a top official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said.

The MoFA has asked the Indian government last week to include the provisions concerned in the final draft of the Border Haat agreement, sources said.

"We have asked the Indian government to include clauses like non application of local tax of Meghalaya State on border haat trading and establishment of either bank branches or a moneychanger's booths in the proposed haat to check possible smuggling," a top official in the MoFA said.

"The government will not proceed further for signing the proposed agreement with India until the latter addresses our concerns in the final draft agreement," he added.

The MoFA has contacted the Indian High Commission in Dhaka in this respect following a directive from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), it is learnt.

Commerce ministry officials of the two nations prepared the draft deal in mid May last in Dhaka, agreeing to impose caps on trading and making the bazaars accessible only for the people who live in and around the area.

However, the PMO raised objections to the negotiated draft agreement as it missed the issue of local tax.

According to the negotiated draft of the proposed agreement, trading at the border markets will not be taxed or levied, and will not fall under purview of foreign trade policies and laws of the two countries.

"We now want the draft agreement say the border haat trade is exempted from both central and state taxes to avoid any uneven trading system as Bangladesh has no local tax compared to those of Indian states," a top official in the PMO said.

Presently, the Meghalaya State of Indian government has 6 to 8 per cent local tax imposed on trading that takes place within the state, sources said.

Two bazaars will be set up in the first phase - one in Sunamganj and another in Kurigram along India's Meghalaya frontier. The trading will be held once a week, said the negotiated draft agreement.

Besides, the draft said an individual will not be able to trade goods valued above $50 at the bazaar and the trading should be conducted in currencies of the two nations.

Officials in the MoFA said a meeting is required between central bankers of two countries to clarify the transaction modalities to prevent possible smuggling under the proposed haat as the draft agreement did not say anything about establishing bank or money exchange outlet to deal with the currencies of two countries.

Furthermore, the negotiated draft agreement said a committee comprising government officials and officers of border security forces of the two nations will manage the markets and will sit periodically to review its operation. The committee will be headed by the local administration.
"We have asked the Indian authority to keep provision for bank or money exchange outlet to deal with currencies in the proposed haats, while we have proposed Deputy Commissioner to head the committee," a top foreign ministry official said.

Farm and home made items produced in 10 kilometer radius of border bazaar will be allowed to trade in the bazaar, which will be set up within five kilometers of the frontier, instead of 10 kilometer as agreed earlier.

Dhaka and New Delhi agreed to set up border markets in January, 2009 when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina made her first visit to India.

India has been pressing the government to ink the deal as early as possible. Earlier, it asked the government to start the markets on the first day of the Bengali new-year - on April 14, 2009-- but the attempt fell through after concerns were raised that the proposed deal on the border bazaars did not adequate steps against smuggling.