Naga Mahila Policemen Leave For CWG in Delhi

Kohima, Sep 13 : The personnel of the 15th Nagaland Armed Police (Mahila Battalion of Indian Reserve Battalion) have left for New Delhi to provide security during the upcoming Commonwealth Games in New Delhi from October 3.

According to official sources here today, altogether six Companies of the 15th Mahila IRB, led by their Deputy Commandant Asenla, left Dimapur by train for New Delhi yesterday.

This will be the first exposure tour for the girls after raising this Mahila Indian Reserve Battalion a few months back.

All the girls are well trained to perform their duties. They will be back only after conclusion of the CWG, sources said.
An Indian security personnel's from the Naga Mahila. 15 Indian Reserve battalion (IRB) patrol during their first field duty after their training in the street of Dimapur, India's north eastern state of Nagaland.

NHRC to Inquire Into Barpeta Police Firing

New Delhi, Sep 13 : Taking a serious view of the police firing in Barpeta town of Assam which left four persons dead and about 50 people injured, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has decided to inquire into the incident.

Acting on a complaint filed by rights activist and lawyer Radhakanta Tripathy, the Commission has asked the director general (investigation) to collect the “relevant reports” relating to the firing within eight weeks.

In the incident on July 7, at least four students were killed and 50 injured in Barpeta town when the police opened fire on protesters who tried to stop updating of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) being carried out in July. Trouble erupted when a group of All Assam Minority Students Union (AAMSU) activists allegedly pelted stones and set ablaze a building in the premises of the deputy commissioner’s office in a bid to stop updating of NRC work in progress there.

Tripathy, in his petition, had accused the state authorities of a “high-handed attitude” towards the members of the minority communities especially students in the state and urged the Commission to intervene to protect their rights. He pleaded that the commission should conduct an investigation into the circumstances in which the police resorted to opening fire at the agitating students.

The NRC is being updated to identify and enlist Indian citizens in the state. In March, the Assam Assembly passed a resolution urging the Centre to update the NRC of 1951 by taking the 1971 electoral rolls as the basis.

7th Manipuri Film Festival 2010 Kicks off in Imphal

Imphal, Sep 13 : The 7th Manipuri Film Festival 2010 commenced here on Saturday, as the Manipur Governor, Gurbachan Jagat inaugurated the gala event.

Also present on the occasion was eminent filmmaker Aribam and Shyam Sharma who wished a wide exposure to the movies from the northeast.

This is the first time where video films have been allowed to take part since earlier all the entries were in celluloid version.

""In the last many years that is upto the sixth Manipur state film festival all the entries were mostly of celluloid films. But after six film festivals we did not have more celluloid films due to financial problems. At the same time you know there was a full gap when the celluloid films could not be produced enough in number. The filmmakers have increased the make of low budget digital films. As you know Manipur is the land of the culture and the filmmakers are very much aware of filming many aspects," said K Sobita Devi, Director of Manipur Film Development Corporation.

Only one celluloid feature film titled 'Yenning Amadi Likla' and 13 video feature films were chosen out of total entry of 77 feature films including the video versions.

Among the selected films are 'Khangdreda Nongdamba', 'Tayai', 'Poukhum', 'Novab', 'Bomb Blast', 'Naoshum', 'Kaboklei', 'Ingao Ngouna', 'Basanta-gi Nonganlamdaida', 'Mami Sami', 'Chumthang Makhong', 'Hayengna Kanna-ga Pagani' and 'Ningthem'.

Another 15 non-feature digital films and one celluloid film have also been recommneded for the five critic and book awards.

A hallmark of this year's event is a photo exhibition on journey of Manipuri cinema.

"I have seen more or less 90 percent of the films, which is so far in digital format. And there are some good films of course. All are good but there are some films which have got upto the mark," said Romi Meitei, a film director.

An open forum on different films related issues including journey of Manipuri cinema from celluloid to video, film prospects, film music in Manipuri cinema, original film script and screenplay, importance of non-feature films and audience was organised during the course of the festival with different film personalities and experts.

The eight-day film festival would continue till September 20

Irom Award Shot in Arm For Anti-AFSPA Campaigners

By Samudra Gupta Kashyap

A prestigious peace award to activist Irom Sharmila and a Gauhati High Court order to Manipur to re-open the Manorama fake encounter case have put new life into the campaign against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in the state.

Sharmila, who will soon complete 10 years of fast-unto-death demanding repeal of AFSPA, has been conferred the Rabindranath Tagore Peace Prize by the Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM). The award carries a cash prize of Rs 51 lakh, a gold medal, a citation and a shawl.

Sharmila, 40, began her hunger strike in December 2000 after 10 villagers were shot dead by security forces. She is currently being treated in a special security ward of the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal under custodial remand.

Last week, the Gauhati High Court ordered Manipur to act on an inquiry report on the rape and killing of Manorama Devi, a woman militant, by Assam Rifles men in July 2004. The killing had sparked massive protests in Manipur.

Assam Rifles had challenged Manipur’s jurisdiction to institute an inquiry against its men, contending that it enjoyed immunity under the AFSPA, but the High Court ruled that the state government could institute an inquiry into such incidents.

The ruling and the award to Sharmila have fired up the activists campaigning for repeal of the draconian law. Manipur Senior Citizens’ Society Sunday asked the Centre to scrap the law as it was “a constant threat to human rights” and “violates the right to life of a citizen”. Several other human rights organisations have also stepped up their campaign against the Act.

Nearly 52 years after the AFSPA came into force in the Northeast, security forces have killed at least 500 persons “on the basis of mere suspicion”, according to Babloo Loitongbam, Executive Director of the Imphal-based Human Rights Alert.

In fact,the National Human Rights Commission had last year asked the Manipur government to make its stand clear on the 111 alleged fake encounters by security forces and police in the state in recent years.

NCW Concerned Over Domestic Violence Against Women in Tripura

Agartala, Sep 12 : National Commission for Women (NCW) member Wansuk Syiem has expressed concern over increasing number of domestic violence incidents against women in Tripura.

Speaking at a seminar on ''Safe Home and Safe Family'', organised by Tripura Women's Commission here yesterday, Ms Syiem said crime against women, including atrocities, was on rise in the country and Tripura was no exception.

Referring to statistics, she said as many as 485 cases of domestic violence against women and 173 dowry-related deaths were registered during 2009-10 in Tripura. The figure was only 506 in 2006, 581 in 2007 and 752 in 2008 in the state, she added.

''At least one case in every three minutes is registered related to crime against women, average 50 dowry related cases registered everyday and a hundred of women are raped in every 29 minutes in country, which shows the pathetic condition of women in the society,'' she pointed out.

Besides Ms Syiem, two other officials of NCW, Social Welfare Minister Bijita Nath and top officials of the state administration, including Chief Secretary S K Panda, also spoke on the occasion.

Groundwater Development in Nagaland Emerging

Kohima, Sept 12 : The Department of Geology & Mining organised an awareness programme on Artificial Recharge to Groundwater through Rainwater Harvesting in Dimapur recently. GC Saha, Regional Director, Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) MOWR, Government of India, NER, Guwahati was the chief guest at the inaugural function.  

E Kikon, Additional Director, department of Geology and Mining, in his keynote address said that the development of groundwater in Nagaland is fast emerging owing to the pressing demand for water in all sectors. He, however, added that the availability of groundwater is restricted to geo-structures in hilly terrains due to low retention and storage capacity. Kikon said while there is a substantial amount of surface water during monsoon, it is never utilised nor infiltrated into the ground as most of the water is drained away as run-off.

He underscored the need to supplement equal amount of groundwater withdrawn from underground reservoirs through artificial means or man made techniques from the surplus rain water and avoid excessive development. He said that the stage of groundwater development in the State is 3 per cent which is negligible as groundwater development in the State is not uniform so as to be contented with the current percentage.

Kikon added that in and around Dimapur, major requirement of water resources is met from groundwater but due to urbanization, the avenue for natural infiltration to groundwater has been reduced which is evident by drying up of ring wells and shallow bore wells in some areas resulting in scarcity of water.

GC Saha in his address said that, though there is scope for further development in Nagaland, urged the department to take into account cases of over-exploitation that have occurred in many areas in the country. He urged the department to avoid over exploitation in a particular area.  He said that in some districts in the country the stage of development is so high that it has resulted in harmful effects. He said that in such areas water level is declining and quality of water is deteriorating.

Saha also underscored the role of the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) which was declared a permanent body of the Government of India in 2000. He said that with the Nagaland government’s recent declaration of the Geology & Mining as the nodal department, the department is headed in the right direction. He said the department must work in close coordination with other related departments for proper implementation of projects and tackle water shortage problems in the state.

He said that in States like Nagaland, the Deputy Commissioner has been declared the Nodal Officer and that state would also need to regulate the ground water extraction with the help of judiciary to safeguard the random extraction by individual. He informed that CGWB Secretariat has now chalked out a strategy to issue notifications- to check over-exploitation of existing wells and for regulation under which declared or notified areas would be demarcated where no organization/ individual can extract water unless permitted by the board. He suggested that the government open an office as a branch of the CGWB in the state to oversee projects and related matters. He also urged the schemes should be community based.

Director Geology and Mining, HK Chishi in his welcome address said that the department is organizing the seminar to impart technical input to the officers from various departments for effective and result oriented implementation of artificial recharge to ground water based on scientific methods.  

Later a technical session was held in which P Kalita, Scientists- D, CGWA, R Kelio, Executive Engineer, Dr S Singh, CGWA Scientist attended as resource persons.

After J&K, Now Northeast India Wants AFSPA To Go

Guwahati, Sep 12 : With the Centre considering withdrawal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) from parts of Jammu & Kashmir, human rights activists in the northeast have intensified their movement against the controversial statute.

In fact, long before AFSPA became a bone of contention in J&K the Imphal valley had witnessed widespread protests against it.

Such was the intensity of Manipuri's resistance against the Act in 2004 that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had to pledge its replacement with a "more humane law'' to address the nation's security concerns and citizens' rights.

This was basically an attempt to douse the fire ignited by the alleged rape and murder of Thangjam Manorama Devi, a villager, by some Assam Rifles personnel.

AFSPA, which was enacted by Parliament in 1958, was initially introduced in Assam and Manipur to contain Naga rebellion. It was later amended and extended to other states.

Manipur Civil Right Activist Awarded Tagore Peace Prize

Imphal, Sep 11 : Civil rights activist, Irom Chanu Sharmila of Manipur was awarded Rabindranath Tagore Peace Prize-2010 by the Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM) today in Imphal.

She has been on a fasting agitation unto death since November 4, 2000 demanding the Government to withdraw Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 from Manipur.

The award consists of 51 lakh rupees in cash, one shawl and one citation. The peace prize was handed over to Sharmila at her special security ward of the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) in Imphal where she is kept under custodial remand.

Handing over the award to Sharmila, Founder Chairperson of IIPM, Dr. M.K. Choudhuri said that, Rabindranath Tagore always stood for peace and against barbaric activities.

He added that his institute will try at its best to inculcate the morale of Sharmila who is fighting against barbaric activities to bring peace in the state.

Receiving the peace prize, Sharmila said that, the money of the award will be donated to the services of containing anti-social elements and helping the welfare activities of the people.