Wushu Believe it!

Sandhyarani, inspite of an injury, attempted to win gold but fell short. Her silver though was India’s only medal of the day

By Dhananjay Roy

China takes great pride in traditional martial arts and the contact sport of wushu happens to be among their favourite forms. That’s why it wasn’t surprising to see the Nansha Gymnasium packed to capacity in the evening session where seven gold medals were up for grabs.

The hosts had four of their participants in the summit clash so there are no prizes for guessing who got the loudest cheers.

And their evening had just got off to a rousing start with E Meidie and Xinjie Li clinching gold medals in the opening two clashes of the sanshou competition. It was then the turn of two competitors whom the fans knew little about to take centre stage.

While Sandhya Rani Devi Wangkhem was attempting to salvage a day that had seen India go medal less, Khadijeh Azadpour was keen to show why she was adjudged the world champion last year in the 65kg category in Toronto.

With this category not being contested in Guangzhou, she had however qualified for the 60kg. Sandhya, meanwhile was faced with a different predicament as the 56kg, in which she has competed in the past was not part of the event.

Things were naturally going to be tough for the Indian, and what complicated matters further was the ankle injury she sustained in the contest against Lao Peoples Democratic Republic’s, Paloy Barckkham in the semi-finals on Tuesday evening.

Azadpour was probably aware of her opponent’s situation and went on to the offensive right from the beginning. Sandhya, simply found it difficult to raise her left foot and lost the contest pretty tamely 2-0. The judges were overwhelmingly in Azadpour’s favour, awarding her five points in each of the two rounds.

Second wushu medal

This was India’s second medal in wushu with Bimoljit Singh settling for the bronze on Tuesday in the men’s 60kg category. But what was remarkable is that the silver helped the country better its performance in this discipline after Singh’s bronze at the Doha Asiad. “I was aiming for the gold medal. All my family members back home in Manipur were praying for me to win the gold, but the injury I suffered ruined my chances,” said Sandhya after the contest.

“It was going to be tough to fight the Iranian as she is the world champion, but if I was fully fit, I could have done much better,” claimed the CRPF constable who is posted in Delhi.

Sandhya Rani has been the national champion for the past 10 years in the 56kg category and she hoped the silver would help people learn about the sport. “Most people in Manipur are getting into football and boxing. But I was fascinated by wushu and I am happy that I took it up,” she insisted.

According to coach Kuldeep Kumar, India were expecting four medals in the discipline but had to settle for two. “We had practiced well before coming here and hoped to win at least four medals. But two of our top competitors met with stiff competition in the quarterfinal stage itself, so we had to settle for two medals,” he said.

What is wushu ? 

The sport of wushu is both an exhibition and a full-contact sport derived from traditional Chinese martial arts. It was created in the People’s Republic of China after 1949, in an attempt to nationalise the practice of traditional Chinese martial arts. Competitive wushu is composed of two disciplines: taolu (forms) and sanda (sparring).

Taolu involve martial art patterns and maneuvers for which competitors are judged and given points according to specific rules. Sanda (sometimes called sanshou or Lei Tai) is a modern fighting method and sport influenced by traditional Chinese boxing, Chinese wrestling methods called Shuai Chiao and other Chinese grappling techniques such as Qin Na.

Mizoram Issues School Dress Code

By Rahul Karmakar

Guwahati, Nov 18 : Mizoram’s School Education Department has issued an order asking educational institutes in the state to enforce from the 2011 academic session a decent dress code. The order followed a recommendation from the department’s Committee on Indecent School Dress and Hairstyle formed earlier this year. A

crusade by the Mizo Zirlai Pawl (students’ union) demanding a ban on ‘seductive uniforms’ in schools had made the government form the panel.

The students’ body had observed that school uniforms were getting “too sexy for comfort”. It had particularly objected to underwear-revealing low-slung trousers and the micro miniskirts besides funky colour-streaked hairstyles.

“The order applicable for primary to higher secondary schools from next year was issued on Tuesday. We have a number of do’s and don’ts for students. A first-time violator of this order will be fined Rs 300. The second violation entails a fine of Rs 500 while a third offence will lead to his or her expulsion from school.

The reason for termination will as per rule have to be mentioned in transfer certificates,” said school education department secretary Esther Lalruatkimi from state capital Aizawl.

The order also outlines punitive action against school authorities failing to ensure dress decency during session.

In a separate order, the school education department prohibited extra tight dresses, very short hair with hair colour, ear-rings, jewellery on any part of the body, use of powder, lipstick, spray perfume, nail polish, eye liner and colour lip gloss for the girls.

The order also prohibited extra loose and very tight pants, use of hair gel, bringing of mobile phones, pen drives, walkman, discman, iPod, etc., by the students. Besides, students have been prohibited from bringing two-wheelers and cars to school and even driving in school uniform.

Possession of cigarette, any gutkha product, tobacco, and non-text books such has glossy magazines and posters have also been prohibited.

Arunachal Languages Facing Extinction

Itanagar, Nov 18 : Arunachal Pradesh – which boasts of 26 major tribes and more than 100 sub-tribes – is on the brink of losing as many as 36 major and small languages unless the government initiates preemptive steps.

Of the 196 languages listed as endangered by UNESCO last year, 36 of them are tribal languages of Arunachal Pradesh. Corroborating the World body’s findings, the Foundation for Endangered Languages and the Central Institute of Indian Languages also pointed that the Northeastern hilly State’s tribal languages, including Koro, Miji, Nah, Bugun, Meyor, Tangam and Puroik, are facing the threat of extinction.

The worrisome news came to the fore at a workshop on ‘Status of unwritten and endangered languages of Arunachal Pradesh’ at Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU) near here on Monday. The three-day workshop was organised by the Arunachal Institute of Tribal Studies (AITS), RGU in collaboration with the Guwahati-based North East Regional Centre of Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA).

State’s Finance & IPR Minister Setong Sena said, “Time has come that we should do something by using the platforms of village panchayats, schools and legislature, and empower ourselves to identify the endangered languages and act accordingly for their preservation.”

The Minister further called upon the academicians, linguists and intelligentsia to make concerted efforts for proper documentation and preservation of all the tribal languages, including those facing the threat of extinction.

“If a language of a community dies, many things, including values of that community will disappear for ever,” he commented and added, “We must preserve our cultural inheritance, including oral languages, at all costs.”

“Only building of good-looking infrastructure and getting white-coloured jobs does not suffice real development….we (the govt) must take the initiative to come up with a legislation to have our own language policy and introduce local languages teaching in primary and even in middle school level,” said the Minister.

Prof J P Tamuli, the key resource person, pointed out that the vulnerability of tribal languages in North East, including Arunachal, were due to homogenisation of languages, unwritten languages and bigger languages having dominating influence on small ones. Another area that remains grim is that when our oral languages do not percolate down to the younger generations. “A language is the mirror of a community and we can’t afford to lose our oral traditions…we must preserve them,” said Prof Tamuli, a linguist from Gauhati University.

Former VC of RGU, Prof A C Bhagawati informed that a 13-member High Powered Committee under the directive of PMO has been formed which is going to take up a novel project – of developing a ‘word museum’ with archival materials from the North East, including Arunachal’s log drum, at the National Museum in Delhi very soon.

Tehelka Gets Journalism Award

New Delhi, Nov 17 : News magazine Tehelka was awarded the International Press Institute (IPI) India award for its report on human rights violations in Manipur, a statement released Wednesday said.

The magazine had in 2009 reported on the brutal execution of a youth by security forces in Manipur, along with photographs.

“It was a gross violation of human rights, as the right to life of a young citizen was extinguished by those who are expected to protect the citizen from such onslaughts,” the statement by the jury said.

The jury noted that “the report had a great public impact as even the chief minister of Manipur… admitted that he had been misled into making a statement to the contrary. A judicial enquiry was ordered by him and six commandos were placed under suspension.”

The jury, headed by former chief justice of India A.S. Anand, included N. Ravi, editor of The Hindu and chairman, IPI-India, and T.N. Ninan, editor, Business Standard, among others.

The award includes a cash prize of Rs.2 lakh, a trophy and a citation, which will be presented in December at a function here.

Malaria Threat Looms Large Over Northeast India

New Delhi, Nov 17 : In what could mean danger signals for malaria stricken North-Eastern region including Assam, a new report has said that opportunities for malaria transmission is likely to linger long enough even as the disease is projected to spread to new areas in the Himalayan region.

In the North-Eastern region, there is a likelihood that the windows of transmission of malaria may increasingly remain open for at least seven-nine months and may even remain open for a larger number of months (10-12 months) in a year, said the report released by Environment and Forest Minister, Jairam Ramesh here today.

Further what should be alarming for the North-east is the possibility of increase in floods and drought in Himalayan region. Moderate to extreme drought condition is projected in 2030s for the Himalayan region. All the regions are likely to experience flooding.

The report provides an assessment of impact of climate change in 2030s on four key sectors of the Indian economy, namely agriculture, water, natural ecosystems and biodiversity and health in four climate sensitive regions of India, including the Himalayan region, North-Eastern region the Western Ghats and the Coastal areas.

The report has been prepared by the Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment (INCCA), a network-based programme that brings together over 120 institutions and over 220 scientists from across the country to undertake scientific assessments of different aspects of climate change.

In the North-east, water yield (which is a function of precipitation, total surface run off, evapo-transpiration and soil properties), is projected to increase in the Himalayan range in 2030s by 5-20 per cent. However, water yields are likely to be variable across the North Eastern region. In some places, it is projected to increase and in some places it is projected to decrease.

In the North-Eastern region, the minimum temperatures are likely to rise by 1o C to 2.5oC and maximum temperatures may rise by 1oC to 3.5oC.

Most of the dense forests of Assam, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh are part of the Himalayan biodiversity hot spot. In the North-Eastern region, only about 8 per cent of the 73 forested grids are projected to undergo change in the 2030s. The region is projected to see an increase of 23 per cent in NPP on an average.

Releasing the report, Ramesh, said there is no country in the world that is as vulnerable, on so many dimensions, to climate change as India is. “This makes it imperative for us to have sound evidence-based assessments on the impact of climate change,” he said.

This is the second major publication of INCCA. The first report, published in May was on India’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions 2007.

The damage due to the hire has been estimated at Rs 50 lakhs.

Cinematography From The East!

By Salome Phelamei

Little is known about the cinematography of Northeast India. Nestled in the Eastern Himalayas, the region is referred to as the Scotland of East. It is also called the land of Blue Mountains, Green Valleys and Red River.

Flourished with rich natural beauty, spectacular wild life, soul pleasing verdure and its colourful people, the expanse simply gives the perfect scenes for sublime camera work.

Despite the fact that the magical beauty of North East has not only been little explored but little acknowledged by the outside world, people here have progressed amazingly in the field of cinema lately through their own unique methods and styles.

The north-eastern region has a distinct culture and traditions from rest of the country. Of late, it has earned a comprehensive recognition from the cinema world with ‘Yarwng’ and ‘Last of the Tattooed Head Hunters'.

The Kokborok film 'Yarwng’ (Roots) from Tripura has bagged the first national award for the state in the category of Best Feature Film at the 56th National Film Awards. The film, which is based on the large-scale displacement of tribal people in Tripura when a hydel-project was set up there in the late 1970s, was also screened in New York, Brisbane, Moscow, Taipei, Stuttgart and Dhaka.

The feature film has also won a Special Jury Mention Award at the third Eye Asian Film festival held in Mumbai in 2008.

However, creating a landmark in the history of movies produced from the Northeast India, 'Last of the Tattooed Head Hunters' was the first film to be premiered at the prestigious 63rd Cannes Film Festival in May this year. Directed by Vikeyeno Zao, the film was screened in the Short Film Corner Section Category of the festival.

'Last of the Tattooed Head Hunters'- a 15-minute film is based on the head hunting Konyak Nagas of northern Nagaland. The film has received loud applauses at screenings due to its uniqueness. Introducing a splendid mores and its people to the world, the film opens door for tourists to visit its beautiful land.

Nevertheless, it’s sad to see that our filmmakers are still yet to discover the mysterious finery of this of Northeast as most of the movies are being shot outside. In a contrast, peoples from this region find Bollywood movies and songs so endearing.

For the love of yesteryears' stars and their roles, even the older folks sit together and chitchat on their favourite heroes and heroines like Amitabh Bachchan, Dev Anand, Sridevi, Hema Malini, Rekha, Dhamendra as these icons clutch a special spot in their hearts.

The craze for Hindi films continues to grow even when most do not understand or speak Hindi in some parts of this land. Contemporary Bollywood actors like Kareena, Katrina, Aishwarya, Priyanka, Priety, Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan are some of the stars that have filled the walls of yuppie youngsters.

Perhaps, with some undergrounds imposing ban on screening of Hindi movies publicly in several parts of Manipur, theatre business have been affected to some extent, but the move does not stop fans from seeing it. Moreover, as a result of this, Korean movies and serials have flooded markets, simultaneously taking a huge leap among the teens.

But, Bollywood still has it takers in Manipur as the DVDs and CDs continue to sneak into homes and parallel markets. Hence, the overflowing of the Korean pictures hasn’t spelt doom for Hindi cinemas. Rather, it has exposed the audiences to some newer sights and sounds.

I would be more than thrilled if our filmmakers lend a thought and start shooting in this dazzling landscape of our country in future. It will not only explore the exquisiteness of this land, but will also cut their budgets sizably as compared to filming on foreign soil. In the past, SRK starrer 'Koyla' and Priety Zinta’s 'Har Pal' were shot in the region. But the prefecture is yet to find favours from Bollywood, despite its prospective.

Some of the scenic spots which provide an unexplainable prospect where film can be shot are the Cherrapunji waterfalls, Imikhang Dare (a sight with electrifying cascades) and Wards Lake in Meghalaya, the Loktak Lake (the largest fresh water lake of northeast India), War Cemetery, Shirui Hill, Keibul Lamjao National Park (the only floating National park in the world) in Manipur and the Dzukou Valley located on the border of Manipur and Nagaland.

Also, the Lunglei hill station, Tamdil Lake (natural lake with virgin forest around), Vantawng Waterfalls in Mizoram, the Kaziranga national Park and the Majuli (largest river island of the world) in Assam, the Bomdila (at a height of 2530 mts provides a panoramic views of the Himalayan landscapes and snow clad ranges) and Tawang Hills in Arunachal Pradesh are a range of green meadows giving ultimate sites for film shooting.

Thus, the rugged and picturesque terrains of the Northeast region have brilliant sights for filmmaking, besides offering you some beautiful eco-tours with trekking and wild life.

Assam Minister Convoy Car Kills Cyclist

Guwahati, Nov 16 : An Assam minister allegedly crept away after a car in his convoy killed a 65-year-old man on the outskirts of a central Assam town on Tuesday morning.

Eyewitnesses said the Ambassador car veterinary minister Khorsing Engti was traveling in, hit Bongshidhar Bora around 10.30 am. The latter, riding a

bicycle, was about to enter the compound of his house on the highway at Morikolong on the outskirts of Nagaon town.

The man was rushed to the Nagaon Civil Hospital where he was declared dead an hour later.

"The car, apparently trying to catch up with the escort vehicle ahead, overtook another vehicle at high speed and hit the cyclist. As the old man was thrown off, the car stopped but only for the minister and his PSO to be whisked away in the escort vehicle," said local resident S. Sharma.

The police, however, refused to register it as a hit-and-run case.

"The minister was traveling in an SUV," Nagaon superintendent of police Nitul Gogoi told HT.

"We arrested the driver named Niran Duara."

Locals had seized the car and the driver.

The police had to negotiate for two hours for their release. The people, most of them women, relented after senior police officials promised legal action.

The minister remained incommunicado while no one picked up the phones at his office and residence.

"Running away after being involved in a fatal accident was not expected from a senior minister. He could at least have offered to take the victim to the hospital," said a member of the victim's family.

Manipur Women Demand Market Access

By Stella Paul

Manipur, India has the world’s only all women market. Unfortunately, the tribal women entrepreneurs of the state do not have access to the market. Achungmei Kamei, a tribal woman and a community reporter, is speaking out for these women.

Achungmei Kamei lives in Imphal – a town in the North East India that has India’s only market which is entirely run and controlled by women. The market began in pre-independence era, during the British rule, as an effort by local hill women to become financially independent. Today, over 3,000 women entrepreneurs earn a livelihood here. Enter the market and you will see women dressed in their traditional attire sitting in rows, selling a variety of goods and commodities that include food products, clothes and furniture

Achungmei, who has to support and earn for 2 siblings and elderly parents, has always has drawn inspiration from women who are economically self-sustained and play leadership role in their families/neighborhood. Naturally, she finds the women entrepreneurs of the all women’s market very inspiring. However, there is one issue that she also feels frustrated about: Women from her own tribal community still do not have access to this market.

What keeps the tribal women out of the women’s market? Some say this is because they are the minority communities who always are discriminated against. Some say this is because the tribal communities settled in the state later and must wait their turn before finding an equal footing in the society. But the most logical reason seems to be this: Most tribal women live in the villages outside the town. So, when allocation of shop spaces begins, non tribal women living within the city limits are quicker to apply and get a booking done.

Currently, the market runs from a bamboo structure. But this week the government has opened 2 new buildings where the women will shift their stalls. Sonia Gandhi, the leader of India’s ruling party, inaugurated these buildings. During her visit Gandhi received several tribal women who pleaded with her to allow them access to the market. These women are organic farmers who have been selling their products to wholesale retailers until now. But Achungmei says that if they are given access to the women’s market, they can earn more through direct marketing. According to her, the market draws thousands of buyers every week and for women of her community it will be an excellent opportunity to boost their earnings, as well as hone their entrepreneurial skills there.

The all women’s market also has a reputation of being a great hub of women empowerment. Achungmei says, “In this market, women not just sell and bargain commodities, but also debate political issues, organize meetings and demonstrations. In 1992, women entrepreneurs here fought a big eviction effort by the government which resulted in a women’s movement. For the entire region, this has been the strongest women’s movement ever. Many women in my community are the sole bread earners in the family. Yet they do not have the freedom to decide for themselves. Being a part of the women’s market entrepreneurs’ group can help them be aware of many issues and be strong.”

Strong logic and high hopes. Will the hope actually translate into a change? Achungmei believes, it will because, certain social changes are inevitable. And when women demand a change, they do not stop until it has actually happened. There is no reason why the women’s market will have a different end.

via groundreport.com