Aizawl To Become Solar City

Aizawl, Dec 10 : An ambitious programme of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) will make Aizawl a solar city by 2012.

The state capital of Mizoram, with this project, plans to cover upto 10 per cent of its energy demand via renewable sources and also implement other energy efficiency measures with the programme, official sources said here today.

Speaking at a 'stakeholder consultation meeting' here in this regard, Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation Minister Zodintluanga said the state government has taken vrious steps to implement the Central ministry's programme.

The ministry has selected 60 Indian cities to be made 'renewable energy cities' or 'solar cities' under the 11th Five Year Plan, including two model cities, with an objective to support urban local bodies to prepare a road map.

ICLEI, South Asia, wits its vast experience in city planning, is currently preparing master plan for Aizawl, the minister said and pointed out that the company has already taken time longer than expected to complete the master plan and urged them to speed up their work.

ICLEI, South Asia, project officer Ashish Verma, who gave a power-point presentation, said the master plan would hopefully be completed by January next year.

The ministry is providing financial support up to Rs 50 lakh for each solar city to the respective state governments for preparation of a master plan, setting-up institutional arrangements for the implementation of the master plan, awareness generation and capacity building activities.

Further, for two model solar cities, financial support of 50 per cent upto a maximum of Rs 9.50 crore will be available towards the cost of installation of renewable energy systems, sources added.

Sonamura HS Emerges as First Tobacco-Free School of Tripura

Agartala, Dec 10 : Sonamura English Medium HS School, the first educational institution of Tripura, has emerged as a tobacco-free school, Education Minister Tapan Chakraborty said here today.

He said in order to achieve official status, the school authority constituted an 18-member committee following the guidelines of the National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP).

The campushad already become a smoke-free zone with the initiative of the school authorities and the headmaster of the school had made it possible by his sheer commitment and motivation over the years to his fellow colleagues as well as students, Mr Chakraborty stated.
''We are proud to be associated with NTCP and our teaching

fraternity, guardians and students are committed to make the school tobacco-free,'' Assistant Head Master Shri Habul Lodh said and added the school had been following 'No Smoking' rules since 2004.

Meanwhile, NTCP officials here maintained that they were aware of the status of the particular school and they had mooted several plans to make all the schools of the state 'tobacco free'.

Cherrapunjee to be Brand of Northeast Tourism

Sohra (Meghalya), Dec 10 : Cherrapunjee, a hamlet in Meghalaya popular among tourists as the place with the maximum rainfall in the country, will be promoted as a brand to boost tourism in the northeast, according to Chief Minister Mukul Sangma.

'During my tour of Europe last year, we were asked where we were from. When we said we are from Meghalaya in India, people did not recognise the name. But when we mentioned that we are from the state of Cherrapunjee, people instantly recognised the name,' Sangma said Wednesday.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony of the Dec 8-11 Cherrapunjee Indigenous Festival 2010, he said tourism was the best sustainable avenue for economic uplift in the state.

'Selling Cherrapunjee (as a tourist destination) alone will not be enough. We need to integrate the northeast as a composite destination and work with other states,' he said.

He said development of tourism in Meghalaya needed the direct participation of the people, especially the youths.

He said that the state's tourism ministry already has a policy of giving financial assistance to people who wished to develop tourism infrastructure, and more such benefits would be announced through the new policy.

ATSUM Says Manipur Govt Fails to Keep Promises

Imphal, Dec 10 : Failure on the part of the SPF government has disappointed tribals of the state, particularly students, says the All Tribal Students' Union Manipur (ATSUM).

ATSUM today criticized the SPF government that of failing to translate into action promises made.

The general assembly of ATSUM held on December 6 with its federating units like CDSU, TKS, SDSA, ZSUM KSO (GHQ) and at Synod Hall, Churachandpur deliberated the various assurances of the government given from time to time to the tribal people, a statement of the ATSUM said today.

The general assembly deliberated on the many promises of the SPF government failed to translate into action.

The speakers of the assembly in his address decried the "step-motherly" treatment of the tribal people, it said.

The state as well as Central government has failed to protect and enhance the lives of the tribal peoples of the state and it had causing a big disappointment among the students who are the future pillars of the society lamented the All Tribal Students' Union Manipur (ATSUM) in a statement.

In comparison to the other North Eastern States of India, tribals of Manipur are politically, economically, socially and culturally the most discriminated people.

ATSUM condemned the failure of the state govt. to frame and implement the 'Reservation for SC/STs in Manipur' according to the 100 point roster in all the departments (government and semi-government) as enshrined in the Constitution of India.

Further, the Manipur Reservation of Vacancies in Post and Service (for SC and ST) Act, 2007' is still inoperative as rules for the said act have not been framed till date.

The non implementations of the Reservation rules have deprived the ST of various posts and seats but no action has been initiated against any guilty officer or head of Department.

The sudden introduction of the newly created '200 point roster' without any legislative sanction is also not acceptable and will be opposed tooth and nail said ATSUM.

Furthermore, the assembly agreed to make education a free zone in all the tribal areas.
Educational institutions must be exempted at any cost by any tribal bodies undertaking any sort of agitation.

The house also authorized the ATSUM executive to declare that the academic calendar in all the hill districts will be as usual and the govt.

cannot impose the revised academic calendar in the hills under any circumstances.

In this regard, all the Zonal Education Officers are to be immediately instructed to follow the previous academic calendar until further notice.

In line with devolution of powers of the state govt., the house further decided to oppose the cabinet decision of posting a senior MCS officer as Executive Director of DRDA.

Administration and decisions in regard to the hill districts must be decided by at least the Hill Areas Committee (HAC) and not by the cabinet.

The house, entrusted ATSUM to take up appropriate actions in co-ordination with all the federating units.

via Hueiyen News Service

Tourist Inflow to Northeast Rises

New Delhi, Dec 10 : The number of tourists, both domestic and foreign, visiting India's northeast rose between 2005 and 2009, Minister of State of Tourism Sultan Ahmed said Thursday.

In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Ahmed said that in the year 2005, a total of 35,18,670 domestic tourists visited the northeast - a growth of 3.64 percent from the previous year.

In 2006, the region saw 44,57,280 tourists, in 2007 it saw 47,26,220 tourists, and in 2008 - 52,11,740 tourists.

In 2009, the number of domestic tourists was 5,704,250 - registering a growth of 9.45 percent.

As for the foreign tourists, the region received 3,687 tourists in 2005, registering a negative growth of 6.63 percent. However, the numbers rose in the corresponding years.

In 2006, the number of foreign tourists visiting the region was 3,857, in 2007 it was 4,306, in 2008 it was 4,756. In 2009, the number further rose to 4,766.

The northeastern region of the country constitutes the states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim.

Development Eludes Longchiui Village in Assam

Haflong, Dec 10 : Longchiui, a village located only 3 km from Umrangso, the only industrial township of Dima Hasao district, is still lagging behind in development.

The village was established by the people affected by the Kopili Hydro Electric Project as their ancestral village Sikilangso was taken over by the NEEPCO way back in 1976. They were compensated but with meagre amounts and with some long promises of development and other facilities.

The village has 38 houses and a 200-plus population. The villagers are solely dependent on jhum cultivation which provides them with rice for only two months in a year. Earlier, they had vast areas of wetland but after the establishment of the NEEPCO project, all their paddy fields were submerged. The village has an LP school, but no water supply and proper medical services.

Ra Teron, the 75-year old gaonburah of the Longchiui village, who still does jhum cultivation, told this correspondent that the plight of the people of the village was never considered by the authorities concerned for reasons best known to them. “Political leaders visit the village only before the election and make tall promises about development but after the election, they never visit the village. Thus our problems remain unaddressed. We do not even have access to the basic amenities and do not have any employment opportunities worth the name.” he said.

Sarthe Teron, another villager, said, “Though our village is nearest to the Umrangso township, there is no approach road to the village, and being nearest to a cement factory, the people are suffering from diseases due to cement dust. This year, we did not get sufficient paddy as rodents destroyed our crops. There is no one to address our sufferings in the days to come,” he lamented.

CVC Launches VIGEYE

A portal for interface between CVC & citizens harassed by corruption

The Central Vigilance Commission today launched an initiative to encourage active participation of citizens in combating the menace of corruption.

The initiative known as project VIGEYE is a portal which provides user friendly interface between the Central Vigilance Commission and citizens harassed by corruption.

After launching the website Central Vigilance Commissioner P.J.Thomas said that citizens who want to disclose information about corrupt activities can approach the Commission through the website. A toll free number is already in place for participatory role of citizens in combating corruption.


Earlier, addressing the inaugural session of a seminar to deal with corruption,on the international day against corruption, Mr. Thomas said that Commission has drafted as National Anti Corruption Strategy prescribing a participative holistic approach to address corruption from both demand and supply side.

He called for reforms in public procurement system for making it transparent. Mr. Thomas said good ethics are important for a corruption free society and the Commission has recommended to government to incorporate ethics in the educational system.

Replying questions from the media on the sidelines of the functions, Central Vigilance Commissioner when asked whether he intends to resign from the post in the wake of allegations of corruption, he refused to comment. He also added that the matter is sub-judice.

Speaking on the occasion, the Former Central Vigilance Commissioner N. Vital urged the government to give powers to the Commission to sanction prosecution against those officials against whom the Commission has made investigations to prosecute him.

He also said that there should be no discrimination in prosecuting people in government service with respect to their post as it is violation of the constitution.

Go Goa! The Sunburn Festival is Back

Are you a music buff? Block your dates as India's biggest musical event Sunburn is back and promises to keep up your spirits high on the sun-kissed beach of Candolim with electrifying music, renowned DJs and other activities.

The three-day festival was launched in 2007 with an aim to do something "different" in the country.

The popularity of the festival, starting Dec 27, can be gauged from the fact that it is ranked by the CNN as the 9th best in the world. Some of the popular musical festivals all around the globe are "Bonnaroo" in Tennessee, US; "Glastonbury" in Somerset, Britain; and "Roskilde" in Denmark.

"When we started off, all we knew was that it was an interesting idea and nothing of this sort had ever been done here. So we went ahead with the aim of doing something different. Fortunately, we knew that electronic music is going to be the next big thing and today you can see that," Devraj Sanyal, Group CEO of Percept Sports and Entertainment, told IANS over the phone from Mumbai.

"And when you think of an event like this, Goa was the logical choice. People from all over the world come here during New Year and music is one platform where everyone binds together. You won't believe we have around 6,000 people from all parts of Europe participating in the festival," he added.

Earlier, the fest saw heavyweight international DJs like Armin Van Burren, Ferry Corsten, Axwell and BT and this year too a lot of national and international DJs and rock bands are expected to perform live.

"This time we have as many as 60 artistes performing and a lot many activities like volleyball, rock climbing, mechanical bull, dress-up lounge, flea market and a lot may things. As a lot of people believe Sunburn is only about music, no, this is wrong," he said.

"We want people to have an experience here. I want them to enjoy the electrifying music, good company, indulge in activities and listen to some really good music," he added.

Goa's New Year parties are often criticised for being "rave" parties, but Sanyal claims their festival is very clean.

"We can proudly say that ours is a completely clean party zone as we have various CCTV monitors keeping an eye on the visitors and they are frisked well before they enter the venue."

"But in case we caught someone taking drugs at the venue, he is barred from the festival and can never be a part of it again. We are very strict and hence we have got great support from the ministry here as well," he said.

The ticket for the festival is priced at Rs.4,500, excluding taxes.

Source: IANS