No RBI Approval Needed For Bank Branches in Northeast India

Agartala, Dec 30 : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has relaxed norms for setting up bank branches in northeast India and no prior approval of the apex regulatory body is required in this regard, a senior Tripura minister said Thursday.

The clarification came during a meeting between RBI Governor D. Subbarao and Tripura's Finance Minister Badal Choudhury in Mumbai Wednesday. Worry was expressed over the gradual fall in the credit-to-deposit ratio in the region.

'Any commercial and nationalised banks can set up branches anywhere in northeast India without prior sanction of the RBI. The bank authorities can independently set up their branches in the region,' Choudhury said in a statement.

'The RBI governor expressed discontent after learning that banks in some places in the northeast region have been providing banking services through business facilitators and business correspondents instead of setting up of bank branches,' the minister added.

According to him, the RBI governor has told him that the central bank would take stern actions against the unauthorised non-banking finance companies collecting money from people.

'Governor Subbarao said non-banking finance companies not recognised by the RBI, the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority or the Securities and Exchange Board of India cannot do any monetary business or take deposits,' said the minister's statement.

'The Tripura government has undertaken an inquiry against the 84 non-banking finance companies in Tripura alone. The government has also sought advice from the RBI and the (federal) finance ministry about the state's possible steps,' Choudhury stated.

The RBI chief assured to look into issues such as non-availability of currency chests in most of the bank branches, crisis of small-denomination coins and setting up of pension processing centres with the nationalised banks.

'RBI has decided to open its sub-offices in six northeastern states, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Meghalaya, in a phased manner,' the minister added.

2010 Saw Another Change of Guard in Meghalaya

By Rituraj Borthakur

Shillong, Dec 30 : Synonymous with political instability, Meghalaya saw yet another change of guard in 2010, a year which also saw the vexed inter-state boundary dispute raise its ugly head and stepped-up activities of some rebel groups.

Mukul Sangma took over the reins from D D Lapang to become the youngest chief minister of the state on April 20, coinciding with his 45th birthday.

Four-time chief minister Lapang, who could not complete a full five-year term even once, was forced to quit after a revolt in his party.

Sangma became the head of the 22nd government the state saw in its 38-year statehood which is marked by frequent political turbulence.

The year also witnessed a dispute over the inter-state boundary between Meghalaya and Assam following the shooting down of four people reportedly by Assam Police at the disputed village of Langpih on May 14.

Union Home minister P Chidambaram suggested a meeting between the two chief ministers to sort out the matter.

Chief Minister Mukul Sangma subsequently met his counterpart Tarun Gogoi in Dispur in a bid to solve the issue.

During a meeting in Guwahati in June, a committee headed by chief secretaries of both the states was constituted to resolve the boundary dispute.

In February, a blasphemous image of Jesus Christ in a textbook meant for junior students created a flutter in the state. The publisher, Skyline Publication, later tendered a public apology for hurting people''s religious sentiments and regretted the "gross mistake" and promised to retrieve the erroneous book from all places where it was sent.

Following several media reports, New Delhi stepped in to preserve a neglected bungalow in Shillong where Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore had stayed during one of his visits, even as the Vishwa Bharati stressed on the need to restore all historic houses and sites associated with the poet on his 150th birth anniversary.

The state government has of late started renovation works in the Brookside Bungalow at Rilbong, where the poet had stayed for a month and wrote some of his masterpieces in 1919.
In July, ''Sidli Palace'', where Tagore stayed during his last visit to Shillong was razed down by the new owner.

Faced with sharp reaction, the owner, however, assured to preserve the plaques - which mentions the poet''s visit to the city - at the lawn of the demolished house.

Mizo Girl Beaten in Guwahati For Asking Directions

Visitor attacked for asking directions to guesthouse, BJP suspends functionary

By Barnali Handique

Guwahati, Dec 30 : Three women, one of them the vice-president of the BJP’s city district unit, were arrested today for assaulting a Mizo girl yesterday morning.

The three, Juri Das (the BJP office-bearer who also runs a city-based NGO), Monimala Das and Mini Das, were later released on bail, a senior city police official said.

The 23-year-old girl from Mizoram, who was in the city to attend a wedding, was assaulted when she knocked on the door of one of the accused at Nabagiri under Chandmari police station for directions after apparently losing her way while returning to the private guesthouse where she had put up.

But instead of helping her, the woman, along with two other women who gathered there and an unidentified man, hit the girl, accusing her of being inebriated, sources said.

The women also took away her purse and mobile. Then they called up newspersons and when they arrived, beat up the girl again, the sources added.

Later, the women handed the girl over to the police.

But, after taking stock of the situation, the police refused to arrest her. Instead, they handed her over to the caretaker of the guesthouse and took action against the three accused after the caretaker filed an FIR at Chandmari police station last evening.

The officer-in-charge of Chandmari police station, R. Buragohain, said, “The Mizo girl was attacked when she sought help, asking for directions. We booked the three women under Section 143/325 IPC after the caretaker filed a complaint against them. Investigations are on.”

BJP spokesperson Dilip Saikia today said the party had suspended Juri Das following instructions from its state unit president, Ranjit Dutta.

Earlier in the day, the president of the BJP’s Mahila Morcha, Chikimiki Talukdar, had said, “We came to know about this unfortunate incident only a while ago. Juri Das is not a member of the Mahila Morcha but the BJP district committee. We may hold a meeting tomorrow to discuss the matter.”

Several social activists and organisations condemned the incident.

“The girl was a guest in the city and instead of being hospitable, these women attacked her for no fault of hers. One of the accused claims to be a social worker but how can she work for the cause of women if she herself assaults another woman? Whatever may be the reason, no one has the right to take the law into his or her own hands,” Sumitra Hazarika, a woman activist, said.

Hazarika said the girl had to be hospitalised yesterday but was released today. She was, however, too traumatised to be able to speak to anyone, she added.

Writer and social activist Maini Mahanta said, “Such incidents portray us in a poor light and can harm our relations with our neighbouring states. How can we fight discrimination and assaults on people from the Northeast in other parts of the country when women here behave in such a demeaning manner against girls from neighbouring states?”

“We apologise to Mizo society. The entire Assamese society is not like this. Some misguided people are,” she added.

The chairperson of Assam State Women’s Commission, Mridula Saharia, said, “We have requested the police to provide us details of the case. These women had no right to assault the girl and snatch away her belongings. It is very unfortunate.”

Speaking to The Telegraph, Juri Das admitted her involvement in the incident and alleged that some newspersons had instigated them to beat up the girl.

via The Telegraph

Myanmar Soldiers Train in Mizoram

Aizawl, Dec 30 : A 20-member team of the Myanmar army, led by a colonel, recently underwent training on various facets of counter-insurgency operations at the Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School in Vairangte village in north Mizoram.

The counter-insurgency school is a 42-year-old elite training institute where army and paramilitary personnel are provided rigorous training in various guerrilla warfare techniques. The idea is to create elite combat troops who can fight guerrillas like guerrillas.

The school, under the army’s eastern command, is said to be biggest establishment of its kind in Asia.

School sources said the Myanmar army team made a discreet landing in the defence enclave of Silchar airport on December 4 and were then whisked away in army vehicles to the school, 67km away. The same secrecy was maintained during their departure via Calcutta on December 24.

Sources said the training of the team in the school was cleared late this year after Yangon had broached the subject during talks with Indian government officials in New Delhi. India had also waived customs formalities, to allow landing of their aircraft at Silchar airport.

In a quid pro quo, the Indian authorities are understood to be pressing Myanmar’s military junta to take a tough stand against Northeast militants holed up in that country.

The counter-insurgency school is located on a 600-acre plot, spread over two hills and amid woodlands, in a strategic place in Vairangte, and is under the command of a brigadier.

The school has already hosted troops from the US at least a dozen times before they were deployed in war-ravaged Afghanistan.

It has also trained troops from other countries including the UK, France, Italy, Israel, Lebanon, Mongolia and Sri Lanka.

Mizoram Gets Power From Tripura For Festive Days

Aizawl, Dec 29 : Mizoram was drawing additional 15 MW of power from neighbouring Tripura during the Christmas and New Year festivals, state power and electricity department officials said here on Monday.

The additional was being drawn during the peak hours every day (from 4 PM to 10 PM) from the Tripura State Electricity Board to ensure undisrupted power supply during the festive days.

“Usually we receive around 40 to 45 MW during normal days. Now we are getting around 60 MW,” the officials said.

Mizoram used to surrender some amount of its power share to Tripura during Durga puja festivals with the arrangements that the neighbouring state would reciprocate during Christmas and New Year festivals.

India Journalists Worried about Paid News, Media Monopolies

The Press Council of India's chair commented on paid news and media monopolies. (Credit: Press Council of India, screenshot detail)

At a recent seminar, the Press Council of India called paid news "dangerous for the survival of democracy," Economic Times reported.

The council reportedly investigated the "big newspaper houses" and found that "many" had participated in paid news, press council chairman Justice G.N. Ray is quoted as saying at a journalism seminar.  The seminar, "Save ethics, save media," was organized by the Tripura Journalists Union.

Ray criticized paid news strongly, Economic Times reported. "Media cannot be viewed from the perspective of mere capital or ownership," he is quoted as saying.  Ray also criticized "the system of monopoly rights over media."

According to the Deccan Chronicle, Ray expressed concern because "most of the media houses have turned into industrial houses."

Indian newspaper the Telegraph reported that at the same seminar, Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar didn't specifically address paid news but did compliment India's media for its uncovering of "scams."

Sarkar stated:

"I would not like to comment on this because a long series of scams have been exposed by the media. But at the same time we can not lose sight of the harsh reality that media moguls are operating jointly with the corporate sector, particular political parties, for generating revenue.”

The Press Council of India was established in 1966.  According to its website, "it is a statutory, quasi judicial body which acts as a watchdog of the press."

Telegraph special correspondent and "eminent journalist" Sekhar Datta explained that the seminar "is a very timely response to the sequence of shady events that have cast a shadow over the functioning of the media in the country over the past few years."

His speech, republished here, called for "introspection and self-criticism" by the media.

"Media-quite contrary to popular perception-was never really a paragon of virtue but minor vices of the past have now graduated to the level of major scams and scandals because of the phenomenal increase in opportunities spawned by our three-lane fast highway of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation," Datta stated.

Indian media has recently been in the headlines because of the publication of tapes and transcripts suggesting a close relationship between lobbyist Niira Radia and two top journalists -- including one who is considered India's equivalent of Oprah Winfrey. The tapes suggest that the journalists helped Radia gain access and advice.

See StinkyJournalism's stories on what is being dubbed "Radiagate" here and here.

StinkyJournalism is writing to the Press Council for comment and will update with any response.

via stinkyjournalism.org

Rebel Group in Bangladesh Prevented Christmas Worship

Los Angeles, Dec 29 : One of the two main political parties of the indigenous people in Bangladesh’s southeastern hill tracts prevented Christians from celebrating Christmas, sources said.

The United People’s Democratic Front (UPDF), which has demanded that Christian converts return to Buddhism, threatened tribal Christians of at least seven churches in Khagrachari district, some 300 kilometers (180 miles) southeast of the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka.

A source requesting anonymity told Compass that a local leader of the UPDF, a regional party seeking autonomy, warned Christians not to hold a Christmas gathering.

“Members of the Kalapani Bethlehem Church could not celebrate Christmas this year,” the source said. “UPDF members threatened them, saying ‘You cannot play the harmonium, drums and sing here. You cannot even worship silently.”

Christian elders told the UPDF leader by telephone that they had arranged food for around 100 people, and the UPDF members allowed them only to eat their rice and curry, he said.

“The UPDF leader threatened them, saying, ‘If you worship today, it will land you in unforeseeable consequences,’” the source said.

Another source requesting anonymity told Compass that Christians at Chotopanchari Baptist Church were unable to celebrate Christmas after receiving a threat from UPDF members.

Five tribal people who are members of UPDF on Dec. 19 called a meeting of 50 Buddhists and seven Christians, including the Baptist church pastor.

“They threatened the Christians, telling them not to celebrate Christmas in the village and not to do any other Christian activities,” the source said. “The UPDF members warned the Christians that if they celebrated Christmas, they would be in grave trouble. They warned the pastor not to take care of the congregation and ordered him to go back to his previous religion, Buddhism.”

Party members also threatened Buddhist villagers, playing them off against the Christians, he said.

“If the Christians are allowed to celebrate their festival, you non-Christian villagers will also be in trouble,” the source said.

About a year ago, unknown assailants vandalized the church building, a tin-roofed structure with walls of straw and a clay floor.

“We tried to reconstruct the church, but the villagers kept us from rebuilding it,” the source said.

The pastor and some members of nearby Shuknachari Baptist Church have been living like refugees for several months due to threats from the armed UPDF.

Of 18 Christian families in the village, only seven or eight families have maintained their faith in Christ in the face of the opposition, with the others returning to Buddhism under compulsion.

The Rev. Leor P. Sarkar, general secretary of Bangladesh Baptist Church Fellowship, told Compass that religious rights of the tribal Christians were violated in the hill districts.

“It is unfortunate that the Christians of seven churches in Khagrachari district could not celebrate the Christmas due to the armed threats of the UPDF,” Sarkar said. “Another form of religious extremism [Buddhist] is surfacing.”

Muslims make up nearly 90 percent of Bangladesh’s population, with Christians and Buddhists accounting for less than 1 percent of the 164.4 million people. Hinduism is the second largest religious affiliation at 9.2 percent of the people. Theravada-Hinayana Buddhists are predominantly found among the indigenous (non-Bengali) populations mainly in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

“Bangladesh is a secular country,” Sarkar said. “If they [UPDF members] continue persecution of Christians, how can they uphold their political ideology as a decent political party? The way they are keeping Christians from their religious activities is like that of a terrorist or religious extremist group.”

He said Christian leaders had written to top government officials about how the Christians in the hill tracts are being persecuted for their faith, but to no avail.

The UPDF is one of two main tribal organizations in the hill districts, the other being the United People’s Party of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti, or PCJSS). The PCJSS, formed in 1973, had fought for autonomy in the region for 25 years, leaving nearly 8,500 troops, rebels and civilians killed. After signing a peace accord in 1997 with the Bangladesh government, the PCJSS laid down arms.

But the UPDF, a political party founded in 1998 based in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, has strong and serious reservations against the 1997 Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord. Claiming that the agreement failed to address fundamental demands of the indigenous Jumma people, the UPDF has pledged to fight for their full autonomy.

Last year the PCJSS demanded that the government ban the UPDF for their terrorist activities in the hill districts.

The Chittagong Hill Tracts region comprises three districts: Bandarban, Khagrachuri and Rangamati. The region is surrounded by the Indian states of Tripura on the north and Mizoram on the east, Myanmar on the south and east.

On Christmas Day, Bangladesh President Mohammad Zillur Rahman exchanged greetings with the members of Christian community at a function at Bangabhaban, the presidential palace in Dhaka.

Speaking briefly, he said Bangladesh is a secular country where people of all faiths have been practicing their respective religions peacefully. The statement came on the heels of media reports in Bangladesh about U.S. appreciation of improvements in Bangladesh’s religious freedom record.

The U.S. Department of State’s 2010 International Religious Freedom Report refers to Bangladesh’s success in creating an environment for freely observed religious festivals and reducing violence on religious minorities.

“But the religious matrix in the deep recesses of the hill districts is different,” said Sarkar.

“Their plight is not published in the local or international news media. There is huge difference between the plains and the impassable, hilly areas. If anything happens in the plains, it easily gets noticed in the media, but persecution in the hill districts goes unheard.”

Human rights advocate Rosaline Costa, coordinator of Hotline Human Rights in Bangladesh, told Compass that the UPDF was violating the constitutional rights of the Christians in the hill regions.

“We will investigate the incidents and inform the highest concerned authority, so that Christians in the hill tracts get their religious freedom,” Costa said.

via Compass Direct News

I Will Hang Up My Gloves After The Olympics: Mary Kom

By Rupam Jain

Boxer M C Mary Kom looks back on 2010 and voices her game plan for 2011.
This year saw you creating history, but you also had to settle for bronze at the Asiad...

That's right. I am happy with the bronze but not satisfied with myself.

What went wrong? Did the change of weight (from 46-48 to 51) cause the loss?
No, the change in weight is not to be blamed. I think I played the bout with utmost sincerity which I always do.

And that cost you the gold?
Yes, it did. My opponent was committing fouls and that too very tactfully, something that would escape the referee's eyes. I always try and win on points and that was exactly what I was doing but my opponent was holding me too tight and went on hitting me with her shoulder. So, I tried to do the same but the referee would declare it a foul. I also think since Ren Cancan was a Chinese, she had crowd support. I have taken a lesson from this loss. I am now going to learn how to commit fouls without being caught and go on to win bouts.

What about the sincerity with which you have been playing then?
If I just keep playing on points and eventually lose bouts, then what's the use! If the top names use fouls as a tactic to win, I will have to learn to accept and adopt it. I want to keep winning as long as I am here and I am ready to play up with fouls at the National Games in February next.

You have just got promoted as the Additional Superintendent of Police...
Yes, I am an ASP who does not even know what she is supposed to be doing. I have never been to a police station nor have I worn a uniform. The government has been very sweet and given me the ASP rank. However, having said that, I am happy I can call myself an ASP.

Coming back to boxing, you must be training for the Olympics?
I really want to win gold at the Olympics. It's been my dream. I am training hard and focusing on becoming technically sound to perform well at the London Olympics. Once I have achieved this, I am going to devote my life to bringing up my children and looking after them.

Are you talking about retirement?
Yes, I will hang up my gloves after the Olympics. My kids are three years and four months old now. They have started their playschool from September. But I missed their first day at school as I was in a camp. My husband has been filling up my absence in their lives. I can look upon it as a sacrifice for two more years, but not after that. Soon my children will wear their first school uniforms and I don't want to miss it. Post Olympics, I will devote all my time to my family. I want to see my children grow. Also, I have an academy in Manipur where I train young boys and girls. I want to see some good boxers coming out of my academy and making me proud.