Nagaland SIM Re-verification Reaches Fever Pitch

People thrown at a private telecommunication service provider for re-submission of document for mobile pre-paid users at Dimapur, Nagaland on Tuesday, January 18, 2011.

The Indian Government has directed all mobile pre-paid users to re-submit the document in North East India for Security reason. (Photo/Caisii Mao)

Dimapur, Jan 19 : A massive re-verification campaign of all mobile phone SIM prepaid cards issued in Nagaland is on. The process started in a move, prompted by security reasons and mandated by the Department of Telecom. With almost all public using cell phone services, this has proved to be one big headache.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) had directed all mobile phone companies in the North-East to wrap up the re-verification of the 20 something million mobile users on security grounds by January 19, 2011, failing which they will be out of the mobile loop. It was also reported that the operators had approached the home ministry with their concerns on the new norms, which they call stringent. Sims which is not re-verified is being deactivated.

Meeting the January 19 deadline is proving to be a huge challenge, but what’s worse is that telecom operators in Nagaland failed to issue directives regarding the Sim re-verification on time, and clear directives at that. This has left the subscribers in a scurry. It has been reported that DoT has sent detailed guidelines to telecom operators earlier, but the public is now irked because they felt that announcements were made only recently, leaving them in a rush to fill up the forms.

And the new norms are not helping either. The public is confused with ID requirements, and not to leave out the long queues, because of few operating outlets available. An irate cell phone user mentioned that the requirement to fill the forms hasn’t been properly given. “The telecom companies haven’t issued any sort of directive in the local media. It is only a day or two that a mobile car has been going around town announcing the news,” he stated.

However, a senior executive of a mobile company here has refuted the statements and said that since the past three months, notice has been alerted to subscribers through SMSs, and calls. “People were just ‘reluctant’ to fill the forms and everyone is hurrying at the last minute,” he said. Also the senior executive pointed out that there are many outlets available but people seem to be flocking only to the ones around the main town hence causing traffic jams, and irate queues. The senior executive also divulged that telecom operators are trying to ‘buy time’ and talks are on to extend the deadline.  

At the moment of filing this report, subscribers of some telecom companies reported that they received text which informed them to submit documents even after the stipulated deadline, i.e January 19.

Meanwhile, the State Capital Kohima has also witnessed long queues of pre-paid mobile customers at the various mobile branches following the guidelines issued by the DoT to complete re-verification of their connection before January 19. Pre-paid mobile users in Kohima were seen rushing to the mobile branches here with the required documents.  Mobile users have been asked to submit documents like; 4 recent passport photos, address proof and identity proof to the nearest franchise shop/office for re-verification.

(With inputs from Our Correspondent in Kohima)

via Morung Express

Zeliangrong Nagas Observe Harvest Fest With Enthusiasm

Imphal, Jan 19 : In a strife-torn Manipur, festivity reigns supreme. The Zeliangrong (Naga) community on Tuesday began their biggest post-harvest festival, Gaan-Ngai with great verve and vigour. An acronym of the Zemei, Liangmei and Rongmei tribes, the Zeliangrongs will continue to celebrate the occasion for five days in a row.

The festival began with offering wine to Tingkao Ragwan, the community's deity, by the elderly of the tribe, lighting a fire and staging cultural performances. Sports activities, grand feastings, musical shows and lots of different programmes and ritual practices will follow in the rest of the days.

The state-level celebration was held at the historic palace compound in the heart of Imphal with MP Thangso Baite attending as the chief guest.

Though the Zelaingrong people are predominantly settle in the remote Tamenglong district, they also stay in large numbers in various parts of the four valley-districts of Imphal East, Imphal West, Bishnupur and Thoubal. "I have invited many friends and relatives belonging to other communities like Meitei, Kuki to the Gaan Ngai feast at my residence," said S Kamei, a Zeliangrong tribe member staying in Imphal. In his Gaan Ngai greetings, governor Gurbachan Jagat said the ceremony, which literally means the festival of inter-season, is a time for paying homage to the souls the departed the year before.

"The festival marks the end of a year and heralds a new one and it is also an occasion of worship, joy and merriment. The people living in Manipur belong to various ethnic groups and they have been living together in harmony from time immemorial. The festival provides them with an opportunity to come together and work for peace and harmony in the society," he added.

Resumption of Repatriation of Bru Refugees Put Off in Mizoram

Aizawl, Jan 19 : Resumption of repatriation of Bru refugees from six relief camps in neighboring North Tripura district, scheduled to begin from today, was put off due to problems faced by the officials of the Mizoram-Tripura border Mamit district administration, V.L. Rema, Sub-Divisional Officer (Sadar) today said.

Rema told PTI over phone from Mamit that though identification of the refugees, whether they were bona-fide residents of Mizoram, have been completed, the officials were unable to begin the repatriation from today.

At least 221 Bru families have returned during the past few days on their own and we have to conduct identification in the villages where they resettled and we also have to arrange for their free rations and disbursement of their rehabilitation and resettlement, he said.

He added that unless the refugees, who had returned on their own will, were properly taken care of, it would be extremely difficult to commence the repatriation.

Around 101 Bru families have been repatriated in the arrangements made by the state government during the first and second phase of the repatriation which began from November three last.

The repatriation process was stalled during the end of last year after anti-repatriation elements among the refugees obstructed those willing to return and also the officials sent to identify the refugees.

Mizo Girl To Receive National Bravery Awards

Nine girls, 14 boys to be honoured for exceptional valour this Republic Day

Kalpana Sonowal and Rekhamoni Sonowal, who saved their sister Archana from drowning

It was a calm afternoon on September 7, 2009, when Ipi Basar (16) suddenly heard piercing cries outside the window of her room. Fire had engulfed the village of Nyigam in Arunachal Pradesh and Ipi panicked as she saw the thick smoke rising from burning houses. She then remembered her paralysed aunt and her seven-year-old niece, who were next door and trapped in the fire. Without giving a thought to her own life, the teenager from West Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh jumped into the fire, lifted her niece in her arms and pulled her aunt to safety.

Returning from his coaching class one day, Moonis Khan from Madhya Pradesh saw an old man sitting on the railway tracks "trying to commit suicide". A crowd had gathered on both sides of the track. Moonis, who was 15 at the time, tried to stop the approaching train by signalling to the driver at which the train slowed down, but did not stop. Moonis, meanwhile, told the man to lie flat on the tracks. "Though the driver applied the brakes, the engine and two coaches went over the man before the train came to a halt," remembers Moonis. The man was then pulled to safety.

Ipi and Moonis are among the 23 children who will take home the National Bravery Award this Republic Day, nine of whom are girls and 14 boys. Eight of the children are from the Northeast states.

"I cannot watch anyone dying," says Moonis. "I was scared myself, but I had to save him. The man was trying to commit suicide as he was very poor." He later thanked me, says Moonis, now a Class XII student.

At 10, the youngest awardee is Freedy Nongsiej from Meghalaya. While strolling on a river bank, he had heard someone screaming for help. "He jumped into the river and pulled the boy out of water," says his caretaker from Meghalaya. Freedy smiles -- he cannot speak Hindi or English.

On March 11 last year, 10-year-old Lovelystar K Sohphoh, also from Meghalaya, rescued a 12-year-old girl from a fire. A couple had left their two children home in the West Khasi Hills district of the state. Their daughter had started a fire to cook, which soon went out of control and engulfed the kitchen and the nearby house. Lovelystar heard the children's cries and rushed to help. The unconcious younger child was rushed to the hospital but died. The girl was saved.

The other children have similar stories of valour to recount. Behind the honour, all of them have simple dreams like others their age. "I don't feel any special, but I feel happy," says Anoop M from Kerela. "I want to become a soldier," says Vishnudas, another awardee from Kerela.

The National Bravery Awards scheme was begun by the Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW) in 1957. The awardees will be given financial assistance until they complete their schooling. They will also receive a medal, certificate and a cash reward. Since its inception, the ICCW has awarded 800 children.

Next: List of National Bravery Awards recipients

Bravery Award 2010 recipients:
* Kalpana Sonowal and Rekhamoni Sonowal (Assam)
* Rahul Kurrey and Parvati Amlesh (Chhattisgarh)
* Anoop M and Raj Narayanan (Kerala)
* Rohit Maruti Mulik (Maharashtra)
* Mohammad Nurul Huda (Manipur)
* Freedy Nongsiej and Lovelystar K Sohphoh (Meghalaya)
* Lalmawizuali (Mizoram)
* Gurjeevan Singh (Punjab)
* Late Chhampa Kanwar and Shrawan Kumar (Rajasthan)
* Bibek Sharma (Sikkim)
* Uttam Kumar (Uttar Pradesh)
* Late Shruti Lodhi (Uttarakhand)
* Sunita Murmu (West Bengal)

Posthumous awardees
Chhampa Kanwarwas just 6 when she lost her life trying to save her sister's life. Her father, Khet Singh from Rajasthan, says, "The incident occurred on November 2, 2009. We were away from home and Chhhampa was playing with her siblings when the hut caught fire. All of them ran out of the house but Poonam (7) was left behind."Seeing her sister trapped in the fire, Chhampa too went back in to save her. She too, however, got trapped. "Both died," says Singh and falls silent.

Shruti Lodhi'smother, Sunita, says, "I miss her today. I will miss her every day of my life. On April 18 last year, was running for a marathon, in which more than 2,000 children were participating. On the route, a tree began to fall, but before getting trapped under it, she screamed to warn the other children. She also pushed others away to save their lives." Several children were injured and were taken to the hospital, where Shruti succumbed to her injuries. Shruti was thirteen years old.

Source: Indian Express

India Inc's Open Letter to Govt on Corruption

Noted personalities ask govt to tackle corruption urgently

New Delhi: A group of prominent personalities, including industrialists Azim Premji, Keshub Mahindra and Deepak Parekh, have expressed concern over a series of scams leading to 'governance deficit'.

They asked the government to deal with burning issues like corruption urgently.

In an 'open letter' addressed to the leaders, they said: "We are alarmed at the widespread governance deficit almost in every sphere of national activity covering government, business and institutions. Widespread discretionary decision-making have been routinely subjected to extraneous influences.

Asking politicians to rise above party politics, the letter said "time is overdue for India's elected representatives to distinguish between dissent and disruption while the era of coalitions, tolerance of compromise still remains a challenge."

"Elected legislators and leaders must acknowledged and demonstrate their collective role and responsibility in restoring the sense of purpose and confidence in national institutions."

"The topmost responsibility of those at the helm of the nation's affairs must be to urgently restore the self-confidence and self-belief of Indians in themselves and in the State as well as in Indian business and public institutions which touch the lives of every Indian."

The signatories to the letter also include Jamshyd Godrej, Justice Sam Variava, Prof M Narasimham, Yezdi Malegam, Anu Aga, Dr A Vaidyanathan, Bimal Jalan, N Vaghul, Nachiket Mor, Justice B N Srikrishna and Dr Ashok Ganguly.

The letter comes against the backdrop of 2G, CWG and Adarsh scams, and also leakage of tapes involving corporate lobbyist Niira Radia's conversations with various personalities, including industrialist Ratan Tata, politicians and journalists.

Deepak Parekh had earlier echoed Tata in voicing concern over the leakage of the tapes stating such incidents were only generating negativity, which threatened to derail India's growth story.

"In the last few months, the country has witnessed eruption of a number of egregious events. There are, at present, several loud and outraged voices, in the public domain, clamouring on these issues which have deeply hurt the nation," the letter said.

Source: Indian Express

Mobile Phone Worries For Northeast

Guwahati, Jan 18 : Mobile telephony is the virtual lifeline for India's Northeast India which otherwise has impossible logistics.

But from Wednesday cellphone subscribers may end up losing their connections.

That's because almost eighty per cent of the subscribers are on prepaid connection.

Their connection will expire on Wednesday if they fail to re-verify the details as per revised guidelines by the Department of Telecommunication (DoT).

These guidelines were framed for Jammu and Kashmir in January 2010 and are not relevant in the Northeast India.

Say for example one of the documents that is acceptable is Election Commission Card issued post 2008. Assam doesn't have a single voter ID card.

"They are doing the re-verification process over and over again and we are not sure that even after submitting all documents, whether, we can still continue with the connection. Not sure whether the documents are valid," said a worried mobile owner.

Most subscribers in the North East use Gram Panchayat certificate or Caste and  Domicile Certificate but these are now unacceptable.

If 1. 5 crore subscribers are to lose the cellphone connection by Wednesday, just because they cannot fulfill the revised guidelines by DoT, guidelines that are difficult to fulfill by people from North East, the region may fall off the cellphone network map.

8,000 Garos And 44 Rabha Families Return

Tura, Jan 18 : Eight relief camps in East Garo Hills district that were set up to accommodate fleeing villagers from Assam and Meghalaya border areas have been closed down following its inmates deciding to leave for their respective homes.

Meanwhile, the Meghalaya Government has initiated a move to take to task BJP MP from Guwahati, Smt Bijoya Chakraborty, who allegedly gave an inflammatory speech during her visit to the strife- torn area that led to a sudden mass exodus of displaced Rabhas from camps towards Assam.

A FIR has been filed by Mendipather police against the BJP MP for stoking the flames of hatred during her visit on January 5 to Mendipather College relief camp for the displaced Rabha population of Mendipather-Resubelpara area.

Until Sunday, as many as 9,000 Garos of Assam living in relief camps inside East Garo Hills have returned to their villages and at the same time 44 Rabha families who fled from this State into Assam during the ethnic riots have also crossed over.

Ten other relief camps continue to function but most of its inmates have begun moving out.

The Deputy Commissioner of East Garo Hills district, Pravin Bakshi, informed that forty-four families of Rabhas who fled into Kukurkata area of Assam to escape several hundred attackers who torched their homes during the riots have since returned to the State.

The East Garo Hills district administration has relaxed curfew hours in the troubled region for 12 hours for the third day in a row on Sunday. However, curfew will remain in force during night time as a precautionary measure.

Meanwhile, the main highway connecting Garo Hills with Assam through Paikan has been opened for traffic for the first time on Saturday. Vehicles plied normally during the daytime but night travel has been advised against.

Authorities in both the States are facing a gigantic task in reconstructing peoples’ lives and homes as the scale of the destruction in the week of riots has taken everyone aback with large scale destruction to houses, standing crops and even livestock.

Rabhas and Garos on both sides of the border have suffered extensively and many who returned to their villages on Saturday were moved to tears on seeing entire homes and villages totally destroyed.

“Their homes no longer stood, their vegetable gardens destroyed and their cattle taken away. Even the barnyard which store rice for the whole year had been burnt by arsonists,” revealed a security officer who was part of a team that had escorted a group of villagers back to their dwelling place from a relief camp.

In East Garo Hills district large scale damage took place in homes belonging to Rabhas who form a minority in the State. In Assam, it was the other way round with Garos leaving behind their homes in a mass exodus towards the safety of Meghalaya.

Government sources from Garo Hills revealed that over 500 houses were set ablaze during the first three days of the ethnic strife. “Today we are looking at nothing less than 2,000 destroyed homes in the Meghalaya side of the border,” said the officer who is assessing the damages in East Garo Hills district.

In the Assam side, the scale of the arson attacks were limited, as per official sources. Authorities in Assam have stated that 408 houses belonging to both the Garos and the Rabhas were destroyed in the conflict.

A total of 34,266 displaced persons had taken shelter in 38 relief camps set up on the Assam side in Goalpara district. So far, 2281 inmates in that State have returned home.

Kukis Knock on Prez, PM Doors For Justice

Imphal, Jan 17 : Kuki civil bodies of Manipur have asked the Centre to task to the NSCN(IM) rebels who massacred hundreds of people of the community in ethnic clashes during the early Nineties.

In a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday, the All Kuki Inpis and the Kuki Movement for Human Rights reiterated that the NSCN(IM) militants killed over 900 Kukis and destroyed about 360 villages displacing more than 1,00,000 Kukis.

The Kuki civil bodies said several memorandums have been sent to the successive Prime Ministers of the country seeking justice for the Kuki victims but the appeals have fallen on deaf ears.

The Centre has never done enough to stop killing of innocent people, destruction of villages and displacement of civilians, the memorandum said.

Copies of it has also been sent to President Pratibha Devisingh Patil, UN secretary general , UN high commissioner (Human Rights), Union home minister and NHRC chairman among others.

"Instead of helping people settle down after the damages caused by NSCN (IM) rebels, the government keeps on holding talks with the militant outfit. The organization was declared a terrorist group by the Centre in a book Does Violence get a Mandate," it added.

The memorandum also accused the Centre of "complete" ignorance to the plight of the Kuki victims. Moreover, it accused the government of not responding to any of the memorandums submitted by mail and denying personal interviews.

"We seek our inalienable birth rights, and the demand must be settled first. If not done, it is logical to let the blame of the injustice and chaos fall on the government. We will be grateful to the government if it ensures justice for the Kuki victims," the memorandum said.