We Do Not Have Anything to Eat, Says Victim of Assam Ethnic Clashes

Guwahati, Jan 24 : Victims of ethnic clashes between Assam and Meghalaya pled for help as they complained of lack of basic necessities in relief camps.

The villagers, since ethnic clashes broke out between the Rabha and Garo tribal communities on the Assam-Meghalaya border, have been forced to live under constant fear of retaliatory attacks.

Several people have been living in makeshift tents without even basic facilities like sufficient supply of food and water.

"We are not getting any facility here. There is lack of drinking water and no facility of toilets. We are not getting sufficient food. Our houses have been burnt. We are living a very hard life. All our cattle are lost. No minister has visited us till now," said Jerina Sangma, a riot victim.
The officials who visited the relief camps were angered to see the condition of the victims.

"Everybody is responsible for this. First of all at the government level, the central government has no sympathy, amity, whatsoever, with regards for the people who are displaced as result of conflict. The government should have had a policy saying that anybody displaced while in camps, this is what they will get and once they leave the camp this is what they will get. So, since the last 65 years the government has failed on that," said Suhas Chakma, Director of Asian Centre for Human Rights.

At least seven people were killed during the clashes between Rabha and Garo tribals on the Assam-Meghalaya border since January 2.

Official sources said while three persons were killed in Goalpara district in Assam, four persons were killed in East Garo Hills district.

Over 20,000 persons, most of them Rabha tribals, have taken shelter in 26 relief camps in Goalpara district, while about 4,000 people have been lodged in camps in East Garo Hills district, sources said

Earlier, Union Minister Agatha Sangma and her father, former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma, called up Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and Home Secretary G K Pillai after which five companies - around 600 personnel - were rushed to the state boundary.

North East Shuttles to Acquire 3 More Aircraft for $ 7.5-mn

Mumbai, Jan 24 : As a part of its efforts to enhance air connectivity in the country's north-east region, non-scheduled operator--North East Shuttles--plans to acquire three more aircraft this year at a cost of $ 7.5-million, a top company official said.

The private operator currently provides air services across Assam, Manipur and Mizoram with three small aircraft.

"We are in talks with some aircraft manufacturers to acquire three new aircraft," North East Shuttles' Managing Director, Capt Shoba K Mani, told PTI on the sidelines of the 6th North East Business Summit organised by the Indian Chambers of Commerce here.

The company is also in discussions with aircraft-makers for funding the acquisition of the three aircraft at a cost of $ 2.5-million each.

These aircraft would be used to commence new routes which are being worked out, Mani said.
Once the aircraft are inducted into the fleet, North East Shuttles will operate 150 more flights per month, the company official said, adding Dimapur, Dibrugarh and Leelabai (an airstrip in Assam and skirting Itanagar) are the new air bases which it was looking to operate flights from.

"We are also in advanced stages of negotiations with the Arunachal Government to opearte air services from there," Mani said.

North East Shuttles currently operates 380 flights a month with two 18-seater Dornier 228 and one nine-seater Cessna Caravan aircraft, connecting Guwahati with Imphal and Aizawl, Silchar with Guwahati, Aizawl and Imphal and Imphal and Silchar.

Besides, the company also provides charter and medical emergency evacuation services as well.

Apple's App Store Hits 10 Billion Downloads

Helsinki: Apple's App Store reached landmark 10 billion downloads on Saturday, further underlining the lead of the iPhone-maker in mobile online software battle, a counter on front page of the store showed.

Apple launched the iPhone store in mid-2008 and it proved to be an instant hit, driving sales of the smartphone and helping reshape the way mobile content is delivered.

The iPhone app store offers more than 300,000 programmes, and there are also more than 40,000 apps available for the iPad.

Its closest rival is privately-held GetJar, which sells software for all platforms, and reached 1 billion downloads in June 2010.

Google's Android Market and Nokia's Ovi Store are among other larger mobile online stores.

Justice Delivery System in Northeast To Get a Boost

Guwahati, Jan 24 : The justice delivery system in Assam and other northeastern States is soon going to get more impetus with the Supreme Court of India's sanction to the video-conferencing facility for the courts in the region.

The SC's nod has come for the first time ever in the country considering the Northeast as a special case that would accelerate the pace of justice delivery.

Also to ensure modernization of the judiciary and smooth judicial process, large-scale computerization of district courts is on the cards. By March 31 this year, all the district courts, apart from the High Court of the region, are likely to be computerized.

Justice MB Lokur, known for his initiatives towards modernizing the lower courts, said this today in the open session of the 12th biennial conference of the All Assam Lawyers' Association (AALA). The three-day event concluded today, with OM Maheswaree, president AALA, presiding over the function.

Speaking as guest of honour, Justice Lokur urged all the stakeholders of the justice delivery system to think positively and contribute towards enhancing the quality of justice.

Emphasizing the need to create good infrastructure for overall improvement of the justice delivery mechanism, Lokur said that the available infrastructure in the district courts of the region needed far greater improvement. To advise on this, and to prepare a blueprint of the revamp, a committee has already been formed.

"We are working out a mechanism to reduce the pendency of cases by bringing down the cases related to petty crimes so that more substantive cases can get priority. In the past six months, the Gauhati High court has succeeded in shedding the high pendency rate to a considerable extent," he mentioned.

RS Mushahary, Governor, Meghalaya, the chief guest of the occasion, also dwelt at length on the ethics and paradoxes related to the legal profession.

"Yours is a profession of paradoxes and self-governance, and thus you have an additional responsibility. Though the legal practice is a quest for truth, there is also a contradiction in the careers of legal practitioners if they go on to defend a convict, who is actually an offender. But also by doing this you are upholding the dignity of justice and giving the convict a chance to get his share of justice," he said.

Mushahary also added that it was unethical on the part of the legal professionals if they unanimously decide not to take a particular case.

Earlier, the welcome speech was given by the president of Lawyers' Association, Guwahati, Pulin Chandra Goswami. A souvenir was also released on the occasion by Sailen Medhi, former working president of the AALA.

Naga Rebel Leader Accepts Indian Passport

New Delhi, Jan 24 : The leader of separatist National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN), Isak Chishi Swu arrived in Delhi from Bangkok, and for the first time on an Indian passport.

He was felicitated by the Naga Peoples' Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR), where he thanked the Indian Government. He is expected to go to Nagaland for an important meeting later.

Earlier he had a Bangladeshi passport.

Sources said the Centre had inked certain restrictions in Swu's Indian passport, to which the outfit was objecting.

Interlocutor for the Naga talks, R.S. Pandey, will hold parleys with the militant leaders. Talks between Naga leaders and Indian are at an advanced stage.

Nagaland Faces Economic Blockade

Jorhat, Jan 24 : In protest against alleged unlawful activities by Naga criminals along the border, the All Assam Gorkha Students' Union on Saturday imposed an indefinite economic blockade on Nagaland in Sivasagar district.

The students' body also vehemently criticized the failures on part of the state government to protect the lives and property of the common people residing in the border areas.

They have demanded the government to deploy additional security along the border areas of the state to protect the people from the criminal attack originated from outside the border. A group of Naga criminals hacked one Beli Rai to death of Namtola Hati camp village at her residence on January 17.

Seven organizations All Assam Gorkha Students' Union, All Assam Students' Union, Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad, Assa, All Assam Tea Tribes Students' Union, Bangali Yuba Chatra Federation and Purbuttar Hindustani Samiti strongly condemned the incident and demanded the district administration to arrest the culprits at the earliest.

They have also issued an ultimatum to the district administration on Friday to take action against the guilty within 24 hours. All Assam Gorkha Students' Union president Krishna Newar said: "At a time when the people of the border areas have been bearing the brunt of frequent attack of the Naga miscreants, the state government has seemed not worried over the matter.

Despite repeated demands the Tarun Gogoi-led government has been neglecting the issue over the years.

As a result, the miscreants have attacked Assamese people at their houses. We strongly condemn this government's indifference and demanded immediate steps in this regard."

He added: "Even four days after the brutal killing of an Assamese woman by the Nagas, the police and the district administration have failed to arrest the culprits.

We criticized this government's failure and warned that our agitation will continue until the arrest of culprits."

"We have also demanded the state government to deploy additional security along the border areas to protect the people from Naga attack," he added.

AASU Protests Decision to Alter School Structure

Guwahati, Jan 24 : The All Assam Students' Union (AASU) on Saturday launched a series of protests against the state education department for its decision to add fifth and eight standards to lower primary and higher primary schools respectively from the 2011 session "without making necessary infrastructure developments in the schools".

According to the new school education norms,the lower primary schools will from now have to add class V and ME Schools will add class VIII to maintain a national standard.

Addressing the media, AASU appreciated the move, but vehemently criticised the state government's decision of implementing it without making the schools (mostly vernaculars) equipped with extra classrooms and teachers for the students.

"Earlier, the state government decided to separate the higher secondary standard (+2) from colleges and attaching them to schools without making any infrastructural upgradation in the schools.

AASU sighted the problem and our protest resulted in a stay order. Now the state is repeating the same mistake with the schoolchildren.

Lapang's Name proposed for gubernatorial post

Shillong, Jan 24 : The Congress in Meghalaya has proposed the name of former chief minister D.D. Lapang, a party stalwart, for a gubernatorial post to avoid a political row in its legislature party, a Congress source said Sunday.

According to sources, Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief Lyngdoh Friday proposed Lapang's name to party supremo Sonia Gandhi to consider a gubernatorial appointment for him.

The proposal is significant in the wake of the growing dissidence against Chief Minister Mukul Sangma among party legislators.

Lapang, who was dethroned April 20, 2010, has been projected by 22 party legislators as the new Congress legislature party leader replacing Mukul Sangma, party sources said.

'The chief minister and some AICC leaders are now trying to convince madam (Sonia Gandhi) to assign Lapang a gubernatorial post so that he does not interfere in state politics. They even made a claim that Lapang was not averse to accepting such a post,' a senior Congress minister in the Sangma cabinet, told IANS on condition of anonymity.

'We will not allow Lapang away from state politics, but would demand from the AICC that he takes over as the new CLP leader,' the minister said.

The party, the rebel Congress legislators say, is very much 'in need of Lapang and people of the state would not allow Sangma continuing to run the government in his present non-transparent manner'.

Lapang or the state Congress committee could not be contacted for comment.

Meanwhile, irked at the statement of AICC general secretary in charge of Meghalaya Luizinho Faleiro that there is no luxury for dissenting in the CLP, Congress legislators have decided to intensify their campaign not only for Sangma's ouster but of Faleiro as well for his 'biased and undemocratic' ways in hearing their pleas.

'There's no question of change and there's no dissidence in the party. Everyone must perform or perish,' Faleiro had told journalists after the CLP meeting Jan 20.

Faleiro described the reports of discontent within the CLP as 'canard'.

However, another party leader said: 'We will present our case to the AICC president that Faleiro should be replaced as we have lost our confidence in him.'