MNF Comes to SSA Teachers' Rescue

Aizawl, Feb 6 : Following the Congress governments alleged move to sack nearly 2,000 teachers under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) mission in Mizoram, the Opposition Mizo National Front (MNF) has urged the government to show mercy to them.

''Whereas any government in a democracy is supposed to generate jobs for the unemployed youths, the Congress governments move to sack nearly 2,000 workers is really unfortunate,'' the MNF lamented in a statement today.

The move has come as a great shock to the teachers who have been depending on their jobs since the last seven to eight years.

''There could be indolent teachers among them. But it is the governments duty to check this. It is illogical to sack all the teachers on the same ground,'' the statement added.

Further, the MNF alleged that the Congress governments move to sack the teachers was clearly a result of its (the state government) inability to meet the states matching share of ten per cent of the Rs 8490.58 lakh during the 2009-2010 fiscal.

''As the state government could not meet its share, the Centre released only Rs 6617.75 lakh of the Rs 8490.58 lakh approved by the project approval board for the year 2009-2010,'' the MNF sources said.

Again, the PAB has approved Rs 8492.24 lakh and a supplementary budget of Rs 3,179 lakh following the implementation of Right to Education (RTE) in the state for the 2010-2011 financial year, the sources said. ''Of its ten per cent matching share, the state government has met only Rs 490.523 lakh,'' the statement further added.

Moreover, this Rs 490.523 lakh is still stuck in the state treasury and it is yet to reach the SSAs account.

With only two months left in the current financial year, the Congress government is unlikely to meet the remaining Rs 556.52 lakh of its matching share, it said.

According to the MNF sources, there are 1,962 teachers and about a hundred staff under the SSA mission and the total amount of their monthly salary is Rs 210.74 lakh.

The SSA teachers and other staffs have not received their salaries since October, the MNF said.

The Congress ministry, soon after it assumed office, sacked more than 1,200 education volunteers on the pretext that their term had expired and there were no funds to retain them. Contrary to this claim, the entire vacant posts were filled up with Congress members, the MNF alleged. Not only this, the Congress government also annulled the appointments of 600 Hindi teachers, appointed during the MNF ministry, it added.

Mizoram Targets 85% Voluntary Blood Donation

Aizawl, Feb 6 : Mizoram is aiming to achieve 85 per cent voluntary blood donation during this year.

According to records of Mizoram State AIDS Control Society, voluntary blood donation accounted for 77.25 per cent during April to December last year.

It was reported during a two-day training for AVBD (Association for Voluntary Blood Donation) office-bearers and blood bank officials here which concluded today that the ten blood banks across the state received 17168 units of blood during the said period last year, 77.25 per cent of which were voluntarily donated by organisations and individuals.

Performances of AVBD and blood banks in different hospitals were reviewed during the two-day training organised by MSACS.

According to officials, Mizoram has witnessed a significant rise in voluntary blood donation during the last two decades.

GK Pillai to Chair First Round of Talks With ULFA

New Delhi, Feb 6 : Home secretary GK Pillai will chair the first round of the much-awaited talks with the ULFA while home minister P Chidambaram may have an introductory meeting with the leadership of the banned group during the February 10 meeting.

Centre's interlocutor PC Haldar said the proposed meeting in Delhi will be a familiarisation exercise for both sides to know each other's view before the formal dialogue process.

"It will be a preparatory kind of meeting. The talks will begin with a meeting with Home Secretary while the Home Minister may drop in to meet the ULFA leaders if he is available," Haldar said.

ULFA 'foreign secretary' Sasadhar Choudhury hinted that the group's core demand of 'sovereignty' will not be discussed as it decided to go for "unconditional talks".

Though the ULFA leaders want Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to be present during the talks as he represents Assam in Parliament, such a possibility is remote due to the paucity of time.

"The ULFA leaders may meet the prime minister but it will be only a courtesy call. The prime minister will not get into the nitty-gritty of the talks," Haldar said.

Peace talks with ULFA are expected to give a major boost to Congress party - which has been ruling Assam for two consecutive terms - before the Assembly elections in April-May.

However, doubts have been raised whether the peace process would be successful as ULFA's elusive military chief Paresh Baruah is opposed to any dialogue with the government if the group's key demand of sovereignty is not discussed.

Baruah is still at large and believed to be in Myanmar where ULFA reportedly operates armed training camps.

Somdev in South Africa Open Final

Johannesburg, Feb 6 : India tennis star Somdev Devvarman storms into SA Open final with 6-2, 6-4 win over Van der Merwe

Rising Indian star Somdev Devvarman was never seriously troubled as he defeated local Izak van der Merwe 6-2, 6-4 on Saturday to reach the South African Open final.

India's Somdev Devvarman returns to South Africa's Izak Van Der Merwe during their South African Open semi-final clash in Johannesburg on Saturday. PIC/AFP

A couple of early first-set service breaks set him up for a showdown with either South African Kevin Anderson or Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, the two surviving seeds from a shock-littered tournament.

It will be the second appearance in an ATP World Tour final for the native of Guwahati after he lost to Croatia's Marin Cilic in straight sets in Chennai two seasons ago.

Devvarman is a bogey man for South Africans, defeating Rik de Voest and Van der Merwe in a 2009 Davis Cup play-off and also seeing off both players this week at the Montecasino entertainment centre north of Johannesburg.

South Africa's nemesis
"I took my chances today while Izak did not serve too well. As for beating South Africans, I'm sorry," said the reigning Commonwealth Games and Asian Games men's singles champion.
"It has been so enjoyable playing in this tournament and I look forward to a great final, possibly against another South African," he added, referring to fourth seed Anderson.

Devvarman, from the Assam region in north-east India, started as favourite to reach the decider as he had won all three previous encounters against Van der Merwe.

And he wasted little time winning the first set, breaking serve in the first and third games as an increasingly cloudy sky made the hot mid-summer conditions more bearable.

Gangling Van der Merwe had a chance to hit straight back in the second game as he sought a first final appearance on the tour, but Devvarman salvaged two break points.

Second blow
Devvarman delivered his second blow in the third game, which lasted more than 10 minutes, clinching it on his fourth break point as he competently handled the booming Van der Merwe serve.

The next five games went with serve to give the 25-year-old Indian the set and quieten a fast-filling centre-court crowd dreaming of a first all-local South African Open final in 18 years.
Van der Merwe and Devvarman each held serve for their first three games of the next set before Devvarman broke again in the seventh when his opponent ended a rally with a tame shot into the net.

That proved decisive as the next three games went with serve and the Indian was through to a final where 76,500 dollars and 250 ATP points are on offer to the champion.

Hot Apps For Your Digicam

Canon EOS 7D

BERLIN: It wasn't too long ago that mobile phones only had postage stamp-sized displays for photos. But, thanks to advancing technology, the images have gotten larger and now, smartphones are armed with programmes that let people do their photo editing on the go.

Indeed, many of today's smart-phones are a credible alternative to compact cameras. After all, the best camera is one that you always have right with you, notes professional photographer Chase Jarvis.

Smart-phones offer hobby photographers options that never existed before. Photos can now be edited with multiple techniques on a single device and then promptly shared via the internet.
The key is the availability of the mobile programmes called apps. There are many of them out there, so customers will surely find one that suits their needs. Many are free. The ones that aren't generally cost between 0.79 and 1.59 euros (1.05 to 2.14 dollars), and even those usually offer slimmed-down free versions.

Here's an overview of what's out there.

Shooting
To take a picture, either use the phone's pre-installed camera, or make use of one of the variety of camera apps out there.

Some apps apply a colour filter while the photograph is being taken, like Hipstamatic (1.59 euros), which can give photos the appearance of being taken with a variety of old-fashioned colour films.

Others can shoot a series of pictures, with up to 24 images per second. Those include programmes like Burst Mode or Shutter Burst (1.59 euros each). Then there are apps that can take pictures on a timer, like a 'real' camera (for example, Self Timer, which ranges from a free version to one for 1.59 euros).

Anyone who wants to take a shot on the sly should try out the SneakyPix app (0.79 euros on the iPhone) or the Mobile Hidden Camera (free for Android phones), which makes the phone take pictures automatically at regular intervals, regardless of whether it's being held or set up on a shelf somewhere.

Editing
Adobe has a free Photoshop app that comes with the most important basics, like cropping or rotating, as well as settings for colour saturation or contrast. It's as simple as swiping your finger from left to right on the smartphone's touch-sensitive screen.

If making these changes manually is too difficult, there's also the option of using any of a variety of apps that provide filters. Those can be used to blend or enhance colours, edit pictures to make them look old, turn black-and-white images coloured, or even give them a fish-eye effect.

Such apps include Best Camera (2.39 euros), Camera Plus Pro (1.59 euros) or CameraBag (1.59 euros) for the iPhone, or Camera 360 (3.08 euro) and Retro Camera (2.31 euros) for Android telephones.

But be careful. Once a free app like Instagram becomes a trend, suddenly everyone's pictures posted online look the same. A paid app like Infinicam (1.59) provides more versatility, letting users take finished photos, while also trying out countless new filters.

Viewing
Sharing a finished photo with friends or relatives takes only a matter of seconds with a smartphone. Facebook allows smartphone photos to be uploaded directly with its app. Other apps offer direct access to Twitter and other social sites, or even have their own display pages.

Photo site Flickr also has its own app. There's also always the option of sending photos by email.

Have fun

A lot of apps are out there just to let people have fun with their pictures. Programmes like Color Splash (0.79 euros for the iPhone) or ColorUp (0.76 euros for Android) let users turn certain objects in a picture coloured while leaving everything else in black and white.
So-called TiltShift programmes let users make their pictures simulate a miniature scene.

Those who just want to have fun can look to Alien Booth (0.79 euros) to make all their subjects look like aliens, while programmes like FaceMan (0.79 euros on the iPhone) or Liquid Face (1.53 euros, Android) let people apply unusual effects to subject's faces.

Other apps focus on panorama pictures, stop-motion animation or time-lapse videos. A miniature tripod is recommended for these.

Inspiration
Ever since the iPhone 4, with its upgraded camera, came out, a network of smartphone photographers has developed online. Their sites are perfect for getting ideas.

On platforms like Flickr, people can search exclusively for mobile pictures. There are also multiple private projects out there. Jarvis displays his iPhone pictures at www.chasejarvis.com, while photographer Matt Bango has his iPhone as Art display at http://iphoneasart.com.

German web designer Martin Wolf also has an iPhone diary at http://daily.visuellegedanken.de.

Wolf has shot several thousand pictures with his iPhone in recent years. He said he had routinely longed for a camera that he could always have with him.

For editing, Wolf relies on apps like Camera Plus or Best Camera.

Population Enumeration in Assam by March 31

Guwahati, Feb 6 : Population enumeration in Assam will be completed by March end, official sources said today.

Director of census operation R K Das said the second phase of census will start from February 9 and end on February 28.

The third and final phase will begin on March 1 and end on March 31 after which the final figures will be declared, he said.

As per projected figures, the state's population will be 3.05 crore this year against 2.67 crore in 2001, registering a 14.7 per cent increase.

Asked whether the census figures would include illegal migrants from Bangladesh, Das said the Directorate was concerned with ascertaining the overall population.

"We ask the foreigner who stays within the enumeration period whether his/her name has been enumerated in any other country and if the answer is no then he or she is enumerated," he said.

A highlight will be the enumeration of the homeless people which will be carried out on the night of February 28, he added.

Top 99 women (2011 Edition)

Via Mint

Mizoram Sets Burn Date For Jhum Fields

Aizawl, Feb 5 : Mizoram has set March 15 as the deadline for burning all abandoned jhum (shifting cultivation) fields so that the farms can be ready for fresh crops before the monsoons arrive in May.

The government has warned that igniting jhum fields after this date would be considered a criminal offence.

The annual practice of setting jhum land ablaze leads to bush fires which destroy forests on the fringe of the farms.

This has led the Mizoram government to sound a fire alarm, especially after repeated appeals from the state fire prevention committee to be cautious while setting the farms on fire.

Forest fires affect 10 of the 14 territorial divisions under the forest department between December and April each year.

A source said during the past three years, at least 17,100 hectares of forests have been swallowed by bushfire.

In early 2009, six farmers were burnt to death when they were engulfed by bush fire in Kolosib and Lunglei districts.

Though 80 per cent of Mizoram’s farmers are engaged in jhum cultivation, the state agriculture and horticulture departments feel this primitive farming practice is undependable.

Jhum or shifting farmers farm on a land for two to three years and then abandon it after choosing a land nearby.

Experts feel the method is unreliable since it produces Mizoram’s staple food — rice — for only four months, forcing the state to depend on subsidised rice from the godowns of the Food Corporation of India for the rest of the year.

There are conflicting opinions on jhum cultivation though. While some experts insist that the ash left after a jhum farm is burnt enrich the land, environmentalists feel it adversely affects soil fertility.