Poppy Crops Destroyed in Manipur

Imphal, Feb 19 : In a recent series of operations beginning January 12, a joint team of government forces, enforcement agencies and All Manipur Anti-Drug Association (Amada) destroyed 254 acres of illegal poppy cultivation in the strife-torn state. The total value of the damaged narcotic plants in the illicit market is over Rs 16 crore, officials sources said.

Crude narcotic products made from parts of these plants that grow on inaccessible and difficult terrain reach the notorious Golden Triangle through the porous Indo-Myanmarese border, drug analysts said. Druglords buy the products from cultivators in order to manufacture heroin, members of the team said, adding that 1 kg local of raw fluids extracted from poppy seeds fetches poppy cultivators Rs 30,000.

During the two-day drive ending Thursday, the combined team of Narcotics Control Bureau's (NCB) regional Imphal unit; customs division Imphal; NAB; state police; Amada, a prominent anti-drug body of the state; and 43 Assam Rifles destroyed the illicit poppy crop covering around 100 acres at Saijang village near Saikul in Senapati district and Kopak Nepali Basti in Imphal East.

The approximate value of the destroyed plants in the illicit market would be around Rs 6.6 crore, said a statement released by the superintendent of the NCB regional unit, Imphal, on Friday, adding that the drive was carried out systematically under the provision of the NDPS Act 1985 and that "nobody's sentiments were hurt".

Elaborating on the operation, the statement said the first drive of poppy plants this year was carried out at Thinghangzang, New Saikot and Solpizang villages in the remote Churachandpur district by NCB and Amada along with other enforcement agencies on January 12 and 13. Covering around 41 acres of crop, the drive destroyed poppy worth Rs 4.26 crore in the illegal market.

Later, on January 29 and 30, the same team demolished poppy cultivations on Kangchup hills in Senapati district, the statement said.

Between February 4 and 8, a third drive was launched at Saidang hill range of Churachandpur during which the team, comprising NCB,

Amada and 1/11 Gorkha Rifles, damaged plants grown on 68 acres of land. Expressing his regret for the farmers affected by the destruction operation, the regional director of the unit said he wanted to provide alternative crops to the cultivators and land-owners to replace illegal poppy cultivation next season, the statement added.

HIV+ Woman Infects 300 Men

Driven By Desire For Revenge

By Priyanka Vora, Sayed Roshan and Alifiya Khan

Mumbai, Feb 18 : Woman infected by her former husband has told her doctor that she is driven by a desire for revenge; doctor says she may also be suffering from Nymphomania.

A thirst for avenging her fate coupled with an abnormally high desire for sex has led a 28-year-old HIV-positive woman to put more than 300 men at risk of contracting the virus in the last two years by having unprotected sex with them.

Shraddha (name changed) got infected by her "promiscuous husband in 2005 through no fault of her own" and has told her doctor that infecting other people is her way of taking revenge.

The list of her partners includes her employers, relatives, friends, liftmen, taxi drivers and even students.

Dr Ishwar Gilada, MD, UNISON Medicare & Research Centre, who has been treating HIV-positive and AIDS-affected patients, says he has found himself caught between the devil and the deep sea.

On the one hand, patient confidentiality is holding him back from revealing the woman's identity and on the other, he is concerned about the men she has and will infect through sexual intercourse.

"She can be described as a Compulsive Obsessive HIV Transmitter. However, the possibility of her having nymphomania (a manic psychological disorder characterised by a hyperactive sex desire and an obsession with sex) cannot be ruled out. This HIV patient has slept with over 300 men in the past two years to take revenge from her husband," said Dr Gilada.

Talking about his dilemma, he said, "The law of the land states that an HIV-positive person should not be identified and also, as a doctor, I am duty-bound to keep her identity confidential. I have never faced a more difficult situation.

The woman has recounted incidents of her unprotected sexual encounters with her employers, their sons and relatives, students and even the son of a lady doctor and, yet, I am helpless."

"Who do I protect, my patient who is confiding in me or the unsuspecting males who are falling prey to her?" he asked, his exasperation evident.

Origin

Dr Gilada said Shraddha was brought to his clinic by her relative, who is also being treated for HIV there. She is not on anti-retroviral treatment as her CD4 count is well maintained and she does not have any serious medical disorder.

"She got the infection from her husband, who she married in 2001 and separated from in 2005 after she came to know that he was promiscuous and had given her the infection.

She has a ten-year-old deaf and mute son who is in an ashram. Her sister is also in touch with us and is trying to convince her to give up her ways but she refuses," said Dr Gilada.

"Even when I tried to convince her, she told me 'If I was infected by my husband for no dishonesty or fault on my part, why should I keep this dirty infection to myself alone. Let everybody get a little prasad from me.'"

After an unwanted pregnancy in 2008, Shraddha has been on contraceptive pills.

Adding that it wouldn't be fair to blame her alone, the doctor said, "Those who had unprotected sex with her are also to blame. None of them suspected that she had a sexually transmitted disease or even offered to use a condom."

Meanwhile, those treating HIV-positive patients had mixed reactions to the case: Dr S Kudalkar, project director of Mumbai District Aids Control Society, said, "It is human nature and, thus, we cannot rule out the revenge tendency that an HIV-positive person may experience. But we have no documented record of any such case."

He added that sharing knowledge about an HIV-positive patient and disclosing the identity of the person with an intention to malign him or her are two different things, "But, to comment on the case in question, I have to understand the history before deriving any conclusion," he said.

Dr Amar Pajare, who heads the ART centre at KEM hospital said he had never come across any such case. "We never force our patients to disclose to the source of infection, although 95 per cent of them have acquired the infection through sexual contact. Most patients accept the fact that they are HIV-positive and take precautions or avoid sex."

Commenting on the unique nature of the case, Prabha Desai, director, Sanmitra Trust, which works for AIDS prevention and treatment said, "There are both men and women who, in spite of knowing that they are infected with HIV, indulge in sex with multiple partners.

Take the case of a 22-year-old widow I had counselled. She was very attractive and intelligent but did not have enough educational qualification to get a job. She got into prostitution despite being HIV-positive and made a lot of money."

"The majority of patients who indulge in unprotected sex even after testing positive for HIV have two major motives: One, that they have only few years to live and they should enjoy to the fullest and two, that they just cannot get rid of the habit. But, we have never seen a person doing this just as an act of revenge," she added.

Race revenge

In 2008, a white 43-year-old mother of one was sentenced to 32 months in prison for infecting black men with AIDS after contracting it from her black lover.

One of the men who tested positive for the disease had said the woman was on a "payback mission". "She caught HIV off a black guy and now she's on a payback mission. All the guys she has slept with since are black," he said.

Want To Have Your Baby on 11.11.11?

Conceive Today, Say Doctors

Family planning? Perfect timing

That is, if you want to have your baby on 11.11.11


Just do it: Experts  predict that conceiving today will give the unborn child a good chance of being born on the day -- a date that will only fall upon us again in 2111. Represention Pic

Young parents taken in by the trend of having babies on fancy dates have an option to conceive today, if they want to ensure that the stork delivers on 11.11.11. Experts in the city predict that conceiving today will give the unborn child a good chance of being born on that day -- a date that will only fall upon us again in 2111.


However, doctors also concede that while there is a conception date, not many mothers-to-be plan ahead to have their babies in time, thus posing a risk when it comes to planned pregnancies.

Padmini Prasad, head of gynaecology, Institute of Sexual Medicine, said, "Women hoping to have their babies on that fancy date will have to conceive by this month end. That way, the due date will be in November."

She added, "On the other hand, these women should know there is no guarantee that the child will even be born in time. We cannot predict the entire pregnancy. They should stop worrying so much about having their children on auspicious dates. Parents these days have a lot of fancy ideas about birthing and pregnancies these days."

Shobha M Guddi, head of gynaecology, Philomena's hospital, said, "It is almost accurate-yes. And there's no harm in planning but it really depends on having a good life to ensure that there is no complication. Timing may not be the most appropriate thing sometimes."

Y M Chandrashekar, head of gynaecology at BGS Global, said, "So far no one has come forward saying they want to deliver on such a date. It's very possible that they have not realised it yet. Mothers usually demand planned deliveries much later during their pregnancy."

Not planned
Sheema Taseem (30) delivered her son Isa at the Cradle back in January at exactly 11minutes past 11 am on 1.11.11. She said, "It was not planned at all, but when we were told that what my due date would be, we decided to have the baby on the auspicious date." She added, "It wasn't until my second trimester that we decided."

Abdul Kareem (27) whose daughter was also born on 1.11.11 at Fortis Hospital, said, "The doctors recommended that we have our daughter that day because they were afraid of complications."

Antony Acknowledges Separatists in Northeast "Misusing" Social Networking Sites

New Delhi, Feb 18 : Defence Minister A K Antony acknowledged that separatists in Northeast India are "misusing" social networking sites.

Talking to newsmen on the sidelines of a function in New Delhi Mr Antony said proper corrective action will be taken after ascertaining the whole issue.

Mr.Antony will start his two day visit to Northeast India today. During his visit he will review the security situation and also asses the progress of infrastructure development in the region.

The Defence Minister will be accompanied by the Chief of Army staff General VK Singh and the Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar. Mr. Antony will be visiting Tezpur and Chabua in Assam, Rangaphar Military Station in Nagaland, Kibithu in Arunachal Pradesh and Leimakhong in Manipur.

On situation in Jammu and Kashmir, the Defence Minister said that there is remarkable improvement in the ground situation in the State. He said that militancy has come down but the infiltration is still there.

Reiterating that there is need to be vigilant on all the counts, he cautioned that the inimical forces across the border are ready to send the miscreants to the state for causing unrest.

The Defence Minister has said that the exact financial obligations, if any, following the annulment of Antrix-Devas S-Spectrum deal will be known in two to three weeks' time. Mr Antony said that Government has already constituted a Committee to look into the financial obligations and other issues.

Giving the details of the Cabinet Committee on Security CCS meeting, Mr. Antony said that the contract had to be scraped as the scarce spectrum was needed by the strategic organisations like Defence Forces and others.

Calling it unfortunate that the ISRO had not brought the leasing of spectrum to the knowledge of CCS, he assured that all the aspects are being investigated by the two-men committee headed by Mr. B.K. Chaturvedi. He asserted that the government has nothing to hide.

On the capture of another 24 fishermen by the Srilankan Police, Mr.Antony said that New Delhi is in touch with Colombo and monitoring the developing situation very closely. He assured that everything possible will be done to safeguard the interest of the fishermen in Tamil Nadu.

. Earlier addressing defence officials during the centenary celebrations of the Corps of Signal in New Delhi Mr Antony asked the armed forces to be vigilant against the emerging cyber warfare threat and gear up their infrastructure to tackle the security challenge.

Lauding the role of the Corps of signals, he said electronic warfare is of utmost importance to counter terrorist operations as well as saving people's lives during disasters.

The World's Most Powerful Smartphone

By Rachel Metz

San Francisco: As smartphones get an increasing array of features, they need faster processors. The Motorola Atrix 4G, billed as "the world's most powerful smartphone," arrives with 2 gigahertz of processing power - the kind you're more likely to find on a laptop than a phone.

That's notable because there's an optional laptop dock, which makes the phone function as, well, a laptop.

The Atrix is available now for pre-order from AT&T Inc. and will begin selling March 6. It costs $200 with a two-year contract. But if you buy it with the dock, it will cost $500 after rebate, and you'll have to get a more expensive data plan.

On its own, the Atrix is a speedy phone, though not necessarily eye-catching. With the skinny, light dock, the Atrix is a Web surfing and e-mailing champ, which could make it a good travel buddy. For heavy-duty computing, though, I'd still stick with my full-featured laptop.

The Atrix's black slab exterior makes it look like other smartphones, but start poking around and the difference is clear: This is a fast handset. With tasks that don't require a wireless network, such as taking photos or playing games, the Atrix opened menus and applications without hesitation. The camera seemed to start up faster than those on other smartphones I've used, and I could scroll through applications and contacts on its 4-inch screen with ease.

Considering its processing power, I was miffed to see the Atrix is currently running version 2.2 of Google Inc.'s Android operating system, Froyo, rather than the newer Gingerbread version, whose faster performance and better on-screen keyboard would match well with the Atrix.

The Atrix works on AT&T's upgraded 3G network, HSPA+, so to try it out I walked to AT&T Park, where the San Francisco Giants play. There, the phone streamed videos as flawlessly as if I were on my home Wi-Fi network. At my office or home I wouldn't even attempt to stream content over AT&T's network as service is unreliable.

Not surprisingly, call quality at AT&T Park was also excellent. My mom, a frequent target of my test calls and sharper critic of sound quality than I am, even said that the Atrix sounded "pretty good for a cell phone." But in my office, where AT&T's reception is spotty, I had to try several times to get a call to go through. When I finally did, a friend sounded muffled on the other end (he said I did, too).

The phone's display is clear and bright, with good viewing angles that would make it useful for sharing video clips with a friend. When streaming YouTube content, such as Nicki Minaj's "Moment 4 Life" music video, I didn't feel as if the colors were as warm as they could have been, though. Like a growing number of phones, the Atrix can play Flash videos - something the iPhone can't do.

The 5-megapixel camera on the Atrix's back wasn't impressive. Photos were crisp, but colors didn't really pop. And there are only a handful of settings and color effects, so if you want to get creative you'll need to download a camera app (free ones include Camera 360 Lite and Retro Camera).

You'll also need to snag an app such as Qik if you want to video chat with a friend: The Atrix has a front-facing camera, but it doesn't include video chat software.

I expected long battery life, especially with AT&T claiming that you can watch two full-length movies in a row on a single charge. The phone is rated for up to nine hours of talk time, and in a day that included much multitasking and streaming a full-length animated movie from YouTube over Wi-Fi, the battery held up well.

I also expected a lot from the dock, especially because Motorola Mobility Inc. isn't the first to come up with the idea of combining a phone with a laptop-like dock: One high-profile example came from Palm, now owned by Hewlett-Packard Co., which in 2007 announced and subsequently shelved a laptop-like device called Foleo. It would have acted as a companion to users' Palm Treo smartphones.

Once I plugged the Atrix into the laptop dock, I entered a combination phone-netbook experience, which gave me more functionality than with the handset alone but not as much as I'd have with a dedicated laptop.

The dock has a bright, crisp screen that measures 11.6 inches diagonally, a full-but-slightly-cramped keyboard and a large touchpad. There are two USB ports and a standard headphone jack. Because the dock has its own battery, it can charge the Atrix while they are attached. Oddly, the dock doesn't have a front-facing camera, so you can't use it for video chats.

With the Atrix attached to the dock, a small "mobile view" on the dock's screen shows you what's on your phone's screen - you can use this to access phone functions like making or answering calls or sending text messages, which is neat.

The dock's main appeal is that it includes the Firefox Web browser, allowing you to surf the Web uninhibited by the limitations imposed by the phone's smaller display. The dock is great for checking e-mails and visiting websites, and you could use it for some work, too.

Still, it's not a computer. Without the Atrix plugged in, the dock does nothing. It's expensive, and you'll have to add on a $20 per month for AT&T's mobile hotspot feature (on the plus side, this will enable you to connect four more gadgets to the Internet through your Atrix).

If you're hankering for a speedy phone, the Atrix is a good bet. I'd hold out on the dock, though. It could be a useful accessory in the future, but for now its price doesn't match up to its limited functionality.

Last-Minute Lisa

By Subhash K Jha


Haydon rushes to Bangkok to join Rascals cast Sanjay Dutt and Ajay Devgn on the shoot

After Aisha, supermodel Lisa Haydon has now been signed for Sanjay Dutt's home production being directed by David Dhawan.

It took three connoisseurs of feminine beauty Dutt, Devgn and David to pull her out of hiding after her last release.

According to sources, Lisa's role has been specially written and added to the script.

It was Dhawan who spotted her in a picture and suggested to Sanju that she be included in Rascals. Dutt readily agreed. Lisa flew in to Bangkok this week.

Badmaash threesome
The director admits she was a late entry. "I saw Lisa's picture and found her very striking. She is paired opposite both Dutt and Devgn.

Don't ask who gets Lisa at the end. Both Sanju and Ajay are Rascals. And if you count me as the third rascal we're quite a badmaash threesome."

The director says he is not bothered about her last film being a fiasco, "These things don't bother me. When Katrina did Maine Kyun Pyar Kiya with me she already a Boom behind her.

We're all trying to create an entertaining comedy here in Bangkok. It's Sanju's first production and we all want everything to go well." With such glamorous company, Mrs Dhawan has made sure she is in Bangkok.

Adds Lisa, "I met David sir and feel very comfortable with him. I am excited about the project." She also adds that Aisha was a "great" experience.

Yep, this girl's sure learning the ropes. Fast.

Mizoram Apex Body Opposes Direct Funding To District Councils

Aizawl, Feb 18 : The Young Mizo Association(YMA) has voiced its concern over direct funding demanded by the three autonomous district councils in Mizoram fearing it could eventually result in the division of states into smaller parts.

''Granting of direct funding to the three autonomous district councils could further result in a demand for union territory. From union territory, the next step is a full-fledged state. We will never allow Mizoram to be divided into smaller states,'' central YMA president Lalchungnunga said at a function here yesterday.

Lalchungnunga also stated that the YMA would keep a close watch on the repatriation process of Bru refugees from six relief camps in north Tripura district to prevent non-bonafide citizens from being repatriated into the state along with the refugees.

''The YMA would watch and wait till the repatriation process is over,'' Lalchungnunga said.

Alleging that the Bru refugees left Mizoram following threats from the 'so-called' Bru Students’ Union in 1998, a proof of which, he said, the central YMA has.

Meanwhile, a Central team, led by Union Home Ministry’s joint secretary (NE) Sambhu Singh, yesterday visited Damdiai--one of the villages in western Mizoram where the Bru refugees were resettled-- and expressed satisfaction over the arrangements made by the Mizoram government.

Mr Singh said additional rice allocation for the resettled Bru refugees would be allotted to the state from March.

He added that the repatriation process would be resumed after the fund sanctioned by the Centre for the repatriation expenses is credited in the Mizoram government account.

The proposals made by the autonomous district councils of Lai, Mara and Chakma, during today’s meeting included reservation of at least one-third of seats in the village councils under the district councils, handing over of the responsibility of village council elections from the district council to the state election commission and introduction of local urban bodies in the district council areas.

Mizoram 'Misuses' Fund For Prevention of Forest Fire

Aizawl, Feb 18 : Mizoram has apparently misappropriated over Rs 28 crore on the pretext of prevention of forest fire during the last seven years.

According to information obtained by Zoram Nationalist Party’s youth wing under the RTI Act, the Centre had sanctioned a total of Rs 2858.983 lakh to Mizoram during 2002-03 fiscal to 2008-09 fiscal under the Integrated Forest Protection Scheme/Intensification of Forest Management.

According to physical achievement reports, the Mizoram government had claimed to have utilised the fund for creation and maintenance of 10,040-km long fire lines, construction of 77 numbers of firewatch towers, construction of 2,480 boundary pillars, 270 buildings, 359-km roads and 75 water storages and for the procurement of 70 vehicles and 50 computer sets.

''About Rs 2200.80 lakh was claimed to have been spent. However, the utilisation of fund, as reported by the Mizoram government is also seriously doubtful,'' P C Vanlalruata, president of ZNP Youth, at a press conference said here today.

''For instance, the state government had claimed to have spent 244.15 lakh for creation and maintenance of fire lines, that is Rs 34.lakh annually. Given that Mizoram is 21081 square kilometres, you can imagine how long 10,040 kilometres of fire line is,'' he laughed.

According to the RTI information, of the 77 firewatch towers, ten were constructed at specified locations in Aizawl and ten others at unspecified locations in Aizawl.

A total of Rs 154 lakh were spent on the towers.

According to Forest Survey of India reports, 4,479 hectares and 2,733 hectares of forest were destroyed in Mizoram in 2005-06 and 2006-07 respectively, he said.