Talks Between Mizoram Govt & HPC (D) To Resume

Aizawl, Jul 29 : Mizoram Home Minister R Lalzirliana today said the talks between the state government and the Manipur-based Hmar People's Convention (Democrats) would be resumed during the first part of August.

Lalzirliana told PTI that when the parleys are resumed, the state government delegation would no longer be led by a joint secretary but by a person with higher position.

He, however, did not want to reveal whether the talks would be elevated from official level to the political level.

The last talks between the two sides held on July 18 in Aizawl was inconclusive as they failed to extend the bilateral suspension of operations (SoO) signed on January 31 and due to expire on July 31.

The HPC delegation insisted that the government show its sincerity in solving the Hmar problem by organising another round of talks in the near future before the SoO was extended.

The HPC(D) has been demanding a separate autonomous district council for the north eastern part of Mizoram adjoining Manipur under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.

Mizoram Poll Officials Arrive For Enumeration of Reang Refugees in Tripura

By Syed Sajjad Ali

Reang refugees queue up to cast their votes for the Mizoram state assembly elections in Kanchanpur, North Tripura. 

A team of officials from Mizoram’s election department has started enumeration exercise in Reang refugee camps in Kanchanpur of North Tripura. State government officials said the team arrived on Thursday evening and expected to complete the work in five days.

Seven makeshift camps with over thirty thousand Reang or Bru evacuees who fled Mizoram in September 1997 to escape ethnic violence allegedly spearheaded by the Mizos. The original number swelled up to 40 thousand, but now lessened after scores returned home to respond to rehabilitation package announced by the Union Home ministry and Mizoram government.

“The purpose of visit of Mizoram election officials is to prepare fresh electoral rolls in the camps in view of ensuing assembly elections in Mizoram. For over a decade the Election Commission of India is making special arrangements to ensure franchise of eligible refugee voters within the camps”, a North Tripura district official said on Friday.

The refugees are reluctant to end precarious camp life unless Mizoram government concedes to their demands like regional council, recognition of their dialect and security, besides a comprehensive settlement package. Mizoram government summarily turned down all the demands except central government aided rehabilitation plan.

July 2013 was the last set deadline to complete repatriation of the refugees, but this unlikely to happen with only few days left for such exercise.

Numerous initiatives of the central government, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), human rights groups and Tripura government failed to solve the refugee stalemate so far.

Tripura government officials have extended cooperation to the enumeration exercise of Mizoram election department. Elaborate security arrangements have been made as some extremist elements are active in the camps.

Few thousand refugee voters of the camps are essentially important for the political parties in contest in a small state like Mizoram. Top brass of political parties even charter chopper to visit the camp inmates in election times to woo them, but the main issue of their peaceful repatriation and rehabilitation remain unresolved.

7,000 Thesis Seized From Controversial Meghalaya Varsity

Over 7,000 Ph.D theses were seized from Meghalaya's private controversial CMJ University, accused of fraud and selling fake degrees, police said Friday.

The Meghalaya governor's secretariat had lodged a first information report (FIR) with police against the CMJ University and its chancellor Chandra Mohan Jha for alleged lapses and fraud.

"We have seized over 7,000 PhD thesis from two different CMJ university campuses located in Shillong and Jorabat," a CID official told IANS.

The seizures were made a week after the Supreme Court had granted partial relief to Jha, who is still at large. The court said he will be given bail in the event of his arrest.

The university was established by an act passed by the state legislature in 2009 while it started functioning from Oct 17, 2010. It is alleged to have issued a large number of fake PhDs.

Each student desiring to pursue a Ph.D. programme from the university would have to pay Rs. 1.27 lakh.

"We suspect that the Ph.D. theses were printed in Calcutta as the print and design were identical," the CID official.

The CMJ varsity has created a record of sorts by awarding PhD degrees to 434 candidates in the 2012-13 academic year. It enrolled 490 students for the PhD programme during 2012-2013.

What was significant is that only 10 of its faculty members have doctorate degrees.

Former governor R.S. Mooshahary, in his capacity as visitor of the varsity, had exposed irregularities in its functioning and asked the state government to dissolve it

Deputy Chief Minister R.C. Laloo, who holds charge of education, said that the state education department had slapped a show cause notice to the university asking it why it should not be dissolved.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) had also constituted a nine-member expert committee headed by Tezpur University Vice Chancellor Mihir K. Chaudhury to look into alleged irregularities committed by the private university.

CMJ University had been running distance education centres outside the state, in other parts of the country, as well as in some centres abroad, in breach of University Grants Commission regulations and guidelines.

Agartala To Become Slum-Free

Agartala, Jul 29 : Agartala, the 175-year-old capital of princely Tripura, is all set to be free from slums within the next five years.

The Union ministry of urban development has approved a project sent by the state’s urban development department for removal of slums and rehabilitation of the residents under government housing schemes.

According to the latest information available from the urban development department, the Centre has sanctioned Rs 216 crore in the first phase under Rajiv Gandhi Awas Yojana to dismantle slums and rehabilitate bona fide residents in government’s housing complexes to be built with central funds.

Disclosing this during an interaction with the media, the chief executive member of Agartala Municipal Council, Milind Ramteke, said the council had conducted a survey in and around Agartala to gather detailed information about the slums.

According to the survey, 163 slums exist within the council areas with a population of more than 2.5 lakh. “Most of the slums exist on the banks of Hawra and Katakhal that trifurcate Agartala town. The people living in these slums also continue to pollute the rivers which are the main sources of drinking water for residents of Agartala.

“Now that the Union ministry of urban development has sanctioned our plan, we will commence work in right earnest to build housing complexes where the slum-dwellers will be given accommodation. All slums will be dismantled to keep the rivers clean and unpolluted. Apart from the slums on river banks, there are many others and steps will be taken to have them removed by making provisions for housing, water and electricity for the dwellers there,” Ramteke said.

He said recently, the council had been forced to hike property and water tax for residents within its areas, but it had no other alternative in the face of sustained pressure from the Centre and particularly from the Union urban welfare ministry for mobilising additional resources.

“The council is also trying for a ADB loan for which there are conditions that include absence of slums and appropriate measures to keep air and water clean and pollution-free. This is the reason for tax hike and other measures,” Ramteke said.

It's Called Northeast Hindi!

By Prasanta Mazumdar 

Hindi may be the official language of the country, but a section of the militants in the northeast has often targeted it for being the language of what they say is ‘colonial India’.

The militants would target Hindi and people speaking the language every time they had an issue or two with the government. Scores of people have lost their lives at the hands of the gun-totting militants only because they were from the Hind-speaking region.

The language was never a taboo, yet few would speak it.

Now, with militancy at its lowest ebb, there is a change in the mindset, especially among the youth, and many seem to be developing a liking for the language. So, when Peter Sumi comes across his friend Jacob at a marketplace in Nagaland, he says: “Hi Jacob, kaisa hai (how are you)?” Jacob replies: “Aacha hu (I am good); aapka kya khabor hai (what about you)?”

They speak Hindi with an accent that can be described as ‘Northeast Hindi’. Barring Manipur, inter-tribal communication and the lingua-franca have been a mixture of Hindi, English and the local language.  “Hindi sounds nice and it has a soothing effect. The youngsters are getting more and more exposure to the outside world. So, they develop the knack of speaking the language in no time,” says Peter.

Over the years, English has the main language for conversation between educated youth from different states of the region. But the trend now is that their dialogues would often be interspersed with Hindi words.

In the numerous bars, restaurants, parks etc in Guwahati, students from the region are often seen conversing in a language that is a mixture of Hindi, English and local words. Some may argue that those not educated enough speak in Hindi — instead of English — as they are left with no other options. But the fact remains that even the educated, who are fluent in English, tend to speak Hindi.

Recently, a call center in advertised posts, calling for applications from candidates who can speak and communicate in ‘Northeast Hindi’, besides having knowledge of local languages.

Another factor contributing to the trend is economic compulsion: Many flock to the metros now. Those not educated enough are forced to speak Hindi to eke out a living. Their influence back home on others is also huge.

Eastern India New Smuggling Hub

By Samir Purkayastha

According to custom department statistics, the three eastern Indian cities are more preferred as routes for narcotics, arms smuggling and transfusion of contraband notes than even Mumbai, the den of underworld bigwigs.

The country recorded a total of 35,500 cases of smuggling and commercial fraud in 2012-13 as compared to 33,251 cases in the previous year, according to Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) statistics.

Of these, less than 5 percent cases were reported from Mumbai whereas Kolkata, Guwahati and Shillong accounted for over 64 percent of all the cases.

Porous border and lack of coordination between the various agencies like Border Security Force, state police, Narcotic and Crime Bureau, Custom department and department of Revenue Intelligence have mainly attributed to the rise of trans-border crimes through the eastern fence of the country.

India shares a 2,216-km unfenced and partly fenced border with Myanmar, Nepal, China and Bangladesh.

There is also no proper mechanism between India and these neighbouring countries for a coordinated effort to check the menace, pointed out home ministry officials.

They said in March this year senior officials of India and Bangladesh’s border guards discussed trans-border crime committed by criminals on both sides of the border, prevention of smuggling of fake Indian currency, cattle and contraband.

A 27-member BSF delegation led by its Director General Subhash Joshi met the visiting 23-member delegation of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) led by its chief, Maj Gen Aziz Ahmed in New Delhi to find ways to curb the crime.

Similar meetings were being held time to time with other neighbouring countries too, but there was no concrete outcome, rued the home ministry officials.

According to a finance ministry report, of late smugglers have gradually shifted focus from gold, silver and electronic goods to arms, ammunitions, explosives, fake currency notes and narcotic drugs.

It said that heroin and cannbis (hashish and ganja) regularly came into India through the Indo-Nepal border, from where the drugs found way to other parts of country via northeastern states, particularly through Manipur.

Smuggling of synthetic drugs like amphetamine and methamphetamine into and out of the northeast has been on the rise of late, according to Custom department statistics.

These items mainly enter India from Myanmar through Mizoram and Manipur. Apart from various parts of India, these drugs also find its way into Bangladesh through Assam and West Bengal, a BSF spokesperson T K Chetri told bdnews24.com.

BSF earlier this month, launching a crackdown, arrested two Bangladeshi nationals from near Indo-Bangladesh border in West Bengal while they were trying to smuggle Phensedyl and ganja to Bangladesh.

Arms and ammunition too were regularly smuggled to India through Indo-Myanmar, Indo-Bangladesh and Indo-Nepal border. Various underground groups active in Northeast and the Islamist fundamentalist groups, which have spread their networks through sleeper cells, across the country are the main beneficiaries of these illegal consignments, said a Guwahati-based custom official on condition of anonymity.

Fake Indian currency notes and cattle are two other most frequently smuggled items through Indo-Bangladesh border in West Bengal and Assam, according to the BSF sources.

Are Insurgencies in Northeast India Moving Towards A Resolution?

Way back in 1964, when one of my responsibilities included the dissemination of information of the activities of the army in the eastern sector, I visited the headquarters of the 8 Mountain Division in Kohima, which was commanded by Maj-Gen K. P. Candeth.

When I called on Major General Candeth, besides giving the clearance for me being briefed about the role of the division in fighting insurgency, he told me that I should spend time meeting the soldiers and get an impression of the jobs they were doing in fighting insurgency and citizens around Kohima and have a chat with him later.

During my informal chats with the soldiers, I gained the impression that the soldiers were finding it difficult to understand their roles. They were trained to fight an enemy, and it was difficult to distinguish the 'dushman'. One gets the feeling that the Indian soldier continues to have this difficulty in fighting insurgency, which has now spread to more areas in the north-east as well as in a more virulent form in Jammu and Kashmir.

Most of the north-east was then administered from Shillong. The troubles in Nagaland had a fresh spurt after the India-China War. In an effort to establish peace, the Tuensang sub-division was separated from NEFA in 1963 and the state of Nagaland was created.

However, incidents of violence continued. Assisted by Reverend Michael Scott., who had close links with the underground group, an effort was made by the Government of India to negotiate for peace. A cease-fire was concluded with the Naga Peace Mission in September 1964.

The troubles in Nagaland were followed by disturbances in Mizo areas in the south of Assam. The army had to be rushed there too in 1966 to put down the insurgency.

The negotiations with a faction of the underground Naga rebels, which did not accept an accord within the Indian Constitution, and an attack on the convoy of then Chief Minister Hokishe Sema on the Dimapur-Kohima Road in August 1972, resulted in the resumption of army operations.

The effort to reach an accord continued, and in November 1975, the second cease fire known as the Shillong Peace Accord, came into effect. However, this accord has not been accepted by a section of the underground Nagas led by Isak Su, Muivah and Khaplang, leading to the formation of the NSCN. There is also the demand for a Greater Nagaland, which aims at inclusion of Naga inhabited areas of Manipur.

The trouble in Manipur is due to the sense of betrayal among the Meities, a culturally advanced group, who have not been granted Scheduled Caste status, as compared to the Kukis and the Nagas.

Violence erupted in Manipur and the army had to be called in 1980. Ever since then, Manipur has been on the brink of violence, the clashes between the Nagas and Meities and the Kukis and Nagas, and the Meities and the Kukies, keeping the valley of Manipur blocked for months every year.

The army and the Assam Rifles, which were responsible for maintaining peace in Manipur have had a difficult task, as plains people in Manipur feel alienated when the security forces use force to establish peace during clashes between them, the Nagas and the Kukis. The alleged rape of Manorama Devi by the Assam Rifles in 2004 led to a movement for the removal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in the state.

Not to be left alone, Assam too has had its share of troubles. The Bodos have had a sense of being neglected by the Assamese and they have been agitating for creation of a separate state. To add to the problems, Assam has a large migrant population from Bangladesh, who have been crossing the border in search of jobs. The anti-foreigner movement in Assam between 1979 and 1985 resulted in large scale violence, and the emergence of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), which created a mass movement against the migrant population in Assam.

The signing of the Assam Accord in August 1985 resulted in a brief respite, but the trouble erupted often and the army had to be called to put down the activities of the ULFA, which had bases in Bangladesh.

Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi made a determined effort to establish peace in the North-East by granting statehood to Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur and Tripura. The relief has only been marginal. The militant groups, which have been receiving weapons from Chinese sources in the early years, shifted their bases to Bangladesh and Burma. The establishment of better relations by India with Bangladesh and Burma and India's Look East policy has been a positive step forward.

Colonel Gautam Das, who has had the experience of both working in the field in counter insurgency operations as well as in the staff in the Eastern Command, has given a detailed account of these developments in his book.

The book ends with a chapter on the way forward. The author presents many options. The authorities involved in finding a solution are far too many.

The neighbouring countries provide a base to insurgents, the authorities in the national capital which include the Home Ministry, the Defence Ministry and the Army Headquarters, and the Parliamentarians, the lawmakers and bureaucrats and policemen in the states.

All in all, one gets the feeling we are groping for a solution to put down insurgencies. The army, the paramilitary forces, and the local police work under different masters and coordination is a difficult task. But they have the strength to ensure that the insurgents do not succeed People are tired of violence and hope that solutions will emerge to the different problems that we face in the seven states in the north east. .

Forest Advisory Committee Strikes Down Tipaimukh Hydroelectric Project

Environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan to take final decision on the project that has been criticized for its environmental, social costs 

 

By Neha Sethi

A file photo of environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan. Photo: Hindustan Times

New Delhi: The forest advisory committee (FAC) of the environment ministry has recommended that the 1,500 MW Tipaimukh hydroelectric project in Manipur shouldn’t be given forest clearance, potentially killing a project that has met with criticism over its heavy environmental and social costs.

Environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan will take a final decision on the fate of the project. The North Eastern Electric Power Corp. Ltd’s project would have involved felling more than 7.8 million trees in Manipur alone and diverting 22,777.50 hectares of forest land, according to the committee.

The number of trees that would be cut wasn’t justified, said a senior environment ministry official who didn’t want to be identified.

“The ministry diverts around 25,000-30,000 hectares of forest land annually for various projects, including mining, power projects, roads and others. This project alone needed diversion of 22,777.50 hectares of forest land and hence it was not feasible,” he said.

FAC recommended instead that the user agency explore the feasibility of smaller dams involving the diversion of smaller forest areas commensurate with their power generation capacity. Even Bangladesh has expressed reservations over the project.

This comes as the share of hydropower in India’s energy basket has been dwindling. Hydro is seen as an important source of energy to meet India’s mounting needs but—at 39,623.40MW—makes up only 17.6% of the nation’s installed power generation capacity of 225,133.10MW. Thermal power, generated by fossil fuel, accounts for 67.5% of the total. “There are a lot of problems with the project, primarily the huge amount of land that had to be diverted,” said a senior power ministry official on condition of anonymity.

The minutes of the FAC meeting, held on 11 and 12 July, that were made public on Thursday, showed that there were repeated requests from the power ministry and the user agency to expedite a decision on the project.

“The FAC after detailed deliberations concluded that requirement of forest land for the project is large and is disproportionate to its power generation capacity. Also very high ecological, environmental and social impact/cost of the diversion of the vast tract of forest land will far outweigh the benefits likely to accrue from the project. The FAC, therefore, strongly recommended that approval for diversion of the said forest land should not be accorded,” the minutes said.

The minutes said the project calls for the diversion of 1,551.60 hectares of forest land in Mizoram as well. “This project thus requires 24,329 hectares of forest land, which is more than one-fifth of the total 118,184 hectares of forest land diverted for execution of 497 hydel project in the entire country after the FC (forest conservation) Act came into force,” the minutes said.

The Tipaimukh project was to be located 500m downstream of the confluence of the rivers Tuivai and Barak, near the Manipur-Mizoram border.

The forest land required for the project was more than 100 times the average rate of such diversion for hydel projects that had been accorded approval under the FC Act by the ministry of environment and forests thus far, according to the minutes of the meeting.

FAC also said that the forest was also home to several endangered species of flora and fauna.

It said the project involves the displacement of 12 villages with 557 families and a population of 2,027 members of scheduled tribes in Manipur.

S.P. Sen, a former director (technical) at NHPC Ltd, said the power project wouldn’t have been commercially viable.

“Company wouldn’t have made money. The project cost would have been much higher than the tariff which can be approved by CERC (Central Electricity Regulatory Commission). Days of distress to people because of a project are over and now it is impossible to build a project at the cost of human beings,” Sen said.

Sen, who is also the vice- chairman, technical committee, on river basin management, at the International Commission on Large Dams, Paris, said the project would have involved a large area being submerged. Dams should be built for the people living in the area and not for those living in far away cities, he said.

“The regular employment likely to be generated from the project is only 826 persons. Therefore, it appears that employment opportunities likely to be created by the project are not commensurate with the loss of land and natural resources, which are generally the main source of livelihood of the tribal population of the state,” the FAC minutes said.