Mizoram, The Neglected Child Of India

Aizawl,  Dec 5 : A state with one of the highest participation in the democratic process of the country, Mizoram has often had to bear the brunt of country's apathetic negligence.

The remote northeastern state registered a phenomenal voter turnout of 81 percent. The residents of the state are considered as one of the most upbeat participants in the Indian democracy.

Despite a good performance, the state like other times has been vehemently ignored and sidelined. Exit polls results chose to ignore this 'small' and 'inconsequential' state and kept their focus firmly on the big-wigs.

The state went to poll on November 25 for its 40-member assembly. The fate of 142 candidate candidates was sealed in EVMs by over 6,90,000 voters, amounting to 80 percent participation.

People turned out to vote in large numbers, despite the threats issued by several insurgent groups.

The ruling Congress fielded candidates in all the 40 seats and the Mizoram Democratic Alliance (MDA), the alliance of Opposition Mizo National Front (MNF), the Mizoram People’s Conference (MPC) and the Maraland Democratic Alliance (MDF) also contested in 40 seats.

The MNF, senior partner of the alliance contested 31 seats in the assembly elections, while the MPC and the MDF fielded candidates in eight and one constituency respectively.

The Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP) contested in 38 seats, the BJP in 17, the NCP in two seats, Jai Maha Bharath Party in one while there were four Independents. All the seats were reserved for ST nominees, except Lunglei South which was for general candidates.

Thanhawla cast his vote with his wife Lal Riliani at Zarkawt-II polling station at Babutlang area in Zarkawt locality. The chief minister contested from two constituencies Serchhip, his home turf, and neighbouring Hrangturzo.

This is not the first instance that the state has registered a voter turnout of voter 80 percent. In 2008, the voter turnout crossed 82 percent.

Cancer is Killing Northeastern Indians, and Suicide is Plaguing the southerners

By Gwynn Guilford

It's hard to tally what causes deaths in situations like these. Reuters/K. K. Arora

 

In most rich countries, the bulk of deaths occur in hospitals. But in India, where 9.5 million people die each year, as many as 75% of those deaths happen at home, work or on the street. Until recently, health officials knew little about what causes these deaths since they aren’t accompanied by the paperwork drawn up by hospitals or police.

But the Million Death Study (MDS), a project led by Prabhat Jha, a University of Toronto epidemiologist and public health specialist, is changing that. Since 1997, the Jha and colleagues have used “verbal autopsy,” surveys of around 450,000 deaths, according to Nature. One thing they’re finding is that causes of death vary wildey by region:

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As you can see, most of these factors have to do with the surrounding environment, whether the prevalence of malaria-carrying mosquitoes or stressful jobs.

The study also highlights which diseases are more prevalent in India. Take, for example, chronic respiratory problems like asthma:

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Some of Jha and his colleagues’ findings vary dramatically from previous estimates on causes of death in India from the World Health Organization or other global institutions. The MDS results suggest that 205,000 people die from malaria and 45,900 from snake-bites each year in India—much higher rates than what the WHO and other groups project.

Some of the Jha’s estimates are lower than those of other international organizations. For instance, the MDS found that 100,000 Indians die of HIV each year, less than the 140,000 that the United Nations reports (pdf, p.A42). And the UN has actually come down somewhat in the 400,000 it once estimated, according to University of Toronto Magazine. Those lower estimates speak to some skewed priorities: Malaria kills twice as many people in India as HIV does each year, and yet it receives much less attention and funding. Here’s a look at grant money disbursements of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, an international financing institution for public health:

Payments made by the Global Fund to grant recipients in India.The Global Fund

Congress Confident of Forming Next Govt in Mizoram

By Manoj Anand

Aizawl, Dec 5 : The in-charge of Mizoram election and Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who was camping in Aizawl during the elections, has rejected the exit polls of India TV-C-Voter predicting a hung Assembly in the frontier state.

Talking to this newspaper Mr Sarma said, “I don’t believe that any news channel has gone to remote districts of the state to conduct the exit polls.”

Asserting that the Congress is certainly going to form the government again, Mr Sarma said, “I can tell you that if exit polls, which were certainly conducted in some urban areas, are giving 19 seats to us, we are sure going to cross over halfway as our stronghold is rural areas.”

He, however, admitted that they may not get as many as 32 seats as they got in 2008. “We have assessed on our own, we are sure to get between 24 and 27 seats in Mizoram.”

It is significant that Mr Sarma, who is said to be instrumental in the victory of the party in the Assam elections, was deputed by the AICC to supervise the election in Mizoram.

In Congress-ruled Mizoram, the India TV C-Voter has projected that the ruling Congress party is going to win 19 seats of the total 40 seats.

The Mizo National Front (MNF), plus the Mizo People’s Conference (MPC), is likely to win 14 seats, the Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP) five seats, and others two seats, said the exit poll.

India’s Troubled Soldiers

Indian soldiers on patrol

Image Credit: REUTERS/Mukesh Gupta

A string of violent incidents reveals some festering problems in India’s military.

A string of incidents involving indiscipline and insubordination in the Indian armed forces has set off alarm bells in India’s defense establishment. Since May last year, there have been at least four violent clashes between officers and jawans (soldiers) of the Indian army. Two of these occurred over a span of five days last month.

On October 10, jawans of an infantry battalion in Meerut near New Delhi beat up officers after an altercation over a boxing match. The officers had reportedly “roughed up” a jawan for losing the match. Four days later, the commanding officer (CO) of a battalion in Batala in Punjab was assaulted when he took disciplinary action against a jawan for reporting late to work.

In May last year, the army witnessed one of its most serious cases of indiscipline when officers and jawans of an artillery regiment in Nyoma in eastern Ladakh were involved in a brawl. The unit was training at a firing range some 20 km from India’s disputed border with China when its soldiers, enraged at officers who had bashed their colleague and then denied him medical treatment, went on a rampage, even occupying the armory.

The incident was described variously in the Indian media as a “brawl,” “a free for all,” “a mutiny,” and even “a revolt.”

While the army sought to downplay the gravity of the incident by describing it as a “minor scuffle,” “at worst an isolated act of indiscipline,” it was nonetheless clearly rattled. This, after all, was the most serious breach of indiscipline in the army since 1984, when Sikh soldiers mutinied following military operations to flush out militants from the Golden Temple.

Barely had the dust kicked up by the Nyoma incident settled than another jolt came, this time from an armored unit at Samba near India’s border with Pakistan. Jawans here protested against their commanding officer when one of their colleagues shot himself on being denied leave to go home.
The 1.2 million-strong Indian army is the world’s third largest and widely regarded as a professional force. Its soldiers are highly motivated and trained to cope with pressure.

However, there are “worrying signs” that “all is not well” in the armed forces, a retired army doctor (who asked that his name be withheld) told The Diplomat.

Especially over the past decade, personnel are turning their guns on each other and themselves. And they are leaving the armed forces in droves.

The figures are worrying. Between 2001 and 2011, 1330 personnel in the army, navy and air force committed suicide, with the army alone accounting for 1056 of the cases and displaying a troubling uptrend. There were also 75 deaths from fratricide during this period, with the army accounting for 72 of these.

In fact, the army seems to be losing more men to suicide and fratricide than to enemy bullets. The number of soldiers who die “battling their internal demons” is said to be four times the number killed in counter-insurgency operations in India’s conflict-wracked Kashmir and the Northeast.

Given the nature of their job, stress is inevitable among soldiers the world over. The problem has deepened in India as soldiers are deployed to deal with insurgencies over prolonged periods. Because of operational requirements and a shortage of personnel, they are rarely given time off to visit their families or to deal with problems back home.

And problems at home seem to be a major source of stress. According to Col K C Dixit, a former research fellow in the New Delhi-based Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses and author of the book, Building Army’s Human Resource for Sub-Conventional Warfare ,“The most common stress factor among defense personnel, especially those who hail from rural India, is land disputes back home.”

Vacation time to go home is primarily meant for jawans to rest and recoup. However, when they go home, they are preoccupied with “tackling land disputes, without any fruitful results.” When they return to work with the “enhanced burden” of unresolved domestic issues on their minds, he said, their motivation at work and emotional and mental well-being suffers.

Besides personal/domestic matters there are issues at work that stress soldiers.

Dixit tells The Diplomat that relations between officers and jawans have deteriorated over the past decade. This is in part the outcome of the huge shortage in the officers’ corps. According to the doctor, “Overworked officers have little time to spare for their jawans or to pay attention to their problems or even to notice their depression.”

Analysts have attributed officer-jawan tensions to class conflict in the armed forces. Not only do officers look down on the lower ranks but also officers whose fathers were jawans are “subjects of condescension and worse; senior officers in the military have gone to lengths to conceal the fact that their fathers served as enlisted men.”

And increasingly, the rank and file are unwilling to endure quietly humiliating treatment meted out to them by the officers. An official in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) attributed growing insubordination in the army to increasing awareness among jawans. “Unlike in the past, when there was a big gap in their socioeconomic backgrounds, jawans today, especially those from urban areas, are educated. “They do not consider themselves as inferior to the officers.” In addition, corruption scandals involving officers have contributed to undermining the stature of the officer class in the eyes of the lower ranks.

Indeed, an extensive study by Dixit on stress in the army, which was based on surveys conducted among soldiers and drew on published material and reports, found that “most cases of fragging” were the outcome of “humiliating taunts by seniors on mundane matters.” “Humiliating comments,” he wrote, trigger “emotions of revenge in the already aggressive solider,” prompting him to turn his weapon against his seniors.

The role of the sahayak (personal valet) system in institutionalizing humiliation of jawans is hard to ignore. A colonial institution wherein officers were assigned what were then called “batmen” or “orderlies,” the sahayak system survives today. The sahayak is meant to assist the officer so as to free him to focus on his work. His support is vital to the officer’s efficient functioning especially in field areas. Indeed, Dixit describes sahayaks as “an inescapable requirement in training and operations” and that their working together there cannot happen unless sahayaks work with officers in peace areas too.

However, the system has been gravely misused with some officers expecting their sahayaks to do menial tasks in their homes. A major who took premature retirement from the army in 2005 told The Diplomat that several sahayaks “help the officer’s wife with her shopping, polish his children’s shoes and even walk the dog.” It “deeply undermines” the morale of a soldier, he observed.

What is more, the sahayak system has encouraged officers to look upon their sahayaks as their personal property to be dealt with as they wish. And jawans are increasingly unwilling to accept the ill-treatment handed out.

This was underscored in the Nyoma incident. It was the brutal thrashing of a sahayak by officers that triggered the “revolt” by the soldiers.

The army is not taking the incidents of indiscipline lightly. Following the Nyoma incident, for instance, an Army Court of Inquiry recommended disciplinary action, with court martial proceedings against 168 personnel, including the unit’s commanding officer.

Handing out “exemplary punishment” has some deterrent value in dealing with indiscipline. But this is a symptomatic approach that leaves underlying problems festering.

Military authorities have raised the issue of land-related problems of soldiers with the government through the defense ministry. “But the government does little beyond issuing advisories to the state governments to ensure that local officials are more responsive to jawans,” Dixit said. “Until such time the home ministry and revenue ministry at the central and state levels prioritize settlement of land disputes involving soldiers,” this major stress factor for soldiers will remain alive.
Blaming the army leadership for the declining morale in the armed forces, the major said that officers are “preoccupied with their own promotions and postings, rather than concerned about the welfare of their troops.” What is more, MoD officials are “apathetic to problems of soldiers on the ground.”
According to Dixit, there are “adequate and fair mechanisms to address soldiers’ complaints of unfair treatment/humiliation by their seniors.” A jawan can seek an interview with his commanding officer and if he is not satisfied with the outcome he can meet officers higher up in the chain of command. If these options prove unsatisfactory in redressing his grievance, he can appeal to the army tribunal court. Similarly, there are support systems to help soldiers deal with personal stress and crisis, he pointed out.

The question is whether these support systems and mechanisms for redress are working efficiently.
Defense ministry officials deny they are indifferent to the problems of the lower ranks. Several measures, including a liberalized leave policy, provision of family housing to personnel in peace areas, enhanced officer–soldier interaction, upward revision of salaries, creation of a pool of counselors at the unit level, etc. have been taken to address “stress triggers” in the armed forces. The sahayak system is on its way out, the MoD official pointed out, drawing attention to the army’s announcement last year that it was considering doing away with it.

The defense establishment may be taking steps to address the problems but these seem cosmetic, scattered and piecemeal at best, underscored by the governments’ insubstantial handling of key sources of soldiers’ stress such as the land-related issues and the army’s officer- class’ colonial era/feudal attitude and treatment of its soldiers, evident from its inaction on sahayak-related issues. Eighteen months after it announced it was considering ending the sahayak system, no steps have been taken on even reforming it. The issue is on the back-burner.

It is this habit of putting issues on difficult issues on the back-burner that is erupting in violence. India’s failure to grapple comprehensively and assiduously the festering issues troubling its soldiers could prove costly.

Dr. Sudha Ramachandran is an independent journalist/researcher based in Bangalore, India. She writes on South Asian political and security issues and can be contacted at sudha.ramachandran@live.in.

Experts Call For Setting Up SEZs in Northeast

By Raju Das

Shillong, Dec 5 : The Northeastern region urgently needs Special Economic Zones (SEZs) to boost trade and economy, experts pointed out here today.

Speaking at an International “Policy meeting on Economic and Transport development in the border areas of Eastern and South Asia,” MP Bezbaruah, member of the North Eastern Council (NEC), said that the Northeastern region “badly” needs SEZs to catch up with the rest of the world in terms of trade and economy.

The policy meet has been jointly organised by the United Nation’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Asian Development Bank and the Government of Meghalaya with participants from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Philippines and other countries.

Bezbaruah said that during the past few years the trade between India and South East Asian countries has doubled, but during the same period the quantum of trade from the North East has gone down.

He said that most of the trade happening from the region to other countries is in primary goods with no value addition. “The region needs to increase productivity with value addition and this could be done by creating urgently SEZs in the region,” Bezbaruah said. He further pointed to the 16-km “informal” trading zone in Moreh, Manipur and said that the trading hub is an area of concern as far as the region is concerned. The NEC member said that most of the trade is being done on the Mynmarese side and the goods are from “third countries”, especially China.

“Whatever that is happening in Moreh is not encouraging from the North East’s perspective. The requirements of the border areas of Myanmar are being provided by China and there is very less that is going from the Indian side,” he said.

Observing that there are many items that are in great demand in Myanmar that India and the North East could supply, he added that “there is a great demand for generic drugs from India, but bringing such drugs from Delhi and other big cities to Moreh does not make economic sense. So if these could be produced on the border in SEZs than the region could benefit,” he said.

Bezbaruah said that at the current pace of development the North East would never catch up with the rest of India in terms of economic development. Even if the region’s growth doubles vis-a-vis with the rest of the country, the region would need 25 years to be at par with the rest of India,” he said.

The NEC member further added that the region’s best option would be to have better linkages with the South East Asian countries and further east to put its economy on the fast track. Experts said the “largely unexplored” South Asian region is a 200 billion dollar potential market.

'Brahmaputra Cruises' Among World Top 10 Adventurous Cruises

Wildlife and wilderness are main features of cruises in Assam on vast Brahmaputra river. (AP)

Guwahati, Dec 4 : Wildlife and wilderness are main features of cruises in Assam on vast Brahmaputra river.

'Brahmaputra Cruises' by Assam Bengal Navigation Company has been recognised by CNN International as one of the top 10 Most Adventurous Cruises in the World for 2013.

The 'Brahmaputra Cruises (Jungle Book Tour/India)' has been ranked sixth among the cruises including the Amazon, the Antartica, the North Pole, Australia and Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, Managing Director of Assam Bengal Navigation Company, Ashish Phookan, told PTI.

Recalling that Assam Bengal Navigation Company, an Indo-British joint venture, had pioneered long-distance river cruising in India in 2003, he said the company completes ten years of cruising on Brahmaputra river on the 'ABN Charaidew' this year.

The Company also has 'Bengal Cruises' with their second boat 'ABN Sukapha' operating on the Hoogli river since 2007 and on the Ganges since 2010, Phookan said, adding, their third boat 'ABN Rajmahal' will commence commercial operation on the Ganges from February next year.

For this pioneering venture, the Assam Bengal Navigation, a sister concern of Jungle Travels India, was conferred the National Tourism Award by the Union Ministry of Tourism for 2004-2005, he said.
'Brahmaputra Cruises' feature visits and attractions such as wildlife viewing, both by jeep and on elephant back, village walks, visits to tea gardens, exploring towns in cycle rickshaws, barbecues on deserted river islands, dance performances and visits to archaeological sites, pilgrimage centres and craft workshops, Phookan said.

Wildlife and wilderness are the main features of the cruises in Assam on the vast Brahmaputra river. The river bed is often 20 or 30 km across - an empty world of sand spits and water with marvelous bird life and the occasional Gangetic Dolphin, he said.

The cruises also give access to a number of National Parks, including rhino habitat Kaziranga in upper Assam and The Project Tiger Reserve, Manas on the Indo-Bhutan border, besides Orang National Park across Darrang and Sonitpur districts, Phookan said.

"Between October and April, we offer a combination of 7-night, 10-night and 4-night cruises named after the Assam Despatch Service, the daily mail-cum-passenger service that once plied from Calcutta up the Brahmaputra to Dibrugarh in Assam," he said.

The Cable News Network in its website describes the 'Jungle Book Tour, India,' as "While the cruise aboard the delightfully anachronistic 24-person Charaidew trundles along from Guwahati to Tezpur, you can sip local tea and enjoy mild Assamese curries onboard. A visit to the UNESCO-listed Kaziranga National Park, for elephant, rhino and (maybe) tiger spotting, is one of the diversions en route".

"The Brahmaputra River begins in the glaciers of Tibet before winding through India and emptying, 2,900 kilometers later, into the Bay of Bengal", the website says.

Preparation on for Mizoram Vote Count on Dec 9

Aizawl, Dec 4 : Full preparation is on in all the district headquarters of Mizoram for counting of votes of the November 25 assembly election.

Vote counting will be done on December 9. As per direction of the Election Commission of India (ECI), each counting centre will be under vigil of a micro observer on the day of counting.

In Aizawl district, votes from the 14 constituencies shall be counted at the counting centre placed at Pachhunga University College campus.

Three counting halls are being arranged in this counting centre. Two hall will be equipped with 10 tables each,while in the other hall, 8 tables will be placed.

Counting officials will have a thorough rehearsal on December 4 and 6 .

Comprising seven assembly constituencies, Lunglei district is arranging two counting halls both in Saikuti Hall.

The counting halls will be equipped with adequate tables. Counting supervisor and assistants will get training on December 6 .

In Saiha district, votes from the two MLA constituencies in the district namely- Saiha and Palak constituency- will be counted at the counting centre being placed at DC office.

The counting centre will be equipped with 6 counting tables.

Votes from Saiha will be counted first, as per plan.

Counting supervisor and counting assistants have been given necessary training.

In Champhai District which comprises 5 Assembly constituencies, MLA votes will be counted at the 2 Counting centres arranged at the District DC office.

Of the counting centre arranged at popularly known Emergency Operation Centre, votes from Lengteng and Tuichang constituencies will be counted, while in Counting Hall II, which is placed at DC Office General Branch, votes from Champhai North, Champhai South and East Tuipui shall be counted.

Each of the two Counting Halls consists of 8 Counting Tables.

In Serchhip district, MLA votes from the 3 assembly constituencies will be counted at two counting halls placed at the deputy commissioner compound.

Votes from Serchhip and Hrangturzo constituencies will be counted at the counting hall placed at the deputy commissioner Conference Hall, while votes from Tuikum constituency will be counted at the counting hall placed at establishment room.

The counting halls are equipped with 8 counting tables each.

Vote counting officials will be given training on December 4 .

In Kolasib distirct which consists of 3 constituencies, votes will be counted at the counting hall arranged at Revenue office.

12 counting tables are being placed in the counting hall.

Counting officials will be given training on December 3 .

In Mamit district, which also comprises 3 assembly constituencies, votes counting will be done at DC conference hall, where counting centre is being arranged.

Counting centre will be equipped with 8 counting tables.

Vote counting officials will get training on December 3 and 5 .

In Lawngtlai, votes will be counted at two places- DC conference hall and BNRGSK hall.

10 counting tables are placed in each of the counting hall.

Counting supervisors and assistants, who have got training once, will get another training once more.

On 20th August, 1961, Dr.Ao was shot and wounded at Mokokchung by an underground gunman while he was on his way home from his pharmacy.

He was taken to the Army Hospital but succumbed to his injuries on 22nd August 1961.Most of these leaders sacrificed, toiled and even risked their precious lives while striving for the cause, though the Naga political issue remained unresolved.

Although the talks between the Naga underground leaders and the Government of India are still going on to find solution, the leaders of NPC were architects and founding fathers of the Nagaland State and it would be only befitting to mention their names on such occasion by the President of India.

source: Newmai News Network

Mizoram Churches Yet To Make Facilities For Disabled

Aizawl, Dec 4 : Mizoram Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities B Sairengpuii today lamented that while different denominations constructed big and expensive churches, they were yet to create facilities for people with disabilities in the churches.

Addressing a function here on the occasion of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Sairengpuii said that there should be facilities in churches and other public places for people on wheelchairs, users of rolators and clutches like ramps and railings.

The function was jointly organised by the state Social Welfare department, the SSA state mission, Health Services, Hospital and Medical Education departments and NIOH North East Regional Centre.

She added that the schemes meant for people with disabilities were being implemented by the Social Welfare department, which was designated as the nodal department by the government.