Day: June 23, 2015

IMPHAL, June 23: Social Welfare minister Ak Mirabai today announced that the second phase of the Indira Gandhi Old Age Pension Scheme will be distributed on June 24 decentralised at the block levels in consideration of the convenience of the pensioners.

She was speaking to media persons at her office chamber today.

Mirabai said during the second phase, pensioners between the age of 60-79 years will receive pension amount of Rs 2,800 for 14 months (January 2014 to February 2015) where as those above the age of 80 years will receive a pension amount of Rs 5,500 for the period January 2014 to November 2014.

The minister also said that pensioners who are yet to get their original pension cards should bring their Aadhar card, bank pass book, voter ID card and two passport photos.

She continued the Indira Ghandhi National Widow Pension scheme and Indira Ghandhi National Disabled Pension Scheme will soon be deposited in the accounts of the beneficiaries at the rate of Rs 300 per month.

Transaction of the same will be for the period of March 2014 to January 2015 for the Indira Ghandhi National Widow Pension Scheme and February 2014 to March 2015 for Indira Gandhi National Disable Pension Scheme.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/06/second-phase-distribution-of-indira-gandhi-old-age-pension-from-today/

KANGPOKPI, June 23: One Associate Pastor and a student were physically assaulted by suspected two KRF cadres this evening at around 5:30 at Motbung bazar.

The Pastor identified as Th. Sho Ramai (35), s/o Thaikho, an Associate Pastor of Poumai Baptist Church, Senapati and his nephew R. Th. Hrangao (25), s/o Thohrii, a student both from Phuba Khuman Village were heading towards Senapati from Imphal when they meted the unfortunate incident.

The Associate Pastor speaking to media person said that when we reached Motbung bazar they

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/06/associate-pastor-charges-krf-cadres-of-assualt/

IMPHAL, June 23: Declaring that the Manipur Regulation of Visitors, Tenants and Migrant Workers Bill, 2015 which was passed during the 10th session of the 10th Manipur Legislative Assembly cannot be implemented in the State, a huge public rally was taken out in Thoubal district today.

Another demand of the demonstrators was a new Bill which could safeguard the existence of the indigenous people of Manipur.

The rally organised by the students and women wings of the Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System with support of the meira paibis, local youth clubs and other organisation of Thoubal district commenced at 11:30am from the campus of the Paradise English School near Waikhom Girls`™ College.

Around 5000 persons including students from schools of the district participated in the rally which commenced from Paradise English School and after passing through Thoubal Keithel continued towards the Deputy Commissioner`™s Office.

The demonstrators also raised slogans demanding withdrawal of the Manipur Regulation of Visitors, Tenants and Migrant Workers Bill, 2015 and for the government to table and pass a Bill which could safeguard the existence of the indigenous population of the State.

Police personnel on guard at the DC office gate followed the rally for some time and prohibited the demonstrators to enter the DC office campus.

The rally then returned to Thoubal Mela ground where a mass public meeting was convened.

The meeting was attended by JCILPS co-convenors Bk Moirangcha, Ratan Khomdram, Somendro Thokchom, Arjun Telheiba and Kheiruddin Shah as presidium members.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/06/rally-taken-out-against-manipur-regulation-of-visitors-tenants-and-migrant-workers-bill-2015/

IMPHAL, June 23: A sit in protest cum public meeting was convened today at the Tokpa Ching Khuman Pokpa community hall raising strong protest against the decision of the State Forest department to translocate the endangered Sangai to Pumlen Pat.

The protest demonstration was jointly organised by the Pumlen Lake Development Organisation and Educational Guide Centre Tokpa Ching, under Hiyanglam Constituency Thoubal District and was attended by around 100 local residents from the surrounding areas.

The demonstrators also shouted slogans demanding protection of the Pumlen Pat and that the people should not be evicted for the sake of Sangai.

Pumlen Lake Development Organisation, general secretary Salam Sunil said the decision of the Manipur Forest department will not safeguard Sangai but will kill it.

The decision is also a threat to people inhabiting the surrounding areas of the lake, he continued.

Questioning how, the department will transport the endangered deer from Keibul Lamjao their natural habitat to Pumlen Pat, he said it will only killed the Sangai.

At the same time, the people living in the surrounding area depends on products from the lake and their evacuation will only mean more hardship for them, he added.

He said instead of wasting huge amount of money in the translocation process, it would be better to develop Sangai`™s natural habitat at Keibul Lamjao.

The government should not compare humans to Sangai, he said.

Speaking on the sideline of the meeting former BJP candidate from Hiyanglam Assembly Constituency, Maibam Dhanabir said he has submitted a proposal note for the Union Minister of Forest and Environment Prakash Javedkar for restoration and conservation of Pumlen Pat in Thoubal district under the National Lake Conservation Plan on March 27, 2014.

He said the note was submitted through BJP Manipur Pradesh general secretary Laimayum Bashanta Sharma.

And after a long gap on May 20 this year, he said he received a reply from the National River Conservation Directorate under Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, in which it was stated that the ministry has not received any project proposal for restoration and conservation of Pumlen Lake in Manipur under NWCP from Manipur government during the faceable year 2015-16 and as such the budget of the NPCA has been reduced from Rs 75 crores (proposed) to Rs 35 crores. He said the amount is not even sufficient for the ongoing sanctioned works and so the proposal of Pumlen Lake will be included in next budget, Dhanabir claimed.

BJP Vision Document chairman Prof Dr RK Ranjan who is also an environmentalist said that all grievances said all these grievances faced by the public is due to the Loktak Project.

He continued the expert team seeking a second home for Sangai in the 1990`™s, had never considered the Pumlen Lake. The team had targeted Moirang Kom, but found it entitled under some associations and had to be discarded, he said.

Pumlen Pat was considered for setting up a Bird Sanctuary Park, but during a survey of the hill in the middle of the lake found human settlement and the project had to be cancelled, he continued.

He continued the phumdis found in Pumlem Pat is not the same variety as those found in Keibul Lamjao and is not suitable for Sangai`™s habitation.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/06/protest-against-proposed-sangai-translocation-to-pumlen-pat-continues/

LAMKA, June 23: Local residents have been repairing a collapsed stretch of the much neglected right side canal of the Khuga Dam since the past one week or so with support from their district council member.

The dam was inaugurated in 2003 by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Saikot ADC member Lalhriliana accompanied by a media team inspected the site where the locals led by the Khuga Right Side Canal Farmers Association are repairing the collapsed stretch of the canal.

The association had also collected Rs 200 per hectare of the 2000 hectare field running along the canal for the repairing work. They were also financially helped by the local ADC member.

Lalhrinliana said he had been championing the cause of the canal for the last five years as a gift to the farmers of his constituency.

He said over the last tenure, he had been meeting ministers, MLAs and others for repairing of the canal though there has been no positive action from the concerned authorities.

However, with support and co-operation from the locals, he said he will continue to urge the government to see reason.

The local MLA had asked him to start work with money from his own pocket, he said.

He said since the crops cultivated in the fields are seasonal, the farmers`™ productivity in the past years had been badly affected due to the yearly collapse of the canal.

Chairman of the Khuga Right Side Canal Farmers Association Vanlalrem of Saikot Village said the problem has become an annual ritual.

He continued the Singat MLA GS Haupu had asked them to gather money on their own and work which has already cost the farmers around Rs 3 lakhs. However, we have never been repaid, he added.

Vice chairman Zammang of Tuaitengphai village also lamented that they had already spent more than Rs 2 lakhs this year alone in the repairing works.

Now we are working on the 100 meter stretch which collapse recently with financial help from the MDC, he contiued.

He further complained that the collapse occur every year due to the sub standard work of the government contractor involved in the initial construction of the canal.

The farmers and the MDC have already approach the Minor Irrigation, IFCD and the concern chief engineers who have all given positive responses but no action till date.

Volunteers working on the repair work were villagers from Daizang Ngurte, Thenmual, Tuibul, Tuaitenngpha, Dumsau, Mualben Khopoibung, Valpakot, Khuangnung Saikot, Mualvaiphei and Rengkai.

A 100 meter stretch of the canal near Daizang Village and Ngurte Village had collapsed recently and the villagers have been working in rotation of 50 villagers a day for about a week, said the secretary of the association.

The work has been conducted with the collection from the villagers and Rs 40000 from the MDC and as of today 90 percent of the work is finished, said the secretary.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/06/local-farmers-repair-collapsed-canal-of-khuga-dam/

By Grace Jajo

IMPHAL June 23: It is imperative to safeguard the sole source of livelihood and green environment not just for the present generation but also for the future generations, replied the wise chief of Haolenphai, Lalkhohun Haokip when a team of women journalist visited his village on June 21 and counter his position against the proposed Smart City in his village.

The apathy of the State government is apparent from the lack of any visible governance in the village which does not even have a Government Primary School despite an official household numbering 82 with a population of above 300.

We have submitted memorandum to the Chief Minister, the Governor and the chief secretary last year, against the proposal which threatens to forcefully acquire a huge area of 3000 acres from our Jhum farms. We are Jhumias and this is the sole livelihood that sustains the people of the village. We have repeatedly appealed to the Government to explore an alternative site instead, he said.

Compensation and Rehabilitation packages cannot ensure the livelihood of the people who would be denied access to this farm lands. If the State government is insensitive to the plight of the people it will be an imposition since this was not our proposal for development, he said with anticipatory apprehension.

He also informed about the support to his position from both Kuki Inpi and Kuki Student Organisation. `How would a `Smart city`™ benefit illiterate villagers who live as farmers by toiling this land? How would we participate in such modernity?` he asked reteriating that land is a more lasting asset for the villagers.

He further explained the misconceptions against Jhum, of adhering strictly to Jhumia norms and the whole regeneration process which has sustained the green environment through the generations.

He continued relating the woes, In this remote periphery international border area, our rights are infringed on various aspects. The Burmese fencing has intruded more than a kilometer within the Indian side, but till date the State Government has not been able to restore our traditional boundary.

It might be mention that following series of report on the encroachment, all Manipur political parties along with several Civil society organizations had surveyed the fencing and accordingly submitted a complaint to the centre. Yet nothing much has followed beyond that and at the ground, Burmese armies has built a bunker and station in the disputed territory on the Indian side.

The chief shares the need to involve the villagers on both side of the border to demarcate the actual traditional boundary and relocate the pillar at the original place.

Haolenphai village inhabited by Kuki community in Chandel is one of the two proposals for Smart cities site in Manipur. Out of the total 100 proposed Smart Cities, only Assam, Sikkim and Manipur were listed.

`Smart City`™ is an initiative by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take the pressure off Indian metros and build 100 new Smart Cities by 2022 that will have supposedly better facilities, better connectivity and better environment. The Smart City vision was announced by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the first Union Budget of NDA government in July last year. Accordingly the Union Cabinet has approved 100 Smart City Projects.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/06/smart-decision-against-the-proposed-smart-city/

IMPHAL, June 23: The Schedule Tribe Demand Committee (STDC) has asserted that it would launch democratic form of agitation if the State government fails to materialise the demand of the committee during the ensuing monsoon session due to be held on June 26.

Speaking to media persons at the Manipur Press Club, retired Colonel L Lokendro, general secretary of STDC stated that as a first phase of their agitation it would organised a mass sit in protest at Keishampat Community hall followed by other forms of agitation thereof.

However, this protest will be peaceful, he said.

It may be recalled that the committee claimed that Meitei are tribal by birth but they are not included in the ST list and categorised under the General category and do not enjoy any constitutional safe guards as indigenous people.

Over 10 lakh odd Meiteis are apprehensive of going extinct from their land over the next 5 to 6 decades due to unabated influx from outside, he said.

Once Meiteis are included in the ST list, their land will have constitutional protection under the fifth schedule which will ally the fear of extinction, he continued.

Substantiating its demand, the committee said that Meiteis are recorded as the main tribe of Manipur under the Province of Assam by the Government of British India as per their 1901 census.

At the same, in Bangladesh Meiteis are included in the list of tribes of the country.

The STDC sees the modalities adopted in Assam and Nagaland as viable solution to their demand.

In Assam there are plains tribes and hills tribe while in Nagaland ST is divided into advance tribe and backward tribe with different quotas besides Article 16(4) empowers State for creation of quota within quota.

It mitigated that the ST quota of 33 percent being enjoyed by the STs in Manipur will continue to be protected under the Article 16(4) even after Manipur becomes a tribal state we are demanding our birth right and protection of our land, it held.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/06/stdc-announces-phasewise-agitation-demanding-st-status-for-meiteis/