Category: KanglaOnline

AIZAWL, June 9(NNN): The 60th North Eastern Council (NEC) meeting is slated to be held on June 16 and 17 in Delhi which is to be attended among others, the chief ministers, governors and chief secretaries of all the North Eastern States including Sikkim.
An official source in the Mizoram government said various topic for over all development of North East including power scenario, education, science and technology, railways, air connectivity, innovation for the North Eastern region, transport and communication in the States, agriculture, sports etc. will be touched upon.
The source said special presentations will be made by Ministry of Power on the Action Plan prepared for the NE region based on the Vision NER 2020 and discussion thereon. Presentation will also be made on Draft Master Plan prepared by the NEC on Tourism in the North Eastern Region as per the NER Vision 2020 (prepared by M/s Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., engaged by NEC) and discussion thereon.  The meeting will dwell on the State Government of Mizoram on the Report prepared on Education Sector in the State. Sam Pitroda, Advisor to Prime Minister and Chairman, National Innovation Council will also present on the Innovation for the North Eastern Region. Mission Director, Mission on Geo Spatial Applications, Ministry of Science and Technology will present on “GIS mapping of social infrastructure in Nagaland and Manipur using 3D terrain models”. Ministry of Railways will also present on the Action Plan prepared for North Eastern Region on the basis of NER Vision 2020 and discussion thereon.
The source then said presentation of awards to the winners of the recently constituted North Eastern Council Chairman’s Sports Award for Excellence will be held. Gold Medalist in the recently held International events such as Common Wealth and Asian Games are being given Rs. 10.00 lakhs for Gold Medal, Rs. 5.00 lakhs for Silver and Rs. 3.00 lakhs for Bronze each.
As a body for planning and execution for over all development of the North East States, the meet is to chaired by Union Minister of DoNER and Chairman, NEC, B.K Handique. Almost all the Hon’ble Governors, Chief Ministers, Chief Secretaries and senior officers have confirmed their participation in the Plenary so far. The August House will dwell on various development activities already undertaken and future course of action to be embarked upon.
It may be mentioned here that NEC has taken giant stride for development of N.E States in area such as Transport and Communication, Power Generation, Industrial Development, Agriculture and Horticulture, Science and Technology, Irrigation, Health Sector, Promotion of Sports, Education, Vocational Trainings for unemployed Youth of North East States. Financial supports to the meritorial students taking up different technical courses etc. Master Plan for Tourism of North East is under preparation.
To uplift and support the meritorious under privileged students of the North East 23 students, (3 each from the seven states and 2 from Sikkim) are being sponsored from this year at the Assam Riffle Public School Laitkor, Shillong. Under the able supervision of the Hon’ble Minister, Dr. T. Ao Football Tournament aptly named after the legendary barefoot Indian Team Captain from the North East was set up. Tournaments will be held in all the North East States on rotation and huge amount of cash prize are also provided.

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IMPHAL, June 10: Decrying government inaction in the case of continued looting at the shops located in the heart of Imphal city and demanding to adequate security today, shopkeepers and owners in the Paona Bazaar area staged a protest by pulling down shutters today. 

The protest of the Paona bazaar shopkeepers and owners was staged following another incident of theft at the high security bazar area.

‘Mobile planet’ belonging to one Y Surjit of Uripok dealing in mobile phone handset was found looted this morning and following the incident all shops shut down shutters to mark a protest.

Speaking to media person he said that he found his shop looted by unknown persons this early morning at around 6:30 after he was informed by his  friends which is located under the city police station in heart of the Imphal city.

He further said that the looters had carried away various company phone including high rate and low which Nokia, Samsung, LG Max and others, cost round about 9.65 lakhs. And further said that it is very unfortunate to say that how such thing is happen inside the present of tight security management in heart of Imphal city. And appealed the concerned authority to tighten up security measurement in the heart of Imphal city in the interest of business persons.

In the meantime it may be mentioned that yesterday two electronic enterprises ‘Sunrise and Chongtham Brothers’ located in Paona bazaar under the city police was also found looted.

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IMPHAL, June 15: Weeks have past since the blast occurred at the ADC office Khuman Lampak leaving three women of a family injured however the ill-fated family has been left on their own without a single financial or physical help from the government.

The victims, Neichin Singson along with her mother, Holdim alias Boinu Singson and elder sister Lucy were rushed to the JNIMS after bomb splinters inflicted injuries when a powerful bomb ripped through the campus of the ADC office at Khuman Lampak on May 28.

Even as the condition of Boinu (mother) and Lucy are stated to be stable, Neichin’s condition is far from improving.

The blast left Neichin’s abdomen open exposing her intestine. Doctors had to operate on her for about 7 hours. Her mother sustained splinter injury on her head and Lucy on her right shoulder.

Talking to IFP Lalboi Singson, a fourth grade employee of the PWD, said that a team of cabinet ministers which included DD. Thaisii, K. Ranjit, L. Jayenta Kumar and MPCC president Gaikhangam visited the family on the ill fated day. During their visit they assured the family not to worry as the government will give necessary assistance without any failure.

But no help of any form from the government has been received by the family, he said.

“My youngest daughter Neishi has been complaining of pain and wanting to have solid food, on the other hand the doctors said that my wife should be operated again for a metal piece is still embedded inside her head”.

“I don’t know what to say, I feel so lost since the incident occurred”, said Lalboi Singson with a sigh.

Our family has been victimized between a war of the government and anti-government elements but we are left to handle this like our personal problem, lamented Lalboi drawing the attention of the government to look into the grievances of the family.

Lalboi is the sole bread earner of the family of eight members including 6 children.

The family have so far received monetary help of rupees 19,000 from the pocket money of the minister who visited them, 10,800 rupees from the St. John School, New Lambulane, where Neiching and Lucy is studying and a sum of Rs 20, 000 each from four ADC members.

The family has spent around 70,000 rupees in the treatment of the three injured members with what ever is with them. Besides human casualty a Kawashaki bike was also damage beyond redemption, said Lalboi.

It may be recalled that a powerful bomb exploded in the campus of the temporary office of ADC located at Khuman Lampak on June 28 morning around 9:45 am. Police claimed that the bomb was fitted in car. However the motive behind the attack is yet to be ascertained as no individual or organization has so far claim responsibility for the attack.

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In 2006 Literature Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk’s “The Black Book” there is a passage describing the relationship between Turkish Jews and the Turks, dominantly Muslims. Both are the same people, yet both are so different in their outlook to life, for reasons unfathomable. Describing the situation he says: “And wasn’t it amazing, just amazing, to watch these two peoples through the twentieth century swaying to the rhythm of the same secret music, never meeting, always at a tangent, forever linked, forever condemned, like a pair of hopeless twins.” The great thing about great quotes is, they seem so uncannily applicable to similar human situations everywhere. Pamuk’s quote hence may just as well have been about Manipur and the relations between different ethnic groups and different geographic regions of the state, in particular the much hyped hill-valley divide.

Yesterday this tangential show of interests was up for show. While in the valley, the June 18 uprising anniversary was being observed, an extraordinary event in which hundreds of thousand people took to the streets of Imphal in 2001 to protest what they believed was a move by the Central government to dismember Manipur’s historical territory, elsewhere the United Naga Council, UNC, dispatched a letter to the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, seeking an administrative arrangement separate from the Manipur government for the Nagas in what they consider as their traditional territorial domain. It may be recalled, the June 18, 2001 incident that followed the Government of India’s unilateral decision to extend the NSCN(IM) ceasefire into Manipur under the blanket clause “without territorial limits”, resulted in the death of 18 protestors and the burning down of several important government infrastructures, including the Manipur State Assembly building. It is pertinent to note here that one of the main demands of the NSCN(IM) is the formation of a Greater Nagaland by merging territories of Manipur and other neighbouring states which it considers as part of a traditional Naga homeland with the state of Nagaland. In 2010 May 6 again there was another confrontation when the Manipur government did not allow the NSCN(IM) chairman, Th. Muivah to enter Manipur to visit his village Somdal in Ukhrul, leading to agitations at Mao gate in which two protestors ended up killed. At the time, the Manipur government was pushing ahead with the election to the autonomous district councils, ADCs, in the hill districts, which for reasons of their own, the UNC and some other Naga organisations objected, and the government was apprehensive Muivah’s visit was timed to coincide with the agitation, among others. It may also be recalled that while sections of the Nagas objected to the ADC elections, other hill communities welcomed it.

What can anybody make of this friction, other than what Pamuk described as “always at a tangent, forever linked, forever condemned, like a pair of hopeless twins”? If the problem seems intractable and irreconcilable, think again. It just requires for all caught in this senseless trap to distance themselves a little from the immediate and from a detached vantage, take a more dispassionate look at these same issues. From such a vantage, these frictions would suddenly begin to appear extremely limited, and this is probably also why so many observers from outside this conflict theatre are unable to comprehend how these conflicts manage to sustain for so long, for the reasons behind them appear to them as easily reconcilable. Those of us immersed in these frictions know very well how very far the truth this observation is. However, the question worth considering is whether it is these observations which are limited in vision, or else it is the inability of parties in these frictions who are incapable of rising above the immediate and mundane, to see and think outside the box. While we have always been of the opinion that there has to be a balance between the objective and subjective visions for a more accurate assessment of any conflict situation, it must also be acknowledged this also implies that either of these visions can come to overbear on the other thus skewing up these assessments. At this moment, it does seem there is an excessive and indeed unhealthy tilt towards a myopic subjectivism dominating the professed logics behind these conflicts.

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IMPHAL, June 20: The villagers of Nungba has strongly urged the government to remove former secretary of Nungba Village Authority, Dimthaorei Gangmei from the government gazette alleging that the former secretary has misappropriated huge amount of funds under MNREGS.

A press meet was held in this connection at Nungba area jointly organised by the Nungba Village Authority, Nungba Bazaar Board and customary court Nungba Sub-division Head Quarter.

Speaking at the meet Bandai Kamei, secretary of the customary court alleged that a huge amount of fund was misappropriated by Dimathaorei Gangmei, for works taken up under MGNREGS, 2009-10 and 2010-11.

Bandai Kamei also informed that the former secretary had withdrawn an amount of Rs. 15.80 lakhs for construction of five sub-standard culvert along the Burma Road (inter village circular road) without the knowledge of the concerned organization within the area. He said that the incident happened during the tension surrounding the appointment of the Nungba Village Authority chairman.

Bandai maintained that under the construction scheme 40 percent of the fund was meant for material components which also includes skilled labours but the Dimathaorei manipulated it by entrusting job card holders to do the construction work instead of the skilled labours.

He further alleged that even though the funds allotted include construction of tanks and for water pipes, the tanks were never constructed.

On May 16 Dimthaorei was expelled by a general body meeting of the various Nungba unit organisations for his failure to give his statement on the alleged misappropriation and lack of transparency. A social audit public hearing was also conducted before his expulsion, said Bandai.

Alung Kamei was elected by the people of Nungba as the secretary of the village authority however the government did not removed Dimthaorei from the gazette of the government, further revealed Bandai Kamei. He urged the government to remove the fraud immediately in the interest of people which has created a sense of confusion between the people and may result in unwanted disturbances in the area.

Ngankeilak Kamei, member of Bazaar board stated that usually the culvert constructed by Dimthaorei cost below Rs one lakh.

He said the work was implemented without maintaining any transparency and knowledge of the people or the various social bodies of Nungba. The people here including the social bodies have no idea how the culvert should be build per the work provision as no one has been informed of it, Ngankeilak maintained.

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By Amar Yumnam
During the second and third century of the Christian era, there were religious leaders who professed that revelation was the ultimate and philosophy did not have any more role to play in human life. They characterised Aristotle as wretched assuming that since the God had spoken directly, the period of philosophising was to be given a burial. They simply ignored the fact that the rationality of the antiquity founded on the rational mind of the Greek philosophers was the strength of the contemporary religion itself; the two were not to be considered as complements at all they felt. The absurdity of this approach is being revealed by contemporary researches in Economics, Sociology, History and philosophy.

Why The Reference: Now I must explain why I have taken this reference to the denial of relevance of antiquity as possessing any explanatory value in understanding a society and the contemporary attempts to restore and re-appreciate the value of antiquity in understanding a contemporary society. The reason is to be found in happenings at home. In recent years, Manipur has been characterised by moves and counter-moves to destroy or rescue the future of the land. While the move to wreck the future of the land as an entity is founded more on not-so old religious-politico arguments, the counter-move for rescue is founded on antiquity.

Politics Without Antiquity: I understand that certain developments in the wake of the beginning of Hinduism in Manipur and post-merger policy failures in the development front have caused ruptures in the original spirits that animated the traditional societal life of the land and people of Manipur. But the question to be answered is: Can we really write off our antiquity and simply start off with a new history? Are there examples of successful civilisations not founded on antiquity, or development experiences sustained only on contemporaneous religio-politico arguments? Can a newly-found rationale serve at all as the soul of a society in place of the antiquity? These are simple as well as serious issues to ponder for while emotions may succeed to create a society temporarily, the long run costs are huge. Here we have many lessons to absorb from the developmental failures and lapses of Indian policy-making in this part of the country.

A land is much more than the geography and form of administrative relations, and it involves people and their history based on the strength of antiquity. Examples are hard to find where mid-course reasons and arrangements evolved out of those have served the cause of a sustainable society. In a world with intensifying interactions and increasingly heterogeneous population groupings, there is little else which can serve as the binding soul of a society than the shared antiquity. This is because it is only antiquity which can serve as the specific foundations of any civilisation and development; newer arrangements can hardly be so in this highly interconnected world. Defending a development and a civilisation based on antiquity is definitely much simpler than sustaining one based on newly articulated rationale. The new articulations naturally are a product of the mind of a few, and it may never attain the status and power of the shared antiquity. We should remember that there are lots to be engaged and miles to go before we can make ourselves fully competitive with the rest of the world.

Here we mayrecall the Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle. He had advised us that a societyand a state has a tendency to persist along with the initial and inherentqualities. A successful republic has necessarily to be founded on the virtuesof the people, and a bad moral state is difficult to modify if once created. Antiquityhas been accepted as the best foundation for the generation of the virtues ofthe people, and not transient arrangements. There are always issues for leadingthe individual as well as the collective mind successfully and unitedly towardsa common goal. And the question remains: Can we at all create a common goalwhich is fully cut-off from the antiquity?

ManipurToday: Manipur today stands at a historical juncture wherewe need to mobilise our individual and collective energies to take on the worldwith confidence by reinvigorating our strengths and ameliorating ourweaknesses. In fact, the land and the people here have no alternative to thisroute. There is neither space nor necessity now for converting thefamiliarities into problematic. The only option now is to evolve a successful arrangementbased on the familiarities. We cannot and should not subject the people anymore to issues of doubts about the outcomes of the proposed alterations torelationships, for the world today is for preparation for competition and notfor articulations along ethnicity, groups or such partisanship.

When theforce of antiquity is destroyed, the time to generate another force as a successfulreplacement would take centuries. No group, ethnic or otherwise, in Manipurtoday can afford to waste time and energy for the generation of this new forcein place of the antiquity. We are already far behind in the global race fordevelopment, and time is not on our side.

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IMPHAL, July 5: Security forces have arrested three persons belonging to different UG groups from various parts of the state.

Imphal East Police Commandos today arrested one PREPAK (GS) cadre, identified as one Laikhuram Pritobrata alias Nanao alias Hotenao alias Lakpa, 26, s/o (late) L Samungou of Kongba Khaidem Leikai from Kongpal Bridge at 5:30 am.

According to a release of the SSP Imphal East, the arrested person disclosed that he was involved in  extrotion from the general public and also in hurling hand grenades and transportation of arms and ammunitions.

In another incident, Thoubal Police Commandos arrested one KYKL cadre from Ningel village on July 4 at 2:50 pm, identified as one Moirangthem Ningthembi Singh alias Ningthem alias Roshan, 32, s/o Moirangthem Shyamkanhai Singh of Ningel Maning Leikai.

One 9mm pistol along with magazine containing two live rounds were recovered from his possession, informed a release of SP Thoubal.

43 Assam Rifles apprehended one KRF cadre, identified as one s/s sergeant major T Dinten Doungel, 25, s/o Paolen Doungel, r/o Saparmaina today in a joint operation with Imphal west police commandos.

One revolver with incriminating documents were recovered from the possession of the apprehendee, said a release of PRO PIB (Defence Wing).

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