Manipur News – Page 13404 – www.manipur.org/news

UTLA chief, body guard surrender

Security forces of Red Shield Division accomplished yet another milestone towards ushering peace and harmony in Manipur by facilitating surrender of a top UTLA leader along with his bodyguard on September 20, informed a PIB DW statement Source Th…

Read more / Original news source: http://e-pao.net/ge.asp?heading=15&src=210912

Do not play with people’s verdict

UPA Government at the centre will last full term. There is no doubt about it. A vast country like India having more than one billion people cannot afford unstable Government. Hence the call for having political parties that can take care of the need for all people irrespective of cast creed and religion. Fortunately Congress party, which has its root spread over to every nook and corner of the country, has been entrusted with the task of providing effective administration in the country. Always remember people’s verdict is for carrying out administration for five years term not for two years. No political party has the right to play with people’s verdict. Mamta’s Trinamol Congress by intensifying the stand to withdraw support to the UPA has given a negative image of her party to the people of the country. Left Front suffered colossal loss in the recent election for withdrawing support to the UPA (I). The same fate will fall on Trinamol Congress when elections are held after two years. Our people want existence of stable and powerful Government at the centre. Every political party has a role to play in the installation of stable and powerful Government. People are fed up with experiment. Time tested political party must rule over the country. For getting foothold and survival some political parties uphold regionalism, no wonder such parties remain as regional parties. Likewise parties that indulge in caste based politics too remain as state party. We had tested Janata regime in the late seventies and NDA in the early part of this century. In between there had been third front Government also. The lesson learnt from all these experiments though minor was of great significance. Political parties that could not ensure stable administration dug its own grave for self burial. Such parties were uprooted even from the soil of the country. NDA led by BJP could last the allotted full term but the parties in league with BJP suffered rejection by voters. There is reason behind that no political party exists to serve the interest of one single community. Muslims constitute 30 percent of the Indian population. No political party, rejected by this 30 percent will do well in electoral politics. BJP cannot win the confidence of all these communities other than Hindu. The five year term BJP ruled over the country had revealed the agenda of the party. It could not maintain safe distance from the communalists. Hindu fanatics dictate the terms to be followed by BJP. If the party wants to act as alternative to the Congress party it must change its outlook. That however is easier said than done. Because these forces keep the party alive. Minus these forces the party will be reduced to the status of early eighties when it had only 2 MPs in the Lok Sabha. The question now is which party will be able to provide stable Government at the centre if Congress is to be ousted from power. SP, or BSP supported by other smaller parties. That sounds funny. The situation occurring in different states stand in the way of these smaller parties going together. Therefore withdrawal of support creates more confusion than good. Hence the call for reviewing withdrawal of support to UPA by Trinamol Congress.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/do-not-play-with-peoples-verdict/

President to flag off Mt. Everest Expedition

MNS:- President of India Pranab Mukherjee will flag off the 1st North East India on top of the world (Mt. Everest) expedition from the Forecourt of Rastrapati Bhavan, New Delhi on 20th March 2013 at 1200 Hours. This is as per the confirmation from the communication dated: 15* September 2012 received from the office of the President of India.
Shri 0. Ibobi Singh, Chief Minister, Manipur is the Chief Patron of the expedition along with Shri. D.S. Poonia; Chief Secretary, Government of Manipur as the Chef de- Mission.
The First North East India on top of the World (Mt. Everest) Expedition is the first ever Mt. Everest expedition comprising of team members from North East India. The team members comprises resident of North East India. This mission is to be funded by NEC, Shillong under the abled guidance of Planning Department, Government of Manipur and executed under the leadership and command of Manipur Mountaineering and Trekking Association (MMTA), Manipur.
The significance of the First North East India on top of the world (Mt. Everest) Expedition is;
This is the first Expedition comprising exclusively of the Mountaineers
of North East India.
Mrs. Anshu Jamsenpa, the first lady from Arunachal Pradesh, who has
scaled Mt. Everest twice in the history is part of the climber Team to
create history for the third time.
Mr. N. Chinkheinganba, 15 year old boy, on completion of the
expedition will be the youngest to scale the Mt. Everest.
First expedition to be executed under the leadership of a State
Government.
Currently the participants are on a pre- Everest expedition to Mt. Papsura Peak (6445 meter) of Himachal Himalaya.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/president-to-flag-off-mt-everest-expedition/

Top utla leader surrender

Security Forces of the Red Shield Division accomplished yet another milestone in ensuring peace and harmony in Manipur by facilitating the surrender of Top UTLA leader along with his bodygurard on 20 September 12. The militant leader identified as Pao Khulen, 73 is a resident of Village K Daiveijang of Tamenglong Dist and is the Founder and Advisor of UTLA, presently working with the SK Thadou Faction. His bodyguard has been identified as Mimin (24) and is resident of Moreh Ward No 7 of Chandel Dist.
Pao Khulen stated that he, along with few other leaders and cadres of UTLA (SK Thadou) were looking forward to join the mainstream of the society through peace talks with the government. After last month’s incident of five cadres surrendering to security Forces in Jiribam region the individual along with his bodyguard was Convinced to surrender to the personnel of Red Shield Division who were actively involved in process of peace talks between UTLA (SK Thadou) and the government. The two surrendered militants also laid down their weapons in front of the security forces which includes one 9mm pistol with six rounds and a carbine with magazine and eleven rounds.

Security Forces under the Red Shield Division, apprehended three cadres of breakaway faction of HPC (D) (Lalminthang Faction) on 20 September 2012. Based on specific intelligence regarding presence of some cadres in general area village Khomoi in Churachandpur district, a joint operation was launched by Security forces and apprehended three cadres of breakaway faction of HPC (D). The cadres were later identified as Ram Chuallo Singson, Son of Lenkhosang Singson, Resident of Rawvakwat, Parbung Sub Div, Kennedy Hmar, Son of Late Beakval, Resident of Maulean, Parbung Sub–Div and Ruolaninlal Puralte @ Harman, Son of Late Tlanseam, Resident of Lungthungling, Parbung Sub-Div. One 7.65mm pistol with 07 live rounds and one 9mm pistol with 02 live rounds were recovered from their possession. The apprehendees along with the recoveries were later handed over to Imphal West Police Station.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/top-utla-leader-surrender/

Mizoram to start trade relations with Bangladesh

AIZAWL, Sept 20 NNN : High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh Pankaj Saran had discussed with Mizoram chief minister Lal Thanhawla on Wednesday on issues related to trade with Bangladesh. The two focused on measures in this connection.
Before leaving Mizoram today, Pankaj Saran also met the Governor of Mizoram and also state Trade & Commerce minister Lalrinliana Sailo, the state chief secretary and the state Director General of Police and discussed with them separately on issues related to the trade with the neighbouring country.
During the meeting with chief secretary L Tochhong, the High Commissioner was briefed in detail about Mizoram and its society. L Tochhong explained to Pankaj Saran about the culture and tradition of Mizoram. She also told the High Commissioner on the important role plays by Young Mizo Association (YMA) in Mizoram. Pankaj Saran was also briefed by the chief secretary on the flora and the fauna found in Mizoram. The High Commissioner was reported to have told the state chief secretary that Mizoram is a nice and peaceful state.
During the meeting with Mizoram Trade and Commerce minister Lalrinliana Sailo, the High Commissioner was informed by the former about the several initiatives that had been taken for the India-Bangladesh trade through Mizoram. The Mizoram minister told the visiting High Commissioner that for the construction of the Integrated Check Post (ICP) about 65 bighas of land will be required at Kawrpuichhua and that, for the same Land Lease Certificate has been submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the approval of the MHA is now awaited.
Lalrinliana also mentioned about the initiative being taken for the construction of RCC double lane bridge at Thekka river which will connect to important trade centre Thega Bazar (Thegamugh). The Mizoram minister then apprised to the High Commissioner about the need to ask Bangladesh government for the construction of road for connecting Thekkamukh and Chittagong Hill Tracts headquarters Rangamati, and road for connecting Thegamukh and Barkal Upazila headquarters through Chhotokorina.
Lalrinlians Sailo then said that for the construction of four border haats the state government had submitted the needful to the Ministry of Commerce & Industry and Ministry of DoNER.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/mizoram-to-start-trade-relations-with-bangladesh/

Rape of woman protested

Imphal, Sept 20: Womenfolks of Wangkhei Ayangpalli Kongpal Mutum Leikai in Imphal East district under the aegis of Joint Action Committee (JAC) seeking justice for the alleged rape of a married woman on Thursday held a protest dharna demanding the victim’s husband be paraded before them.
Thokchom Ghanashyam, the husband of the woman is now at large since his father named Th Ratankumar allegedly raped his wife on September 14 last. Ratankumar is now in judicial custody facing charges of raping his in-law.
The women protesters demanded prompt action against the victim’s husband for being an absconder and that he must be handed over to the JAC. Rs 50 lakh should also be given to the victim as compensation, they demanded and asked whether Ghanashyam is a co-accused in the rape case.
Ch Boiyai, secretary of the JAC said the ongoing agitation will not withdraw until the father and son is punished.
The women demonstrators also held placards which read “respect dignity of women,” punish the rapist” and “Don’t take women as toys.”
A large number of people, mostly women including the JAC members attacked the rape accused after storming the Cheirap Court yesterday where he was presented and sent to judicial custody.
Allegations have been made against Ratankumar that he had raped his daughter-in-law in a hotel at North AOC in Imphal. It had been reported in most of the Imphal local dailies that Sarita stayed at her parental’s home on September 13 in connection with the Panchayat polls held on the same day and that her father-in-law came to take her the next day when the incident happened.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/rape-of-woman-protested/

Church bodies to check election vices

Dimapur/Aizawl, Sept 20 NNN: Church organizations in the Christian dominated states of Nagaland and Mizoram are pulling up their loins to ensure for the ‘free and fair’ assembly elections in these two states.
Assembly elections in Mizoram and Nagaland are just few months away and the Church in these two North Eastern states are deeply concerned about it as election times means wild parties, violence, money power displays, feastings and other activities which are hard to be accepted by a decent society.
In Mizoram, the church sponsored Mizoram People’s Forum (MPF) is spending sleepless nights while chalking out strategies for the campaign to ensure ‘free and fair’ assembly election due sometimes in February. In Nagaland, the apex church body of the state Nagaland Baptist Churches Council (NBCC) has just lighted its torch last evening christened as ‘Clean Election Torch’ in the state capital Kohima. Church leaders will light their own torches from this ‘Clean Election Torch’ and carry them to their respective churches or associations and from there the process of lighting of torches and transferring will continue till the village level.
Under the theme, ‘Clean Election and Environment,’ the church leaders of different denominations of Nagaland resolved last evening to fervently carry out the ‘Clean Election’ movement to the district levels and then to the village level.
In Mizoram, the Mizoram People’s Forum (MPF) which is sponsored by the Church had campaigned in the last Mizoram assembly election where it had issued ‘Dos and Don’ts’ to the political parties and the general public. Grand feastings, distributing of money, wild parties, etc., etc., were some of the restrictions issued by the MPF in the 2008 Mizoram assembly elections.
The MPF has been considered as the only genuine election watchdog in Mizoram by the people.
This time round, the MPF has begun its activities campaigning to ensure for the ‘free and fair’ assembly election.
Mizoram Peoples’ Forum (MPF), had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with major political parties in Mizoram so that free and fair elections could be held. The memorandum of understanding is nothing but rule for co-operation by the political parties with the Mizoram People’s Forum.
The parties which had signed the MoU with the state election watchdog are Mizoram Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC), Mizo Peoples Convention (MPC), Zoram National Party (ZNP), Mizo National Front (MNF) and the BJP for co-operation at Synod Committee Hall in Aizawl.
About 27 rules have been made by the MPF for the political parties to abide. Among the 27 points, one is that the political parties should only make an election manifesto which they can implement. If any political party violates any one of the 27 points, the MPF will “invalid” that party.
Some of the rules are that every party will try their best to have free and fair election; only the citizens of India should cast their votes; no political party should drop the voters to their polling stations by means of a vehicle; the MPF will check whether any one indulges in demanding money to the candidates and to the political parties; house to house campaign is allowed till 10 days before the election; “selling and buying” of votes are strictly prohibited and no candidate should distribute some material like silpaulin, Jersy, football, mobile handset, government schemes etc.; no protest rally should be organised 10 days before the election; a fixed number of banners, flags, posters are to be used by the parties.
The MPF is very influential and the people in the state have high regard for the Forum for its impartiality.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/church-bodies-to-check-election-vices/

Godown at Tamenglong demanded

TAMENGLONG, Sept 20 NNN: Various organisations of Tamenglong district have threatened to launch series of agitation in the event of the failure from the government side to construct a 5000 metric tone capacity godown in the district headquarters.
Zeliangrong Women Union (Manipur), Zeliangrong Youth Front of Tamenglong Zone, Village Authority Council (Tamenglong) and Zeliangrong Students Union of Tamenglong District affirmed to begin their agitation from October 11 including economic blockade, bandhs and other forms of agitation if the government continues to be adamant to their long time demand to have a 5000 MT capacity godown.
In a joint memorandum submitted to the district deputy commissioner yesterday, the four Zeliangrong based organisations cited the reason that the sole purpose to have such a godown has been to have food security. “We came to learn that this matter has been dragging on too long since the year 2010 without according due attention despite the Honourable Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had given clear direction to the state government to complete the construction of the said 5000 MT capacity godown in each district headquarters,” pointed out the four organisations in the joint memorandum.
It then stated that the godown should be located only in the district headquarters ‘for obvious reason’.
Delaying to address the matter will invite public fury, added the four Zeliangrong bodies.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/godown-at-tamenglong-demanded/

Laboratory technician workshop

Mail News Service
Imphal, Sep 20 : Prof S. Sekharjit, Director of RIMS, exhorted the laboratory technicians to work for the eradication of the dreaded disease, AIDS, not only fr6m the earth but from the universe. Small pox had been eradicated and we should be able to do so with AIDS, he said. He was speaking in the inaugural function of the two day Good Laboratory Practice training programme in the Jubilee hall today. Altogether 17 laboratory technicians from Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura, Mizoram, West Bengal and Assam are participating in the training programme.
Pointing out that the incidence of AIDS in Manipur is alarming he said that such training should be extended to all laboratory technicians for the benefit of the people. Prof Ng Brajachand, HOD of Microbiology department said that there are five FACS centres in the country and RIMS is one of the proud centres. It was opened in April 2002. He said that such a training programme is organised at least one in a year as per guidelines of the NACO. He also made a power point presentation of the programme during his key note address.
Officials of MACS were also present in the brief function. They said that though the population of Manipur constitutes 0.2% the percentage in the country of HIV infection percentage in the state is 12. There are 8700 persons on ART medication. The silver lining is that the percentage of HIV transmission from mother to child in Manipur is 3 whereas it is 12 in all India context.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/laboratory-technician-workshop/

UNLF warns people of proxy war

Mail News Service
Imphal, Sep 20 : Extortion, bomb attacks at residential areas are all handiworks of troops and those who took part in surrender drama the UNLF today alleged. It labelled them as ‘Tamnalai’ (ghost). The ghosts were used to carry out proxy war by arming them.
Fake encounters reported during the last one and half month have also exposed everything. Manipur Police personnel allegedly killing S Tongpu in fake encounter on Aug 28 at Senjam Chiraang for alleged involvement in kidnapping of Mangalam plywood factory, accountant Radhakrishna.
It was further charged that Tongpu was called out by two surrendered cadres who were staying at AR post. It further alleged that two girls from Leimaram were kept by an AR Major.
On Sep 5 at Khokan Khul, Takhellambam Romeo and Laishram Rajeswar were killed. On Sep 16 Takhellambam Govin was killed after being called out by Aken who had taken part in a surrender function. Many youths are kept in AR camps by luring them with job. If they can not be used they are killed by branding them as militants it was alleged.
The troops can not give fitting reply for all the activities it was claimed.
Should people remain silent it was asked. There are people who can sell off their freedom for money but national freedom can not be compromised it was added. Divisive forces can be defeated by the people said Ksh Yoiheiba, Senior Publicity Officer , UNLF in a statement today.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/unlf-warns-people-of-proxy-war/

Two involved in Heirok blasts held

Mail News Service
Imphal, Sep 20 : Two persons involved in Heirok attack in which a BSF man was injured were nabbed today. IGAR S today said in a press statement taht discovering the movement of two suspicious persons who were planning to carry out attacks on security personnel, the troops of 15 Assam Rifles and Thoubal police commandos at qq am launched a joint operations in Heirok II ,today.
On seeing the troops approaching them, one of the suspects started running and the effective cordon, laid by the security personnel apprehended him. On seeing this one more person hiding in the nearby paddy fields ran throwing suspicious objects in the paddy fields and was chased and apprehended.On the spot interrogation, the individuals were identified as Oinam Beanrjit Meetei @ Abungo@ Bomcha,18 yrs, s/o Oinam John, r/o of Moreh, ward No 7, Heinoumakhong, an active member of KCP (Noyon)under CORCOM and Laishram Budha Singh,27 yrs, s/o Laishram Ingocha, r/o Heirok II Thokchom Lekai group under CORCOM.
The initial interrogation revealed their links with the ied blast on 14 sep12 in Heirok II, wounding a BSF Jawan. They also revealed that they were detailed to lob grenades on SF in Thoubal and Imphal and also to plant IED on NH 102. After thorough search of the area, the troops recovered 2 kgs of plastic explosive, 4 Chinese Hand Grenades and one 9 mm Pistol. .

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/two-involved-in-heirok-blasts-held/

On reaching another milestone – E-Pao.net

On reaching another milestoneE-Pao.netIndeed, in the timeline of journalism in Manipur, four years may be just a tiny speck, too short and insignificant even to be counted. But within this short period, the English edition of Hueiyen Lanpao has not onl…

On reaching another milestone
E-Pao.net
Indeed, in the timeline of journalism in Manipur, four years may be just a tiny speck, too short and insignificant even to be counted. But within this short period, the English edition of Hueiyen Lanpao has not only been able to carve out a niche for …

and more »

Manipur’s Oriental School triumphs – The Hindu

The HinduManipur's Oriental School triumphsThe HinduA tactically brilliant Oriental English School, Manipur, got the better of Government Mizo High School, Mizoram, by a solitary goal to become the first girls' under-17 champion in the Subroto …

The Hindu

Manipur's Oriental School triumphs
The Hindu
A tactically brilliant Oriental English School, Manipur, got the better of Government Mizo High School, Mizoram, by a solitary goal to become the first girls' under-17 champion in the Subroto Cup football tournament at the Ambedkar Stadium here on …

and more »

NE Mt Everest expedition – Assam Tribune

NE Mt Everest expeditionAssam Tribune“This is as per the communication dated September 15 received from the office of the President of India,”says PRO Santosh Sekhar of the NE expedition. Manipur Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh is the chief patron of …

NE Mt Everest expedition
Assam Tribune
“This is as per the communication dated September 15 received from the office of the President of India,”says PRO Santosh Sekhar of the NE expedition. Manipur Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh is the chief patron of the expedition along with State Chief …

and more »

Four Kuki rebels held, arms seized – The Hindu

Four Kuki rebels held, arms seizedThe HinduAssam Rifles personnel have arrested four armed cadres of a Kuki tribal underground organisation in Manipur's Churachandpur district on the charge of violating ground rules of suspension of operations sign…

Four Kuki rebels held, arms seized
The Hindu
Assam Rifles personnel have arrested four armed cadres of a Kuki tribal underground organisation in Manipur's Churachandpur district on the charge of violating ground rules of suspension of operations signed with the Union government, an official …

Antony Inaugurates 31st Coast Guard Commanders’ Conference

MNS:- Defence Minister Shri AK Antony has said that the role of fishing community is vital in strengthening of coastal security mechanism. Inaugurating the three-day long, 31st Annual Coast Guard Commanders’ Conference here today, he said that community interaction programme is to be given impetus in order to sensitize the fishing community on the prevailing security situation and to develop them to be the “eyes and ears” for intelligence gathering.
Highlighting the expansion and strengthening of the Coast Guard, he said, the Coast Guard Development Plan have been approved and adequate funds have been provided. Shri Antony said, “The service is on course to double its assets and capacity building in the next four-five years. A Coast Guard Regional Headquarters (North East) and five Coast Guard Stations have been established. By the end of the current financial year, another six sanctioned stations are also likely to be established”.Adding further, he said that the phase-I of the Coastal Surveillance Network project is nearing completion. He said the system will indeed provide additional measures towards electronic surveillance.
“We aim to achieve near-gap-free electronic surveillance along our coasts and towards this end, Phase-II of the project will be started soon after the completion of the first phase”, he remarked. He commended all the Coast Guard personnel for their commitment, courage and involvement while discharging their duties and said “maritime security infrastructure, as it stands today, is quite robust and capable of handling various security challenges at sea”.
The Director General, Indian Coast Guard, Vice Admiral MP Muralidharan, in his address highlighted the progress made by the Coast Guard in acquisition cases of various types of ships and aircrafts, development of infrastructure, induction of manpower in the service and enhanced efforts for surveillance of the coast and the sea areas. 01 Pollution Control Vessel, 04 Inshore Patrol Vessels, 02 Air Cushion Vessels, 01 Interceptor Boat and 04 Interceptor Crafts have been inducted into the service. He said that the Coast Guard aims to achieve a force level of 150 surface platforms by the year 2018.
One Dornier Squadron has been established at Porbandar since the last Commanders` Conference. Establishing of 02 Air Stations, 05 Air Enclaves and 04 Dornier Squadrons has also been prioritized.
The conference will help the Coast Guard Commanders in analysis of the operational capabilities, deployment of forces and preparations for the future challenges. It will also provide an opportunity to the Commanders to introspect the standards achieved in the wide spectrum of Coast Guard responsibilities.

Integration of Ayush in Health Care System under National Rural Health Mission

MNS:- After the launch of NRHM, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has taken several steps for strengthening health care facilities by integrating AYUSH systems in national health care delivery systems. The integration is facilitated by appointing or co-locating AYUSH doctors & supporting staff and creating infrastructure according to local needs.
There were 640 districts, 6431 blocks and 638588 villages incorporating 605 District Hospitals (DHs), 4535 Community Health Centres (CHCs) and 23673 Primary Health Centres (PHCs) till March 2011. Out of these, AYUSH facilities had been co-located with 416 District Hospitals, 2942 Community Health Centres and 9559 Primary Health Centres during 2011. About 68.76% District hospitals had been co-located with AYUSH facilities till 2011. All the District hospitals existing in the states and union territories of Goa, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Lakshadweep and Puducherry had been co-located with AYUSH facilities, whereas, the states having more than 50% of the District hospitals co-located with AYUSH facilities were Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttarakhand., There had been no co-location of AYUSH facilities in the Districts hospitals of the remaining 12 states and union territories.
Nearly 65% Community Health Centre’s had been co-located with AYUSH facilities till 2011. All the CHCs existing in the states and union territories of Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Nagaland, Orissa, Manipur, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu, Lakshadweep and Puducherry had been co-located with AYUSH facilities., whereas, the states having more than 50% of the CHCs co-located with AYUSH facilities were Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Punjab, Tripura and West Bengal. The states having more than 25% but less than 50% of the CHCs co-located with AYUSH facilities were Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan. The states having less than 25% CHCs co-located with AYUSH facilities were Madhya Pradesh only. No co-location of AYUSH facilities had been observed in CHCs in the remaining 8 states and union territories.
About 40.4% Primary Health Centre’s had been co-located with AYUSH facilities till 2011. All the PHC existing in the Union Territory of D&N Haveli, Daman & Diu and Puducherry, Jammu and Kashmir, A& N Islands, and Lakshadweep have been co-located. The States/ Union Territories having more than 50% of the PHCs co-located with AYUSH facilities were Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Manipur, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamilnadu and Tripura, States having more than 25% but less than 50% of the PHCs co-located with AYUSH facilities, were Karnataka, Meghalaya West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. The states and union territories having less than 25% of the Primary Health Centres co-located with AYUSH facilities were Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Vice President Re-Launches Frontline Magazine

MNS:- The Vice President of India Shri M. Hamid Ansari re-launched the “Frontline” magazine at a function here today. He commended the editors and publishers for this initiative aimed at retaining relevance in changing times for a newer readership. He wished ‘Frontline’ continued success in the service of discerning readers.”
Following is the text of the Vice President’s address :
“I may be forgiven for admitting that I am moderately conservative and tolerably radical – conservative in habits and radical in thinking. For this reason, I was less than enthused when the Shri Venkitesh Ramakrishnan met me with the suggestion that I attend today’s re-launch function.
I could not help recalling the old maxim don’t fix what is not broke. To me personally, ‘Frontline’ has always been a stimulant to the mind apart from providing good reading on most matters that I care to spend time on. The need for a remix in Bollywood terms therefore did not arise. Nor was there a need to replace persuasion with titillation. I was assured that the change would be conservatively radical rather than explicitly so! The presence here of Mr. N. Ram and Professor Romila Thapar provides further reassurance.
Having jettisoned my misgivings, I am happy to be here today for the re-launch of the ‘Frontline’. I understand that in its new avatar the magazine would have attractive photo essays on art, culture, heritage, wildlife, environment and land & people. It will also have new columns on media and literature, snapshots on developments in India, a science notebook, apart from in-depth analyses of the social, political and economic issues of the day.
This audience knows that the ‘Hindu Group’ has a rich legacy, and current practice, of sustaining its foundational motto of ‘fairness and justice’. ‘Frontline’ subscribes to it in full measure and will, I am confident, continue to do so. The theme of the debate scheduled for today, on some of the core values of our Constitution, is sufficiently serious, focused and relevant, and testifies to it.
In today’s age, the audio-visual media has emerged as a dominant medium for quenching the thirst of the target audience for real time news on current affairs, culture and entertainment. Despite this, there remains a real and popular demand for serious publications on topical issues which cannot be substituted by the ‘breaking news’ culture and short-attention span snippets in the domain of the electronic media.
I commend the editors and publishers for this initiative aimed at retaining relevance in changing times for a newer readership. I wish ‘Frontline’ continued success in the service of discerning readers.”

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/vice-president-re-launches-frontline-magazine/

Search in Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu Enabled for Tourism Sector

MNS:- The Dept. of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY), Min. of Communications & IT has doubled Raj Bhasha fortnight celebrations by gifting further technology support to Indian languages. Sh J Satyanarayana, Secretary, DeitY, launched here today SANDHAN, the Indian language search engine for tourism domain. This will fill the wide gap that exists in fulfilling the information needs of Indians not conversant with English- estimated at 90% of the population.
Unveiling the search engines for Bengali, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu, the Secretary said six years of research has resulted in this milestone but this is only the beginning. He said for making the search engines successful, it is equally important to develop and promote content in Indian languages. Sh Satyanarayana said the real success would be when even village level e-services would be available in local languages.
SANDHAN has been developed by 120 researchers of 12 institutions over a period of 6 years led by Dr. Pushpak Bhattacharya under the supervision of TDIL DeitY. The project aims at satisfying the user information need through text documents present in the web. This search engine captures the information in the form of a query in one of the 5 Indian ‘query’ languages— Bengali, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu. The query is processed to retrieve a set of relevant documents of the same language from crawled data in tourism domain from the World Wide Web (WWW). These retrieved documents are presented to the user in the form of an ordered list based on the relevance of the document.
Although designed mainly for tourism, sectors such as business and academia would also benefit from SANDHAN. It can also be deployed as part of e-governance and e-learning.
The following are the salient features of SANDHAN
• System is developed to satisfy the user information need in tourism domain.
• User has the facility to submit a query either with the help of in-script keyboard or phonetic keyboard. In case of in-script keyboard, user can type using the keyboard or onscreen keyboard can be used to submit a query to the system.
• It has the capability to process the query based on its language and retrieves results ONLY from that language.
• Snippets generated for each of the retrieved document helps the user to understand the context of query terms in that document.
• Summary is generated for each retrieved document. This feature helps the user to get an idea about the overall content of the document without opening the same.
• An additional URL based semantic search facility is provided for Tamil language.
• A set of ten results are displayed at a time to the user to increase the readability.
• Many of the Indian language web pages are in custom fonts that make the system difficult for retrieving documents. SANDHAAN uses a font transcoder that converts the custom fonts into Unicode fonts for processing.
SANDHAN is a mission mode project of a consortium of academic & research institutions, and industry partners. The institutes involved are IIT Bombay (Consortium leader), CDAC Noida (Co-Consortium leader), IIT Kharagpur, Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information & Communication Technology Gandhinagar, Anna University-Centre for Electronics, Anna University-Knowledge-based Computing Centre, CDAC Pune, Gauhati University, Indian Institute of Information Technology Bhubaneswar, International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad, ISI Kolkata and Jadhavpur University. It is conceptualized, evolved and funded as a National-level project in the emerging area of Information Retrieval and Access in Indian Languages by Dept of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY).
SANDHAN project has been put together by Technology Development for Indian Languages (TDIL), a flagship programme of DeitY involved in research, development, standardization and proliferation of Language Technology in India in 22 Constitutionally-recognized Indian languages. TDIL Programme is also associated with international standardization bodies like the Unicode Consortium , W3C , IETF and ELRA.
The link for SANDHAN is www.tdil-dc.in/sandhan
Senior officers of DeitY and other stakeholders were present on the occasion.

Jairam pitches for fast-track courts to settle land right issues in Naxal Areas.

MNS:- Union Rural Development Minister Shri Jairam Ramesh said that if the issue of land rights of tribals would have been handled effectively in the country, the naxal menace could have been tackled in an effective fashion. Addressing the State Revenue Ministers Conference on Modernization of Land Records here, Shri Ramesh said that he also favoured the idea of Fast Track Courts to settle the land rights of tribals in a speedy fashion. He said that this issue will be taken up with the Law Ministry soon. He also called for the replication of the Andhra Pradesh model, where para-legal army helps the tribals to fight court cases. In many instances, the land belonging to the poor tribals were being grabbed forcibly by the powerful vested interests and therefore there is need for the proper survey of the land and modernization of the land records. The Minister also promised flexibility in spending of funds by the state governments and said that a detailed guideline will be issued soon in this regard and added that productivity of land is also an important issue. Referring to the Bhoodan Land, the Minister said out of the 5 million hectares of such land only 2.5 million hectares got distributed to the poor and the needy till date and a detailed survey is needed to ascertain the facts in this regard.