SYNTHETIC FOOD FOR NUTRITION

Children are being provided noodles that contains Monosodium Glutamate (Ajinomoto) and other food preservatives, mostly suitable for adults, to “improve their health status” under the Integrated Child Development Programme (ICDS) here in Meghalaya.

One of the objectives of the centrally-sponsored ICDS programme is to provide supplementary food to children between the age group of 0-6 years and improve their nutritional and health status under its Supplementary Nutritional Programme (SNP) component.

The ICDS says “ready to eat food,” locally available food and community managed SNP is to be provided. This food is distributed to the children and also pregnant and lactating mothers in all the Anganwadi centres through local Self Help Groups.

Under the community managed SNP, the Meghalaya social welfare department instead started to distribute Choco Malt, Milkose Milk Substitute as well as a noodle packet, dubbed Yummy noodles, supplied through contractors and not the local community.

Food containing MSG or Ajinamoto in no ways qualifies as a food-nutrient, social organisations here argued. MSG is a salt that primarily adds flavor to the food. It’s mostly used in Chinese restaurants and many argue the salt has medical side-effects. One of the ingredients on the “Yummy Noodles” packet list 1 percent of MSG together with other food preservatives.

Moreover, they pointed out that a Supreme Court directive says “'contractors shall not be used for supply of nutrition in Anganwadis and preferably ICDS funds shall be spent by making use of village communities, self-help groups and Mahila Mandals for buying of grains and preparation of meals.” Therefore, the social welfare department has violated the apex court order by not engaging the local community.

These organisations together with the Khasi Students’ Union today met the Chief Secretary, WMS Pariat and submitted a memorandum drawing his attention to these gross violations in implementing the ICDS programme in the state which they said, is posing health risk for children.

INDIA MINISTRY OF LAND RESOURCE

Declare soil as a “National Resource” and have a separate Ministry of Land Resource with administrative, financial and statutory powers, recommended the Soil Conservation Society of India.

Rampant abuse of land through unscientific mining, farming and other industrial purposes is posing grave threat to this precious resource that sustains living creatures on earth.

The society consisting of eminent scientists from across the country, after its three-day conference here, recommended policy-makers that it is important for India to have the Ministry of Land Resource and departments of Land Resource at the state levels with adequate powers.

“Land is one of the basic resources which supports almost all living creatures on earth and even usable water resource. There is no organisation at the national level to care and sustain this precious resource for present and posterity,” the draft of the society, said.

The scholars and scientists also said, soil must be declared a “National Resource.” While the land may belong to anyone, the soil belongs to the Nation, the draft said. Soil and water forms the basic “infrastructure of any agriculture practice.”

In India the soil quality has declined due to overuse of Urea and other subsidised fertilizers. The Cabinet therefore wants to de-control prices of fertilizers and wants subsidy based on nutrient content and not product-based.

Urea, which is heavily subsidised, is randomly used by farmers without taking soil needs into consideration. Overuse of primary nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium and less use of secondary nutrients and micronutrients, such as zinc sulphur, gypsum, copper sulphate, etc has degraded soil quality.

The secondary and micronutrients, although required in small amount, is vital for maintaining soil fertility, scientists say, adding, a nutrient-based subsidy regime would encourage fertliser companies to innovate new products which would provide farmers a wider option to grow crops based on soil needs.

The National conference also recommended after its deliberation that the centre must subsidise farming or else millions of poor would suffer.

“Subsidise farming. The whole world does it. Europe and USA subsidise farming to the tune of 30 – 40 percent. Some countries like France subsidise farming to the extent of 80 percent,” the draft, read out by the society’s senior vice president JK Singh, said.

MYANMARESE STUDENTS HOPING FOR RESTORATION OF DEMOCRACY

Having experienced a free society first time in their lifetime, teenage Mynmarese students are crossing their fingers that democracy would be restored in Myanmar after today’s national election in that country.

National elections were held after 20 years in Myanmar today and some of the Mynmarese students studying here are optimistic that democracy would be restored finally in the “authoritarian” state after years of military regime.


“We are positive that this time democracy would be restored in Myanmar,” said Tsawm (name changed), a student from Myanmar. She along with a number of other students from that country are studying in India and they are thoroughly enjoying the free society here and wishing that the same would be the case in Myanmar soon.

Tsaw, all of 20 idolizes, Aung San Suu Kyi, and wished and prayed that the Nobel Laureate would eventually guide here country towards a free society giving equal rights to ethnic minorities.


Tsawm and many others like her belong to an ethnic minority group. They say that the military regime has been victimizing their community for years and therefore requested anonymity.

“We love to be here. It’s so free here in India…,” Tsawm said in an obvious reference to the stifling authoritarian nature of the state of affairs in Myanmar.


Another student, Zau (name changed) informed that employment opportunities are available in his country, however, due to the authoritarian nature of the military jaunta the country has not progressed to its desired level.

“We have companies which can employ us. But our foremost obligation is to serve and develop our own community in whatever way we can,” he said.


He informed that medical care in Myanmar is “very expensive.” Moreover, most parents are unable to send their children to schools and colleges as the cost of education is also expensive. “Only a handful of rich can afford health care and education,” he stated.

The only problem, Zau and Tsaw are now facing is the food here, which they say is very hot and spicy. “We hope to adjust to it… Not as difficult as the state of affairs in Myanmar,” they laughed.

MEGHALAYA'S LIVING ROOT BRIDGES UNDER PMGSY

Efforts are on to bring Meghalaya’s bio-engineering wonders, the living root bridges, under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY).


The living root bridges are built by connecting local rubber tree (Ficus elastica) roots over betel-nut tree trunks, till they fasten to become bridges over gushing stream. These bridges scattered near Sohra (Cherrapunjee) have been live-savers for remote villagers.

However, the villagers’ hard toil has so far not received government attention; although, the PMGSY gives special importance to eco-friendly engineering works. “These bridges are bio-engineering wonders and extremely durable,” MM Sun, Chief Engineer and PMGSY nodal officer said.

A key to rural development is to have all weather connectivity in the rural sector. The objective of PMGSY is therefore to provide all weather road, culvert and bridges to uplift the socio-economic condition of the rural sector through better connectivity.

Under the PMGSY scheme, an unconnected habitation with 500 people is to be connected. For hilly and desert terrain the population limit is 250. The centre funds the scheme and the state distributes 80 percent of the fund for building roads and bridges and the rest is earmarked for maintaining existing ones.

In this context, the state government is brainstorming how the villages with living root bridges can be brought under the PMGSY, so that villagers can be rewarded for their hard labour, as there is virtually no maintenance cost of the root bridges.

A major hurdle in this direction, Sun said, is villages where the root bridges are found are sparsely populated without the requisite PMGSY population limit of even 250. Therefore, project reports are being worked out to get adjoining villages so that they can be clubbed together and accommodated under the scheme.

“We would see how these living root bridges can be brought under the scheme by clubbing adjacent village with sparse population,” he added.




One of the most well known living root bridge is the Umshiang double-decker bridge in the village of bee-keepers in Nongthymmai near Nongriat. It is 30 meter long and can take the load of 50 people at a time, villagers claim.

Another such bridge, near Laitkynsew village, the Umnnoi living Root Bridge is a 53 ft long and is locally known as “Jingkieng Deingjri” meaning “bridge of the rubber tree.” It is said that the bridge is more than 100 years old.

The Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1844 by a Lieutenant H Yule first mentioned about these bio-engineering wonders. Not much interest was taken in them until recently with wide media coverage these have become major tourist attractions.




Meghalaya, meanwhile, is one of the seven states in the country along with Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab to receive funded from the World Bank this year for implementing the VI phase of PMGSY.

An amount of $ 1500 has been earmarked to be divided amongst these seven states, out of which Meghalaya’s share would be Rs. 315 crore.

So far, the state has built 348 roads out of a targeted 399, constructing a total road length of 867.4 km. In the next phase, the state has targeted construction of 483 roads to connect 570 habitations with a total road length of 2440 kms.

SAVE THE HOUSE SPARROW

“Eat fast or else the sparrows would nibble from your plate,” Mohammad E Dilawar recalled his grandma cajoling him as a toddler, with cute House Sparrows – plenty of them – listening, chirping and hopping gleefully in the courtyard.

This is not just Dilawar’s boyhood story. It’s also similar to many of ours filled with myth, folklore and love. Such occasional memories, of chiding grandmas cleaning Rice in courtyards watched by our emotionally-attached family of birds and animals, come fluttering back.

But now courtyards are a luxury. In their place “designer gardens” and exotic plants, with little ecological role, have taken space. Foliages and flowers washed squeaky clean with chemicals.

The urban space has turned grotesque with “match-box buildings.” Almost everyone trying to cocoon into one’s individual space.

“The web of life is so intricately connected that nobody can say I can survive alone,” Dilawar says philosophically. “From the biggest whale to the smallest worm, everyone needs everybody.”For Dilawar, time has changed since he was spoon-fed by his grandma, watched by hundreds of mocking House Sparrows. He has grown up. No longer needs to be cajoled by his grandma to eat and there are less of the brown plumaged friends staring with their dark meaningful eyes.

“My mission is to bring the House Sparrows’ (Passer Domesticus) song back into our homes,” the environmentalist and a member of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) vowed. Dilawar is heading a three-year project sponsored by the Ministry for Environment and Forest to save sparrows in India.

Why House Sparrows? “House Sparrows follow human beings and nest near human settlement. Any decline in their number is an indicator of things going wrong in the space we live,” Dilawar recognized as a “hero” by the august Time magazine in 2008 said.

At present, he explains, all the wrong things are working against the sparrow at the same time contributing to their declining numbers.

The young ones of sparrows feed on an exclusive diet of worms and insects. But many of these are perishing due to pollution. Chemicals like Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether formed due to combustion of unleaded petrol kills small insects and worms, the diet of sparrow chicks, the young ornithologists in his 20’s said.Vanishing courtyards, cramped match-box buildings in smoky unfriendly cities with no tenancy are moreover driving out House Sparrows. Besides, in India with 1.5 million cellular phone subscribers being added every month, mobile companies are hoisting n-number of towers. These are killers with their microwaves emission.

“The microwaves from mobile towers not only kill small worms and insects it also inhibits hatching of sparrow eggs,” he points out.

Dilawar who was in Assam some years back on a study tour says tea gardens also have replaced traditional hedges with exotic ones. “Traditionally in tea gardens of Assam Adulsa and Heena was planted. Now these are being replaced by exotic ones such as Duranta which does not support many insects and worms and the sparrows are left with no cleaning-up job to do.”

If the sparrows and other common birds that feed on small worms and insects are lost, a time may come when pesticide -insecticide-resistant variant worms and insects would colonise our farms and gardens, Dilawar cautions.

Sadly, in India like in many parts of the world there has been no documentation on the declining numbers of House Sparrows. “When I first told my professors five years back about sparrows and their declining number after going through research papers from UK, everyone was in a state of denial. But after giving it a second thought almost everyone came back and said ‘yes I do see a lot less sparrows these days,’” he said.

With his emotional attachment to save these small, humble birds, Dilawar with friends and colleagues has also started a social organization – Nature Forever Society (NFS,) http://www.natureforever.org/– in Nashik Maharastra, his hometown.

On March 20 this year, NFS together with BNHS, Avon wildlife (UK), Cornel Lab of Ornithology (USA), Eco-Sys Action Foundation ( France) and other organisations worldwide celebrated the first World House Sparrow Day.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit inaugurate the event in India. Similar events was also organised in Rajasthan, Gujarat, South India and other parts of the country.

“School children would participate in drawing, elocution and other events. The idea is to reach out to the younger generation to be part of the conservation effort,” Dilawar added.

Undeterred by fund constraints, Dilawar adds his objective is to start a Common Bird Monitoring System (CBMS) in India. Such a system would inform in advance on threats posed to the feathered-friend.

“CBMS would be an Internet-based system. The common men can report about the common birds’ sightings, numbers and locations by logging in the data on the Internet for further compilation by experts,” he added.

Years back, vultures were being wiped out in India almost to extinction after eating cattle cadavers administered with Diclofenac Sodium. The inflammatory drug was given as painkillers to cattle. Nobody knew about it. CBMS would ensure that such a situation never recurs.

For now Dilawar wants everyone to extend a helping grain-full of hands to the cute sparrow, which in turn would help save other birds, animals and even human beings.

“It’s a myth that only animals and birds in the forest need protection and not common birds and animals that live close to us,” he says.

Presently, NFS has been producing “Nest-boxes” and distributing these to people who care about the environment. “Many sparrows take residence in these nest-boxes readily and people call me up and say ‘there are newborns in the nest-boxes’…these developments are the biggest reward for me,” he says.

“The time is to act now for every one of us before it is too late,” he suggests.

Although he does not give much thought about the future, but believes people would certainly get emotionally attached to save their helpless and dependent “co-tenant.”

Perhaps the best way to sum up Dilawar’s and our story is to take a cue from Alexander Pope’s “An Essay on Man” which philosophises…

Oh blindness to the future! Kindly giv’n/That each may fill the circle mark’d by heav’n/Who sees with equal eye, as God of all/A hero perish, or a sparrow fall.

Durga Maer aagomon Nowka tey - 2017

DURGA PUJO 2017

Durga Maa Nowka tey aagomon. Ghatak-e gomon...” Life is a journey. A reminder of our scheduled arrival and departure. In between is Durga Puja – the festival that celebrates the victory of good over evil.

The essence of Durga Puja is the celebration of this fight and victory of good over evil – not just in physical terms, but also spiritual. The festival is observed to celebrate Goddess Durga’s victory over Mahisasura the evil Asura (demon) king.

Interestingly, the arrival of Goddess to earth each year is on a specific mode of transportation, having significance amongst the Hindus.

“Nowka tey aagomon means Durga Maa would arrive on Earth this year on a Wednesday at on a boat. This mode of transportation is associated with flood,” the almanac said.

Maa Durga is returning to her heavenly abode after her four-day sojourn to Earth on the Ghatak or Horse – an animal associated with War.

The mode of transportation changes every year according to the almanac. These include Dola, Goj, Ghatak (horse) and Nawka (boat.) Arrival or departure on Ghatak signifies war and drought, whereas on Nawka flood and misery. It’s not known how these beliefs took root amongst, but are taken seriously by many devote Hindus.

Durga or Shakti is also the primordial cosmic feminine energy responsible for creation and destruction.

2012

“Durga Maa Dola tey aagomon. Goj-e gomon...” Life is a journey. A reminder of our scheduled arrival and departure. In between is Durga Puja – the fight of good against evil.
The essence of Durga Puja is the celebration of this fight and victory of good over evil – not just in physical terms, but also spiritual. The festival is observed to celebrate Goddess Durga’s victory over Mahisasura the evil Asura (demon) king.
Interestingly, the arrival of Goddess to earth each year is on a specific mode of transportation, having significance amongst the Hindus.
“Dola tey aagomon means Durga Maa would arrive on Earth this year on a Palanquin and her face would be hidden. This mode of transportation is associated with epidemics and natural calamities,” said a local temple priest here.
But, the good news is, she is returning to her heavenly abode after her four-day sojourn to Earth on the Goj or Elephant, which signifies bountiful harvest and prosperity, he added.
The mode of transportation changes every year according to the almanac. These include Dola, Goj, Ghatak (horse) and Nawka (boat.) Arrival or departure on Ghatak signifies war and drought, whereas on Nawka flood and misery. It’s not known how these beliefs took root amongst, but are taken seriously by many devote Hindus.
20-year-old engineering student, Tupai studying in Chandigarh is here on a Puja vacation. A youth who lost his mother before the Puja celebrations last year. “My mother comes to my memory a lot. She wanted me to be a good electronic engineer, she was my strongest support,” the youngster said.
Durga or Shakti is also the primordial cosmic feminine energy responsible for creation and destruction.
During the occasion, the festival is celebrated in different parts of the state with great love and gaiety. There are 175 Sarbojanin (for everyone) Durga Puja pandals in the state this year, each with its unique design, colour and lights.
“Hope the festival would be celebrated with a spirit of love, gaiety, fraternity and goodwill amongst all sections of the society to spread the message of harmony and peace,” Meghalaya Governor, RS Mooshahary greeted.
Tupai, meanwhile, has not booked his return ticket and unsure whether he would fly or go by train, but is confident of fulfilling his mother’s wish in the true spirit of the Durga Puja celebrations.

Majuli Island drifting away

Isolated by nature and neglected by administration, Majuli Island is slowly tearing apart with several young Islanders taking to distant jungles to sustain their poor families.
The Island on the River Brahmaputra is the seat of Assamese neo-Vaishnavit culture and the world’s largest fresh water Island. However, years of nature’s fury coupled with an indifferent government effort to help the Islanders has led several to take drastic steps and one being: taking up arms.
“My parents are poor farmers. We owned some cultivable land, but it was washed away by the River. There are few alternatives for a living,” Mahesh Bora, a former ULFA cadre and a Majuli Islander said.
Bora along with several others from the Island joined the ULFA about six years back. Bora may have seen the futility in hiding in the jungles of Myanmar and Bangladesh and preferred to surrender before the BSF today, but there are others who aren’t sure yet.
Not long ago, the total area of Majuli was 1250 square kilometer. Its area now stands half at 650 square kilometer. With agriculture being the mainstay of the Island and each hour the island being nibbled away by the River, the 150, 000 inhabitants of the Island remain hopelessly vulnerable to drift the wrong way.
Apart from agriculture, Majuli has a huge tourism potential with its ancient culture and geographical uniqueness. But, proper infrastructure and planning is yet to anchor on the Island.
“Its hard to even find manual labour jobs in Majuli what would one do,” questions Bora, who in his over-sized blue jeans and tight checkered T-shirt is a reflection of a confused villager. But, his eyebrows knits together when he speaks of his parents and younger siblings he abandoned years back.
“My mother cried all the time and asked me to return home through couriers, so I had to,” Bora says scratching his bullet pendent on his neck.
He also speaks of death, pain and strange diseases in the jungles of Papong Basti in Myanmar as a ULFA cadre trained in AK series assault rifles, pistols and grenades to kill.
“Bora was involved in extortion, killing and kidnapping cases in Jorhat district,” BSF (Assam-Meghalaya) frontier Chief, RC Saxena said during the surrender of Bora and another NDFB militant, Jadhav Boro.
Both the ULFA and NDFB cadre maybe rehabilitated with the government package and as Bora says, “start business,” but is this the way out for Majuli and its youth?

"God is a great designer:" Kalam

Father of India’s nuclear programme and one of the country’s topmost scientists, APJ Abdul Kalam, on Friday, took school students through a unique journey of metaphysics, the Milky Way and a world of pure science, briefly interrupting to eulogize “God” for him being a “great designer”.

Interacting with school students here at the Raj Bhavan, Kalam while dwelling on the vastness of space, the mystery of the black hole and the Milky Way said: “God is a great designer… but some scientist may not agree”.

He added that while Venus was a hot boiling mass and Mars was cold uninhabitable planet, “ earth was put in a suitable orbit … and blessed” so that life could sustain here, while implicitly highlighting the divine intervention for such a unique creation.

Kalam also took direct questions from the school children and answered in his own candid manner, breaking conventions and security barricades to reach the children on several occasions.

“Indian minds are great” Kalam said, adding that an “ignited mind” is superior to all resources found on the earth and urged the school children to use it prudently for nation-building.(2005)

"The entire world is my family..."

In an increasingly materialistic world, her smile, grace and style might have been overlooked and abandoned, but otherwise these qualities should have been treasured.
Sabina Bareh, bejeweled with her million-dollar smile giggles, saying she is turning 100 years of age in the next two months and can’t hide her excitement as a child whose birthday is approaching. She and her friends are going to celebrate the occasion in a big way and Bareh can’t wait for that day.
Wearing a crochet wool scarp, Bareh’s wrinkled face speaks of the numerous journeys of life she has traveled. “I am very happy and satisfied now,” she says after spending close to 22 years at the Mercy Home, a centre for the elderly people here.
She gets pensive speaking about her family and why she turned up in the home for the elderly in the first place. “I have forgotten everything, now I am happy,” she repeats sitting on her bed and ironing her handkerchief softly with her hand, as though straightening the rough edges of life.
Bareh, there are scores of other elderly people abandoned by their loved ones lodged in the Home. None though wants to return and very few have complains about their past. They seem to have reconciled with their life and wants to move ahead.
In India, there are 81 million people over the age of 60 years. The figure is expected to rise to 113 million by 2016 and 179 million by 2026.
Back at the Mercy Home, as the petite Bareh speaks, resident inmates join in to interpret her somewhat stuttering speech. She however holds them back with her hand and her charismatic smile and grace. “Namdong…I come from Namdong village,” is what could be gathered.
“She still can cut betel nuts with a knife and she is one of the neatest inmates here. She is sweet,” another inmate and a government pensioner says in chaste English. This spinster inmate, who requested anonymity, worked for a renowned girls’ public school and taught them culinary and etiquette. But, she was left at the home by her relations a few months back.
Lala Singh Sonar, another resident inmate and a bachelor walks with a limp after an accident that left him jobless as a cowherd. “I don’t want to go to my brothers I would only be a burden. I am only sad that my employer did not help me with my job after serving for years,” he rues and walked away to witness a function organized for the elderly on occasion of International Day for the Elderly in the Home.
Everyday, the inmates at the 62-bedded Home chips in to help the staffs. “They do gardening, cut vegetables for the kitchen and do other minor works if their health permits,” Sister Ann, in-charge of the Home said.
While returning from the Home, Bareh once again invited to come for her birthday, she wanted the guest list to increase - probably wanting the entire world to be her family.

STUNT MANIA

The battle line has been drawn between Police officers and reckless stunt-riders here in the city and it would be nothing short of “Stunt Mania.”
Therefore, bikers engaging in stunt-wars on the city streets here better think twice before they: “wheelie, stoppie and burnout” as police officers would try match their skills on their own turf and the winner would take it all.
A specially trained group of police officers would soon get on their biking gears and engage with biker gangs, who some say are causing danger to public life and property.
“The police department has ordered motorbikes and soon officers would test the mettle of these stunt-riders,” Deputy Superintendent of Police (traffic) Hurbert G Lyngdoh said in a press meet today.
Till June this year, there were 24 motorbike-related accidents in the city. Six persons have died. During the Independence Day celebrations with streets empty due to a bandh called by HNLC, 30 bikers were arrested for performing extreme stunts on the streets.
There are several associations of bikers in the city. Some of these include the Pulsar, Honda, Yamaha and Enfield bikers association. Some of these association members perform death-defying stunts on the streets like wheelie (lifting front wheel), Stoppie (lifting rear wheel) and burnout (spinning rear wheel till smoke emanates.)
What the police here are worried though is the manner these bikers zip at high speed through the traffic causing danger to the public.
Lyngdoh said that there are 17000 motorbikes and scooters in the city. These are seen maneuvering dangerously during the rush hours. Many of these bikers are teenagers.
“Anyone who is found over-speeding and performing stunts should think twice. The traffic department would be very strict against violators,” Lyngdoh added.
The craze about stunt has also been accentuated by reality show such as MTV’s Stunt Mania. In May this year, Shillong was one of the cities in India that hosted Stunt Mania in which bikers performed stunts.
Meanwhile, the traffic police department said they have not thought about a name for the police officers’ squad to bust these biker gangs, but they might come up with something cool and hip to be in sync with time.
Earlier, during Independence Day, the traffic department conducted area domination drills on motorbikes.
However, there aren’t adequate numbers of bikes and therefore the department is looking for more bikes with adequate horse power – an exciting prospect for stunt-rider fans!

MEGHALAYA TRANSIT ROUTE OF COUGH SYRUP SMUGGLING

Meghalaya has become the main transit route for smuggling of Phensedyl and other Codeine-based cough syrups to Bangladesh, recent seizures suggests.
In this year alone, Codeine-based cough syrups worth over Rs. 59 lakh was seized in Meghalaya. A total of 1.12 lakh bottles were confiscated in three seizures. Officials say, many of these cough syrups were meant to be smuggled into Bangladesh via Meghalaya and Agartala.
Phensedyl, Corex and other Codeine-based cough syrups are legally available in India. These are prescription drug. A bottle of Phensedyl cost Rs. 42.25 and Corex Rs. 68.
But in “dry” Bangladesh these Codeine-based cough syrups are in high demand and are sold anything between Taka 200-300. The price shoots up substantially during festivals.
In the region too there are a substantial number of cough syrups abusers. In “dry” states such as Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura the number of cough syrup abusers is growing.
In India, Phensedyl is manufactured by Indian Pharmaceutical giant Nicholos Piramal. However, there is growing debate whether the control mechanism has failed and the cough syrups are being smuggled rampantly.
Yesterday, the Customs here seized a truckload of cough syrups from Lumshonong, Jaintia Hills. The truck was loaded in Bihar and was on its way to Agartala enroute to Bangladesh.
Hidden behind 30 rice sacks were 47,400 bottles of Corex and 3,600 Phensedyl bottles – a total of 50,000 bottles of cough syrups. The total price of cough syrups was 33.75 lakh. The driver and handyman of the truck were detained.
On July 31, another truck with 27,100 bottles was seized in Umling, Ri-Bhoi. The price of that illegal consignment was over 11.45 lakh. The bottles were hidden together with Marijuana.
Back in February this year, 35,000 bottles of Phensedyl were recovered and the cost of the illegal consignment was pegged at Rs. 14.78 lakh.
Director General of Narcotic Control Bureau, OPS Malik during his visit to the region said that Meghalaya has become the favoured transit route for smugglers, both for smuggling in drugs such as cocaine, heroine from Myanmar into India via Manipur and like in these cases, smuggling out cough syrups to Bangladesh.

COMIC BOOK ON MALARIA

The release and distribution of a health comic book to create awareness on Malaria to school kids could not have been more timely as the death toll from Malaria has increased 524 percent in 2007 over 2003 in Meghalaya. 

The first of its kind health comic book titled – A tale of two magic potions - is an “absorbing” story of two school kids, Abhishek and Anu, fighting to make their town Malaria-free. 

Both the schools kids together with others make their town Amritnagar “Malaria-free” by taking some basic Malaria-control steps. The 30-paged Comic book was distributed to fifth grade students in three different schools here by Chillibreeze Solutions - a content and design service provider. Before distribution of the comic book a quiz contest was conducted and later after a few days another quiz was held. 

 “The students showed visible improvement in their knowledge about Malaria after reading the comic as indicated by their answers,” Dr. Nishi Viswanathan, one of the directors at Chillibreeze and author of the book said. During the Second World War such initiative was also taken by Walt Disney to educate soldiers and people on the prevalent diseases including Malaria through films and comics. 

Walt Disney’s “The Winged Scourge” produced in 1943 showcased the seven dwarves pointing out several precautions to fight Malaria. By 1945 more than 8000 shows were held each month attracting over 4 million people to such health oriented films. Dr. Viswanathan adds though Malaria is preventable hundreds of people die of the disease in India. 

The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) envisages achieving a target of 50 percent reduction of Malaria death rate by 2010. However, in Meghalaya Malaria morbidity and Malaria mortality has increased 524 per cent this year from 2003, despite the state spending Rs. 23.70 crore to combat the disease as per the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report.

 “The possibility of achieving the objective (under NRHM) of reducing Malaria morbidity and mortality rate by 30 and 50 per cent respectively by 2010 is remote,” the report underscored. However, Dr. Viswanathan is optimistic. She says creating awareness on this preventable disease through “entertaining and engaging” medium to school kids is one of the solutions to combat Malaria. Chillibreeze is trying to translate the comic book in different languages for distribution to school children across India as part of its non-profit ventures.

HANUMAN TEMPLE IN BALPAKRAM

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) today demanded in the Assembly that a Hanuman temple be constructed at Balpakram National Park to attract tourists.
John Manner Marak of the NCP said during a motion that according to Ramayana Hanuman flew to Balpakram Park to collect the life-saving Sanjeevani.
According to legends, when Lakshman was injured by a poisonous arrow shot by Ravana's son Meghdut, it was diagnosed, that only the Sanjaveeni could save his life.
As Lakshman laid battling with his life, Hanuman went in search of the herb. Hanuman flew from the battlefields of Sri Lanka and came to the Himalayas looking for the herb. From top of the Himalayas he sighted a hillock and proceeded straight towards it.
Legends say the place incidentally was Balpakram National Park in South Garo Hills.
Hanuman not being able to identify the herb pulled up the entire hillock and flew back to the battlefield. Till date a huge opening in one of the hillocks in Balpakram Park exists which Hindus claim was the piece of land that Hanuman carried away.
Supporting the motion opposition leader Conrad Sangma said the government would stand to gain by constructing a Hanuman temple inside the park to attract tourists.
Other opposition members joining the discussion said that Balapkram Park is revered by the Garo people as the “abode of the departed souls” and the Park needs to be prompted to attract tourists.
Balpakram National Park stands nearly 3,000 feet above sea level and covers an area of 200 square kilometer. It is a tableland and the plains of Bangladesh can be seen from atop.
The park is rich in rare flora and fauna and is also strewn with ancient religious shrines and Hindus from India and Bangladesh visit it on annual pilgrimages.