Anna Hazare's clarion call echoes in Shillong

The fight against corruption, spearheaded by Anna Hazare, has been sanctified by a Church leader in Meghalaya who said “political education to elect clean leaders must go hand in hand with spiritual teachings.”

Taking part in the support rally of Anna Hazare’s nine-day indefinite fast against corruption, Reverend K Pyrtuh of the Presbyterian Church here said: “the Church and all religious groups must lay more emphasis on educating people so that morally and spiritually clean leaders are elected to enter the hallowed precincts of democracy.”

Asked about his motivation to join today’s rally, the Church leader said: “as a concerned citizen of India I am as troubled and saddened as others about the scourge of corruption in our country. As a member of the Church I am morally and spiritually inclined to take a stand against this sin (corruption).” The rally was taken out from Police Bazaar to Laitumkhrah and was attended by a cross section of the society.

Rev. Pyrtuh took the connotation of corruption to local levels and said the fight must not be confined to monetary benefits, but, also look into issues of violence and exploitation of the poor and the weak.

“Everywhere in the country the poor and the weak are being subjected to violence and exploitation by mafias, the rich and powerful. The fight therefore must be against such exploitations of structural inequality. There must be freedom from fear in our democracy,” he added.

Right to Information activist, Michael Syiem on the other hand said, corruption in Meghalaya is endemic. “Look at the figures…the number of Below Poverty Line (BPL) families in Meghalaya has increased from 49 per cent in 2001 to 66 per cent in 2011 despite all the welfare schemes,” he pointed out.

Syiem is of the view that if the welfare schemes were “implemented honestly” the number of BPL families should have decreased. “We need an independent Lokayukta in the state so that corruption can be tackled effectively,” he added.

Agnes Kharshiing, a women social activist, dismissing the government bill on corruption as “Jokepal” said, the central government must awaken to the fact that the people would not accept a bill which does not effectively address the menace of corruption.

“Our full support for Anna Hazare. The government must enact a strong anti-corruption bill. This is the collective voice of the common people of India for the government to hear,” she said while handing out pamphlets to the people having both the government and Anna Hazare’s draft version of the Lokpal bill.

Cherrapunjee tourism potential watered down

Nature has painted Cherrapunjee in water colour, but ironically an outstanding luxury resort overlooking seven majestic waterfalls in the area stands like a painter’s dried-out canvas.

The Meghalaya tourism department’s luxury resort built and completed at a cost of Rs 2.8 crore at Mawblang locality of Cherrapunjee (Sohra) is being watered down because the government has failed to get a water connection - yes you heard that right.

Cherrapunjee receives the highest rainfall on Earth with average annual precipitation of 1263 mm. Tourists from around the world flock to this place just to get soaked in this amazing spectacle of nature. Sadly, there are an estimated 25 rooms for tourist in the area.

An old government claim is to develop Cherrapunjee’s neglected tourism infrastructure on a priority basis. Building the resort has been just one of its “develop Cherrapunjee tourism” plans. However, the plans now seems like wasted pictures.

The centrally-sponsored resort has everything going for it. The view is amazing. It sits pretty over the seven breathtaking waterfalls called the Nohsngithiang waterfalls.

It has twelve aesthetically-built cottages in three blocks. Two luxury cottages, a banquet hall and a restaurant. There is adequate parking space, moreover, all over the resort there are stone benches on different elevations for quite relaxation.

Tourism department officials, blame the villagers for not letting their water source to get connection for the resort. The villagers deny this allegation, saying none approached from the government side with such a request.

However, the officers from Sohra sub-division are trying their best to get the water connection. A sub-divisional official said on condition of anonymity that efforts should have been made to get permissions for such connections when the construction work started.

“Now with the project completed with full furnishing it is not a pretty sight to see it being wasted for water connection,” the official said.

A local resident of the area, D Chyne, remains unamused. “This is how the disarrayed and directionless tourism department works here. In no time the resort’s paint would wear down and its expensive fixtures lost. What can a single watchman do, when the government has failed,” he questions discouragingly.

India would hunt and destroy enemy aircraft

India would not hesitate to hunt and destroy hostile aircrafts that violate its airspace posing threat to the country’s sovereignty.

Indian Air Force Vice Chief- designate, Air Marshal, KK Nohwar said at the Eastern Air Command headquarters here today that every nation has a right to protect its sovereignty and deal with threats accordingly.

Air Marshal Nohwar warned that enemy aircrafts would “meet the same fate as the Pakistan Navy’s reconnaissance aircraft Atlantic,” which was shot down by the Indian Air Force in 1999 after it violated Indian airspace.

Atlantic on a reconnaissance mission violated India’s airspace in 1999 after the Kargil war. It ignored the Indian Air Force’s order to land and eventually was shot down in which 16 Pakistani Naval airmen men were killed.

On a different note, the Vice-chief designate said, Indian Air Force taking over six Advanced Landing Grounds in Arunachal Pradesh was to help the civilian population there and to counter Chinese threat.

“Since Arunachal is a landlocked State the ALGs would be the lifeline of civilians living in remote areas of the State. The ALGs are meant to reach out to more civilian population where bigger aircrafts can make sorties to send food supplies,” the Air Marshal said.

The ALGs that have been taken over by the IAF in Arunachal Pradesh are – Tuting, Mechuka, Along, Pasighat, Vijaynagar and Ziro.

Air Marshal Nohwar, currently serving as the EAC chief, said that the Indian Air Force in its modernisation process is phasing out the MIG-21 and replacing them with advanced aircrafts like the multi-role combat planes Su-30 MKIs and the indigenously-built Light Combat Aircraft.

He added old radars would be replaced with modern ones and even mountain radars would be used keeping in view the topography of the region.

“However, the single biggest challenge for upgrading infrastructures in the region is its climatic condition with rainfall being one of the main hurdles,” Air Marshal Nohwar said.

SHILLONG FREEDOM FOREVER: Meghalaya trying to spice up ICDS

SHILLONG FREEDOM FOREVER: Meghalaya trying to spice up ICDS: "India’s north-eastern state, Meghalaya, is trying to spice up the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme by adding local nut..."

Meghalaya trying to spice up ICDS

India’s north-eastern state, Meghalaya, is trying to spice up the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme by adding local nutritional cuisine for the 4.98 lakh beneficiaries of the centrally-sponsored project.

The social welfare department has roped in the Home Science departments of St. Mary’s and Tura Government College to formulate local recipes for the Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP) under ICDS.

“Last month we have requested the Home Science departments of St. Mary’s and Tura Government College to formulate nutritional local cuisine for SNP,” Loma Jyrwa, Additional Director, social welfare department, said.

She informed, after the two colleges come up with the local recipes, a committee from the Health, Social Welfare department and the Food and Nutrition Board would test it and then give its approval.

According to the plan, the two departments would come with recipes that consist of seasonal crops, such as Maize, Beetroot, Carrots, leafy vegetable etc. in the meals. The reason for choosing the two colleges is to have local Khasi and Garo flavour in the diet and make it more attractive for the beneficiaries.

Now, children between the age group of 0-3 years are provided cooked Dalia (broken wheat) Suji (granulated wheat) and Milk as food supplement in the Anganwadi centres (courtyard shelter).

Children between the age group of 3-6 years and pregnant-lactating mothers are provided a meal of Soyabean, Bengal Gram, Dried Peas, Groundnut and Chocomalt –health drink – in pre-school and Anganwadi centres respectively. This free diet is uniform all over India in the ICDS programme.

However, for this hill state, wheat-based meals are not common with the people’s diet and therefore authorities here are trying to bring in some changes.

While Tura Government College in Garo Hills would come up with Garo cuisine for the three districts in Garo Hills, St. Mary’s College would similarly formulate a recipe for Khasi-Jaintia hills districts.


“We are working on it and soon we may have some local recipe for the ICDS beneficiaries,” Jyrwa said. She, however added, preparing a nutritious meal out the allocated Rs. 3.25 (0.07 US cent) for each beneficiary is difficult.

In many states like, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and others the state government provides Rs 2, in addition to the Rs. 3.25, for each beneficiary in the SNP component. Jyrwa said the ICDS would get a boost if Meghalaya government gives similar financial assistance to the SNP.

ICDS is a child-care and mother-care programme and is one of its kind in the world, where health education and also free nutritional meal is provided to children in Anganwadi centres and pre-schools by the government.

The central government funds 90 per cent, while respective state government generates the rest of the financial assistance for the projects’ implementation.

The objective behind ICDS is to reduce incidences of mortality, morbidity, malnutrition and school dropouts. During 2009-10 in Meghalaya, there were 735 undernourished children, 7404 children had nourishment concerns, but a large chunk (1.65 lakh) of the children were recorded having “normal health” under a World Health Organisation approved guideline.

Currently, there are 41 ICDS projects running in 5114 Anganwadi centres of the state. Jyrwa said, Anganwadi workers are conducting health education programmes and about 501 were audio-visual sessions. In all 68, 466 beneficiaries have participated in the sessions till June this year.

WHAT'S IN A NAME...!?

My family lovingly gave me my name like everyone else’s. They swear it was the “Yo” kind of a name back then. Every actor of the Hindi film industry wanted the love-smitten actresses caress this name with their super-glossy lips.

Be it the ever-fluttering-lip-smacking, Dev Anand, lovelorn Rajesh Khanna or any other Tom, Dharmendra and Hari, everyone wanted this name and I was unknowingly dragged into this melodramatic list.


Did anyone have the faintest knowledge of the open-fly consequences? Maybe not. Things started to go not so easy for some of those guys on the silver screen and they blamed me for their shortcomings.

My name lost its initial appeal and charm and was thrown to the “extras” of the film industry for more astounding ones as Ravi, Veeru or even Kalia!

And the name ever so lovingly everyone called me at, was entrusted to pimps who hung out wearing unattractive feathered hats, outside dingy brothels playing loud music and smoked Bidis stashed in their pinkies.

Dhoti-clad scheming Munshis carrying umbrellas tucked under the shoulder and limping behind rapist Zamindars.

Failed touts who always got their collars ruffled long before the end of the movie. Cheats who got chased through the lanes and alleys of India by the public.

The actors and actresses' lipstick-wearing pals, who had no role but crack occasional dead jokes - you name it and out popped a Raju.

Well even the poor animals were not spared and Raju was named to a Monkey, a Falcon, a Snake, a Mongoose, all with venom, you’d say. And the Raju I was, almost wondered how to cope up with the different characters and creatures.

One day someone called at Raju with the Dev Aanand air and the next time called Raju the Horse, unhappily. And every time Raju – need I mention, the child who had no business in this name game – reciprocated to these calls unwillingly.


Then for a brief period a pause… but, out emerged Shah Rukh Khan with a vengeance bursting film posters with his goody-goody image using my name notoriously all over again.


Again songs started to flow and Raju was in praise, in love, in heartbreaks, just like previously. I was again part of a teenage girl’s love, a struggling educated unemployed youth, or an angry man trying to set the Universe right.

A lady hummed a song and repeated my name each time she flapped her fat-promiscuous husband’s wet shirt on the terrace before she stringed it. A dreamy-eyed girl sighed at my name sitting on the stairs.

This violated my space, my peace from rooftops, radios, freak shows, TV channels, everywhere. I was popular again sometimes for the wrong reasons or the right causes and knew having no hand in it whatsoever. Except for those who long ago whispered Raju into my new unpolluted world.

I recall my teacher asking in the class whose quote is it: “What’s in a name…,” I punched my hand in the air, before she could breathe out the entire piece, as I was dead sure it was Shakespeare…

What’s in a name!? Ask that old Viagra-chewing hag on a business trip stranded in the airport with his voluptuous secretary. Him, trying to honestly explain to his suspecting wife that volcanic ash from Mount Eyjafjallajökull at Eyjafjöll in Iceland has disrupted flight.

“Mount what…? Now William dear can you get over with your f***** up creative bull**** and get your bearings right.”

Hey mister/missy, I lost my bearings long long time ago amongst different characters and creatures, thanks to Bollywood and its obsession with my name and remain stranded in Evenmöreöbscuredeyjafjallajökull.

COME SEE THE BLOOD...CAFE SHILLONG

And you'll ask: why doesn't his poetry/speak of dreams and leaves and the great volcanoes of his native land?
Come and see the blood in the streets/Come and see the blood in the streets – Pablo Neruda.

Some like-minded people here in the state capital having a few unexplained lines in their heart about the world surrounding them are getting together to celebrate a quiet birthday of Neruda here.

The “Pablo Neruda’s Birthday Bash” is not one of those big sponsored events, but self reflection of people in a small café with readings sessions, music and of course food and drinks on July 12.

“We thought about the event for a long time and eventually decided that we would go ahead. We are expecting some 50 odd people during the event,” Lang Kupar War, a lecturer at the North Eastern Hill University and one of the organisers of the event, said.

Poetry and moreover readings sessions are rare in this part of the world. It’s precisely for this reason that many are looking forward to this event being held at the Café Shillong, Laitumkhrah.

Although there are obvious reasons for choosing Neruda’s birthday as a platform for people interested in art, War said, the event would give people to take time off from their busy schedule.

The Chilean poet and Nobel Laureate, Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto who goes by the pen name Pablo Neruda, after Czech poet Jan Neruda, has a huge fan following here like in any part of the world.

With bloodshed never far from thought, Robin Ngangom of NEHU’s English department and a well-known poet from the region once said that people of the northeast can identify readily with some of the poems of Neruda.

Meanwhile, the organisers have also created a Facebook page about the birthday bash with an open invitation with the promise, quoting Neruda: “I want to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees."

CHIVALRY VERSUS EGO MEGHALAYA

Meghalaya State Women’s Commission (MSWC) wants men in uniform to be more “respectful and chivalrous,” but refuses to be flexible in seeking support of women’s group within the armed force to fight crime together.

“No we would not seek support of the Army Wives’ Welfare Association (AWWA). They should come to us,” MSWC chairperson, Susana K Marak asserted today.


The commission said summons to men in uniform (state and central) from the commission are not respected. To emphasis the point, Marak showed a summon reply of the Army to the Commission written on a “used paper.”

“This is insulting…we want respect…The men in uniform must show certain level of chivalry,” Marak asserted.

MSWC, constituted in 2004, has been fighting for the rights of women in the state. Marak said cases against personnel from the Border Security Force, Air Force, Army, Central Reserve Police Force and the state police have been reported with the commission.

“The men in uniform are rude and don’t respect our summons. They threaten to approach the Supreme Court once they are here in the commission,” Tshering Yangi another member said.

Asked if the commission sought the support of the wives’ association in the armed force, she answered in the negative and further reiterated: “we are a statutory body they (wives’ association in the armed forces) must come to us.”

However, in this battle of ego, victims of crime are being made the scapegoat. There have been 34 cases reported, including rape and murder, of women by men from the armed force during the past three years.


The Wives’ associations within the armed force (central and state) have limited mandate and powers although such cases are first reported to these welfare associations. The SWC by not trying to associate voluntarily with these groups is only weakening the cause of women’s right within the armed forces, observers say.

Meanwhile, the SWC wants some of the present laws to be amended to give more teeth to the commission. It is also demanding financial increment from the government.

The Return of Tarzan

Except flinging from trees to tress on creepers and belting out an ape cry, Edgar Rice Burroughs would have been proud of Bowel Puweiñ, whose lifestyle seems close to his fictional character –Tarzan.

Unlike the fiction, Puweiñ’s lion cloth and also the dreadlocks are for real. He emerged from the jungles of Lyngngam in West Khasi Hills district, Meghalaya recently after living in the wild for twenty-years. “He is our Tarzan,” a village elder, who has spotted Puweiñ occasionally in the wild, said.


Villagers say sixty-year-old Puweiñ is from the remote Nonglang Lieh village in the district, some 55 kms from the state headquarters. He left it twenty years back after the death of his wife and children and took to the wild.

He built two houses one atop a hillock and one inside a cave near the Kynshi River and regularly fished using a bamboo pole. To further supplement his diet, Puweiñ planted sweet potatoes and maize and also hunted wild boars and lived on.

But one day, Hollywood’s 1962 flick “Tarzan goes to India,” where Tarzan saved elephants, came to haunt Puweiñ somewhat. “He came across an elephant calf being swept by the strong currents of the River. Puweiñ jumped in fought against the River currents trying to save the calf,” villagers who witnessed the incident from the other side of the River said.

They further narrated that about seven to eight wild elephants also tried to help Puweiñ in the rescue process unsuccessfully.

“Ever since he has developed a strong bond with elephants. Puweiñ treats the wild animals as cattle and the elephants obey his commands meekly,” Nonglang Lieh villagers claimed.

After the “return of Tarzan” curious villagers and children are flocking to his place of dwelling in Nonglang Lieh to hear about his adventures in the wild. But he now speaks in a strange lingo hardly understood by anybody.

But, Puweiñ's free spirit, love for animals in the wild truly makes him the Lord of Lyngam jungle.

PAWAN HANS SERVICE

With chopper service suspended due to fatal crashes in the region, Union Civil Aviation ministry Vayalar Ravi said crash investigation reports would throw light on the airworthiness of the choppers that were in service.

Ravi, who was here to inaugurate the new terminal of the Umroi airport, said only investigation reports would be able to throw light about allegations whether choppers with questionable airworthiness were being flown in the region. The chopper service was being operated by state-owned Pawan Hans Helicopter Limited.

“We are awaiting the investigation report of the chopper crash of Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister,” Ravi said when asked about the allegations that old choppers were being used in the northeast leading to the crashes.

A three-member committee has been formed to probe into the circumstances that led to the crash of Dorjee Khundu’s chopper, where he along with four others died near Tawang last month.

The government has also formed a Committee of Inquiry to probe the circumstances of April 19 chopper crash at Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh that claimed the lives of 17 people.

In fact, the ministry has constituted an Independent Accident Investigation Committee (IAIC) recently to probe air crashes in the country. However, the committee is bogged into controversy with media reports stating that “tainted and inexperienced people” were inducted.

“No names of the members of the committee have been decided so far. The media reports are not correct,” Ravi said.

Its been reported that the “tainted” Director (air safety) RS Passi from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and three other inexperienced people in their twenties were inducted as members of the IAIC.

Terming such reports as baseless, Ravi said, “we would have people in the committee with relevant experience in the field,” the ministry stated.

Moreover, Ravi said the chopper service in the region would resume only after mapping of chopper routes throughout the country is completed.

Earlier, the minister said that airports are the “windows of the country” as people get the first glimpse of it after landing and so the airports are being modernised.

The new terminal at Umroi has been built at a cost of Rs. 30 crore having modern facilities and the Baljeck airport at Garo Hills would get a facelift soon, Ravi assured.

Memory

A mechanical engineer, Krishan Kumar today exhibited his amazing skills by recalling twenty objects sequentially from memory. He is vying for a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Hailing from Punjab, Kumar recalled the twenty objects from memory in one minute after the items were displayed by a jury comprising government officials and a medical practitioner here at the Shillong Press Club.

The previous Guinness Book of World Records title for recalling the longest sequence of objects in one minute is held by Sudhanshu Singal on the sets of Guinness Book of World Records – Ab India Todega in Mumbai on February 21 this year.

During his attempt to recall the longest sequence of objects, Kumar, memorised over twenty items, which included a mango, towel, shaving cream etc, from a list of thirty others. He took 3 minutes 30 seconds to recall the 20 objects.

The entire feat was video taped and would be sent to Guinness Book of World Records for their confirmation of breaking the previous world record.

Kumar has already entered his name in the Limca Book of Records for memorising the value of “pi” up to 43,000 decimal places.

Later, Kumar, said, developing a sound memory can be done through Mnemonics. “Memory can be developed by anyone through Mnemonics,” Kumar said, adding, he plans to train youths in the discipline throughout the country.

“Nowadays, students spend 12 hours to study. But with mnemonics, which is both a science and an art, students can memorise within a span of four hours only,” he added.

He, however, warned students that “memory tonics”, could cause side effects and should therefore be avoided.

Right To Education in Meghalaya

Meghalaya would become one of the few states in India to honour a Constitutional mandate and make free compulsory education a fundamental right for school children.


The state government came one step closer towards achieving its aim of implementing the Right To Education (RTE) Act, 2009 after the Cabinet approved the rules today.


Education Minister, RC Laloo said that draft rules of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 or RTE have been approved with certain changes and modifications.

“Implementation of the Act will change the system of education for children of the State. Te rules would be implemented at the earliest,” Laloo said.


Under the Act, free and compulsory education would be provided to children between the age group of 6-14 years in classes I to VII.

Moreover, no child shall be held back, expelled or required to pass a board examination until the completion of elementary education. They would instead be assessed under a “Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE)” system.

As per the CCE system, among others, there would be regular assessments, analysis of learning gaps, applying corrective measures, retesting and giving feedback to teachers and students for their self-evaluation.

Laloo also said that the draft rules have laid emphasis on teachers training. It may be mentioned that the State has a large number of untrained teachers.

“The issue of untrained teachers was discussed in the Cabinet meeting. The whole aspect of quality education depends on quality teachers,” Chief Minister, Mukul Sangma said.

Under the new system, teachers will be required to co-relate the classroom process with evaluation and take into account not only the scholastic achievements but also abilities like expression, regularity, discipline and participation in co-curricular activities.


“We have a backlog of untrained teachers in the state. The training institutes which we have are not enough to cater to the needs of teachers’ education,” Sangma said.

He said the government is planning to provide scholarships to youths who are willing to undergo teachers’ education. “The aim is to get youths willing to become teachers,” Sangma said.

Arms smuggling from Myanmar

Meghalaya police have arrested three arms smugglers and seized eight AK-56 rifles and magazines last night near Umroi, 15 kms from here.

After receiving intelligence inputs, the police laid a blockade at Lad Umroi – the trijunction where NH-40 bifurcates towards Umroi-Guwahati-Shillong – and intercepted the vehicle and recovered the arms and arrested the smugglers.

The vehicle (Gypsy - MZ 01 D 5272) was on its way from Mizoram and was heading towards Karbi Anglong district in Assam through the less frequented Umroi-Mawlasnai-Block II road. The weapons were neatly sealed inside the custom-made seats and the ceiling of the vehicle.

The smugglers have been identified as Lalchawisanga Zahau, 45, CL Hlira, 47, and Lallawmzuala, 34. They were travelling with the weapons from Piau village in Mizoram’s Champhai district bordering Myanmar, police said.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is questioning the trio, but due to language barrier there hasn’t been much headway in the case. “We are trying to find out who the supplier was and whom it was being supplied to,” an NIA official, who identified himself as Inspector Anil, said.

But, according to the police, the trio belonged to Myanmar. “The vehicle was headed towards Mawlasnai and further to Karbi Anglong district of Assam,” PS Marwein, Officer-in-Charge of Umroi police station told reporters today.

Intelligence sources said, ‘captain’ of Chin National Army (CNA) of Myanmar is actively involved in arms smuggling from Mandalay in Myanmar. He and his group has been “using Shillong as a base” to supply arms and ammunition to insurgent groups of the North East.

Majority of the arms that are in demand from NE-based militant organisations, sources say, are AK-47s, M-16s and Chinese made hand-grenades.

In earlier cases, Myanmar-based militant operatives were arrested for arms smuggling here. Sources say, apart from CNA, Karen and Kachin militant outfits, fighting against the Myanmarese military junta have camps in areas close to south Mizoram and cadres of these outfits are also involved in arms smuggling.

India shares a 1,600 km unfenced border with Myanmar, with 404 km being shared by Mizoram. Mizoram Chief Minister, Lal Thanhawla during his visit here earlier this year termed smuggling of arms and counterfeit currency as a major concern for his State.

He promised that the Mizoram Government would no longer allow its territory as a “free State” for arms and counterfeit currency smugglers and security agencies were strictly monitoring the Myanmar border.