HIMALAYAN MIRROR GANGTOK, FRIDAY 23 NORTHEAST JANUARY 2015 New Assam cabinet to be sworn-in Friday N’land Guv expresses concern over insurgency situation Kohima , Jan 22 : Governor P B Acharya on wednesday expressed concern over insurgency in Nagaland, which is an obstacle in the way of development. Inaugurating a seminar on ‘Nagaland: A Way Forward’ organized by the Inspector General of Assam Rifles (North), Acharya said a strong government at the Center ANVC-B chief as Nokma faces opposition Tura , Jan 22 : The Chambugong Mahari (clan) to which belongs the Danakgre A’king land has declared as illegal the recent appointment of ANVC-B chairman Bernard (Rimpu) N Marak as the town Nokma. The appointment of Rimpu Marak as the Nokma of Danakgre A’king was declared as an illegal act by the Chambugong Mahari Association after a meeting at its headquarters in Selbalgre village, near Rongram. It was pointed out by the elders of the clan that the appointment cannot be legal since the consent of the Chras of the Chambugong clan were not taken and also the fact that a new Nokma of the clan is appointed from the same bloodline as that of the last recorded Nokma, in this case a Chambugong. The ANVC-B leader belongs to the N Marak clan while the Danakgre A’king is under the Ch Marak (Chambugong) clan. “From time immemorial, as far as Mahari A’king is concerned, the decision of the Chras prevails. It is an accepted fact that the Nokma of any A’king is only the custodian and the A’king land being a community land belongs to the clan in which the actual authority lies with the Chras and the Nokma has to act as per the decision of the Chras Depantes,” said the Chambugong Mahari A s s o c i a t i o n . “Appointing someone from outside the clan to perform the duty of Nokma is not acceptable by the Chras Depante and is grossly illegal,” informed the Chambugong Mahari to which belongs the Chokpotgre, Danakgre, Megonggre, Sangsang Nawalgre, Wadagre, Rangmal Badamgre, Depa Dorachae A’kings. Tura town on its part falls under the jurisdiction of Danakgre, Megonggre and partially Sangsang Nawalgre which are all under the Chambugong Mahari. is willing to solve the Naga political problem along with the insurgency in the North Eastern Region. The Centre has CeaseFire Agreements with three NSCN groups, but how the problem could be solved with so many insurgent groups, he wondered. He appealed to all to come together unitedly to solve the Naga political problem. On the development front Acharya said there was lack of initiative from all quarters. He emphasized on the need of ‘3 Es’, Education, Electricity and Employment. He said Nagaland has over 100 schools, three universities, yet students are going outside the state, even in primary level in the metros. Guwahati, Jan 22 (IANS) : Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi will Friday reconstitute his council of ministers, a Congress leader said Thursday. Gogoi Thursday sent a list of 14 Congress legislators to the governor and the swearing-in ceremony will be held at 10.30 a.m. Friday, state Congress president Anjan Dutta told the media outside the chief minister's official residence. Assam Governor (incharge) P.B. Acharya, who is also the governor of Nagaland, arrived in the city Thursday for the swearing-in ceremony. Girindra Mallick, Chandan Sarkar, Sumitra Patir, Sukur Ali and Bismita Gogoi will be the new faces, Dutta said. The rest of the names are Bhumidhar Barman, Sarat Borkotoky, Nazrul Islam, Rockybul Hussain, Basanta Das, Ajit Singh, Etuwa Munda, Ajanta Neog and Kharsing Ingty, he said. Fourteen ministers had resigned Monday during a meeting of the council of ministers to facilitate the reshuffle. Gogoi had last year dropped ministers Ardhendy Kumar Dey and Siddeque Ahmed for dissidence, while then health and education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had resigned and Bodoland Peoples' Front Destination Meghalaya is our agenda: Mukul Imphal , Jan 22 :Chief Minister Mukul Sangma has said that his government will focus on the three important sectors — education, healthcare and hospitality — to attract investors to the state. “Destination Meghalaya is our agenda and we will focus on these three important sectors,” Sangma said while addressing the official function organized to celebrate the 43rd Statehood Day here on Wednesday. Sangma stressed on the need to invest more on roads, rail connectivity and inland water ways. “Meghalaya needs to create a positive environment and make Meghalaya a destination of positive happenings,” he said adding, “Our objective is to create a state where every one will have a sense of wellbeing.” According to him, Meghalaya has a rich legacy where the founding fathers of the state achieved their goal through peaceful movements. “Peaceful movements are best form of movements,” he said adding that there is a need to send a strong message to those who are engaging in futile exercise that peaceful movements are much more powerful. Earlier, Chief Advisor to Meghalaya Government DD Lapang recalled the works of great leaders like Captain Williamson Sangma and others who undertook the journey of 16 years to achieve Meghalaya. Information and Public Relations Minister AL Hek also spoke on the occasion. The Chief Minister and his colleagues in the government gave away the Meghalaya Day awards and also distributed prizes to the winners of various events organized as part of the celebration which included the folk song and dance competitions, marathon, flower show and host of other events. Modi greetings: Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured ‘opportunities’ and ‘fulfill- ment’ of dreams to the youth of Meghalaya on the occasion of the state’s 43rd statehood day. “I am committed to leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the dreams of Meghalaya’s youngsters are fulfilled and they get opportunities to shine,” Modi tweeted. While extending wishes to the people on the occasion of Meghalaya Day, the Prime Minister termed himself as fortunate to have inaugurated the first train that brought Meghalaya on India’s railway map even as he said that this will add tremendous impetus to Meghalaya’s progress. India, Bangladesh officials, border guards to work jointly Aizawl, Jan 22 (IANS) : The district administrations and border guards of India and Bangladesh would deal jointly with various border issues and crimes, officials said here Thursday. District magistrates and other officials of Mizoram's two districts Mamit and Lunglei -- met the deputy commissioners of Bangladesh's districts of Rangamati and Bandarban (under Chittagong division), and discussed border crimes, setting up of more border outposts (BOPs), erection of border fencing and better coordination between the district administrations of both sides. "We would like to sort out local issues between us. The border related crimes and problems would be dealt with jointly," said Rangamati Deputy Commissioner Shamsul Arefin, who led a nine-member Bangladesh team to the meeting. He told reporters: "Officials of the district administrations, Border Security Force and the Border Guards Bangladesh would work mutually to curb crime...and to resolve other problems." An official of the Mizoram home department said that the district magistrates and other officials of Mizoram's Mamit and Lunglei districts told their Bangladeshi counterparts that northeast militants take shelter in Bangladesh territory, occasionally kidnapping people from Mizoram. India and Bangladesh had decided to hold district magistrate-level meetings to resolve various issues. District magistrates and other officials of Tripura's four districts -- Sipahijala, Gomti, South Tripura and Dhalai - met in Agartala Jan 9-10 with the deputy commissioners of Bangladesh's five districts of Comilla, Feni, Rangamati, Khagrachari and Chittagong. They discussed border crimes, sharing waters of common rivers, setting up of more 'border haats' (markets), border fencing and better coordination between the district administrations of both sides. Similar conferences would be held in the other northeastern states of Assam and Meghalaya to sort out border issues. India is erecting a barbed wire fence and putting up floodlights along the 4,096-km IndiaBangladesh border in West Bengal (2,216 km), Tripura (856 km), Assam (263 km), Meghalaya (443 km) and Mizoram (318 km) to check transborder movement of militants and curb border crimes.The mountainous terrain, dense forests and other hindrances make the unfenced borders between India's northeastern states and Bangladesh porous and vulnerable, letting illegal immigrants and intruders cross over without any hurdle. legislator Chandan Brahma also quit after his party ended the over 10year-old alliance with the Congress. The state Congress chief, however, made it clear that there was no dissidence or discontent among the party legislators over the reshuffle, and everyone has decided to work together for the assembly polls scheduled for 2016. This will be the first reshuffle in the last 14year rule of the Congress in Assam under Tarun Gogoi. Although the first two terms saw success, the third term has been turbulent with many party leaders demanding a change in leadership. Assam Cong readies to fight polls on Modi’s failures Guwahati , Jan 22 : Getting ready to fight the next Assembly election in Assam in 2016 on the “Uturns’ made by the BJP government in the Centre on state issues, ruling Congress is has brought out a handbook for its party workers highlighting ‘failures’ of Naren-dra Modi government to fulfil promises made to people of Assam before the last Lok Sabha polls. Unveiling the handbook, which will be distributed through the 24,280 booth committees of the party, Assam CM Tarun Gogoi said, “It is a document of the failure of the Narendra Modi government. The promised ‘acchee din’ has not materialised.” Alleging that the Modi government has failed to keep its pre-poll promises to the people of Assam, Gogoi cited that BJP government’s made a U-turn and support to the land swap deal with Bangladesh after coming to power after Lok Sabha polls. He also pointed and Lower Subansiri Hydel Power Project after coming to power was such instances. He also criticized Modi of failing to keep his promise that Assam will be free of all ‘illegal foreigners’ from May 17 last year, if the BJP came to power. “The BJP government has not only not done anything for the state, they have also cut allocation under Central schemes for the state, suspended the North East Industrial and Investment Promotion Poli-cy and stopped fresh recrui-tment to government jobs, among others,” Gogoi said. Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Anjan Dutta, accusing the Modi govern-ment of doing a Uturn on all issues, said, “There is no Modi wave blowing any longer. The socalled Modi-tsunami is leaving a trail of destruction like all tsuna-mis.” He said the handbook was an attempt of the Congress to make the people aware how their trust on the BJP and its promise of deliver has been betrayed. The Congress will be seeking people’s mandate for the fourth consecutive term in power in Assam in the next Assembly elections, apparently an uphill task for the party as on date given the drubbing at received in the last Lok Sabha elections in the state at the hands of the BJP and the AIUDF. 3 Opp parties’ youth wings back Nongrum Imphal , Jan 22 : The youth wings of the Opposition parties in the State have come together in support of KHADC Chief Executive Member Adelbert Nongrum and have slammed the Mukul Sangma- led government for not clearing the Village Administration Bill, 2012 of the KHADC which clearly specifies the powers and function of the Rangbah Shnong. In a joint statement on Wednesday, the youth wings of the opposition parties extended their support to the KHADC chief who is slated to appear before the High Court of Meghalaya on Jan 27 as per the court’s directive. “The State Government should not have delayed in approving this very important bill. We all understand that the passing of this bill is very critical in view of the court ruling which had questioned the role of the Rangbah Shnong,” the joint statement read. The statement also urged the legislators from Khasi and Jaintia Hills to persuade the State Government to approve and clear the bill at the earliest. The FKJGP, meanwhile, maintained that the high court’s decision to dis-empower the Rangbah Shnong will in no way weaken the institution of the Dorbar Shnong or demoralize the indigenous population belonging to the Hynniewtrep community. “I strongly urge the indigenous Khasi population not to lose hope even at this crunch situation,” FKJGP president Joe Marwein said in statement on Wednesday. He also asserted that ‘no outside force’ can interfere with the powers and functions (law of the land) bestowed upon the Rangbah Shnong since time immemorial. The FKJGP president also reminded that even the Union Government shows respect to the customary laws of any community. “It is for this simple reason that the Centre has never tried to disturb the ongoing practice of the Dorbar Shnong by attempting to bring in the Panchayat system,” he said. Vodafone foundation drives inclusive growth through world of difference programme 2015 New Delhi , Jan 22 : Devendra Rathor, a Vodafone India employee, got out of his regular job for 8 weeks last year to lend technical expertise to a NGO for developing a cell phone-based payment system that allows people to support millions of fellow citizens who live with disability. He was one, amongst the 33 World of Difference (WoD) Champions of last year who made a difference. Since 2011, 78 skilled employees have donated over 38,500 man-hours working on 73 different social projects with diverse NGOs on defined projects. While working with NGOs, the employees continued to receive their salary and all related benefits from Vodafone India and came back richer with the experience gained of working first hand with communities, trying to address real social issues and challenges. In 2015, the 4th edition of the WORLD OF DIFFERENCE, a flagship programme of the Vodafone Foundation will have 50 qualified Vodafone India employees, drawn from different work streams, working with 26 diverse NGOs for a period of 8 weeks to enhance capacities, address technology gaps and resolve issues impairing women empowerment. Operating in 22 countries worldwide, the WOD programme is Vodafone's unique way of corporate giving which goes beyond the traditional 'cheque book' approach. The WOD programme in India runs in partnership with Dasra, India's leading strategic philanthropy foundation. Dasra's role in this program is to analyze and match the skills & acumen of the participants with the nonprofit organizations. Dasra also plays a pivotal role in orientation of the employees to ensure positive outcomes. Introducing the team volunteering concept, selected WOD volunteers this year will be divided in smaller groups to work on parallel projects at the assigned NGO. The projects and NGOs are selected basis the gaps identified from research on mGovernance and mHealth. Vodafone Foundation has also designed an 'Annual Sustainability Programme' to ensure continued engagement between the NGO and WOD volunteer beyond the tenure of the project. Speaking about the initiative, Marten Pieters, Managing Director and CEO, Vodafone India said, "The World of Difference programme exemplifies Vodafone India's commitment towards leveraging the skills of its employees and its learning as an organization for larger good.
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