Day: February 7, 2012

BANGALORE, Feb 7 (IANS): Karnataka Cooperation Minister Laxman Savadi was Tuesday caught watching a sex act on his cell phone inside the state assembly, leaving the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party shame-faced and scurrying for explanations.

Kannada TV channels showed Savadi with Women and Child Welfare Minister C.C. Patil next to him watching the act on his cell phone when the assembly was discussing a pro-Hindu group allegedly hoisting a Pakistani flag in north Karnataka recently.

The two ministers dragged a third colleague into the picture, Environment and Ports Minister J. Krishna Palemar, saying the mobile phone belonged to him.

The clipping was not a porn film but contained scenes of rape and murder of a woman in a foreign country, claimed Savadi and Patil, adding they were watching it to understand how such incidents happen in the light of a controversy over alleged sex act at a party for foreigners organised by the tourism department near Udupi, abut 400 km west of Bangalore, last week.

The incident sent shock waves across the state as dozens of people began calling the channels and newspaper offices, condemning Savadi and Patil.

Opposition parties sought immediate dismissal of the two from the ministry and their expulsion from the assembly.

This is the second incident involving sex and a BJP minister in Karnataka where the party came to power for the first time in May 2008.

Karnataka is the only state the party is ruling in South India and the scandal has hit the party in the face ahead of polling to the Uttar Pradesh assembly, beginning Wednesday.

In May 2010, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Haratalu Halappa was forced to quit after he was accused of raping his friend’s wife in Shimoga, about 280 km north of Bangalore.

A group of pro-Kannada activists took to streets in Bangalore within hours of telecast of the clippings and threw stones at Savadi’s ministerial bungalow. They were chased away by police.

Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, facing the first major embarrassment of his six months in office, left it to assembly Speaker K.G. Bopaiah to investigate the incident and take action.

Bopaiah said use of cell phones in the assembly was banned and he will look into the issue and take action.

The Janata Dal-Secular state head and former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy said his party, which has 26 members in the assembly, will decide Wednesday on action to be taken to get Savadi and Patil sacked from the ministry and expelled from the house.

“This is a black spot on Karnataka assembly and the people of the state,” Kumaraswamy said.

Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah of the Congress said the two should be thrown out of the ministry and the assembly without any delay.

“This is the most shameful incident in the history of Karnataka assembly. The two should be sacked from the ministry and expelled from the assembly,” Siddaramaiah said.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/02/karnataka-minister-caught-watching-sex-clips-during-assembly-sitting/

IMPHAL, Feb 7: The coordinator of Campaign for Electoral Reforms of India (CERI), Northeast, Dr M Nara will be leading a delegation of 50 members from the northeast in the national conference on electoral reforms to be held from February 10-11 at Vishwa Yuvak Kendra, New Delhi.

CERI was initiated in 2008 with an avowed purpose of working towards proportionate electoral system in India. Substantial researches have been conducted by CERI on different models of proportionate representation system in Germany, Norway, New Zealand, Nepal and Netherland.

The recommendations of the experts in Berlin workshop will be further discussed and adopted in the national conference. The policy documents in the form of a book will be released by Chief Election Commissioner of India, Dr SY Quraishi at the Constitution Club on February 9.

Ningombam Noren, sub-editor of Sangai Express will represent All Manipur Working Journalists’ Union (AMWJU) in the said conference.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/02/dr-nara-to-lead-ne-delegation-on-electoral-reforms/

IMPHAL, Feb 7: The militant outfit Zeliangrong United Front (ZUF) today sharply criticized the Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Gaikhangam for “repeatedly accusing” the outfit of interfering at the recent Manipur assembly polls, which it vehemently denied.

ZUF Joint secretary, A Remroi said in a press statement that Gaikhangam is a cunning individual who has not pledge his loyalty to either the Secular Progressive Front (SPF) government headed by O Ibobi, the AICC in Delhi or the UPA government at the Centre as he often played hide and seek against the CM of Manipur and everybody is aware of it.

The outfit reiterated that any involvement in the electoral game anywhere in the Zeliangrong region and elsewhere will not bring the desired solidarity and conservation of own land and resources as aspired by Zeliangrong, Inpui, Chiru, Kom and tribes in the Indian sub-continent of South East Asia, saying that the front adhered to the collective

Decision/resolution of non-political involvement in the electoral process, especially during the recent elections to the 10th Manipur Assembly.

But the MPCC president secretly organized armed cadres attired in combat dresses and weapons in a calculated move to throw the blame on different underground organizations and gain electoral mileage, ZUF alleged.

It added, the people cannot forget his past records when many rival supporters were injured by gun shots or physical attacks, vehicles of his rivals being destroyed or pushed down the gorges at Longpi circle in 2002 and elsewhere,  ballot boxes being found in a field in Nungba Constituency. In 1990, a rival election office, Taolingpung at Namkaolong village part-II was attacked by his armed gang that injured many from gun shots and the villagers were also tortured even as one lakh rupees fine was imposed on the village during the re-poll in Taosang polling station when his armed gang along with some outfits imposed a boycott against rival voters. Gaikhangam also used a few militant cadres in connivance with his armed gang during his election campaign in 2007 and this time, for the 2012 elections, he played a hidden game of criminalization of politics.

ZUF also alleged the MPCC president for being an anti-Naga and anti-Zeliangrong leader while saying that the leader is neither a trusted friend of the Meitei, Muslim and the Kuki and said that he strongly opposed the Zeliangrong People`s Convention (ZPC) movement in the 1980s and the 1990s and played a game with the Naga nationalists with a plot to sabotage the “national movement” at one hand and for his political mileage on the other by using certain cadres.

The militant front also warned  Gaikhangam to stop making further allegations and false charges against ZUF, asserting that for a man like Gaikhangam, it is better to work for the humanity and protection of the lands of the concerned indigenous people, and it repeated its warning that the willy politician should speak the truth and support good work from now onward or face future consequences that will be damaging.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/02/zuf-lashes-back-at-cunning-mpcc-chief/

IMPHAL,Feb 7: As usual Manipur will be conducting annual water bird census on February 11. This time the bird census will be conducted by establishing around 35 counting centres against last year’s 27 across the three valley districts – Imphal West, Thoubal and Bishnupur- with the involvement of more than a dozen local clubs.

The local environmentalists and ornithologists here opined that birds are nature’s indicator. “So we need bird counting as it controls insect invasion in conserving food grains for the human race”, the experts felt. “So bird census is compulsory for wildlife conservation in the region.”

The opinions, comments and observations were made during a day long motivation camp on water bird census 2012 here at Toubul village, 35 km south of Imphal in Bishunupur district today. Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (wildlife) Dr Anilkumar was the chief guest at the day’s motivation camp, which was participated by about 70 representatives from more than a dozen local clubs in and around Loktak Lake.

RK Srivastava, member secretary of the Manipur Biodiversity Board was the guest of honour while Pradhan W Bornee Devi of Toubul village presided the gathering.

Former college lecturer K Jugeshwor of Moirang and ornithologist RK Birjit also presented lectures on how the water birds could be identified and conducted bird counting with modern kits.

Speaking on the occasion the additional PCCF called upon the masses to develop the wetlands of the state besides Loktak as well in order to restore the depleting biodiversity in the interest of the general public in this age of climate change.

Interestingly bird watchers in Manipur began to spot Glossy Ibis,a rare water bird besides sea gull in group in the state’s wetlands in the recent time.

Dr Kh Shamungou,noted environmentalist also informed about spotting such birds in their recent observations in Loktak and Ungamen wetland areas since last year.

Earlier there was no sign of spotting such birds,the environmentalist felt.

The environmentalist also expressed happiness over the development of Lamyai pat of Tangjeng Khunjao under Manipur’s Sugnu assembly constituency as the biodiversity spot for its rich flora and fauna.

According to senior forest officer, S Dhananjoy, Manipur is home to more than 538 birds including 35 globally endangered species.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/02/bird-census-to-begin-from-feb-11/

AGARTALA, Feb 7 (IANS): The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is to introduce a new radar-based air surveillance system at 14 airports across the country for better control of aircraft in flight, an official said.

“The new Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) system would facilitate civilian aircraft in self-communicating with airports about their identity, speed and altitude,” AAI director Sudhamay Maiti told IANS.

“The new system is likely to be commissioned in six to seven of a total of 14 airports across India by the middle of this year and in the remaining airports by this year-end,” he added.

According to the official, unlike the existing radar-based ground-to-air surveillance system on airports, the comparatively cheaper ADS-B system has three components — an ADS-B transponder in the aircraft, an antenna to get frequency from the aircraft transponder and a receiver at the Air Traffic Control (ATC).

“The new technology enables ATCs at airports to get complete situational awareness of ADS-B compatible aircraft, which could even be 300 miles away,” Maiti said.

The ADS-B system would cover much wider areas than the present surveillance system.

“The existing air surveillance system has certain limitations when it comes to airspace management,” Maiti said, adding that safety aspects would also get a major boost once the new system is introduced.

The AAI official said that during the past few years, air traffic has increased in most of the airports in India with more domestic and foreign flights using Indian airspace and airports.

“Voice communication between the flights and the ATCs would be more easy and transparent with the new ADS-B system,” Maiti added.

The administrative as well as technical process has already started to install the new system at 14 airports: Agartala, Imphal, Shimla, Jaipur, Bhopal, Patna, Bhubaneswar, Lucknow, Amritsar, Varanasi, Port Blair, Nagpur, Ahmedabad and Calicut.

The AAI official said that around Rs.4 crore would be spent at each of the airports to install the new system.

Meanwhile, the AAI has begun preliminary work to upgrade Agartala airport to an international airport to boost the northeastern region`s connectivity with Southeast Asian countries.

“AAI has taken up an ambitious Rs.80 crore project to gradually develop Agartala airport to international standards. Also, a modern Air Traffic Control tower is being set up at a cost of Rs.10 crore,” said another AAI official.

On an average, 32-33 aircraft operate every day through Agartala airport, connecting Delhi, Kolkata, Guwahati, Imphal, Silchar and the southern states.

“The decision to upgrade the Agartala airport was taken as part of the India`s `Look East` policy,” the official added.

“As part of the plan, the terminal building, ATC tower, runway and other necessary infrastructure would be expanded and further strengthened,” he told IANS.

A Tripura government official said the AAI has sought 200 acres of land to build additional infrastructure. “However, there is scarcity of land in the existing airport area,” he said.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/02/new-surveillance-system-at-imphal-airport/

KANGPOKPI, Feb 7: 43 Assam Rifles ‘A’ Coy posted at Kangpokpi seized two vehicles carrying illegal timber wood at NH-2 in seperated incident.

In the first incident the 43 AR seized Tat Shaktiman bearing Registration No. MN901-6209 carrying 15 logs of illegal timber wood between Daili Village and Kangpokpi in NH-2 at around 6:00 am this morning.

They also arrested 3 persons alongwith the illegal timber wood identified as Mangcha Kipgen(Driver) 27 yrs son of Late Lenchong Kipgen of Keithelamnbi Village, Seigin Khongsai (handyman) 37 yrs son of Ashi Khongsai of Gelnel Village and Seitillal Doungel, 37 yrs son of Late Letkhojang Doungel of Kangpokpi.

In another incident, the same AR arrested one tata bearing Registration No. MN05C-0763 carrying 11 logs of illegal timber wood near Kangpokpi at arounf 11:30 a.m. today. They have also arrested one Ilongbam John Singh(Driver) 30 yrs son of Late Ilongbam Mangi Singh of Simjam, Chilang Maning Leikai and Yumnam Chaandrikira Singh (Handyman) 28yrs son of Yumnam Jogeshore Singh of Samolou Mayai Leikai alongwith the illegal timber wood.

They handover all the arrested persons and items to the Forest Deptt.Kangpokpi today.

Case have been registered against the arrested persons and item at Forest Deptt. Kangpokpi under Case No. 5/6/R.O.K (R)2011-12 and Case No. 6/R.O.K(R) 2011-12 respectively.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/02/43-ar-seize-illegal-timber/