Day: March 4, 2012

Aizawl, Mar 4 NNN : The first ever Bamboo Day was observed in Mizoram on Saturday.
The occasion was organised to promote bamboo craft in Mizoram. The state is bestowed abundantly with bamboo.
Speaking on the occasion of historic “1st Mizoram Bamboo Day” programme on Saturday at Reception Hall, Aijal Club, chief minister Lalthanhawla said Mizoram is one of the richest bamboo growing areas in India both in terms of yields as well as in species diversity with around 44% of the sates’ geographical area covered with bamboo having some 35 odd species.
Besides the normal observation of Bamboo Day, a seminar was also held on bamboo.
Lalthanhawla while delivering a speech on “seminar-cum- Interactive Meet on Bamboo: Technology , Livelihood, Export Potential & Prospects” in commemoration of 1st Mizoram Bamboo Day said the utility, especially in terms of value addition in bamboo products is still to be developed in Mizoram, which is the biggest challenge for the people of Mizoram, adding, how China has become a world’s leader in bamboo production
. He then stated that many of the north eastern states like Tripura, Assam and Meghalaya are way ahead than Mizoram in terms of Value Addition related to bamboo.
The chief minister then welcomed all the participants of seminar –cum- Interactive Meet hoping that interactions and exchange of ideas will surely share valuable information to further the promotion of bamboo production in Mizoram.
For Mizoram, starting from Resource Inventory to Value Addition, the state Government is at present giving sharp focus towards bamboo plantation and management.
However, owing to lack of basic infrastructures like roads, power and electricity and other logistic support, the state government had not been able to properly capitalize on the true potential of bamboo till today, official sources said here today, adding, until a few years ago, before the last gregarious flowering (Mautam) between year 2003-2006, Mahal system or open auction was the main method adopted for Disposal in SITU. However, it is a welcome relief that during the last few years, people have realized the potential of bamboo thanks to the Natioanl Bamboo Mission, the entrepreneurs in bamboo mat ply, agarbatti sticks et al, with Mizoram government even entering into a joint venture with Venus Bamboo to produce World Class Bamboo Panels and Boards.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/bamboo-day-observed-in-mizoram/

New Delhi, Mar 4 (ANI): As the fate of poll candidates from 690 constituencies gets sealed with the conclusion of assembly elections in five states, Chief Election Commissioner S.Y Qureshi has lauded voters, terming their participation as ‘outstanding.’Voter turnout during this year’s assembly elections conducted in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Goa has recorded an all time high in recent years, with only Manipur playing a spoiler with low turnout following incidents of violence. “Free and fair and totally incident free, except this incident in Manipur which we had already reported. I would like to thank the voters of all the five states for their outstanding performance,” Qureshi told the media here.
Qureshi further said that a key feature of the polls held in five states was the huge participation of women voters.
“Highest turnout of women voters- very high turnout, women have outdone men in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and in Manipur. In Uttar Pradesh the turnout has been remarkable with an increase in this year’s attendance by 42.77 percent. The increase in Uttarakhand is 6.88 percent and in Manipur also women are more, 694,000 as against 631,000 men voters,” said Qureshi.
He further said that this year’s election also witnessed an impressive youth turnout.
“Youth turnout was very high, youth participation was remarkable this time. We are yet to develop the figures. We will supply to you later,” he added.
Qureshi also indicated that the commission is trying to find out how to fight urban apathy during polls. He appreciated the participation of 100 million school children in spreading awareness about the polls.Qureshi informed that 15,420 vulnerable hamlets were identified under which special protection was provided to 345,015 voters. “Special arrangements were made for the protection of vulnerable groups. Steps were taken to build their confidence, during which additional forces were deployed. In areas where we anticipated that these certain sects of people would be exposed to harassment or the upper dominant caste would not allow them to participate in the polls, special police squads were formed to check that. Preventive actions on a very large scale were taken. Elaborate planning and effort has gone into the error and incident free execution of the polls,” he said.In Uttar Pradesh, polling in the seventh phase on Saturday has been tentatively 62 percent. This makes the overall turnout in the Uttar Pradesh election approximately 60 percent, which is 30.23 percent increase over 2007 turnout when the was 46.07 percent.
Punjab saw the turnout of 78.57 percent, which is an increase of 8.43 percent over 2007 turnout when it was 72.12 percent. In Uttarakhand, turnout is 67.89 percent, which is 6.15 percent increase over 2007 turnout when it was 63.96 percent.
While in Goa, the turnout is 81 percent, which is an all time high and is an increase of 14.87 percent over 2007, when it was 70.51 percent. Only in Manipur, there was a decrease in turnout from 84.83 percent in 2007 to 79.41 percent this year .

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/qureshi-happy-over-outstanding-performance-by-voters-in-state-polls/