Day: March 7, 2013

Mail News Service
Imphal, Mar 7 : Capping 56 days of campaign, a five-day photo exhibition with the theme ‘Development Initiatives in North East’ kick-off Thursday at Lamlai Community Hall in Imphal East. The exhibition which would last till March 11 is being organized by the Field Exhibition Office, Directorate of Advertising & Visual Publicity (DAVP), Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India, Imphal in collaboration with Lamlai Nagar Panchayat.
Setting the five-day campaign into motion, Smt Thangjam Memee Devi, Councillor, Lamlai Nagar Panchayat, who graced the occasion as Chief Guest said that the exhibition has taught many aspects of life which have not been known before. Admitting that this was the first time she has joined this type of campaign, Memee Devi pointed out that photo exhibition gives lots of information and emphasized the fact that she has learnt more things of each north eastern states with this campaign. ‘This exhibition promotes national integration and spread the knowledge of tradition & customs amongst the people’ she mentioned. The Councillor also appealed to the public to availed the rare opportunity of visiting the five-day photo exhibition.
Saikhom Tomba Singh, Chairman, Biramangol College Management Committee, who attended as Functional President narrated on how one can leant many more things of each north eastern states through the medium of photo exhibition. ‘We can learn many things about Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and all north eastern states through this exhibition’ said Tomba Singh.
Giving a forceful speech, Wahengbam Jayenta Meetei, Senior Inspector of Customs, Government of India, Imphal Division, who made his presence felt as Guest of Honour maintained that photo is a strong medium of communication. ‘Much more than words, photos acts as a strong medium of communication to express our ideas and feelings’ he said. Jayenta further said that this type of campaign is very rare in Lamlai, whilst expressing his profound gratitude to DAVP officials.
Proposing the key-note address, Dr Gin Gangte, IIS, Field Ehibition Officer, DAVP, Imphal said that the aim of the campaign is to spread awareness among the public about the various developmental schemes initiated by the government such as MGNREGS, NRHM, SSA, Mid Day Meal, RMSA, Total Sanitation Campaign, et al. Reminding the gathering that all these schemes are for the public, the IIS officer advice the gathering to approached concerned implementing officials if they have not yet availed the benefit of government’s welfare schemes. The Field Exhibition Officer also informed that similar mass awareness campaign has been organized throughout the state with much success during this fiscal at Mayang Imphal, Wangoi, Lilong, Lamsang, Nambol, Bishnupur, Ukhrul, Thoubal, Wangjing, Khomidok Heigrumakhong, etc. With the rolling of five-day long campaign at Lamlai, DAVP, Imphal successfully organized 56 days of exhibition during this fiscal year, conveyed Dr Gin Gangte.
Moved by the collection of 130 photos, Prof Ksh Raghumani said that these photos reflect the activities of the government. Maintaining that we can know the past through folklores, music and arts, Thokchom Khamba, President, Lamlai Students’ Ideal Club succinctly sum up with the five things that one can be beneficial from the exhibition – to feel and appreciate the natural beauty of the north east, know the culture of the people, education, science & technology and development. Many students, women and local youth have visited the exhibition.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/development-photos-cynosure-of-all-eyes-at-lamlai/

IMPHAL, March 7: The issue of migration in India began since the British rule and illegal immigration problem in the North East was one of the important factors contributing in creating more insurgency problem in the region, said a retired Professor of Manipur University.
Prof Laldena said this while giving a keynote speech of a two-day “National Seminar on Immigrant Problems in North-East India: Its Socio-political and Economic Impacts organized by Department of Political Science, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Regional Campus, Manipur at Hotel Imphal here on Thursday.
In the context of Manipur, a large part of the Barak Valley has been named after Bengali community, he mentioned. Prof Laldena commented that now the situation has demanded a serious debate and a deeper study on the issue of illegal immigrants confronting NE.
Pointing out that the issue of illegal immigration normally has more negative impact than positive impact, Arun Kumar Sinh, Special Secretary, Home/FW, Government of Manipur, who also attended the workshop, said it has been estimated that there are about 15 million Bangladeshi immigrants in India.
He also said Muslim population in Assam has been shot up to 40 percent from its earlier record of 16 percent. “The big problem of immigration in NE has been persisting for a long time with the region being the international border,” Arun said.
The influx of immigrants into NE has been occurring because these foreigners are in search of livelihood, he said.
“Therefore, it would not be possible to stop illegal immigrants from coming to the region totally, but it can be minimized by a political will both at the Central and state level,” Arun suggested.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/immigration-responsible-for-insurgency-laldena/

Mail News Service
Imphal, Mar 7 : Manipur Assembly today passed vote on accounts of Rs 3002 cr to meet the expenditure likely to be incurred during April- July 2013.
On the second day of session today Chief Minister, O Ibobi presented the supplementary demands for grants for all the departments. During discussion Dr L Ibohalbi of Trinamul Congress said the government is spending more money on security related matters while other issues like employments, services to the people were sidelined. He called upon the government to take up new schemes to help over 7 lakh highly educated unemployed youths who are registered in the employment exchange.
Dr Ibohalbi further said the schemes meant for the common people and the poor were not properly implemented and it is calculated that only about 15 paise of every rupee spent reaches the beneficiary.
Chief Minister, O Ibobi Singh after passing the vote on accounts introduced Manipur Appropriation Bill No 1 and 2.
During question hour, Chief Minister, O Ibobi Singh said a star shaped fort like wall was discovered at Maklang recently and the Ministry of Art and Culture is investigating into the matter. Dy Chief Minister, Gaikhangam said during 2002-07 Rs 9.77 lakhs were spent to repair quarter of state Chief Secretary and during 2007-12 Rs 80 lakhs were spent.
Ibohanbi charged that the budget was a self-contradictory and called it a “jobless budget.”
Replying to the observation and question made by Ibohanbi, Chief Minister O Ibobi said the State Plan Size for the entire country has not been fixed yet and that the full budgets for all the states will be finalised only after passing of the Union Budget Plan in the Parliament.
Ibobi said such proposal of the Opposition could be considered only when the full budget of the state is finalised.
Entrepreneurs from other states of the country want proper connectivity like airways, railways and roads and apart from this, it is quite necessary to ensure availability of low cost power and water and other raw material requirement of running industries, he said.
The Government is making efforts toward this end, the Chief Minister said and further added that the Government is exploring ways to attract outside entrepreneurs into the state as it cannot provide white colour jobs to all its citizens.
He said that budget for security has been enlarged since there is a shortage of number of police personnel in the five hill districts of Manipur.
The Planning Department of Manipur had sanctioned a total of 1500 beneficiaries under Minorities and Other Backward Classes (MOBC) in the fiscal year 2011-12, Social Welfare minister AK Mirabai said.
Mirabai was replying to a question raised by MLA Ibomcha of Trinamool Congress during Question Hour in the second day of the session.
She said her department has been discussing on how many beneficiaries under MOBC can be selected for each constituency after choosing out only the eligible persons.
Dy Chief Minister Gaikhangam said on Feb 24 last a huge consignment of drugs worth about Rs 24 crore were seized from a team led by Lt Colonel Ajay Choudhury, PRO Defence Wing. He said Ajay repeatedly threatened the police personnel who detained him. Ajay also tried to go away by saying that he got prior permission from the concerned SP of Thoubal to pass through freely however when cross checked it was found that he was not in touch with the SP of Thoubal.
Gaikhangam further said state security personnel raided some places on Wednesday and nabbed Md Tahir Ali an employee of Directorate of Fisheries Department and Ayub Khan. From them drugs worth about Rs 2.6 cr were seized.
He appealed to all to fight the menace as it is feared that a whole generation may be wiped out. He informed that House that the matter related to seizure of drug from a senior army officer has been handed over to the CBI.
Dr I Ibohalbi and L Ibomcha raising the matter said India produces pseudo ephedrine in huge quantity which is illegally smuggled to Myanmar and changed into other banned drugs. Most South East Asian countries had joined hands to curb the menace as early as 2006 but India was not part of the pact to fight drug menace. There are over 14 routes in Manipur which need to be checked it was informed.
Aircraft which brings in banned drugs should be seized and central security agencies should be asked to take action against drug traffickers they appealed. It was pointed out that huge consignments of drugs are seized from Imphal airport following tip off from some persons but Airport Authority, CISF and other central forces on duty at airport have never seized anything .
Handing over of the cases to the CBI will also not help as CBI is manned by skeleton staff in Manipur and the cases it handles takes a long time to process. L Ibomcha announced that he would provide Rs 50,000 to the police personnel who seized drugs from Lt Col Ajay Choudhury. Dr L Ibohalbi said Manipur has become a transit of drugs produced in the Golden triangle and the crisis has become an international issue.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/vote-on-accounts-for-rs-3002-cr-passed-govt-committed-to-root-out-drug-menace-dy-cm/