Day: November 29, 2017

IMPHAL | Nov 29

Vision Foundation, Manipur has appealed to the minister of state and minister of power, government of India for early implementation of Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (Saubhagya) in Manipur.

Despite decades of planning by the then electricity department, which has now turned into MSPCL and MSPDCL, they could not deliver the required power to the needy domestic consumers, said a release. The rural domestic consumers which comprise of more than 1.07 lakh families are yet to be covered by Saubhagya Yojana, it said. At present, the condition is very severe in the hill districts of Manipur as National electricity policy, RGGVY, R-APDRP etc. of earlier policies were also not extended fully, it continued. Some of the so called VIPs and others forfeited such development programmes of 24 hours power supply at the cost of poor citizens from rural areas in the name of law and order, it added.

By A Staff Reporter

IMPHAL | Nov 29

The argument hearing of the infamous Lungnila Elizabeth murder case will begin from December 15 with the accused examination having completed today.

The accused examination concluded today at the district and sessions judge, Imphal West wherein all the three accused Th. Nando, Lekhosei Haokip alias James Kuki and Rome Meitei, appeared before the judge.

Nando and James Kuki, the two main accused are currently lodged in judicial custody while Rome Meitei is on bail.

The Court is expected to announce the final verdict of the murder case soon after the final argument hearing is completed.

Since the beginning of the trial a total of 65 prosecution witnesses including the father of victim, Francis Ngajokpa, former minister. His statement was examined and recorded by the court during the trail process of the case.

Lungnila Elizabeth was kidnapped from her school (Little Flower School) on November 4, 2003 and found murdered on November 11, 2003 at Sadokpam village.

Earlier in connection with her murder case police have arrested six persons and later during the CBI investigation another four persons including the main accused of the case Th. Nando was also arrested.

Charges were framed against the arrested persons including James Kuki, Rome Meitei, O. Deben and one Arnold by the CBI and Arnold reportedly expired during his judicial custody period during the trial of the case which was started from February 6, 2008.

By Kuwar Singh

IMPHAL | Nov 29

The first match of Manipur international polo tournament last Wednesday, when the state team took on England 8-3, decided for every competitor—England, Argentina, Morocco, USA and another from India—who their biggest opponent was going to be.

“We are not a very good team,” Manipur team captain Pradeep Kumar Singh had said repeatedly before his team’s passionate finale with Argentina, where he led Manipur to the trophy and the heart of an audience at once furious at every missed opportunity and doting at every goal scored.

Despite Manipur’s win, the captain could cite many reasons for his statement. Between October rains and popular favourite football’s claim to the Mapal Kangjeibung polo ground, the Manipur team could get only three days of practise before opening the tournament against England.

While almost everyone on the foreign teams was a professional polo player, the Manipuri players all have day jobs. “There is no money in polo,” said Pradeep, who works as a hawaldar in the 5th Indian Reserve Battalion.

Pradeep’s family had owned 15 Manipuri ponies, but sold them in 2009 after they became too difficult to maintain, he said. Many players from Argentina, England and the US, on the other hand, have their own farms and dozens of thoroughbred horses to train with. Though the organiser Manipur Horse Riding and Polo Association (MHRPA) provided players with ponies for the tournament, a friend had to lend Pradeep his pony during those three days of practice.

Pradeep’s is not the only family who was lost over what to do with its ponies. “The endangered Manipuri pony is a semi-feral breed. It lived on vast grazing grounds in the valley. Manipuris used to bring them from the fields for either polo or war,” said MHRPA vice-president C. Priyoranjan. “The ponies were never stall-fed. Now that their grazing grounds are disappearing because of the construction spree, people don’t know how to feed them.”

In a state with no surplus cereal production, rearing ponies has become increasingly difficult for farmers who own them, said director of veterinary and animal husbandry services department Dr H. Chaoba Singh. 

According to census figures, total number of ponies dropped from 1898 in 2003 to 1101 in 2011. In 2014, while cataloguing ponies for a stud book, MHRPA estimated their strength to be less than 600.

Since the pony has never been used in agriculture and is no longer used in the military, the only purpose it serves is in the game of polo. Manipur prides itself as the birthplace of the equestrian sport. But encroachment of both the ponies’ natural habitat and the open spaces which were used as polo grounds, along with the arrival of games like football and badminton, led to a decline of polo in the state, Priyoranjan said.

“There were 30 polo grounds in Manipur. Today we are left with three, and only on one of them”—Mapal Kangjeibung—“do we get to hold matches, provided it is not already booked for football,” he said.

Despite a continued fall, efforts are being made to revive the game. “It is amazing that polo developed here. Nobody can take that away, but it is going to take strong people to save the sport,” American player Kegan Walsh said. “And it seems to me that everybody here really wants that.”

Ajit Chongtham, a pony breeder, recently began a horse riding school for young boys. He said he has distributed his 40 ponies among his students as it is not feasible for him to feed so many animals.

With no pastures left, if he lets his horses out to graze, they run the risk of getting hit by traffic or eating out of garbage and dying of food poisoning, Chongtham said. In 2007, one of his ponies succumbed to a polythene bag lodged in its intestines.

The reality is not lost on foreign players. “Many of the Manipuri ponies are very skinny,” Argentine player Miguel Uriburu said. “By the third chukker, they get exhausted. They need to be better fed.”

As it is in most other parts of the world, Uriburu said polo is a rich man’s sport in Argentina. In contrast, the game in Manipur is enjoyed by people across class divides, albeit in different seating sections of the stadium.

And just as the pony’s survival is tied to polo, the game too hinges on preservation of the pony. Interest in polo has dwindled also because the rising cost of feeding the ponies has meant that fewer people are playing the sport today.

The Manipur pony conservation and development policy, devised by the previous government, has meanwhile been gathering dust for want of funds.

“The veterinary department has meagre funds. We had applied to the union agriculture ministry for a fund of 39 crores two years ago, but the proposal has not made progress,” Choaba Singh said.

The policy had chalked out plans for development of polo grounds and grazing fields for the ponies.

“The government has allocated 23 acres of land in Heingang and Pangei for a pony farm. We are hopeful that we shall start work on its infrastructure before March,” Choaba Singh said. “We have applied for a loan with the rural infrastructure development fund of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development.”

At the championship match between Manipur and Argentina, polo seemed to need nobody’s help. On other days of the tournament, audience would gasp when the mallet hit the ball at a crucial moment. Today, it screamed. Men, women and children were one with the players, shouting angry advice across hundreds of yards, comfortably out of the team’s earshot.

It took three goals by Pradeep to beat Argentina’s 4-2 lead, and the game never turned from there. Men playing part-time defeated professionals from a country regarded as the mecca of modern polo.

Asked if he thinks their win will help polo, ponies and other players in Manipur, Pradeep said, “Two of us are in the armed forces, and four other team members are civilians. Now we will ask the government to provide jobs for them, and a promotion for us.”

By A Staff Reporter

IMPHAL | Nov 29

The chief judicial magistrate, Imphal West today remanded four individuals including two female who were arrested yesterday along with arms and ammunitions during search operations have been remanded to police custody for a period of six days.

The arrested persons are identified as Naorem Bhume, 44, son of late N. Ibochou of Pechu Lampak Kha Naorem Leikai and his wife N. (O) Premila, Konsam Joykuma, 47, son of late Babudhon Singh of Thongju Part-II and Huidrom Ongbi Jibanlata alias Mounao, 54, wife of late H. Ingo of Thongju Pechu Lampak.

All four persons were arrested by a team of Imphal East district police commandos from their respective houses during search operations conducted yesterday afternoon at Thongju Pechu Lampak areas.

From their possessions police has recovered one AK-56 Rifle along with five magazines, 15 live rounds of AK-56 Rifle, one Lethod gun along with 10 live shells of Lethod, one 9mm pistol, two mobile phones and some equipments for modifying guns.

Of the total four police claimed that Bhume and Ingo are active cadres of the proscribed PLA while the two women were sympathizers of the outfit.

By A Staff Reporter

IMPHAL | Nov 29

Selected Assistant Professor Group 2017 has requested the Government of Manipur to issue their appointment letters without further delay.

Speaking to media persons at the Manipur Press Club today, convenor of the group Y.Lalit said that Manipur Public Service Commission (MPSC) had conducted the recruitment process in a very transparent manner without any bias or corruption.

This will enhance the quality, credibility and image of MPSC, and we consider this step as the beginning of bringing quality education in our state, he said.

Pointing out the reason for the inordinately extended time of the recruitment process, he elaborated that the “notification for the recruitment of 280 Assistant professors was released in 2014. But a problem arose as reserved seat exceeded 50% of the total breaking a constitutional ceiling. This led to litigations in the court.”

The High Court of Manipur has now given a final verdict in the last month of 2016 and directed the reduction in the percentage of reserved seats so that the statutory ceiling is not broken. The Government of Manipur was also ordered to declare the result within one month.

By A Staff Reporter

IMPHAL | Nov 29

The High Court of Manipur has directed that there shall be immediate stoppage of any quarrying works which is going on in the hill sides where national highways are running.

Division bench of the High Court comprises of acting chief justice, N. Kotiswar and justice Kh. Nobin made the directive after National Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NIDCL) general manager, Sunil Kumar filed an affidavit and personally explained the progress of the work done to the court.

He submitted before that court that the work of the unlined drainage is in progress and the more works which have been already allotted to the existing contractors have been executed and endeavors have been made with the higher authority for sanctioning appropriate funds.

The general manager highlighted the problem of continued quarrying on the hill side running on the national highways which is making the work of execution of unlined drain and other maintenance work difficult.

The division bench has also directed the DCs and the SPs of the concerned districts to ensure that there are no quarrying activities on the hill sides of the National Highways.

In the affidavits filed by the NHIDCL it his highlighted that the North Eastern Frontier Railways (NEFR), which is executing the railway project frequently used the national highways.

It has been found that while making approach roads from the national highways to the project sites the drainage required to be maintained on the highways has been blocked resulting in damage of the national highways, it added.

The court in view of the matter has directed NERF to cooperate with NHIDCL so that there is no hindrance on the maintenance work being presently undertaken by the NHIDCL.

In the meanwhile M/S HVS Material Private Limited representative, Vikramjit has submitted the progress of works undertaken by the company along the national highways and also expressed certain difficulties faced by the local contractors.

On being heard of his submission the court has directed him to file necessary affidavit regarding the matter and directed M/S Bhartia Infra Project Limited to submit more details of the work and has fixed the next hearing on December 1.

IMPHAL | Nov 29

The All Tribal Student Union Manipur (ATSUM) has demanded to nullify the recruitment results declared on November 24 for the principals of colleges and to conduct a fresh recruitment by Manipur Public Service Commission (MPSC).

Speaking to the media at the office of ATSUM at Adimjati boy’s hostel, Chingmeirong, education secretary ATSUM, Kakai Singsit said that the MPSC have been degrading itself to be a bunch of “bigots” and once again “enmeshed” itself with controversies in its recruitment process.

He said that the MPSC conducted recruitment process for the principals of different colleges and as per the advertisement, there were twenty five seats for the recruitment of the principals of colleges where the ST have seven seats, three seats were for O.B.C Meitei and one seat for OBC Meitei Pangals and fourteen seats for unreserved.

On the contrary, the results declared on November 24, the state has failed to follow the reservation policy which is sacrosanct right for the tribals in Manipur, he alleged. 

He questioned ‘how come, not a single tribal candidate have failed to make the cut of the fourteen selected candidates and wonders how the MPSC will mollify the left out disgruntled principals who have been diligently serving their respective colleges for many years’?

He further said in any department, the seniority promotion who has given so much dedication towards their respective department is a norm to be followed adding that not only should the merits get all the criteria for recruitment.

Contending that MPSC has become a hot bed for controversy, incompetence, corruption, favouritism and nepotism, he demanded to abolish the commission. 

He mentioned that this is not the first time MPSC has found itself immersed with controversies in its recruitment process.

Singsit lamented that ATSUM will not go forward with any agitation but will raise the matter to the government until their demands are fulfilled.