Category: KanglaOnline

AFGHANISTAN, May 12 (AP): Prime minister Manmohan SIngh called Osama bin Laden`s death an opportunity for the region to unify Thursday and pledged ongoing support for Afghanistan, which has long been caught in the middle of the power struggle between his country and rival Pakistan.
Manmohan Singh`s first visit in six years appeared to signal that India sees an opportunity to pull Afghanistan closer to its side as Islamabad`s precarious relationship with the U.S. is further strained by the bin Laden strike.
But Singh walked a cautious line between showing support for Afghanistan and trying to assuage any fears in Pakistan that he was enlisting Afghan President Hamid Karzai against India`s longtime rival.
He said bin Laden`s death can be an opportunity to put aside decades-old regional rivalries and work for peace across Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“I sincerely hope that all countries of this region — Afghanistan, Pakistan, India — would recognize that this is a unique moment in the history of this region. Thereby we all should agree to work unitedly to end this scourge of terrorism,” Singh told journalists at a press conference in Kabul, the Afghan capital.
Bin Laden, the mastermind of the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., was killed in a U.S. commando raid on his hideout in Pakistan earlier this month. Pakistan was not consulted about the raid and complained afterward about the violation of its sovereignty.
Despite his call for regional cooperation, Singh`s trip signaled shifts in the regional power play between nuclear rivals India and Pakistan, in which Afghanistan has often been caught in the middle. With Pakistan`s international stature taking a hit after the U.S. raid that killed bin Laden, India may see an opportunity to pull Afghanistan closer to its side — further pressuring Islamabad.
A joint declaration issued by Singh and Karzai said that the two countries agreed to work to strengthen their bilateral agreements. And India announced in the declaration that will give an additional $500 million to the Afghan government for development programs. That brings India`s total development aid to the country to $2 billion.
“India is your neighbor and partner in development,” Singh told a gathering including Karzai and other senior officials earlier in the day. “You can count on us as you build your society, economy and polity.”
But both India and Afghanistan are clearly wary of appearing to be teaming up against Pakistan. The last sentence of the joint declaration states: “The two sides affirmed that their strategic partnership was not directed against any other state or group of states.”
Karzai called Pakistan a good partner, noting that he had a productive meeting with Pakistan`s prime minister just last month.”We`d like expand this relationship with them to have an effective campaign against terrorism — for the benefit of Pakistan, for the benefit of Afghanistan, for the benefit of India,” Karzai said.
Singh said: “We would like to develop the friendliest possible relations with all countries of this region. That includes Afghanistan. That includes Pakistan as well. There is no question of Pakistan feeling that good relations between India and Afghanistan are at the cost of Pakistan.”
But Singh did call for an investigation into whether the Pakistani government knew about bin Laden`s location.
“The picture that emerged immediately after this incident was a picture which caused some amount of confusion,” Singh said.
Singh last visited Afghanistan in 2005, but Karzai has been a frequent visitor to India.
Pakistan, which supported the Taliban`s rise to ensure it had a friendly government on its western border, has deeper ethnic and cultural ties with Afghanistan. Pakistan has long bristled at the post-Taliban government`s friendly terms with its major rival, which supports Karzai`s administration with aid money.
Afghanistan is likely to become more reliant on these warring regional allies as its NATO partners face pressure to withdraw troops. The U.S. plans to start decreasing forces in July, and all NATO partners are committed to handing over responsibility for security to Afghan forces by 2014. And Bin Laden`s death has some in NATO countries pushing for even quicker drawdowns.

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IMPHAL, March 24: Police commandos have arrested at least six militant cadres from different parts of the state while conducting separate counter insurgency operations since yesterday.

A statement issued by the Superintendent of Police Imphal West district, has stated that a team of the district police commandos along with women police constable arrested three cadres of the proscribed KCP (MTF) including two women yesterday from near Shija Hospital at about 7 am in the morning.

The arrested individuals have been identified as one Thonglenmang Haokip, 26, s/o Yanthang Haokip of Dongsum Village, Senapati district, Akim Haokip, 40, w/o Alet Haokip of Dongsum village at present residing at Kangchup Chingkhong and Wahengbam (O) Chaoba alias Asharani alias Asha Devi, 26, w/o W. Tomba alias Shyamkumar of Naransena Maning Leikai at present staying at Langol Ningthou Mathak.

It said that the trio disclosed that they were working under one Tomba since the past one year. A 9mm pistol along with magazine and five live ammunitions, three Chinese hand grenades and three detonators were seized from their possession, it added.

It further stated that in a follow up action another cadre of the outfit was arrested from Langol crossing identified as one Wahengbam Tomba alias Shyamkanhai, 32, s/o W. Heramot of Naransena Maning Leikai Ningthou Mathak.

The individual disclosed that he was working under Tachou alias Ebai who is residing outside the state. He has been assigned to serve demand letters, extortion and kidnapping, it said.

The statement further stated that the same day a combined team of the Imphal East and West district police commandos arrested a cadre of the KCP (Pibarel) at around 6 pm from Singjamei Waikhom Leikai.

He has been identified as one Yumnam Rajen alias Chandra alias Korou, 41, s/o Y. Komol Singh of Langmeidong Mamang Leikai, stated the release.

On spot verification he disclosed that he was working under the command of s/s general secretary of the outfit. One 9 mm pistol having five live ammunitions has been recovered from his possession it said.

On the other hand, another statement issued by the SP Thoubal district police claimed that a team of the district commandos arrested one cadre of the PULF yesterday around 6:30pm while conducting a search operation at Shikhong bazaar.

The arrested cadre is identified as one Md. Warish Khan alias Ibungo alias Shaiba, 20, s/o Md. Etobi of Shikhong Hanuching Manak.

A 9mm pistol with magazine containing two live ammunitions were recovered from his possession, it said.

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IMPHAL, May 25: The union minister DoNER, B K Handique, will be inaugurating a programme “Developing Managerial Skill for Entrepreneurship” at IIM Shillong on July 2. The programme will be conducted by the Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management, Shillong through its Centre for Development of North Eastern Region (CEDNER).
An emailed statement of the ministry has stated that the ministry of DoNER has sanctioned an amount of Rs.79.15 lacs for this programme for training 60 youths from the region.  The Course will deal with developing managerial skills among the new generation of entrepreneurs of the region. The program is supported under the “Technical assistance and Capacity Building Scheme” administer by the Ministry of DoNER, added the statement.
The ministry of DoNER and the North Eastern Council has collaborated with the Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management, Shillong to offer a range of short term skill development programmes encompassing the different areas of Management, Entrepreneurship, Tourism, Hospitality, among many others, from this financial year onwards, it stated.
According to the statement, this partnership is a result of the initiative of Bijoy Krishna Handique, union minister of DoNER and chairman, NEC who has been actively pursuing the agenda of involving the premier institutes in the North Eastern Region like IIM, IIT and Tata Institute of Social Sciences in the process of nurturing the human resources in the NER.
According to the statement BK Handique mentioned that “We have a larger roadmap in mind to continuously train youths from the Region with a focus on increasing their employability. The institutes like IIM, IIT and TISS are well positioned to cater to the training needs of the Region in addition to their regular courses. We have requested them to develop such courses and we have been able to make considerable headway in designing some. Our Ministry and its affiliated organisations like NEC will wholly sponsor these courses. I am hopeful that this development will bring some respite to the larger problem of unemployment in Region”.
The Ministry of DoNER had earlier announced a one and a half months programme in association with IIT Guwahati to train 30 Engineers from Assam Irrigation Department on “Mitigation of River Bank Erosion”, it added.

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IMPHAL, May 28: Apollo Cancer Institutes (ACI) has launched a nationwide massive Oral Cancer Awareness month starting from May 28. The primary focus of this campaign is to make people aware about oral cancer and its prevention.

According to an emailed statement, the Apollo Cancer Institutes is organizing free oral screening camps in various cities in the north-eastern part of the country which will also include Imphal. Cancer specialists from various Apollo hospitals are participating in these camps to screen patients for any symptoms of oral cancer. Other activities like awareness ads, leaflet distribution and education program for local doctors are also being undertaken in this part of the country, the statement added.

The statement further stated that Dr Rupali Basu, chief executive officer, Eastern Region, Apollo Hospitals Group, said in a communication `Apollo Hospitals have been the frontrunners in providing the best cancer care in the country. Our hospitals are known for introducing new technologies and the team of cancer specialists are relentlessly offering their expertise and services to help our thousands of patients who need world class cancer care. We are committed to bring all treatment modalities to fight cancer in our hospitals`. She also added, `Apollo Cancer Institutes have undertaken a massive awareness drive to make people about Oral Cancer `“ Its causes, prevention and treatment. We are conducting our first oral cancer screening camp at Imphal today`.

According to the statement, Dr Litan Naha Biswas, consultant Radiation Oncology of Apollo Gleneagles Cancer Hospital, Kolkata is in Imphal to screen the patients who are attending the screening camp. He said,` we all know the best way to beat oral cancer is by detecting it early. This is especially important for those who chew tobacco, smoke cigarettes, use snuff, and/or consume alcohol`. According to him one must get himself/herself screened immediately if they have persistent skin lesion, lump or ulcer in the mouth area, lump on the neck, pain in the neck or throat, numbness in the face, frequent headaches, and difficulty in swallowing or chewing.

Oral cancer usually demands a combination of treatments like surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. That`™s why, instead of an individual doctor, the fight against oral cancer needs a small army of professionals. Like a medical oncologist, a radiation specialist and a surgical oncologist. Each an expert in his/her field and work together, it added.

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The monsoon has just set in. The state has seen a few days of intermittent but heavy downpours in the past fortnight. Sorry evidences of this are already making their appearances everywhere. The leakages on the roof of the three Khwairamband Keithels, the collapse of the stretch of the retaining wall along the Nambul River near Takyel are two very prominent ones, but there are plenty more, and ones which are much more widespread. In Imphal area alone, during the showers many areas were water-logged, and when these flood waters receded, they left many roads with their black toppings either washed off or else loosened beyond redemption and ready to fall off once heavy traffic resume on them. At the Kongba Road for instance, adjacent to the Andro Parking, a huge and deep pothole has appeared, and its girth is widening slowly but continuously in the absence of any effort by the concerned authorities to repair it. As we had noted before the onset of the rains, the innards of the road at this point was already becoming visible because of the wearing off of the thin bitumen coat over it. The rains are now devastating it, soaking and softening the compact earth and gravel foundation under the road.
Since the rains have started, the repair work now probably have to wait till the dry seasons, but the unfortunate thing is, by then the road at this point would have been cut diagonally by the expanding pothole. There are also other spots on this stretch of road which had been soaked and weakened by logged water and it is anybody’s guess that more potholes would appears at these spots sooner than later during this monsoon. The question is, why were no effort made to repair these weak spots before the onset of monsoon. A stitch in time would have definitely saved nine. Now, at the end of the monsoon, major and expensive repair work would have to be done, unless the government intends keeping the potholes for commuters to tackle as they would. This too is quite likely, for though it calls itself a welfare government, governments in Manipur has had no scruples about causing the ordinary citizens imminently avoidable harangues.
The authorities ought to have noticed too that where the black toppings of the roads are most vulnerable to peeling off during monsoon are those portions where the roads do not have parallel drainage systems running alongside them. When the rains come, the rain water having no drains to run into, take the paths of least resistance, and these, most often than not, become the roads themselves. We wonder how roads came to be built without any accompanying water drainage mechanism. It is inconceivable that the government did not know this is like buying buckets without handles to carry them. But whatever its reasons, ignorance or neglect, the brunt always get being borne by everybody. The government should also worry about the recurring repair cost this neglect is causing the public exchequer. The problem is, not many, not the least those in the government, are worried about exhausting the public exchequer unnecessary, after all, the attitude has always been, public property is nobody’s property.
There is another way the roads get spoilt and potholes appear in them. In the last couple of decades, with the increase of traffic volume on our roads, Imphal roads in particular have had to be widened several times with the result that municipal water pipelines which once upon a time ran parallel to the roads a meter away from them, have now come to buried under the roads. To provide connection to any consumer, the roads would now have to be dug up. After these connections are made, the earth filling is never firm, leaving the roads broken and ready to be destroyed by the next monsoon. The question is, when these roads were being widened, the authorities ought to have also constructed connection points to these pipelines which protruded beyond the breath of the road so that the roads can be left untouched when new connections are made. We wonder again why the government has still not realised that in the conduct of these enterprises, close coordination between its various concerned organs is vital. As of now, many of them continue to work at wasteful cross purposes. When will the citizens ever get to see a sane administration which cares for their welfare and conveniences?

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