Manipur News

IMPHAL, August 6: A 13 member committee of political parties has been constituted, led by deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam as chairman and MLA RK Anand as convener. The committee will examine and consult legal experts to explore if a law can be enacted in the State to protect the indigenous peoples. 

The said committee was constituted in a marathon meeting of all political parties on the hot issue of Inner Line Permit system, held today at the office chamber of the Chief Minister Okram Ibobi. The meeting chaired by the Chief Minister and started this afternoon at 2 and continued till 7:30 in the evening.

The newly constituted committee will meet on August 9. 

In today’s meeting, representatives of most of the political parties were present, except for the Naga Peoples’ Front, NPF. The 13 members are: deputy CM Gaikhangam and MLA RK Anand of Congress, L Ibomcha of NCP, Dr I Ibohalbi of Trinamool, Dr M Nara of CPI, Ksh Shanta of CPI (M), K Shyam of LJP, Manihar Goswami of JD (S), M Tombi of JD (U), RK Shivachandra of BJP and K Kabita Devi of BSP, Th Manihar of AAP and N Sovakiran of MPP. 

The committee will submit a report to the Government soon but has not fixed a date for doing so. 

Moirangthem Tombi of JD (U) speaking on the sidelines of the meeting said the political parties have collectively urged the Government to release the agitators who are in police custody. 

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/08/committee-constituted-to-explore-legal-routes-available-to-protect-indigenous-peoples/

IMPHAL, August 6: A 6-month vocational training course given to female jail inmates concluded with the distribution of participation certificates by Social Welfare minister AK Mirabai today at Manipur Central Jail. 

During the function, Mirabai said that those women who have spent their lives in the jail are not inmates by choice but landed there because there were led into the wrong paths. Despite being in the jail, the female jail inmates have responsibilities of maintaining their families and hence the vocational training was provided to 15 female jail inmates in the first phase of the programme, she added. 

Pointing out that the training will be provided to more women inmates in subsequent phases, Mirabai expressed her optimism that the training would be of some help to the inmates to augment the incomes of their respective families after their return to the mainstream. 

“Women who are the mirrors of society are extremely important in any society. Without women, no society can exist,” she emphasised. 

She said the vocational training programme was organized with an aim to ensure self-earning jobs to the female prisoners.

Mirabai encouraged the female inmates to look forward to a new life after their stay in prison and to never follow the wrong paths again while assuring them of providing maximum help after their return to normal life with various departmental schemes. 

The six month vocational training course for female jail inmates for their rehabilitation was sponsored by the Manipur State Women Development Co-operation Ltd, Imphal. 

The 15 inmates received their certificates from Mirabai. Social Welfare director Dr Rangitabali Waikhom and Manipur Central Jail SP BGO Lein Mang Jail were also present at the function.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/08/women-are-mirrors-of-a-society-ak-mirabai/

THOUBAL, August 6: A three day Training cum Orientation programme was organised by District Programme Coordinator, Thoubal District on ‘MGNREGA Operational Guideline, 2013’ of Thoubal and Kakching C.D. Block Zilla Parishad members at Kshetri Sanglen and attended by Thoubal Zilla Parishad Adyaksha, Kh. Swarnalata as the chief guest. 

During the programme, MGNREGA, Thoubal District Training Coordinator, S. Ranjan had said that MGNREGA, which is the flagship of Indian Government changes accordingly. He further stressed the training program was held so that PRI members can understand the continuous changing of the act so as to help the public in understanding the act as well. 

It may be mentioned that during the opening session of the program, SIRD, Manipur faculty, Ng. Jogendrajit has discussed on the issues of ‘Key stake holders, roles and responsibilities, job cards and demand for works’ and IEC, State Level Officer, Kh. Ibochouba stressed on the topic ‘Social Mobilisation and Possible Convergence works in MGNREGS’as resource persons. 

In the afternoon session, DRDA Thoubal, Program Officer, Kh. Muhindro had emphasized on the topic ‘Roles of PRIs in implementing MGNREGS’and Executive Engineer, Ng. Somorendro also discussed on ‘Planning for works and preparation of Labour Budget in MGNREGS’. 

According to a release of the Training Coordinator, discussions on ‘Architecture, Key Messages and Permissible Works of MGNREGS’ will be presented by SIRD Faculty, Doctor A. Somorendro and ‘Financing Matters, Accosting and Utilization of Funds in MGNREGS’ will bediscussed by Commerce Department, Associate Professor, Doctor Kh.Tomba as resource persons during the 1st session of the 2nd day of theprogram. 

During the afternoon session of the program ‘Maintenance of Records and Management Information System in MGNREGS by L. Tomba and ‘Social Audit, Vigilance and Grievance Redressal in MGNREGA by DRDA Thoubal, Program Officer, Kh. Muhindro will be presented. 

On the final day of the program, DRDA Thoubal, Executive Engineer, Ng. Somarendro will discuss on the topic ‘Quality Management of works and Payment of Wages’ during the morning session. And in the afternoon session, DRDA Thoubal, PO, Kh. Muhindro will stress on ‘Capacity Building and Awareness Generation in MGNREGS’. 

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/08/mgnrega-training-camps-held-at-thoubal/

IMPHAL, August 6: The Students’ League Manipur has stated that Manipur University will offer Lamyanba Irabot Memorial Educational Scholarship (LIME-scholarship) for Master of Arts (MA) starting from this year onward. 

According to a release of the organisation, the scholarship will be offered to those students who are poor and cannot afford to pay for their fees. 

The scholarship programme can only be taken by students from family who are Below Poverty Line (BPL). 

It said Meitei students must come from villages and their parents must be farmers or workers in the fields. Scheduled caste students must be form Andro village or Leimaram village with poor family back-ground. Scheduled tribes students must be of Aimol, Tarao, Purum, Kom, Chothe, Chiru, Kharam, Khoibu and Koireng tribes. 

The scholarship will be awarded to 20 students and 10 students belonging to Meitei community who are living outside Manipur such as Assam or Tripura. Students from Assam and Tripura may submit their applications for the scholarship. The application forms can be availed from Marxism Learning Centre, RIMS Road from August 10 onwards, it said. 

According to another release of the organisation, a Patriotic Poetry competition and Symposium will be organised in collaboration with other organisations by the Students’ League Manipur on August 13, Patriotic Day. The competition will be held at four districts of Manipur, namely Imphal East, Imphal West, Bishnupur and Thoubal, it said. 

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/08/applications-called-for-lime-scholarship/