Manipur News

IMPHAL, Aug 20 NNN : Amidst roaring demands in Manipur for Kuki statehood, Nagas’ Alternative Arrangement and Autnomous Hill State by the various tribal communities in the state, shifting of the state capital of Manipur to one of the hill districts has been echoed today. Leaders of All Tribal Students Union, Manipur (ATSUM), Federation of All Tribal Youth Clubs, Manipur (FATYCM), Tribal Youth Council, Manipur (TYCM), Zeliangrong Students Union, Manipur (ZSUM), Naga Women Union (NWU) and tribal leaders today in an emergency on an issue, have deliberated on the numerous tribal problems.
Convened by Land Owners Protection Committee, the tribal organisations took 11 resolutions which include the shifting of Manipur capital to one of the hill districts. Today’s emergency meeting was convened to discuss the alleged repeated warnings to ban house construction, destruction of houses and materials inside the individual patta land at Poumei Colony area by the volunteers of Laipham Khunou Youth Development Association (LKYDA) recently.
Other resolutions that have been taken today are to submit an ultimatum to the government of Manipur for an explanation as to why actions have not been taken against the LKYDA. The meeting also resolved to approach the Scheduled Tribe Commission, government of India that tribals find it difficult to settle in the state capital Imphal.
One resolution says the government should compensate all the properties lost in the LKYDA attack at Poumei Colony area.It then strongly condemned the tribal ministers and MLAs for not raising their voice when tribal people have been discriminated in the state capital.
Finally, the meeting entrusted ATSUM, ATDUM and FATYCM to take up the issues in collaboration with other tribal based bodies.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/shifting-of-state-capital-mooted/

IMPHAL, August 20 NNN : Manipur now has a full-fledged Language Directorate aimed at promoting and preserving various language and dialects of the state.
Announcing this during a function marking Sadbhavana Divas at Congress Bhavan here, Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh said the state Government is ready to fulfill all the requirements for the new directorate.
The announcement by the Chief Minister is significant in the light of the 22nd anniversary of the inclusion of Manipuri language in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution on this day, August 20, 1991.
Meanwhile, the Manipur Language Day was widely celebrated across the state.
Speaking on the occasion of Sadbhavana Divas, Ibobi said the full-fledged Language Directorate aims to develop all the language and dialects of various communities in the state.
Education minister M Okendro said Kh Raghumani, IAS has been chosen Director of the new Language Directorate.
Leaders of Meetei Erol Eyek Loinasilon Apunba Lup (MEELAL) were also present at the occasion. They expressed heartfelt gratitude to the Chief Minister after he announced the opening of the directorate. The overjoyed MEELAL leaders later presented the Chief Minister with garlands during the function.
Ibobi also released a book on National Food Security Ordinance. The book written in English is translated into Manipuri by MPCC.
Manipur Language Day was observed by many NGOs in different parts of the state. Manipur Language Development Committee in collaboration with Manipur State Shumang Leela Council and Manipur Nat Kanba Lup marked the day at Iboyaima Shumang Leela Shanglen, Palace Compound here.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/language-directorate-opened/

Imphal Aug 20: Continuing the campaign for mass awareness of the various welfare and developmental schemes of the central government, a five-day photo exhibition on the theme ‘Development Initiatives in North East’ was set rolling into motion Tuesday at Nilapadma Higher Secondary School, Sekmai in Imphal West District of Manipur. The campaign aimed at reaching the largest public audience is being organized by the Field Exhibition Office, Directorate of Advertising & Visual Publicity (DAVP), Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India, Imphal.
Inaugurating the five-day long campaign as Chief Guest, Smt Aribam Tampha Devi, Principal, Nilapadma Higher Secondary School said that pictorial form of communication is a strong medium for communication in human history. She said that much more than words, pictures are easily understandable by one and all. Illustrating her point, she said that a student can easily learnt things with the help of pictures. ‘Pictures etched in our minds forever’, she said and calls upon the gathering to take advantage of the photo exhibition.
Conveying that the Government of India is taking up various welfare and developmental schemes for the people, Krishna Chandra Sharma, Senior Teacher of Nilapadma Higher Secondary School informed some of the schemes that are being implemented in the school. Informing that Mid-day meal and Free Text Book/Uniform are provided to the students under SSA, Sharma further added that construction of two classrooms, two rooms for science laboratory, one library room, one craft room and two latrines have been completed under RMSA. Construction of two-storey Girl’s Hostel having 21 rooms will soon see the light of the day, he said and added that the school has already got 21 computers under various developmental schemes in the past.
Proposing the key-note address, Dr Gin Gangte, IIS, Field Exhibition Officer, DAVP, Imphal spelled out the aims of objectives of the exhibition.
The Field Exhibition Officer said that the various welfare and developmental schemes of the Government of India could be felt in all spheres of life, be it by the students in schools or daily wage workers on the roadside. Informing that these schemes are meant for the benefit of the public, the IIS officer encourage the gathering to get in touch with the implementing agency, if they have not been benefitted so far by various developmental schemes such as MGNREGS, NRHM, SSA, RMSA, etc.
‘Effective road connectivity is essential for development’, said Ch Gunabati Devi, a Senior Teacher of Nilapadma Higher Secondary School.
The exhibition hall was jampacked with enthusiastic students to have a glance of the wide collection of photographs. ‘I have a better understanding of the North East than before’ said a seventh grader of Nilapadma Higher Secondary School.
A collection of about 150 photographs are on being displayed at the exhibition. The five-day long campaign would continue till August 24.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/sekmai-welcomes-development-photos-with-open-hearts/

IMPHAL, Aug 20 NNN: Altogether 750 goods laden trucks, which had been stranded at Jiribam’s Kambirol along National Highway-37 for days owing to landslide, arrived in Imphal on Tuesday.
Escorted trucks will get on the Imphal-Jiribam route again on August 22 for ferrying essential commodities, official sources said. The loaded trucks that began to arrive here since early morning brought in LPG gas, petrol, diesel and medical items.
The stranded vehicles reached the state capital after the Border Roads Task Force (BRTF) repaired the Kambirol section of the highway damaged by landslide. BRTF are now tirelessly taking up repairing works on several parts of the route to ensure free flow of traffic.
Since Saturday evening, over 750 Imphal bound loaded goods trucks got stranded at Kambiron area along National Highway 37 due to a landslide.
Over 900 loaded goods trucks had left Jiribam in the Manipur-Assam border township for Imphal on August 16 but over 750 trucks got stranded at Kambiron of Nungba subdivision in Tamenglong district while the rest had crossed the area before the landslide had occurred on Saturday.
Kambiron is some 75 km away from Jiribam towards Imphal.Meanwhile, Manipur continues to face fuel scarcity problem. Since July 8, supplies of commodities to Manipur have been disrupted on intervals due to natural calamities and bandhs.
After the Kuki State Demand Committee (KSDC) bandh of July 8-10, massive landslide had occurred along National Highway-2 near Kohima on July 12 which had disrupted the supply line for several weeks followed by numerous bandhs.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/trucks-arrive-after-repairing-highway/

IMPHAL, Aug 20 NNN : More news on the loss of the territory of India to Myanmar due to border fencing has been revealed following the spot survey conducted by women based organisations of Manipur to Indo-Myanmar border from August 18 to 19.
Led by All Manipur Nupi Marup, women organisations such as Kha Nongpok Apunba Nupi Lup and Muslim Women Development Association accompanied by one ASI (police) Md Roshan conducted a spot survey along Border Pillar number 76, 77, 78 and 79 and found that a large portion of Manipur territory had gone to Myanmar side after the controversial border fencing work.
Talking to reporters here, All Manipur Nupi Marup president L Sumatibala said Tamil Durga Mandir and Sewa Mandir built in 1964 along Nampholong Bazar to Tamu road have gone to Myanmar side after the recent border fencing work. The Nupi Marup leader also said Muslim Basti public well at Border Pillar No.79 had also gone to Myanmar side.
“Is this the gifts of the Congress government to Myanmar?” asked L Sumatibala. She said these things have happened again when the people are still angry when Jawaharlal Nehru had given Manipur’s Kabo Valley to Myanmar. “What hidden agenda the government has?” Sumatibala further questions.
According to these women organisations, during their survey they had also met Molphai village chief Yomkholun Haokip who narrated that the J.T. Road, a pucca construction had gone to Myanmar and also that Border Pillar No.23 erected by the Assam Rifles had been replaced with Border Pillar No 76 by the Myanmar authority.
It can be recalled here that in the first week of August, the Ministry of Home Affairs, government of India in a statement had said, “Without the settlement of the International Boundary along with Boundary Pillars on Indo-Myanmar border, it is not possible to arrive at a definitive conclusion that a particular village or land is going to be lost. For the benefit of readers, it is further clarified that the on-going fencing work is restricted to only 10 km for the present and no further work will be undertaken unless all the Boundary Pillars are finally settled through joint inspection by the National Survey Authorities of the two countries as well as the Survey & Settlement Officers and Staff of the State.”
Strongly refuting the statement of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on the loss of certain parts of Manipur territory to Myanmar, the United Committee, Manipur (UCM), one of the biggest NGOs in Manipur had alleged on August 11 that many villages of Chandel district in Manipur have been included in the side of Myanmar due to the border fencing work.
UCM president Y Nabachandra had clarified that on August 8, a UCM team consisted of 13 members and journalists had paied a visit to the border area of Moreh-Tamu border to get the first hand report and noticed that several villages on the Indian side have been included in the Myanmar side by the border fencing.
“The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had said no fencing work was started in the border pillar 79 due to dispute with Myanmar in the area but on the contrary, the work had started from Gobijang till Jangnoi village and 11 households of Gobijang village in the area have already been included in the Myanmar side by the border fencing,” the UCM president pointed out. He said, “About 150 metres of Manipur territory inherited from our forefathers will be lost to Myanmar due to border fencing work,” Nabachandra had said.
The UCM chief then urged the government to intervene immediately on the matter.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/spot-verification-proves-loss-of-manipurs-land/