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IMPHAL, May 24: A big round of applause echoed the office of Khonthaang Delhi in cheering filmmaker Oinam Doren as his timeless documentary film titled Songs of Mashangva bagged Rajat Kamal plaque under the Best Ethnographic category at the 58th National Film Awards 2011.

Khonthang, a Delhi-based Manipuri art and cultural promotion group organised a grand event on May 22 in New Delhi to facilitate the filmmaker. Attended by a horde of (Manipuri) people from different walks of life, the occasion was marked with euphoric celebrations, filled with fun and fiestas stated an emailed statement of the organization.

`I`™m really happy to get such amicable greetings from Khonthaang Delhi. Their appreciations of my work certainly motivate me to move ahead for another moment of triumph in near future,` said Doren while receiving a memento from the group. He added that humble supports from the social organisations like Khonthaang Delhi would help the Manipuri film industry promote outside the state. Along with Songs of Mashangva, two other non-feature films from Manipur, viz. The Zeliangrongs, directed by Ronel Haobam; Heart to Heart, produced by Rotary Club of Imphal and directed by Bachaspatimayum Sanju were selected for the prestigious National Film Awards, added the statement.

Produced and directed by Oinam Doren, Songs of Mashangva is a perfect portrayal of Tangkhul Naga folk music, which had been buried unnoticed by the mass for a long period of time, forgotten in vain in the reign of Christian proselytisation across the region, and its return today as a Naga folk blues. `My protagonist Ruben Mashangva is the hero in the real sense, who has eventually revived the lost lustre of ethnic embellishments in Tangkhul Naga folk song,` remarked Doren adding that the musician should be accredited for the revolutionary change.

Khonthaang Delhi invited Doren for the felicitation programme during the filmmaker`™s stay in New Delhi on his way home after attending Almati International Film Festival in Kazakshtan. Songs of Mashangva is considerably one of the finest ever Manipuri documentary films which received critical acclaim at the international arena. `We encourage everyone involving into the enhancement of the region`™s art and culture,` asserted Elangbam Abung of Khonthaang Delhi. He further mentioned that the group admits an eternal gratitude to Oinam Doren and others for their priceless achievements it stated.

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From Our CorrespondentUKHRUL, May 25: The Students` Union of Pettigrew College (SUPC) Ukhrul has locked the Principal’s office today, in protest against the acute lack of basic infra-structures in the institution including power and water supply since the past eight nine months.
The general secretary of the union, MK Miya along with other representatives of the student while interacting with some media persons today at the college premise has demanded immediate change of the Principal who has failed to redress the grievances of the students even after the student union had approached for immediate action regarding the problems faced by the students of the college.
The student body has further charged that due to the limited time notification of the principal’s office regarding the submission of exam form and the imposition of late fines, some of the students were unable to appear in the exams.
It has charged that the official notification from the principal’s office came out on Novemeber 10, 2010 notifying that the submission of exam forms without late fine will start from November 13, 2010 and that submissions with late fine will start from November 17.
 The union further demanded the conduct of regular classes in the college and provision of all University Grant Commission (UGC) sponsored facilities with UGC Network Resource Centre-Computor and internet centre offering basic computer course, free remedial coaching for ST/OBC students, career guidance and counselling cell for the students, stipends @ Rs 500/- PM to selected regular ST/SC students of BPL which is done only once, coaching classes for entry in Services (competitive exams) for ST/SC/OBC/ Minority students and study tours every year- the central projects though available are not functional in the college, the union added.
Further maintaining on the lack of infrastructure in the college the union has maintained that there are no toilets and urinals available in the college, and that there is no proper fencing of the college.
The union further added that the union has also submitted a memorandum to the state education minister to redress the grievances of the college.
Further briefing the media persons, the union has stated that the college also lacked lecturers and further warned that the union will be left with no other option other than drastic form of agitations in case of the government failing to respond to the student body.

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IMPHAL May 30: The Manipur Cycle Club held its ‘Critical Mass II’ on May 29. The event was participated by around 50 cyclists, and the ride began from DM College of Science and passed through Thangal and Paona Bazar.
According to a release of the club, after passing through Singjamei, the ride ended at Yaiskul Oil pump where a BMX and skating show took place as a way to attract passers by. Leaflets promoting cycling as a means of transport were also distributed.
The next Critical Mass III will be on June 26 and those interested may contact Manipur Cycle Club at 2445134. Critical Mass is a cycling event, which happens on the last Sunday of every month, where cycle enthusiasts get together to promote cycling as the key means of transport, added the release.

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IMPHAL, May 31: A possible petrol price hike from June 1, remains unsure even as different speculations have been doing the rounds.

According to the news channel CNN-IBN, state-owned Indian Oil Corporation, the nation`s largest fuel retailer, on Tuesday announced that petrol prices will go up by Rs 1.35 per litre with effect from June 1.

The IOC says the May 15 hike in petrol prices by Rs 5 is not enough to cover the cost of crude oil and refining it.
According to the news chaneel, “Even after the hike, we are losing Rs 4.58 per litre. After including VAT, the desired increase at retail level comes to Rs 5.50 a litre,” IOC Chairman RS Butola said in New Delhi.

The IOC says this is because the Government doesn`t compensate the company for selling petrol below market rates.
The channel has further stated similarly, on domestic LPG India Oil is losing Rs 380.57 per cylinder and Rs 25.85 a litre on PDS kerosene.

An Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is likely to meet on June 9 to consider raising prices of the three controlled commodities — diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene, according to the news channel.

Meanwhile, a headline in the web portal of the Hindu reads, `Oil firms unlikely to hike petrol prices on Wednesday`.

The news report states that wth the international crude oil prices showing signs of softening, the oil marketing companies (OMCs) are unlikely to undertake any further hike in petrol prices during their fortnightly review on June 1.

An indication to this effect was given by the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) chairman, R.S. Butola, who said that the common man had already been burdened with a Rs. 5 per litre hike recently and there was no move to increase the burden further.

`Unlike the past weeks, our under recovery from petrol should be around Rs.1.10 per litre which is a bit comfortable than what we suffered in the past. We are certainly not looking at any kind of hike on June 1, and would review the situation next fortnight,` he added, stated the report.

Mr. Butola said the company was still losing Rs. 4.58 per litre on petrol even after the steep hike of Rs. 5 per litre from May 15. However, from June 1, the under-recovery is likely to come down to around Rs. 1.15 per litre.

Ruling out any kind of mechanical reaction to the fluctuation in crude oil prices, Mr. Butola said: `Ours is a dynamic economy. If losses again become unbearable, we will take the appropriate decision,` he said.

The newspaper has also maintained that ever since the Centre deregulated the pricing of petrol from June last, the State-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) have been fixing the petrol price as per market rate. But in the wake of Assembly elections in five states, the petroleum ministry had given `unwritten` instruction to OMCs not to effect any hike in petrol prices despite the rise in global crude oil price. Officials in the Petroleum Ministry said the OMCs have been given an `oral direction` not to hike petrol prices any further, despite them being decontrolled in June last year.

`The Empowered Group of Ministers, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, is scheduled to meet on June 9 to take a decision on these three petroleum products. We are keeping our fingers crossed,` a senior Ministry official remarked.

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IMPHAL June 1: In order to disseminate complete knowledge on science to the students of Manipur, the Internship Science Camp, 2011 was organized in Manipur University expressed Prof. Papiya Nandy, director of Jagdish Bose National Science Talent search, Kolkatta, while addressing her speech as the guest of honour during the inaugural function of the First Science camp held in the Senate Hall of Manipur University. She further mentioned that apart from the Internship science camp 2011inaugurated today, other such science camps will be organized within this month of June at different places.

Various scientist and learned academicians from different scientific fields will participate during the said camps she further mentioned.

She also added that the main object of these camps is to impart added knowledge on science and its related subjects.

The Internship Science Camp was organized by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India under its unique programme `Innovation in Science pursuit for Inspired Research or in short `Inspire` for the first time in Manipur for attracting the young talents towards advanced studies and research in basic sciences.

The present camp was aimed towards providing a forum for intensified stimulating and brainstorming interaction between the participating young minds and a galaxy of scholars through lectures, lab experiments, lap visits, fun with experiments and field works. The Internship Science Camp 2011 which was inaugurated today will continue till June 5. Dr. T. Meinya, M.P., Prof. H. Nandakumar Sarma, V.C. (acting) M.U. and Prof. I.S. Khaidem, former V.C.M.U. graced the inaugural function as chief guest, president and the other guest of honour respectively.

The inaugural function was attended by many academician, scholars and participants of the 5 days camp. Various media persons from different local dailies were also present during the function.

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by Bibhu Prasad RoutrayProviding the best of rms and equipment to paramilitary personnel is crucial to the success of India`s anti-Naxal strategyA Few days ago, some newspapers in India ran two separate reports. One hogging the front page was a stub on India’s flourishing economy and the other relegated to the inside pages underlined the challenges faced by the security forces battling the Left-wing extremists (Naxalites) in the remotest corners of the country. The first item pointed to the soaring number of choppers and private jets jostling for space in Indian skies and the demands they make on the Air Traffic Controllers. The second report, on the other hand, quoted the Border Security Force (BSF) authorities asking the ministry of home affairs (MHA) to replace the Dhruv helicopters since these do not meet the force’s operational requirements. This report went on to detail the drastic shortage of choppers for the security forces deployed on anti-Naxal duty and its impact on the morale of the forces. These two narratives posed a familiar paradox, from Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, when there are “choppers choppers everywhere, but not many for the security forces”.On May 19, a chopper employed by Gadchiroli district police in Maharashtra returned with injured and dead police personnel from the encounter site at Nalgonda. However, security forces battling the Naxals in Beijjur phata in the same district could not avail themselves of the service of the chopper since it had already completed the stipulated 500 hours of flying and had to proceed for the mandatory maintenance service. The Gadchiroli police requested that the services of another chopper from neighbouring Chhattisgarh be provided. But by the time it arrived, the encounter had ended. It could fly only to recover three dead bodies of police personnel from the area.A similar incident took place in Jharkhand’s Lohardaga district on May 3 in which 11 security force personnel were killed. The Naxals ambushed a 150- member team of state police and paramilitary personnel returning from a combing operation. While four personnel were killed on the spot, seven others succumbed to their injuries since the chopper at the disposal of the state police was unavailable, being on a sortie to neighbouring West Bengal for poll-related duties. It could reach the incident site only after four hours. The Jharkhand Director General of Police admitted that the personnel died owing to lack of timely medical aid. One of the injured personnel who ultimately survived bemoaned the fact that he had to suffer the excruciating pain for over four hours before being evacuated and admitted into a hospital.The MHA, since mid-2010, has deployed a fleet of seven choppers for carrying out troop deployment, casualty evacuation and sending reinforcements in the Naxal-affected states. These choppers are based in Raipur (Chhattisgarh) and Ranchi (Jharkhand) and are available to any of the Naxal-affected states on demand. However, on most occasions, this fleet has been found to be highly inadequate to meet the forces’ ground-level requirements. Complains have been made about the frequent servicing requirements of these Advanced Light Dhruv Helicopters and their inability to fly beyond a certain height. They are frequently grounded by the unavailability of spare parts, which makes them almost an unreliable element in the anti-Naxal operations.In addition to these incidents of shortage, because of unavoidable technical and logistical reasons, choppers have also been diverted on occasions for use by politicians and bureaucrats. Media reports in early May indicated that out of the fleet of seven, only one chopper was functional and was catering to the requirements of the nearly 70 battalions of paramilitary forces deployed against the Naxals throughout the country.The MHA is planning to wet-lease six new Russian Mi-17 helicopters from private companies for deployment in the anti-Naxal operations. At a purchase price of Rs 45 crore apiece, wet-leasing the Mi-17 helicopters, under which the company lending it provides for the pilot, maintenance and fuel, is a far more affordable option. According to reports, the sorties by these leased machines to the Naxal strongholds could start as early as August 2011. The MHA hopes to reduce its dependence on the ministry of defence, which currently flies the paramilitary troops in the Naxal zones. In any event, the Indian Air Force (IAF) choppers’ “80 flying hours a month” rule is a handicap in terms of using them excessively. On the other hand, the Mi-17 choppers proposed to be taken on lease are fuel guzzlers, but the MHA has no alternative other than accounting for such expense.In various forums the Union home minister has spoken of the cumbersome procurement procedure coming in the way of providing the best of arms and equipment to the paramilitary personnel. One does not know whether the process of acquiring choppers also faces similar challenges. The proposal to wet-lease 13 Mi-17 choppers is at least an eight-month-old idea, first floated in October 2010. The number of choppers had then been decided on after taking the requirements of the forces operating in a vast territory into cognisance. But for reasons best known to the MHA, the number has now been reduced to six, which is highly insufficient. Meanwhile, the MHA has negotiated in vain with the IAF, which itself gets choppers on lease. Many of the IAF helicopters are deployed in the United Nations’ Congo mission and the move to recall them has not been successful.For operational purposes, choppers are as basic a requirement for the forces battling the Naxals as any other sophisticated arms and equipment. India’s anti-Naxal policy needs to improve upon the prevailing conditions, on an urgent basis. The author is a former deputy director in the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), a visiting fellow at CLAWS (New Delhi) and a fellow at the Takshashila Institution.

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