Manipur News

IMPHAL, May 13: The Human Rights Initiative (HRI) coordinator Satyabati has charged the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) of not performing its duty.

Addressing media persons at Wankhei Thangapat Mapal today, Satyabati said that the HRI was intimated regarding a case of abduction of a minor girl.

The minor girl identified as Meisnam Debita Devi, 15, d/o Landhoni, a resident of Keishampat Mutum Leikai was allegedly abducted by one Akoijam Kishmat Singh, 21, s/o Ibomcha, a resident of Wangkhei Akoijam Leirak.

According to Satyabati, even as Kismat`™s father Ibomcha was approached by Landhoni and her family members on May 9 regarding the issue, Ibomcha and his family physically assualted them and also threatened them.

In this regard, the victim`™s families had lodged a complaint against Akoijam Kishmat and his father Ibomcha with the OC of Imphal Police Station for immediate rescue. However, the matter has not been taken up yet by the police, the HRI coordinator further alleged.

She further stated that, the Juvenile Justice Board meant to tackle cases related to criminal offence involving children is not functioning in the state, the CWC officials were also intimated of this case. `They are the concerned body to look after the welfare of children, a girl child has been kidnapped and is in police custody as of present, they have not addressed the issue in spite of a notification tendered to them earlier`, she said.

A special police unit comprising of 20 personnel has been set up under the JJB,they are remaining obsolete as of yet, `where will she be put up, a minor cannot be kept at the police station`, she alleged.

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Leader Writer: Sukham Nanda
The youths have been at the forefront of National Progress in all ages as they play a significant role in the process of social change. They have contributed immensely to fight against economic exploitation, social and political injustice and discrimination based on religion, caste, sex, and are engaged in creative activities to develop their personality and functional capability and thus make them economically productive and socially useful.

Perceiving the versatile role being undertaken by the youths and the imperative need to harness their potential in the national development process, the Government of India framed the National Youth Policy in the year 2003. Further, framing of a State Youth Policy in the line with the National Youth Policy is imperative, keeping in view the varied dimensions of social, economic and political situation of the state. The very policy in the state is to facilitate a multidimensional ad integrated approach towards formulation and implementation of youth programmes in the state and also to give emphasis to greater participation of youth in the process of decision-making and execution of welfare programme of the Government at the local and higher level.

It is also learned that, the State Youth Policy will cover all youth of the state in age group 13-35 years. The number of youth in this age group is about 8,83,795 (37%) out of total population of 23,88,643 as per 2001 census. On the other hand the expert and researchers of the state are of the opinion that Youth development effort in the state have been hampered due to lack adequate information and research facility. The policy therefore suggests establishment of a well organized information and research network concerning various youth related issues to facilitate formulation of and updating development schemes and programmes. The information and research network envisaged by the policy should be extended as far as possible, to the village level so that youth in rural and hill areas could get the full benefit.

In the meantime, State Youth Policy is recognised that education, training and employment, health, preservation of environment, ecology and wildlife, recreation and sport, science and technology, arts and culture and civic and good citizenship are the key sector concern for the youth of the state which the state government need to implement properly. Considering the multiple disorders in the implementation of development schemes and programme touches the key sectors of concern for the youths of the state in terms of education training and employment, health etc. resulted failure in reaching the target to deliver full responsibilities of youths in upholding unity and integrity of the Nation and the State, maintain peace and harmony among various communities and ethnic groups of the state, to have respect of law, respect others`™ faiths and beliefs in the religious, cultural and social spheres, uphold the dignity of the individual, and fight against exploitation of fellow citizens, promote good ethical conduct in individual and social life, to maintain honesty and integrity of character and be committed to fight against all forms of corruption and social evils, preserve and protect the environment, aware of the values of democratic and constitutional processes, including conduct of elections and formation of government and most importantly respect for elders and seniors, including teachers and parents, in consonance with each respective culture and traditions.

Over and above, the State Youth Policy need to accord priorities for the development for the group of young people including Rural youths, Out of school youth, Adolescents, particularly female adolescents, youths with disabilities, youth under special difficult circumstances like victims of trafficking, communal riots and conflicts etc.

Besides it is of the general observations that, once the adopted State Youth Policy are implemented properly in the state by the government very sincerely the chronic problems of the state including insurgency, drug abuses, communalism with be eliminated to a great extend, considering how important is the State Youth Policy, state government need to pay special attentions in proper implementations of various schemes and programmes by framing a Plan of Action for the proper implementation of State Youth Policy.

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IMPHAL, May 12: A three day long public information campaign on flagship programmes of the central government will be held at the Indoor Stadium Tamenglong from May 17 to 19.
The campaign is organized by the Press Information Bureau, ministery of Information and Broadcasting, govt of India in collaboration with the Directorate of Field Publicity (DFP), Directorate of Advertising & Visual Publicity (DAVP), song and drama division, All India Radio and Doordarshan.
The campaign which has been developed by the PIB to be held countrywide will disseminate information to the targeted beneficiaries focusing on the centrally sponsored schemes of the government of India.
A press conference was held in this regard at the Old Lambulane office of the PIB civil this evening which was participated by spokesperson of PIB Premlata Loitam, and representatives of the other co-ordinating agencies.
Speaking at the conference, Premlata Loitam stated that the three day long campaign on flagship programmes of the central government will create awareness among the public on the various centrally sponsored flagship programmes like National Rurl health Mission (NRHM), Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA), Mid Day Meal (MDM), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Sheme (MGNREGS) Rural roads, Rural drinking water, Rural Housing (Indira Awaj Yojana), Rural Telephony, Total Sanitation Campaign and Right to Information.
Further briefing on the proceedings that will be followed during the three day information campaign, she added that the first day of the campaign will witness various experts from concerned departments explaining on Sarva SIksha Abhiyan, Mid Day Meal and Right to Information Act.
 On the second day the experts will speak on National Rural Employment Gurantee Scheme (NREGS), Rural Housing (IAY), Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC), National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and Rural Drinking Water Supply while on the last day the experts will brief on the Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) and Rural Telephony.
She further added that the public may interact with the experts after each session. As part of the three day campaign, a medical camp will also be held on the second day of the campaign from 10:30 am upto 3:00 pm on the sideline of the campaign.
A photo exhibition with 14 stalls with the main focus on the various developmental works and schemes undertaken in the state will also be held during the campaign, she added.
A theme based cultural programme to be presented by the Song and Drama division and the Nokphade Leela Party is another part of the three day long campaign, she further maintained.
Further briefing the mediapersons, she stated that the Tamenglong campaign will be the second campaign of the second phase as the first phase of the public information campaign of centrally sponsored schemes has already been held.
She also added that the organizers have been facing difficulties in finding resource persons from the various concerned departments who are willing to explain the various schemes to the public.
However she added that the campaign has already opened the villagers to the benefits of the various schemes with various reports of villagers complaining on the non implementation of the schemes in their villagers to their village authorities.

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NEW DELHI, May 12, May 12 (MIC): The President of India Pratibha Devisingh Patil today presented National Florence Nightingale Awards 2011 to 35 meritorious nursing personnel of the country at Rashtrapati Bhawan here on the occasion of International Nurses Day.

Konsam Satrabati Devi, Vungkhoniang and Thongam Binodini Devi from Manipur were among 35 nursing personnel honoured with the prestigious award.

The other awardee nurses were Sallykutty E. George, Daman & Diu; Sugandhi V Policepatial, Karnataka; Gita Ben Trivedi, Gujarat; Droupadi Ghimiray, Sikkim; Sima Deb, Tripura; Sarita Thapa, Uttarakhand; Asha Ramdas Patil, Maharashtra; M.C. Lalitha, Karnataka; Sushama. S, Kerala; Nardi Bisht, Uttarakhand; Rina Samanta, West Bengal; Mallika Devi Pillai, Andaman & Nicobar; Arvind Bhaskar Kulkarni, Maharashtra; Prof. Sreelatha Pillai, Chhattisgarh; Rajani Kossambe, Daman & Diu; Nalini, Dadra & Nagar Haveli; Maj. Gen.
J.K. Grewal, Delhi; Manjula Sharma, Delhi; Lucy Patric Simon, Delhi; Jacinta Gunjiyal, Delhi; Nimishaben Chavda, Gujarat; Hassina Wani, Jammu & Kashmir; Usha Devi V, Kerala; Laxmi. B, Karnataka; Lalbiaksangi, Mizoram; R. Kannammal, Puducherry; Narayan Bir, Tripura; Sister Shobhana, Tamil Nadu; Usha Srivastava, Uttarakhand; Madhuri Smith, Uttar Pradesh; Madhabi Das, West Bengal; and D. Ramani Premlatha, Karnataka.

National Florence Nightingale Nurses Awards are given as a mark of highest recognition for the meritorious services of the nurses and nursing profession in the country. Each award consists of cash reward of Rs. 50,000/-, a certificate and a medal. The Government of India has decided to give this award on 12th May every year by the President of India as this day is celebrated all over the world as `International Nurses Day` on the occasion of birthday of Florence Nightingale. Atleast one Award is earmarked for each State/UT, Central Govt, & Defence service subject to the availability of nursing personnel with meritorious services. The award is given to outstanding nursing personnel employed in Central, State/UTs and Voluntary Organizations.

Honouring the 35 meritorious awardees at Rashtrapati Bhavan today, the President of India said, `Nursing, indeed, is service towards humanity`. She said that nursing was an integral part of any healthcare system. There should, thus be a focus on augmenting nursing schools and training institutions in the country, to meet the increasing demand for nursing. She said that nurses were the link between doctors and patients and responsiveness of nurses can, in many situations, avoid complications in the health condition.

The Union Health & Family Welfare Minister Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad said, `So far there are 11.28 lakhs Nurses registered with State Nursing Councils. Out of these only 40% are active. There is an assessed need to train more than nine lakh Nurses to meet the shortfall of nurses in the country`. The Minister informed that presently there are 2205 Nursing Schools, 1387 B.Sc. (Nursing) Colleges, and 414 M.Sc. (Nursing) Colleges with a capacity of 88202, 68858 and 8000 students respectively functioning in the country.
But a sizeable chunk of the pass outs from these institutions go to Western and Middle East countries. He said , `We are setting up 269 new Auxiliary Nursing and Midwifery (ANM) as also General Nursing and Midwifery (GNM) Schools, particularly in the remote and underserved districts of the country at a cost of Rs. 2030 crores. This will significantly add to our training capacity and will result in an additional 22000 nurses being trained annually`.

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IMPHAL, May 12: The Kangla Foods production factory has shut down its function from today indefinitely due to monetary demands of Rs 20 Lakhs imposed by a militant group identifying themselves as KCP MTF.

Denouncing the extortion demand, the employees of the factory staged a sit in protest demonstration in front of the factory located at Nambol Chingmang.

The Kangla Foods is an emerging local foods production unit engaged in producing and promoting various indigenous food items. About 150 individuals are employed in the factory.

Discontenting the act one of the protestor termed it as an unfortunate act. He said that a small scale industry like the Kangla Foods is providing job opportunities in a state like Manipur where employment opportunities are rare.

He appealed the outfit to lift the demand and the intimidation on the factory and the proprietor taking into consideration the service rendered by the Kangla foods.

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IMPHAL, May 12 (NNN): Intensifying its protests against the unavailability of school textbooks in the market, four students `™ unions of the State`“All Manipur Students`™ Union (AMSU), Democratic Students`™ Association Manipur (DESAM), Manipur Students`™ Federation (MSF) and Kangleipak Students`™ Association (KSA)`“today lambasted the State government of playing with the life of the students.

Speaking to the media at the office of AMSU in DM College campus at about 5 pm today the students`™ bodies said that their stake-outs and vigils and a tip-off by a teacher led to the discovery on May 11 of some 6000 school books being stashed away clandestinely inside Shakhi Devi High School in Uripok.

Unfortunately, as the students`™ activists went to the school to survey and ascertain the fact, police had intervened, they said.

They complained that even as a summer vacation was supposed to begin next month, schools in Imphal valley have declared the vacation prematurely, depriving the students of education.

The fact that the government is only interested in recruiting teachers and not concern about textbooks not being available in the market speaks a lot about the rot in the education system and corruption, the students`™ activists said. `Printing of textbooks is hardly profitable while recruiting teachers involve exchange of fat money within the government,` they said.

Romen of AMSU, Thoithoi of DESAM, Anash Shah of MSF and Nanao of KSA were present in the press meet today.

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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 May 12: A foundation laying ceremony of a new school building for Moirangpural High school was held today at the proposed site at Moirangpural under Andro constituency. Moirangpural high school is among the four schools in Andro constituency that were recently upgraded to high school status from junior high school.

The school has 650 students studying from class III to class IX at present.

Th. Shyamkumar Singh, MLA, Andro constituency, today laid the ceremonial foundation of the new school building. A function was held at the school campus to mark the foundation laying ceremony.

Speaking at the occasion, Th Shyamkumar encouraged the students to be aware of the environment and the issues resulting from deforestation.

He assured the students of the newly upgraded Moirangpural High School of a sum of Rs 5000 to each student who can successfully plant five fruit tree saplings. He informed that he has already acquired several varieties of tree saplings from the concerned department, which will be distributed to the students within two days time, he added.

He also assured an award of Rs 10 lakhs to any student from his constituency who can bag the first position in the State High School Leaving examination and senior secondary examination and another Rs 10 lakhs for the teachers of any school which could produce student with the first position.

He also promised Rs One lakh award for any student from his constituency who could come among the first ten toppers in the state in both the examinations.

He said that the government has been extending its full corporation on many spheres. The government has been helping in developing the infrastructure of the schools, providing free books and other essential items to the schools from time to time.

`Yesterday, 150 pairs of desk and benches were provided to the school from the concerned government department`, he said. He further added that another 150 pairs of desk and benches were provided to Poroukhongjil High school that has 710 students.

The four schools of the constituency that were upgraded to high school status from junior high school recently are Andro High school, Hueikap High school, Moirangpural High school and Poroukhongjil High school.

He further stated that many local teachers as well as others from outside the constituency are engaged in the schools. Shyamkumar added that the teachers of these schools were paid from his own expense every month.

He appealed the invitees, teachers and students gathered in the function to act sincerely and responsibly, as the developmental and welfare initiatives were taken up in accordance with the objectives of free and compulsory education.

The ceremonial function was attended by staffs and students of the school as well as many guardians of the students from the locality.

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