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ASSENG/2015/64205

Vol. 1

Issue 158

Elections:

Dibrugarh, Friday, November 13, 2015

"By Using the Word 'Tolerance', Those Protesting Have Played Into the Hands of BJP & Sangh"

Page 8

Page 10

Page 9

The much awaited Trans Arunachal Highway (TAH), which has been declared as National Highway 229, is going to take another five years before it serves the public as a full-fledged connecting road of Arunachal Pradesh. TAH which is part of the Prime Minister’s package announced on 31st January, 2008 starts from Tawang (west) connecting 14 districts, East Kameng, West Kameng, Papum Pare, West Siang, Siang, Lower Subansiri, Lower Dibang Valley, Lohit, Namsai, Upper Subansiri, Changlang, Tirap and Longding. The total length of the highway is 1,556 Kilometers, estimated at the cost of Rs. 10,000 Cr. initially.

The highway cuts across the central part of Arunachal, passes through the most populated zone, fertile zone and strategically important areas.

The then Chief Engineer,

ET CAPSULES

The TAH’s main objective was originally to connect the districts in the middle belt of the Arunachal Pradesh.

TAH connects the major chunk of the Arunachal tribal belt and the most populous zones while it can connect from North to South.

Apart from the civic benefits, TAH will serve for the Defence purposes also.

Besides connecting

TAH starts from Tawang (west) connecting 14 districts, East Kameng, West Kameng, Papum Pare, West Siang, Siang, Lower Subansiri, Lower Dibang Valley, Lohit, Namsai, Upper Subansiri, Changlang, Tirap and Longding.

The total length of the highway is 1,556 Kilometers, estimated at the cost of Rs. 10,000 Cr. initially.

A Staff Reporter Itanagar, Nov 12

Margherita, Nov 12: One pachyderm was found dead at a paddy field, Rampur 5 Mile Village, Jagun, Margherita Constituency under Tinsukia District on November 10.

Jagun Range Forest Officials said that the pachyderm had died due to poisoning.

Meanwhile, local residents of Rampur 5 Mile, Jagun said elephants come out from Kotha Forest Reserve in search of food and hence many timber smugglers of Kotha Forest Reserve under Digboi Forest Division daily illegally fell many important trees of this area. (Correspondent)

The State Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Gicho Kabak sharply reacting to the BJP opposition leader Tamiyo Taga’s representation to the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh in connection with non-approval of any proposal by State Chief Minister Nabam Tuki led Govt. for major policy decisions like dissolution of the state assembly and creation of new administration and jurisdictions etc. saying “Tuki led Govt. is opposed by 34 MLAs including 11 of BJP, 21 of Congress and 2 Independent and has become minority in the assembly”, said that the

Dibrugarh, Nov 12: Continuing with its own way of observing National Press Day which is observed throughout the country on Nov. 16, members of Dibrugarh Press Club will travel to Madhupur, an interior village under Barbaruah police station of the district and interact with the villagers on various issues.

DPC President Prabir Kr. Chakraborty and general secretary Manash Jyoti Dutta has appealed all the members to participate in the programme.(Staff Reporter)

Diabetes Day Tinsukia, Nov 12. On the ocassion of International Diabetes Day, Indian Medical Association Tinsukia unit is organizing a diabetes awareness and education camp on Friday at Manav Kalyan Bhawan.

Doctor Anaya Kumar Sarmah shall be present as key speaker on the ocassion.

(Spl Correspondent)

Minor drowns Dhubri, Nov 12: Bakkar Ali, 11, drowned in the river Brahmautra at Nagabandh ghat under South Salmara Police Station of Dhubri district, while taking a dip along with his friend. The body was found under the steel vessel anchored at the ghat in the evening, a police source said. Local villagers thronged the ghat and held the officials and crew men of Inland Water Transport department responsible for the death of the boy. Meanwhile, police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control by dispersing the mob from the ghat. The body will be brought to Dhubri Civil Hospital for postmortem tomorrow.

(Correspondent)

The highway cuts across the central part of Arunachal, passes through the most populated zone, fertile zone and strategically important areas.

It will help move towards north that means towards China and so strategically it is a very important project.

14 Districts Headquarters, it will enhance the growth of tourism, transport of agricultural products and it will boost the people of Arunachal economically.

The most important benefit that the people will draw out of TAH is avoiding Assam road travel to go to another place within Arunachal Pradesh thereby reducing the time and distance manifold.

aforesaid recommendation to the governor was uncalled for.

“Tamiyo’s recommendation will not bear fruits because the Governor will act upon any situation as per the provision of constitution,” the NCP press statement said adding that “Dissident MLAs of Congress cannot move for no confidence motion in assembly against their own Congress led govt.

MLAs of any political party, not less than 12 members can move for no confidence motion whereas BJP has 11 MLAs short of one MLA to initiate no confidence motion on the floor of the house. First BJP tried to defect Congress MLAs to BJP, it was not successful and now they are trying to move for no confidence motion against the

Congress Govt. to dissolve the assembly. BJP’s attempt to sabotage the Tuki-led Congress Govt. in Arunachal Pradesh will remain a daydream.”

“The opposition leader of BJP Tamiyo Taga has been misleading and confused the mind of the people since the last four months, by means which do not carry any substance and holds no water.

People of Arunachal Pradesh are well aware of BJP’s mischievous politics with hidden agenda to grind the Christian, Muslim and ruling govt. of opposition party. We know that dissident MLAs will not compromise with Hindutva agenda of BJP & RSS combined and they will be happy to remain in INC. Lotus

Anup Chetia’s extradition: Is it a poll prank ahead of 2016 assembly elections?

Amar Jyoti Borah Guwahati, Nov 12

housewives red in anger and frustration. According to a lady residing at SBI colony, when she entered her kitchen to cook at 6 in the evening she found her gas was not working.

Initially, she thought that there might be some problem with her gas burner but later on got

a shock to know that no one's gas was working in the neighbourhood and hardly anyone knew the reason except that the problem is with the gas supply, she added.

Contd. on Page 3

Japanese Sakura in full bloom in North East India Dmuising Khongjirem Shillong, Nov 12

“If you ever wanted to see the Cherry Blossom festival in Japan, you don’t have to visit Japan anymore. You can have the full Cherry Blossom view in India now. Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya, is in full

Page 6

After unleashing a reign of terror among security forces; NSCN – K now eyes huge mineral deposits of Assam

Eastern Zone (highways) Bora Ete said, out of 1,556 km, about 1,000 km are at various stage of progress and the remaining 600 km has already been awarded and the work will start very soon.

“One of the section projects of TAH which is 311 km in length, awarded to ‘Sushee IVRCL Arunachal Highways Ltd.’ connecting Nechipu in West Kameng and Hoj in Papum Pare cutting across Seppa in East Kameng is doing extremely well. A world class road is being built and the completion time is four and half years (54 months) but the company is confident of completing the project in 48 months,” said Ete. TAH is supposed to be complete in 2015-16 but it appears that the completion date may go further up to 2020.

Contd. on Page 3

will not bloom in Arunachal Pradesh,” the statement added.

“Although Kabak further added that 21 MLAs have been reported for dissident activities against the Chief Minister Nabam Tuki on difference of opinion, way of functioning and alleged disrespect for inner democracy within the Congress party, these issues should be sorted out for smooth functioning of Tuki led Govt and State NCP appreciate Tuki led Govt.’s vision 2030 and his various flagship programs and mission mode projects. All congress MLAs should march together by leaving no stone upturned for success of this noble mission for better Arunachal Pradesh,” the NCP President added.

Ripunjoy Das & Mithun Baruah Margherita, Nov 12

After unleashing a reign of terror by targeting security forces across the region in the recent past, heavily armed cadres from the Khaplang faction of the NSCN has now started to eye the huge mineral deposits in Assam. Things have reached to such an extent that the officers of Govt. of India owned Coal India Limited have started ‘fleeing’ their respective offices located in the interior locations in Margherita in upper Assam’s Tinsukia

district and have started staying at the Dehing Guest House in Margherita. One of the officer on condition of anonymity said that heavily armed cadres of NSCN-K have threatened to kill them if they do not pay them heavily. “Initially, we reported the matter to our higher authorities which advised us stay at the guest house until the matter is settles”, the officer said. The matter of security for its men and materials has always been a matter of concern for Coal India Limited. Apart from threats by militants groups, there are scores of coal mafias

The dark side of festival of lights Kankana Baruah Dibrugarh, Nov 12

Along with the entire nation, Dibrugarh also celebrated Diwali, the festival of lights with great enthusiasm. On the day, since the evening, people were busy bursting crackers and in the entire town they got busy in the celebrations.

Fireworks illuminated the evening sky; earthen lamps

dotted houses and lights decked up buildings. Children and youths burst crackers and lit fireworks while families visited their neighbours, exchanged ‘Happy Diwali’ greetings and sweets. People also took the route of SMS, WhatsApp and social networking websites to wish each other.

Contd. on Page 4

Major fire breaks out due to cracker fire

Contd. on Page 4

Assam Gas Company says, gas pipeline damaged

by ASEB, no immediate restoration in sight

Almost half of Tinsukia kitchens were hit hard on Wednesday following shutdown of gas supply during the festive day Diwali, leaving

PM Modi's visit isn't just a historic visit, but a historic opportunity, says Cameron

government has made it clear that it wants Chetia in the state.

A day after he was handed over to India by Bangladesh, and the Indian authorities had handed him over to the CBI, the Assam government has sought his custody, saying it is very important for both issues of security and the peace process.

In this regard the Assam government has formally sent a letter to the Centre seeking custody of Chetia.

Anup Chetia seems to be on everyone’s radar ahead of the 2016 Assam assembly elections, and every political parties plans to use him as a poll prank ahead of the election. While the BJP leaders are saying that the ball should be in the centre’s court to decide whether to send Chetia to Assam, or to let the CBI keep him, the Congress led Assam

Rishu Kalantri Tinsukia, Nov 12

Pages- 12

EXCLUSIVE

State NCP says, Lotus will not bloom in Arunachal

Elephant poisoned

DPC to observe National Press Day

cmyk

WHAT’S IN IT FOR ARUNACHAL PRADESH

5.00

Flipkart not to go app-only

Five more years before Trans Arunachal Highway is completed Pynshisha Nylla Itanagar, Nov 12

Price -

bloom with pink and white Cherry Blossoms all along the roadside and the famous Ward’s Lake of Shillong”, said Prof Dinabandhu Sahoo, Director of Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development, a National Institute of Government of India during interaction with the

media persons here in Shillong.

To enjoy the Cherry Blossom festival, popularly known as Sakura/Hanami festival, people usually spend thousands of dollars and visit different parts of Japan during the month of March every year.

Contd. on Page 3

A Staff Reporter Guwahati, Nov 12

Several buildings and goods and property worth over Rs. 100 crore were damaged after a massive fire broke out at a building at Fancy Bazar in Guwahati due to fire emanating from crackers burst

last night at about 9 pm, eyewitnesses said. The fire engulfed shops, godowns and residential buildings in the congested market stocked with garments, household goods and other essential items.

There was no report of any casualty. More than 33 fire tenders were pressed into

service at Fancy Bazar in Guwahati where massive fire engulfed several buildings.

Speaking to The Eastern Today, Kamrup Metro DC, M Angamuthu said that residents were evacuated following the incident and the fire was doused by fire tenders.

Contd. on Page 4

who are operating almost at will with tactic understanding with a section of civil and police officials of the sub division, sources alleged. “The militants had come to our office which is located in the interior area and threatened us.

They demanded huge amount of money. We are very much scared”, another officer said.

The coal fields under Tikok, Tirap, Ledo, Tipong, Namdang etc are all in the interior areas and all these fields account for thousands of tons of coal every day.

Contd. on Page 4

Encroachment on government land alleged Sambhu Boro Tezpur, Nov 12

The denizens of greater Goroimari area under Holeswar Mouza near here have expressed gross dissatisfaction over the inaction against the influential forces involved in the encroachment over the government land in the area despite repeated pleas to the authority concerned. It is noteworthy that a small river popularly known as “Bimal Jaan” is flowing through the area which has been helping the greater area to get rid of the artificial flood and water logging since time immemorial. However, as stated in an RTI filed in the office of the revenue circle Tezpur, by a local social organization of Goroimari area an unscrupulous person Rabin Bhuyan who is also a government employee accompanied by his brother Prabin Bhuyan has illegally constructed a business complex after allegedly earthfilling the river thereby destroying the ecology of the area. “The most serious thing is that after construction of the business complex it has been given to another businessman Kamal Singh who now in connivance with some unscrupulous revenue officers here has been attempting to extend the same and at the same time applying for miady status of the land.” The locals alleged urging the authority to evict the area as soon as possible with the view to sustain the ecology of the area.

The local people of the area also threatened to register massive protest if the authority does not take initiative against this illegal move.

1st Wangnia Pongte Memorial Football Tournament from Nov 14 Lomhom Tangha Changlang, Nov 12

The 1st Wangnia Pongte Memorial Football Tournament starts on November 14, 2015. The tournament is being organized in memory of Late Wangnia Pongte who was the founding father of the Tutsa tribe and former minister of Agriculture, Research and Library of Arunachal Pradesh. He was

one of the pioneer leaders of Arunachal Pradesh. He was born on November 14, 1967 and passed away on June 15, 2013. The Tutsa Welfare Society in collaboration with District Sports Department is in the forefront in organizing the much anticipated football tournament. Meanwhile, the son of the Late Wangnia Pongte, Mr Tesam Pongte, Contd. on Page 3

cmyk

M.S. Enterprise Picasso Shopping Complex T. Chai Market, Tezu

PAGE 2

DIBRUGARH, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13

Alumni of RKMS gears up for Golden Jubilee Celebration Aalo, Nov 12 : In sequel to final meeting held at Siang Sadan under the Chairmanship of West Siang Deputy Commissioner Pige Ligu for celebration of Golden Jubilee year of the premier in-

stitute of the state, all members of the Organizing will land down at Itanagar for a get together of all Alumni of the state that has been fixed at Hotel Ashoka on 15th November from 5pm onwards. As

not much of time is left for Golden Jubilee Celebration of RKM School by the alumni slated from December 17 to 20th, wide range of issues like fund mobilization, accommodation, food and lodging

and mode of celebration will be worked out and finalized with seniors alumni. All alumni scattered in different pockets of the country are likely to attend the glorious occasion. DIPRO

Bodies recovered from bolted room Sonepat, Nov 12: The police recovered bodies of a young boy and girl from a bolted room at Sersa Janti village in the district this morning.

The police also recovered a pistol lying near the bodies.Bodies have been identified as of Kajal (23) of Nepal and Pramod (27) of Gangeshwari village in

Amroha district of Uttar Pradesh.

According to police, girl’s family as well as Pramod has been residing in separate rented accommodation in Sersa Janti village for the last many years.

Kajal and Pramod were also working in an industrial unit at Kundli industrial area in the

district.

Pawan, house owner where Pramod used to reside, informed the police this morning that Pramod was not opening the room and it was bolted from inside. Police gained entry into the room through a widow and found both the bodies were lying on a charpoy and a pistol

was lying in the room.

The SHO kundli police station, Dheeraj Kumar said that from preliminary investigation, it appeared that Pramod had shot her and later committed suide by firing at himself. A case has been registered on the complaint of girl’s father Suresh, he added.

Coconut Development Board to participate in New Delhi trade fair

Deepawali celebrations at Raj Bhavan on 11th November 2015.

A Staff Reporter New Delhi, Nov 12: Coconut Development Board is participating in the 35th edition of Indian International Trade fair (IITF) which is scheduled from 14th 27th of November 2015, at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. IITF, being the

largest integrated trade fair of Indian subcontinent with B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-toconsumer) components, will be utilized as a platform by the Board, mainly to introduce Neera and various value added products in North Indian

market.

Coconut delicacies such as packed tender coconut water, coconut milk powder and coconut milk, coconut chips, desiccated coconut, virgin coconut oil etc. from the factories of renowned companies like, Suryashobha, Yogic Foods, Malabar Coconut

Producer Company and Kera Tech will be exhibited in the Board’s pavilion, Food Sector, 18U – 16B, near Ministry of Steel pavilion. Product awareness and sample sale will be done from the pavilion, which will be open for business visitors from 14th – 18th and for

general public from 19th – 27th. Fair expects an attendance of about 1,00,000 visitors each day of the exhibition. The theme of the fair is “Make in India” and visitors can relish the taste of our country’s coconut products at Hall No: 18.

BJP says Deplorable road condition in Tezpur town poses serious threat to commuters NDA Govt. Shambhu Boro town.” Locals alleged. problems like pitiable road dents on various issues go Chanmari area via and Chamdhora Panchayats School road is one of the Nov 12: At a time It is noteworthy that Tezpur conditions, garbage dump- often unheard. “Though the Kumargaon-Cotton Road which are adjacent to most important roads in the must be Tezpur, when the state government which is better known for ing, haphazard construction Tezpur Municipality Board and from Chanmari to Tezpur expressing their to- town where three Governclaimed to have legendary figures like of building (residential and (TMB), often claims Murha Teteli point, and the tal dissatisfaction over the ment Girls' Higher Secondgiven a has achieved all round develop- Kolaguru Bishnu Prashad commercial), illegal sale of achievement in the field of Silver Jubilee School and underdevelopment of their ary Schools and Silver Juin the state during the Rabha, Jyoti Prashad wetlands by some land developmental works of the Girls’ High school road areas said that though crores bilee School are located. chance to ment last fifteen years of its re- Agarwala, and Natasurya mafias and encroachment of town, the common denizens which are the major routes of funds were sanctioned But the unpleasant odour various problems in- Phani Sharma and its his- the wetlands by a section of are witness to dusty broken of the town connecting for various developmental and unhygienic atmocluding deplorable condi- torically important places unscrupulous people, be- roads, unhygienic leakage other parts of the town, are works including repairing sphere created by the deliver on gime, tion of roads falling under like Mahabhairab Temple, low-par maintenance of along with contaminated in the deplorable condition. or new construction of ru- stray pigs in the area has municipality board and Maithan, Ganesh temple parks and historical monu- rainwater from the blocked At the same time the hap- ral roads, and because of b e e n p o s i n g s e r i o u s OROP panchayat areas in and (popularly known as ments by the authorities, drainage systems, the rotten hazard and appalling condi- rampant corruption by the threat to the students and ANI New Delhi, Nov. 12 : Even as the protests for the implementation of One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme by the ex-servicemen escalates, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday urged war veterans to give the current NDAleadership 'a chance' to deliver on their promise.

"It is our request to the veterans that, they should give this government a chance because they have delivered on their promise, whereas the previous government didn't do anything except promising," BJP leader Sidharth Nath Singh told ANI. Backing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement for implementation of the OROP, Singh said that it was fair statement coming from the government on the scheme, and added that if there were any issues left, a commission was there to look into it and would address them to the satisfaction of the veterans".

"We shouldn't forget that for 40 years there was nothing called OROP as it was being promised, but was never delivered," he added.

Against the backdrop of the continuing protests by several ex-servicemen over OROP, Modi said it was for the first time that the government, while notifying its decision to implement the scheme, had also set up a commission to ensure there are no shortcomings in the process. "It is a full proof arrangement," he said. The ex-servicemen protesting for the implementation of the OROP scheme on Wednesday tried to set their medals on fire though they were stopped by the policemen on duty at the Jantar Mantar.

LOST I have lost my HSLC admit card bearing Roll B02 581 No. 0112 Sabha Nanda Darig

around Tezpur town however reflect the reality of the overall development and dignity of this historic city.

The common denizens living in and around Tezpur town rued that representatives come to power after each five years to rule either the LAC or the Municipality Board or the Prestigious Tezpur Loksabha segment with a commitment to give a facelift to it which would reflect the dignity of the historically important city.

“But for years it has pathetically been observed that representatives either from Congress, AGP or BJP do not give priority to proper development of the town, rather shamelessly get involved in unwanted politicking and siphoning off of funds allotted for the developmental works thereby crippling the progress of the

Ganesh Ghat), Chitralekha park, (earlier it was known as Col. Park), Agnigarh Park, Owguri Hill, Bamuni Hill, stone gate Parbatia, Rudra Path at Bam Parbotia, Pologround (where Dugor shield football started in 1956), one of the oldest railway stations in India at Jagajghat, (118 years old) etc. and considered as the nerve centre of the district is gradually losing its past glory. Following the disintegration among the members of the Municipality Board and Town development committee besides utter negligence of the common denizens in the real sense, development of the town has suffered a setback. Both foreign and domestic tourists who were earlier interested in visiting the city are nowadays very much reluctant to as civic

stray pigs and cows causing awkward situations, traffic jams etc. throw directly a negative light on the town.

Hemaraj Rabha (son of cultural icon Kolaguru Bishnu Prashad Rabha) said that the naturally planned and beautiful town, known for its landscape and many mythological legends, has been a major attraction for domestic and foreign tourists over the years, but is now plagued with a number of problems. “The major gateway to the northern part of the region and secondmost busy destination after the State capital, Tezpur town now presents a chaotic scenario due to lapses in maintenance of the town’s civic facilities. The common people of the region no more find joy in the town now.” He criticized adding that the cries of Tezpur resi-

garbage lying openly at the roadside at various places together pose serious health hazards.” Rabha said.

On the other hand, at present the deplorable condition of most of the roads has become a death trap for the commuters or the motorists as day by day big knee-deep potholes on these are coming up fast because of the lack of timely maintenance of the same. It is mentionable that from Ban Theatre area to Mental Hospital via Lachit Chowk, Ban theatre point to Polo Field area, from Darrang College to Ushanagar, Silver Jubilee school point to ASTC point, from Tarun Asom Sangha point to Ban theatre point via Kamrupia Namghar, from Circuit house point to Jahajghat railway station area, from the same point to

List of hospitals in Dibrugarh with contact details & phone numbers, Assam Aditya Diagnostics & Hospitals Bordoloi Avenue, Paltan Bazar, Dibrugarh - 786005 Phone Numbers: 0373 - 2302219, 2302225

G M Hospital

Shrishti Hospital & Research Centre Paltan Bazar, Dibrugarh - 786 005 Phone: 0373 - 2300024, 2302099

AMC Road, Jalan Nagar Dibrugarh - 786 005

Archana Trauma & Orthopaedics Hospital

Brahmaputra Diagnostics & Hospital

Paltan Bazar, Dibrugarh - 786 005 Phone: 0373 - 2302100, 2302099

Near Indian AirLines City Office Paltan Bazar Dibrugarh - 786 005 Phone Numbers: 0373 - 2303476

Assam Medical College

Marwari Arogya Bhawan Hospital Paltan Bazar, Dibrugarh Phone: 0373 - 2302872, 2302051

Graham Bazar, A.T. Road Dibrugarh Phone: 0373 - 2322547

Jalan Nagar, Dibrugarh - 786 002 List of Phones numbers: Emergency Room : 0373 - 2300627 Labour Room: 0373 - 2300022 Drug Deaddiction Centre: 0373 - 2302952 Community Medicine: 0373 - 2302994 RIA Centre: 0373 - 2302093

Sanjivani Diagnostic & Hospital

Dr. Pawan Bajaj's Skin Clinic

Aastha Hospital

Paltan Bazar, Dibrugarh Phone: 0373 - 2303448, 2303458, 2301904

Sankardev Hospital Mancotta Road, Chowkidinghee Dibrugarh Phone: 0373 - 2327717, 2327715, 2326960

Paltan Bazar, Opposite Aditya Hospital Dibrugarh

Dr Damani's Nursing Home Near Circuit House, Dibrugarh Phone: 0373 - 2300928, 2302873

tion of the NH 37 (A) from Mission Chariali to Dulabari area has compounded the public woes.

The disordered parking of school buses and other vehicles in front of the Don Bosco School, and RD Motors’ showroom on NH 37 (A) at Nikamol area creates severe traffic jam posing serious threat to the commuters and motorists, particularly during the school and office going time. However, it is alleged that though it is known as a major civic issue, Don Bosco High school and RD Motors authority, taking advantage of the administration’s lackadaisical attitude remain quite reluctant in tackling it.

Moreover, inhabitants of Ushapur, Majgaon, Dulabari, Dekargoan, Parbatia, Beseria, Napam,

panchayat workers in connivance with the government officials, people of those areas are yet to witness the much awaited developmental works.

The increasing number of vehicles, coupled with poor and dusty narrow roads and lack of proper footpaths are also contributing to heavy traffic jams and increasing road accidents. However, Hemaraj Rabha coming down heavily on the rampant corruption in every department said that during 2010-11 financial year an allocation of Rs. 26 crores was sanctioned to the district administration for the developmental works like repairing and new construction of roads, but following severe misappropriation of those funds in the real sense nothing was done. Moreover, the Silver Jubilee

the common people.

Though it is a serious problem and well understood by the authority, yet it remains mum in this regard. On the other hand, though Mission Chariali is considered as the gateway to Tezpur town, because of narrowness of the road it creates many problems for the commuters. Different organizations have been urging the authority to construct a flyover at the Mission Chariali point and remove the old and the unused railway tracks for checking the traffic jam problem, but vested interests have prevented the work. The common citizens here have urged the authority concerned to address these grievances to restore the glory of the historic town.

PRASAR BHARATI (India's Public Service Broadcaster) ALL INDIA RADIO : DIBRUGARH (M.W.529.1m/KHz567 F.M. 101.30 MHz) Phone No.-03732325456 E-mail -dibrugarh@air.org.in Facebook Page-All India Radio Dibrugarh Programme Highlights

13-11-15 (FRIDAY) 5-35 A.M-Bhaktigeeti 6-15 A.M-Gandhi Prarthana 6-30 A.M-Bidyarthir Anusthan (Students' Broadcast) 6-50 A.M-Zikir 7-15 A.M-Aajir Dinto (Morning Information Service) 7-30 A.M-Geetanjali (Assamese Modern Song) 8-35 A.M-Surar Panchoi(Composite Programme of Assamese Film Songs) 9-05 A.M- Antara(Composite Programme of Hindi Film Songs) 12-05 P.M-Live Phone-In Surar Satsori 2-30 P.M-Western Music Programme 3-45 P.M-Programme in Miju Mishimi 4-05 P.M-Programme in Khamti 4-25 P.M-Programme in Wancho 4-45 P.M-News for Arunachal Pradesh 5-00 P.M-Programme in Idu 5-20 P.M-Programme in Tangsa 5-40 P.M-Programme in Nocte 7-15 P.M-Chah-Shramikar Aasor (Tea-Garden Programme) 8-00 P.M-Sponsored Programme-"Brahmaputra Swasthya Sewa" (Sponsored by Brahmaputra Diagnostics and Hospitals Pvt. Ltd.) 9-30 P.M-North East Collage 10-00 P.M-Classical Music, Artist-Ud. Ali Akbar Khan Sd-/H.O.P

PAGE 3

DIBRUGARH, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13

Shubroto Thaosen new Chairman of NCHAC

ET Correspondent Haflong, Nov 12: Subroto Thaosen MAC of BJP has been elected on Thursday as the new chairman of the 11th North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC) unopposed as declared by the Deputy Commissioner and Chairman Juri Phukan since no

other nomination was filed for the post in a special session.

Following the resignation of Ngamrothang Hmar from the post on 2 November last, the governor of Assam had ordered for a session today at 11 A.M. at the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council session hall.

Assam Gas Company says, gas pipeline damaged

by ASEB, no immediate restoration in sight Contd. from Page 1

Another lady Mrs Jain said in an angry tone that ever since they received gas supply line they were forced to surrender gas cylinder connection.

“Now how we will cook food on this day of Diwali which is our biggest festival,” asked Mrs Jain adding that they even can't offer a cup of tea to guests visiting them to wish on Diwali. When contacted, Assam Gas Company, their Tinsukia office incharge Arup Baruah said that ASEB contractors have damaged their gas supply line at Rangagora road due to which they had to shut down the line through which gas is supplied to more than half of Tinsukia including GNB Road, Parbotia, Manav Kalyan Road among others. ASEB were in the process of erecting a new electric post without verifying whether there is any gas

pipeline beneath. As a result they damaged the gas pipeline which had even caught fire, he added. Baruah said, the restoration work of repairing of gas pipeline can be started as early as Thursday morning due to Diwali and ASEB team will also be required and thereafter gas supply shall be restored. It is noteworthy that gas supply and ASEB fall under the emergency category and hence they should have enough manpower to counter any eventuality immediately.

However, this incident has shown that neither they have sufficient man power nor coordination between different agencies leaving the common man to suffer. However, on receipt of the information Puru Gupta, DC, Tinsukia took up the matter with AGCL who in turn assured that gas supply will be resumed from 10 pm for two hours at low pressure.

Three houses gutted in fire accident Roing, Nov 12: Three houses were completely burnt to ashes at Jia-I (Latbong) Village some 13 km from Roing in broad daylight today. The fire that broke out at around 11:00 am in one of the houses, when all the members of the house were already gone for the day’s work, took no time to turn the whole house into ashes. Despite all the efforts of the village people to stop the fire from further spreading to the neighbouring houses, the fire caught the thatched roofs of the adjacent houses located on both sides of the house from where the fire initially started and burnt

ago. Police said that they hired an Innova car last night from Red Cross Road and were planning to loot the car after killing the driver. Some sleepinducing tablets were

ET Correspondent Shillong, Nov 12: The order of Meghalaya High Court which binding on the State government to take up with the centre the matter of imposition of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in the western region of the State covering Garo Hills, has evoked strong protest from the people of the State. Khasi hills based

Sonari. The programme will get underway with the unfurling of flag at 945 am followed by a competition of science model making which will be open for the students of Charaideo sub division. An open meeting will also be held simultaneously from 10 am. To participate in the

help and managed to stop the fire from further spreading onto other

NGOs including the Thma U Rangli Juki (TUR), Garo Students’ Union (GSU) and the Civil Society Women’s Organization (CSWO) will hold protest rally on Monday the 16th November in the city starting from the Fire Brigade ground and concluding at the Additional Secretariat parking lot. The public rally named as “Defending Human Rights in Garo

Hills” will voice strong opposition on the proposed imposition of army’s power in the Garo Hills region. “It is a grave concern for many if AFSPA is imposed in Meghalaya and we need to come together and make our voices heard,” TUR leader Angela Rangad said in a statement. She said that it is easy to call on AFSPA and never easy to revoke it as

is the case in Manipur where it has been in operation since 1958 forcing Irom Sharmila to be on her hunger strike for the last 15 years. Earlier, NGOs from Garo Hills even political parties in the State like NPP had strongly protested against the proposed imposition of the AFSPA and submitted memorandum to the union minister for home, Kiren Rijiju.

Japanese Sakura in full bloom in North East India Contd. from Page 1

Lakhs of tourists visit Japan every year for this purpose. Realizing the importance of Cherry Blossom to promote socio-economic development in the North East through eco-tourism, Prof Sahoo has initiated a major Cherry Blossom Festival Initiative in association with the Meghalaya Basin Development Authority and Forest Department, Government of Meghalaya in May 2015.

“If you enter the city of Shillong from Umiam (and also in Mawphlang and Ward’s Lake) you will see hundreds of

recovered from their possession. Police said that search is on to nab the mastermind.

Dibrugarh police registered a case no. 936/ 15 under section 399 IPC.

National Press Day at Sonari ET Correspondent Sonari, Nov 12: Along with the entire nation, the 49th National Press Day will be observed in Sonari under the aegis of Sonari Press Club on Nov. 16, a press statement issued by the club said. The day long programme will be held at Elite Academy,

and smoke from the houses, more of the village people gathered for

Meka Anchal Samiti Block reiterated its earlier demand of the public to place a Fire Station under Parbuk Circle of Lower Dibang Valley District citing that the fire accidents frequently occur in the villages under Parbuk Circle as the villages in the circle are densely populated and most of the village people still live in Kutcha (thatch) houses.

She further said that it almost takes half an hour for fire brigade to reach the villages under Parbuk Circle from Fire Station at Roing and by that time, the fire already does the damage.

(DIPRO)

AFSPA protest gains momentum in Meghalaya Arunachal Governor

Police nab gang of four robbers A Staff Reporter Dibrugarh, Nov 12: Dibrugarh police yesterday night apprehended four robbers here. They were identified as Hussain Ali (Mangaldoi), Nasimul Ali (Udalguri), Sahidul Islam (Darrang) and Pranjal Dutta (Lakhimpur). Police said that they were involved in many car lifting cases and burglaries. Police seized two Khukuri, gold ornaments, electronic weighing machine and four mobiles. The ornaments were stolen from Ajanta Jewellery, Dibrugarh a few days

them down too. However, as the fire grew and seeing the growing flames

nearby houses of the village.

All the three houses belonging to Memer Lego, Rina Yirang and Sankek Degu respectively were completely burnt down in the fire accident. However, the losses are yet to be ascertained.

It was informed that though the Fire Service Station at Roing was informed in time it took almost half an hour for fire brigade to reach the fire accident spot and by the time it arrived three houses were already burnt down completely.

On the occasion, PRI leaders of the area headed

by Tibul Tayeng, Anchal Chairperson of the 3-

science model making interested students are requested to contact at 94355-16001 for further details and registration.

On the other hand, the Charaideo sub divisional information and public relations office too have organized a symposium on the same day.

Cherry Blossom trees have been planted and lined up inside beautiful bamboo tree guards for protection. The impact of such initiative was also felt in Japan as a team of six people comprising the President and other office bearers of the Japanese Cherry Blossom Association visited India in September 2015 to spearhead the initiative”, said Prof Sahoo.

The Japanese Cherry Blossom Association in association with IBSD is planning to spearhead this movement in different parts of India. The Cherry Blossom, which is in full bloom in Shillong since the last one week, will only last

for a maximum of a week to 10 days, which is giving a pinkish and whitish look to the city.

Prof Sahoo urged the local people as well as the tourists from all across the world to visit Shillong including Ward’s Lake to have a glimpse of this nature’s beauty. He said one could reach Shillong from Guwahati in just two hours road drive. The climate is very conducive and cool for the tourists at the moment.

“If we miss this opportunity, maybe we have to wait for one more year till next November”, Prof Sahoo said.

With financial assistance from this institute,

the Cherry Blossom plantation drive through avenue plantation was launched by Hon’ble Chief Minister of Meghalaya, Dr. Mukul Sangma, in May 2015 at Ward’s Lake Shillong.

When this programme was reported in the Japanese media, the people from Japan came in September 2015 and decided to take this programme forward in India. Although the Japanese have been spearheading the Cherry Blossom initiative in different countries like USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and Nepal, they had never ventured to India although Cherry Blossom is of Himalayan origin.

Two Maoists killed in Odisha's Sundergarh District ANI Odisha Nov.12 : At least two Maoists have been killed during a search and combing operation by a joint team of the police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

According to preliminary reports, the encounter is underway in Odisha's Sundergarh District and further details are awaited. In Odisha, the Maoists are dominant in the districts of Gajapati, Ganjam, Kandhamal, Keonjhar, Jajpur, D h e n k a n a l , Mayurbhanj, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Sundargarh and Nayagarh. While the state's police force has claimed that left-wing extremism is gradually being brought under

control, they admit that they still face a challenging situation in dealing with the menace in parts of Malkangiri, Koraput, Bolangir, Nuapada, Rayagada, Baragarh, Kalahandi and Nabarangpur Districts. Currently, according to the state government and the state's police force, the Maoists have been trying to consolidate in the districts of Malkangiri, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Rayagada, Nuapada, Bolangir, Baragarh and Kalahandi.

The rebels are also trying to regroup and revive their activities in the SambalpurDeogarh-Sundargarh range as well as in the Kalinga Nagar Divi-

sions by fresh induction of cadres, The Odisha Government says that it has been focusing on capacity up gradation of security forces and the security infrastructure in the affected areas, strategic deployment of security forces to dominate the area and conduct effective operations against the armed Maoist formations, and precisely targeting important Maoist cadres / leaders by intelligence based operations. The focus is also on seamless coordination with paramilitary forces deployed in the state and also with the Maoistaffected neighbouring states and also with the Centre to deal with the problem effectively.

congratulates Rijiju

ET Bureau Itanagar, Nov 12: The Governor of Arunachal Pradesh Shri JP Rajkhowa has congratulated Shri Kiren Rijiju, Union Minister of State (Home) for being awarded the prestigious United Nations Disaster Champion Award for exemplary initiatives and determination in addressing natural calamities and other disasters falling under Ministry of Home Affairs.

The Governor in his congratulation letter said that Shri Rijiju truly deserve the Award as many initiatives under his leadership, will bring positive changes in effectively managing challenges from different types of disaster, which

would leave a lasting impact on timely, efficiently and effectively management of disasters.

It is a great honour bestowed on you and at the same time, to the people of North Eastern Region as a whole and Arunachal Pradesh in particular. It is for the first time an individual, particularly young Minister of the Union Government and also a youth icon of the Region is receiving the Award.

You have made us proud, the people of the State and the Region look forward to your dynamic leadership, initiatives and continued guidance for development of Arunachal Pradesh and the North East, the Governor added.

Five more years before Trans Arunachal Highway is completed Contd. from Page 1

The Potin-Pagin highway under TAH connecting four districts (Lower Subansiri, Upper Subansiri, West Kameng and Siang) running up to 411 km is facing land acquisition problems. The project for this section was awarded in 2012, but the execution of the work is yet to start. Another 200 km under TAH, taken

by NHIDCL (National Highways & Infrastructure D e v e l o p m e n t Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) in the eastern sector is also yet to start.

“This highway will help move towards north that means towards China and so strategically it is a very important project. This programme was announced by the former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, during when (late) Dorjee Khandu was the Chief Minister and I was the Chief Engineer eastern zone in PWD,” said Ete. The TAH’s main objective was originally to connect the districts in

the middle belt of the Arunachal Pradesh. TAH connects the major chunk of the Arunachal tribal belt and the most populous zones while it can connect from North to South. Apart from the civic benefits, TAH will serve for the Defence purposes also. Besides connecting 14 Districts Headquarters, it will enhance the growth of tourism, transport of agricultural products and it will boost the people of Arunachal economically.

The TAH is being funded and implemented by the Govt. of India under "Special Accelerated Road Development Programme in North East (SARDPNE)" SARDP. The most important benefit that the people will draw out of TAH is avoiding Assam road travel to go to another place within Arunachal Pradesh. One, who travels to Itanagar from Seppa or Bomdila, has to travel through Assam highway.

But with the TAH, he will take the route NechipuSeppa-Sagalee-Itanagar and it will reduce the time and distance manifold.

1st Wangnia Pongte Memorial Football Tournament from Nov 14 Contd. from Page 1

MLA Changlang North appealed to the public saying, “I hope this tournament fosters peace and unity and the spirit of sports among the youth of all sections of society. It is well known that Govt

of Arunachal Pradesh has given priority to sports by reserving 10% sports quota in all state services.

I urge all the youths to take part in sports activities rather than taking to drugs, alcohol, tobacco and other social evils”.

PAGE 4

DIBRUGARH, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13

Rangia stolen idol recovered Tapas Samaddar Rangia, Nov 12: The ancient idol of Mother Kali which was stolen from the Jayantia Kali Temple at village Jayantipur under Rangia PS in Kamrup district on November 8 was recovered today from the same village. The idol of Jayanti Kali was donated by Ahom King Laxmi Singh in 1770 to Bidya Nanda Sarma the forefathers of the famous Buzar baruah fam-

ily of Rangia Jayantipur.

Since then, the family member of Bujarbaruah worshipped the idol. They have been worshiping the goddess Durga also since that time. One fisherman who was passing through that road found the idol which was lying abandoned in a bag under a big tree. He then informed the Bujarbaruah family. After being informed, they all rushed to the spot and veri-

fied the authenticity of the idol. They also informed Rangia police following which Police reached the spot and recovered the idol.

The idol is now under the custody of Rangia police. It may be mentioned that the miscreants entered the temple by breaking the lock of the main gate and grill of window and took away the 17th century idol which was made of gold and 8 other metals.

Police operation against gambling at Lahorighat Dalim Phukan Morigaon, Nov 12: The social environment has been polluted in Lahorighat and Bhuragaon areas in Morigaon district with some miscreants indulging in anti social activities in those remote areas causing widespread concern among the local people. Drinking of country-made wine and

gambling were rampant in the areas like Lahorighat and Bhelouguri. In this connection, the troubled local people approached the SP, Morigaon to curb the social menace in the area several times.

According to police sources, on November 10, a police party conducted an operation in some

gambling dens at Datialbori and arrested three gamblers namely, Nazir Hussain, Sahidullah and Asikur Rahman. Police recovered two motorcycles and cash money worth Rs. 75 lakh from their spot.

However some gamblers managed to flee from the spot behind the veil of darkness.

Villagers give ‘Right of Passage’ to elephants in Kalapahar-Daigurung corridor ET Bureau Karbi Anglong, Nov 12: Marking a milestone in efforts to secure a crucial elephant corridor in northeast India, residents of Ram Terang Village now have a new address – "New Ram Terang Village", which is nearing completion.

All the 19 families of Ram Terang have willingly and voluntarily decided to relocate outside the KalapaharDaigrung elephant corridor to provide safe passage for elephants.

The New Ram Terang Village was dedicated to the memory of Mark Shand, the Founder of the Elephant Family, wellknown for its work for welfare of Asian elephants on Wednesday, 11th November 2015. The colourful ceremony kicked off with a traditional welcome and the unveiling of terracotta reliefs dedicated to Mark Shand, the people of Karbi Anglong after which the traditional totem was inaugurated.

The handing over ceremony was attended by the EM (Forests) KAAC, Senior forest officials, the CEOs of Elephant Family and Wildlife Trust of India and the Founding Patron

of Elephant Family with a galaxy of guests from abroad.

Overwhelmed by the efforts, inspiration and enthusiasm of people, WTI and forest officials, Ruth Powys, CEO, Elephant Family said, “An entire new village comes to fruition today. We have solved a problem both for elephants and people. Elephant Family is proud to be part of this venture. I can feel that Mark is with us today. Now, every child can play here without danger, and every elephant can move without conflict.”

“Stree Shakti Sanmilan, Asom” begins at Matry Ashrom in Lakhimpur ET Correspondent Lakhimpur, Nov 12: Giving credence to the eternal power of women, the “Stree Shakti Sanmilan, Asom” began today at the Matry Asrom premises of Lakhimpur District today with much enthusiasm. In addition, the state-level extravaganza is also looking to attempt to enhance the influence of the women of the state. It is noteworthy that the Matry Ashrom, managed by women only, was established in order to expand the Gandhi’s philosophy and ideology by his chief disciple Vinoba Vawe in 1962 in Ujjalpur area, then Kashipathar in the Northern part of Lakhimpur. Since then the

Ashrom has propagated the perennial message of ‘maitry’, friendship and left no stone unturned to initiate commendable activities for the betterment of the society, especially the women and the children.

Today the agenda of the programme began with prayer at 4.30 am followed

by Sutra Yagya, Spiritual Interpretation and a Cleaning and Plantation drive. The ceremonial light was lit by Hema Kakoti the Chairman of the Management Committee.

Then a Prayer Conference by the followers of all religions which was administered by Kusum Borah Mokashi, the former delegate of Assam Branch

Kasturba Gandhi Smarak Nyash was held at 9 am. The wall magazine ‘Maitry’ was unveiled by Nityananda Senapati, the former President of Lakhimpur District Asom Sahitya Sobha. The inaugural function of the symposium was held from 10 am under the chairmanship of Retired Principal Rekha Phukan, the Chairman of the Reception Committee. It was inaugurated by Geetacharya Purandar Barua while Rukma Gohai Barua explained the purpose of the symposia. In the first session of the symposia, chaired by Retired Principal Mukunda Rajbonshi, the delegates of Kasturba Gandhi Smarak

Nyash Damayanti Devi discussed on ‘Duties of Women on Peace, Solidarity and Progress’.

On the other hand, Dr Upendra Nath Dutta and Lawyer Minakshi Gohain Barua discussed on two different topics as ‘Health Awareness of Woman’ and ‘Importance of Legal Awareness in Woman E m p o w e r m e n t ’ respectively. In the second technical session, chaired

by Retd. Professor Dr Bonti Gogoi How Borah, Retd Vice Principal Dr Amiya Rajbonshi discussed on ‘Generation of Scientific Attitude of Women’ while Secretary of Sarvodaya Sangha, Bijoy Kumar on ‘Awareness of Women on

Spiritual Thought’. After the lighting of earthen lamps at 4.15 pm, Gunada Bhuyan Memorial Cultural programme commenced at 5.30 pm and it was inaugurated by Jotsna Medak, the Senor Lecture of DIET of Dhemaji. On the other hand, the Open Session of the programme will be held tomorrow at 10 am along with the other events.

Lakhi Phukan, the Manager of the Ashrom will be conferred the prestigious ‘Amol Prabha Das Sarvodaya Award’ in the meeting which will be attended by Union Minister Sarbanaanda Sonowal along with several state level personalities.

Anup Chetia’s extradition: Is it a poll prank ahead of 2016 assembly elections? been brought to Guwahati. Due legal process will be followed Assam Home depending upon his Commissioner L S decision to join the Changsan said that letter ongoing peace talk with has been sent to the the Centre,” said the Home Ministry to hand home commissioner. over the ULFA leader to Echoing Changsan, the Assam govt. “Chetia Assam IGP Law and was involved in number Order S N Singh said of cases in Assam, and Chetia has to face the he has to face the law of law once he has been the land once he has taken to the state. Singh Contd. from Page 1

Major fire breaks out due to cracker fire Contd. from Page 1

He also ordered an inquiry into the issue.

However according to locals, fire started again on Thursday afternoon, and rescue teams and fire tenders were again rushed to the spot following the incident.

Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi also visited the site to take stock of the situation, and said that an inquiry will be conducted.

Meanwhile, APCC president Anjan Dutta and state BJP president S i d d h a r t h a Bhattacharya visited the spot and spoke to local residents. AGP leader and former Assam chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta also visited the spot to take stock about the situation.

said that Chetia has a number of cases pending against him in the state, which ranges from robbery to extortion and murder, and for those he has to be brought here to Assam.

On being asked how the investigation will proceed, he said that once the centre accepts the state government’s request, then the actual

process in this line will start. Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has welcomed the release Chetia and hoped that he will play a positive role in ongoing peace process with the Centre. Pro – Talk faction of the ULFA have also welcomed the move and hoped that his release will help the ongoing

peace talk with the Centre. Anup Chetia who is cousin of ULFA Independence Chief Paresh Baruah was arrested in Dhaka in 1997.

Meanwhile, Changsan said that next round of talks between the pro-talk ULFA group and the Centre is likely to be held on 24th November in New Delhi.

The Ram Terang village is located in the middle of a natural corridor used by the elephants to move between Kalapahar and DaigrungNambor Wildlife Sanctuary in the Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong landscape. It took almost 5 years of continuous efforts by a dedicated team of WTI officials to persuade the villagers of Ram Terang to shift to a new place.

Dr. Abhijit Rabha, Additional PCCF of Karbi Anglong Forest Department has been patronizing this conservation ef-

fort since its inception with all possible support from the KAAC to secure this corridor being a first of its kind effort in eastern India.

Khoi Terang, the village headman thanked all the organisations and agencies that made this move possible.

Welcoming voluntary support to the 19 households, Prodip Singnar, Executive Member (Forest) of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) said, “I am so happy to see that the villagers of Ram Terang have voluntarily taken the very

pragmatic decision of freeing the area of elephant corridor, and shifting to this new site. I am sure this will motivate other villagers to do the same, and lead a happy life free from elephant conflict” The villagers will move into the new houses at Christmas.

At a distance of 6 km from the village is Tokolangso from where 23 households are willing to relocate now that they are convinced. With help from civil society, the council and the government, this will be possible to help them take the first step in their march towards development adopting a socially equitable model that works for both humans and elephants. Thanking the villagers for this unique cooperation, Dr. Jagdish Kishwan, Advisor to CEO&ED of WTI said, "I am proud and happy that my WTI team and villagers of Ram Terang have worked together and developed such a close relationship based on mutual trust and confidence they have decided to voluntarily shift to this location. It will be our endeavour to complete the construction of all houses as quickly as possible.”

After unleashing a reign of terror among security forces; NSCN – K now eyes huge mineral deposits of Assam Contd. from Page 1

The NSCN-K which pulled out of the ceasefire with the centre early this year had initially tried to unleash a reign of terror by attacking army convoys and camps of security forces, the most infamous of them being the killing of 18 soldiers of the Dorga Regiment in Manipur. “After proving that they still have enough fire power, the NSCN-K is now trying to collect more and more money, so that there is no dearth of funds which have become essential to

run their camps in Myanmar”, a intelligence official based in upper Assam said. It might be mentioned that the NSCN-K initially targeted the coal fields in eastern Nagaland, namely those located in Mon and Tuensang districts, after which it set its eye upon the rich coalfields in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh and now it has started targeting the coalfields in upper Assam, particularly in the Margherita sub division.

“The government will have to

act tough on the NSCNK so that it cannot make any further advances towards Assam. The matter needs to be taken up very seriously”, the sources added. Although, Margherita has always flourished for its mineral deposits mainly coal, illegal business of the rich natural resource had blown a huge blow towards the economy of the town. Despite various attempts, Inamuddin Ahmed, the Sub Divisional Police Officer of Margherita sub division could not be contacted for his comments.

The dark side of festival of lights Contd. from Page 1

Diwali is celebrated to mark the return of Lord Rama to Ayodhya from his exile after vanquishing demon-king Ravana. In every household the ladies have made the Rongali on the occasion of Dewali.

Many a conscientious denizen however has often said that Diwali is a festival which is to be

celebrated with humble diyas and homemade sweets, not with noisy crackers. But the festivities come at a price, and with risk.

India's smog levels increases significantly around the time of Diwali. The festival of lights seems to be the worst time for people suffering from asthma and other respiratory diseases with the city's air quality deteriorating with each passing year

during Diwali.

Although Dibrugarh district administration has appealed to the people not to burst any kind of crackers in busy roads and pavements but still the people were seen throwing and bursting crackers in the middle of roads. Every year due to bursting of crackers the pollution levels increased and it causes problem for the Asthma patients.

Vartak Labour Union to stage strong protest at Jantar-Mantar in protest against Centre’s lackadaisical attitude towards their long pending grievances Shambhu Boro Tezpur, Nov 12: The Vartak Labour Union which has been fighting over the years seeking their legitimate rights from the BRO authority has now decided to register their strong protest against the central government and BRO authority’s negligence towards their long pending grievances.

Office bearers of the VLU, Pranab Barthakur and Gyassuddin Mamud informed that during the recent Tezpur visit of the Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, he was handed a memorandum submitted by the union in connection with their long pending issues of regularization of posts of about 350 CP labourers within three months based on which they had halted their various scheduled agitations including self- immolation bids.

The duo office bearers expressing their total displeasure over the central government and the BRO authority’s attitude stated that the Vartak Labour

Union has been seeking justice over the last many decades through the All Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC). But their woes are not yet over. “We have submitted many representations to the authority concerned including the President and Prime Minister of India seeking their direct intervention over the long-pending issue. However, it is a matter of serious concern that it has remained a fruitless effort for us till date.” They said adding the Vartak labourers under the Union have been providing their dedicated service to the agency under Project Vartak of BRO since its inception, but the most tragic thing is that these labourers despite their dedication have been deprived of their legitimate rights which are specifically mentioned in the constitution of BRO and Ministry of Labour, Government of India. Stating that the union was registered under the Assam chapter of the INTUC on January 10,

1984 to fight for their rights, they also said that despite all these they could not get their legitimate rights which have compelled them to file a case in the Gauhati High Court in 1993 against the BRO demanding fulfillment of their demands including regularisation of the posts of their CP labourers. “The Honourable Gauhati High Court in three verdicts in the case No-WP (C) 1839/ 1993 (August 27, 1996) has ruled in favour of the labourers stating that along with other required facilities the posts of the CP labourers should be regularised. But it was allegedly violated by the BRO authority. Meanwhile, we approached the Supreme Court and a case was registered (case NoCA (C) 2129-2130/2004), which in its judgment on March 4, 2011 directed to the BRO authority to regularise the posts of the CP labourers. However, despite this order and instead of regularising the posts of the CP labourers, the BRO authority dismissed many of

the labourers creating an awkward situation. Following this, we again filed a case in the Gauhati High Court seeking an intervention against the dropping of the working labourers. The court accordingly gave a verdict (against the case NoWP (C) 639/2012) to adjust the working labourers under the ongoing projects of Project Vartak, which was also violated. Based on these repeated violations, a contempt petition was filed in the Supreme Court in 2012 (Case No-142-143/ 2012) against Civil Appeal No- 2129-2130 /04 against the Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma. In reply to it, the respondent committed to settle the issue with a final decision as early as possible. But that was also not executed. Accordingly, as the concerned authority failed to execute the same, another case was filed against the Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma in the Supreme Court (Contempt Petition (CP) No-102-103/13)

against Civil appeal No2129-2130 / 04.”

The duo office bearers of the labour union further stated that unfortunately in a letter No-BRDB/04 (13) 2012-GE-II dated September 2012 forwarded to the Vartak Labour Union and copy given to the President of India showing certain baseless causes like inability to absorb the working labourers under the ongoing project following the already existence of large number of labourers, the BRO authority refrained from coming up with an amicable settlement of the case, following which the above mentioned contempt case was dismissed hurting the legitimate rights of the labourers.

“After this we filed an RTI in the office of the Project Vartak (BRO), Tezpur seeking a transparent report about the status of our issue.

However, in reply to it the central agency provided certain false reports to divert our issue, the details of which were submitted to the

President of India, the Ministry of road Transport and Highway’s Border Roads Development Board, Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Government of India, Secretary, Labour and Employment, Government of India, p r e s i d e n t / s e c r e t a r y, Bharatiya Janata Party, New Delhi, etc., on November 6, 2013. On the other hand, on February 24, 2015 a representation was submitted to the Prime Minister, Government of India seeking intervention mentioning our long-pending problem, the copy of which was forwarded to Ministry of Road Transport and Highway’s Border Roads Development Board, Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Government of India, Secretary, Labour and Employment, Government of India, local (Tezpur) MP, RP Sharma, Union Minister for State, Sarbananda Sonowal etc. However, even after that we have not achieved our goal as all these have yet to attract the attention of the agencies concerned. Being frustrated

as we have not got any justice on it we even sought permission from the agencies concerned including the BRO authority and Sonitpur district administration and the Tezpur Judicial Court for a self-immolation bid. In this regard the three agencies also maintained silence and in protest against it we tried to kill ourselves by ‘self immolation’ at a public place on April 17, 2015. We were refrained from committing suicide by media persons present there and later we postponed our protest responding to the commitment of the administration that the issue would be settled soon.

But till date nothing has happened. Therefore, now we the 350 CP labourers under BRO are going to urge upon the central government to give us permission to kill ourselves by registering an agitation at Jantar-Mantar on November 18 as now there is no any way to continue the life these 350 families of CP labourers apart from dying.”

They lamented.

Massive fire breaks out at tyre factory in West Bengal Parganas (West Bengal), Nov 12: Goods worth millions were reduced to ash after a massive fire broke out at a tyre factory in West Bengal in the wee hours of Wednesday. No casualty was reported in the incident.

Around seven fire engines rushed to the factory and doused off the flames after toiling for hours. The owner of the factory, Sudip Ghorui, said that crackers caused the fire. "The fire was caused due to crackers and all the scrap material caught fire," said Ghorui, adding, "I have suffered a huge loss in the fire." Ghorui added that he suffered a loss of rupees fifty to rupees 60 sixty in the blaze. India is celebrating Diwali, bursting of firecrackers has remained a significant tradition of the festival. Many times these crackers enter houses or factories and cause damage. (ANI)

Indian Museum to host 'mini geoligits' for Childrens' Day Kolkata, Nov 12: On the eve of Childrens' Day young visitors at the Indian Museum here will get a chance to step into the shoes of a geologist and walk down adventure trails on November 14, an official said on Thursday. As 'mini-geologists', they will get to explore various facets of the 200-year-old building, discover some of the fascinating exhibits in the 'Birds & Reptiles' section through picture clues and puzzles and even touch various types of rocks. "Starting from 11 am, the activities will continue through the day until 5 pm. While some of them will be in a workshop format, with limited registrations at the venue, the others will be open to all," said Indian Museum's education officer Sayan Bhattacharya. In store for kids is exclusive access to the 'Mammals' gallery, which is closed

at the moment. "That won't stop the children from discovering creatures hidden in every gallery as they walk through this trail. In addition, we have a 'Travel Stories' event where story-telling will bring some of the exhibits to life," said Bhattacharya.

After learning from stories and adventure walks, a bit of hands-on experience with culture and history await the children, courtesy blockprinting, pottery and coin-making lessons.

"These activities will be perfect for children between six and 15 years.

School students, children with special needs and those from the underprivileged community will attend the programme," said Bhattacharya, adding the museum is collaborating with the 'Think Arts' group to curate interesting experiences for children. (Agencies)

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REGION

DIBRUGARH, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13

The solution of shared sovereignty for the Indian Naga issue: NSCN(I-M) Dimapur, Nov 12: "Sovereignty lies with the people, sovereignty of India lies with the Indian people and sovereignty of the Nagas lies with the Naga people" therefore, solution based on shared-sovereignty was a mutually agreed point said Kilo Kilonser NSCN/GPRN (I-M) Rh. Raising. Raising said this while addressing the consultative meet with Angami public Organization (APO) at APO hall, Wednesday where he also asserted that since Nagas and Indians were two different entities, the August 3,2015 agreement also spoke of peaceful co-existence of the two entities. Raising said the term 'Naga' was applied on all those who came from the same history, belonged to the same bloodline, practiced a common culture, who live in a compact territory, spoke language of common root and professed the same religion. Therefore, he said, in spite of opposition from various corners, the government of India and NSCN(IM) finally signed the framework agreement on 3 -August 2015, as the foundation

for solution. Interpreting the word "unique history" Raising said Nagas had never been a part of India, either by conquest or consent. He said Nagas also turned down the invitation of the Constituent Assembly of India in 1950 to join the Union of India. Raising Nagas conducted the 1951 plebiscite, which spoke volumes about the unique history. He said the "unique situation" was that "ours is a case of invasion not that of secession".

Raising maintained that the present era was of the dominated peoples and nations like the Nagas and that the era of dominant people and nations has gone and Nagas were entering the stage of nation building. He reiterated that Nagas were divided by colonial politics, but would unite by the national politics. While urging to for leaving a legacy of peace and progress, mutual trust and respect and the culture of dialogue and not war to the coming generations, Raising also sought suggestions and advice on solution to the problem but reaffirmed that "we" are

movement where many people have become victims of the ruthless aggressors. Furthermore, Raising said Nagas from all corners were driven to the battlefront in which around three lakh people were killed and Nagas fought against enemies on all fronts in defence of Naga right, identity, land, history, culture and future. However, he said many workers, big and small ran away from the battle and betrayed the cause while many others joined forces with the enWhile urging to for leaving a legacy of peace and progress, mutual trust and emies to fight against the respect and the culture of dialogue and not war to the coming generations, Nagas . Yet, he said, it Raising also sought suggestions and advice on solution to the problem but made no sense to keep reaffirmed that "we" are strongly opposed to any kind of idealist and doctrinaire fighting as it did not politics. R.H. Raising speaks at a consultative meeting on Wednesday. solve the problem so the policy was changed from military to political. Advistrongly opposed to any groups without exception to chance. Raising reiter- sor APO Keneinguny端 kind of idealist and doctri- get onboard to move to- ated, that Kohima was the Sekhose read out the naire politics. He also re- wards its destination. Rais- epicenter of Naga resis- stand of APO in the framecalled the official declaration ing that it would be a big his- tance movement and the work agreement signed on of NSCN(I-M) chairman and torical blunder if the oppor- war cry of the battle of August 3. He said APO's Yaruiwo Isak Chishi Swu tunity was missed again Khonoma was historic position on the process who had appealed to all since the waves and tides of and lingered in the mind and search for a negotiNagas to forgive its past the movement crated with of the Nagas till today. He ated settlement of the promistakes as "we have for- blood and tears will cost said all Nagas without ex- tracted Indo-Naga conflict given their past mistakes generations to recreate an- ception were deeply in- was a matter of record. big or small and invited all other wave for a third volved in the national (Agencies)

'Shotgun' Sinha to BJP top brass: Don't run away from fixing responsibility for Bihar poll debacle Patna, Nov 12: Disgruntled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament Shatrughan Sinha on Thursday urged the top brass of the party not to run away from fixing responsibility for the electoral debacle in Bihar. "Now that the verdict is out and we're saddened by this humiliating defeat, we should not run away from fixing responsibility," Sinha said in a tweet. The Patna Sahib MP further revealed that he never wanted to be chief minister of the state, and added that had he been allowed to campaign in the states, the scenario

would have been different.

"The media tried to create an impression that I had suggested that results cud've been different IF I WAS CM CANDIDATE. I have never said this.I had no such expectations (of being made CM candidate). Have ONLY said - if I was called for campaigning, things could have been better," Sinha tweeted.

Sinha also said that despite his sincerity, efforts and intentions, this 'Bihari Babu' was kept away from campaigning for the people of Bihar. "My friends, voters and supporters were let down.I am not a Rajya

Sabha MP. I've come through the support of masses and won 2 Lok Sabha elections with record

margin. I have a support base!" he added. Sinha further said that a more enthusiastic participation of his

friends, fans, voters and supporters would have certainly helped the BJP to make a difference of at a few seats. Sinha has been firing guns at the top brass ever since the BJP-led NDA suffered a humiliating 53-178 loss to the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led Mahagathbandhan Janata Dal-United-Rashtriya Janata Dal-Congress combined in the Bihar polls. Earlier he had backed the BJP veterans demand of fixing the responsibility for the defeat, saying that the 'Gang of Four was bang on target'. (ANI)

CPI-M mocks BJP's Bengal ambitions Chetia's custody to India Kolkata, Nov 12: In the wake of the BJP's crushing defeat in the Bihar assembly polls, the CPI-M on Wednesday ridiculed the party in power at the centre over its electoral ambitions in West Bengal. Addressing media persons here, Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo member Mohammad Salim also took a jibe at the BJP leadership for "washing their dirty linen in public" over the Bihar debacle. "The BJP had been asserting it would get into the Bengal mode after conquering Bihar.

Even their party president Amit Shah had declared he

would conduct a rath yatra in the state ahead of next year's assembly polls. "But after what happened in Bihar, forget rath, Amit Shah won't be even seen on path (road)," said Salim. He also referred to the BJP's old guard including L.K. Advani on Tuesday assailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah for the electoral embarrassment in Bihar. Former BJP presidents, Rajnath Singh, Venkaiah Naidu and Nitin Gadkari, in response, came out with a joint statement wherein they pointed to the "healthy precedent of the party collectively taking up

responsibility for victories and defeats". Salim said the BJP was washing its dirty linen in public. "On the eve of Diwali, the BJP veterans had burst crackers over the Bihar poll debacle. And when the people were expecting the party leadership will resort to firefighting, the former party presidents came out bursting their own set of crackers. "It is their internal matter, but this is nothing but washing their dirty linen in public," said Salim. Slamming the Modi government over a host of issues including the decision of easing foreign direct investment (FDI) across 15

sectors, Salim said the resentment among the people against the BJP was growing. "From the issue of black money in foreign banks, to the uncontrolled price rise, politics on beef and the growing intolerance, people across have become disillusioned and started to realise their mistake," said Salim, asserting that the Left parties were gaining ground in Bengal. "People in Bengal have now begun to realise that only the Left parties can stop the combine of Modi bhai and Didi bhai (Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee)," asserted Salim. (agencies)

ready held an all-party meeting to brief about the election guideline as well to receive their feedback.

Besides, the SEC has had a high level meeting on the security aspects. "We have already held meeting with senior police officers to review prevailing law and order situation in the state. They will assess the security measures and do the needful", said a senior SEC official here today. There will be altogether 963 polling booths in Agartala Municipal Corporation, 13 municipal councils and six

nagar panchayats. There would be byelections to 25 vacant seats in the three-tier panchayats, one vacant seat the Zilla Parishad, six in the Panchayat Samities and 24 seats in the gram panchayats. According to the final voter list, an electorate of 5,37,968 will cast votes in the civic polls all over the state. In the Agartala Municipal Corporation, the strength of the electorate is 3,10,768 of whom 1,55,035 are male and 1,55,733 are female voters. (Agencies)

Shillong, Nov 12: The much awaited custody of banned ULFA leader Anup Chetia to the Indian government on Wednesday will have a positive impact in controlling the activities of various militant groups whose leaders often take shelter in the neighbouring Bangladesh hoped by the BSF guarding the international border.

Besides leaders of HNLC, the cadres and leaders of GNLA and other splinter groups including ASAK, AMEF, Achik National Liberation Army among others in Garo Hills often illegally sneak into to Bangladesh, according to the State Police as well as BSF. Police in the past said that that ULFA militants assisted by GNLA use the Garo Hills corridor to cross over to Bangladesh. Earlier, it was reported that instead of permanent camps, the militants have resorted to use of makeshift places to stay temporary to escape from the operations of the security forces in Bangladesh. As per official data, the HNLC has as many as seven dwelling places in Bangladesh which include Pucthichera and Phanai Punaee, both rest camps in Moulavi Bazar and a transit camp Nunachera in Moulavi Bazar.

Bulsuri under Rangmati is a transit camp by HNLC, while Arusumer in Chittagong Hills Tract is the training camp. Be-

Imphal, Nov 12: An RCC bridge constructed under PMGSY at Phouden Keirambi of Wangkhem AC, Thoubal district was inaugurated today.

The inauguration programme was attended by Parliamentary Secretary (IPR and Minor Irrigation), Keisham Meghachandra; VP of Wangkhem BCC and retired lecturer L Babudhon; member of

Ward No 17, Thoubal Municipal Council Sorokhaibam Ibomcha; president of Phouden Keirambi Polling Station Committee M Ranjit and president of Phouden Keirambi YC T Naba as the chief guest, president and guests of honour respectively. Speaking at the occasion, K Meghachandra said Phouden Keirambi remains the most backward area under

Thoubal Municipal Council.

Due to its isolated location, people of the area face many difficulties. The RCC bridge inaugurated today, although a small one, will serve great purposes, he said. Meghachandra added that the bridge will not only shorten the distance between Phouden Keirambi and Imphal or Thoubal, but also shorten the way to the histori-

Notification issued for civic polls Agartala, Nov 12: The state election commission today issued notification for holding elections to the Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC), 13 Municipal Councils and 6 Nagar Panchayats and by-election to casual vacancies in Panchayat.

The elections are scheduled to be held on December 9 next. With the issuance of notification, the hectic election process gains momentum and candidates are allowed to submit their nomination papers today itself. Lasting date of fil-

ing nomination would be on November 19 while scrutiny would be done on the following dayNovember 20 and last date for withdrawal of nomination papers is slated for November 23.

And the counting would be conducted on December 9 next. District Magistrates of all eight districts have already been appointed as District Municipal Election Officers to coordinate and supervise all works related to the elections. To ensure free and fair elections, the SEC has al-

RCC bridge inaugurated at Tbl dist

can trigger a sign of positive impact: BSF

sides, Islapunjee and Noonchera in Moulavi Bazar are also the training camps of HNLC. When contacted, BSF DIG, Meghalaya frontier Mahendra Singh said that whoever has initiated, the whole exercise to hand over the ULFA leader Chetia is a welcome sign as this would make a difference in the border. The official said that the ongoing process of taking steps to hand over leaders of militant groups will compel the cadres to join the mainstream.

He also said that since Bangladesh is a friendly country at present, this will bring a positive change in the border areas and will deter the movements and camping of Meghalaya based militants in the neighbouring country. "I don't think the Meghalaya based militants camping in cally important place Kaina Laiphamlen. He further said that he had constructed RCC bridge at Yairipok, Babu bazar, Haokha and Kiyam during his stint as the MLA of Wangkhem AC for eight years.

Meghachandra said that the incident at his residence on Nov 2 where two persons died in an IED blast was not the handiworks of militant groups but

Bangladesh will get any support from the authorities there", Singh said. He, however, admitted that guarding Garo Hills border will be a challenge for the BSF as there are a lot of gaps in the sector coupled with thick jungle bordering Bangladesh. On the other hand, police claimed that Chetia had encouraged ULFA to tie up with GNLA. According to a senior police official, Chetia had encouraged another ULFA leader Drishti Rajkhowa to tie up with GNLA and plan an ambush in Panda in Garo Hills earlier this year which led to the death of four cops. Police official further said that there is a grand alliance between GNLA and ULFA and GNLA provides people to ULFA for training and ULFA gives training to GNLA in IED making. (agencies) an act aimed to target people through hired killers. Had the incident been related to extortion or threat, the perpetrators might have used hand grenade. The use of powerful explosive, meant to be used in battle field, at public places testifies that the incident was aimed to target lives, he said. (Agencies)

Chakkouba rush chokes commercial areas Imphal, Nov 12: Heavy rush of Ningol Chakkouba and Diwali shoppers choked major roads of Imphal today and is likely to continue tomorrow too. Ningol Chakkouba falls on November 13. Many street vendors were seen selling their wares even on the middle of the road as there was little space even for standing at Khwairamband market. Although, police dispersed street vendors after 8 am on normal days, they had their day today as the rush was beyond control. There was literally no traffic rule in Imphal as the crowd was too huge. Although police asked the shopkeepers not to lay out their items on footpaths, there was nobody to heed them. The rush was so heavy that many people took around 30 minutes to look for parking space even for two-wheelers. City police and traffic police kept on announcing traffic rules and guidelines for shopkeepers using loud speakers. However, instead of abiding by these rules, the shoppers and shopkeepers followed their own rules and accomplished their tasks.

As there is no zebra crossing in any part of Kwairamband market, people haphazardly crossed roads anywhere making driving a nightmare in such conditions on Imphal roads.

The worst area is Shamu Makhong as shoppers from different parts of the State normally throng this place before they spread out to other parts of Khwairamband market for shopping. On the other hand, taking advantage of the heavy rush, many criminals are roaming to snatch bags and other valuable items and earrings of children etc. They do not waste any opportunity before they disappear into the crowd while some are captured and beaten up black and blue. Regarding the heavy rush and subsequent inconvenience caused to shoppers and commuters during important festivals like Ningol Chakkouba and Yaoshang, a shopper said that traffic police should prepare an effective rule in advance to reduce traffic congestion. Saying that most of the shoppers from other districts too usually come directly to Imphal, he observed that such rush would never reduce until adequate facilities of shopping are provided at other markets like Thoubal, Bishnupur and Nambol etc.

(Agencies)

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

DIBRUGARH, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13

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PM Modi's visit isn't just a historic visit, but a historic opportunity, says Cameron London, Nov.12 : Welcoming Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the UK, Prime Minister David Cameron said that he regards the visit as a "historic opportunity" for the UK and India to help each other prosper.He was speaking ahead of Modi's arrival in London on a three-day visit commencing from Thursday afternoon. MOdi will be the first Indian Prime Minister to visit the UK in almost a decade.Ahead of the visit, Cameron said: "This isn't just a historic visit; it's a historic opportunity .It's an opportunity for two coun-

B'luru: Two guards detained on charges of gangraping woman Bengaluru, Nov. 12 (ANI): Two security guards have been detained on charges of gangraping a woman in Cubbon Park on Wednesday night.An assistant Sub Inspector who was doing his rounds yesterday noticed the lady sitting all by herself around 2:30 am and she revealed upon questioning that she has been allegedly raped, after which she was immediately brought to the police station and a detailed statement was taken."The woman came from Tumkur to Bangalore as she was interested in Tennis and wanted to join the tennis club in Cubbon Park. Upon realising that the club was empty, she waited in the parking area till around 9:30 am when the two security guards noticed her sitting by herself. After they approached her, she told them that she needed directions as she did not know the route out of the park, following which, they took her to a secluded place in the guise of helping her and allegedly raped her," District Commissioner of Police Sandeep Patil told the media here.He added that the matter has been taken very seriously and a case has already been registered under section 376D.A detailed investigation in underway and the medical investigation of the victim and the accused have also been taken. (ANI)

tries, tied by history, people and values, to work together to overcome the biggest challenges of our age.""Prime Minister Modi and I intend to grab that opportunity with both hands. Because in doing so, we can make two of the greatest countries in the world even greater," he added.On Modi's planned address to the Indian Diaspora at the Wembley Stadium on Friday, Cameron said the fact that the Indian Prime Minister is able to attract a crowd of more than 60,000 to the event was huge in itself,

and added that he found it difficult to attract a few hundred to a townhall meeting in Wembley. Cameron is due to meet Modi for comprehensive talks in London and later at his weekend getaway Chequers on Thursday.

The Indian PM also due to have a luncheon meeting with British monarch Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace during his visit.Britain is already the largest investor in India among G20 countries while India invests more in the UK than it does in the rest of the EU combined.The

visit of Mr.Modi will see the two countries trying to develop their relationship even further with billions of pounds worth of commercial deals due to be signed over the coming days.Expected deals to be announced, according to The Nation, include plans for the UK to become a centre of offshore Rupee bonds and the development of a partnership to develop three 'smart cities' in India.Mr. Modi's visit will also include an address to the British Parliament - despite the fact Parliament is not in session - and a visit

to the Jaguar Land Rover factory in Solihull. Writing on Facebook ahead of the trip, Mr Modi said the aim is "strengthening cooperation with a traditional friend".The visit will also build on the "strong ties" between the two countries on the issues of defence and security."I am confident my UK visit will deepen our ties and we will cooperate extensively in a range of areas of shared interests," Mr. Modi wrote.Mr. Modi is also set to address members of Britain's Indian community at Wembley Stadium on

November 13. A roundtable discussion with business chiefs in London is also scheduled.The CBI has welcomed the visit of Mr Modi.

Simon Moore, CBI international director, said: "TheIndian Prime Minister's business-friendly approach has won many plaudits among industry leaders here, and we look forward to building on our already solid historic trade links to create prosperity in both countries."Mr. Modi is due to travel to Turkey for the G20 Summit on November 14 and will return home on November 17. (ANI)

PM Modi departs for UK, hopeful of bringing 'more investment' to India New Delhi, Nov. 12 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi today departed for his three-day visit to United Kingdom, where terrorism and economic reforms seeking to boost investment will be his major agenda besides paying homage to Mahatma Gandhi's statue near the Parliament and addressing the Indian diaspora at Wembley.

External Affair Minister Sushma Swaraj was present at the Indira Gandhi International airport to see off

KEY POINTS Ă˜Prime Minister Narendra Modi today departed for his three-day visit to United Kingdom Ă˜Prime Minister Modi will have a luncheon meeting with her majesty the Queen at the Buckingham Palace and he will also be the first Indian Prime Minister to address the U.K Parliament Ă˜ His other engagements include a visit to BR Ambedkar's house in which he lived when he was a student at the London School of Economics as well as unveiling the bust of Sri Basaveshwara at the Thames river embankment

JD (U) hits out at PM Modi, says foreign visits more about selfies and dress New Delhi, Nov. 12 (ANI): The Janata Dal (United) today came down hard on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for undertaking a visit to the United Kingdom, describing the trip as being more about him taking and promoting his 'selfies and dresses'."Till today there has been no clarification on how much of foreign investment has flown into the nation after Prime Minister's visit to several nations. The Prime Minister is known for his dress and his selfies during his foreign tours," JD (U) general secretary K. C Tyagi told ANI.On the BJP's defeat in the Bihar elections, Tyagi said it was the turning point in the politics of India."On one side where the opposition would unite from here, on the other side democracy would have a bigger say in the BJP. The analysis of the senior leaders would gather more pace

and the demand of democracy within the party would be raised more vehemently," he added.Modi departed for the United Kingdom early on Thursday morning, where the focus will be on defence and security cooperation, terrorism and economic reforms and seeking to boost bilateral investment.

He will also pay homage be-

fore Mahatma Gandhi's statue near the Parliament and address it and the Indian Diaspora at the Wembley Stadium.External Affair Minister Sushma Swaraj was present at the Indira Gandhi International airport to see off the Prime Minister and was seen having a lengthy discussion with him before he left. (ANI)

Two Maoists killed in Odisha's Sundergarh District Sundergarh (Odisha), Nov.12 : At least two Maoists have been killed during a search and combing operation by a joint team of the police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).According to preliminary reports, the encounter is underway in Odisha's Sundergarh District and further details are awaited.In Odisha, the Maoists are dominant in the districts of Gajapati, Ganjam, Kandhamal, Keonjhar, Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Mayurbhanj, Sambalpur,

Deogarh, Sundargarh and Nayagarh.While the state's police force has claimed that left-wing extremism is gradually being brought under control, they admit that they still face a challenging situation in dealing with the menace in parts of Malkangiri, Koraput, Bolangir, Nuapada, Rayagada, Baragarh, Kalahandi and N a b a r a n g p u r Districts.Currently, according to the state government and the state's police force, the Maoists have been trying to con-

solidate in the districts of Malkangiri, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Rayagada, Nuapada, Bolangir, Baragarh and Kalahandi.The rebels are also trying to regroup and revive their activities in the SambalpurDeogarh-Sundargarh range as well as in the Kalinga Nagar Divisions by fresh induction of cadres,The Odisha Government says that it has been focusing on capacity up gradation of security forces and the security infrastructure in the affected areas, stra-

tegic deployment of security forces to dominate the area and conduct effective operations against the armed Maoist formations, and precisely targeting important Maoist cadres / leaders by intelligence based operations.The focus is also on seamless coordination with paramilitary forces deployed in the state and also with the Maoist-affected neighbouring states and also with the Centre to deal with the problem effectively.

(ANI)

Rupan Chakma

Rupan Chakma is an active member of the Arunachal Pradesh Chakma Students Union (APCSU). He is wanted by the Arunachal Pradesh as he has organized protest demonstrations on several occasions against the state Arunachal Pradesh which have been deny-

ing every rights and freedom that the Chakma people entitle to as a legitimate citizen of the country. The state Arunachal Pradesh considers them as refugees.

The people of Arunachal Pradesh lead by its apex student union, All Arunachal Pradesh Student Union (AAPSU)

are protesting against the Chakmas and against the Supreme Court Judgement to confer citizenship rights to the Chakmas.

Rupan Chakma since then is missing while the organization is searching for him for his clarification on the protest demonstration.

the Prime Minister and was seen having a lengthy discussion with him before he left."Leaving for UK I am hopeful this visit will strengthen economic ties between India and UK and bring more investment to India," the Prime Minister tweeted before leaving. Prime Minister Modi will have a luncheon meeting with her majesty the Queen at the Buckingham Palace and he will also be the first Indian

Prime Minister to address the U.K Parliament. His other engagements include a visit to BR Ambedkar's house in which he lived when he was a student at the London School of Economics as well as unveiling the bust of Sri Basaveshwara at the Thames river embankment. Prime Minister Modi will be visiting the United Kingdom and Turkey from November 12 to November 16. (ANI)

Bengaluru Airport renaming row: Naidu says no need to add fuel to fire

New Delhi, Nov. 12 (ANI): Union Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday said people have welcomed the naming of the Bengaluru International Airport after Kempe Gowda and there was really no need to add fuel to fire by considering the option of renaming it after Mysore KIng Tipu Sultan." Kempe Gowda was the founder of Bengaluru, people respect him immensely. The name of Bangalore International Airport has been kept after him. People have welcomed that. Now, there is no point discussing after once the airport is named after a great person, who was instrumental in creating Bangalore city initially. You cannot be selective. Nobody should add fuel to the

Karnad's Jnanpith Award should be taken back: activist N. Ramu Bengaluru, Nov. 12: State president of Dr Ambedkar Prachara Samiti, N. Ramu, today criticized playwright Girish Karnad for his suggestion to rename Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport after 18th century Mysore king Tipu Sultan and demanded action against him. Ramu said that people of Karnataka are pained by Karnad's suggestion and demanded that his Jnanpith Award should be taken back."The Bangalore International Airport has been named after Kempegowda long back; now he is saying it should be named after Tipu Sultan. People of Karnataka are pained by it.

These writers and literary people are making controversial statements. They are

disrupting peace by making such remarks. We demand that case be filed against him," Ramu told ANI."We have lodged a complaint with the police against this statement. We have demanded that his Jnanpith Award should be taken back and that he should be arrested," he added.Karnad earlier received a death threat after his suggestion to rename Bengaluru's Kempegowda International

Airport after Tipu Sultan.

Girish Karnad had also paid tributes to Tipu Sultan who fought against the British colonial rulers.Karnad, who participated in 'Tipu Jayanti' celebrations, was threatened that he would meet the same end as writer M M Kalburgi, who was killed recently.Karnad has now demanded immediate action against those who issued death threats and said he would begin a protest if this was not done.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who was on the dais with Karnad when he made the controversial remark, however said the government has no intention to rename the airport and it was Karnad's personal opinion. (ANI)

Indian-origin scribe arrested in UK on 'paedophile' charges London, Nov. 12: Hasan Suroor, an Indian-origin journalist in Britain, has been arrested after an antipaedophile group caught him in a sting operation.

Suroor was caught waiting for a 14-year-old girl, allegedly with plans for a sexual encounter.65-year-old Suroor was seen waiting to meet the teen girl in the

video that was posted online, however, the columnist asserted that he had no sexual intentions in his meeting with the girl.According to reports, the vigilante organisation that goes by the name 'Unknown TV', has evidence that Suroor had sexual conversations with one of their activists who posed as a

minor.The Unknown TV activists are known for their vigilante methods where they lure paedophiles online by posing as minors and then trapping them with hard evidenceReports state that Suroor is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on November 12.

(ANI)

fire," Naidu told media here."The Karnataka Government must also keep in mind the public sentiments. There is no point in hurting the public sentiment. The people who are criticising should also think before speaking," he added.Jnanpith Award winner Girish Karnad had said that Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport should be renamed after 18th century Mysore king Tipu Sultan.

A complaint was filed against him in this regard.Karnad, who had participated in the Congress-led Karnataka Government's 'Tipu Jayanti' celebrations, was threatened that he would 'meet the same end as murdered writer M M Kalburgi. (ANI)

KM Mani dismisses 'corruption' charges, says he is being 'persecuted' Thiruvananthapuram, Nov. 12: KM Mani who recently resigned as Kerala's Finance Minister, swatted away the corruption charges against him in the bar bribery case, asserting that he did not receive any bribe and was being 'persecuted'.He maintained that he had been under no duress to resign and that he would remain loyal to the United Democratic Front (UDF)"UDF has not denied me any justice and I have been dealt fairly by my own party. I was under no pressure from my party whatsoever to resign, it was a voluntary decision," Mani told the reporters here.Talking about the bar bribery allegations that are being levelled against Excise Minister K. Babu, Mani refused to react saying it was not the 'right time' for him to judge the conduct of other partymen.Hotelier Biju Ramesh, who had accused Mani of taking bribe for reducing licence fees of bar hotels, alleged charges against Babu as well saying he was part of the same scandal and had accepted a bribe as well.However, Babu has brushed aside the charges against him saying all the allegations against him are baseless. (ANI)

290 Fire Related Incidents in Delhi on Diwali New Delhi, Nov 12: Firefighters in the national capital received 290 calls related to minor fire incidents on Diwali."290 fire-related incidents were reported on Diwali. All incidents were minor.

No big casualty was reported," an official of the fire department said today.As many as 128 calls were received after midnight, said the

official, adding elaborate arrangements were in place to deal with any emergency.

He said they were now compiling the data to find out how many fire tenders were used yesterday.According to Delhi Fire Services department, the 6 PM to 9 PM time period is said to be the peak hour for people bursting crackers and this is

when majority of the calls were received.Last year, the Fire Brigade officials attended to 220 calls while in 2014, they had responded to 75 calls in the duration.

In 2012, they had received 50-55 calls during this span, while in 2010 they had received 210 calls.The Delhi Fire Services had deployed fire tenders at

20 vulnerable locations in the city including congested areas and key market places in addition to its 56 fire stations.Around 1,800 personnel of the Delhi Fire Services out of its total strength of 3,000 were on duty while 175 to 180 fire fighting vehicles were operational, the senior official added. (Agencies)

DIBRUGARH, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13

PAGE 7

NEIGHBOURS

Obama congratulates Myanmar on polls, as army vows smooth power shift Yangon, Nov 12: Myanmar said today US President Barack Obama had congratulated the nation on holding "free and fair" elections, as the government and army chief promised a smooth transition of power with Aung San Suu Kyi's party edging towards victory.The country has been dominated by the military for half a century through direct junta rule and since 2011 by a quasi-civilian government run by its allies.But Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) is on the verge of tipping the balance of power after capturing more than 85 percent of seats declared

so far from Sunday's election - a huge stride in the party's long democracy struggle.Obama "called President Thein Sein this morning to congratulate him and the government for successfully holding a historic free and fair general election", Myanmar's Information Minister Ye Htut said on his official Facebook page. The American leader has thrown his weight behind Myanmar's reform process and its pro-democracy figurehead Suu Kyi, visiting the country twice since the end of outright military rule in 2011.He has urged the country to tackle religious intolerance and promote

Sri Lanka imposes a fishing ban and a no-fly zone in WT1190F impact area Colombo, Nov 12: Sri Lanka has imposed a fishing ban in the Southern sea area and a NoFly-Zone over the sky in the south in anticipation of the space debris WT1190F that is projected to hit the area on 13 November.The southern sea areas have been made a prohibited zone for boats today and tomorrow, and the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resource Development requested the public to refrain from engaging in fishing activities in the South coast on the two days.Meanwhile,

the Civil Aviation Authority has instructed airlines not to use the airspace over the southern area on Friday.The newly discovered piece of space debris, officially designated WT1190F, is set to hit the Indian Ocean, around 40 miles (65km) off the southern tip of Sri Lanka, at around 11:48 a.m. local time (6:20 UTC) on Friday 13 November.The Arthur C Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies had declared the South coast as a risky zone from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Friday.

Anisuzzaman: Death threat against democracy Dhaka, Nov 12:Dhaka University Professor Emeritus Dr Anisuzzaman said he was threatened with death for his support to bloggers."The threat was not only against me it is also against democracy, freedom and civilization," said Anisuzzaman yesterd a y. A n i s u z z a m a n was talking to this correspondent on Bangla Academy premises in the

ment for the killers of publishers and bloggers.Anisuzzaman told the media: "Those who killed bloggers, writers and publishers, have also threatened me."They may kill me. Those involved in such activities are going in a wrong direction," he said, adding that those groups had taken the law into their own hands.He asked those who threatened him to

full democracy. He has also highlighted the plight of the ethnic Rohingya Muslims, tens of thousands of whom were excluded from voting. In his call, Obama told his counterpart to be "proud of ... the milestone election" and praised "the president's brave reforms", said Ye

Htut, a close Thein Sein aide. There was no immediate confirmation of the call by the US State Department. By today morning, the NLD had swept up 273 seats, 56 short of an outright majority. It is almost certain to smash through that marker, with more official results due to

be released on today.In statements released via Facebook, Thein Sein and the powerful army Chief Min Aung Hlaing congratulated Suu Kyi's party, vowed to respect the poll result and work with the new government.The army chief repeated his position to military top brass, vowing "co-operation with the new government during the postelection period", according to a statement posted on his Facebook page today. Suu Kyi on Wednesday called for national reconciliation talks with the army chief and Thein Sein, stressing the need for a peaceful transition.Many NLD

supporters remain deeply suspicious of the army and its parliamentary allies, who are notorious for political sleight of hand and crackdowns on democracy movements that have left hundreds dead and thousands jailed.Suu Kyi's party won a 1990 election by a landslide only for the army to ignore the result and tighten its grip on power.In an indication of the days and weeks of maneuvering through Myanmar's treacly politics that lie ahead, NLD spokesman Nyan Win said the call for talks was "our first move to help a smooth transfer of power." (Agencies)

Asian Development Bank to provide aid to install solar power plants in Nepal Kathmandu ,Nov 12: The Asian Development Bank is in talks with Nepalese government to provide USD 20 million aid for setting up a largescale solar power plant in the country as it is passing through an acute fuel crisis.The Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it was holding discussions with the Nepalese authoritites to provide USD 20 million in concessional loans under its climate investment fund.The size of the new project will be 50 MW, ADB Country Director Kenichi Yokoyama said, adding that the proposal can be implemented as early as 2016.According to the ADB, the solar plant will be integrated with the grid by involving the private sector.The contribution of solar power in Nepal's energy mix is in-

significant, with just 450 kW produced and fed into the national grid so far.Little progress was made on a proposed 25 MW solar plant planned to be set up with World Bank assistance.With the trade blockade in the country's southern border in place, the experts here feel that the country needed diversification in energy sources.Chief of the international economic coop-

eration coordination division at the Finance Ministry, Madhu Marasini tweeted yesterday, "I had a call with ADB headquarters early in the morning today. ADB to mobilize aid to install solar plant with capacity of at least 50 MW. Alas, nobody has capacity to block the sun."He said that ADB has agreed in principle to provide aid for the project.This is the first

step and we have to exchange the necessary letters and conduct negotiations with the ADB for the project, he added.Nepal and China have signed a deal to bring fuel to Nepal to fulfil its 33 per cent of demands as the country was reeling under shortage of petroleum products and cooking gas with the blockade in place in its southern border for more than a month. The blockade began after Madhesi community -who has cultural, linguistic and family ties to Indians living across the border -- began their protests over Nepal's Constitution.

Madhesis, Indian-origin inhabitants of Nepal's Terai region, are protesting division of their ancestral homeland in the new Constitution.

(Agencies)

Pakistan refuses to revoke Adnan Sami's nationality: Report Islamabad, Nov 12: Singer Adnan Sami's efforts to become an Indian citizen have been jolted after Pakistani officials refused to issue "renunciation of citizenship certificate" to him over his alleged "disrespectful behaviour" towards his national identity, according to a media report.Pakistani authorities have refused to issue the "renunciation of citizenship certificate" to Sami, a move which can hurt his efforts to become an Indian citizen. The

certificate is necessary for any Pakistani citizen who wants to adopt the citizenship of any other country.In August, Sami was allowed to stay in India for an indefinite period following his appeal to legalise his stay in India on humanitarian grounds.

Pakistani officials dealing with his renunciation process were quoted as saying that the refusal came after the singer "threw away his nationality documents". "Pakistan has refused to confirm renunciation of nationality by its

India-based singer Adnan Sami over his alleged disrespectful behaviour towards his national identity," the daily said. "Why would we issue the certificate to a man who has no respect for 'sacred' documents," a senior official was quoted as saying.

"I don't need the green passport anymore. I have found my home in India," the official quoted a line from a letter, said to have been written by Sami, attached with his Pakistani passport posted to Pakistan's High Commis-

sion in New Delhi. Officials said the Pakistani singer would now have to submit an unconditional apology for his behaviour and follow the correct procedure for getting the renunciation certificate, the report said. Meanwhile, more than 2,000 Pakistanis have renounced their citizenship this year alone. An estimated 3,400 cases of renunciation have been handled in the past five years, immigration officials recently told a parliamentary panel.

(Agencies)

Sharif attends Diwali function in Karachi, says he is PM for all Pakistanis

capital.The former DU Bangla Department professor and also a noted secular writer Anisuzzaman received the death threat on his mobile phone through a text message on Tuesday.

On the same day, he filed a general diary with the Gulshan police station.The threat came after a platform of secular persoanlities including Prof Anisuzzaman, issued a statement seeking exemplary punish-

counter their thoughts with write-up and logic, not through killing people.Higher police officials have already visited his residence, Anisuzzaman said adding that the law enforcers' immediate response is s a t i s f a c t o r y. W h e n contacted, DMP Deputy Commissioner (Public Relations) Muntasirul Islam told the Dhaka tribune that they have deployed police in front of his house.

(Agencies)

Karachi, Nov.12: Reiterating his message of unity among all Pakistanis, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif attended aDiwali event in Karachi on Wednesday, which was organized by Pakistani Hindus.The festival, which spiritually signifies victory of good over evil, besides reiterating the need for self-improvement, selfawareness and community, marks the beginning of the Hindu New Year.Sharif used his presence at the event to pay tribute to the services of Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Parsis to Pakistan, and promised that his government would ensure that every citizen of the country is guaranteed his or her human rights, regardless of the faith they practice. He said that as the nation's prime minister, he belonged and worked for all."You are residents of Pakistan. Every resident of Pakistan, no matter who it is, Hindu, Mus-

lim, Sikh, Christian and Parsi, no matter who it is, belongs to me, and I belong to them.

All of you belong to me, and I am yours. And I meet everyone with that sentiment.

I am the Prime Minister of all of you. I am Prime Minister of all people sitting here, whichever religion they belong to. And it is my duty to help everyone. If anyone is a victim of brutality, no matter what religion what sect he belongs to, my duty is to help him. And God willing I will help him," Sharif said to loud applause from the guests.He also urged the majority Muslim community to distribute happiness among Hindus and other minorities in the country. He warned that if a Muslim was found to be guilty of committing an act of aggression against a Hindu, he would be the first to act firmly against the former."If any Hindu is victimized, and the aggressor is a Muslim, I will

take action against the Muslim. This is what my religion teaches me. My parents have also taught me this," he said, adding, "Allah does not get happy when we form divisions, when we say so and so is a Muslim, or a Hindu, or a Christian, or a Sikh , or a Parsi. Allah gets extremely annoyed by this. But if have the resolve that we have to take everyone along with us,

that we have to share happiness with everyone, even share grief with everyone, and that we have to help the oppressed, and also help one another, I feel that God will be happier about this more than with anything else."Sharif drew loud applause from Hindus when he asked them to invite him to the next 'Holi' function and throw colour on him.

(ANI)

Pakistan offers space to Sri Lanka in Economic Zones

Colombo Nov 12: Pakistan has offered to allocate space in its Special Economic Zones for Sri Lankan investors to promote bilateral trade between the two countries, a media report said . A formal offer was made by Commerce Minister Khurram Dastagir Khan in a meeting with Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe. The minister assured Wickramasinghe that Pakistan was ready to allocate space to the Sri Lankan investors and this would entitle them to all concessions and exemptions accorded to these zones. He underlined that Sri Lanka enjoyed the exceptional position of being the first country with which Pakistan entered into a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in

2002.He expressed the hope that the scope of bilateral FTA could be broadened through the inclusion of services and investments in its ambit.

The commerce minister requested that visa facilities must be eased and multiple visas should be issued to Pakistani businessmen and investors to facilitate their travel to Sri Lanka.Khan added that Pakistan, with more than 50 sugar mills and the ability to produce sugar machinery, was in a position to help develop Sri Lanka's sugar s e c t o r. A p p r e c i a t i n g Pakistan's support to Sri Lanka, Wickramasinghe welcomed the prospects of Pakistani investment in cement and sugar sectors and assured his government's support to promote bilateral trade.

(Agencies)

Pakistani Hindus celebrate Diwali in Karachi Karachi, Nov.12 : Karachi's Swami Narayan Temple was illuminated and decorated with buntings to welcome Pakistan's Hindu community for Diwali-related celebrations on Wednesday.Around 400 Hindus gathered at the temple for the occasion.

Diwali, which falls in October or November, celebrates the return of King Rama to his northern Indian kingdom in Ayodhya after 14 years of self-exile and after his victory over the demon king of Lanka Ravana.Legend has it millions of lamps were lit to celebrate King Rama's return.Diwali also honours Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth and prosperity. It is believed that Goddess Lakshmi enters only those homes that are

clean and well lit.Ahead of the festival, houses are whitewashed, new clothes are stitched and sweets and dry- fruit gifted to relatives and friends. The bursting of fireworks is par for the course and forms an integral part of Diwali celebrations both in India and around the world.Geeta, a Hindu homemaker based in Karachi, was quoted by a foreign news agency, as saying that she wished for friendly relations between Pakistan and India, and added that Diwali always brings a message of happiness to one and all. Another Karachi resident Santosh Kumar was quoted, as saying that India and Pakistan should live in peace and promote communal harmony.(ANI )

Pakistan hands land over to China for economic zone Quetta, Nov 12: Pakistan and China inked an agreement to hand over 637 acres of land to China in Gwadar, where the Chinese government and firms would establish a free trade zone.

Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abudl Malik Blaoch, Chinese National Development and Reforms Commission Vice Chairman Wang Xiaotao, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Shipping and Ports Kamran Michael, Balochistan Chief Secretary Saifullah Chattah, Gwadar Port Authority

Chairman Mir Dostain Khan Jamaldani and others attended the signing ceremony.Speaking on the occasion, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project was being implemented in letter and spirit, which include different projects including communication, rail, energy and industrial development. "We have been putting serious efforts to execute the CPEC in order to make Gwadar one of best port of the world," he said. (Agencies)

PAGE 8

DIBRUGARH, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13

Myanmar's Elections: What Now? Communication satellite GSAT-15 launched successfully GSAT-15 was launched into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) after its co-passenger Arabsat-6B (BADR-7) was injected into space.

GSAT-15, weighing 3,164 kg at lift-off, is a high power satellite being inducted into the INSAT/ GSAT system. It carries a total of 24 communication transponders in Ku-band as well as a GPSAided GEO Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) payload operating in L1 and L5 bands. It said GSAT-15 is the third satellite to carry GAGAN payload after GSAT-8 and GSAT-10, which are already providing navigation services from orbit. It also carries a Ku-band beacon as well to help in accurately pointing ground antennas towards the satellite.

GSAT-15 is also the 19th payload launched by Arianespace for ISRO. The launch of GSAT-15 will enable ISRO to provide continuity of service to Indian users in Ku-band and the navigation payload GAGAN of GSAT-15 will provide in orbit backup to ensure safety of life navigation services in civil aviation sector as well as other location based services to various services in the Indian region. Also other two communication satellites GSAT-17 and GSAT-18 are getting ready for launch by Ariane vehicle in the next year. GSAT-15 brings in Ku-band capacity to augment as well as provide replacement to indigenous operational satellite capacity, ISRO said. The very launch of GSAT-15 will be one more step towards further strengthening the satellite navigation infrastructure and sustaining the communication infrastructure in the country.

Indian satellite's co-passenger Arabsat-6B, lofted for Airbus Defence and Space and Thales Alenia Space as part of a turnkey contract with Saudi Arabia-based Arabsat, was also launched

by Ariane 5 VA-227. According to Arianespace, Arabsat-6B, to be renamed BADR-7 once in orbit will provide broadcast, broadband and telecommunications services over the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia. Ariane 5 mission had a total payload lift performance of 9,810 kg. This includes the two satellites' mass at liftoff - 5,798 kg for Arabsat-6B and 3,164 kg for GSAT-15 along with launcher integration hardware and Ariane 5's dual-passenger deployment system.

According to ISRO, the GAGAN payload in GSAT-15 provides the Satellite Based Augmentation System, through which the accuracy of the positioning information obtained from the GPS satellites is improved by a network of ground based receivers and made available to the users in the country through geostationary satellites.

In the next few days, the MCF at Hassan will perform the initial orbit raising manoeuvres using the Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) of the satellite to take it to its intended space home. With the designed in-orbit operational life of 12 years, GSAT-15 will be positioned at 93.5 degree east longitude and co-located with INSAT-3A and INSAT-4B satellites.

Myanmar election Tables turned upside down Myanmar's democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi moved closer to an absolute majority in the country's parliament and has made it clear she will wield it to run the country despite a constitutional ban on her becoming president. The election was seen as the most democratic in Myanmar in the last 25 years. Suu Kyi's party National League for Democracy (NLD) has won over 90 percent of the seats declared so far in the country's lower house and over 85 percent in regional assemblies and the upper house, a triumph that will reshape the political landscape. Under the constitution drawn up by Myanmar's former junta, Suu Kyi is barred from the presidency because her children are foreign nationals, a clause few doubt was inserted specifically to rule her out. But as the scale of her victory becomes clear, the Nobel peace laureate has struck an increasingly defiant tone on the charter's attempt to limit her power. In interviews she made it clear she would be calling the shots for a president chosen by her party, who would have no authority. The ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which was created by the junta and is led by retired soldiers, has conceded defeat in a poll that was a milestone on Myanmar's rocky path from dictatorship to democracy. To form Myanmar's first democratically elected government since the early 1960s, the NLD needs to win more than two-thirds of seats that were contested in parliament. While the USDP has suffered a big defeat and the establishment shaken by the extent of Suu Kyi's victory, the army remains a formidable power.

Suu Kyi will undoubtedly face formidable challenges in power, including trying to put an end to decades of conflict with many of the country's armed ethnic groups. The government's chief negotiator in peace talks with the ethnic groups, Aung Min, was among the high-profile establishment politicians that lost in the elections. Aung Min was part of a powerful cabinet group closest to President Thein Sein, holding the office of minister in the president's office.

However, voting did not take place in hundreds of villages following fighting between armed ethnic armies and government soldiers. And about 1.3 million Rohingya Muslims, considered illegal immigrants by the government, were not allowed to vote.

Moreover Ms Suu Kyi, whose party like many others did not field a Muslim candidate, has been criticized by some for failing to speak up more for Muslims, who have been targeted by ultra-nationalist Buddhist groups. But putting a full stop to all the questions, the NLD government said that it would protect Muslims, and added that those who inflame hatred should face prosecution.

With the NLD on the brink of a landslide victory in Myanmar's elections, attention is turning to what comes next.

Sebastian Strangio Four days after Myanmar's historic November 8 election, it is clear that Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) is poised for an overwhelming victory. The party claims it is on track to win more than 80 percent of the seats in union and regional legislatures, inflicting a massive defeat on the incumbent Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), the political arm of Myanmar's powerful military.

More than 30 million citizens cast ballots in the poll, Myanmar's first relatively free national poll in a quarter of a century. Though the Union Election Commission (UEC) has been drip-feeding official results in piecemeal fashion since Sunday, the numbers have been astonishing: As of Wednesday evening, the UEC had the NLD winning 256 of the 294 seats declared so far in the 664-seat Union Parliament.

"It will be more than the result of the 1990 election," said Nay Phone Latt, an NLD candidate for the Yangon regional parliament, referring to the NLD's general election victory that year, which was promptly annulled by the military.

The NLD is poised to far exceed the parliamentary majority it needs to form government and select the country's next president.

The party's success has relied heavily on the almost supernatural aura of its leader Aung San Suu Kyi, channeled effectively by a campaign that elevated "Mother Suu" over any substantial discussion of platform or policy.

This euphoria was palpable in many parts of the country on election day. In Mandalay, Myanmar's second city, long lines stretched out-

side polling stations before they opened at 6 a.m. Daw Than Tha Htwe, 38, waited two hours to cast her vote, and emerged at 8:30 a.m., an ink-stained fin-

officers in the military junta that handed power to the semi-civilian government of President Thein Sein in 2011, after nearly five decades of army rule. The NLD's

constitution, the military holds a de facto veto over any changes.

Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, said that a new NLD-dominated gov-

ger held aloft. When asked who she voted for, she gave a big thumbs up: "Daw Aung San Suu Kyi! All of my friends and all of my neighbors are for Aung San Suu Kyi." By the evening, euphoric crowds of NLD supporters - draped in the party's red star-andpeacock insignia - had gathered in Yangon, Mandalay, and other cities to cheer on the first unofficial election returns.

The magnitude of the USDP's defeat was underlined by the defeat of key party officials.

Among them was the once-powerful parliamentary speaker Shwe Mann, who was ousted from the USDP leadership in an internal party coup in August; he admitted defeat in a Facebook post on Monday morning. Also among the vanquished was the USDP's acting chairman Htay Oo, who conceded his constituency in Hinthada, west of Yangon, telling a reporter simply, "We lost."

Many struggling USDP candidates were formerly top-ranking

victory was so overwhelming that Khin Maung Thein, a candidate in the Sagaing Region parliament, defeated his USDP opponent in a landslide - despite having died two days earlier.

At the same time, observers have sounded a word of caution, pointing out that however bad the USDP's electoral showing, Myanmar's military, known as the Tatmadaw, will continue to wield great power. The nation's constitution, drafted by the old junta and passed by a bogus plebiscite in 2008, ropes off a quarter of parliamentary seats for military candidates. It also ensures that the most powerful ministries - Defence, Home Affairs, and Border Affairs - will all remain under military control, as will the Tatmadaw's diverse and lucrative business interests. Another provision - Article 59(f) - bars Suu Kyi from holding the presidency, due to her foreign spouse and children. Since three-quarters of lawmakers are required to amend the

ernment would have wide scope to introduce reforms in areas such as health, education, and agriculture - but little power over security matters or the pace of democratic reforms.

"The military have used the constitution to try to tie the hands of the government," Farmaner said. He described the constitution as "effectively a brick wall on the road to reform."

Myanmar's next government therefore looms as a strange creature: a composite administration comprising the dominant NLD and the constitutionally entrenched Tatmadaw the two poles of the country's generationlong political struggle between democratic reform and military dictatorship Whatever its particular hue, Myanmar's new government will inherit some daunting challenges. Despite the signing of a "nationwide" ceasefire agreement last month, the country's ethnic regions remain unstable and deeply troubled. As the country celebrated its historic election on November

8, local media were reporting that two villagers had been shot by Tatmadaw soldiers in a remote part of Shan State - a reminder of the conflicts that still fester across the country's mountainous periphery.

The darkest stain on the November 8 election was the disenfranchisement of more than a million Rohingya Muslims living in coastal Rakhine State in the country's west. They were struck from voter lists because they are considered illegal migrants from Bangladesh, even though many have lived in Myanmar for decades and voted in the last, flawed election in 2010.

Many more voters in ethnic areas, including in Shan and Kachin States, were unable to participate after polls were cancelled due to conflict and instability.

With her party stampeding towards a famous victory, Suu Kyi has been increasingly forceful in claiming a political mandate to tackle these problems on her own terms. When the NLD takes power, she has vowed to press for immediate amendments for the constitution She has also provocatively vowed to position herself "above the president," in open defiance of the constitutional provision barring on her presidency. She told an interviewer Tuesday that whoever the NLD nominates as president - so far the party is remaining close-lipped about potential candidates - "will be told exactly what he can do." She added, "He will act in accordance with the decisions of the party." So far her opponents have been conciliatory. On Wednesday the NLD said that it had received a message from Information Minister Ye Htut congratulating the party, on behalf of President Thein Sein, for its massive lead in the election. The message pledged that

the government would respect the popular will and allow a peaceful transfer of power "in accordance with the legislated timeline." Later, the Myanmar military itself congratulated the party on its success, pledging to join the NLD, President Thein Sein, and speaker Shwe Mann for "national reconciliation" talks next week.

Yan Myo Thein, a Yangon-based political analyst, predicted the military would likely work "positively and constructively" with the resurgent NLD, but would continue to guard its prerogatives fiercely. "The possibility that the Tatmadaw will ever allow the constitutional amendments that undermine its special position is still minimal," he said.

On the one hand, a newly emboldened NLD; on the other, a chastened, but still powerful, Tatmadaw these are the two key actors in the complicated political negotiations that will unspool in the weeks and months ahead.

Richard Horsey, a leading analyst of Myanmar politics, wrote before the election that the creation of a functioning government - one that could tackle the country's most intractable problems - would ultimately hang on the relationship between the NLDnominated president and the commander-inchief. "If they get off to a bad start," he concluded, "it will be very hard to recover." In a country being buffeted by change, both sides will have to tread warily.

Sebastian Strangio is a journalist based in Phnom Penh and the author of Hun Sen's Cambodia. His work has appeared in The Economist, Asia Times and The Phnom Penh Post among other publications. He can be reached at sebastian, .strangio@gmail.com.

Diwali is Festival of Lights, not of Fumes People send gifts to each other. Overall, it marks the victory of good over evil.

But the negative side of this festival is firecrackers. Diwali is a holy festival that brings joy, peace and prosperity. It is the festival of lights, not of firecrackers and pollution. We celebrate it in a wrong way. Just to celebrate happiness, we spend thousands of rupees but only cause pollution. Instead of doing this, we can donate that money to orphans, feed a huge number of orphans. This will actually help us to make India a pollution and hunger free country.

One Diwali night pollutes the city as much as it gets polluted in the whole year. By bursting crackers, we emit poisonous gases and eventually we will be inhaling this gases that cause serious diseases. Apart from that, the crackers cause sound pollution.

India burns more than 600 crore rupees every year on Diwali. These firecrackers are imported from China nowadays. The more crackers we burn, the more we make China rich and we let the potters Sir, of our country to starve even on the Diwali day.

Diwali is a very popular festival among the Hindus As a responsible citizen of India, we need to reand is celebrated in India with great joy. It marks think on what we are doing. the victory of Lord Rama over Ravana. On this day, Needless to say, firecrackers burst us and this is people decorate their homes with diyas and lights. not the right way to celebrate this holy festival.

Goddess Laxmi is worshiped to seek prosperity. We should say, 'No to firecrackers'. By this way

only we can say, 'yes' to happiness.

Let's celebrate Diwali with peace, happiness and love. Let's spread happiness not fumes.

Yours etc Divyam Garodia Class 8, V.K.V, Golaghat

Best Letter The best letter of the month in the Letter to the Editor section will be awarded an amount of Rs 200. So please keep writing.

Letters to the editor and articles should be sent to : The Eastern Today Chowkidingee, Near Sankardeva Hospital Mancotta Road, Dibrugarh-786003 (Assam) Ph: 0373-2328944 Web : editor.easterntoday@gmail.com

Op

Page 9

d e "By Using the Word 'Tolerance', Those Protesting Have Played Into the Hands of BJP & Sangh"

DIBRUGARH, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13

Abhishek Jha There was an interesting development this month in the debate over tolerance.

Taking on the protests by writers, activists, filmmakers, and others, Arun Jaitley ended his Facebook post on 'The Ease of Doing Business' with the accusation that "their (the protesters) intolerance extends to not accepting an alternative ideological pole," that "they wish to project India as an intolerant society," and that the BJP and Narendra Modi were themselves "the worst victim of ideological intolerance." There was a rejoinder to that, in a sense, when Arundhati Roy said in a statement on returning her national award that "'intolerance' is the wrong word to use for the lynching, shooting, burning and mass murder of fellow human beings." However, there are more arguments against the use of the word 'intolerance', ones that can help mounting a collective expression of solidarity irrespective of the mood and dispensation at the centre.

Tolerance and The Sangh It is important to understand here that by using the

word 'tolerance' and its repeated assertion (perhaps in the need for a unifying theme in an otherwise largely unorganised struggle), those protesting have played into the hands of the BJP and the Sangh.

The Sangh and its Brahminical brethren have always insisted on India being a 'tolerant' society, the claim stemming from its belief that we are a Hindu nation and Hinduism never forced people of other religions to convert.

Ghar Waapsi being its corrective measure for the same. One has to see that the Congress doesn't disagree with this basic premise that India was always a tolerant society. It cries foul only when the BJP argues for a Hindu nation. The squabbles of these two parties aside, Jaitley has played cleverly with words. And if the protesters do not quickly adapt, they might be in for a long and self-defeating battle.

Tolerance means non-intervention, when one can, in the face of things that one dislikes or disapproves of.

So, it is not surprising that Jaitley wants us to tolerate the Sangh and the ideological pole it represents, to al-

low them to run universities and institutions around that pole when we complain of intolerance. He wants the space where the Sangh can practice and preach 'meritocracy', 'lovejihad', and the like. Even if the Sangh were to grant Roy's wishes and stop the call for murder and lynching, Jaitley would have us be taught 'merit' and 'purity' in classrooms, want us to co-exist in that ideology until they pave the way for a review of reservation and suchlike things. Tolerance seems like a dangerous idea in such circumstances.

Tolerance And Solidarity A better formula is provided by philosopher Slavoj Zizek. In the essay titled 'Tolerance As An Ideological Category', he writes: "The formula of revolutionary solidarity is not 'let us tolerate our differences,' it is not a pact of civilizations, but a pact of struggles which cut across civilizations, a pact between what, in each civilization, undermines its identity from within, fights against its oppressive kernel. What unites us is the same struggle. A better formula would thus be: in spite of our differences, we can

identify the basic antagonism of antagonistic struggle, in which we are both caught; so let us share our intolerance, and join forces in the same struggle.

In other words, in the emancipatory struggle, it is not the cultures in their identity which join hands, it is the repressed, the exploited and suffering, the 'parts of no-part' of every culture which come together in a shared struggle.

Such universality remains "concrete" in the precise sense that, once formulated, its persistence is not guaranteed: every historical epoch has to find its own specific way to accomplish the breakthrough to universality."

Luckily enough, we have recent developments that can instantiate what the philosopher has to say.

Throughout the Bihar elections, Dilip Mandal, former Managing Editor at Outlook, explained in several Facebook posts that Lalu Yadav was the perfect antidote to the Sangh as he openly called the Sangh Parivar a coalition of upper caste male Brahminical forces. In case you missed Lalu Yadav's speeches to that effect, you can still go

The Fight Against Gender Stereotyping Gets A Big Boost Through This Unique Initiative

no-part"- as the aforementioned formula suggests- in their demand for emancipation. This solidarity, no doubt, will confound the Brahminical bosses of the Sangh and media houses.

More Instances There are two more examples from ongoing student struggles. We remember the brave front that FTII students put up. However, they played into the hands of the Brahminical forces of Nagpur when they invoked 'merit'. The I&B Ministry found itself on familiar

conditioned to not realising or addressing them. A powerful inertia exists both for those in a position of privilege and power who continue to be ignorant and those without it - who continue to be far from realising their own potential. Our efforts are designed to be that force that compels society to break away from the status quo. We want to be catalysts of gender equality and we hope for a day when the need of an effort like this would cease to exist and that's what our energies are invested in.

But at this moment, where the realities of gender inequality and its violence are too stark, our aim is to provide interim solutions while parallelly planning our longterm interventions. Our She Taxi programme, for instance, came to me as an idea after the Shoranur rape incident that shocked the country. While the program has grown to be internationally acclaimed for the economic and social empower-

ment of women taxi drivers in a primarily male-dominated transport industry, it still is only an interim solution. As it stands today, She Taxis which are primarily for women allow male passengers only in the company of female passengers. However, this gradual process can be called successful only when the She Taxis will have no customer restrictions. At an abstracted level, the ICGE is intended to find suitable ways to arrive at both interim and long-term solutions and to be able to seamlessly transition from one to another.

In my years of experience, I have come to notice that feminism is very often misconstrued for misandry and that induces a culture of

shaming feminists. Crusaders of gender equality unknowingly fall victim to this binary approach of feminism and misandry and thus becomes paradoxical. I have also learnt that there are crusaders of the cause out there in the world who aren't guided by appropriate terminologies or politically-correct vocabularies. We are all in this struggle together.

What is required of us is to lift the restrictions imposed by gender stereotypes and free the individuals trapped by it. Our society needs to turn into a liberating space and our ideas must turn fluid for it to flow through and past the compartments that we have labelled gender with until the walls become weak and break down.

About the author: Dr. P.T.M. Sunish is CEO of Gender Park and Managing Director of Kerala State Women's Development Corporation.

ways sought tolerance for his practices but demanded it from the Dalits whom he subjugated, and now expects insulation from those of other religions. The Sangh, therefore, sees no contradiction between tolerance, which asks for maintaining the status quo, and itself. The only contradiction in a call for 'intolerance' may seem to be the simultaneous demand from the Sangh, which wants to step up the pace and tempo for the march to a Brahminical state.

While responding, those who wish for a different spirit of 'intolerance' will find it in the spirit of the constitution, which upholds the rights of all the oppressed and the marginalised. From laws against dowry to laws against manual scavenging, the ideas enshrined in the constitution have dealt Manuwad several 'intolerant' blows. Those who seek emancipation, I am sure, will find better banners to rally behind than 'tolerance'. It will stop masked oppressors from appropriating the struggle and block any easy exit that it might be seeking.

Wearing A 'Short Dress' Or Have A 'Travel Beard'? Then You Can't Fly On An Airplane!

Shambhavi Saxena

Dr P.T.M. Sunish As a part of the Kerala government, I see myself surrounded by the willingness of the state in initiating and sustaining dialogue towards positive developmental ingenuities for its people. The Department of Social Justice under the Government of Kerala in its steadfast proactivity envisioned a space that solely addressed gender disparity and the complexities of the concept that seep into our everyday functioning. We call it The Gender Park. And so were sown the seeds towards a better Kerala whose score on gender equality would be at par with the other high human development indexes.

With a petri dish for skilful experimentation now ready - it became necessary to cumulate, invite, acquire and imbibe world practices and knowledge adopted by nation states, civil societies and individuals at a common forum which not only influences the national and international dialogue on gender but also allows for mutual exchange of knowledge. The International Conference on Gender Equality (ICGE-1) 2015 is designed to serve these purposes. As the first of the biennale series, it is envisioned to gradually unfold the many layers of achieving a gender-just society through thematic dissection.

While working for gender equality so closely, it comes as a surprise to me that the society that we are a part of has inequalities so deep rooted that we have gotten

through histweets and find the fact corroborated. The effect of Lalu's campaign on the Sangh is well known. Mohan Bhagwat's speech hailing Ambedkar had to be telecast nationally. BJP went on a defensive, floundered with its communal card, and ultimately surrendered. While most people found amusement in Lalu's speech, he did what was needed to undo the Sangh. He openly declared "intolerance" towards upper-caste hegemony, uniting the "parts of

ground, questioned the 'merit' of the students themselves, applied a little super-ego pressure (raising questions over the overstaying students), squeezing them into a corner in television debates, where sympathy for them started to wane. The idea of merit is again steeped in Brahminical discourse, as it is in the discourse of race-supremacy, in the discourse of the supremacy of the able-bodied, etc. If the FTII students had called the Sangh's bluff and shown the move of the government for what it is, they would stand a better chance. The APSC students were listened to. IIT Roorkee had to take back the students it expelled.

And at UGC, where WTO-Brahmanwad Bharat Chhodo is a prominent graffiti, where 'merit' has been rejected as a criterion for awarding non-NET fellowship, MHRD already senses trouble.

Those who are protesting against the current climate in the country, therefore, need a quick course-correction. The Brahmin has not only al-

A few weeks ago, on October 26th, a young woman was forced to change into trousers because an Indian airline refused to allow her on board in her short dress.

A former employee and relative of a current employee of IndiGo Airlines, this young woman was travelling on "staff leisure travel privileges" and therefore subject to a specific dress code. As soon as the story hit the internet, it left people confused and outraged. As one of the tweets in response reads: "For an airline that says Hi 6E! this is quite prudish."

Airports are interesting spaces. They are in-between spaces, at the borders of one place and the next. In some cities, they are symbolic of economic power and progress, in others they are representative of a life in transit. But they are also spaces of anxiety. America is home to the oldest airfield, and in many ways has pioneered international air travel. While the outward push of the airport is characteristically American, replacing the imperial fleet with a deceptively friendly but equally ambitious airborne one, paranoia about porous borders has settled into the way they function.

After all, the country has made no bones about its relationship with its neighbour to the south.

It was the twin-tower attacks in 2001 that brought in a range of new questions about security.

But Islamophobia is clearly not restricted to post 9/11 America. Islamophobia is so bad that it's not just actual Muslims who get racially

profiled but pretty much anyone who matches the description - or, rather, the stereotype. Back in 2007, Metallica frontman James Hetfield was held by Luton airport officials in London because of his 'Taliban-like beard'! In fact there's a number of threads on travel forums that, in all seriousness, discuss whether or not it's okay to have a "travel

tion was expected to conform to an employee dress code, because she was flying on an employee ticket.

But no woman should be chastised for what she's wearing, especially not a woman who isn't even serving as flight staff! A fellow passenger was quick to tell reporters that the woman's dress came well up to her knees, but even if hadn''t been 'modest', were these actions justified? The IndiGo rules simply perpetu-

beard", given the kind of 'random security checks' people are subjected to. And, as with Hetfield, it's not just people of colour. Eight year old Drew Sanders and his father Martin, two white British nationals, were barred from their flight by U. S. Homeland Security, with no explanations given.

A month before the Sanders family were to have a run-in with security, 14 year old Scot girl Grace Wain had hers with Etihad Airways.

They picked on her complexion, insisting she was too ill to board the flight, forcing her to undergo a medical examination, when in reality, she was just a naturally pale, ginger-haired individual!

In the case of the IndiGo flight, the woman in ques-

ate the idea that if a woman who wears what she wants, she is a threat to the carefully constructed patriarchal matrix of modesty and shame.

But so is a woman who doesn't fit the gender binary.

In September this year, trans artist Shadi Petosky was held at Orlando International Airport, when security labelled her body as 'an anomaly', subjecting her to a humiliating body check.

Rules or not, these appear to be the insidious workings brought to you by the makers of "she was asking for it" who have regimentalized the idea that any transgression must punished. In the old days, they'd push you to a corner outside the village.

Today, they throw you off the flight you've already paid for.

Airports have become space of interrogation, of reinforcing norms, of invading bodies with scans and patdowns. You'd think with all that jet fuel they could at least get some mileage on progressive politics, but no.

Suspicions that airport security regulations and interventions are just an extension of the dominant class' prejudice are not unfounded.

The post-9/11 'War on Terror' instituted by the George Bush administration resulted in the 'No Fly List', followed by the discouragingly frequent harassment of South-Asian fliers. Security personnel began conflating personal racist politics with their line of work. And can you blame them for just doing their jobs? Should you?

The answer is yes, actually.

Because harassing innocent passengers shouldn't ever be a part of 'security' work.

In the U. S., the Transport Security Administration (TSA) has 3,000 Behaviour Detection Officers "trained to detect behavioral clues of 'mal-intent.'" The Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques, or SPOT program, flags things like "excessive yawning" and "wringing of hands" as suspicious behaviour. The Intercept has criticized the program as a tool for targetting immigrants rather than identifying terrorists.

Airports should be spaces of transit, both physical and ideological - not a psychological battlefield, where anything from the colour of your skin to the length of your skirt can make you break into a sweat as you near the security booth.

What's disappointing is that they're creating more boundaries where they should be leaving them behind.

Jon Stewart Did It Years Ago, But India Still Needs AIB's 'Satirical Movement' Rahul Jain AIB recently went mainstream with their bi-lingual television program 'On Air with AIB' which has received a lot of appreciation, if their Facebook pages and Twitter feeds are anything to go by.

Luckily for the world, they follow a trend and have not provided a unique offering.

Satirical media has existed for quite a while, and although initially in the 1800's it solely consisted of hoax articles peppered with the standard news, such as The Sun's six article series now famously known as the great moon Hoax. The trend can still be observed on April Fools' Day every once in a while. Even on television the trend has existed for quite a

while with the renaissance movement in the UK known as Satire Boom under the most prominent and the slightly misleading name, That Was The Week That Was. USA got into the picture in the 1980's with Not Necessarily the News. Print media hadn't died as The Onion began an in-college print publication in 1988, shifted online in 1996 and is today one of the biggest satirical magazines in the world. However, most of these forms were not directly linked to daily events and often curtailed the understanding of the people on the subject. They formed an interesting read, but unless you were updated on the topic at hand, you wouldn't really gain anything from them. The game changer was Jon Stewart. His stint on Comedy Central

made him into one of the most credible sources of satirical comedy for the American population. He has never been shy of calling out the people who have tried to mislead the masses. He has also been brutally honest about the nature of his show- which is not a news show. He was also responsible for creating the Colbert report, another satirical faux news show. The marked difference over here lies in the fact that this was not hoax, this was opinionated. The news being presented was real and the topics were hard-hitting and relevant to the current events.

Another trend began as they always provided material on the basis of which they formed and presented their opinion and left no room for the misinterpretation in terms of the event itself. This was a

massive shift in terms of usage of satire. India has not been too far behind in the game. Faking News was founded by Rahul Roushan in 2008 as a news satire website focusing on publishing fake news, taking a jibe at the events and the society in general. The Week That Wasn't was the sole torchbearer for satire on Indian television and eventually it ran into trouble over the topic of the ban on Sri Lankan players in IPL. While Trevor Noah is the successor of Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report is an offspring of The Daily Show, the spiritual successor of Jon Stewart is John Oliver with the HBO show, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. One has to give credit to him for creating ripples in the real world. For instance, in his popular net neutrality

segment, John explained the 'fast lanes' concept which undermined the free and open internet. He went on to request the viewers to write to the Federal Communication Commission on the change which was one of the factors responsible for the servers crashing due to inflow of user comments. John Oliver brought along a number of changes that have enhanced viewer engagement, be it from a 7 month long incognito interaction with televangelists to pursuing individual tax forms to finding out the actual amount spent by the Miss America Pageant to providing citations for the references he makes. He provides credibility on every aspect through his satirical comedy, and the impact of it tells everything as he is on the Fortune's 40 under 40 list. So,

when AIB came up with On Air With AIB on HotStar, they luckily were not trying something completely untested. They were simply becoming the next in line of a trend that is not old but has its roots deep in history. But they have still taken a shot at reinventing the wheel by having the show in two formats and involving the celebrity circle as much as they could.

This is important as nothing in media will be cut from a different cloth. You will always be able to trace impressions of some other concept or show in something else.

That being said, the popularity is always defined by the crowd they cater to, and AIB is leaving little to chance by 'Indianising' satire as much as they could. A lot of things are going right and luckily the onus of being a torchbearer

is not on them alone. East India Comedy has also provided their support to the satirical movement in India with their online series EIC Outrage and started off with the most controversial topic in India right now- Beef. It is important for India to have a checking system on its news as it sways the views of millions and satirical media has always meant to do that.

While the foreign counterparts have had significantly more impact, they have also had a lot more liberty to play with. AIB is coming off a not-so-old fiasco over their roast and have not hesitated from bringing satire to the mainstream media which may very well go on to become the next Indian satirical superpower.

DIBRUGARH, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13

BUSINESS

Flipkart not to go app-only Bengaluru, Nov 12: Flipkart is not going completely app-only. It has reintroduced a mobile web option - something it had discontinued in March. The new mobile web application, however, is an extremely light version, and provides an app-like experience. Called Flipkart Lite, it is designed for those who do not want to install apps - for reasons like low storage capacity on the phone - and to allow customers to use Flipkart straight from links on other websites and social media.

"Websites push users to install the app. But only 4% of the people actually install the app.

Flipkart doesn't have a mobile website. So we wanted to give the experience of a native appli-

NSDC Board appoints Jayant Krishna as interim CEO

ANI New Delhi, Nov 12: The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) announced the appointment of Jayant Krishna as its interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Krishna has assumed office on 10th November 2015 and will be in office until the selection and appointment of the new MD and CEO. Krishna is on deputation for the period of his appointment at NSDC from Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). This is in keeping with the unique model of Public Private Partnership embedded inNSDC. As India's largest private sector company by market capitalization, TCS is committed to supporting the PM's skills agenda for the nation. Krishna has been an overall industry experience of over 29 years. He has been a champion of apprenticeship reform in Indian industry and leads the CII Task Force for the same. He has been actively involved with the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship's (MSDE) Special Taskforce on Apprenticeship Curriculum Rationalization and the Committee for the Optimization of Sector Skill Councils (SSCs). He was also involved in the evolution of the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) as well as, the formulation of India's 12th Five Year Plan with respect to the nation's skills ecosystem.

cation on a mobile website," said Peeyush Ranjan, head of engineering at Flipkart.

Flipkart worked with Chrome and Opera to build this first-of-itskind site, and plans to do the same with Firefox.

"We gave Chrome a list of functionalities, which if they supported, could help us create a web application that worked like a native application. Chrome was excited and worked with us for the past three months to enable this," Ranjan said. Flipkart Lite does not require any dedicated disk storage space and customers can experience onetouch home screen icon installation (instead of using the browser icon, you can simply use the Flipkart icon). It uses

FINDING A MIDDLE GROUND ¨ Flipkart is not going completely app-only but has reintroduced a mobile web option - something it had discontinued in March.

¨ The new mobile web application, however, is an extremely light version, and provides an app-like experience.

¨ Called Flipkart Lite, it is designed for those who do not want to install apps - for reasons like low storage capacity on the phone.

¨ To allow customers to use Flipkart straight from links on other websites and social media. significantly less wireless data than apps.

Webpages are rendered at 60 frames per second to ensure smooth scrolling and animations. "It will get notifications, it will have access to your hardware and contacts to make use of innovative interactive features like image search, and it will have the ability to work offline. All the

things which weren't possible in a mobile web before are now possible. This is the first time anybody has done this," said Ranjan. Some 70% of Flipkart's traffic now comes from mobile.

"The number of transactions we see on mobile is increasing. If somebody comes to us through a link, there is

no reason why we shouldn't be able to give them an app-like experience," Ranjan said.

Flipkart subsidiary and fashion e-tailer Myntra went app-only in May, but there was some customer backlash initially. Flipkart, too, was contemplating a similar strategy, but it now looks to be rethinking that. (Agencies)

Trai urges telcos to add towers, bolster 2G networks ANI New Delhi, Nov 12: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has urged the telecom operators to add towers on a war footing and reinforce existing 2G networks and not merely focus on 3G to improve the overall mobile coverage. Trai in its plea said there is an urgent need to address challenges posed by the arbitrary sealing of mobile towers by municipal authorities in urban areas. The sector regulator suggested a clutch of measures at the operatorend to reduce call drops, including dynamic channel allocation, multiple call routing and optimized resource management. It also urged telcos to deploy signal boosters at user premises to check

the problem. Analysing the call drops jinx, the sector regulator said the surge in "call handovers", triggered by the sharp increase in demand for cellular services, had increased the probability of dropped phone calls in urban zones. Some key reasons behind the rising incidence of call drops, it said, were flawed network configuration and

synchronization, inadequate mobile signal strength and transmission problems. Last month, the telecom regulator has ordered telcos to compensate consumers Re 1 for every call dropped on their networks, subject to a cap of three a day, starting January 1, 2016, a move that promises to bring relief to angry mobile phone users.

than not that we'll see the Fed raise rates in December. Expectations of further easing in China are high because there's been a demonstrated responsiveness among policy makers to the weakening economy." The dollar has given up some of its strength in previous days

"These currencies have been sold off, making some breathing space to recover when there (is) positive news." In Tokyo trade Indonesian rupiah tacked on 0.2 percent, the South Korean won added 0.1 percent and the Malaysian ringgit was up 0.05 per-

n-gage adds 10 exclusive US dollar slips as Australian privacy features in the chat-app dollar gets a boost

ANI Mumbai, Nov 12; Intruding ones privacy is a farce situation, which is prevailing on an everyday basis in the online world. n-gage, world's first 360 degree lifestyle chat-app has taken extra measures to not just safeguard technical security, but has also introduced new ways to ensure privacy to suit the individual's needs.

Features such as 'Private Area', have been developed to enable users to keep their secret friends, chats with them, and groups hidden within a password protected area.

"When we talk about smartphones and the online world, privacy is the first thing that comes into everyone's mind. Instant messaging apps are the biggest threat to a user's privacy. As a result, we at n-gage have developed certain fea-

tures, which allow users to control who reads their messages both from their and the receiver's end.

The app has been developed after an in-depth study to provide privacy features that compliment the need of a user" says Ajit Patel, CEO and Founder of n-gage. Additional features such as 'Safe' allows users to send password protected messages, resolving many users worry as to whether their messages could be read by other people, aside from the receiver. If that was not enough, 'Blink' brings peace of mind to the user, knowing that their messages will self destruct at the receiver's end after a specific time.

With 'Scramble', users can control the way their messages are received at the receiver's end by sending chats and images in an

illegible or pixilated state, which can be uncovered in just 3 taps. Once read, these messages return their scrambled state. ngage also introduced 'Extract', the one of its kind feature, for users who later regret sending certain messages or having conversations. Extract pulls back a message or an entire conversation from the receiver's phone

without leaving a trace.

Users can also move multimedia files stored on their SD cards and phone memory into the n-gage 'Private Gallery' feature.

Whilst majority of the apps provide the ability to disable the "Last seen" status, 'Stealth Mode' takes it to the next level by providing users with the option to appear invisible to certain n-gage contacts. Further features such as 'Disable Screenshot' and 'Disable Copy/ Forward' have been introduced to ensure users can protect their messages from being used by others. n-gage aims to change the way people communicate by providing features, which protect their messages on their device through encryption. The app is available for use on Android, iOS, PC and tablet.

KRAs undergo significant changes Mumbai, Nov 12: Given the quicksilver external environment, key result areas, or KRAs as they are called under the performance management system, are undergoing significant changes. Though KRAs have traditionally been set on an annual basis for individual employees, organizations now believe these can change anytime during the year to bring about a necessary course correction. Some companies now ask employees to tweak KRAs more frequently during the year, depending on risk assessment, while others are aggressively adding a new set of KRAs to the existing list to cover areas they believe are gaining relevance. Starting this year, Wockhardt has included two specific KRAs to the existing list for all major leadership team members. One is on development of people

and the second is on enhancing employee engagement. "We want to not only strengthen the organization in these areas, but also enhance the competencies of our managers around these - so as to be able to manage even more effectively," said Prem Singh, president, global HR, Wockhardt.

At HCL Technologies, goals can be edited throughout the year. "So instead of setting fixed goals for the year, we have made it like your profile page where you update your photo, update your profile and similarly update your goals. As soon as a change is made, several stakeholders get notified because an individual's goals are linked to relevant others in the organization.

When one person changes his or her goal, it influences goals of others who are linked in the system," said R Anand, VP-HR and headglobal people practices, HCL Technologies. HCL,

which introduced the new system a year ago, deals with goal revision within the incentive structure which has a threshold, a goal and a cap on each performance parameter. "If we do stretch multiple leaders' goals, having seen an opportunity, we have announced special incentives from that point to the rest of the financial year," said Anand, who believes when there is a lot of volatility and uncertainty, companies should be able to correct course very quickly, with the key factor being the speed of response. For many companies, the balanced scorecard is becoming more specific in nature.

Ronesh Puri, MD, Executive Access India, said: "The timelines today are very definitive and there is more accountability as expectations are clearly laid out. Companies believe KRAs cannot be cast in stone for an entire year. The

expectation is that CEOs and other foot soldiers should be ready to change track in accordance with the changes." With the businesses growing into global matrix organizations - where a position reports to more than one manager and with increased interlinking of functions - the responsibility of top business leaders and CEOs is no longer restricted to delivering revenues alone.

"For instance, in case of an M&A, integration being most important, driving organizational culture is a KRA for the CEO. Similarly, for a growth organization, leadership development is a critical KRA; to drive synergy across verticals, markets, functions, and geographies, teaming is an important KRA," said Suresh Raina, managing partner, Hunt Partners, an executive search firm. (Agencies)

Modi eyes trade deals, show of strength on UK visit London, Nov 12: Prime Minister Narendra Modi begins a visit to Britain that he hopes will yield trade deals worth billions of dollars and a boost to his authority after a damaging electoral failure back home.

Bruised by his Bharatiya Janata Party's defeat in an election in Bihar last Sunday after a campaign in which he played a prominent part, Modi is seeking

PAGE 10

to regain the political initiative by increasing investment and growth. Diplomats say deals worth 8-12 billion pounds ($12-18 billion) could be signed during his visit to London, with the Indian leader keen to buy 20 more BAE Systems Hawk trainer aircraft to be made in Bengaluru.

The emotional high point of the visit is likely to be a mass rally at Wembley Sta-

dium during which Modi will address some 60,000 supporters from the Indian diaspora in Britain, which numbers 1.5 million. Modi, paying the first visit to Britain by an Indian prime minister since 2006, is expected to receive a rapturous welcome in scenes that allies hope will reassert his authority and standing on the world stage after the blow in Bihar. However,

protests were also being planned by various groups opposed to Modi and to what they see as his party's aggressive Hindu nationalist agenda. Modi has been widely criticised in the British press over the same issue. Modi will meet his British counterpart David Cameron and the pair will hold a joint news conference. He will then address the British parliament, be-

fore heading to the Guildhall, a historic building in the heart of the City of London financial district, where he will give a speech to a business audience.

Cameron's office said Britain would seek to promote London as a centre for offshore rupee bonds and Indian companies were expected to announce plans to issue debt denominated in their own currency. (Agencies)

Tokyo, Nov 12: The dollar eased against most currencies in Asia after surging at the start of the week, while a strong unemployment reading boosted the Australian dollar. The Aussie surged more than one percent against the greenback, as government data showed the country's October jobless rate fell to a better-than-expected 5.9 percent. Investors moved into high-yield, or riskier, emerging currencies as they await speeches by Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen and other US central bank policymakers for hints about their plans for US interest rates.

With US economic data showing improvement, the Fed is considering hiking rates next month, at the same time as other central banks -- including in Europe and Japan -- are mulling further loosening as growth at home struggles. "Divergence in monetary policy is creating an even choppier investment environment," Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets Plc said. "The futures market is indicating that it's more likely

after last week's US jobs report boosted expectations Fed policymakers will hike rates for the first time in nine years at their next meeting. This week, a lot of the rate hike speculation has already been priced in, Koji Fukaya, chief executive officer at FPG Securities Co said. "Emerging and commodities currencies have more scope to react to positive news as they have priced in negative news," Fukaya said.

cent. The Taiwan dollar was up 0.2 percent and the Thai baht was also higher. Emerging units have climbed in Asia for the past three days after taking a hammering in response to the US jobs figures.

The euro advanced to $1.0764 and 132.34 yen from $1.0741 and 131.94 yen. But the dollar rose to 122.95 yen from 122.84 yen recently in New York.

(Agencies)

Vodafone starts preparations for IPO London, Nov 12: Vodafone Group Plc said it has started preparations for an initial public offer (IPO) of its Indian business. India is a significant contributor to the Vodafone group and it is the largest data traffic market by volume as well as the thirdlargest contributor to the group's service revenues.

"We have recently begun preparations for a potential IPO of Vodafone India, subject to market conditions," the London-based Group said in a statement.

Last month, Vodafone Group chief executive officer (CEO) Vittorio Colao had said that the company had started preparatory work for the IPO. "I cannot give you a date, but I can tell you (that) we are positively inclined to an IPO and have started some preparatory work," Colao had said on his visit to India in October. The telecom major today said its service revenue - excluding the regulatory impact - in India has grown 11.2 per cent to Rs 22,902 crore for the first half of the ongoing fiscal, driven by customer additions and ro-

bust growth in data against Rs 20,601 crore in AprilSeptember 2014. Vodafone India's mobile customer base grew 8.2 per cent to 188.2 million at the end of September 2015 against 173.8 million in the yearago period. The group had in May asked investment bank Rothschild to compile a report about the benefits of a possible IPO, which would provide the company with cash for its India plans. The share sale will also offer investors an opportunity to reap dividends from a market where wireless growth is outpacing that of more mature countries such as Vodafone's home market, the UK. The company has

been considering an Indian IPO for several years, but has held back because of regulatory and tax issues in the country. Vodafone is India's second largest wireless mobile operator with a market capitalization of about 9.3 billion pound, and an enterprise value of 11.4 billion pound, according to analysts at Citi. The Indian division's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization reached 1.28 billion pound on sales of 4.3 billion pound in 2014-15. India accounts for about 10 per cent of the group's revenues. Vodafone in January said that it has invested more than 12.8 billion pound in India since 2007. (Agencies)

DIBRUGARH, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13

Features

PAGE 11

TRAVEL & TOURISM Arunachal - Himalayas Less Explored Reetasri Bhattacharjee 'Two roads diverged in a wood, and II took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference.

- Robert Frost' The scorching heat is making it difficult to lead a normal life. Regardless of how many litres of water you drink, the number of times you take a bath, sit kaput in an air-conditioned room the heat simply refuses to leave. It is during the

heights of summers that you start envying the hillpeople. You can't help but think - they live such a peaceful life, no scorching sun, no humidity but cool winds and pleasant sunshine. Yes, people who live on the hills and mountains definitely enjoy the summers more than you do!

Unsurprisingly, this is the time when all travel plans are made, mostly to hill stations. Most Indians immediately make a plan to visit Uttarakhand, Himachal and Kashmir during this time.

After all that's where the Himalayas are? Right?

Wrong. Rather let's put it this way. Not absolutely right. Considering the hilly

regions of Northern India to be the ONLY Himalayas is wrong. There are the Eastern Himalayas in the 'Land of the Rising Sun' which is a great getaway from the sweltering heat. We are talking about Arunachal Pradesh in the eastern-most corner of the country.

Little Bit About Arunachal Pradesh There are several things that make Arunachal Pradesh a traveller's paradise. Here's a list of things that makes Arunachal Pradesh one of the most interesting states in North East. " It is the largest state by area in the region, covering an area of ap-

proximately 84,000 square kilometres. " The state has the maximum number of regional languages thanks to the numerous tribes and sub-tribes occupying the land. However, English is the official language of the state. " In between May and September when large parts of the country is under a heat wave, Arunachal Pradesh witnesses cool showers, heavy rainfalls and pleasant weather. " The mountains ranges in the state are lower than those compared to the Greater Himalayan ranges.

Thus they are called the Eastern Himalayas. " Arunachal Pradesh was earlier called the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA). It shares its international borders with China, Bhutan, Tibet and Myanmar. " The rivers Kameng, Subansiri, Siang, Lohit and Tirap divide the state into different parts. " Because of its strategic location, NEFA was under the direct administration of the Ministry of External Affairs till 1965.

Till 1972, the state was controlled by the Minister of Home Affairs through

Namdhapa National Park, Arunachal's Own Wildlife Haven Arnab Ghosh North East India is famous for its hilly landscape and amazing wildlife. There are quite a number of forests, sanctuaries and national parks in the region.

While Manas and Kaziranga are frequented by a lot of visitors Arunachal Pradesh also has its share of natural bounty.

The Namdhapa National Park located at border of the state, is regarded as a prominent biodiversity hotspot in Eastern Himalayas. It is close to the junction of India, China and Myanmar and falls in Arunachal's Changlang district.

Nuances of Namdhapa National Park This national park is spread over a region spanning 1,850-sq-kms.

This is possibly the only national park in the

country with an amazing range of attitudinal variation. This has also led to development of a wide range of flora and fauna in the region.

How and when to visit The temperature at this area varies drastically in summer and winter months. The period after winter is the ideal time to visit, more so if you want

to witness the flower plants at their glory! The rainy months increase risk of landslide, making the time unsuitable for tourists. A lot of people also opt for the winter months to visit the park.

Dibrugarh's Mohanbari is the near most airport from the park. However, a lot of visitors choose bus travel from Dibrugarh. The nearby rail station is Tinsukia in Assam. Taxis can be hired from Dibrugarh as well.

The circuit houses and bungalows in Namdhapa run by the government are what the visitors opt for. At Deban, which is about 25 km away, tourist lodges are available.

The Flora and Fauna Owing to the varying terrain and climate zones, the park is home to a number of rare species of animals and birds. You will find a variety of

leopards including clouded leopards and snow leopards in this region along with tigers.

Red Pandas are among major tourist draws. The other major animals found here are Asiatic black bears, masked palm civet, Asiatic golden cat, spotted linsang. Herbivores like sambar, forest musk

deer, hog deer and primates like Capped Langurs and Assamese Macaques are also seen in abundance.

Among birds, the different species of Hornbills deserve a special mention. Other important bird species found here include shrike babblers, Snowy-throated Babbler, Ruddy Kingfisher, Himalayan Wood-owl, and White-tailed fish eagle.

Along with the amazing and beautiful animals, birds and reptiles, the Namdhapa National Park is also home to a vast range of plants, shrubs and vegetation.

Over 150 timber species are there and Blue Vanda, an endangered and rare orchid can be seen here. Mishimi Teeta, a local plant with proven medicinal properties also grows in the park. Several rare orchid species and ferns are also among star attractions in the park. In many parts of Namdhapa, you will find dense vegetation of bamboo and canes.

Activities and tips for visitors To visit this national park, foreigners need a restricted area permit. Mo-

tor safaris are not allowed in the region to safeguard natural habitat of the birds. Apart from the Inner Line Permit to visit this part of Arunachal Pradesh, visitors also need to procure a tourist permit from Namdhapa National Park's Field Director.

The visitors will never be short of activities and options while visiting this amazing biodiversity hotspot. Exploring the animals, birds and variety of plants require plenty of time, as it is. Apart from watching the flora and fauna and taking snaps, you can indulge in trekking. There are options for boat ride and elephant ride in the park as well.

The Miao Museum which is maintained and run by the Namdhapa park authorities store several reptile and animal specimens found in the region. You may also explore the Miao zoo close to the museum which houses primates found in the wilderness. Tourists also throng Moti Jheel- a natural pool and Raja Jheel- a forest swamp.

The water bodies are ideal for bird watching and spending time in natural serenity. (Agencies)

the Governor of Assam. In 1972, it became a Union Territory and in 1987 it was declared a full-fledged state. " Buddhism and Donyi-Polo are two popular religion of the state.

Christianity is also prevalent.

Unexplored Destinations in Arunachal Pradesh If you ask a traveller who has explored the North East to a certain extent about the places to visit in Arunachal Pradesh, he'd probably suggest you to visit Itanagar - the capital city and Tawang - where you can enjoy the snow. Undoubtedly, these two should be in your itinerary when you plan a visit to this eastern land. But that's not all about the state.

There are several other, quite 'unknown' places to visit here. If you like to take the path that's less travelled, we suggest you check our list below.

Ziro First of all, the name of this place is so intriguing that you would want to know more about the place. The Ziro Valley came into prominence with the Ziro Music Festival which started in the year 2012.

Touted as one of the most

vibrant and fun outdoor festivals in the country, it brought musicians and music lovers flocking to this quintessential valley. Ziro is also called the Apatani Plateau and is home to the Apatani tribe. Ziro has also been declared as a World Heritage Site. There are quite a few places to see here, such as the Talley Valley, fish farms and wild life sanctuary. We suggest you also interact with the locals - they are a smiling bunch of welcoming people.

Bhalukpong Bhalukpong is famous as a picnic spot for the residents of Upper Assam.

However, Bhalukpong is more than just a pretty picnic spot. Here you can go

for trekking, hiking and river rafting.

The Himalayas surround Bhalukpong and on a clear day, you can literally the blue skies and similarly coloured waterways.

Pasighat Pasighat is located on the banks of the Siang River.

The town is abundantly bestowed by Mother Nature.

Not only is Pasighat the oldest town of Arunachal Pradesh, but it is also known as the getaway of the state. The majestic Brahmaputra River flows past the town. All you need to do here is spend a few tranquil and leisurely days.

Anini Imagine you are atop a plateau where two tributaries (of the Brahmaputra) flow

by. You can see the plains below you and enjoy the pleasant weather that's not polluted. Welcome to Anini, a small town in the Dibang Valley. It is undoubtedly a remote place and you probably won't find many luxuries here, but the natural beauty of the place makes up for everything else.

Along Along is a picturesque valley surrounded by mountains. It is comparatively hot in Along as it enjoys a humid subtropical climate.

One of the attractions of the place is the Hanging Bridge on River Siang that's made of cane and bamboo. You could also go for trekking and river rafting at Along.

(Agencies)

Sacred Groves Not to be Missed Reetasri Bhattacharjee North East India is nature's treasure trove. The region has the largest forest cover in the country and according to the India State of Forest Report 2011, Arunachal Pradesh has the second largest forest cover in the country after Madhya Pradesh at 67,410 sq. km. In the same report, Mizoram ranked number one in terms of percentage of forest cover in relation to total geographical area with 90.68%.

Though jhum or shifting cultivation is responsible in the decrease of forest cover, thanks to some tribal practices, we will still be proud of our green cover.

The tribals of the region have marked several areas of the region as 'sacred' and consider those to be blessed by their gods and goddesses.

Such sacred forest covers are revered by the locals and hence they do not cut down the trees in these areas. In fact their belief is so strong that even picking a fallen leave is forbidden. From a scientific view the sacred groves are great ways to maintain the

ecosystem and preserve our precious forests.

We have listed 5 popular sacred groves that you should definitely visit 1. Gompa Forest Areas, Arunachal Pradesh - There are as many as 65 sacred groves in this sparsely populated state. The sacred groves here are attached to the Buddhist monasteries and hence called the Gompa Forest Areas. You will find most of the sacred groves in the state close to the monasteries. The Lamas and Monpas are the two tribes of the state who specially worship the sacred groves. Some also believe that the sacred groves are dedicated to local deities Ubro/ Ubram and Thouwgew. The common plant species found in these forests are banyan, pipal, ashoka and bela.

2. Mauhak, Manipur - The state has about 365 sacred groves, locally called mauhak (sacred bamboo reserves) and Gamkhap. The ancient practice of preserving the forest is still very much intact among the Manipuris

today. The practice of worshipping and protecting the forests is called Umanglai (because of their association with deities).

3. Pandam, Sikkim - The small state has about 56 sacred groves which are locally called Pandam. Just like in Arunachal Pradesh, the sacred groves are attached to the local monasteries called Gumpas. The locals dedicate the forests to deities. These forest covers are maintained

by Gumpa authorities or Lamas.

4. Ki Law Lyngdoh, Meghalaya - All the three tribes of Meghalaya worships their forests. In the Khasi hills the sacred groves are

called Ki Law Lyngdoh, Ki Law Kyntang and Ki Law Niam while in the Jaintia Hills they are called Khloo Blai. In the Garo Hills, the forests are called Asheng Khosi. There are as many as 79 sacred groves in the state.

The most popular grove in the state is in Lawkyntang, Mawphalng, close to the capital city of Shillong.

5. Than/ Madaico, Assam With as many as 40 sacred groves across the large state, Assam has also respected the forests. The tribal groups of Bodos, Rabha and Dimasa largely worship the forests.

The Vaishnav monasteries also promote such forests in the plains of Brahmaputra.

Exploring Picturesque Fakim Wildlife Sanctuary in Nagaland Arnab Ghosh Nagaland, the amazing hill state in North eastern India is known mostly for the tribes, their customs and fiery cuisine. However, the state is also liked by tourists for its awesome natural beauty and amazing wild-

tourist is the Fakim Wildlife sanctuary.

Nuances of Fakim Wildlife Sanctuary Located in Nagaland's Kiphire district, the Fakim Wildlife Sanctuary is close to the Indo Myanmar border.

Set up in 1983, it is spread over a region encompassing

life. In Nagaland, you can find forests and sanctuaries that house some of the most amazing plants and animals.

One such destination for nature and wildlife loving

642 hectares approx.The sanctuary is visually enticing and the variation of terrains and altitude is remarkable.

This has led to a great diversity in flora and fauna here.

There are deep gorges, narrow valleys along with high hills in this region.

How and when to visit Tourists require applying for special permission from the State Forest Department to visit this sanctuary. To get inside the region's restricted zones, you will need an inner line permit.

The winter months are mostly preferred by tourists to explore this sanctuary.

During July and August heavy rainfall makes things hard for visitors. For accommodation, a circuit house and PWD bungalow are sought after by visitors.

Nagaland's capital Kohima is linked to the sanctuary by road and the majority of tourists prefer this route. The nearby rail station is Dimapur.

Enticing and diverse flora and fauna Owing to the diversity in altitude and terrain, the vegeta-

tion is varied in the region and that can entice the tourists.

The forest is mostly sub-tropical to tropical in nature. You will find tree species like Bogipoma,Oaks, Khasi Pine, Hollock in this sanctuary.

Owing to heavy rainfall in this sanctuary, the ground is covered by thick shrub. Fern and Orchid lovers will rejoice exploring the variety here! The range of bamboos and canes are also worth noting.

When it comes to animals and birds, the Fakim Wildlife Sanctuary can enthrall the wildlife lovers to the hilt. The major animals found in the region are Bison, Tiger,Himalayan Bear, Barking Deer and Hoolock gibbons. Among birds, you will find various types of Hornbills here. Besides, birds like Green Pigeon, Tragopan Pheasant and doves can also be seen flying in abundance.

(Agencies)

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"He's going to have a fitness test. So I'm not 100% sure. We are hoping for his return but we'll see how he goes today and tomorrow."

DIBRUGARH, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13

PAGE 12

De Villiers

ACDSU, UMFC to lock horns in the final Lomhom Tangha Changlang, Nov 12: In the first semi-final of the football tournament organized by the All Changlang District Students’ Union, ACDSU defeated YTFC 3-0. The first goal came in the 15th minute when Kitson

Kitnal scored from long range. The lead was doubled by Latngey in the 38th minute by a free kick.

Kitmay Kitmal scored his second and his team’s third in the 70th minute to make it 3-0. In the second semifinal UMFC

edged past KCFC 2-1, UMFC took the lead in the 20th minute through Ashu Das, who scored from just outside the penalty b o x . H o w e v e r, t h e match back on level terms when Latsong of KCFC scored from a penalty. The winner

came in the late minutes of the match when Ashu Das scored with a superb volley to end KCFC hopes of taking the match into extra time.

The tournament where seventeen teams from across the region are participat-

ing has become a succ e s s s o f a r. T h e Champions and Runners up teams will receive trophies and cash prize of 1 lakh and 50,000 rupees respectively. ‘The Eastern Today’ has been the media partners for the tournament.

DDCA full of `muck, says Kirti Azad ANI New Delhi, Nov. 12: Former Indian cricketer and BJP MP Kirti Azad considers the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) as full of 'muck', and said that the CBI has been right in undertaking an inquiry against the institution for evading entertainment tax over last few years by underpricing ticket prices for the most coveted stands.

Azad, who had earlier raised the issue of financial irregularities in the association, confirmed that many illegal practices are encouraged in the DDCA, and hoped that they would come out one day. "There is so much of muck in the DDCA, which rightly the CBI instituted an inquiry into," the 56-yearold told ANI here.

"I am really very sorry that DDCA has gone this way.

We kept on informing the officials who really mattered there. They have also been served a notice by the CBI . An FIR has been lodged against DDCA and its directors. And also now recently 24 crores of entertainment tax. There is a lot of huge malfeasance there and I am sure it's going to come out," he said.

Earlier, the parliament had sent the DDCA matter to the

India rope in Gurkeerat for second Test against Proteas

DDCA row: Gautam Saina lone InGambhir meets Kejriwal dian survivor at China Open ANI Fuzhou, Nov. 12 : Defending champion and top seed Saina Nehwal battled past Malaysia's Tee Jing Yi in a thrilling three-game contest to emerge as the lone Indian survivor at the China OpenSuper Series here on Thursday.

Nehwal, the world number two, overcame Jing

Yi 21-10, 19-21, 21-19 in a topsy-turvy contest that lasted 55 minutes to progress through to the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, the two-time bronze medallist at World Championship, PV Sindhu suffered a 21-18, 18-21, 16-21 defeat at the hands of China's Shixian Wang in the second round.

ANI New Delhi, Nov. 12 Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday to discuss about the alleged finan-

cial irregularities in the Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA).

On a complaint filed by former cricketer Bishen Singh Bedi and other cricketers, Delhi government has also ordered a

probe into the issue.

The two-member committee of Urban Development secretary and sports secretary was constituted and asked to submit their report on financial irregularities in DDCA within two days.

The matter of the financial irregularities in DDCA was raised by former cricketer and BJP MPKirti Azad. The Parliament sent the matter to Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which forwarded the issue to the sports ministry, which has now trickled down to the Delhi government for further investigation.

ANI Bengaluru, Nov. 12 : Allrounder Gurkeerat Singh Mann has been roped into the Indian squad for the second Test match against South Africa in Bengaluru starting on Saturday.

"Gurkeerat Singh Mann has been included in the Indian Test team and will join the team for the second Test of the four-match Paytm Freedom Trophy in

Bengaluru (November 1418, 2015)," the BCCI said in a media release. The 25year-old Punjab player was also included in the preceding ODI series, which India lost 2-3 against the AB de Villiersled side.

India are currently leading the four-match Test series 1-0 after comprehensively defeating South Africa by 108 runs in Mohali. (ANI)

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which forwarded the issue to the sports ministry, which is now forwarded it to Delhi Government for further investigation.

Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir had also met Delhi Chief Minister Arvid Kejriwal to discuss the alleged financial irregularities in the DDCA. On a complaint filed by former Test star Bishen Singh Bedi and other cricketers, the Delhi Government had ordered a probe into the issue. A two-member committee comprising of the Urban Development Secretary and the Sports Secretary has been constituted and asked to submit their report on financial irregularities in theDDCA within two days.

Philander ruled out of India Test series with ankle injury ANI Bengaluru, Nov. 12: South Africa pace bowler Vernon Philanderhas been ruled out of the remainder of the series against India after suffering an ankle injury ahead of the second Test in Bengaluru.

According to ESPNcricinfo, the 30-year-old has also been advised eight weeks of rest after undergoing an MRI scan, following stepping on Dean Elgar's foot accidently while practicing.

Fast bowler Kyle Abbott was roped in to replace Philander in the Test squad.

The injury is seen as a big blow for the tourists as pace spearhead Dale Steyn's participation in the Bengaluru Test was thrown into doubt after sustaining a groin strain last week.

According to a release by the Cricket South Africa, a decision on the availability of Steyn would be taken only after a final fitness test on Friday.

India are currently leading the four-match Test series 10 after comprehensively defeating South Africa by 108 runs in Mohali.

PCB expresses surprise over Younis' retiring from ODIs Djokovic, Federer clinch ANI Karachi, Nov. 12 : Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shahryar Khan has expressed dismay and surprise of veteran batsman Younis Khan's decision to retire from one-day cricket, and said he felt that the latter was not taking the right time in calling it quits. Younis had earlier announced that he

would retire from the ODIs after the opening match against England at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Praising Younis for his contributions to the game so far, Shahryar said that the former has been performing well, which is why he was selected to represent Pakistan in ODIs again.

Pakistan's chief selector

Haroon Rashid said Younis was chosen for the ODI squad keeping in mind that he would help the side in its future assignments. Rashid said the selectors picked the 37year-old hoping that he would stabilise the batting line-up, and added that the player had never discussed his retirement plans with the selection committee.

The 37-year-old veteran batsman, who played 264 matches in his 15-yearlong career, has scored 7240 till now, including seven hundreds and 48 fifties. He is also the sixth highest run-getter for Pakistan in ODIs. The Pakistan stalwart had overtaken Javed Miandad as the highest run-scorer for his nation in Tests last month.

ATP's top awards

ANI Johannesburg, Nov. 12: Serbian tennis professionalNovak Djokovic has been declared as the winner of the ATP World Tour No. 1 for the second consecutive year. The 28-year-old will receive the award for the fourth time overall, Sport24 reported.

Djokovic has clinched three out of the four Grand Slam titles this year, namely Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open.

Meanwhile, Roger Federer has been awarded with the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award for the eleventh time. He also receives fans' favourite award for a 13th straight year. Bryan brothers- Mike and Bob clinched the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award for their off-court contributions. The world number one and Federer will now play in the ATP World Tour Finals from November 15.

Ishant likely to replace Playing all sports shaped me Umesh, Steyn still doubtful as a cricketer: AB de Villiers Agencies Bengaluru, Nov 12: Having served a one-Test suspension, India's pace spearhead Ishant Sharma is raring to have a go at the South African batting line-up and is all set to replace Umesh Yadav in the playing XI for the second cricket Test, starting Saturday.

Ishant's counterpart Dale Steyn, however, is still battling against time to get fit for the important encounter.

Ishant's inclusion in the playing XI was never in question but what one was curious as to whom he would replace in the starting line-up.

The Indian team's training session at the Chinnaswamy Stadium gave ample indication that Varun Aaron, who worked up good pace and also got a second innings

wicket of Dean Elgar, would partner Ishant with the new ball. Yadav, who played in the last Test match, was seen doing fielding drills for the better part of the session as both Ishant and Aaron bowled at the main nets.

Ishant, in fact, bowled for a considerable amount of time as he hurled the red cherry to almost all the top order batsmen including skipper Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Muali Vijay.

Despite being out of international cricket for a monthand-a-half, Ishant had been in good form as he got nine wickets in a Ranji game against Vidarbha and a couple against Haryana in the match where he sustained a hamstring injury.

Aaron was also seen bowling at the main nets while Yadav

along with KL Rahul were seen taking catches. Yadav did bowl later but it was to the lower order batsmen which was an indication that he might find it difficult to make it to the playing XI. Meanwhile, South African pace spearhead Steyn will be appearing for a fitness test as the team management will like to ensure that he has re-

covered fully from the groin strain, which he sustained during the first Test.When AB de Villiers was asked about status of Steyn's fitness, he didn't sound too optimistic. "He's going to have a fitness test. So I'm not 100% sure. We are hoping for his return but we'll see how he goes today and tomorrow," De Villiers said.

Agencies Bengaluru: Set to play in his landmark 100th match in the second Test against India here on Saturday, South African batting lynchpin AB de Villiers on Thursday said that his forays into other sports have helped him mould into the cricketer that he is today.

31-year-old de Villiers excelled at various sports like rugby, football, hockey and badminton before taking up cricket as a career and contemporary cricket's best batsman said that itself has actually given him an edge over others.

"All kinds of sports while

growing up shaped me into the cricketer I am today. I don't think I can turn my back on that. I played a lot of ball sports in a sports crazy family.

Two older brothers that always kept me busy in the backyard with all kinds of games," de Villiers told reporters here. "My parents were never against me playing all kinds of sports. They always let me make my own decisions and that's a valuable lesson growing up. They allowed me to spread my wings and to do my own things. It was completely my own decision to go into cricket. "I think my dad

would have liked me to be a doctor or to go to university and get a degree but he'll obviously be happy with where I am at the moment and the career I've chosen and what I've achieved with my cricket. Same with my mom, no pressure from her side. My family gave me a lot of opportunities to express my talent," he said. Perceived to be a friendly player among cricketers, de Villiers, however, said he is not a nice guy once he enters the cricket field. "I'm not a nice guy on the field. I want to win games. I'll do whatever it takes for us to win games of cricket. If I

have to sledge, I'll get involved like that. I'll try and intimidate a player if I have to. I'll try and get Virat off his game by talking about his technique and little flaws. I don't mind doing things like that, whatever it takes to win games of cricket. "I've never really respected a guy who's been a 'nice guy' on the field. I want opposition to be hard, to play to win games for their team.

Off the field, I try to be a good human being and it's got nothing to do with cricket. I know my role in the side and that's to win games for my team. A lot of times I don't have to be a nice guy to do that."

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