Mizoram Chief Minister: I am told “you do not look like an Indian!”

P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE: An awareness deficit among Indians about their northeastern region and its current economic constraints were brought into focus by Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla at an international conference here on Thursday.

Highlighted in particular was the lack of awareness about the racial composition of India.
Mr. Thanhawla was addressing a networking session on the “business of water in India.” The event was jointly organised by the City-State’s public utility agency, called PUB, and the Singapore-based India Business Forum of the Confederation of Indian Industry. The overarching event was the Singapore International Water Week.

Emphasising the identity of the northeastern States as an integral region of India, Mr. Thanhawla said: “Even after [my] landing here, many people ask me: ‘You do not look like an Indian!’ Even in my own country, wherever I go to, Delhi or down south, while I say ‘I am from Mizoram,’ [I am asked] where is Mizoram. I tell them that this is in their own country. And, I ask many people, who claim themselves to be national leaders: ‘Why do you not accept that our great country is populated by at least three major races of the world?’”
In reply to this question, he cited the Dravidians in the south, the Aryans in the north, and the people belonging to the Mongoloid stock in the eastern, mainly northeastern region, besides the aborigines in various parts.
The northeastern region “is far away from mainland-India,” the two being linked by the so-called “chicken neck” bordering West Bengal.

Mizo push for Barak railway plan

SILCHAR: A powerful social organization from Mizoram has extended support to a convention proposed to be held in Silchar, Assam on Sunday demanding immediate implementation of the much-delayed Lumding-Silchar broad gauge project.

Young Mizo Association (YMA) members will also take part in the agitations to be chalked out by the Silchar-based Citizens' Forum during the meet. YMA expressed concern over the "inordinate delay" in implementing the broad gauge project, as the 221-km rail link is considered the lifeline for southern Assam, Tripura, Mizoram and parts of Manipur.

Sources said this is for the first time a Mizo organization joined hands with its Barak Valley counterpart for the cause of the rail project.

'Notorious' gunrunner not Mizoram resident

Aizawl, Jun 20 : Intelligence sources today clarified that a 'Mizo notorious gunrunner' was not a permanent resident of Mizoram but a Myanmarese migrant.

The National Investigation Agency on Tuesday released a sketch of John Mizo alias Shambhu Pradhan, who allegedly supplied arms to the Dima Halam Daogah(Jewel) and other insurgent groups in the North East.

''We know this man very well. He is a Myanmarese national.

Notorious drug and arm smugglers are mainly from Myanmar and pose as Mizoram residents giving a bad name to our state,'' an intelligence officer here said.

According to sources John Mizo generally operates from areas bordering Myanmar and Bangladesh.

''His arrest will be crucial to cracking the entire network of arms supply to the NE militants,'' a source said.

John’s role in supplying arms to the militants came to light with the arrest of two DHD(J) cadres. Sources said Rs 1 crore recovered from them was to be paid to John in return of his supplied arms. The sketch was prepared based on the description given by the arrested ultras.

Maoists take over part of India's West Bengal state

New Delhi - A Maoist-backed organization of local tribal people has virtually taken over Lalgarh, an area of India's eastern West Bengal
state, and set fire to police camps and offices of the ruling party, news reports said Tuesday.

Hundreds of supporters of the People's Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCPA) set fire to police camps in the villages of Salboni, Rangarh and Dharampur in the early hours of Monday, the Indian Express newspaper reported.

They also demolished offices of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), a leading partner in West Bengal's ruling leftist coalition.

The locals were accompanied by armed cadres of the CPI-M, which is spearheading the rebellion in the area.

Lalgarh town and adjoining villages in West Midnapore district have seen widespread unrest by local tribes since November when the Maoists supported the formation of the PCPA to organize protests against alleged police atrocities.

Barely 200 kilometres north-west of the state capital Kolkata, Lalgarh has been a virtual no-go area for the local administration since late 2008 and the media has largely been barred.

On Monday, the media was allowed in and television channels showed drumming, dancing villagers celebrating.

PCPA leaders were quoted as saying that they were not responsible for the arson or demolitions but that it was a spontaneous expression of anger.

Most local officeholders of the CPI-M as well as police fled the area before the attacks took place.

At least three CPI-M cadres were killed during the violence and two more were missing, PTI news agency reported.

Three police posts were ransacked and set on fire along with a local office of the CPI-M.

Television channels filmed PCPA members demolishing a new two-storey house belonging to a local CPI-M leader on Monday.

After the demolition, a leader of the Communist Party of India-Maoist, identified as Bikash, gave a press briefing with his back to the camera and an AK-47 rifle slung across his shoulder.

'The ground here is already ready and waiting for us. A child is about to be born and we are playing the role of the nurse who will deliver it,' he said.

West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya called a meeting of top officials to discuss future action in Lalgarh.

Bhattacharya narrowly escaped a landmine blast triggered by the Maoists when he was passing through the area in November 2008, following which, locals allege, the police atrocities increased with illegal detentions and torture.

Maoist guerrillas who operate in 13 Indian states say they are fighting for the rights of the landless, poor and tribal people.

They usually target security personnel and government installations.

According to unofficial estimates, at least 400 people, including rebels, have been killed in Maoist violence since January 2009.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the Maoist insurgency as one of the gravest internal security threats facing India.

Read more: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/southasia/news/article_1483883.php/Maoists_take_over_part_of_Indias_West_Bengal_state_#ixzz0ImThYBNX&B

Aizawl Theological College inaugurates M.Th in History of Christianity

By Babu thomas

Aizawl Theological College (ATC) will now offer Master of Theology (M.Th) in History of Christianity as its latest post-graduate course.

A special function to inaugurate the opening of the new course was held at ATC Sandy's Hall on Friday 12 June.

The function was led by Rev. Dr. Lalhmangaiha, Senior Executive Secretary of Mizoram Presbyterian Church. ATC Principal Rev. Dr. Roger Gaikwad thanked the invited guests, while Mizoram Presbyterian Church Synod Moderator Rev. H. Lalchhanhima announced the opening of the new course.

With the induction of new M.Th (Christian History) course, ATC now offers four fields of study at Master's level including Theology, Missiology and New Testament.

After this function was held, a book written by Dr. O.L. Snaitang, History of Christianity Head of Department, “Historical Methodology & Historiography” was also presented and discussed. Dr. Snaitang is one of the leading Church history in India, he is currently serving as President of Church History Association of India (CHAI).

Currently, there are 22 M.Th students including the three new students in the History of Christianity course.

Aizawl Theological College is one of the leading Theological colleges in India. It is affiliated to Serampore college; the Senate of Serampore is a deemed university based in Serampore, near Kolkata city in West Bengal state. Serampore college was founded by an English Baptist Missionary to India and the father of modern mission - William Carey, and his friends Joshua Marshman and William Ward in 1818.

Mizoram bans import of pigs from Myanmar

AIZAWL: Amid a sort of paranoia of of swine flu, which is spreading to many countries, Mizoram has banned import of pigs from the neighbouring Myanmar.

Sales of pork, arguably the undisputed champion on the Mizo menu, have dropped drastically. "Ever since as the news of swine flu started getting prominence in newspapers and television channels, sales of pork has suffered. We have to sell beef instead of pork now," a pork seller from Chhinga veng locality said.

Normally on Saturdays, women carrying baskets queue up at meat shops for a grand Sunday breakfast. But such queues have now shifted to beef counters.

Owners of Beef, mutton and chicken shops seem to be revelling at pork sellers' loss. "Niow luck is now on our side. Bird flu virtually ruined our business. But now our business has looked up," said a chicken seller called.

State animal husbandry and veterinary department director C Sangnghina said, "No case of swine flu has so far been detected here. We are alert and on the job. Our rapid action team is keeping a strict vigil along the 722-km international border with Myanmar and Bangladesh and also boundaries with Assam, Manipur and Tripura.

Gill's IHF joins hands with Hockey India

New Delhi, Jun 14 In a dramatic turn of events, the erstwhile Indian Hockey Federation and the newly-formed Hockey India today decided to bury the hatchet and joined hands to bring the state associations -- both men's and women's -- into HI's fold.

The erstwhile IHF decided to join hands with HI in its general body meeting here today and formed a six-member sub-committee to work out the modalities of the merger of the men's and women's units in the state level within 45 days time.

"We held a meeting of the IHF general house today with due notice to states and union territories. We have 28 states and five union territories under us of which majority attended the meeting.

"We've been having discussion with Hockey India for quite sometime and in today's meeting the main decision we took was to set up the modalities for the merger of the state associations," Gill told reporters.

"For this purpose we have formed a sub-committee. The main idea is to work out the modalities of the merger and smoothen the process. We have given the committee 45 days' time to complete it," he added.

The members of sub-committee includes Chander Sekhar from Chandigarh, Charanjit Singh (Delhi), Dinesh Reddy (Andhra Pradesh), RK Shetty (Karnataka), Pratap Satpatty (Orissa) and H Khiangte (Mizoram). (Agencies)