Mizo people highest tobacco consumers in country

AIZAWL, Dec 14 - Mizoram has the highest rate of tobacco consumption in the country with a record of 67.2 per cent of its population using different kinds of tobacco products, Dr Jane R Ralte, Nodal Officer of Mizoram State Tobacco Control Society said, while quoting the report of Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS).

She added that about 8 lakh people of the world died every year due to second-hand smoke.

Addressing a one day 'Media Workshop on Tobacco Control in Mizoram' here recently, Dr Ralte said that as many as 5,41,000 people in Mizoram used different kinds of tobacco products and the total annual expenditure on tobacco products is estimated at Rs 21,934. While there are 2,01,252 cigarette smokers in Mizoram 33,001 are Zozial (locally made or indigenous cigar) smokers.

National Family Health Survey-3, reports that during 2005-06 the total percentage of male smokers in Mizoram was 73.6 which was much higher than the country average percentage of male smokers (32.1%).

The percentage of female smokers was 16.1 per cent. While the percentage of male using any tobacco was 83.4, female using any tobacco products was estimated at 60.8 percent during 2005-6, reposts National Family Health Survey-3.

According to Dr Ralte about 100 million people have been killed worldwide in the 20th Century due to consumption of tobacco and if this trend continues, tobacco could kill 1 billion people during the 21st Century.

It has been estimated that by 2030, tobacco will kill 8 million people each year unless urgent action is taken, she said.

She also said that about 8 lakh people have been killed every year due to second-hand smoke and 62 percent of non-smokers in Mizoram are exposed to second hand smoke at work places.

Dr Ralte said that Mizoram registered the highest rate of cancer patients in India with a record of 5,888 people suffering from the deadly disease while about 3137 people had died of cancer in 5 years.

READ MORE - Mizo people highest tobacco consumers in country

Mizoram collects Rs 19.44 cr from liquor

 AIZAWL, Nov 30 - Government of Mizoram has collected a total of Rs 19.44 crore from sale of liquor in eight months after Mizoram Liquor Prohibition & Control (MLPC) Act, 2014 came to force in the State from January 16 last, official sources said.

Over 56,631 people were issued liquor permit under the MLPC Act and there were 22 retail wine shops across five districts of the State.

As many as 18 retail wine shops were opened in five districts across the state, including six in Aizawl. According to the sources, the government also received a total revenue of Rs 24.82 crore with subsequent issue of sale permit since March, 2015.

As many as 1,495 people had been disciplined or booked for violation of MLPC Act, while over 507 persons have misused their permit.

The sources also said that the sale or consumption of spurious liquor has decreased considerably after the implementation of MLPC Act.

READ MORE - Mizoram collects Rs 19.44 cr from liquor

62 Percent Turnout in Mizoram By-Election

An estimated 61.98 per cent voters exercised their franchise in the by-election to Aizawl North – III Assembly seat on Saturday, Mizoram State Election department officials said.

Aizawl district SP Lalhuliana Fanai said the polling in all the 19 polling stations was completely peaceful. An estimated 61.98 per cent voters of the total electorate of 17,582 voted, SEC said.

The voters decided the political fortunes of Lal Thanzara of ruling Congress, K Vanlalvena of Mizo National Front and Lalduhawma of National Democratic Alliance, pre-poll alliance of Zoram Nationalist Party and BJP. Counting of votes would be conducted on Tuesday next.

By-poll in the constituency was necessitated by the resignation of former Health Minister and Congress nominee Lal Thanzara on August 18 last due to allegations of conflict of interests.

READ MORE - 62 Percent Turnout in Mizoram By-Election

FIRs mark end to campaigning for Aizawl assembly seat

Campaigning for the November 21 by-election to Aizawl North III Assembly seat in Mizoram ended today amidst acrimony with a candidate and a Congress leader filing FIRs against each other.

Mizo National Front candidate R Vanlalvena filed the FIR against Aizawl District Congress Committee (ADCC) leader K Lalthantluanga, who had accused him of taking Rs 2 lakh from Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla just before 2013 state Assembly elections.

Lalthantluanga in a press conference yesterday had said Vanlalvena had received the money from the chief minister through him following promises to campaign for Lal Thanhawla in Hrangturzo Assembly seat.

Vanlalvena in his FIR said he had never received money from Lal Thanhawla or Lalthantluanga and the latter's claim was an attempt to tarnish his name and that of MNF during the hustings.

Lalthantluanga filed a counter FIR in the same police station claiming that his statement was true and the MNF candidate was trying to defame him.

Polling for the by-poll to the Aizawl North - III seat would be held on Saturday.

By-poll in the constituency was necessitated by the resignation of former health minister Lal Thanzara on August 18 last due to allegations of 'conflict of interests' in news reports and by the opposition parties.

Lal Thanzara, the younger brother of Lal Thanhawla allegedly held more than 21 per cent shares in a construction company which bagged road construction work of the state government worth crores of rupees.

His HP Food Products company was also alleged to have supplied nutrition items worth crores of rupees to the state social welfare department when he was a parliamentary secretary and later a minister of state.

He is, however, the Congress candidate for the same seat he vacated.

READ MORE - FIRs mark end to campaigning for Aizawl assembly seat

MNF to contest all seats in AMC polls

Opposition Mizo National front (MNF) would contest all the seats for the coming election to the 19-ward Aizawl Municipal Corporation (AMC) to be held on November 26.

President Zoramthanga today announced that the MNF would contest all the seats, including six reserved for women.

The ruling Congress, which forged alliance with the Mizoram People's Conference (MPC) was yet to announce its candidates for the civic polls though the seat-sharing formula of 14:5 was already agreed upon by the two partners.

The BJP and the Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP) combine under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) banner was also yet to announce its candidates for the AMC polls.

Meanwhile, no one has file nomination papers for the by-election to the Aizawl North - III assembly seat till today even Wednesday is the last date of filing nominations.

The by-poll, necessitated by the resignation of former health minister Lal Thanzara on August 18 over alleged 'conflict of interests' case, would be held on November 21.

The ruling Congress announced that Lal Thanzara would be its candidate for the coming by-polls while the MNF nominated president of its youth front K. Vanlalvena to contest against the former.

No nomination papers were received till date for both the elections to the AMC and the Lai Autonomous District Council (LADC) to be held simultaneously on October 26 for which last date of filing nominations was fixed on Friday next.

READ MORE - MNF to contest all seats in AMC polls

Mizoram to pay ex-gratia to kin of slain cop

AIZAWL, Oct 29 - Mizoram Government has approved ex-gratia payment amounting to Rs 10 lakh each to kin of policemen killed in an ambush by Hmar People’s Convention (Democrats) militants on March 28, Home Minister R Lalzirliana informed the Assembly recently.

The Minister was replying to a query from Lalruatkima and Dr K Beichhua of Mizo National Front (MNF).

Three policemen were killed when the team of State Assembly’s Committee on Government Assurances were ambushed by Hmar militants near Mizoram-Manipur border Zokhawthiang hamlet.

Two relatives of the slain policemen were given jobs on compassionate ground while a relative of Constable Hmangaihmawia was yet to be appointed, the Home Minister said.

READ MORE - Mizoram to pay ex-gratia to kin of slain cop

Mizoram Govt sending 16 youths to Japan

AIZAWL, Oct 27 - Mizoram Government is sending youths from the State to Japan to learn Japanese language there and later work at an ‘Aged Care Home’. In this connection, a Japanese team comprising leaders from Kokoro College Nagasaki, Japan led by its chairman Joji Iwanaga met Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla at his residence here recently.

They came to give visa to the selected Mizo youths. Japan is in need of foreign students to work at its ‘Aged Care Home, Iwanaga told the CM during their interaction. At present, 16 Mizo youths have been selected who would be the first from India for the Japan Government’s programme. Iwanaga also asked the Chief Minister to send more Mizo youths to help meet the high demand for foreign students by Japan Government to work at its ‘Aged Care Home’.

READ MORE - Mizoram Govt sending 16 youths to Japan

Mizo National Front to go it alone in AMC, LADC polls

Aizawl, Oct 27 : Opposition Mizo National Front (MNF) today announced that the party would go it alone in the coming Aizawl Municipal Corporation (AMC) and Lai Autonomous District Council (LADC) polls likely to be held in November.

MNF president Zoramthanga told party workers at a meeting MNF office that contesting the coming polls alone would ensure formation of stable self-governments in AMC and LADC. The party, he said, would nominate untainted candidates having excellent track records.

Meanwhile, ruling Congress has said that it would form alliance with Mizoram People's Conference(MPC) in the coming by-poll in Aizawl North III assembly seat and the elections to AMC.

Mizoram PCC Vice-president and state home minister R Lalzirliana told PTI that Congress has already announced its intention to forge electoral alliance with MPC, founded by the late former chief minister Brig Thenphunga Sailo in the coming AMC elections.

MPCC and MPC had formed a coalition in AMC after Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP) withdrew support to the Congress-led AMC executive body and formed alliance with MNF.

READ MORE - Mizo National Front to go it alone in AMC, LADC polls

104-year-old woman passes away in Mizoram

Rangchhingpuii, a 104-year-old woman, died of old age at Vaivakawn in Aizawl on Wednesday, family members said.

Rangchhingpuii and her husband late R. Zobela had ten children, 42 grandchildren, 102 great-grandchildren and 45 great-great grandchildren.

She breathed her last early on Wednesday morning, family members added.

READ MORE - 104-year-old woman passes away in Mizoram

Bengaluru: Nigerian arrested for raping friend's wife

A 28-year-old Nigerian has been arrested by the Bengaluru Police for allegedly raping his friend's wife in the city. Incidentally, the accused was overstaying in India after his visa had expired.

According to the police, Christian Chidiebere Chukwu, a native of Lagos, in Nigeria, was staying at his friend's place in Bengaluru, as he was hiding from the police, who had issued a red corner notice against him. Recently, when his friend was away, taking advantage of the situation, he raped his wife, also a Nigerian. However, the victim decided to file a complaint recently.

The police, who arrested Christian, was shocked to learn that his visa had expired in 2013, and he continued to stay in the country. They also found out that the Mizoram police had issued a red corner notice against his name. Christian entered India on a medical attendant visa with his cousin. He stayed in Mizoram for three months and didn't return to Nigeria. From Mizoram, he traveled to Bengaluru with the help of his friends.

It is said that Christian was also involved in a few phishing and cheating cases. The Bengaluru police have written to their Mizoram counterparts on his arrest.

READ MORE - Bengaluru: Nigerian arrested for raping friend's wife

Mizoram to pay compensation to kin of slain policemen

The Mizoram government has approved the ex-gratia payment amounting to Rs 10 lakh each to kin of the policemen killed in an ambush by the Hmar People's Convention (Democrats) militants on March 28, State Home Minister R Lalzirliana informed the Assembly today.

Replying to a query from Lalruatkima and Dr. K Beichhua of the Mizo National Front (MNF), Lalzirliana said that the sanction order for payment of the ex-gratia was being pursued by the Director of the Disaster Management and Rehabilitation.

Three policemen were killed when the team of state assembly's committee on government assurances headed by its chairman R L Pianmawia and two other members (legislators) were ambushed by the Hmar militants near Mizoram-Manipur border Zokhawthiang hamlet.

Two relatives of the slain policemen were given jobs on compassionate ground while a relative of Constable Hmangaihmawia was yet to be appointed, the home minister said.

He added that there were security lapses and that departmental enquiry was initiated against two policemen who went ahead as scouts and did not come to the aid of the ambushed policemen even after hearing gunshots.

READ MORE - Mizoram to pay compensation to kin of slain policemen

Rs 25 lakh sanctioned for development of Vangchhia

AIZAWL: Director general of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has sanctioned Rs 25 lakh for development of Vangchhia heritage site in eastern Mizoram.
INTACH Mizoram chapter president P Rohmingliana met the DG Dr Rakesh Tewari in New Delhi last week and informed him that no steps have been taken to develop the heritage site. “He immediately instructed SA Guwahati (Dr M K Chauley) over phone and asked him to start work with Rs 25 lakhs within his power to sanction, and to make proposals for other development plans beyond his financial powers,” Rohmingthanga said today.
The ASI had declared Vangchhia which is home to nearly 200 ancient menhirs a heritage site of national importance in 2014.
The exact site located near Vangchhia village in Champhai district near the Myanmar border is known as Kawtchhuah Ropui (the great passageway).

The DG also fulfilled the Mizoram INTACH’s proposal to bifurcate the Guwahati circle ASI by instructing one of his officers to immediately make a proposal for the creation of a new circle for Mizoram, Tripura and Manipur with Aizawl as the headquarter.
Rohmingthanga also prayed the DG to pursue the pending proposals for declaration of Lungphunlian, Lianpui, Dungtlang and Farkawn, situated in the vicinity of Vangchhia as heritage sites.
He was also apprised of the pending release of funds for museum improvement even though all papers had already been furnished by director A&C, Mizoram already. Uma Kant, OSD of Mizoram House, New Delhi, who accompanied Rohmingthanga, will further pursue this case.
The declaration of Vangchhia heritage site as “national importance” owes credit to long and arduous efforts of Mizoram chapter INTACH. The menhirs have puzzled both common people and experts alike.
Even though the embossed figures in the menhirs depicted some Mizo cultures, cross cultural dating suggested that they belong to the period of 1200-1400 AD, which was long before Mizo forefathers arrived from Burma.
Archaeologists said that the menhirs are unique to India’s North-eastern region. “We see similar carvings from the historic period in Central and South India, and hope to study these (in Mizoram) further, once they are protected,” said an archaeologist.
No one is certain what these carvings are supposed to represent, but Gupta said they may be akin to the “heroic stones” found elsewhere in the sub-continent—commemoration stones that carry images of game or warriors hunted or killed by chiefs or warriors of a particular clan, tribe or community.

READ MORE - Rs 25 lakh sanctioned for development of Vangchhia

Mizoram: Chakma District’s CEM resigns over last month’s violence

An official at Raj Bhavan said the resignation letter had not yet reached Governor Lt Gen (retd) Nirbhay Sharma's office by 5 pm.

The bandh last month was called to protest against the alleged wrongful recruitment of government employees by the Chakma Autonomous District authorities. (Source: Adam Halliday/Indian Express) The Chief Executive Member (CEM) of Mizoram’s Chakma Autonomous District Council (CADC) resigned on Monday after a meeting of local Congress leaders discussed the August 4 violence at Chawngte/Kamlanagar that led to the death of a student and the ransacking of a dozen elected leaders’ houses and more than 20 vehicles.


Buddhalila Chakma submitted his resignation to Congress leader and former CEM Kali Kumar Tonchongya around 10.30 am, sources said, adding Chakma’s letter has been dispatched to Aizawl, more than 330 kms away.

An official at Raj Bhavan said the resignation letter had not yet reached Governor Lt Gen (retd) Nirbhay Sharma’s office by 5 pm.

Buddhalila Chakma could not be contacted despite several attempts.

Chakma’s resignation comes almost seven weeks after violence broke out at the autonomous district’s headquarters over the alleged wrongful recruitment of more than 100 “relatives” of politicians as government officers and staff by the district authorities.

Students had called a bandh in the town over the appointments, but leaders had been detained by police before the bandh was in place. Several hundred protesters surrounded the police station where the leaders were kept and pelted stones before police opened fire to disperse them.

A 20-year-old student died in the firing, which led the mob to turn on the residences of the CADC’s elected members. At least a dozen homes were ransacked and more than 20 vehicles were destroyed.
The National Human Rights Commission had earlier called for an explanation from the Mizoram government over the student’s death.

In a text message, Chakma said, “I have resigned willingly from the post of CEM today. The reason is – I want to give chance to my colleagues to try their lucks and show & proof their talents.”
He did not respond to a specific query if he was attacked over the violence.

READ MORE - Mizoram: Chakma District’s CEM resigns over last month’s violence

MNF observes Martyr's Day

The Mizo National Front (MNF) party today observed 'Martyr's Day' remembering those who laid down their lives during their 20 years struggle when the party was underground.

In a function held at the Assam Rifles ground here, former Lok Sabha member and treasurer of the party Vanlalzawma said the late MNF founder Laldenga signed the Mizo Peace Accord with the Centre so that the Mizos and Mizoram survived.

Vanlalzawma said the Mizo National Army (MNA) members who laid down their lives for attainment of freedom for the Mizos, would be respected by generations to come.

MNF president Zoramthanga attended the Martyr's Day function in Mizoram-Assam border Kolasib district, while senior vice-president Tawnluia attended the function in south Mizoram's Lunglei town.

The MNF launched armed campaign on March 1, 1966 for sovereignty and signed the Peace Accord with the Indian Union in 1986.

READ MORE - MNF observes Martyr's Day

Culture Cops Take Marry-a-Mizo Pledge

GUWAHATI:Her mixed parentage prevented Mary from fulfilling her dream of becoming a doctor. In Mizoram, where Christians form the majority, the children of mixed parentage are not viewed as Mizos by the locals.
Mary, whose father is Bengali and mother a Mizo, could not appear for the medical entrance test, because of the mixed parentage. Mizoram does not have any medical or engineering college. A certain number of seats are reserved for the locals in institutes outside the state. But the children of mixed parentage literally have no scope of getting admission there.
“A bright student, yet Mary could not sit for the test. She went to Bangalore where she did a course in management and is now working for a private firm there,” a relative of Mary told The Sunday Standard.
In the state, a strong sentiment is brewing against inter-caste marriage to protect and preserve the indigenous Mizo cultures, traditions and identity. Adding to the woes, recently the influential Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP), which is the state’s apex students’ body, made Mizo students across the state take a pledge that they would marry only Mizos. The MZP says it received positive response from students, Mizo groups and organisations besides political parties.
As part of the movement launched on September 2, students in the schools and colleges of the state took a pledge in writing that they would not marry a non-Mizo. The MZP says the students will take a similar oath every year on September 2, and that there will also be awareness campaigns on the issue.
“Our aim is to create awareness among young Mizos against inter-caste marriage since it is a threat to Mizo cultures, business, society and security,” says MZP president Lalhmachhuana.
According to India’s 2011 Census, Mizoram has a population of little over 10 lakh. The MZP says the number of inter-caste marriages is not huge, but as the Mizos have a very small population, the need of the hour is to stop the inter-caste marriages.
The land in most tribal areas in the Northeast is protected. The MZP says protecting land is another reason behind the movement. It alleges that the non-tribals are grabbing land through their local wives.
“As per Article 371 G of the Constitution, non-tribals cannot purchase land in Mizoram. But inter-caste marriages let huge amount of the land go to non-tribals through the names of their local wives. As per the rules of Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulations, outsiders are required to obtain Inner Line Permit (ILP) for a period of at least two years to do business in Mizoram. As ILPs of such term are rarely issued, the non-tribals are using the names of their local spouses to do business here,” Lalhmachhuana points out.
Recently, Manipur witnessed violent protests after the state Assembly had passed a bill proposing land rights to non-tribals in tribal areas. The Mizo Hmeichhe Insuihkhawm Pawl (MHIP), which is the apex women’s body in Mizoram, is among the groups backing this movement. “They (MZP) are trying to protect the pure form of Mizo cultures and traditions as far as possible. What they want to promote is that Mizos should not marry outsiders to have their indigenous cultures and traditions maintained. That’s the reason,” says MHIP vice president Dr Thanpuii.
“We support the campaign but an individual is an individual. We cannot control the person. So, let the children lead their lives the way they want,” she says.
But she admits that inter-caste marriage invariably creates a lot of hassles, not just for the couple but for their children as well. “If a Mizo girl marries an outsider, the family will be faced with a lot of problems. Their children will be denied first category treatment. They will also face difficulties in getting seats in the educational institutes etc. So, when there is an inter-caste marriage, the pure sense of the Mizo way of living and Mizo cultures and traditions get disturbed,” Thanpuii adds.
The Congress is among the parties throwing its weight behind the MZP. The Congress says inter-caste marriages have to be stopped to protect the interests of the Mizos. “We have a very small society and a very small population. Our economy is also weak. The local traders don’t have enough capital to compete with outsiders. So, we have to protect ourselves,” says Congress leader and former MZP president James Thanghmingmawia.
Asked if the movement, launched by MZP, could stop the inter-caste marriages, Thanghmingmawia says: “If someone marries an outsider, no action will be taken against him or her. It is only a campaign urging young Mizos to make a commitment.”
The MZP holds sway across Mizoram and therefore, its appeal to young Mizos is likely to have some impact.

READ MORE - Culture Cops Take Marry-a-Mizo Pledge

Man injured in bear attack

A bear attacked a man in Mizoram's Saiha district seriously injuring him, a police officer said.

Chuanmawia was attacked by the bear near river Tuipanglui and suffered serious injuries on face besides fracture of right arm on Saturday evening, the officer said.

The badly bruised man was later taken to the Primary Health Centre in Tuipang by the locals and then shifted to the District Hospital in Saiha.

Doctors in the District Hospital said that the bear-attack victim was now in stable condition.

Villagers said that bears and wild boars were roaming in the forests near Tuipang and had destroyed the cultivation in many places during the past one month.

READ MORE - Man injured in bear attack

Mizoram drive to stop tranpsort of illicit drugs

Permits of vehicles which are seized for transporting illicit drugs would now be cancelled in Mizoram, an official statement today said.

The state Transport department in a statement said that the order was issued following a meeting between Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla and leaders of the central committee of Young Mizo Association (YMA).

YMA leaders had requested Lal Thanhawla to take a tough stand against not only drug traffickers and pushers, but also the transporters.

The chief minister had in turn promised more stringent punishment would be meted out to vehicle owners and drivers involved in drug trafficking.

Transport department officials said majority of drugs in the state, including heroin and methamphetamine, are smuggled in from Myanmar via Zokhawthar along the international border in Champhai district.

The government has instructed police, transport, excise and narcotics departments' officials to keep watch on vehicles plying between Zokhawthar and Aizawl.

"There are 83 maxicabs plying between Zokhawthar and Aizawl carrying passengers, baggage and goods and a plethora of contraband haul were made from the vehicles plying in the route," the Transport officials said.

READ MORE - Mizoram drive to stop tranpsort of illicit drugs

Bru repatriation: Tripartite talks to discuss way forward

The meeting comes after the various government entities submitted a report about the zero response to the repatriation process from Bru tribals. The repatriation process of Bru tibals was to be completed by September.

Officials from Mizoram, Tripura and the Union Home Ministry are scheduled to meet on September 15 in New Delhi to discuss the way forward after tens of thousands of Bru tribals refused to return home despite a three-month long repatriation effort that concluded late last month.

The meeting comes after the various government entities submitted a report about the zero response to the repatriation process from Bru tribals, who live in six relief camps in Tripura, to the Social Justice bench of the Supreme Court.

As reported earlier, none of the 11,000-odd adult Brus with votes in Mizoram or their family members were willing to return home during the repatriation process after relief camp leaders publicly rejected the rehabilitation package offered by the MHA, which includes Rs 80,000 in cash, free rations for a year and finances to build houses with.

Brus fled Mizoram en-masse in 1997 following ethnic conflict. They have been confined to six relief camps by the Tripura government ever since, where they live on rations and without proper education and health facilities. They also do not have voting rights in Tripura.

READ MORE - Bru repatriation: Tripartite talks to discuss way forward

Trouble in Northeast: Mizoram CM asks PM Narendra Modi to stop Manipur bills

The controversy brewing in Manipur over inner line permit (ILP) issue after passage of three controversial bills by the state legislative assembly is threatening to snowball into major trouble and spread to other neighbouring states.

In an express letter, Mizoram chief minister Lal Thanhawla has asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure that the central government does not give its consent to the three bills passed by the Manipur legislative assembly considering the volatile and sensitive nature that exists among the three communities viz. Meities, Nagas and the Kuki/ Mizo ethnic groups in Manipur.

Owing to sustained pressure by Meitei groups to introduce inner line permit (ILP) in Manipur, the state legislative assembly on August 31 had convened a special session to pass three bills, viz. Protection of Manipur People Bill, 2015, Manipur Land Revenue & Land Reforms (Seventh Amendment) Bill, 2015, and Manipur Shop & Establishment (Second Amendment) Bill, 2015.

In the letter dated September 4, Lal Thanhawla said, "Considering the volatile and sensitive nature that exists among the three communities in Manipur, I would like to request you to ensure that the central government does not give its consent to the three bills passed by the Manipur legislative assembly as they are directly against the tribal people of the state."

In the heart of the controversy is the Protection of Manipur People Bill that describes "Manipur people" as those, whose names are in the National Register of Citizens, 1951, census report 1951 and in the village directory of 1951. This, indigenous communities of Nagas, Kukis and Mizos claim, could make them foreigners in their own land as a lot of communities were still in settling mode in 1951.

The situation, sources said, needs deft handling as it can threaten to push Nagas, Kukis and Mizos to claim their share of land or as Naga People's Front, whose four MLAs resigned against the bills, has warned "could throw a spanner in the Naga Peace Accord" besides "engulfing the Naga inhabited areas of Manipur in avoidable conflicts."

In all probability, the Centre is not going to give its assent to the controversial bills, said sources.

Controversial bill
In the heart of the controversy is the Protection of Manipur People Bill that describes "Manipur people" as those, whose names are in the National Register of Citizens, 1951, census report 1951 and in the village directory of 1951. This, indigenous communities of Nagas, Kukis and Mizos claim, could make them foreigners in their own land as a lot of communities were still in settling mode in 1951.

The situation, sources said, needs deft handling as it can threaten to push Nagas, Kukis and Mizos to claim their share of land or as Naga People's Front, whose four MLAs resigned against the bills, has warned "could throw a spanner in the Naga Peace Accord" besides "engulfing the Naga inhabited areas of Manipur in avoidable conflicts."

READ MORE - Trouble in Northeast: Mizoram CM asks PM Narendra Modi to stop Manipur bills

Mizoram asks Centre to extend FSA deadline

AIZAWL, Sept 7 - Mizoram Government has asked Centre to extend the deadline for implementation of the Food Security Act by a month.

State Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister John Rotluangliana today said the State Government would not be able to implement the Food Security Act by the October deadline and therefore asked for a month’s extension.

“We are not ready as many of the selection committees in the villages are yet to submit the list of selected families of beneficiaries under the Act,” he said.

Of the State’s population of 12 lakh, he said, only 7,06,000 people would be covered by the Act and the rest would be taken care of by the State Government under different schemes.

The Minister said the monsoon stock of foodstuff in the State was sufficient. However, some remote villages were facing shortage of foodstuff due to monsoon-related problems including road blockades due to landslides and floods.

READ MORE - Mizoram asks Centre to extend FSA deadline

Honest Mizo politicians, officers honoured

AIZAWL, Sept 8 - Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) today honoured and commemorated six Mizo politicians and officers who have been adjudged as free of corruption.

The student body had earlier conducted a poll among some civil employees and important student and NGO leaders to elect politicians and in-service officers who are considered free of corruption.

Three politicians, namely, H Liansailoa, Vice Chairman of Planning Board, Lt Col ZS Zuala(Rtd), Parliamentary Secretary (Home) and Vanlalzawma, MLA were adjudged corruption-free politicians.

Three civil officers – Lalmalsawma, IAS, Chief Secretary, Lalhmasaa Executive Engineer, PWD and K Lalthawmmawia, IAS, Director School Education department – have been nominated corruption-free officers.

READ MORE - Honest Mizo politicians, officers honoured

Mizoram’s power lifeline on shaky ground after landslip

Parts of the ground on which Mizoram’s most important power distribution point stands sunk a couple of feet that night, endangering equipment.
Aizawl, Sep 7 : A downpour was drenching the old building at 1.45am on August 28 when what seemed to be a tremor struck. Several glass panes on windows lining the western wall cracked and broke, as did parts of the concrete wall of the control room of the 132KV power sub-station at Zuangtui, on Aizawl’s eastern outskirts.

“Some of us immediately ran out,” says P C Liannghawra, 52, who was on night duty at the control room. But it wasn’t a tremor in the conventional sense.

Parts of the ground on which Mizoram’s most important power distribution point stands sunk a couple of feet that night, endangering equipment. The landslip has created a scenario where, in the worst case, three-fourths of the state would be plunged into darkness. And, no one can say for how long.

Along with the sub-station’s campus, an entire portion of the hillside that extends several kilometres towards a ravine on its east has sunk. B Rothangliana, a Zuangtui resident and community leader who works as a joint engineer at the sub-station, says, “The first priority is to shift the control room, which is this sub-station’s lifeline.”

C Lallawmsanga, an executive engineer with the state power and electricity department’s distribution wing, says, “This sub-station feeds all the power lines going east, south and west of Aizawl and supplies electricity to more than half the city… this is where we get all our power from.”

The landslip has caused much concern. Chief Secretary Lalmalsawma called a meeting of P&E engineers and the disaster management department officials Thursday. Friday, staff from sub-stations across the city gathered at the Zuangtui sub-station with shovels and waterproof sheets to cover points on the ground that have sunk. Officials admit it is a temporary measure.

Landslip had endangered the Zuangtui sub-station in 1993 too. On June 27 that year, the land sunk more than three feet, says Liannghawra. The ground may have moved since, but not noticeably till this year. Plans were drawn up some years ago to shift the sub-station, but funding for the Rs 22-crore project is trickling in.

The slow financial disbursement is worsened by the financial crunch the state is facing. So far, the government has been unable to table a proper budget, only using the vote-on-account route. This could have implications for the sub-station shifting project because the state needs to cough up a 10% matching share. Engineers doubt the project will meet the targeted completion date of March 2016.

READ MORE - Mizoram’s power lifeline on shaky ground after landslip

Ramthar Ni being observed in Mizoram

The Presbyterian Church, the largest church denomination in Mizoram today observed 'Ramthar Ni', the anniversary of the arrival of Rev. D E Jones, the Welsh missionary who established the Presbyterian Church in Mizoram.

Rev. Jones, known to the Mizos as 'Zosaphluia' or the older missionary was sent by the Welsh Presbyterian Church to establish the Presbyterian Church and landed in Mizoram soil on August 31, 1897.

Earlier, two pioneer missionaries - Rev. J H Lorraine and Rev. F W Savidge landed in Mizoram, then known as the Lushai country on January 11, 1894 while the fist missionary to land in the Lushai country was Rev. William Williams, who reached Aizawl from Syhlet (now in Bangladesh) in 1891.

'Ramthar Ni' has been observed by the Presbyterian Church since 1972 and the day is regarded as the day when the church was established in Mizoram.

Prayer and worship services were held in all the local Presbyterian Churches across the state today.

READ MORE - Ramthar Ni being observed in Mizoram

Mizoram sisters’ ‘rape’, murder: Police search for 18-year-old suspect

The bloodied bodies of the two girls were found around 8 pm Friday near their tin-roofed home in a corner of the village about 80 kms from state capital Aizawl.

Chhingchhip, Aug 31 : A manhunt was launched to arrest an 18-year-old youth suspected to have murdered and possibly raped two sisters — aged three and six — in the Mizoram village of Chhingchhip, said a police officer on Saturday.

The bloodied bodies of the two girls were found around 8 pm on Friday near their tin-roofed home in the village, about 80 km from state capital Aizawl.

J Lalnunmawia, a member of the village council, said near the younger girl’s body villagers found a bag that had the elder sister’s school books, clothes and a blood-stained white t-shirt.

“We took the t-shirt to a few young men in the village and they all said it belonged to Lalchhuantluanga,” he added.

According to him, Lalchhuantluanga is known to be a drug-user — mostly he sniffed glue — and has been caught stealing money several times before. He said some villagers also saw him around the time they were searching for the girls. Later, he disappeared with both villagers and police now searching for him as the prime suspect.

On Friday, the victim’s parents were at their farm near the Tuikum river and the sisters were supposed to visit their maternal uncle’s home nearby, where they never showed up. The 17-year-old sister of the victims was supposed to accompany them there. But instead she had gone to the farm to collect some fresh vegetables, said the girls’ 45-year-old father.

The neighbours said they had last seen the duo playing with their friends in a field around 10 am on Friday.

READ MORE - Mizoram sisters’ ‘rape’, murder: Police search for 18-year-old suspect

No Bru tribal individual turn up for identification

Not a single Bru turned up before the Mizoram officials at the Hazacherra relief camp in North Tripura on the second day today for identification and subsequent repatriation to Mizoram, Mamit district Additional DC Lalbiaksangi said.

Lalbiaksangi said Identification officials from Mamit, Kolasib and Lunglei were camping at Hazacherra camp to conduct verification of bona-fide residents of Mizoram since Saturday last.

The identification process began yesterday at the relief camp, the last of the six camps, where efforts would be made to repatriate 3,544 Bru families from six relief camps in Tripura.

The repatriation process under the Road Map-IV for Bru Repatriation, prepared by the state home department and approved by the Supreme Court commenced from July 2 last.

However, no Bru had come forward till date for identification and no one has so far returned to Mizoram even as identification process and repatriation efforts were made at Kaskau, Asapara, Hamsapara, Khakchangpara and Naisingpara relief camps as per schedule of the Road Map.

READ MORE - No Bru tribal individual turn up for identification

ZNP demands another Minister’s scalp

AIZAWL, Aug 25  - Close on the heels of Mizoram Health Minister Lal Thanzara submitting his resignation, Opposition Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP) has demanded that Social Welfare Minister PC Lalthanliana should also step down.

ZNP vice president K Liantlinga alleged that a food company, owned by Thanzara, had supplied Rs 22.35-crore worth protein biscuits to Social Welfare department during 2008-2009 to 2014-2015.

Liantlinga said that the Health Minister, earlier a Parliamentary Secretary during 2008-2013 having assisted Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla, filed affidavits during elections in 2008 and 2013 that he was the owner of the said food product company at Zuangtui, Aizawl.

The ZNP leader demanded that Lalthanliana should also step down as both were fit to be disqualified as legislators in accordance with the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

When contacted, Lalthanliana said, “There is no reason for me to resign because the contracts were awarded to the firms by the State purchase advisory body.”

READ MORE - ZNP demands another Minister’s scalp

Dampa Tiger Reserve case: Gauhati HC asks Mizoram Chief Secy to appear before it as state failed to respond

The order comes after Mizo govt failed to respond to a petition for the dismantling of 500 sq kms of Dampa Tiger Reserve and compensation for more than 500 families evicted from within it's boundaries almost 30 years ago.

Aizawl : The Gauhati High Court has ordered Mizoram’s Chief Secretary to appear before it in person on September 1.

The order comes after the state government failed to respond to a petition asking for, in effect, for the dismantling of 500 sq kms of Dampa Tiger Reserve and compensation for more than 500 families evicted from within it’s boundaries almost 30 years ago.

According to Lalramtiama, lawyer for the petitioners PRISM (an Aizawl-based NGO), GHC Chief Justice Sreedhar Rao on Monday asked the Mizoram Chief Secretary to appear before it in person after the state did not file responses through their lawyers after given them several chances.

Lalramtiama said PRISM has asked for the “restoration” of the Dampa Tiger Reserve because it was illegally notified in 1985 after an earlier notification had been quashed by a court.

His clients have asked for the latter notification to be withdrawn and set aside, he said, while demanding compensation for more than 500 families from almost a score villages within the reserve who were evicted without any relief or rehabilitation measures.

READ MORE - Dampa Tiger Reserve case: Gauhati HC asks Mizoram Chief Secy to appear before it as state failed to respond

Man gets 13 years in prison for repeatedly raping, physically abusing 12-year-old daughter

As the girl neared puberty, she was repeatedly raped and physically abused by her father. A local court on Friday sentenced a 38-year-old man to 13 years rigorous imprisonment for raping his 12-year-old daughter repeatedly over a year and cutting off her right forefinger.

The man, a native of Vairengte village in northern Mizoram, was accused by the girl’s school teacher of committing the crimes and police subsequently arrested him following the teacher’s complaints.

The convicted rapist and his wife had separated when the girl was a small child, and the wife had been looking after their child. When she was seven years old, however, the man asked that he start taking care of the girl and his ex-wife agreed.

However, as the girl neared puberty, she was repeatedly raped and physically abused by her father.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Lalbiakzama convicted the man to 10 years for the rape and three years for the physical abuse. The judge, however, showed leniency because of the man’s ill-health.

READ MORE - Man gets 13 years in prison for repeatedly raping, physically abusing 12-year-old daughter

Mizoram minister’s resignation: MNF’s youth wing ups stakes in running battle with Congress

They have also used CM Lal Thanhawla's own public pronouncements to question if he filed correct campaign expenditure claims to the Election Commission for the 2013 state-wide polls.

The youth wing of the opposition Mizo National Front, or MNYF, has upped the stakes in a running battle with the state Congress leadership over Lal Thanzara’s resignation as Minister of State and MLA over a conflict of interest issue. They have also used CM Lal Thanhawla’s own public pronouncements to question if he filed correct campaign expenditure claims to the Election Commission for the 2013 state-wide polls.

In Wednesday’s press conference to defend his younger brother Lal Thanzara, the CM had taken a shot at MNYF president K Vanlalvena saying he had approached Lal Thanhawla for money to sabotage the MNF’s chances at Hrangturzo, one of two constituencies Lal Thanhawla won from in the November 2013 elections.

“I know certain things. In the last state elections, the former MNYF president had told K Vanlalvena he would get a party ticket in Hrangturzo. But since it turned out that he did not, K Vanlalvena came to me with one of our district-level secretaries and said he would campaign for me while still being part of the MNF. Later on he asked me for some money and I gave him some,” Lal Thanhawla had said.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, K Vanlalvena called this a lie, recalling the CM had in April also brought up the topic where he said he gave the current MNYF president Rs 2 lakhs during the election campaign.

“Candidates in the 2013 elections were allowed an expenditure of Rs 8 lakhs each. Lal Thanhawla has already submitted expenditure claims to the ECI, and if he has not mentioned this money he supposedly gave me, then that means he breached election laws. I am now announcing this to the people of Mizoram and the ECI,” K Vanlalvena said, alleging it also shows Lal Thanhawla has been “buying electoral victory.”

Rejecting the Congress claim that he stepped down to clear the way for an investigation and that this showed his innocence, the MNYF has also called Lal Thanzara’s resignation as Minister of State and MLA as the only way out for him.

The opposition charged he would anyway have been forced out of office by higher authorities because of the media expose by Scroll.in and RTI documents that respectively showed he owned a huge amount of shares in a company the CM gave crores worth of business to and that a family business had been supplying more than Rs 22 crores worth of wares to the state government even as he held important government positions.

Meanwhile, state Social Welfare Minister P C Lalthanliana said he did not unduly favour HP Food Products, the company owned by Lal Thanzara’s family, and that the company had for years been supplying high-protein biscuits to the government for distribution as part of anganwadi midday meals even before the Congress came to power.

He said HP Food Products has for long been a means of livelihood for the former Minister and MLA, and that its business with the government is not borne of any special bias for it. The MNF youth has however said supplying to the government became a “crime” once Lal Thanzara became part of the government.
- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/mizoram-ministers-resignation-mnfs-youth-wing-ups-stakes-in-running-battle-with-congress/#sthash.McnD1sE2.dpuf

READ MORE - Mizoram minister’s resignation: MNF’s youth wing ups stakes in running battle with Congress

19-year-old girl, sole witness to murder of a family of five, testifies before trial court

Lalzemawii was working as a domestic help at the home of Sangliansiama when the murders that stunned Mizoram.

A 19-year-old girl, who became the only person to have seen and survived the January 9 murders of five members of a family, including a kindergarten student, testified before a packed trial court in Aizawl on Friday.

Lalzemawii was working as a domestic help at the home of Sangliansiama when the murders that stunned Mizoram, which has one of the lowest murder rates in the country (less than two score murders take place in the state on an average each year), were committed.

The 19-year-old told the court on Friday the accused Laltlanchhuaha, a father of two, came to their home around 7.30 pm that winter’s night with a black rucksack police have said he carried a knife, the alleged murder weapon, in and asked for Sangliansiama.

“I was cleaning the floor at the time,” she said, adding the accused stood in the kitchen with his helmet on and had a hand inside the bag. Pi Khualthangi, Sangliansiam’s wife, was also in the kitchen at the time, she says, saying they told the accused the head of the family was in bed.

He came out soon afterward and the accused asked him why he slept so early, and that he replied he was feeling cold. The duo then sat on a chair and the accused took out some kind of catalogue and appeared to try to sell him something, the witness said, adding she said Sangliansiama told him he did not have money.

She and Khualthangi were called into the bedroom by another woman named Vanlalchhungi, Sangliansiama’s sister, to watch a news report about a local murder police had cracked earlier that day.

They were watching the program when they heard a loud sound. Lalzemawii immediately ran out to the kitchen followed by the two middle-aged women. “I saw Laltlanchhuaha pulling out a knife that had gone into my master’s right side, near the abdomen. My master fell to the floor. I kicked Laltlanchhuaha and he stumbled. I turned my attention to my fallen master, but Laltlanchhuaha charged at me with the knife. I pushed the kitchen table against him and I ran into an adjoining bathroom and locked it from inside,” she said.

“From there I heard the groans of the two women. I then heard Isaac (Sangliansiam’s six-year-old son) calling ‘Father, father!’ and then he fell silent. Then I heard Samuel (the family’s teenaged relative who was staying with them at the time) saying ‘What? What is it?’ and he also became silent,” she continued.

“The scuffle subsided after that, and the accused tried to open the bathroom door but he could not. A little later I opened the door slightly to take a peek, and I saw him pacing about the room,” she said.

She then heard commotion from the street below and she put on her cellphone light and waved it from the bathroom’s ventilation to hear someone exclaiming, “There’s someone still alive!”

A few minutes later, she said, some people came to get her from her hiding place and she was taken to the neighbour’s.

Laltlanchhuaha, 37, is accused of killing the five members of the family and has been charged with their murders. Police and hundreds of locals had a stand-off for several hours afterward as a mob demanded he be handed over to them.

Soon after his arrest, Laltlanchhuaha told a judicial magistrate he committed the murders in a fit of rage because Sangliansiama owed him money for his work as a carpenter in the house. Relatives and neighbours have said he did not work at their house. Laltlanchhuaha has subsequently denied before the trial court that he committed the murders.

READ MORE - 19-year-old girl, sole witness to murder of a family of five, testifies before trial court

Tripura, Mizoram ready to implement food security act

Agartala/Aizawl Aug 24 : The Tripura and Mizoram governments have almost computerised their Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) to implement the National Food Security Act (NFSA), official sources in the two states said.

"We will start implementing the food security act from next month. Our necessary preparation are almost completed," Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar told IANS.

He said: "The Tripura government has been demanding universalisation of PDS and distribution of 14 essential items to people through the PDS."

Mizoram Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs minister John Rotluangliana said in Aizawl that the state government would start implementing the NFSA from October.

"Over 95 percent of the 960,000 ration cards in Tripura have been already digitised. The remaining computerisation works and setting up of call centres are now under process," state Principal Secretary (food and civil supplies) S.K. Rakesh told reporters.

He said: "With the completion of the remaining work, the NFSA will be implemented in Tripura from September as per the state government's decision."

The official said that creating infrastructure, and necessary computerisation of entire TPDS, cost around Rs.11 crore, with the central government providing 90 percent of the expenses.

In Mizoram, so far, over 98 percent of the total 241,272 ration cards have been digitised.

Mizoram minister John Rotluangliana said: "Around 706,000 of the state's more than 10 lakh people will be covered by the food security scheme. This included around 1.36 lakh most poor people under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) scheme."

The minister said that for people left out from the food security scheme, the state government would make arrangement to give rice at cheaper price.

The union government had asked all states and union territories to implement the NFSA from September. But, according to a central government report, the NFSA has been implemented by only 13 states and two union territories.

Most northeastern states are yet to complete the computerisation of the entire TPDS and setting up call centres, both mandatory to implement the Act.

Under the NFSA, which came into force on July 5, 2013, each eligible person would get 5 kg food grain a month at Rs.3 per kg for rice, Rs.2 per kg for wheat and Re.1 per kg for coarse cereals through the state governments.

The NFSA entitles up to 75 percent of the rural population and up to 50 percent of the urban population to receive food grain at subsidised prices.

The NFSA was passed by parliament when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government was in power at the Centre. The deadline for implementing the same has been extended thrice.

READ MORE - Tripura, Mizoram ready to implement food security act

Mizoram villages inundated

Aizawl, Aug 21 : Hundreds of people have been forced to abandon their homes as flood waters entered eight villages and a portion of a town of Lunglei district. The Khawthlangtluipui river along the Mizoram-Bangladesh border is in spate due to incessant rains for the last three days.

Though no loss of life was reported, around 100 houses were submerged and the whole market of Tlabung town was now under water. The flood victims took shelter in community halls and in the homes of their relatives, officials said.

READ MORE - Mizoram villages inundated

Mizoram Congress leaders defend Lal Thanzara, praise his decision to resign as MoS, MLA

The party leadership also hinted Lal Thanzara will contest a bye-election for the seat he has vacated, Aizawl North 3, saying the party will decide when it comes time to choose a candidate.
  
Aizawl, Aug 20 : Mizoram Congress leaders led by Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla on Wednesday sought to defend party leader Lal Thanzara following his resignation as a Minister of State and an MLA over conflict of interest charges.

The party leadership, which included Cabinet Ministers Zodintluanga and Lalrinmawia Ralte besides former finance minister Liansailova, said at a press conference Lal Thanzara’s relinquishing of posts on Tuesday should serve as an example to other politicians who refuse to step down in the face of serious impropriety charges, including those from the BJP-led central government.

Condemning PM Modi and the BJP leadership for refusing to respond to charges against Sushma Swaraj and Vasundhara Raje, the state Congress leaders said Lal Thanzara has on the contrary resigned so that any investigation against him would be open and free, and that this pointed to his innocence.

“Holding shares is not a crime,” CM Lal Thanhawla said as he defended his younger brother Lal Thanzara, who claims he did not know he held 4.76 lakh equity shares in Sunshine Overseas, a Delhi-based company, and denied he received any remuneration from the company.

A report by Scroll, an on-line news portal, recently exposed that Sunshine’s business with the Mizoram PWD (headed by the CM) more than trebled to Rs 24.16 crores during the three years (2009-2012) Lal Thanzara held the company’s shares.

Asked whether he or his brother would, in the light of Lal Thanzara’s claims that he was allotted shares without his knowledge, take action against the company for what would then likely be fraudulent share allotment processes, Lal Thanhawla replied he had earlier also allotted shares by another company without his knowledge and that he got them to take the shares back once he found out.

The CM meanwhile praised Sunshine Overseas saying the company has worked several road contracts on a “voluntary” basis because tenders floated for these found no takers.

The party leadership also hinted Lal Thanzara will contest a bye-election for the seat he has vacated, Aizawl North 3, saying the party will decide when it comes time to choose a candidate.

Lal Thanhawla, whose resignation opposition party Mizo National Front has also demanded, also defended Social Welfare Minister P C Lalthanliana saying his decision to buy more than Rs 22 crores worth of high-protein biscuits for anganwadi children over seven years from a company owned by the family of Lal Thanzara, his party colleague and fellow-legislator, was guided by the state’s Purchase Advisory Board.

The Zoram Nationalist Party has released replies to an RTI query by party spokesman Rothuama Sailo that shows H P Food Products supplied over Rs 22 crores worth of high-protein biscuits to the Social Welfare Department for distribution to anganwadi centres across the state.

Lal Thanhawla and his party colleagues said the company’s owner is not Lal Thanzara but his son, and that the company is anyway the only company manufacturing high-protein biscuits in the state.

Congress leaders led by Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla on Wednesday sought to defend party leader Lal Thanzara following his resignation as a Minister of State and an MLA over conflict of interest charges.

The party leadership, which included Cabinet Ministers Zodintluanga and Lalrinmawia Ralte besides former Finance Minister Liansailova, said at a press conference Lal Thanzara’s relinquishing of posts on Tuesday should serve as an example to other politicians who refuse to step down in the face of serious impropriety charges, including those from the BJP-led central government.

Condemning PM Modi and the BJP leadership for refusing to respond to charges against Sushma Swaraj and Vasundhara Raje, the state Congress leaders said Lal Thanzara has on the contrary resigned so that any investigation against him would be open and free, and that this pointed to his innocence.

“Holding shares is not a crime,” CM Lal Thanhawla said as he defended his younger brother Lal Thanzara, who claims he did not know he held 4.76 lakh equity shares in Sunshine Overseas, a Delhi-based company, and denied he received any
remuneration from the company.

A report by Scroll, an on-line news portal, recently exposed that Sunshine’s business with the Mizoram PWD (headed by the CM) more than trebled to Rs 24.16 crores during the three years (2009-2012) Lal Thanzara held the company’s shares.

Asked whether he or his brother would, in the light of Lal Thanzara’s claims that he was allotted shares without his knowledge, take action against the company for what would then likely be fraudulent share allotment processes, Lal Thanhawla replied he had earlier also allotted shares by another company without his knowledge and that he got them to take the shares back once he found out.

The CM meanwhile praised Sunshine Overseas saying the company has worked several road contracts on a “voluntary” basis because tenders floated for these found no takers.

The party leadership also hinted Lal Thanzara will contest a bye-election for the seat he has vacated, Aizawl North 3, saying the party will decide when it comes time to choose a candidate.

Lal Thanhawla, whose resignation opposition party Mizo National Front has also demanded, also defended Social Welfare Minister P C Lalthanliana saying his decision to buy more than Rs 22 crores worth of high-protein biscuits for anganwadi children over seven years from a company owned by the family of Lal Thanzara, his party colleague and fellow-legislator, was guided by the state’s Purchase Advisory Board.

The Zoram Nationalist Party has released replies to an RTI query by party spokesman Rothuama Sailo that shows H P Food Products supplied over Rs 22 crores worth of high-protein biscuits to the Social Welfare Department for distribution to anganwadi centres across the state.

Lal Thanhawla and his party colleagues said the company’s owner is not Lal Thanzara but his son, and that the company is anyway the only company manufacturing high-protein biscuits in the state.
- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/mizoram-congress-leaders-defend-lal-thanzara-praise-his-decision-to-resign-as-mos-mla/#sthash.SoFC5KYM.dpuf

READ MORE - Mizoram Congress leaders defend Lal Thanzara, praise his decision to resign as MoS, MLA

Mizoram Minister denies receiving benefits

AIZAWL, Aug 18 - Mizoram Minister of State for Public Works Lal Thanzara on Friday denied allegations by opposition parties that he received pecuniary benefits from a construction company working under the State Government.

Addressing party workers at the Congress Bhavan here, Lal Thanzara admitted that the Sunshine Overseas Company gave him shares without his knowledge.

“I learned about the shares only after the allegations made by the opposition and confirmed the fact after I asked the company executives,” the younger brother of Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla said, adding that he did not know about it earlier as he had never received any pecuniary benefit from the shares.

He also opined that having shares in a company by a Minister was not illegal or improper.

Opposition parties accused Lal Thanzara, who assisted his elder brother in Public Works portfolio, of giving undue favour to the Sunshine Overseas Company by awarding contract worth crores of rupees as he was holding a substantial amount of shares in the construction company.

READ MORE - Mizoram Minister denies receiving benefits

Trade with Myanmar, Bangladesh Soon: Mizoram CM

Aizawl, Aug 17 : Trade between Mizoram, Myanmar and Bangladesh would be launched soon as border infrastructures were almost ready, Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla said here on Saturday.

“The land customs station at Zokhawthar (in eastern Mizoram) was recently inaugurated by minister of state for commerce and industry Nirmala Sitharaman. This will enhance border trade with Myanmar,” Lal Thanhawla said after unfurling the national flag at the Assam Rifles ground here.

The 69th Independence Day was celebrated across Mizoram, with numerous functions and programmes, including sports and cultural events.

Lal Thanhawla said: “Development of integrated check post at Kawrpuichhuah (in eastern Mizoram) is being constructed and this will facilitate the much awaited border trade with Bangladesh.”

The chief minister said that to stop “jhum cultivation” (slash and burn method of farming), the state government’s flagship programme, New Land Use Policy (NLUP) has made impressive progress and is well on the tract to realise the goals of achieving development in Mizoram.

“Under the NLUP, 90,139 beneficiaries have so far been assisted and assistance for another 44,861 beneficiaries will be started soon to start settled cultivation,” the chief minister said.

He said that after the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the UN Resident Coordinator and various UN Agencies, several countries have shown interest in joining hands with the government of Mizoram for development of forests, protection and maintenance of eco-system, support for livelihood activities and water and land management.

“An agreement for technical co-operation has been signed between FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), union Agriculture ministry and Mizoram government and US $ 496,000 (Rs 3.15 crores) has been received from the UN body,” he added.

READ MORE - Trade with Myanmar, Bangladesh Soon: Mizoram CM

Mizoram Minister denies receiving benefits

AIZAWL, Aug 17 - Mizoram Minister of State for Public Works Lal Thanzara on Friday denied allegations by opposition parties that he received pecuniary benefits from a construction company working under the State Government.

Addressing party workers at the Congress Bhavan here, Lal Thanzara admitted that the Sunshine Overseas Company gave him shares without his knowledge.

“I learned about the shares only after the allegations made by the opposition and confirmed the fact after I asked the company executives,” the younger brother of Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla said, adding that he did not know about it earlier as he had never received any pecuniary benefit from the shares.

He also opined that having shares in a company by a Minister was not illegal or improper.

Opposition parties accused Lal Thanzara, who assisted his elder brother in Public Works portfolio, of giving undue favour to the Sunshine Overseas Company by awarding contract worth crores of rupees as he was holding a substantial amount of shares in the construction company.

READ MORE - Mizoram Minister denies receiving benefits

Former Mizoram CM: NLFT wants me in talks with Centre

Aizawl, Aug 13 : Former Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga today said that the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) wanted him to be involved in the final round of talks between the outfit and the Centre.

The NLFT leadership submitted a letter to the Ministry of Home Affairs that he and former Tripura National Volunteers (TNV) leader Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl should be included in the talks as interlocutors, Zoramthanga told PTI here.

"The copy of the letter was sent to me by the NLFT leaders, but I have not receive any communication from the Ministry of Home Affairs," the erstwhile Mizo National Front (MNF) underground leader said.

"I was involved in the parleys between the Centre and the NLFT in the beginning," he said, adding that he played a role in bringing the two parties to the negotiating table.

Zoramthanga has been instrumental in brokering peace deal between the Centre and the NSCN (I-M) and was also involved in talks with ethnic Mizo groups in Manipur.

The former chief minister, however, said that his main role was to build mutual trust between the militant groups and the Centre and not involved in the actual parleys.

Years of hostilities between the government and the militant groups had created mistrust between the two parties which was an ice to be broken for successful talks, he added

READ MORE - Former Mizoram CM: NLFT wants me in talks with Centre

Myanmar national arrested for possession of drugs worth Rs 1.8 crore in Mizoram

The accused has been booked under the NDPS Act and related customs laws after he was arrested at a village on the Indo-Myanmar international border crossing.

Customs staff accompanied by Assam Rifles personnel late on Tuesday night seized 18,000 tablets of meth-amphetamine worth an estimated Rs 1.8 crores and arrested a 60-year-old Myanmar national.

Thangkhanpau, a resident of Tiddim township in Myanmar’s Chin State, has been booked under the NDPS Act and related customs laws after he was arrested at Zokhawthar village, on the Indo-Myanmar international border crossing at Mizoram’s Champhai district.

Myanmar, part of the Golden Triangle, is one of the largest producers of meth-amphetamine in the world. The drug, addiction to which has no known treatment, is mainly produced there by ethnic militias and drug cartels using raw material sourced largely from India.

READ MORE - Myanmar national arrested for possession of drugs worth Rs 1.8 crore in Mizoram

Mizoram: Court asks govt to file counter-affidavit in fraudulent land transfer case

The State EC’s present Secretary, H Darzika, is accused of fraudulently transferring ownership of about 80 acres of land to four persons without the knowledge of 17 original landowners.

The Aizawl Bench of the Guwahati High Court on Wednesday granted three weeks time to the Mizoram Government and the State Election Commission’s present Secretary, H Darzika, to file a counter-affidavit in a case alleging that Darzika in an earlier posting fraudulently transferred ownership of about 80 acres of land to four persons without the knowledge of 17 original landowners.

The four men allegedly later received compensation of Rs 21 crores as the land in question was acquired by the Union Home Ministry for the construction of a Border Security Force office.

According to the petitioners’ lawyer Lalremsanga, Darzika, as then Deputy Commissioner of Serchhip District, oversaw and signed on the “overnight” transfer of the land to four people even as signatures of witnesses to the transfer process were allegedly forged.

Lalremsanga said the 17 landowners knew their land was to be acquired for the project, but they had thought they would be given a total of Rs 70 lakhs or so for it. However, the ownership of their land was transferred to other people without their knowledge.

He added Darzika as the then DC was in charge of assessing both ownership as well as claims for compensation of the land marked for acquisition.

H Darzika did not respond to several calls for comment.

READ MORE - Mizoram: Court asks govt to file counter-affidavit in fraudulent land transfer case

Mizoram on alert after Serows found dead with exacerbated skin disease

Mizoram's forest department has been put on alert after the semi-decayed carcasses of at least 10 Serows, the state animal, were found with what appear to be exacerbated skin disease over the past five months in various regions of the state.

Mizoram’s forest department has been put on alert after the semi-decayed carcasses of at least 10 Serows, the state animal, were found with what appear to be exacerbated skin disease over the past five months in various regions of the state.

The Serow, a small antelope-like animal usually found alone (or in pairs during the mating season), is also a schedule-1 protected animal under the Wildlife Act.

Mizoram’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Lalramthanga said he has asked officials to investigate the findings with the help of veterinarians and also to appeal to the public to immediately report any further finds in future.

Chief Wildlife Warden Liandawla, meanwhile, said six semi-decayed carcasses have been found in the region near Ratu and Darlawn villages of north Mizoram this month, all with tell-tale signs of exacerbated skin diseases.

“One was in fact found alive but extremely weak after locals reported sighting it a little over a week ago. Officials with the help of a veterinarian tried to revive it but could not and it died shortly after it was recovered from a forest neat Sailutar villager,” Liandawla said, adding that specimen, a male, also oozed foam from it’s reproductive organs.

In April, forest officials had also found four Serow carcasses near Serhmun near Kawrthah town in western Mamit district with the same kinds of outward appearances.

Officials are also investigating reports that another Serow has been found in the same condition near Hmunpui village, not far from Lengpui airport just west of Aizawl city.

What has confounded officials is that the recovered carcases are always found in such a state that it is impossible for them to extract meaningful viscera and blood samples, the Wildlife Warden said.

A veterinary field assistant posted at Ratu village had been able to draw some samples from the Serow found alive near Sailutar village a week ago but lack of expertise in wildlife has been prevented them from making any definite diagnosis, he added.

READ MORE - Mizoram on alert after Serows found dead with exacerbated skin disease

Consul General of Italy visits Mizoram

AIZAWL, Aug 10 - Cesare Bieller, Consul General of Italy had landed in Lengpui Airport on Friday evening for a two-day visit to Mizoram. The Consul General was visiting this picturesque state of Mizoram for the first time. He has been in India for five years but had not the chance to visit this state, he informed Mizoram Governor Lt.Gen (Rtd.) Nirbhay Sharma while having a tete-a-tete with the latter at Raj Bhavan in Aizawl.

The Mizoram Governor apprised the visiting Consul General that Mizoram has a lot of things to learn from Italy like management and preservation of fruits grown in the state, vegetables and other products. Expressing hope to work together in this field, the Governor said that especially in horticulture Italy can play an important role for more production.

In the field of sports too, Mizoram which is a talent hub of footballers in India can be improved with the help of Italian govt by working together, Nirbhay Sharma said. Cesare Bieller informed the Governor that he would take steps for better cooperation between Italy and Mizoram. In order to build stronger ties with the northeastern states of India, Cesare Bieller has requested people to visit Italy and for which he could help them in procuring visa and other important documents.

As of now, very less people from this region had visited Italy, he said. After the two-day tour the Consul General of Italy Cesare Bieller left Mizoram for New Delhi today. During his stay, the Consul General of Italy also met govt official including Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla.

READ MORE - Consul General of Italy visits Mizoram

Myanmarese held in Mizoram with arms

Security forces have arrested a Myanmarese man in Mizoram along the international border and seized arms and ammunition from his possession, police said here on Sunday.

Chingsianpianga, 36, was arrested during a joint operation by Mizoram Police and Assam Rifles troopers at Hnahlan village in Champhai district on Friday night when he was smuggling the arms into India from Myanmar across the IB.

Two M-3 rifles, three loaded magazines and a huge cache of bullets have been seized from him, a police officer said.

The officer said Chingsianpianga was a resident of Darkhai village in Myanmar.

The arrested man told police that the arms were smuggled from Myanmar.

"The seized arms and ammunition were suspected to have been meant for Chakma rebels operating in Bangladesh," the officer said.

The Chakma rebels have been demanding sovereign status in Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts.

Mizoram shares a 510-km mountainous border with Myanmar. Assam Rifles troopers were posted along the 1,643-km India-Myanmar border along Arunachal Pradesh (520 km), Manipur (398 km), Nagaland (215 km) and Mizoram (510 km).

Mizoram also shares an unfenced 318-km international border with Bangladesh.

READ MORE - Myanmarese held in Mizoram with arms

76-year-old arrested with drugs worth Rs 33.6 lakhs

F Sangthanga is the father of a woman named Janet who was caught last week with a small consignment of about 2000 tablets.

Mizoram Police on Thursday arrested a 76 year old man with 1.98 lakh methamphetamine precursor tablets valued at about Rs 33.6 lakhs in Aizawl.

Police said neighbourhood authorities saw F Sangthanga moving some bags around on Thursday morning and grew suspicious, eventually reporting him to the Special Narcotics Police.

F Sangthanga is the father of a woman named Janet, a single mother of four kids who had eluded Crime Investigation Department sleuths last week in Aizawl but who later turned herself in to police almost 200 kms away at Champhai town on Tuesday with 50 kgs of the precursor drugs, formally known as pseudoephedrine.

The CID men had caught his daughter last week with a small consignment of about 2000 tablets but could not get her to tell where she kept the rest of the precursor drugs even after detailed interrogation, a senior investigator said, adding he suspects the stash recovered from her father was likely that.

Police in Champhai meanwhile said they have sent samples to forensics and results are not in yet and so could not determine whether the consignment Janet turned herself in with is real or fake.

Pseudoephedrine is the one of the main pharmaceutical preparations used to manufacture methamphetamine or meth, a party drug considered one of the most dangerous and addictive narcotics in the world and which is manufactured on a large scale by some ethnic armies and drug cartels in Myanmar.

READ MORE - 76-year-old arrested with drugs worth Rs 33.6 lakhs

Mizoram CM appeals to PM Modi to rush aid to flood-affected Myanmar

CM Lal Thanhawla has also volunteered Mizoram as the base for possible air-dropping operations. Chief Minister of Mizoram Pu Lal Thanhawla. (Source: PTI/File) Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla has appealed to PM Narendra Modi to rush aid to flood-affected Myanmar, where around 50 people have died and more than 2 lakhs are affected by extreme weather due to Cyclone Komen.
Lal Thanhawla has also volunteered Mizoram as the base for possible air-dropping operations, which he says might be needed since many western regions of Myanmar remain cut off by road due to landslides and floodwaters.

Pointing out that Myanmar’s western regions is “home to a number of ethnic Mizo tribes with whom we still have very close cultural ties,” the CM added that civil society groups in Mizoram are mustering aid through donations and charity events.
Besides groups of local musicians, local media and various political parties, the church and community-based organisations have appealed for donations to aid victims of the natural calamity and planning for concerts to genrate money to send to ethnic Zo communities in Myanmar. - See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/world/asia/mizoram-cm-appeals-to-pm-modi-to-rush-aid-to-flood-affected-myanmar/#sthash.5mH60hcD.dpuf

READ MORE - Mizoram CM appeals to PM Modi to rush aid to flood-affected Myanmar

Former Mizoram CM happy over Naga peace accord

Aizawl, Aug 5 : Former Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga, who brokered the peace deal between the Centre and the NSCN (I-M), today expressed happiness over the signing of the historic Naga Peace Accord.

Zoramthanga told PTI that he was yet to learn the terms of the accord, but was happy that peace would prevail in the trouble-torn Nagaland.

"One 'General' of the NSCN(IM) had conveyed the gratitude of the Naga people to me as I was involved in the peace deal and successful in breaking the impasse between the Centre and the outfit," Zoramthanga said, adding the 'General' had also thanked him on behalf of Th Muivah and Isaak Chishi Swu.

The former underground Mizo National Front (MNF) leader, who was involved in the 20-year-long peace talks with the Centre culminating in the signing of the Mizo accord in 1986, said he was very happy that the Centre and the NSCN(IM) could find an amicable solution to the vexed Naga problem.

Zoramthanga, during his tenure as chief minister of Mizoram, had met the NSCN(IM) leaders in Bangkok several times which resulted in the resumption of the Naga peace talks.

He was also involved in the peace initiatives between the Myanmar government and the insurgent groups in that country.

READ MORE - Former Mizoram CM happy over Naga peace accord

Student killed in police firing, mob ransack houses in Mizoram

A 20-year-old student was today allegedly killed during a clash in Chawngte town between police and Mizoram Chakma Students Union (MCSU) members in which houses of many politicians were ransacked and several vehicles damaged.

MCSU members allegedly attacked the Chawngte Police Station in the headquarters of Chakma Autonomous District Council (CDAC) where student leaders were detained, prompting police to fire in the air in which Agosh Chakma, a student of class XI, was killed after being hit in the head by a bullet, police said.

The MCSU was protesting alleged fraudulent recruitment of 101 employees by the CADC in January last and demanded sacking the employees by organising a bandh in Chawngte.

After Agosh, a member of the union, was killed, an irate mob ransacked and damaged 19 houses belonging to politicians, including the Chief Executive Member (CEM) of the CADC, Executive Members and elected members of the ADC.

Two vehicles were torched while another 19 vehicles were damaged by the mob, police said, adding, several people including, three policemen and two employees of the CADC, were injured.

The situation is under control, after the agitating student leaders and the CADC leaders held talks, in which the CADC agreed to give Rs 10 lakh ex-gratia to the family of the dead student, a senior police officer said.

They also decided to sack all the 101 recruited employees and conduct fresh recruitment, the official said.

READ MORE - Student killed in police firing, mob ransack houses in Mizoram

Murder over mobile; man gets life term

Victim was attacked 22 times by a chopper

: A man has been awarded life imprisonment for murdering his colleague in 2013, who was working with him at the bungalow allotted to the then Mizoram Chief Secretary.

The court awarded the jail term to 27-year-old Vikram Chhetri, a native of Mizoram, for murdering Puia, who was working as a driver at the bungalow at Ansari Road in Daryaganj, with a chopper.

The court was told that the victim was attacked by the chopper 22 times.

According to police, the motive behind the murder was a quarrel that took place between Vikram, who was working as a cook, and Puia over a mobile internet package and a beer bottle.

“Taking into account the circumstances, I am of the considered opinion that the prosecution has been able to prove that the deceased was murdered by the accused with the chopper in the servant quarter of Bungalow No.115, Ansari Road, Darya Ganj, New Delhi,” said Additional Sessions Judge Atul Kumar Garg.

“These evidence are very crucial in this case because of motive. There was a quarrel between Vikram and Puia over the beer bottle,” the judge said, adding that strong motive for the offence had been established from the events.

The court awarded the life term to Vikram saying the case has not been covered in the ‘rarest of rare’ category that warranted the death penalty.

According to the prosecution, Vikram murdered Puia around 2.30 am on June 30, 2013, and then fled the spot. He was arrested from Guwahati.

Police said that on the night of the incident, Puia was angry with Vikram as the latter had allegedly exhausted his mobile internet package and mobile phone balance without his permission.

It was said that Vikram also consumed Puia’s beer, which was followed by a quarrel.

The duo was reportedly pacified by other employees. The next morning, Puia was found murdered while Vikram was absconding.

Police also said that the government bungalow was allotted to L. Tochhong, the then Chief Secretary of Mizoram.

During the trial, Vikram claimed that he was innocent.

He claimed that he was asked by the nephew of the chief secretary to leave the house, after which he left for Guwahati. — PTI

Police said the motive behind the murder was a quarrel that took place between the convict and deceased

READ MORE - Murder over mobile; man gets life term

Indefinite NH blockade

AIZAWL, Aug 3  - An indefinite road block on National Highway has been called by villagers of Maubawk in Saiha district under the aegis of Maubawk, Joint Action Committee (JAC) in protest against the government’s decision to close down rice godown at Maubawk.

The JAC decided to stage indefinite road blockade at Maubawk Zero point on National Highway 54 – Saiha to Aizawl and Saiha to Tuipang from August 5, 2015. The decision was taken in protest against the government’s decision to close down 5 godowns in 4 district of Mizoram.

The Department of Food and Civil Supply, Mizoram had on July 22 issued an order to close down 5 godowns at Maubawk, Lallen, Mimbung, Hortoki and Saipum as part of measure to abate financial crisis. The decision for closure of godowns came as measure to lessen government expenditure on transportation.

READ MORE - Indefinite NH blockade

Three killed in road mishap

Three persons were killed and two others injured when a vehicle in which they were travelling rolled down into a deep gorge near Sekhum in Lunglei district of Mizoram today.

The Guwahati-bound vehicle coming from Saiha town was carrying 11 people, police officials said, adding that the total number of injured was yet to be known. The two injured persons were rushed to the Primary Health Centre at nearby Haulawng village. The cause of the accident was not yet known, they said.

READ MORE - Three killed in road mishap

An hour with Kalam that changed Sairang’s fate

Aizawl: From a non-descript village till September, 2005, to a flourishing one, Sairang has undergone a sea change in the past decade. The village owes it to one man, who almost single-handedly scripted their transformation: APJ Abdul Kalam.

The village has been in mourning since the death of the former President. Villagers remembered how Kalam gave them a patient hearing and addressed their grievances during that visit in 2005, which lasted about an hour.

The Missile Man visited Mizoram in September, 2005 and stopped at Sairang after landing at the Lengpui airport nearby for about an hour. The leaders of the village council met him with a memorandum appealing for an end to the mahal system of collecting sands from the Tlawng river near the village.

The villagers had long been denied the right to collect river sand by the state government and the wealthy mahaldars from Aizawl city, working under the state environment and forests department, monopolized extraction of sands from the area around the village.

Repeated appeals made by the villagers for rights to use the resources in and around the village area bore little results until Kalam's visit.

President of the Sairang branch of the Young Mizo Association (YMA), Teresa Rothangpuii, said, "We appealed to Kalam and after a few days of his visit, the state government abolished the mahaldar system and the villagers became the owners of the produces of the Tlawng since then."

She said since then, prosperity arrived in the village and the concrete building that slowly started coming up there were a testimony to that.

"The outside world might think that what Kalam did to us was a small thing, but we the inhabitants of Sairang village know what the former President did helped completely change our lives. We shall remember him forever," she added.

READ MORE - An hour with Kalam that changed Sairang’s fate

Kids’ home closed down over alleged molestation

Aizawl, Jul 31 :  Mizoram government's social welfare department has cancelled the license of a children's home in Kolasib district over alleged sexual molestation of one of the female inmates.
Caretaker or ‘father’ of David Home, Lalzoliana (40), allegedly sexually molested an underaged girl of the home.

READ MORE - Kids’ home closed down over alleged molestation

Zorami: A redemption song from the heart of Mizoram

Summary: The novel speaks about the most traumatic period in Mizo history, which were the insurgency years of the 1960s. The novel was released by the English department of the Mizoram University in May this year. Malsawmi is based in Bengaluru along with her husband, who has been a great supporter of her literary work.

KOTTAYAM: A new name is buzzing in literary circles in Mizoram, the name of Malsawmi Jacob, author of the English novel `Zorami—A Redemption Song`. The novel speaks about the most traumatic period in Mizo history, which were the insurgency years of the 1960s. Malsawmi is in Chengannur, Alappuzha, to attend the South India Writers` ensemble along with her husband Sam Jacob who hails from Kumbanad in Pathanamthitta district. "The novel is about insurgency and its aftermath and Zorami is the protagonist. The situation in the novel could happen anywhere in the world," she says. The novel was released by the English department of the Mizoram University in May this year.

READ MORE - Zorami: A redemption song from the heart of Mizoram

Cops escorting Mizoram Speaker injured in accident

SHILLONG: Three police personnel sustained injuries when their Gypsy on escort duty with the Speaker of Mizoram Legislative Assembly turned turtle on the road at Umtrew in Ri Bhoi district on Wednesday.

Police said that the incident happened in the afternoon when the Police Gypsy    (ML-02-2862) driven by Unarmed Branch Constable I. Kharsyntiew turned turtle due to slippery road at Umtrew in Ri Bhoi.

In the incident, police personnel S. Ryngksai and two Battalion Constables sustained minor injuries.

READ MORE - Cops escorting Mizoram Speaker injured in accident

Bru repatriation: No one turns up as verification process wraps up in Asapara

The four camps covered so far are Kaskau, Khakchangpara, Hamsapara and Asapara. These together host more than 4300 adults whose names are on Mizoram's electoral rolls.

The last day of the verification process wrapped up in the fourth of six Bru relief camps on Thursday with no one turning up at the counters during the entire four-day process which began Monday.

The zero turn-out at Asapara relief camp means inmates from none of the four camps covered so far are willing to return to Mizoram from Tripura under a repatriation package offered by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The four camps covered so far are Kaskau, Khakchangpara, Hamsapara and Asapara. These together host more than 4300 adults whose names are on Mizoram’s electoral rolls.

Mamit District Additional Deputy Commissioner Lalbiaksangi said officials from Mizoram will set up verification counters at Naisingpara, the biggest relief camp and home to the displaced community’s top leaders, between July 28 and August 5.

Naisingpara hosts more than 4100 adults registered on Mizoram’s electoral rolls while Hazacherrra, the sixth camp, hosts more than 1000.

According to a roadmap prepared by the Mizoram and Tripura governments and the MHA, any Bru who wants to return home to Mizoram has to report at the verification counters so officials can cross-check if he or she is a bona-fide resident of Mizoram.

This has been necessitated because the relief camps are populated not just by Bru tribals who fled Mizoram in 1997 following ethnic violence, but also by Brus from Assam and other places in the region.

READ MORE - Bru repatriation: No one turns up as verification process wraps up in Asapara

Six commit suicide in Mizoram

 Six persons committed suicide in different parts of Mizoram, according to Dr Zawmsanga Sailo, a social worker who is conducting extensive study on suicidal deaths in the state.

The number of incidents of suicide yeaterday as reported by Sailo was confirmed by the state police.

Sailo said that at least 64 people including 20 women committed suicide in the state so far this year.

He described the situation as alarming in the state having a population of barely ten lakh.

READ MORE - Six commit suicide in Mizoram

Mizoram criticises Centre

Nilotpal Bhattacharjee

Silchar, July 8 : Mizoram finance minister today presented a second vote-on-account for the next three months in the Assembly as the state government has not received any instruction from the Centre on the sharing pattern of centrally sponsored schemes.

Lalsawta presented a budget of Rs 18,23.8144 crore for the months of August, September and October.

"We have not yet received clear-cut instructions from the central ministries about the exact ratios on various centrally sponsored schemes, which cause difficulty in presenting a regular budget," Lalsawta told the Assembly in Aizawl today.

"The recommendation of the 14th Finance Commission was in favour of state governments after the increase of the tax share from 32 to 42 per cent but the discontinuance of the special category status of the northeastern states has caused insurmountable financial problem for Mizoram and other states in the region. Being a resource deficient state, we may not be in a position to take up certain centrally sponsored schemes," he added.

The chief ministers of all the northeastern states, including Mizoram, had submitted a joint memorandum to the Centre, demanding continuation of the special category status. "We are still awaiting a positive response from the Centre," he said.

"We cannot yet ascertain the amount of funds that will be devolved to the state government from the North Eastern Council and the DoNER ministry, which are part of the plan size determinants."

The first vote-on-account in the current fiscal was presented on March 19 for April to July.

READ MORE - Mizoram criticises Centre

Mizoram: Large cache of ammunition found in Aizawl

Aizawl: Large cache of ammunition was found by members of the Young Mizo Association (YMA) and handed over to police.

YMA members found 15 grams of heroin at Ramhlun South locality where they also found 1,124 rounds of ammunition for AK-47 assault rifle, 53 rounds of ammunition for 5.56 mm rifle, 70 live cartridges, 320 pellets and 24 detonation caps for explosives on Saturday, a YMA spokesman said.

They also caught a man with 20 grams of heroin from ITI locality and handed over him to police, he said.

The ammunitions were handed over to the state police, he said. They also caught a man with 20 grams of heroin from ITI locality and handed over him to police, he said.

READ MORE - Mizoram: Large cache of ammunition found in Aizawl

Six ill after consuming poisonous mushroom in Aizawl

Aizawl: Atleast six persons of a family were taken ill after eating wild mushroom in North-Eastern area Mizoram's Keifang village and were admitted to the Primary Health Centre (PHC) in nearby Saitual village yesterday.

  Police said that the victims plucked the mushroom while passing through a jungle and cooked without knowing its name or variety on Monday.

  Six of them complained of stomach pain and vomited the next day and the condition of Zari, her daughter Lalthapuii (36) and Lalthapuii's husband Lalzawmliana (37) were stated as critical.

READ MORE - Six ill after consuming poisonous mushroom in Aizawl

Mizo girl attacked in Delhi

Yet another incident of racial attack on the north east girl in Delhi sends shock and anger across the region on Tuesday.

The incident took place in Tilok Nagar area where a group of five youths tried to molest a Mizo girl at night.

 The miscreants stopped the girl who was coming at a car with one of her friends. Then they tried to molest her in full view of her friend. But they were resisted.

The youths further broke the glass of the car in which she was travelling. Several north eastern people have condemned the incident of racial attack on the Mizo girl and asked the authorities to take stern action against the culprits. 

READ MORE - Mizo girl attacked in Delhi

New political party formed in Mizoram

Aizawl: A new political party - 'Revolutionary Democratic Party (RDP) - was floated in Mizoram on Saturday.

The RDF would be headed by a retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer and former state Chief Information Commissioner Robert Hrangdawla.

The party President Hrangdawla said that the RDF was formed as the existing political parties allegedly failed to protect the people, the land and the boundaries of the state during the past 28 years since Mizoram became a full-fledged state.

He said that under rule of law, protection of the state and the people and unification of all the Mizos were the main objectives of the newly-floated party.

READ MORE - New political party formed in Mizoram

Mizoram Cong opposes Yoga Day on Sunday

AIZAWL, June 22 – Mizoram Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) today slammed the BJP Government at the Centre for its decision to observe the first International Yoga Day on Sunday, which is the holy day for Christians.

MPCC in a statement alleged that the BJP did not want the vision of the freedom fighters to make India a garden where different flowers bloom but wanted only a particular flower to bloom in the country.

The decision to observe International Yoga Day was a conspiracy to suppress religions other than Hinduism, the statement added.

Meanwhile, Mizoram Kohhran Hruaitute Committee, a conglomerate of leaders of 14 major churches, has appealed to the Christians not to observe the International Yoga Day.

READ MORE - Mizoram Cong opposes Yoga Day on Sunday

27 graves damaged in landslide in Mizoram

At least 27 graves of a cemetery were damaged in rain-triggered landslide in Muanna locality here, officials said today.

Locals joined the rescue officials in removing and shifting bodies and skeletons from the cemetery, besides helping in the restoration work which resumed today, district SP C. Laldina today said.

Majority of the damaged graves in the burial ground were recently dug ones, he said.

READ MORE - 27 graves damaged in landslide in Mizoram

Mizoram: BJP says Panchayati Raj MoS to explore direct funding for village councils

The Minister of State visited Mizoram earlier this week on an official trip, and also met with the state’s BJP leaders in Aizawl.

Aizawl: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Mizoram state unit has declared in a statement that MoS for Panchayati Raj Nihalchand has said that he will explore a way of sending funds to BJP-ruled village councils (the equivalent of Panchayats) directly and not through the state government as is normally done.

The Minister of State visited Mizoram earlier this week on an official trip, and also met with the state’s BJP leaders in Aizawl.

According to a statement from the party’s state unit about Nihalchand’s visit, the MoS said during this meeting that he would explore ways to get funds to the dozen VCs ruled by the party.

The party also alleged the Congress-led state government has misused funds meant for local bodies and have delayed in submitting plans and utilization certificates.

The BJP made electoral history in Mizoram this year by winning seven VCs in the Chakma Autonomous District and later winning another five VCs in rural body polls in six districts of the state mostly populated by the Mizo community.

The number of VCs won by the party, however, remains minuscule given there were 536 VCs in the latter rural polls alone, with the ruling Congress winning 270 and the main opposition winning 125.

READ MORE - Mizoram: BJP says Panchayati Raj MoS to explore direct funding for village councils

Mizoram sent samples of Maggi noodles to Assam for testing

Aizawl: Mizoram government has sent samples of Maggi instant noodles from the state to the Assam Public Health Laboratory in Guwahati, a senior state health department official on Thursday said.

Joint Director (Food and Drugs Administration) Lalsawma told that the samples were sent on Wednesday as Mizoram does not have testing facilities to determine food safety.

Lalsawma said that the laboratory would send its report and findings to the Mizoram health department which would be submitted to the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI).

Though the state government did not ban the Nestle product, the company continued recalling its product from the state.

He said that the recalling process progressed well but recalling all the products from all the remote villages took time.

READ MORE - Mizoram sent samples of Maggi noodles to Assam for testing

Mizoram Finance Minister likely to seek second vote-on-account

Aizawl: Mizoram Finance Minister Lalsawta is likely to seek vote-on-account for the second time during the current fiscal when the Assembly session begins on July 7, a senior finance department official said on Wednesday.

State Finance Secretary F Vanlalruata told PTI that the role of the NITI Ayaog, which replaced the Planning Commission was not clear resulting in non-allocation of the state plan outlay for the current fiscal.

"In the absence of clarity on the allocation of funds for the state under plan, centrally sponsored schemes (CSS), non-lapsable central pool of resources (NLCPR) and the North Eastern Council (NEC), it was still impossible to prepare a regular budget for 2015-2016," Vanlalruata said.

He said the state Finance Minister is likely to seek a vote-on-account for the next two or three months as it might be possible to prepare a regular budget to be presented in October or November.

Mizoram had a regular budget only in November for the last fiscal due to the same problem. 

READ MORE - Mizoram Finance Minister likely to seek second vote-on-account

Green Mizoram Day – 36 lakh trees planted in 17 years

Thousands of tree saplings were planted across Mizoram as the state observed ‘Green Mizoram Day’ on 11th June. The day has been observed since 1998 and more than 36 lakh of tree saplings have been planted till last year. yourstory_green_mizoram_day Governor Lt. General Nirbhay Sharma, Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla, ministers, officials, students and members of NGOs participated and planted trees.

According to PTI, southernmost district of Saiha has the highest percentage of survival of planted trees at 81.21 per cent while the lowest survival rate was in Myanmar border Champhai district at a mere 14.68 per cent.

The state, known for its rain forests has the highest forest cover among Indian states, with 91% of the state covered in greenery.

The percentage, however, has deteriorated with time. Green Mizoram Day is an initiative to preserve the state’s diverse flora and fauna and preserve the ecological balance of the region. Each year, on a particular day during the first or second week of June, the state observes Green Mizoram Day, a day dedicated to planting of tree saplings and maintenance of the trees planted in the previous years.

READ MORE - Green Mizoram Day – 36 lakh trees planted in 17 years