iMizoram : Blog Title the same as above

Thursday, July 30, 2015

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.

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.

Sunday, July 26, 2015

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.

Thursday, July 23, 2015

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.

Thursday, July 16, 2015

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.

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

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.

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.

Monday, July 6, 2015

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.

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.