FCI proposes 10 godowns in Arunachal

ITANAGAR, Feb 2 – The Food Corporation of India (FCI) has proposed constructing 10 godowns in different district headquarters of Arunachal Pradesh soon for storing foodgrains in order to overcome various impediments while supplying PDS items to remote areas of the State.

“Land allocation process for the proposed godowns in seven districts have been completed but in Tawang, Aalo and Anini, the process is in progress,” FCI Deputy General Manager (Arunachal Pradesh region) Harish Chander told the first meeting of the State Consultative Committee of FCI here today.

He said, altogether 197 posts have been sanctioned by the authority to fill up the vacancies under Arunachal Pradesh region of FCI, which would provide employment opportunities to the eligible youths of the State. “The FCI has already released an amount of Rs 21.69 crore to the State government as second installment of payment for the PDS contractors,” he added.

Chander further disclosed that due to difficult topography, the FCI was facing problem to reach every nook and corner of the State. – PTI

Arunachal an integral part of India: PM

NEW DELHI, Feb 3 (PTI) - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that Arunachal Pradesh has always been an integral part of India and will remain so and the Chinese map showing the northeastern state as its part will not change the reality.

This "simple fact" was conveyed by the Prime Minister to a delegation of All Arunachal Pradesh Students' Union which met him here yesterday, AAPSU president Takam Tatung said.

"Arunachal Pradesh has always been an integral part of India and will remain so," Tatung quoted Singh as saying.

On the issue of China issuing stapled visa to residents of Arunachal Pradesh, Singh said the Centre was putting its sincere efforts to solve the problem at the earliest.

The Prime Minister said Arunachal Pradesh cannot remain in isolation and the fruit of development should reach there like the rest of the country.

Dergaon Sahitya Sabha session begins today

DERGAON, Jan 31 – The 71st session of Asam Sahitya Sabha will get under way at the Hemchandra Baruah Kshetra here tomorrow.

The reception committee has completed all the necessary preparations for the mega event. According to Dr Parag Thakur, general secretary of the reception committee, the main pandal for the session measuring 45,000 square feet has been erected at the Hemchandra Baruah Khsetra at the historic Rajabahar. A dining hall having a capacity to accommodate 2000 people has also been built. A total of 185 bookstalls have been set up at the book fair site. Similarly, 200 stalls each for the trade fair and the exhibition etc have also been completed.

According to the general secretary of the committee, delegates camps have also been kept ready. The camps have been arranged at DKD College, Dergaon HS School, Dergaon Girls’ HS school, Indranee Devi HS School, Kuralguri HS School, Dergaon Town High School, Dergaon Basic Training Centre and Amar Sarmah Girls’ High School. The Marwary Dharamshala and Golaghat Circuit House have also been readied.

The session will start at 8 am on February 1 with the plantation of saplings by Kanak Sarmah, vice-president of Asam Sahitya Sabha. It will be followed by registration of delegates’ names, unveiling of the memorial pillar, inauguration of art mela, opening of a book fair by Imran Shah, inauguration of an exhibition by Ajanta Neog, and inauguration of the trade fair by Kashi Nath Hazarika. The souvenir Disoi-daria, edited by Sarat Rana Bora and Gunin Sarmah, will be released by Gautam Bora.

The ‘Matri Bhasa’ conferrence will be held at 12.30 pm. The delegates’ camps will be opened by Debo Kumar Borah, press adviser to the State Chief Minister.

In the evening, the ‘Ganesh Pegu and Kamini Narzary memorial cultural nite’ will be inaugurated by Dulal Roy.

On February 2, the Sabha flag will be hoisted by Sabha president Rong Bong Terang. Another seventy one flags will be hoisted simultaneousely. This will be followed by smriti tarpan, which will be initiated by Dr Krishna Kr Mishra. The inauguration of namghar will be done by Dr Naren Kalita.

A programme named ‘Ramdhenu’, which will be ianugurated by Yese Dorje Thongsi, will be chaired by Manikuntal Bhattacharya. The programme ‘Akash’ will be inaugurated by Dr Rita Choudhury and it will be chaired by Anuradha Sarmah Pujari. A Darsan Sanmilan will be held in the evening.

The Rekibuddin Ahmed, Dr Upen Kakoti and Amar Sarmah memorial cultural nite will be held in the evening, which will be inaugurated by Jatin Goswami.

On February 3, a cultural procession will be taken out with Rong Bong Terang, which will be flagged off by Dr Sarat Phukan.

In the afternoon the first open session will be held, which will be presided over by Terang and inaugurated by Ratan Singh while Alok Ranjan Dasgupta will be the chief guest. In the meeting, Satish Kaleskar and P Jakaria will be the invited guests.

The Rajen Pam and Mohan Bhaira memorial cultural nite will be held in the evening

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Centre may extend ULFA Ban

NEW DELHI, Jan 31 – Even as the decks are being cleared to hold peace dialogue with ULFA, the Centre is all set to extend the ban on the militant outfit for another two years under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

An Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Tribunal today issued notices to Chief Secretaries of Meghalaya and Nagaland

Government to make submissions. The case is now scheduled to come up for hearing on February 14. The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Tribunal sought the opinion of Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, besides Assam on the Centre’s proposal.

The case had last come up for hearing on December 24, when all the parties were asked to submit their opinion within a month. ULFA, too, has been given one month time to submit their opinion before the Tribunal. The militant outfit has so far not given their opinion though it has time till February 13 to do so.

The case came up for hearing today in Mukta Gupta Tribunal, when Assam Government sought some time to submit a few documents in support of its bid to extend the ban. The Counsel for Arunachal Pradesh was also present, while the Union Government represented by its Counsel, additional Solicitor General AS Chandok.

All the four States are expected to seek further extension of the ban on ULFA. The dreaded outfit was first banned in 1979. The ban was last extended in April 2009, when all the States sought further ban on the outfit. The same year neighbouring States were for the first time asked to give their opinion.

The Union Government supports classifying ULFA as a “terrorist group” due to its “terrorist skills”, which is posing a challenge to the security of Assam and other neighbouring States, the Tribunal was told.

The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) had last year decided to extend the ban on ULFA taking note of the activities of the outfit and refusal of its military chief Paresh Barua to come on board and sit for talks.

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NE excellence award presented

GUWAHATI, Jan 31 – The Indian Chamber of Commerce conferred Dr NK Dutta, who is the founder and Principal of city-based premier residential school Miles Bronson, with the 2nd North East Excellence Award at the 6th North East Business Summit in the Large Entrepreneur Category for charting the course of the school to be a frontal organisation with amenities in human and material infrastructure and redefining the course, quality and content of education from mere rote learning to the globally accepted and universally popular experiential learning, a press release said.

The award, presented at Mumbai’s Lalit Inter Continental appreciated the herculean effort of Dr NK Dutta, who built the school from scratch with a handful of students at a rented house.

The jury members of the awards which included a galaxy of experts and intellectuals from different fields also took a positive note of the fact that the school could herald a sea change in innovation by being the first school in the North East to introduce experiential learning along with a host of new age learning methodologies.

The award was conferred by DoNER Minister Bijoy Krishna Handique and was attended by the CM of Nagaland Neiphiu Rio and other dignitaries.

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Vote bank politics to blame for influx

SHILLONG, Jan 31 – Holding vote bank politics responsible for the illegal infiltration from Bangladesh, outgoing Meghalaya Director General of Police Sibabrata Kakati has said that politicians are reluctant to solve the “serious” issue, reports PTI.

“It is a serious problem. Demographic changes are rapid. Political parties are not keen on solving the issue. It is because of political patronage and vote bank politics that the problem has assumed such serious proportions,” Kakati told PTI in an interview.

Kakati, a 1976 IPS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre who retires today, said that though the rate of present influx is not as threatening as before, but “people were still coming from across the border”.

“The solution to the problem is economic. You have to have your own labour force. Now, when more and more enterprises are coming up, unless you fill up that vacuun of required manpower the problem would persist. Assam will be swamped if it goes on like this,” he said.

On the insurgency scenario in the region, the senior IPS officer who has served in various branches of the security apparatus in the Northeast, said it is difficult to take out the roots of militancy from the region.

“If you satisfy one group, another outfit comes up. The futility of armed movement is yet to be understood by the youth. They are not enlightened. We will have to keep on facing the menace,” Kakati said, pointing to the “war cries given by an ULFA faction led by Paresh Barua at a time when another group is readying for the talks”.

He, however, described the militancy as a “money making business” taken up by some “opportunists”.

“Many outfits have realised that armed revolution is not possible because of the might of the state and so they have come overground. But small groups will keep on surfacing. The history of the region speaks for it,” the outgoing DGP, who also had a stint with the paramilitary BSF, said.

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State Budget session begins today

GUWAHATI, Jan 31 – The Budget Session of the Assam Legislative Assembly, which begins tomorrow, is likely to be a stormy one as both the ruling and Opposition parties will try to gain maximum possible advantage of the session, which will be the last before the ensuing elections to the Assembly.

However, in view of the elections, the Government will only present Vote on Account for three months instead of a full Budget for the entire financial year. The session will start with the customary address by Governor JB Patnaik while Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who is also in charge of the Finance Department, will present the Vote on Account on the first day of the session itself.

The session, which will continue up to February 8, will have six working days. The Government is planning to introduce 13 Bills in the session, of which three will be new Bills. The new Bills to be introduced in the session include the Kumar Bhaskar Barma Sanskrit and Ancient Studies University Bill, Assam Urban Areas Land Control Bill and the Assam Molasses Control Bill, said Assam Assembly sources.

Meanwhile, both the ruling and Opposition parties are gearing up for the session. A meeting of the Congress Legislature Party was held this evening to discuss the party’s strategies for the Assembly session, while a meeting of the State Cabinet will be held just before the commencement of the session tomorrow morning.

The Opposition parties are planning to maintain floor coordination on the common issues to put the Government on the back foot.

Talking to The Assam Tribune, Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Prafulla Kumar Mahanta said that corruption would be one of the major issues for the Opposition. He pointed out that the Government is hoodwinking people on the financial scam in NC Hills Autonomous Council. He said that though the Chief Minister assured to entrust the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) with the responsibility of probing into all the financial irregularities, only nine specific cases were handed over to the Central agency. He said that the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has pointed out a number of major irregularities by the Government and the Opposition would strongly raise the issues in the floor of the House.

Mahanta said that on the issue of peace talks, the AGP is of the view that efforts should be made to find permanent solution to the problem of insurgency by involving all militants and the peace talks should not be treated as an election gimmick by the ruling party.

The Opposition Leader further said that price rise of all essential commodities, failure of the Government to rehabilitate flood and erosion affected people, etc, would be the other major issues for the Opposition in the Assembly session.

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