Correspondent
RUKSIN, 19 Feb: The Ali-Aye-Ligang celebration committee of Oyan village conducted an awareness programme on ‘Drug abuse and HIV transmission’ at the Oiram Bori cultural complex in East Siang district recently.
Attending the programme, the state’s ICTC counsellor-cum-Mrs Asia International-Mrs India and Mrs Arunachal Koj Baya urged youths and adults not to adopt unsafe physical relations with unknown persons and avoid drug intake using syringes. She also exhorted youths to take care of their physical and mental health and work for nation-building.
Stating that most cases of HIV infection are transmitted through unsafe sexual relations, Baya said that every citizen should shoulder the responsibility to eradicate drug abuse and keep the society free from the transmission of the HIV virus.
The programme was a part of the three-day Ali-Aye-Ligang celebration organised at Oyan, which showcased traditional practices of the Mising tribe living in the Northeastern region.
The spring festival is celebrated to mark the beginning of the sowing of sali seeds by performing traditional rituals with prayers to Kiine-Nane (goddess) for a bumper harvest and wellbeing of the community’speople and their domestic animals.
