January  - 14

A response

Dear Editor,

It is in response to Dugel Nada’s reactionary statement published under the Readers Forum of your esteemed daily of 12th Jan’2011. Being compelled, I would like to reiterate the position of DDAC, the leadership and people of 29-Basar AC, over the issue of creation of a new district in the Galo dominated area. Announcement of our stand through print media, a right, entitled to us too, shouldn’t be misunderstood to have aimed at to entice the HPC. This committee, as we presume, would be composed of highly qualified and manifestations of vast experiences and rich wisdom of Administrative senior Officers. It will be exhibition of our foolishness to even simply think of alluring such a team of high dignity, honour and competent authorities empowered by the Government with autonomous powers to employ whatever methods necessary and exercise independently to examine the on-going imbroglio district and its HQ issue. It is beyond our imagination to woo the HPC to favour us or incite someone to get hurt. We don’t venture to leap with ill-equipped versions without being compelled at first or under no cause. We do follow others to clarify our position to public and the responsible authorities concerned.

We had made our declaration through daily media, welcoming the HPC to 29-Basar AC, only after its constitution by the Govt. and immediately after the joint announcement2 of the JYYA and RBSU, of Likabali and Nari-Koyu, never to allow the HPC to pass through Likabali through your esteemed daily on 6th Jan’11.

Our announcement, whatsoever has been, was made in the backdrops of the Chief Minister’s Dorjee Khandu’s commitment, its subsequent endorsement by the cabinet and finally the CM’s assurance to send the HPC to examine on the ground, before 200 plus delegates, under Itanagar Chalo Programme on 8th Sept’2009 at Itanagar.

Since, we are not in a position to settle the matter amicably, amongst us, on our own, it is not of 29-Basar AC only but the obligation of all the areas concerned to welcome and co-operate with the HPC and the Govt. to do its job at the right earnest to settle the issue soon, else we may gain nothing but lose a district assured.

In fact, having failed to understand the reasons behind non-implementation of the demand of 28-Likabali and 36-Nari-Koyu AC’s, initiated in 1994 and conceded in 1997 by the Govt. as stated, even after the lapse of 16 years till Nov,2008;the people of 29-Basar AC, moved the Govt. headed by the present HCM, with projection of ‘Basar town’ as the HQ of the proposed new district whatever the nomenclature would have been, to which the HCM had spontaneously committed to fulfill the people’s genuine and deserving demand on 10th Dec,2008 at Basar, which was ensured by approval of the cabinet on 7th Aug’2009, finally confirmed by Govt’s press briefing on 10th Aug,2009.The name of ‘Basar town’ figured vividly spelt out neatly as the HQ of lower Siang District. Hence the critical comments passed against ‘Basar Town’ saying: “it figured no where”, is unfortunate.

All concerned shouldn’t have confused the idea and misguide the public to the fact that it is not the parties involved, to undermine someone’s sentiment or reject or recommend a proposed place or town to be the HQ of the New District. But the HPC is the assigned authority on the job to deliver justice once for all. ‘Basar Town’ is simply on the race to qualify for the proposed district HQ by virtue of its merits.

Therefore, the threatening words, viz. “inclusion of Basar” and undermining of our sentiments will not be tolerated at any cost” and “remember, dying man can do anything” etc doesn’t sound like language of an elite and responsible member of today’s civilized society particularly for those youth leaders who are on the field to guide the society at their respective areas. It would be far reaching good for the well being of all of us to desist from hurling such provocative and unbridled words against each others to add oil to create the problem more vexed.

Peace and tranquility are universally accepted inevitable preconditions for ushering in over all developments and prosperity let us have maximum tolerance and maintain it if we are really and seriously committed for development of our area.

Yours

Gojum Basar

Chairman,

DDAC, 29-Basar

Assembly Constituency,

(on email)

 

 

The real god

Dear Editor,

Kudos to Mithun Dey for his article "Time to cry halt"( 12 January).

Since the children community is the real God, no society can ever prosper or even claim itself to be "progressive" if those innocent souls are left starved, hungry or subjected to manual labour and torture. Unless the people, media and the Government learn to appreciate that neither the glitzy flyovers and malls nor IT Revolution and discovery of water on the moon, but according childhood to the little beings is the hallmark of a truly modern country; the poor child will continue to lead a life of a persecuted slave.

Yours,

Kajal Chatterjee,

Kolkata,  (on email)

 

 

Chinese visa

Dear Editor,

China has done it again. This time two of the Arunachal,s sports persona has been denied visa (Arunachal Times 13/01/2011). The 'Stapled Visa' for Arunachal people being used by Chinese Embassy is not understood. Arunachal people are citizens of India, and hence we should be treated as such by other nations.

Accordingly Visa is equally entitled to be given to Arunachal people at par with other domicile of India. During 2007, four persons from Arunachal Pradesh, comprised of Ministers and Official were selected to participate in 'Agriculture and Food Processing Mission to China' 19-27 April 2007. The delegates were C.P Namchoom, Tajom Taloh, Tape Bagra, Tasso Butung, Agriculture Officer, Egam Basar, Horticulture Officer. The Vice Director General, Science and Tech. Bureau, Shandong Province, People Republic of China had given invitation letter to them on 2/4/2007. Visa applications were even accepted. But in the last minute, visa was refused without citing any reason. And we had to cancel that important tour. The people of Arunachal Pradesh who decides to travel to China will always face this problems unless the matter is taken up at highest level for recognizing Arunachal Pradesh as integral part of India and Arunachalees as Indian Citizens.

Your's

Tasso Butung, Ziro

(on email)

 

 

As Pasighat readies to celebrate

Dear Editor,

As always, visiting my state after a gap of months, I find it overwhelming to be back at this sleepy little town, Pasighat, away from the hustle-bustle of life, miles away.

This time, the first thing that caught my eye embarking on the soil of Pasighat was of a huge poster depicting the "glorious 100 years of existence" of the town, in which an inkling of the hue of Siang valley was placarded.

Furthermore, moving homeward, one feels a sense of ease and pleasure with the newly renovated roads and lanes all over. Markets, offices and residents wears a festive facade. People strolling around seems to be anxiously waiting for the d-day. Spontaneously, the thing that struck and made me ponder was how far this occasion will really herald my pretty little town into a new phase.

Looking at the various spectacular features that lines up viz, river rafting, cultural fest, musical nite, traditional shows, food carnival, et.al, a grand occasion seems promising. Central dignitaries, who's who of the state and bollywood celebrities amidst firework displays will add more spice to it's glamours and grandeurs.

Nonetheless, looking back at the past 100 years(1911-2011), one may marvel at the feats of the pioneers. Special thanks to those who served to their last for the upliftment of the then, simple tribes of Siang region in particular and the state as a whole. The situation in which they lived amongst the simple community in inhospitable terrain, dingy jungles teeming with wild beasts leaving their comfort zone was unimaginable. If not to those who are no more, but to those pioneers like Silverine Swer, Tarun Bhattacharjee, et.al, it will be of a great honour for the people of the state to pay homage to them during this occasion, herein, Pasighat itself.

In a clarion call to the people of the state, it is a humble request to be a part in commemorating by joining hands to mark the centenary celebration(17-21Jan.'11') of this premiere township. Lastly as Robert Frost says, " Woods are lovely. dark and deep, but I have a promise to keep before I sleep, miles to go before I sleep......"   

Yours,

Onong T (on email)

 

 

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----Editor

• AAPSU questions Indian govt on China issue
• Commissions violate several provisions of RTI Act
• NABARD supports Marketing outlet for SHGs
• Sarok celebrated with pomp and gaiety
• AESDSU scoff at naming of Bridge over Siang
• Gadkari bats for PR leaders

AAPSU questions Indian govt on

China issue

ITANAGAR,Jan 13:The All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union(AAPSU) lodged strong protest against Chinese government by burning effigy of  Chinese President Hu Jintao here at Itanagar today in protest against issuance of stapled visa to Arunachalees.  

The stapled visas were issued to Arunachalee lifter Yukar Sibi and Techi Abraham Kaya, the joint secretary of Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) who were to go to China to participate in China IWF weightlifting Grand Prix.

Addressing the media today, AAPSU President Takam Tatung demanded Indian government to issue stapled visas to Chinese people visiting India reciprocating the latest snub by Chinese embassy.

Tibetan people visiting India should also be issued stapled visas as they are coming from disputed land which is impacting on Arunachal Pradesh” he added.  

The apex students union questioned Indian government’s stand on this vexed issue and appealed Prime Minister to take up the matter with his Chinese counterpart as soon as possible.

“If Onion and potato price issue can rock the parliament, why government is reluctant to take up the issue of Arunachal” questioned Tatung.

He further said that Indian Government was not doing enough even after a Chinese spy was caught red-handed by All Mishmi Students Union.

Lamenting over Pranab Mukherjee, the then foreign minister of India who allegedly remarked during his visit to Tawang that Arunachal Pradesh is negotiable; AAPSU alleged that Indian government does not pay any heed towards Arunachal Pradesh.

Tatung further informed that Union would meet other student organizations to discuss the issue.  

Meanwhile, AAPSU termed the state government as somnolent for its silence on the latest Chinese issue. AAPSU also appealed Governor General JJ Singh to take up the matter.

It further appealed the Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu to drop the non-performing cabinet ministers and parliamentary secretaries as the cost of their up keeping was costing the state exchequer.

 

Commissions violate several provisions of RTI Act

ITANAGAR, Jan 13: Information Commissioners, across the country, have caused a loss of Rs 86 crores during the Financial Year 2009-10 by not imposing penalties in cases where they were ought to do so as per provisions of RTI Act. And this loss is estimated only on account of delay in providing information. There are seven more grounds provided in RTI Act for which penalties ought to be imposed. The loss would be much higher if all the grounds were taken in account.

It is interesting to contrast this to the total expenditure on information commissions around the country which was Rs 45.4 crores (barring Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh) being significantly less than the revenue loss caused by the various commissions. If all the penalties imposable were actually imposed, the running of the information commissions would not only be no burden on the exchequer but be a revenue earning exercise for the people of India.

These are the findings of nationwide study conducted by Public Cause Research Foundation. The Foundation studied 76,813 orders passed by 87 commissioners and joint benches of 27 states. Uttar Pradesh and 4 commissioners of Jharkhand could not be analyzed because despite best efforts, they simply refused to give their orders.

The CAG had made an audit objection in the case of Maharashtra Information Commission last year on this issue.

26 commissioners did not impose a single penalty in the whole year. List of those commissioners who imposed zero penalties is attached. Just 6 commissioners imposed penalties in more than 10% cases.

R K Angousana Singh from Manipur is at the top having imposed penalties in 32.7% cases.

Overall, the performance of commissions across the country as far as imposition of penalties goes is abysmal. In actual fact, the best record was 32.7%, while most of the commissioners were under 10%.

Amongst those commissioners who have more than one year’s pendency, the lowest disposal rate was of Sujit Kumar Sarkar of West Bengal (42 per year). On the other extreme, the highest disposal rate in the country was of Shailesh Gandhi of the CIC (4813 per year).

In terms of the pendency at their current rate of disposal, 20 information commissioners had a pendency of over one year, of which Jagdananda of Orissa was the worst (10.7 years), followed by Sujit Kumar Sarkar of West Bengal (10.2 years) and D N Padhi of Orissa (5.3 years).

Nationally, information was denied by information commissioners in 17% cases (against 32% last year).

Overall, the level of denials ranged from 2% (Manipur) and 6 % (Assam, Himachal Pradesh and Jharkhand) to over 40% (Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat). Of these, 12 states commissions had denials in under 15% of the cases while 5 states had denials in over 25% or more cases. CIC denied information in 21% of cases.

Some information commissioners denied information on grounds which are not provided in RTI Act and are thus illegal. Information Commissioner A Subba Rao of Andhra Pradesh, who has the third rank amongst the information deniers, denied information in 54% of the cases before him.

Each Information Commission is supposed to prepare an annual report on the functioning of RTI in respective state. The report is supposed to be laid in Legislature. However, as per information provided by the commissions, only Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Orissa, Rajasthan had prepared their reports upto 2009-2010. CIC, Karnataka, Haryana, Punjab, Mizoram, Uttarakhand have not yet prepared reports for the year 2009-10.

 

NABARD supports Marketing outlet for SHGs

ITANAGAR, Jan 13: In its efforts to expand the market for products of Self help Groups and rural artisans in the State, NABARD has sanctioned a marketing outlet to FRA-‘O’ Self Help Group (SHG) at Namsai under Lohit District for sale of their products. The sale outlet will benefit more than 16 SHGs in Namsai area including the Implementing SHG for display and sale of their handloom handicrafts, vegetables, local food products. The objective of the support is to cover the risk involved in the initial stages of setting up of the rural retail outlet. NABARD assistance to the SHG is for 15 months towards hiring of shop, salary for sales person and a lumpsum amount for publicity, market promotion, misc expenses etc. The implementing agency will make efforts for running the mart on a sustainable basis after withdrawal of NABARD support.

National Youth Project, Arunachal Pradesh Unit will guide the SHG for successful implementation of the project.

 

Sarok celebrated with pomp and gaiety

Bana, Jan 13: The Aka community of Bana area, East Kameng District celebrated social-agriculture festival ‘Sarok’ at Bana with pomp and gaiety on January 10 last. Speaking on the occasion as chief guest Indian National Trade Union Congress, State Secretary General Jalley Sonam extended festival greetings to the Aka community and urged them to preserve and promote the festivals of community. Further, the Secretary General strongly advised them not to mix festival with politic and urged all the people of the community to celebrate their festival without any religious discrimination.

Briefing about the unemployment problems, he advised the younger generation to engage themselves in Agriculture and horticulture activities and work for the all round development of the area.

Organizing Chairman and Secretary Sunil Degio and Koya Yame highlighted about the Sarok festival and also read out mythology of the festival.

They appealed the people to preserve rich cultural heritage and encouraged the younger generation to promote the age old customs and traditions of the society.

Besides community feast and prayers, cultural troops from various areas presented cultural items on the occasion.

 

AESDSU scoff at naming of Bridge over Siang

PASIGHAT, Jan 13: The All East Siang District Students’ Union has taken strong cognizance to the proposed naming of Pasighat Bridge to Rajiv Gandhi Bridge in the Centenary celebration of Pasighat Township as carried out in its Celebration Advertisement.

The Pasighat bridge which took 21 years to complete, tower over the mighty Siang river  stand as an important monument of human engineering in  the state and in a way carries the identity not only of Pasighat area but whole of the state in general.

In a statement today, AESDSU President Tageng Nyitan opined that “the historic Centenary Celebration of Pasighat Township will be a farce, if we cannot preserve our identity; there is no dearth of historical figure in our society or for that matter in Arunachal Pradesh.  The state government should immediately rethink on the decision for smooth and successful conduct of the celebration”.

The Union also appeals to all the like minded NGOs and the apex students’ union AAPSU to take serious note of the selling out of “Indigenous Pride” for gaining cheap political mileage out of a historic celebration.

 

Gadkari bats for PR leaders

ITANAGAR, Jan 13: BJP National president Nitin Gadkari advocated for designing proper and practical training programmes and exposure trips for Panchayat leaders at state and regional level to enhance their performance.

Speaking at the Party’s Panchayati Raj Cell National Executive Meeting at New Delhi on Jan 11, Gadkari stressed the need for proper devolution of power and functions to Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs) saying that an empowered PRIs can help in cleansing corruptions in the country. He called upon the chairman, conveners and the prabharies from various states to work hard and reach out to the lowest forum the Gram Sabhas and remind the panchayat leaders about their role and duties as envisaged in the Constitution. The bottom up approach in the planning process which had been the main focus of the previous BJP led NDA government should be the priority measures while organizing the PR leaders, he added.

The meeting reviewed the activities of the Panchayati Raj bodies and performance of Panchayat leaders in various states.

The meeting was attended by the members of the BJP National Panchayati Raj Cell headed by Dr. Bharat Bhai Gazipara, National Chairman/Convener, Co-Conveners, Vinay Kumar Ruhela and Yogesh Shukla, State Chairman/Conveners and Prabharies.

Meanwhile, the meeting decided to hold two days All Indian Panchayat Leaders Sammelan in mid April-May 2010 in New Delhi and the Northeast states Panchayati Raj Cell Chairman/Conveners and Prabharies concerned meeting at Itanagar in July-August.

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News Impact

Court snubs ADM Order

ITANAGAR, Jan 13: The Itanagar Permanent Bench of Gauhati High Court, while admitting the criminal review petition (No. 17(APO 2010) filed by Kipa Niya on Jan 7 challenging the criminal charges framed against him by the additional district magistrate cum estate officer, has listed the matter for hearing on Feb 22 next besides ordering the suspension of impugned order dated 22.11.2010.

Niya was arrested on Nov 20 last year pertaining to a land deal without producing any order or warrant of arrest by Police Personnel.

Niya alleges that he was arrested based on a verbal order by ADM Talo Potom.   

He was charged under section 188/447/201/379 IPC read with " 3 of PDPP Act, section 24 (B) /25 (D) & (E) of Assam Forest Regulation Act, 1891 and Forest Conservation Act 1980 and Arunachal Pradesh Public Premises Act, 2003 which he says is abuse of process of law.

 

RHEP organize community health check

ITANAGAR, Jan 13: Management of Ranganadi Hydro Electric Plant (RHEP), Yazali, organized a free community medical check-up camp at Pitapool village yesterday.  Camp was declared open by NK Mao, HOP, RHEP in presence of Anil Kumar, DGM (P&A), Dr Mohan Chandra Rabha, chief medical officer, Dr KD Mugli, medical consultant and paramedic team of RHEP.

 Various villagers of nearby areas availed the benefit of health camp along with free medicines.  Taw Leji, ASM, New Pitapool, while lauding NEEPCO for such gesture urged management to extend such kind of benefit to all the villagers around the plant.

 

Health Camp

ITANAGAR, Jan 13: Itanagar Mori-Rotgo Bango Welfare Society in collaboration with district health society, Upper Siang is going to organize health camp on 15th and 16th at Jengging, Upper Siang district.  Team of doctors from Naharlagun, Aalo, Yinkiong and Ruksin will attend the camp.

 

Sports Day

ITANAGAR, Jan 13: All Pasi Students and Parents Association celebrated its 9th Sports Day at Adipasi, Bine village, Upper Siang district yesterday.

 

Union appeals

ITANAGAR, Jan 13: All Palin Chambang Yangte Gangte & Tarak-Langdi Students Union (APCYGTSU) demanded the authorities concerned to immediately open primary schools in APCYGTSU area as announced last year. It also demanded to make all defunct school functional by initiating the needful.

APCYGTSU in a release resented that despite announcement, the authority has not yet taken any initiative to establish schools in the area.

 

Appointments

ITANAGAR, Jan 13: Bulang Marik and Bulang Tana have been selected as chairman and general secretary of Bullang Welfare Society (BWS), Parsi Parlo under Kurung Kumey district.