The Arunachal Times - Archives

Congress celebrates 125th Foundation Day

Centre concedes state demand for creation of Arunachal Scout:CM

ITANAGAR, Dec 28: The Centre has, of late, conceded the Arunachal govt’s plea for the creation of Arunachal Scout, informed Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu during a function organized at Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan here to mark the 125th foundation day of Indian National Congress today.

To the applause of the gathering, Khandu announced that the Congress-led UPA govt at the Centre had given its consent for creation of one battalion of Arunachal Scout.

Besides reiterating his call to all concerned for effective implementation of schemes taken under the PM’s mega financial package, the Chief Minister said despite additional fiscal burden of Rs 2500 crore needed on the part of his govt in next two years for 6th CPC implementation the govt employees’ remaining 15 months’ arrears will be released before March next.

Speaking on the occasion, APCC President Nabam Tuki briefed on the achievement and future vision of the Congress in the country.

He said that to commemorate the foundation day celebration, the party has decided to organise various functions across the year.

This covers freedom fighters and pioneers.

He further recalling the role of Congress in the struggle for Independence and the Congress leader’s role in the state appealed the state youth Congress leaders to strengthen their working pattern, so that the state could get better leaders and development.

He also urged the Congress membership drive team of the state to share the message of achievement and future vision of the Congress to every people particularly at the grass root level.

Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu and Nabam Tuki garlanded statue of Mahatma Gandhi and Indira Gandi at various places here.

Later, frontal wings of APCC including Mahila Congress distributed fruits at General Hospital Naharlagun, RK Mission Hospital, Itanagar and other institutions in the state capital.

Hunting & fishing banned

ITANAGAR: Expressing serious concern over the frequent hunting and fishing by outsiders in Lichi-Sher area, the people of Lichi-Sher panchayat segment under Kimin circle in a general meeting unanimously imposed immediate ban on hunting and fishing for insiders and outsiders in order to save flora and fauna for a period of two years from January 1, 2010.

Jurisdiction of banned area extends from 8 KM to 35 KM Kimin-Ziro road covering 8 KM, Lower Sher, Upper Sher, Sele, Bomchi-Bumte, Par-Lichi and Lichi village, the meeting resolved and said that violators of the ban order will be penalized.

Requesting the environment and forest department to play a pro-active role, the meeting also constituted a task force in order to implement the ban order effectively.

Janmashatabdi Samaroh of Yug Rishi

ITANAGAR, Dec 28: The Gayatri parivar fraternity, Arunachal Pradesh is going to organize the Janmashatabdi Samaroh of Yug Rishi, Taponishtha Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya, a renowned seer and gayatri exponent, with a five-day programme including 24 Kundiya Gayatri Maha Yagya and Pragya Purana katha at Nyikum Niya ground, Nirjuli from January 17 to 21 next.

Various groups under Indigenous Faith and Cultural Society of Arunachal Pradesh, devotees of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa Deva, members of Arun Jyoti, Brahma Kumaris, Baba Ram Devji’s Patanjali Ashram, Buddhist Cultural Society, Itanagar and Art of Living will be participating in the maha yagya. There will be exhibition stalls by the religious and cultural organizations from all over the country. A souvenir titled ‘Ane Donyi’ is also scheduled to be published to mark the occasion.

Meanwhile, an organizing committee has been formed with Dr Hui Tag, assistant professor of Botany, RGU as president, Er D N Verma as organizing secretary and Neelam Rani as chairperson.

Padu take stock of PM package implementation in border village

Tawang, Dec 28: Notwithstanding the high mountain terrain and icy cold weather the Deputy Commissioner, Tawang Gamli Padu visited Tsachu, one of the remotest border villages in the Tawang district on Dec 25-26.

Accompanied by executive engineer, Hydro Power and Assistant Engineer, Electricals, the DC inspected the 100-kilowatt Tsachu Hydel Project (under PM Package). However, the installation is yet to complete, and once completed and installed, it would cater to the need of Tsachu village, the GREF camps, and the nearby Army posts.

Padu was a Santa Clause for the villagers, who promised to look after their demands of a school and a Fair Price Shop.

He interacted with the army personnel stationed there and appealed the villagers and the armies to cut short the unwanted felling of trees.

“Let us do some bit of Copenhagen here, let us maintain, and contribute to the talk of climate change. This small initiative can bring changes and set an example for other areas”, he said.

Tsachu village is dwelled by only five houses and is 106 kms from Tawang. Locally it is famous for its hot-water spring (Tsachu means hot-water spring in Monpa), believed to cure some fatal diseases. For this reason people from far away places like Nepal, Bhutan, etc come here to take a holy bathe. DIPRO

You and Consumer Protection

Taba Tabin

I n the post independence period, deterioration in the universally accepted moral values and virtues of people was apparent. Political influences on the society in the shape of catching powers through hook or by crook to achieve small and huge gains through shorter and cheaper methods became the way of life. It left an inedible impact upon the society particularly the commercial world. To quickly amass wealth by fair or foul means became the main objective of the trading communities. In the process, worst affected was the simple and common public in whose sector commodities of bare necessity were consumed. Consumers were largely affected by uncontrolled adulterations, massive short weighments, sale of injurious and hazardous goods, practice of unscrupulous trade and all other possible means to cheat the common public. It was then that our late beloved and learned Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru ardently felt the necessity of enacting a law to protect the interests of the public i.e., the consumers.

During December 1956, the first ever bill was tabled on the floor of the parliament to put a strong grip on the fraudulent business and commercial malpractices and to protect the rights and interests of the common consumers at par with the Consumer Rights Bill passed by the US congress. This bill was enacted by the Parliament in the 27th year of the Republic of India i.e., in the year 1976 as the Standards of Weights & Measures Act, 1976. Subsequently, many other related acts and rules were enacted for regulating the parameters of weights and measures and mode of business for the betterment of the common people. But realizing the need for widespread coverage of an Act to protect the interests of the consumer, the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 was enacted in the 37th year of Indian republic.

Hence the first question which comes to our mind is “Who is a Consumer?”

As per section 2(d) (i) (ii) of the Consumer Protection Act (COPRA), 1986: Any person who purchases goods and /or hires services or agrees to purchase goods and/or hire services for any kind of financial consideration i.e., price paid in full or part, or promised to be paid in full or in instalment.

And a person who uses goods or avails services with the consent of the buyer of the goods or hirer of the services, as the case may be, shall be deemed fit to be defined as a “Consumer” under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. But as per the recent amendment of the Act in 2002, the definition of a consumer excluded the person/s hiring services and /or purchasing goods for “commercial purposes”. However, as in the case of purchase of goods for commercial purpose, hiring or availing of service by a self-employed person for his livelihood is not a “commercial purpose” as per the amended explanation. In more simplified language, if I had to purchase a product ‘X’ or hire service/s from A for my livelihood then I shall be deemed fit for being covered under the purview of the Consumer Protection Act as a Consumer and if I had to purchase the same good/s or hire the service/s from A for selling the product/s or service/s to a third party, then I shall not be deemed fit to be defined as a consumer. But the question arises as to why do I need to be placed within the definition of a Consumer?

The need so arises, since under the Consumer Protection Act,1986, a consumer has certain basic rights carved out for his/her self protection and precautions he/she need to keep in mind from the evil and unscrupulous trade practices being practiced by certain proportion of the business community in our state and India as a whole. Under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, the following rights have been enshrined for a consumer:- 1. Right to Safety(from hazardous goods and products), 2. Right to be Informed (about the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard and price of goods), 3. Right to Choose(from variety of goods at competitive prices), 4. Right to Seek Redressal(at appropriate forum), 5. Right to Be Heard, & 6. Right to Consumer Education.

Thank you, Mr Bam

Dear Editor,

The Chief Secretary, Tabom Bam, is not only the top most bureaucrat of the State but he is also a great social activist and Creative thinker. His contributions towards the society are commendable and remarkable.

I as a member on behalf of the Donyi-Polo Dere Welfare society of Likabali take this opportunity to offer heartiest thanks to chief secretary, Tabom Bam for contributing his one month salary and offering Rs.14 lakhs from the Govt. for construction of the dere at Likabali".

His patronage made it possible for us to construct Donyi-Polo Dere at Likabali which today is one of the biggest and beautiful prayer centre of Donyipoloism in the State.

Yours,

Takom Taju

Likabali

(on Email)

May Buddha and Jesus forgive us

Dear Editor,

The incident that occurred at Joypur Road, Namsai which involved a minor scuffle between Khamtis and a few Christians have been blown out of proportion by all and sundry. There isn’t a ghost named Religious torture doing the rounds of Namsai town. A fitting example of is the presence of five Christian churches in and around Namsai town against a single Buddha vihara. That Khamtis aren’t anti Christians can be traced back to the incident that occurred at Joypur village earlier when some group of people burnt down Govt. Property in protest against the wish of the local Khamti populace regarding the construction and establishment of a Christian college at Joypur. Khamtis had earlier vehemently supported the establishment of the Christian college against the wishes of Joypur Christians . Isn’t it ironical that the same Khamtis are alleged of religiously torturing Christians? A Religious structure can’t be constructed on a public place against the wishes of the local population. The missionaries should have come to a negotiation with the locals before the construction rather than trying to forcibly construct it in a locality inhabited by 99% resenting Buddhist population in the wee hours of the morning.

Buddhist and Christians have peacefully coexisted in this small town since time immemorial. Both the communities are shocked at the forceful construction. The leaders ought to hunt for political mileage elsewhere and take caution that their allegation and counter allegations in no way misguide the common person to turn against each other. 'Ahimsa param Dharam' is what Buddha preached and 'Forgive them lord they know not what they are doing' is what Jesus said.

On the feet of Jesus and Buddha we ask for forgiveness because both cried this Christmas when they saw their children fighting.

Yours,

W.Namchoom

(on email )

But just like the fundamental rights and duties, the aforesaid 6(six) basic rights of a consumer are to be complemented by consumers as their basic duties; unless otherwise the rights of a consumer stays and stands meaningless. So, on the occasion of National Consumer Day celebration from 24th December 2009, let us all take pledge to exercise all our rights and perform our duties, in principle for our own betterment and for the society in which we dwell. This year the Government of India and the State Government of Arunachal Pradesh has decided to celebrate the day and the week with the captioned theme – “Be Financially Literate - Save Your Investments”. But what would this mean for common public of this peace loving state of Arunachal Pradesh?

With the continuously upsurging stock exchange and the expanding share market trend in India, the local markets are being flooded with national and international investments in almost all the spheres, be it from infrastructure, healthcare, rural development, telecommunication, etc., to mega hydro projects, road construction, airport development projects and so on. This results in surfacing of many financing agencies/institutions, some legal but many illegal to meet the immediate monetary requirements of upcoming local businessman and contractors with “come and take away” loans at very meager rate of interest. This definitely makes an easy trap for locale to fall into. But what the locals don’t realize is whether the agreed terms and conditions would ever be fulfilled after depositing the so called “Processing Fee”. - Jago Grahak Jago!! When Graham Bell invented telephone, he never realized that the simple long distance call machine would be technologically modified into a palm sized sophisticated electronic device capable of delivering money at your doorstep. Yes, I am referring to recent spurt in sms’s being received by consumers of certain mobile service provider congratulating them as winner of some hypothetical international lucky draw. The sms ends with the draw organizers asking the consumer to talk to Mr.Z for further details. But very few know that further exploration of this sms is like getting into a complicated maze where the person involved dubiously gets cheated of some thousand of rupee as “Processing Fee” at the behest of the Lakhs and Crores of rupees as “Winner”. – Jago Grahak Jago!!

These are just some examples of the business/commercial malpractices being practised by a person/organization with unscrupulous malafide intention to squeeze money from you and me. It is not the question of what the trader/person is making out of you and me, but is the question of what you and I am allowing him/her to generate out of you and me. The only barrier here is a well informed and a conscious consumer well aware of his/her rights and duties.

So, come forward. Know your rights as consumer and perform your duties as a good consumer. (The writer is an Inspector, Legal Metrology & Co-nsumer Affairs Department, Naharlagun.)

‘Utilize sanctioned fund judiciously’

ITANAGAR, Dec 28: Appreciating the state Govt led by Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu and PWD minister Nabam Tuki for clearing the Papu Nallah via Hoj to Potin road project, Capital Complex Yachuli Area Welfare Association (CCYAWA) appealed the concerned authority for proper utilization of the sanctioned fund.

Take up games and sports seriously: AAPSU leader

Seppa, Dec 28: All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) convenor Ringu Kuku advised players of the state that sports can not only bring glory but also earn livelihood for them, if pursued seriously.

Attending the final day of a football match at Ziro under Lower Subansiri district today as chief guest, Kuku asked the players to take full opportunities of such tournaments to expose their soccer skills. He suggested the organizing committee members to select the promising players and give them opportunity to take part in higher level competitions. This will go a long way in honing their sporting talents, he said. As a student leader I will extend every possible help in conducting bigger sporting events in future, Kuku assured the organizer. Later, he gave away trophies and other prizes to the winning and runners up teams.

The final match was played between Sports Generation Club and Ninchayang Club. The tournament was organized by Kago Pumgo Club, Ziro.

Yaza Waii Memorial T20 Tourney

Engineers XI crush Chayang Tajo Cricket Club by 47 run

Jabu Lapung

Seppa, Dec 28: Engineers XI crushed Chayang Tajo Cricket Club (CCC) by 47 run in the inaugural match of the Yaza Waii Memorial T20 Cricket tournament at General Ground here today.

Engineers XI piled up a mammoth 160 run in their 20 over after they were put into bat first. Captain Karling Sonam played a captain’s knock of 47 (not out) and Kumar Tajo a swashbuckling half century.

Chasing the target, CCC could manage only 113 runs losing their all wickets. Opening pair of Rahim Yangfo (13) and Atuma Sonam (19) and Chacho Diggiong (12), Sonam Bagang (12) could only cross the double figure.

Tero Dodum of Engineers XI claimed three wickets while Sangam Keyang and Rajesh Singhi claimed two wickets each. For CCC XI, Atum Sonam and Rahim Yangfo claimed two wickets each.

Earlier, declaring the tournament open, local MLA Tapuk Taku, urged the players to maintain sportsman spirit while participating the tournament. He assured to extend all possible help from his side to the promising players.

Chief Patron and also the son of late Yaza Waii, informed that the idea behind organizing this tournament is to expose hidden talents and foster unity and brotherhood among the people of the district. He said that the tournament would be organized involving teams from other parts of the state in a big manner in future with more lucrative prizes. He further informed that he will try to convince ACA president Nabam Tuki and other ACA members to select talented cricketers of the district in future state team.

Tournament chairman, Pige Ligu also spoke on the occasion.

Colorful cultural display by local troupes and band party from Tezpur enthralled the spectators in the opening ceremony.

All the Govt. officials public leaders and general public were present in the inaugural function.

At least 12 teams are in the fray for the coveted title.

Implement electrification scheme

ITANAGAR: All Bameng Khenewa and Lada Students’ Union (ABKLSU) has appealed the authorities concerned to implement the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) under Bameng CD block immediately.

Even though tender was floated in February, 2007 for implementation of the scheme, there is no sign of electrification work in the area till date, the union resented and threatened agitation if the scheme is not implemented immediately.

Speed up investigation: ALSU

ITANAGAR: Claiming the death of one Ratan Santi of Pachin Colony on the night of 25th December 2009 as murder, the Arunachal Law Students Union (ALSU) regretted that police are yet to arrest the killer even after 3 days. It requested police to speed up the investigation to arrest culprit.

However when contacted Naharlagun police sources said the cause of death will be ascertained after studying post-mortem report which is yet to be received by them.