Pul lays down modalities for revenue generation
ITANAGAR, Mar 6: In order to create a strong resource base and gear up investments by harnessing the rich economic potential of the state, Chief Minister Kalikho Pul has laid down modalities to improve revenue generation and to plug revenue pilferage in the state.
At a high level meeting with officials of the Mines and Minerals here on Sunday, Pul directed them to strengthen mines and mineral check gates in the districts. He urged them to plug revenue leakages citing rampant extraction from quarries. He directed the departmental officers to issue strict instructions to the permit holders to extract only the permissible quantity in addition to carrying out surprise checks.
He also directed them to conduct intensive survey to identify minerals and mine blocks across the state and assured them of all support for the survey.
Citing Tax and Excise as vital, Pul urged the department to strengthen the revenue component and check revenue leakages. He instructed the authorities to issue directives to the Tax and Excise officers to be stationed in their respective posting places and make rounds of Border Facilitation Counters to ensure checking of revenue leakage.
High-mast light in every check gate would be installed to increase visibility during night hours in order to make sure that no vehicles are able to sneak out without producing valid tax documents.
Reiterating the vast potential of tourism in the state with scopes for expansion of eco-tourism, adventure tourism and cultural tourism, Pul emphasised on developing basic amenities, like restaurants, hotels, motels, rest rooms, parking lots, wash rooms, drinking water etc. to make the state more tourist friendly.
In the power and hydro power sector, the CM encouraged the departments to develop small hydels with the generating capacity from 10 KW to 500 KW in order to provide power to interior blocks so that it is made self-sufficient.
The Chief Minister also stressed on tapping the huge hydro-power potential of the State by developing mega projects to make the State self-sustainable and self-sufficient. He asked the department to sensitise the local populace about positive aspects of hydro power projects and the prospect of area development which would pave way for betterment of the state in future.
Keeping in view the favourable climatic conditions for agricultural and horticultural crops in the state, he advocated to moot feasible plan to tap the huge resources.
"Agri-horti sector is also a massive revenue generating sector apart from ensuring economic growth of individual farmers," he quipped.
NE Games: Boxers clinch 2 Gold, 5 Silver medals on penultimate day
ITANAGAR, Mar 6: Arunachal Pradesh bagged two Gold, five Silver and two Bronze medals in a highly productive penultimate day of the second national level North East Games in Imphal, Manipur on Sunday.
Boxers clinched the 2 Gold and all the 5 Silver medals while Shuttlers and Paddlers bagged one bronze medal each.
With addition of nine medals, State’s total medal hauls rose from Saturday’s 29 to 38 (Gold-4, Silver-15, Bronze- 19) on Sunday.
Kongpong Wangcha and Ghanashyam Chetry won the gold medals in men’s 57 Kg and 48 Kg category respectively.
Kongpong out-punched his opponent from Manipur in a keenly contested match defying home crowd support.
Ghanashyam’s opponent was from Nagaland.
Those pugilists from the State, who have to be content with the Silver medals in men’s section are, Ringu Tara (46 Kg), Kipa Parang, (50 Kg), Kogom Potom (54Kg), Poke Siga (66 Kg).
Sapam Sila Devi bagged Silver medal in women’s 52 kg category after she lost the final bout against her opponent from Manipur.
Interestingly, all of them have lost their bouts against boxers from the host State barring Poke Siga, who has lost his final match against opponent from Nagaland.
The men’s badminton team comprising Laa Talar, Dilip Gurung, Ambita Sonam, Akshay Raito and Jokom Ribya beat Assam in the third place decider and won a Bronze.
The Men’s Table Tennis Team from the State also secured the 3rd position after defeating Sikkim in straight 3-0 sets in their last league encounters and won a medal for the first time.
The team comprising Moli Kamki, Keto Linggi, Ksh. Ushakiran, Y. Subhaschadra and Tensubam Bony registered two wins and equal number of loses at league level. The team earlier defeated Nagaland 3-1 and lost 2-3 to Mizoram and 1-3 to Manipur. Christina Tayeng will compete in weightlifting in women’s 69 kg category on the final day of the Games on Monday.
The State’s athletes drew a blank in the Games while the men and women football teams have made an early exit from the competition.
Expert call for Mithun research centre in state
[ Prafulla Kaman ]
PASIGHAT, Mar 6: A day-long Mithun Mela was conducted at Taki Lalung village near Pasighat to create awareness among the rural farmers on scientific rearing and disease management of Mithun (Bos Frontalis) by the National Research Center (NRC-M) on Mithun, Jharnapani, Nagaland in collaboration with Pasighat College of Horticulture & Forestry (CHF) and Animal Husbandry & Veterinary department.
Addressing the programme, Director NRC-M, Dr. Abhijit Mitra underlined the need of research centre on Mithun in the state. He said the indigenous people use the animal in sacred traditional ceremonies and as a gift to the bride in weddings and owing to its importance, NRC is eying on Arunachal to carry such research to boost its productivity.
“Mithun rearing is best source of house-hold income for the rural farmers of the hilly states. The NRC-M has been trying to motivate farmers to take up Mithun farming, through scientific way, as a viable commercial venture since the animal has got a good potential for production of quality meat, milk and leather.
We are all set to extend our research activities in Arunachal, which is most suitable habitat of Mithun”, Dr. Mitra informed.
According to latest census, Mithun population in Arunachal is 2.5 lakh, which is about 80 percent of the total Mithun population in the country. The figure is presently about 35,000 in Nagaland.
Attending the programme, East Arunachal MP, Ninong Ering and Pasighat-East MLA, Kaling Moyong assured the farmers of taking steps to improve Mithun rearing system in the state.
Dean of Pasighat College of Horticulture and Forestry, Dr. AK Pandey said that Mithun rearing and other animal faming activities are inseparable part of Agriculture. He emphasised on integration of agriculture, horticulture and animal farming for natural balance. Dr. Pandey requested the NRC-M scientists to extend their research activities to Arunachal Pradesh and other Northeastern states.
Among others, Deputy Director of Veterinary & AH, Dr. T Taku, District Veterinary Officer, J Panor, besides local panchayat leaders spoke in the inaugural function.
Besides the Nagaland based NRC-M, Pasighat CHF and Veterinary departments, Indian Veterinary Research Centre (Eastern region), Kolkata, NRC (Pig), Guwahati, National Dairy Research Institute (West Bengal) and KVK Papum Pare and East Siang districts took part in the exhibition and showcased development of modern technologies and research products in the Mela.
The main highlights of the day-long programme were the demonstration of micro-chip injection into the animal’s body, FMD vaccination and discussion on the scientific rearing of Mithun and farmer-scientist interaction.
About 70 Mithuns including bull, female and heifer/calf brought by the farmers of nearby villages were exhibited in the Mithun show organised as part of the programme. The owner of the most healthy Mithun was given trophy and cash awards.
Taming the untamed
[ Appu Gapak ]
Now is the season. Farmers at a village in Upper Siang district are busy extracting latex from the pods of their poppy plants. Like every year, they are looking forward to making a good amount from the collections. They have been doing this for the past many years now.
“Almost every house here is involved in poppy cultivation. But no one here is addicted to Kani. They do it only to sell,” informs a native of the village. Opium is popularly referred to as Kani by the locals here.
Opium cultivation is illegal in Arunachal. District administrations have been carrying out drives against illegal poppy cultivations on regular basis, recent being the destruction of more than 130 plots in Anpum, Bijari and Kalapani areas under Dambuk sub-division of Lower Dibang Valley (LDV) district.
Apart from demolition of the illegal plantation, the administrations also involve PRI leaders, Gaon Burahs and women groups to keep the community away from cultivating opium as most of the cultivators are women. Administrations are on constant lookout for the drug peddlers.
Despite government’s repeated attempt to curb illegal opium cultivation in the state, the farmers keep coming back to it. They are still continuing with their Kani production. It has become a menace which has engulfed most part of the eastern side of the state.
Anti-drug crusaders (read district administration) are visibly helpless in the face of the economic realities of demand and supply. For the risks people take in cultivating Kani, they reap astonishingly high monetary rewards.
The ADC informs that the farmers are being offered no alternatives against opium cultivation apart from the already existing schemes such as MGNREGA etc.
“Earlier it used to come from Tezu and Namsai areas but the villagers in Anpum, Bijari and Kalapani areas here are too involved in the illegal trade sensing the high returns,” informed Dambuk ADC Atul Tayeng. He takes pride in saying that his area doesn’t have a single plot of the illegal cultivation.
“It is not that the land is not fertile. It is. They can cultivate mustard leaves among many others as alternate but they don’t. They want easy money,” he says.
Unlike the villagers in Upper Siang, illegal poppy farmers in LDV are addicts as well.
He shared an incident where a villager had approached him recently looking for alternative for a relative whose poppy cultivation was damaged by the district administration.
The ADC suggests that apart from all the steps the government is already taking to curb the menace, a holistic approach is needed involving revolving fund, alternative crops and skill development programme for the farmers to keep them away from cultivating opium.
“Providing alternatives will be a sort of encouragement for the farmers,” the ADC opines.
Arunachal Festival of Speed from Mar 28
ITANAGAR, Mar 6: Lovers of Motorsports have a treat in store in March end, when racing cars will roar the roads and tracks around the scenic Dirang Valley as Arunachal Motorsports Association is all set to organize the ‘Arunachal Festival of Speed’ from March 28 to 30.
Billed as one of the most unique racing events in the country, the event in its third edition would be comprised of four different types of racings -- Motocross, Autocross, Rally Sprint and a Hill Climb -- both for the novice and the professionals, which test the sheer driving skills of the competitors, according to the organizer.
Autocross, Motocross and Sprint will be open for amateurs and will not need expensive modification to the cars. The amateurs/local youth with their normal road-going cars with seat belts and helmets will get a chance to compete with some of the best rally drivers in the country.
The winners will be declared after 3 days of competition based on points they have earned in all the different formats of event.
With Himalayan mountain ranges stretching across the entire state, Arunachal is a perfect ground for adventure sports, like motorsports mountaineering, white water rafting etc.
Sanskar Bharati team takes part NE drama festival
ITANAGAR, Mar 06: A-13 member team from Sanskar Bharati Arunachal Pradesh participated in North East Drama Festival organised by Sanskar Bharati Poorvottar at Ravindra Bhawan Guwahati from March 4 to 6.
The team from the State performed a drama titled “Loss of culture loss of Identity” directed by Mirnia Game, cultural secretary of Sanskar Bharati Arunachal Pradesh cum Director People Foundation Drama Group on March 5 in presence of huge gathering and theatre artistes across the country.
Earlier, the festival was inaugurated by Governor of Assam PB Acharya and Vice Chancellor of Guwahati University Mridul Hazarika.
The programme was also addressed and witnessed by First Lady of Assam Bimal Lath.
ANYA calls for financial stability
ITANAGAR, Mar 06: The All Nyishi Youth Association (ANYA) appealed Chief Minister Kaliko Pul to bring the state back to financial stability by solving the alleged financial crisis as soon as possible so that development activities could be resumed at the earliest. Stating that the Nyishi tribe is the largest tribes of Arunachal Pradesh spreading across six districts -- Papum Pare, Kurung Kumey, Kra Daadi, East Kameng, Upper Subansiri and Lower Subansiri, ANYA in a release appealed to the Chief Minister to induct two more MLAs from the community into the State cabinet for better representation of the community, good governance and better public administration.
Forum condoles Sangma’s demise
ITANAGAR, Mar 06: North East Dialogue Forum (NEDF) on Sunday deeply mourned the demise of former Lok Sabha Speaker PA Sangma who died on Friday morning in New-Delhi.
In a condolence message, the Forum said Sangma’s contribution and efforts in campaigning to repeal Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958 will be remembered for ever. Forum also acknowledged the former Lok Sabha Speaker’s concern towards undaunted struggle of Irom Sharmila and her courageous fight against AFSPA. Death of Sangma is a great loss for the people of North East in particular and the country in general, the Forum said.
Editorial
Rise above appeasement politics
After the swearing in of the seven cabinet ministers, the Arunachal has got two deputy
Chief Ministers in Chowna Mein and Kameng Dolo. This is for the first time in the
history of Arunachal Pradesh that two deputy chief ministers has been sworn in. Therefore
coming days will be an experience for everyone. Both Chowna Mein and Kameng Dolo
is seasoned politicians and have years of experience behind them. Dolo was deputy
CM once in the past, whereas Chowna has experience of being minister of important
department like planning, finance and PWD.
Without doubting the credibility of these two seasoned politicians, one wonders
whether creation of so many power centres will benefit state or not. Two deputy chief
ministers will create multiple power centres and it might lead to confusion and chaos.
Also Chief Minister Kalikho Pul who is junior to both the deputy CMs in terms of
age and political experience will have to maintain delicate balance in dealing with
two seniors. Too much of political adjustment will definitely hamper the developmental
process. Kalikho Pul came to power with promise of good governance and corruption
free government. People of Arunachal have massive expectation from his government.
He will need to rise above appeasement politics and make strong decision as leader
of the state. With just five cabinet berths remaining and many aspirants in the line,
Pul will have to make some major decision in coming days.
________________________________
Readers’ Forum
Exorbitant tuition fees cause concern
Dear Editor,
Through your esteemed daily, I would like to highlight the rampant rising of tuition
fees prevalent in the centurion town Pasighat.
It is disheartening to learn that teachers who are the torchbearer of education are
indulging themselves in minting money by elevating the tuition fees exorbitantly.
As a result the unprosperous parents are subjected to undergo economic and mental
pressure, considering the cut-throat competition in today’s education system. It
has an adverse impact on the students who enthusiastically pursue tuitions to understand
the nitty-gritty of the subject concerned - prominently Science and Mathematics.
Last year AdiSU had fixed the monthly tuition fees -- Rs 700 ( higher level) and
Rs 500 (secondary level) per subject in the Pasighat areas. But instead of fee fixation,
some renowned teachers are not following it.
I heard from some reliable sources that this year they have increased the fees to
Rs 2000 per subject in a month for Science section. This is very high and unaffordable.
I'm wondering why teachers are becoming so selfish. Why they are looting our communities
in the name of tuition fees?
Therefore, I earnestly request the concerned denizens to regulate and find an amicable
solution to exorbitant rate of tuition fee.
Yours,
A concerned parent
Streamline recruitment system through APPSC
Dear Editor,
Through the columns of your esteemed daily, I would like to draw the kind attention
of our new Chief Minister Kalikho Pul and his team about the health care system of
our state.
The recruitment of GDMOs/Specialist in our state has been irrational till now without
any head and tail and I believe that a single window of recruitment through APPSC
should be a must while maintaining the proper ratio of Allopathic and AYUSH GDMOs
and a provision of extra percentage of marks for those GDMOs who have been serving
under contractual basis under National Health Mission depending upon the number of
years they had served. In that way, it provides a better platform for human resource
management/promotions on merit basis and at the same time with the scope of extra
percentage for contractual service, it will definitely encourage many of the newly
passed out doctors for their voluntary service under NHM and state health service.
Many of the young and talented doctors from our state are forced to work outside
the state just because our Government district hospitals and CHCs lacks the basic
infrastructures and machineries, so definitely better infrastructure in the hospitals
has to be taken care of by the government.
Our Health and Family Welfare Department needs to manage the human resources in a
much better way by adequate posting of doctors, nurses and paramedical staff in each
and every district of the state, it cannot be a 10 doctors for a district and 100
for the other.
Yours,
Dr. C. Mongchan
The JNU imbroglio
Dear Editor,
The recent sedition charges slapped on JNU student's union president Kanhaiya Kumar
has created hullabaloo. The people of the country are basically divided into two
groups with the two narratives on the JNU episode.
First group questions the Government on sedition and called it militarization of
freedom of speech and the another group of people are those who bets for freedom
of speech not at the cost of National Interest. Many intellectuals who lives in fictional
world have been pitching for the abolition of section 124-A by saying that it has
no place in democracy but by saying that they have ignored “The Elephant in the room”.
Personally I feel the Article 19 clearly lays down restriction on the right to free
speech when it is an affront to the state itself, we do not need sedition for it.
Any argument trying to skilfully dilute the case through false reasoning is intellectual
dishonesty.
Many media writers are of the opinion that central government is being tyrannous
and despotic by curbing a citizen right to dissent, even they are pitching for a
hand in glove conspiracy of BJP-RSS in engendering the JNU imbroglio. But the crucial
point is that whether the student in government funded university should chant the
slogan under the veil of Right to freedom of expression that support the Afzal Guru
and that “the battle will continue till India’s debacle”. Have this section of students
imagined or respected the feelings of the families and loved one’s who lost their
life while protecting the Parliament specially when their killers are branded as
martyred.
We must not forget that we have neighbour who siege every opportunity to increase
its terrorist activities in our country. Slogans like “free Kashmir” can be understood
as it has not been happening for the first time. There has been series of incidents
like raising ISI flags and pro-Pakistani slogans in Kashmir valley, earlier LTTE
has been found doing it for Tamil Nadu but the Pro-Afzal slogan is out of one’s comprehension,
especially in JNU. First we need to know that he was not convicted by a particular
government at the Centre but by the court. By organizing pro-Afzal events we are
pointing our fingers towards the Supremacy & Integrity of Judiciary. Many considered
JNU as an arena of free speech but does it mean that no one can question their limit
of expression. A tax payer in the country has full right to question a Government
funded university, moreover the students need to ponder over their very reason of
joining a university. All over the world people witnessed such kind of face off between
the government and students but the reason why it has been turn ugly is because of
Congress and CPI jumping into the fray to land the support to a unjustified movement.
The deep-rooted pro-minorityism appears to be more important to them then maintaining
the unity and integrity of country. I agree that there are loopholes in our system
of administration, differences in ideologies but still it’s my India, my country.
Many are even trying to keep their argument by saying if Nathuram Godse’s birthday
can be celebrated, then why not Afzals? The answer is very clear when did JNUites
fall into the same line with Right wing fringes. People like Afzal Guru, Yakub Menon,
Nathuram Godse may always remain hero for some section of people and let them be.
But, if someone is not in solidarity with JNU, it doesn’t mean that he is a “Sanghi”.
Yours,
Ige Dirchi
Naharlagun
Independent teacher recruitment cell needed
Dear Editor,
This in response to the demands raised by some individuals and unions to handover
the recruitment of teachers of education department to the APPSC.
Firstly, I accept that there is lot of corruption and backdoor appointments in the
teacher recruitment process. But let me remind them all that APPSC is no exception.
The leakage of APPSC question paper in recent past and selection of irrational ratio
of candidate for viva-voce raises questions on the recruitment process of APPSC.
The need of the hour is to create an independent teacher recruiting agency with top
officials of the education department and from the state anti-corruption
Bureau. There should be no political interference and qualification and ability
of the candidates should be the top priority for selection.
Lastly a new rules and guidelines should be formulated in the state level for recruitment.
Yours,
Teacher aspirant
