Flash flood hit large number of people in Morigaon

Morigaon, July 29 : A large number of people have been affected in flash flood in central Assam's Morigaon district on Thursday, official sources said. The Bramhaputra submerged at least three villages consisting of 100 families in the three villages - Jyotimari, Kacharigaon and Bagarimari, the sources said.

A large number of people were rendered homeless and they are taking shelter in higher areas, sources said.

The district administration has started relief operations for the flood-affected people, the sources added.

PM pep pill for ailing Assam chief minister

GUWAHATI: Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi, who is admitted to Max Hospital in New Delhi and is likely to undergo two heart surgeries, got a confidence-booster on Tuesday from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who had a bypass operation in 2009.

Sources said the PM called up Gogoi to convey his supportive words and even spoke to the vice-chairman and cardio-vascular thoracic surgeon at the Asian Heart Institute in Mumbai, Ramakant Panda, about his health. Panda had successfully led a team of doctors at AIIMS last year while performing the redo bypass surgery on Singh.

Sources said Gogoi is likely to be shifted to the Asian Heart Institute in the next two days after his two children arrive from the US. His son, Gaurav, is studying at the University of Massachusetts, while his daughter, Chandrima,who is married, lives in San Francisco. They are scheduled to reach New Delhi on Tuesday.

Doctors at Max Hospital said, "The chief minister is doing fine and he has been shifted from the ICU. He will undergo the operations late this week or early next week." The hospital authorities on Tuesday also allowed visitors to meet the chief minister. For three days, there was a ban on visitors except Gogoi's wife.

Gogoi was admitted to the hospital on Saturday after he complained of uneasiness while addressing the National Development Council meeting in New Delhi. On Monday, a coronary angiograph showed that he had two blocked blood vessels in his heart.

With Gogoi now looking to be out of office for almost six weeks, speculation has started who would be looking after the chief minister's work in his absence. A source said, "The chief minister has not made any decision in this regard." In the past, whenever Gogoi was out of office for long for one of his visits abroad, he would hand over charge to the seniormost minister in his cabinet, Bhumidhar Barman. Sources said the chief minister has passed a message to Barman to come to New Delhi but asked other ministers to stay back in the state.

However, several ministers left for the national capital on Tuesday. Barman would leave for Delhi on Wednesday.

Scheme to promote small tea plantations in Assam

The government has started a special scheme to promote small tea plantations in Assam that would help produce 26 percent of the country's tea output.

Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya Scindia informed the Rajya Sabha Wednesday that the scheme would improve productivity and provide greater market access to the small farmers.

Under the scheme, financial assistance is being provided extended to all small holdings tea farmers.

The assistance includes provisions for field inputs like training and setting up of proper leaf collection, developing mini tea processing factories, and providing transport facilities to the farmers to gain greater market access.

A separate cell has ben set up in the Tea Board of India to look after the development needs of the small holdings tea growers. The financial allocation of the board has also been increased by Rs.450 crore in the 11th plan at Rs.800 crore.

Assam's Jokai, Khanikar villages cherish a transformed life with peace

Dibrugarh (Assam), July 26 : People in Jokai and Khanikar villages in upper Assam that was once affected by militancy and violence, are now enjoying peace.


A visit to these villages astonishes when one notices how prevalence of peace has transformed local residents' lives and the way they feel about their lives.

Lush green vegetation flanks both sides of the road leading to Jokai and Khanikar villages, 12 kilometres from Dibrugarh, in the fertile riverbeds of Brahmaputra River.

Tea gardens here influence local people's lives in a big way and also the overall local economic activity.

Looking at the idyllic rural life, it is hard to believe that the region was recently a stronghold of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).

Not very long ago, militant groups' activities had brought development work in the region to a standstill.

"Earlier ULFA's activities were a routine feature. Now, militants are no longer there and the search operations by the Army have come to a stop. We are leading normal and peaceful life," said Nobin Sonowal, a resident in Jokai Village.

Militancy had created an atmosphere of uncertainty and fear here. But the villagers, who dared not venture out of their homes due to the fear of militants Now people work happily in their fields.

The forest between Khanikar and Jakoi villages, which was called "Black forest" due to the presence of ULFA cadres, is now the "Jakoi Botanical Garden cum Germplasm Centre".

With improved road connectivity, it has become a popular picnic spot.

"The botanical garden is one of its kind in Assam. The forest department has undertaken the project to grow medicinal plants. Tourists and students come here for educational purpose," said Akhtar Hussain, another resident of Jokai Village.

The villages are showing rapid progress. Today, they have improved schools and healthcare facilities.

Several government-affiliated schemes under the Panchayati Raj have helped the village folk as well.

"Now, there is peace. We have new roads, schools and many other things. Life has changed. Primary Health Centre and electricity are available as well. Job cards have not been not been given to all, but some people have received them and have benefited," said Pramod Sarma, another resident of Jokai Village.

"With the arrival of Panchayati Raj, development is taking place. There are many beneficiaries of Government schemes who have received house loans. A reservoir for clean drinking water has been built as well," said Pradeep Saikia, a resident of Jokai Village.

Anandar Saikia, 58, a wooden craftsman, whose business was declining because of activities of militants is glad that things have changed.

He says good times are back due to normalcy and development of the village infrastructure. Sales have gone up. Saikia has also started supplying his decorative showpieces to other parts of Assam and neighbouring states.

"I have borrowed money from the government and started selling my products in other states. It's a very lucrative profession and I am imparting training to young boys and girls. I am happy with my work," said Anandar Saikia of Khanikar Village.

Today, Jokai and Khanikar villages demonstrate how peace can change the quality of lives of the people. By Vashipem Kamodang

Gogoi to undergo emergency heart surgeries in Delhi

New Delhi - Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi will have to undergo two emergency heart surgeries following blood vessel blockages detected by doctors at a hospital here Monday.

"The chief minister would require two surgeries - a bypass surgery and another surgery to replace an aortic valve with 70 to 80 percent blocks in two blood vessels," Parveez Ahmed, CEO of Max Hospital, told IANS.

The chief minister complained of breathing problems and a rise in blood pressure Saturday while attending the meeting of the National Development Council chaired by the prime minister.

"His heart condition is normal and he is doing fine with all parameters normal," Ahmed said.

The surgeries are likely to be conducted in the next two to three days. Gogoi is at the Max heart and vascular hospital in Saket.

"It is his personal wish where he wants to do the surgery, but then we are well equipped to perform the operation," Ahmed said.

The chief minister would require a minimum of six weeks to get back to work.

"A total period of about six weeks would be required for him to be fully fit," Ahmed said.

Floating clinic saves lives in rural India

During the rainy season, rural Indian states find themselves cut off from the mainland and basic services like medical care. That’s when a team of doctors from a clinic boat are most welcome guests in remote villages.

The state of Assam in northeast India sits on the banks of the mighty Brahmaputra River, and during the monsoon the water way is the only means of transport. Healthcare arrives by boat for those living in remote villages and still it can take 3 or 4 days to reach some of the islands.

“There are many villages we can go to only in the rainy season,” said Dr. Rahool Amin Haque from the Center for North East Studies and Policy Research. “It's more difficult to get to them during the dry season. We have to walk 5 to 7 kilometers. This could take 2 hours. We can't carry all our medical equipment such a long distance.”

One hundred thousand people live in the district of Nalbari, but there is only one functioning medical center. Sixteen-year old Mopuda is pregnant, and feels this free check-up is a far better option than traveling to the nearest town.

“It's good the boat clinic is here, otherwise I would have had to travel to the town for my check-up. It takes several hours just to reach there,” Mopuda said.

The boat clinic is run by an NGO, the Center for North East Studies. It's funded by the Indian government and UNICEF. Its main focus is the immunization of children. While locals were initially hesitant to get their babies vaccinated, mothers like Abida now actively support it.

“My child often gets a fever,” she said. “That's why I brought him here. I hope this shot will help him.”

But there are limits to what the doctors can do. Dr. Haque examined local farmer Jalaluddin, who had been complaining of pain in his abdomen. To diagnose the cause, Dr. Haque needed an X-ray, but for that Jalaluddin had to go to the city – a trip the farmer could not afford, he said.

“We can deliver babies, and do blood tests,” Dr. Haque explained. “But we don't have an X-ray machine, so for that the patient has to go to the medical center in the city. If there is an emergency, we have a standby boat we can use to transport the patient there.”

Getting access to healthcare in rural Assam is never easy, and even more difficult during the monsoon, when the Brahmaputra River covers much of the land. But by delivering healthcare to the doorstep of the villagers, the boat clinic could mean the difference between life and death.

Meghalaya mulls ‘Assamese’ link

Shillong, July 23 : Who is an Assamese? As Assam faces the uphill task of answering this question, Khasi intellectuals in Meghalaya have offered varied views on the issue.

The comments of these intellectuals assume significance as Meghalaya was born in 1972 largely out of the indigenous communities’ protest against imposition of Assamese language on them in undivided Assam.

The intellectuals here have focused on various factors such as geography, language and demography while trying to throw light on the definition of Assamese. Some feel the definition of the term should be restricted to the indigenous people of Assam while others feel it should be seen in a broader sense.

Legislator Paul Lyngdoh, a former president of the Khasi Students Union, feels the definition of Assamese should be restricted to the indigenous people of Assam, that is the original inhabitants like the Khasis, who have made the place their home and hearth for along time. People who are just permanent residents cannot qualify as Assamese. “It need not cover the later settlers and definitely not the illegal settlers,” he said.

However, senior citizen Toki Blah feels it would be dangerous to define “Assamese” in the narrow sense of the term, that is focus on original inhabitants only, as some multilingual and ethnic communities residing in Assam are genuine residents too, and cannot be sidelined.

Admitting that it was a difficult task to define Assamese, Blah said any step in this direction would help to examine the genuine residents.

John Kharshiing, an expert on Khasi traditional institutions, said the indigenous communities of Meghalaya, Khasi, Jaintia and Garo, were also facing a problem identical to Assam. He said if one goes by the cut off year of 1971 (to detect foreigners) as per the Assam Accord, there would be a minimum of three lakh foreign nationals in Meghalaya.

He said a people sharing the same language, culture and tradition form a community and this is what should be taken into consideration while defining Assamese. But in reality, different indigenous communities use the Assamese language and practise Assamese culture.

He said if one goes by the fact that Assam was formed on linguistic ground, then it would be wrong to question who is an Assamese now.

According to Kharshiing, any attempt to define “Assamese” is irrelevant as the concern over foreign nationals should focus on their detection and deportation according to the cut-off year laid down in the Assam Accord.

The vice-chancellor of Martin Luther Christian University, Glenn C. Kharkongor, said when one defines Assamese, two categories of people should be kept in mind. “Assam should consider genuine groups, including tribes like the Bodos and the Karbis who form part of Assamese, and the non-tribals who came from other states or foreign countries like the Ahoms.” People from East Bengal who became part of the state are also Assamese.

“Assam is a basket of several identities and should not be defined by language alone,” he said, adding that it should be considered as a geographical entity comprising many people. He said the categorisation of genuine and non-genuine residents should be left to a political decision.
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Couple arrested for killing elderly woman

The police Thursday said they had solved the murder of a 60-year-old woman here with the arrest of her maid and her husband in Punjab.

Rakesh Mehra, 27, and his wife Rubi Begam, 35, were caught from Jalandhar district for killing Rajender Kaur, a resident of Rajouri Garden and for looting gold jewellery and diamonds worth Rs.12 lakh from her house.

The couple had escaped to Punjab after committing the crime July 17, police said.

'Rubi worked as the maid at Kaur's house. She came to know about the gold and diamonds and hatched a conspiracy to kill Kaur,' a police officer said.

'The couple attacked the woman and stabbed her to death. They ran away with jewellery and the woman's mobile phone,' he added.

Rakesh is an electrician while Rubi is from Assam.

Tezpur varsity VC gets prestigious award

TEZPUR, July 22 – The prestigious ‘Distinguished Alumnus Award’ of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur has been conferred on eminent scientist and the Vice-Chancellor of Tezpur University Prof Mihir Kanti Chaudhuri during the institute’s 56th convocation held on July 17. The award is presented to selected alumni of the country’s premier institute in recognition of their outstanding contribution and significant achievements in their professional fields. The award for the year 2010 was presented to Prof. Chaudhuri along with 11 other distinguished personalities from different walks of life, by the Union Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal.

It may be mentioned that Prof. Chaudhuri has made remarkable contributions to chemical science and technology and is regarded as a pioneer in green chemical technology. A fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences and Indian National Science Academy, Prof. Chaudhuri was earlier awarded the prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, Professor P. Natarajan Endowment Award, Chemito Award, S.S. Sandhu Award, and the first North-east excellence Award instituted by Indian Chamber of Commerce.

These recognitions assume special significance in view of the fact that the corpus of Prof. Chaudhuri’s work has been done at the institutes located in the North-east and thus is a signal source of inspiration for the younger generation of scientists and students from Assam and the North-east India.

House apprised of NC Hills fund position

GUWAHATI, July 16 – The North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council received an amount of over Rs 648 crore under different schemes from Central and State Governments during the period from 2001-02 to 2009-10. This was disclosed by the Minister in charge of Hill Areas Development, Khorsing Ingty in reply to a question by Keshab Mahanta in the State assembly on Wednesday.

The Minister said that the figures did not include the funds allocated for the schemes implemented by the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), National Rural Health Mission, Sarba Shiksha Abhijan, Backward Region Grant Fund, Rashtriya Sama Vikas Yojana and the PMGSY. The figures also did not include the non plan funds allocated for payment of salaries, wages, repairing and maintenance.

The Minister said that up to 2006-07, the Council used to receive funds directly from different Government departments, but since then the Council has been receiving funds through single window system from the Hill Areas Department.

Opposition Alleges Assam Blasts a Political Conspiracy

Opposition parties in Assam, including the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and BJP today alleged that the blasts on railway tracks was a conspiracy by the Congress government to divert people's attention from its 'misrule'.

Addressing a joint press conference by six opposition parties, AGP president Chandramohan Patowary alleged that the sudden spurt in blasts attributed to the NDFB was a "conspiracy by the government to divert people's attention from the multi-crore funds diversion scam in North Cachar Hills district in which several ministers are involved.

"The sudden sounding of an alert on possible attacks by the NDFB, holding up of trains for checking of tracks and then the blasts-- all smacks of a conspiracy," he alleged.

"If the government had information about possible attacks by the militant outfit, then why did it not take steps?" Patowary asked.

The opposition parties, including AGP, BJP, NCP, AUDF, Samajwadi Party and Bodo Progressive Peoples Forum, will organise a march on July 13 to the state secretariat to protest alleged corruption.

NGO ‘exposes’ Assam minister’s scam

The Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), an NGO extensively using RTI to expose corruption on higher places, on Monday claimed to have unearthed sensational scandals involving Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

KMSS secretary Akhil Gogoi told reporters, “The electorate had the right to know how the health minister has been able to accumulate huge wealth within a short span of time. He should explain how he could buy luxury cars amounting Rs 25 lakhs and Rs 15 lakhs in 2008 in the name of his daughter who was just five years old at that time. The documents procured by us show that cars were bought through cash payment.”
The RTI activist, who is already in the eye of storm for taking the minister head on, also produced the documents, procured under the RTI Act, before the media in connection with the purchase of vehicles. “The documents clearly mention that both the vehicles were purchased through cash mode of payment,” said Mr Gogoi, regretting that corruption was being encouraged by the individuals in high position. Accusing that minister is suspected to have piled up properties by misappropriating the government fund, the powerful NGO of farmers demanded that a CBI probe should be ordered to investigate the disproportionate assets of minister and his close relatives.
In what was more embarrassing for the government, Mr Gogoi claimed that these information about the minister’s property were made available to them by the ministerial colleagues of the health minister who are fed up with the minister’s conduct.
“Mr Sarma’s conduct is beyond toleration now and even members of the Congress Party are approaching us with documents to expose the minister,” claimed Mr Gogoi. The health minister, however, washed off his hand by clarifying that cars were bought by his wife who herself had business.
Ms Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, the wife of the health minister, in a statement threatened to file a case against Mr Gogoi with the Child Protection Tribunal for the efforts to tarnish the image of her daughter. Ms Sarma, denying all the allegations of the KMSS, said that she had gifted the vehicles to her daughter from her own income.
“I am a business woman and my enterprise could do business to the tune of Rs 14 crores in the last financial year,” she claimed.
The RTI activist has also made an appeal to the people of Assam to protect his life as it was under threat for raising the people’s issues.

Pachauri calls for climate modelling studies

R.K. Pachauri and Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi at the seminar in Guwahati on Monday.

Guwahati, July 6 : Environment scientist R.K. Pachauri today urged the Assam government to carry out climate modelling studies to know the impacts of climate change.

One-stop birth control cell in Assam

Guwahati, July 5 : Hushed closed-door questions on contraception and ham-handed fertility advice from know-it-all relatives will soon cease to be the most widely used birth control counselling methods in Assam.

Beginning July, every primary health centre, district hospital, besides the three medical colleges, will be equipped with dedicated single-window family planning facility that will include infrastructure for no-scalpel vasectomy and tubectomy.

The scheme, which will be aptly launched on July 11 on World Population Day, will provide every district in the state with an amount of Rs 5 lakh initially to create facilities and infrastructure at health centres and hospitals to help couples avail of all kinds of birth control procedures.

“At present, the health centres and district hospitals do not provide all kinds of family planning facilities. For example, no-scalpel vasectomy and tubectomy surgery are not available together at all hospitals. Many of the health centres do not even have contraceptive pills. Such situations have made it difficult for couples, particularly those from rural and remote areas, to avail of birth control procedures according to their wish and preference,” the state trainer-cum-state nodal officer for male and female sterilisation programmes, Ilias Ali, told The Telegraph.

Ali said the single-window family planning facility is a new concept and been implemented in very few states, including Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, to curb massive population growth.

He said the Union ministry of health and family welfare, too, selected Assam for the scheme considering its high growth of population for the year 2010-11.

All primary health centres and district hospitals would be equipped with facilities and manpower to conduct no-scalpel vasectomy, tubectomy and other surgical procedures.

The hospitals will have health counsellors to educate people on the benefits of family planning.

They will also offer advice and suggestions to couples as ways to adopt birth control procedures according to their conveniences and circumstances.

The gynaecology departments at Gauhati Medical College and Hospital, Assam Medical College and Hospital, Dibrugarh and Silchar Medical College and Hospital will now have separate cells to provide facilities and counselling on birth control measures.

“Such arrangements will enable couples to clear their doubts, misgivings and queries about effects of birth control and take a final decision once they visit the health centres or hospitals without any hassle. Most of the couples, whether in urban and rural areas do not want to run from one hospital to another, in the matter of family planning,” Ali said.

He said more and more men and women were joining family planning programmes in Assam.

The state has set a target of 1-lakh women and 25,000 men for sterilisation procedures for the current year.

From July 12, the health department will conduct a series awareness programmes, street plays and public meetings across the state on the dangers of population explosion and educate them on the new scheme.

Village Courts to be set up in Assam

Assam : Village Courts will be set up in every panchayat. 25 such courts are to be set up within the current financial year on an experimental basis.

Quotiong official sources our Guwahati correspondent reports that all minor and criminal cases could be registered in these village courts for their settlement.
The State Government has also decided to set up a National Law School and Judicial Academy at a cost of around a hundred crore rupees at Amingaon, near Guwahati.

Monsoon rains submerge hundreds of villages in India's Assam

Nita Bhalla

A rickshaw puller wades through a flooded road after heavy rains in the northeastern Indian city of Guwahati June 4, 2010.
REUTERS/Utpal Baruah

NEW DELHI (AlertNet) - Incessant monsoon rains have triggered major flooding in northeastern India, submerging hundreds of villages and forcing thousands of people to abandon their homes in search of higher ground, say officials and aid workers. The heavy rains in the tea and oil-rich state of Assam have forced burgeoning rivers, including the mighty Brahmaputra, to burst their banks affecting 865,000 people in about 1,500 inundated villages. Aid workers say 11 of Assam's 27 districts have been severely affected, including Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, Baksa and Bongaigaon, and poor farming communities have been the worst-hit. The fast-flowing waters have also eroded banks and dykes and swelling rivers are threatening to inundate other parts of the state, including parts of Dibrugarh, Assam's second largest city. "People have been moving with whatever possessions they can take to safer areas. Most are currently in make-shift shelters with little help," said Mrinal Gohain, ActionAid's manager for India's northeast region. "These communities, who rely on rice cultivation for their survival, will see 60 to 80 percent crop damage as a result of the irregular monsoon that we have had this year," he said, adding that Assam's pre-monsoon showers were 80 percent higher than normal this year. Weather officials are forecasting more rainfall in the coming days. Government officials say water purification tablets, medicines and food are being distributed in some areas, but there are currently no plans to open relief camps until an on-going survey of the affected areas has been completed. "So far, all the rivers in the state are observing rising trend," said Prithvi Majhi, Assam's minister for water resources. "We have instructed private owners of country boats to cooperate with district authorities in the distribution of relief materials." Aid agencies are also preparing to respond and said they plan to start aid distributions - including tarpaulins, medicines and clean drinking water - by next week. FLOOD-PRONE India usually experiences monsoon rains from June to September, which are vital for its agriculture. But in states like mountainous Assam, the rains frequently cause landslides and flooding that devastate crops, destroy homes and trigger diseases such as diarrhoea and dysentery. Experts say decades of mass deforestation have led to soil erosion where sediment is washed downstream from mountainous areas. It ends up in rivers where it builds up on the river bed, raising the level of the water far higher than normal. Poor management in regulating water levels in dams has also led to huge volumes being released into rivers over a short period with no warning to populations, they add. Local populations also say corrupt officials have siphoned off funds meant for flood risk reduction projects and resulted in shoddy construction of embankments which are regularly breached. Last year, nearly 1,000 people were killed by severe flooding in India, while tens of thousands more lost their homes and saw large swathes of their farmland devastated, according to the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. (Additional reporting by Biswajyoti Das in Guwahati)