Sources on Friday said reports of 186 people suffering from meningococcal meningitis had prompted the Health authorities to place order for medicines from outside the State to combat the disease.

"The medicines are expected to reach the State within this week," the sources said.

Jaintia Hills District Medical and Health Officer Dr SM Pohsnem told The Shillong Times that 70 people were suspected to be suffering from meningococcal meningitis in the district, adding Wahiajer was the worst-affected area.

"At present, there is shortage of medicines, but the problem is being taken care of by the Health authorities. The required medicines are expected to arrive soon," Dr Pohsnem said.

While asking people not to panic, the health officer said patients of the disease should be immediately brought to government hospitals instead of seeking "help of quacks."

Meanwhile, at a meeting held at Jowai on Thursday, Director of Health Services Dr KH Lakiang, district health officials and experts from National Institute of Communicable Diseases took stock of the meningitis situation in the district.

"The present confusion surrounding meningococcal infection in the form of meningitis or meningococcemia in the State needs to be put into correct perspective by the IPR Department," Dr Pariong told mediapersons here on Friday.

Though the Health Minister had earlier cited 21 confirmed and 129 suspected cases of meningococcal meningitis in the State, Director of Health Services Dr KH Lakiang on Friday said 21 people had died of suspected meningococcal meningitis in Meghalaya.

Dr Lakiang charged the local media with publishing what he called "different versions on the death toll from the disease and also from malaria," adding 30 persons had died of malaria in the State till date.

At the day's press conference, Dr Pariong, however, said awareness programmes on the disease were being organised across the State. "Advertisements in the local media giving information on symptoms of meningococcal meningitis are being issued by the Health Department," he said.

According to the minister, people in Garo Hills are taking chemoprophylaxis tablets as a precautionary measure, sometimes without prescription, resulting in pharmacies running low on the drug.

"One lakh chemoprophylaxis tablets are being air-dashed to the State as a precautionary measure to contain further outbreak of meningococcal meningitis," Dr Lakiang said. Two medical experts from National Institute of Communicable Disease (NICD) are training doctors and laboratory technicians here.

"On Thursday, doctors from all districts attended a workshop on the disease at Pasteur Institute here. They also visited private hospitals to train lab technicians and doctors," the minister said.

The Health Department has also shot off letters to the Education Department, urging it to circulate pamphlets with information on the disease, and directed schools and colleges of the State to report any suspected cases of meningococcal meningitis to the nearest hospitals. Similar circulars have also been sent to hostels and jails.

Meanwhile, some doctors in the city who are attending to people with meningococcal infection have said that chemoprophylaxis tablets like ciprofloxin do not help long-term prevention of the disease.

"The half-life of the drug is only for a duration of 6 to 12 hours. The drug, once excreted, does not offer any protection," the doctors said.

"Only those exposed to the disease such as health care providers and immediate family members should take chemoprophylaxis tablets," they added.

People following the reports of the outbreak of the disease said, "Conflicting reports that labelling deaths from meningococcal infection as malarial ones without adequate diagnosis of cerebro-spinal fluid is creating more confusion than clarity."

The injured were Amon Boro, Vishnu Basumatari, Ishaq Shah, Khrawbok Lyngdoh Mawnai and Justine Dkhar. Amon and Vishnu were rushed to Shillong Civil Hospital.

Amon, who suffered head injuries, was later shifted to Nazareth Hospital here in a critical condition. The others received minor wounds.

"A cricket match was being held as usual but all of a sudden a scuffle broke out among some jail inmates leading to injuries to some of them," jail superintendent P Warjri said.

Terming the incident as an isolated one, Mr Warjri said a complaint had been lodged with Shillong Sadar police and that an investigation into the prison clash was on.

He also said the jail authorities had taken adequate measures to ensure that the incident did not cause further tension among the prisoners.

Shillong District Jail houses 291 inmates, most of them under-trials, including 11 women and a child accompanying his mother.

There are 25 convicted prisoners and 14 MPDA detainees in the jail.

A survey conducted by The Shillong Times revealed that many Forest Department quarters, especially those located at Forest Colony near Polo here, were being occupied by officers who retired from service five years ago.

It may be noted here that rules framed by Central Government and PSUs permit an officer to retain a departmental quarter after superannuation for a period of six months only. If an occupant fails to vacate the quarter after the stipulated period, he or she is issued a notice by the department concerned for not complying with the rules adopted by the Central Government and PSUs.

Interestingly, even after 36 years of statehood Meghalaya has yet to make rules for taking stringent action against such illegal occupants.

Talking to The Shillong Times, sources in the Forest Department pointed out that there were officers who had continued to illegally occupy government quarters for several years even after their retirement.

"Many retired officials also continue to use various facilities like telephone and bungalow peon," the sources said.

The sources felt that the department needed to initiate steps to remove illegal occupants of government apartments, saying rent should be collected from them or they should be made to pay telephone bills and salary of their peons to minimise loss to the State exchequer.

"What is also observed is that some officials after retirement filch household articles, even doors and windows while vacating their quarters," the sources said.

The sources further pointed out that the Forest Department had unnecessarily constructed government quarters at locations which were not suitable for human habitation resulting in waste of public money

According to sources, the demand for termination of the lady lecturer was based on false allegations of "racial remarks" or "threat" made by her against students.

Sources said that actually the demand for her termination came after Ms Nonglait strongly opposed and pointed out to some of the illegal practices prevailing in the college particularly leakage of question papers, over which she had raised the matter during a meeting of faculty members and college principal Dr ODV Ladia.

Ms Nonglait was learned to have brought to the notice of the college authorities that majority of students taking tuition with one of the faculty of the college - Sharifuddin allegedly cleared the exams without any difficulty as he is also a Member of the Committee of NEHU for setting of examination question papers for the Law College.

Sources also mentioned that in the recent past there were allegations that some students were not regular in attendance but managed to score good marks in the exams.

Sources also said that the demand to remove the lady teacher was made by students comprising mostly those who underwent tuition with Mr Sharifuddin who felt that her objection regarding leakage of questions would affect their prospects in the exams.

"After Nonglait brought this issue to light, Sharifuddin filed a counter complaint against the lady lecturer by alleging that she was against the non-tribal students" sources said.

Following the complaint Nonglait countered Sharifuddin and asked him whether he targeted her because she took up the paper leakage matter in the meeting.

Sources said Mr Sharifuddin asserted that he did not need to instigate the students as he would anyway be getting support from them adding, "For the past eight years that I have been a lecturer in the college no one has accused me of leaking question papers even though I have been taking private tuitions". Sharifuddin added.

It may be mentioned that the students of Law College had recently protested against Nonglait after she allegedly made "racial remarks" against outstation students in the classroom.

The students demanded Nonglait's removal in a protest that lasted for three days.

Shillong: In a bid to put brakes on traffic snarls along the stretch of National Highway 44 from Nongthymmai to Sohryngkham, Chairman of Meghalaya Minerals Development Corporation (MMDC) Ardent Basaiawmoit would conduct spot inspection on Saturday to find out ways to ease traffic congestion along the highway. NH-44, which passes through Nongkrem constituency, connects Jaintia Hills, lower Assam, Tripura and Mizoram.

Informing this here on Thursday, Mr Basaiawmoit, who represents Nongkrem constituency, said he had a discussion with the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Traffic Dr Sacheng R Marak on how to solve traffic jam caused mostly by overloaded trucks, which had resulted in untold suffering to people and commuters along the highway from Nongthymmai to Sohryngkham.

According to Mr Basaiawmoit, the DSP had assured introduction of 'speed gun' machines within this week to detect over-speeding by vehicles besides putting up of signs at various areas on minimum speed limit and permitted parking zones for vehicles.

"Volunteers of the village defence party from various villages of the area will be involved to ensure that nobody violates the proposed arrangement," Mr Basaiawmoit said.

Stating that he had received numerous complaints from the people regarding the careless plying of trucks which on several occasions had led to lost of lives due to accidents, Mr Basaiawmoit also said adding that he was among those who had suffered the problem of traffic jam in the area.

The Nongkrem legislator also said that the Traffic branch of the Police Department suffered from shortage of man-power adding that he would soon take up the matter with the Home Minister in order to seek deployment of Home Guard personnel to assist the traffic police for some time.

Further, Mr Basaiawmoit suggested that trade fairs normally organised at Madan Iewrynghep, Laitumkhrah should be shifted to other convenient places to avoid traffic congestion as such fairs frequently contributed to traffic jam as the venue was not ideal for the purpose.

Having discussed the state of our health in my last article, it is equally important to highlight the state of our primary and secondary education. The plight is no less than that of health. Gone are the days where we can boast of the best educational institutions in north east. Gone also are the days where Meghalaya is a destination for better education not only for people from north east but from the rest of the country. No longer can our educational system produce eminent personalities like Victor Banerjee, Ronno Dutta, Siddharth Basu and JM Lyngdoh. Even in premier institutes and universities like IIS, IIT, IIM, AIIMS, JNU, when compared to other North Eastern States, the representation from Meghalaya is negligible. Those who get through to these institutes/universities are either admitted through state's quota or through sheer individual struggle and brilliance. But even here, our students are often at a loss for the first few semesters in these institutes/universities because what is being taught here is often archaic and outdated. So where do we go wrong? The answer lies in the neglect of primary education. The majority of government run primary schools are dying fast and the onus of providing better primary education as in the case of health care now lies in the hands of unregulated private enterprise. By enrolling in private schools parents are assured to a certain extent that their kids are most likely to escape from the menace of drop-out syndrome. The absence of schools in the village or because the government run schools lack substance, most villagers leave their ancestral village and relocate to the city just to provide a better education for their children despite expensive enrolment and tuition fees.

Even with proliferation of such private schools, the state of education remains pathetic. Meghalaya lags behind regional average in almost every aspects of primary education. The state despite a high literacy rate of 63.31 percent (2001) ranks second from the bottom just after Arunachal Pradesh with 54.74 per cent. Other states like Assam performed better with a literacy rate of 64.28 per cent; Mizoram 85.23 per cent; 67.11 per cent; Sikkim 69.68 per cent; Tripura 73.66 per cent and Manipur 68.87 per cent.

Similarly, with regard to literacy rate of children in the age group of 7 years and above, Amartya Sen and Jean Dreze in their book India: Development and Participation indicated that as in 2001 Meghalaya ranks third lowest among North Eastern States. Likewise, during 1998-99 the percentage of children between the age group of 6-14 years attending school is the second lowest in North East.

So what is the reason for such dismal statistics? Perhaps the reason for such low percentage lies in these corresponding figures. The State has more than 1500 villages which do not have a school; there are 4685 primary schools but there are only 10978 teachers-a ratio of only about 2.3 teachers per primary school; there are 1311 primary schools in the state which do not even have a playground. Compared to the number of primary schools in the state, it is shameful to know that more than 55 percent of all primary schools in Meghalaya do not even have a proper playground for children to engage in extra curricular activities which is an important element for children's physical, psycho-social and cognitive development. If basic infrastructure such as playground is deprived to children, then how do we expect children to develop physically and intellectually in their later life?

It is the neglect of basic infrastructure in primary schools that problems of high drop out rates occurs. Over the years while there has been an increase in enrolment in primary education but at the same time level of drop outs rates of students in Meghalaya is the highest in North East. According to the data of Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India, NCERT and other Educational Survey done by Utpala Konwar, between 1998-2001 Meghalaya experienced a high drop out rate with 57.43 per cent of students dropping out of school between Class I-IV, 77.74 per cent between Class VI-VII and, 62.13 per cent between Class I-X. Such trend continues even in 2004-05 where almost half of the students enrolled dropped out of schools by the time they are about to enroll in middle and higher classes. Even among the rest 50 percent who enrolled in middle and higher classes about 15 percents of the total enrollment dropped out. The statistics does not end here. With each passing year the problem of drop out rates grows more menacingly and in 2007 alone almost 73 percent of students dropped out of schools.

It is thus to be seen that in the past few years there has been a rapid decline in our educational system due to numerous problems, but mainly because of high drop out rates and poor infrastructure, archaic syllabus, lack of innovative and interactive teaching technique. However, perhaps the single factor responsible is the absence of a definite state education policy which until today existed only in the form of 'guidelines'.

If this is the state of our primary education we can well imagine the state of our higher education. It is only by improving primary education that symmetrical improvement of secondary and university education will happen. Improvement of primary education corresponds not only to decrease in percentage of drop outs but also encourages students over a period of time to enroll in higher education. However the most satisfying end result of this close relationship between primary education and higher education is another symbiotic relationship between education and development. It is proved elsewhere in countries like Cuba, the Scandinavian countries and the state of Kerala in India that quality of life and standard of living are intrinsically linked to the quality of primary education. A quality educational system at the primary level is an asset not only to human resources development but the general well being of the society as a whole.

Education as a tool for social change and empowerment is an important medium in bridging the gap between the 'haves' and the 'haves not'. It is a tool for social and economic transformation where poverty, ill-health, corruption, ignorance, low self-esteem, social tensions can be effectively tackled. It is in the lack of education that exploitation by the political elite against the poor and uneducated are perpetuated in almost every aspect of their daily lives. Education is not only a criteria for pursuing professional or social science or doctorate degree or generating human resources but it also an important tool in raising an individual's self- esteem. It effectively empowers him/her to raise questions, demand, debate and reason issues of accountability and transparency from the local and district authorities for social development. In a civil society, an educated group can take the role of pressure group at a local level, thereby no more dependent on outside pressure groups to solve issues which they themselves understand better and tackle more effectively.

So what is the fallout if the quality of education becomes sub-standard. If these trends continue for the next five to ten years what we can predict is not only a collapse in public health care services and educational system but also an increase of rural-urban disparity, collapse of the local economy and, emergence of social conflict.

The first in the series of worse possible scenario in this cycle is the social conflict cycle which again is closely related to education. Because of the continuous demand for a quality primary education, in the past two decade parents have been flocking towards private institutions for their children's education. Despite expensive tuition and enrollment fees and crowded class rooms most parents in the city and even those from the rural areas who can afford the fees etc are willing to send their child to a private school knowing that their kids will be better equipped and learn better than those who are in government schools. The absence of good schools in the village and semi-urban areas has over the years led to a steady influx of rural population towards Shillong city. It is in this disparity between urban and rural and the influx of population towards the city that a potential social conflict is waiting to happen. Conflict may arise because of pressure and fight for not only scare resources like water and environment but also pressure on basic amenities like electricity, roads and parking space. Secondly, with low standard of education, lack of guidance, motivation and incentives for studying, a higher drop out rate at all levels of schooling is inevitable. When the educational system starts to lose its value, attrition rates of students leaving the state for other cities like Delhi, Bangalore, or Pune for better education is inevitable.

Finally, a sub-standard educational system will no doubt discourage students from other States to seek admission in our State. It is in such a situation that a collateral effect on the local economy- shopkeepers, local transport services, hostels, rents and other allied services- which to a certain extent depend on outstation student's economy will be affected.

In concluding it is clear that our state has failed to provide quality primary and elementary education for want of a clear policy. It is commendable to read that the new government is taking an initiative in improving the salary of teachers. However the need of the hour, apart from better salary for teachers, is investment in infrastructural improvement in terms of student-teacher ratio, refurbishing old schools, library, recreation centre, better road, water and electricity supply to these schools. Only when these infrastructural remedies are properly applied at the district and village level and the peripheries of Shillong city that equal development of all districts will be possible, thus avoiding the problems of urban congestion and possible environmental conflict and humanitarian disaster. (The author is research scholar in JNU) 

Untimely rains in Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh last week have set the alarm bells ringing for the UPA government at the Centre. Saddled already with a sharp rise in prices of food and other commodities, the rains now threaten to play havoc with the country’s wheat stocks. While the impact may be less on wheat sown late, the quality of the crop ready for harvesting will certainly be affected, admit officials. Worse, hailstorm in addition to rains can damage the crop more, like it has done in parts of Kanpur, Etawah, Hathras and Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh. The Union Ministry of Agriculture has asked the States to send in their impact assessment reports to comprehend the extent of damage suffered so far. As it is, the advanced estimates of the Government in February last had suggested that normal production of wheat was set to fall by nearly one billion tones (MT) below last year’s production. It can ill afford another setback.

While the rain god appears to have taken a break, reports reaching the Centre till Tuesday last suggest that the damage to the wheat crop was fortunately "localised" and would not impact targeted overall wheat production. In UP, the agriculture scientists have estimated that the loss varied between five and eight per cent. In Haryana, standing crop in about one lakh hectares had been damaged, according to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. The CM has asked the Union Food Minister Sharad Pawar to link the Minimum Support Price (MSP) with the price index or evolve a formula to fix the MSP and review norms of natural calamities relief fund in the larger interest of the farming community. While Pawar has agreed to give a thought to the suggestion, right now wheat production and the impact of un-seasonal rains is of immediate concern. If need be, the Government would consider import of foodgrains.

The Army is staying put in Jammu and Kashmir for at least the next five years, but with some good news for the common man. Clear indications to this effect came on Friday last, when the Centre decided to pay huge rentals to owners of land and orchards occupied by the Army in the troubled State. At the same time, after dithering for a full year, the UPA Government has made known to its coalition partner in the State, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and separatists that the security situation did not call for a withdrawal of troops as demanded. The hike in rentals is to the tune of: Rs 10,000 per kanal (about 1/8th of an acre) instead of Rs 1,575 for fruit-bearing orchards, Rs 3, 381 instead of Rs 1,1,25 per kanal for irrigated land, Rs 16,875 instead of Rs 3,357 for land falling under municipal councils etc. The Centre is confident that this "realistic payment" to people will to some extent defuse anger and that a possible "relocation and reconfiguration" of the forces would ease civilians lives. How right is the strategy will be known after six months: Assembly elections are due this November.

Thanks to Karnataka elections next month and ‘star wars’, the controversial Hogenakkal water project in Tamil Nadu has been put on hold, ending the week-long stand-off between the two southern States. DMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi’s assertion last week that work on the drinking water project would go ahead, had triggered violence in Karnataka. Even film stars of both States got involved in the controversy and the South Indian Artistes Association in Chennai and the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce lodged their protests by fasts and dharna. Caught in the "star war’ and the fact that its ally at the Centre, the Congress was trying to regain power in the May elections in Karnataka, against a belligerent BJP, Karunanidhi stepped back. On Saturday last he declared:"Let bygones be bygones. We will wait till an elected government assumes charge in Karnataka after the polls." The decision was welcomed by former Congress Chief Minister of Karnataka S M Krishna, but denounced by AIADMK leader Jayalalitha as a "great betrayal of the people." Time alone will tell.

Even as West Bengal continues to grapple with the after affects of bird flu, the avian virus has hit Tripura. Over the past week, about 3,000 birds have died due to the H5N1 avian virus in the State’s Dhalai district. The State government has got into action and plans to cull around 20,000 birds, within a five-km radius of the affected area over the next three days. This fresh virus outbreak makes Tripura the fifth State to be infected since 2006, the first being Maharashtra, followed by Gujarat, Manipur and West Bengal. Tripura has Bangladesh on one side and was vulnerable to becoming a victim. It is suspected that the bird flu could have been transmitted through smuggling of poultry birds from neighbouring Bangladesh, because of the pourous border. Given the fact that West Bengal is till date finding it difficult to free itself from the virus, Tripura can ill afford to be lax. More importantly, the Centre needs to ensure that all precautions are taken so that the other north-eastern States don’t get infected.

The Mizos have reason to panic. After a gap of 50 years, the bamboos in the State are beginning to flower once again heralding what is traditionally called "Mautam" --- killer famine. Field rats love gorging on bamboo fruit and thereafter multiply in large numbers. Once all the bamboo fruit has been consumed, they attack paddy and other crops. Incredibly, standing Jhum paddy cultivations vanish overnight. (A single rat, it is said, can produce a litter of ten babies at a time. In a year, two rats and their offsprings can produce 14000 rats!) When bamboo flowered last time in 1958-59, Mizo Hills, then a district of Assam, not only faced a famine but also saw the birth of the Mizo National Famine Front which later became the Mizo National Front and spearheaded the creation of a separate state of Mizoram. Zoramthanga, who heads the State’s present MNF Government, knows the havoc Mautam can create, having experienced it also in 1910-11. He has, accordingly, alerted both his administration and the Centre.

Mizoram is already confronting a famine following failure of harvest for the last two years. Many people are facing starvation and the entire State has been declared disaster-affected. According to the Agriculture Department, as on February, 11 ‘Mautam’ had affected 1,30,621 families in 769 villages. Rodents and insects had damaged 16,132 hectares of wet rice cultivation and 1,25,345 hectares of ‘jhum’ paddy cultivation. Against the expected yield of 12,93,476 quintals of ‘jhum’ paddy, the harvest was only 2,66,469 quintals. Wet rice paddy yield was expected to be 3,22,570 quintals. But the actual yield was only 67,084 quintals. The department has estimated losses at Rs.411.38 crore. While paddy has been hit to the extent of 89.76 per cent, the loss in other crops, such as maize and vegetables is about 60 per cent. The Centre’s Food Corporation of India has been strongly urged to ensure that at least 15,000 tonnes of rice reaches the State well ahead of Monsoon. Otherwise, the situation is certain to become very critical. ---INFA

Madam,

The entertainment industry has never been seen as a medium of information and always regarded as a 'second cousin' to mass media and rightly so, what with most production centering on fairytale romance, high flying action( stunts) and what have you. Quantity gets precedence at the cost of quality. Even Hollywood is no different. But, as the world becomes smaller, and with the growing number of new mass media, which could lead to distortion, the industry needs 'time out' to recheck its role. It has to take responsibility in dissemination of information and education. While movies like 'Rang De Basanti' explode motivational messages, there are movies like the recently released acclaimed Pakistani movie 'Khuda Ke Liye' which deals with racial profiling and stereotyping. The movie explores the belief that Islam is bad and responsible for all the problems in today's world which is not correct. Religion is a hindrance to the development of the society if the followers are misled and preached incorrectly. There are fanatics in Islam, Christianity, Hinduism etc and this is where the role of the media creeps in. It needs to handle such sensitive issues in a humane way avoiding the blame game or sensationalizing remote and isolated incidents involving religious fanatics. In a country like India, the media and the entertainment industry needs to work and complement each other and bridge the religious and cultural gap existing between different sections of the population. And it should be done in layman's language and common understanding. More movies like 'Khuda Ke Liye' need to be churned out. Unfortunately, Bollywood which produces the largest number of films in a year, could manage a film like 'Parzania' once in a blue moon. It required Pakistan to come up with such a highly recommended movie and hopefully this would inspire producers to wade uncharted territories in providing not just wholesome entertainment but education as well. This is particularly important as the number of mass media (internet, citizen's journalism etc) is catching up resulting in distortion of news and information. The younger generations are vulnerable to such easy and accessible information without bothering about a reality check. This is where the entertainment industry comes in with a full and complete story delivered powerfully in one sitting. This is sure to have some impact and also result in creative discussion well after the movie is over. This is a small step but a giant leap indeed in reducing mistrusts and indifference amongst religion, culture etc.

Yours etc.,
Phrangsngi Pyrtuh
Via e-mail

Madam,

The Meghalaya Board of School Education in its recent circular stated that all Class IX and X students of the Academic Session 2008-09 shall register their names in the Board. The registration of Class XI is done in the Higher Secondary Section but registration of Class IX and X is completely a new system. Many School authorities are not able to understand the logic behind this registration of class IX and X. Therefore, I would like to request the Board to clarify the following points to School authorities in connection with the registration of Class IX and X students.

1. A student who has registered his/her name in one school, whether he/she can take admission in another school?

2. Should a student who has registered his/her name in Class XI, again register his/her name in Class X or Class XI?

3. What will be the status of the failed students of Class IX since every year large number of failures are there in Class IX?

4. How the SSLC-2008 Private Candidates will register themselves?

5. There are many Private Schools whose class X students are permitted by the Inspector of Schools to appear the SSLC Private Selection Test every year. How will these schools register their class IX and X students?

6. What will be the condition of the repeaters?

Yours etc.
DP Joshi
Shillong-14

Tripura Director General of Police KTD Singh said he had ordered the inquiry how Bangladeshi national Mamun Mia could procure the certificate.

The inquiry followed allegation by the Leader of the Opposition, Ratan Lal Nath, in a letter to Chief Minister Manik Sarkar on April seven that a minister had aided and abetted Mia, who was reportedly a member of Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami. He has demanded the minister's removal.

He also demanded an inquiry by a sitting High Court Judge. Mia alias Suman Majumdar was arrested by a joint team of the Tripura Police and the West Bengal CID during a raid on a house on March 28 at Ramnagar here on charges of anti-Indian activities and arms trafficking. Mia had identified himself as a garment trader from West Bengal. He had also managed to secure a passport from Tripura. (PTI)

"It is for the first time wild-to-wild rhino translocation is happening in Assam. Two years back, four flood-hit and rescued rhino cubs from Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre near Kaziranga National Park were shifted to Manas National Park and those animals are now growing well inside a special enclosure in Manas," the wildlife official said.

The Rhino Translocation project is being implemented in Assam by the State Wildlife and Forest Department with support from the International Rhino Foundation and its partner organisations.

The protest was part of the nation-wide protest of the party against price hike.

Hundreds of BJP leaders and workers started a protest march from Ulubari area in Guwahati to the Kamrup (Metro) Deputy Commissioner's office. And, when the police prevented the procession to proceed near the DC's office, the BJP members staged a sit-in demonstration on the middle of the road disrupting traffic. This led to police resorting to lathi-charge to disperse the crowd.

The police also arrested the members of the party, who took part in the procession and kept them at the Gorchuk police station till they were released in the evening.

The party alleged that several of its members were injured during the lathi-charge.

Convener of the media cell of the party Pradip Thakuria said that the recent study of Union Finance Ministry indicated that the rate of price hike is the most in Assam and other northeastern states.

"It is shameful that the Congress Government in Assam is still talking of development when the Government failed miserably to check price hike," Thakuria said. (NNN)

The Association of Tata Sumo Owners, providing taxi services along Imphal-Moreh road, suspended their services along the route indefinitely to protest extortion demands by suspected militants. The Moreh-Imphal Jeep and Tata Sumo Taxi Service Welfare Association said services were suspended following monetary demands from many underground groups. (UNI)

NEW DELHI: The North East, with several national parks, sanctuaries and biodiversity hot spots, is home to many exotic wild animals and birds, some of them are rarest of the rare. But many such endangered animals and birds, instead of getting protection, land up at the dining table of both poor and rich of the region, reports found.

Wild animals are also hunted by tribals, who have traditionally lived on them and exploited as a free source of protein by subsistence agriculturists living on clearings at the edge of forests.

Despite the widespread consumption of endangered species, wildlife experts say it is impossible to calculate the rate and extent to which their numbers are being depleted. Some such studies have, however, been done in the North East, the report said.

One of India's two main biodiversity hotspots, the NE boasts of nine sanctuaries, two national parks and as many as 200 mammal species including the rare hoolock gibbon and clouded leopard. But at the same time, around a hundred indigenous communities are accustomed to making a meal of them, the reports said.

The parks and sanctuaries are 'protected' only on paper.

Due to community ownership of forest land, social sanction for hunting and local traditions like giving 30 basketfuls of smoked wild meats as 'bride price' is widely practiced by the forests inhabitants.

"We eat everything that's available," a government official from Tezu in Arunachal declares gaily.

"We eat wild boar, deer for weddings and community feasts, and all kinds of birds, except the crow. Also, rat, monkey, squirrel... I even ate elephant once!" he said.

Bush meat consumption is not surprisingly higher in remote villages with little access to markets, and it is less than half the price of domesticated animal meat. In the villages of Arunachal Pradesh, for instance, fresh wild meat costs Rs 80 per kg while domestically reared poultry or mutton costs more than double.

Interestingly, the former Chief Minister Gegong Apang of the Himalayan state once hosted his guests with all sorts of meat starting from jungle mouse to mithun. He was hosting the meeting of North East Congress Coordination Committee as its new Chairman then.

Villagers prefer wild meat because it is considered delicious and "non-contaminated" like domestic animals that eat refuse found around the villages.

There is a rising demand for such meats in NE towns too, where people are willing to pay five times the price of domesticated animal meat.

Largely due to unchecked hunting, 172 species from India, some of them from the NE have already made it to the Red List of animals on the brink of extinction, annually updated by the World Conservation Union.

If bush meat continues to be sold at village haats and shadowy restaurants, the goose will be well and truly cooked for region's biodiversity.

The endangered animals and birds in the region included the Himalayan Quail, Pygmy Hog, Hoolock Gibbon and swamp deer. Covering just below five per cent of the country's landmass, these spots, many of them in the NE, boast an incredibly rich biodiversity.