Three Congress legislators - Roytre C Laloo, Martin M Danggo and Pynshngain Syiem - wanted to bring a motion seeking adjourning of the House to discuss what they called failure of the State Government to come out with a clear stand on how to contain price rise which, according to them, had severely affected the common man in the State.

"Inflation has risen from 4.1 per cent in January to almost 7.1 per cent in the first week of April. The hike in prices of essential commodities is beyond the reach of the common man as well as middle class families. The people hope that we, as legislators, take up such an issue," Dr Laloo said while requesting the Speaker to allow tabling of the motion.

Dr Laloo was also supported by Opposition leader DD Lapang who said the House needed to discuss the matter as it had affected the people.

"The people should know that the House is concerned about the matter," Mr Lapang said.

Rejecting the Opposition plea for an adjournment motion, Speaker Mr Lanong said price rise was a problem afflicting the whole country and that State Food and Civil Supplies Department had already taken up the matter.

"I have applied my mind very carefully. I have seen that the Minister of Food and Civil Supplies had recently held a meeting with officials to discuss the issue of price rise," the Speaker said.

While saying moving an adjournment motion over the issue was out of context, Mr Lanong asked the Opposition legislators to raise the issue on the floor of the House through resolutions or motions, not in the form of adjournment motion.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Dr Donkupar Roy, while responding to a question from Opposition member Frankenstein W Momin, told the House that work for establishing the Industrial Growth Centre at Mendipathar, East Garo Hills was in progress.

He said the Centre had already released Rs 5.50 crore out of the Rs 18 crore meant for the project which was approved during 1997-98, adding the State's share would be Rs 3 crore.

To another question raised by Mr Momin on Mendipathar College, Higher and Technical Education Minister Manas Chaudhuri said the State Government was unable to upgrade the status of the college as it was a non-government institution. Mr Chaudhuri, however, said the college had received Rs 7.50 lakh from MP scheme during 2001-2002.

Sources from Jaintia Hills claimed that the MLA is very unhappy with the present leadership in the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) and the MPCC.

Sources from Garo Hills informed that the MLA, who is a sure-shot winner, is "keen to serve his constituency better" by being in the ruling conglomerate since his constituency would be affected by the delimitation.

Meanwhile, the Congress has remained tight-lipped about this latest development dismissing it as a 'storm in a teacup'. A Congress source stated that being in the opposition would extract a heavy price for the party. He, however, admitted that this would filter out the opportunistic elements and thereby strengthen the party.

"Congress, which came too power with the slogan Congress ki hath aam aadmi ki sath, has today become a nightmare for the common man. The common man has been the worst sufferer for the last four years at the cruel hands Congress," State BJP alleged in a statement issued here.

Meanwhile, in view of the proposed protest programme by BJP, East Khasi Hills DC Bhalang Dhar has imposed Section CrPC 144, prohibiting holding of dharna, shouting of slogans, carrying of arms and other lethal weapons and assembly of five or more persons within 100-meter radius of the Main Secretariat building here.

At present, the Indian sub-continent has only four sites in the world network of biosphere reserves. They are Nilgiri Hills, Gulf of Manar, Sunderbans and Nanda Devi Peak.

According to officials of State Forest Department, recommendation of Nokrek Biosphere Reserve to UNESCO showed that it was recognised both as a pristine site and a biodiversity hotspot in the country.

They also said the Central Government's move could help conservation of natural resources and varied human culture of the area with international agencies funding protection and conservation of Nokrek and local residents.

Dr Datta Ray, who was suffering from renal failure, was admitted to a city hospital about three weeks back. He is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.

Born in March, 1924 at Bankura town, West Bengal, Dr Datta Ray did his initial schooling at various locations of the then undivided Bengal.

Dr Datta Ray was involved in the freedom struggle right from his school days. He was actively involved with 'Jugantar', a revolutionary outfit from Bengal.

After graduating in Arts from Scottish Church College, Calcutta in 1946, he joined his Masters in Political Economy and Political Philosophy and obtained his post graduation in 1949 from Calcutta University.

Dr Datta Ray's student activism landed him in jail on several occasions. He appeared in his Intermediate Arts examination as a political prisoner of Dum Dum Central Jail, Calcutta.

Dr Datta Ray first came to Shillong in 1950 as a Lecturer in Economics in St. Edmund's College, Shillong. He became warden of BT Hostel attached to St Edmund's College.

In 1962, Dr Datta Ray headed the College's Political Science Department and remained in that position till his retirement in 1985.

An institution builder, Dr Datta Ray became the Founder Secretary of the North East India Council for Social Science Research and remained in that office up to the very end. Amongst his many achievements, Dr Ray's contribution to women's education in Meghalaya remains a standing tribute to his gender-sensitivity at a time when gender was not even a subject of much concern.

Together with some like-minded academics he started the Women's College and became its founder principal.

Dr Datta Ray is the author of three books and scores of research articles. His write-ups appeared regularly in the columns of this newspaper. Those who recall his services say, "He fearlessly expressed the concerns of non-tribals in Meghalaya and was a crusader for social justice, peace and co-existence".

Dr Ray's admirers from all walks of life thronged his residence on Tuesday to express their solidarity with his family members.

New Delhi: Thomas Sangma (NCP), the first Garo MP from Meghalaya to the Rajya Sabha, on Tuesday took oath along with five other Members from the north-eastern region including former Arunchal Pradesh Chief Minister, Mukut Mithi and former Manipur Chief Minister, Rishang Keishing. In total, 50 new members to Rajya Sabha, including Petroleum Minister Murli Deora and Corporate Affairs Minister Premchand Gupta, were sworn in by Vice President Hamid Ansari. After taking oath the MPs including Mr Sangma met Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, several Cabinet Ministers and other leaders from ruling and opposition parties.

Mr Sangma's comment assumes significance in the context of the statement made recently by NCP leader and Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel that his party would like to support either Mrs Gandhi or her son Rahul as Prime Minister after the 2009 parliamentary elections.

Talking to reporters on the State Assembly premises here on Tuesday, Mr Sangma, also NCP general secretary, said Rahul was "very much an Indian" and that he could be made Prime Minister if Congress desired so.

"There is no bar for him (Rahul Gandhi) to become Prime Minister if Congress is willing to make him so," Mr Sangma said, adding he would continue to stick to his stand on opposing Mrs Gandhi as Prime Minister of India.

Distancing himself from directly endorsing the views expressed by some NCP leaders on the prime ministerial candidate, the former Lok Sabha Speaker, however, said, "At this juncture it is up to Congress to decide on the issue."

It may be recalled that since formation of NCP following the split in Congress over the issue of Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin, Mr Sangma is the only NCP leader who has continued to maintain his stand despite other leaders of the party going soft on the matter.

KHADC chairman Martamlin Pyrbot told newsmen here on Tuesday that the decision on Mr Shylla's disqualification as Council member under the Anti-Defection Law would be announced by Friday next.

The Council summoned Mr Shylla for a hearing for the second time on Tuesday, but this time too he failed to show up. He also did not report for the first hearing earlier scheduled for April 10 last.

"This is the final hearing for Mr Shylla. I am consulting the lawyer of the Council before giving the final verdict on the matter," Mr Pyrbot said.

According to Mr Pyrbot, the former KHADC chief will most likely face disqualification from the House under the Anti-Defection Law of the Council.

UDP and KHNAM have accused him of violating the Anti-Defection Law by contesting the recent Assembly elections as an Independent without resigning from Congress.

SHILLONG: Amid growing public doubts about the viability of Urban Traffic Control System (UTCS) in a hill station like Shillong, the Traffic Police have sought more time for proper synchronisation of the timings of UTCS in all the 16 junctions to deal with traffic snarls in the city.

DSP (Traffic) Dr Sacheng R Marak on Tuesday said UTCS, as a pilot project sanctioned by the Centre for the North-East for the first time, should remain operational for a certain period of time to know whether the system would help control traffic jams in the city even as he stressed synchronisation of UTCS timings at all the junctions.

"The traffic policemen are facing difficulty in synchronising UTCS timings since the system remains operational only from 4 pm to 8 pm. We need more hours to synchronise the timings of UTCS," Dr Marak said.

He, however, pointed out that the State Government had the power to stop implementation of the UTCS if it felt that the project, after being fully operational, was not viable for the city.

Stating that the new traffic control system would add to the beauty of Shillong, the DSP said the Traffic Police would have back-up UPS system for at least three hours during power failure in order to make the system more effective.

"To allow VIP vehicles and ambulances to ply during traffic jams, a Harry Call Mode (HCM) has also been put in place. The Traffic Police personnel need to press the button of the HCM to stop all the vehicles," Dr Marak said.

When asked about plying of trucks during day time, he said it was not possible to stop all the trucks at Mawiong and Smit as both the junctions could accommodate only 70 trucks each.

"If we continue to hold trucks in the whole of the National Highway, it would create a lot of problems to highway travellers and also people from Jaintia Hills and Ri-Bhoi districts due to traffic congestion," Dr Sangma said, adding, "We do not allow trucks to enter the city from to 7 am to 11 am and again from 1 pm to 7 pm."

He further said, "We need to understand that our National Highway also connects other state capitals like Agartala and Aizawl, and the pressure on our highways is enormous. This ultimately contributes to the problem of traffic congestion in the State."

SHILLONG: Meghalaya has a total of ten government and non-government recognised institutes for nursing education. Of these three are in Garo Hills, two in Jaintia Hills and five in Shillong. But the ten nursing schools cannot absorb more than 400 students in a batch. Institutes like Rapsbun School of Nursing have an intake of only 35 per batch. The Khasi Jaintia Presbytarian Hospital has two nursing schools one each in Jowai and Shillong with an intake of 20 and 25 respectively. This compels students desirous of taking up nursing to move out of the state.

Unfortunately, students who had enrolled into some of the nursing institutes advertised in the local press have returned after passing out, only to be spurned by the government and private health institutes in the State. Government hospitals and health centres can only employ nurses who pass out from recognised institutes. Recognition is accorded by the Indian Nursing Council which is the authority on nursing education.

Those who joined the nursing institutes include many from rural areas. They were certified to have passed the Auxiliary Nursing and Midwifery (ANM) course. But on returning to Meghalaya they were told that they are not eligible to be employed here or anywhere in the country or the world since the institute they passed out from is not recognised by the Indian Nursing Council. Registration by the Council is mandatory for a nurse to be recognised as one. But the Council registers only the names of those passing out from recognised institutes.

Deputy Director Nursing, Government of Meghalaya, who is also Registrar of the Meghalaya Nursing Council, Ms B Rangad clarified that the Meghalaya Nursing Council is registered with the Indian Nursing Council. The primary objection that the Council has against recognising these proliferating institutes is because they are not conducting the courses prescribed by it. Since the Council is also the standardizing authority for nursing education, it alone has the authority to give recognition to an institute', she added.

With job prospects getting slimmer by the day, young people are joining professional courses like nursing with the hope of returning to a job in the burgeoning health service industry. But having spent a bomb to enroll themselves in these institutes it is a big blow to be told that the course is not recognised. Ms Rangad said some parents have come to her saying they had to sell property to raise money for their children's education.

Many students opt for the ANM Course because of its shorter duration (18 months) and because the qualifying marks are 45 per cent in the SSLC examination. For General Nursing which is of three and a half years duration, the qualifying examination is Class XII passed preferably with a Science background.

Normally the ANMs or female health workers are attached to primary health centres and sub-centres since their work is community based. Now under the National Rural Health Mission, ANMs are very much in demand. Unfortunately those who have taken the course find they are unemployable. Responding to this Ms Rangad says the local media should be more responsible in publishing advertisements from different firms that are poaching for students in Meghalaya. "Students who wish to pursue any course outside the State should seek more information. Instead of coming to us after they have completed the course in a non-recognised institute they could have consulted us before joining. We would have gladly advised them. Many of these institutes are money-making rackets", Ms Rangad observed.

Meghalaya does not have any College for Nursing. Students wanting to pursue the BSc Nursing Course have to go out of the state. Only last year the North East Indira Gandhi Regional Institute for Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) started the BSc Nursing College. However, this being a specialised course, students have to score a certain percentage in their Class XII Science examination to qualify for it.

A few parents expressed their anguish saying, "The State Government has a duty to publish the list of recognised institutes offering a range of professional courses since many from the rural areas do not have access to the internet to find out whether or not the institutes are genuine".

In a letter to the minister, the organisation said several demands had been submitted to the previous Government since 2005 and the then Education Minister Dr Donkupar Roy, now the Chief Minister in the MPA Government, but to no avail, except for verbal assurances given from time to time.

They urged Mr Chaudhuri to raise the matter in the ongoing Assembly's session in the interest of the region.

They further demanded creation of Science and Commerce streams from this academic session either on the campus of Karukol Higher Secondary School or at Government Higher Secondary School, Baghmara.

"This would hugely benefit students coming from poor background, besides opening up opportunities for students seking to pursue further studies in Science and Commerce streams."

Shillong: Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) has given two weeks' time to all the shop owners to fix prices of all essential commodities in their shops as per Government notified rates.

KSU, through its Farmers and Consumers Cell, issued a statement on Tuesday, threatening to lodge a formal complaint with the authority concerned to take action on the shop owners if they failed to follow the Government instructions.

During a spot inspection at Iewduh on Sunday last, the Union found that prices of essential commodities had been rising steeply despite the Government's assurance to take up the matter and control price rise.

While expressing concern over the matter, which has affected to poor section of the society badly, the Union decided to meet the authority concern to apprise the matter at the earliest.

The KSU also alleged that most of the shop owners declined to follow the Government directive - to display prices of commodities in a board in their respective shops.

It also added that there was a wide gap between the selling prices of commodities between one shop to another one even within Iewduh area itself.

As part of the all India campaign against price rise of essential commodities, the Meghalaya State Council of the Communist Party of India (CPI) will organise a rally from the CPI office premises on Quinton Road on Thursday.

The rally, which will start at 11 am will parade through the main thorough fare of the city and would hand over a memorandum to the Chief Minister.

Shillong: : Hynniewtrep National Youth Front (HNYF) has urged the State Government to recognise the Education Department as "the topmost priority department."

Speaking to reporters after submitting its fifteen-point demands to Chief Minister Dr Donkupar Roy here on Tuesday, HNYF president GH Kharshanlor stressed on the need to introduce legislation on the draft Education Policy of the State.

"The Government should ensure smooth functioning and management of education in the State. As education is a basic necessity, the government should ensure its progress and extend it to rural areas" Mr Kharshanlor said.

While offering his views and suggestions for an effective education system in the State, Mr Kharshanlor sadi the education policy should also streamline private institutions, besides operating it on the lines of government-run institutions.

Meanwhile, the HNYF president said the Government should under-write the tuition fees and other requirements of students who wished to pursue higher education but could not afford to do so.

Further, he said the government should revise scholarship and other benefits of students and have a policy for minor students, putting an end to frequent change of syllabus, creating educational infrastructure (schools and colleges) in rural areas, providing salary of government teachers regularly and revising salary for adhoc teachers.

A copy of the 15-point demand was also submitted to Higher and Technical Education Minister Manas Chaudhuri.

JOWAI: In order to control traffic congestion in Iaw Musiang area of Jowai town, the Jaintia Hills district administration has decided to enforce new measures to deal with the problem.

The decision was taken at a special meeting held at the Deputy Commissioner's office here on Tuesday. The meeting was attended by the Superintendent of Police MK Singh, senior traffic police officials, NGOs, representatives from Sein Raij Jowai and besides prominent citizens of Jowai and heads of various localities. Talking to The Shillong Times, Deputy Commissioner Frederick Roy Kharkongor told that the main purpose of holding the meeting was to review the traffic arrangement in Iawmusiang area. The DC also told that the meeting had come out with few suggestions and with these ideas, the district administration expects to ease the traffic congestion of the town. According to him, all local taxis would not be allowed to ply through Iawmusiang area between 10:30 am to 4:30 pm daily and 'No-Entry' zones have also been declared during specific timings at some entry points. "Jowai police will also crack down heavily on all those vehicles parked along KNB Road and Kynruh-Saphlang Road respectively. Checking of multi-dimension stickers would also be conducted shortly," Mr Kharkongor said.

Sources said Nongkhlaw, who was coming from Khliehriat area, lost control of his car before meeting with the accident.

The matter was immediately reported to the VDP, which went to the spot and tried to control the husband. At that moment, Wanru took out a dagger and stabbed one of the VDP team. The victim was later shifted to Jowai Civil Hospital for treatment.

With the economy achieving a growth rate of over eight per cent for the past four years, it's time to complete the financial sector reforms, especially in banking. Whether the Government can gather enough courage to draw a map for such reforms at a time when General elections appear to be looming large, is highly doubtful. But, it must remember that reforms in the industrial sector will remain incomplete without wide-ranging reforms in the financial sector.

In the past few years, both the insurance and banking sectors have been thrown open to the private sector players, but the public sector banks and insurance companies continue to play a dominant role. In fact, the public sector units are responding well to the competition by private players and may just maintain their dominant position. At the same time these banks and insurance companies are also expected to play a major role in sustaining the over eight per cent growth rate.

Following economic liberalization over a decade-and-a-half ago, there has been resistance to reforms from employees in the financial sector. They fear they would soon become redundant as the public sector units would not be able to match competition from foreign firms. However, the reforms that have been initiated till date in this sector have belied all these fears, but opposition from the employees still continues. One may or may not accept it, but the fact is that the era of mega banks and insurance companies is here to stay. And, the Indian financial sector has to prepare itself to this change.

The reforms would need to be tackled simultaneously at four levels: one relates to the public regulation of these companies, two, organizational structure within these companies, three, changing the psyche of the employees and lastly technological upgradation.

While we open up the financial sector to private business, both Indian and foreign, we must ensure that there is a stringent regulatory mechanism in place for all kinds of financial companies such as banks, insurance, chitfunds etc. A sound regulatory mechanism as well as an early warning system can check any financial fraud at the first stage itself. Such a regulatory mechanism should have statutory powers to deal with the compliance to financial regulations independent of the Government. Remember, if the regulatory mechanism were in place the Global Trust Bank, the first private sector bank after the economic reforms, would not have failed a few years ago. Besides, we also need to guard against sub prime crises of American banks.

A corollary of stringent regulatory mechanism could be the standardization of accounting practices and single format for preparation of balance sheets, profit and loss account, income and expenditure account, etc. for all financial companies.

As for the insurance firms, the regulatory authority is already in place and for the banking sector we have the Reserve Bank of India. However, it is more advisable to have a separate cell or body within the RBI with statutory powers to oversee the functioning of the banking sector especially with a view to tackling problems of unpaid loans and financial frauds as in the case of cooperative sector banks.

The second aspect of financial reforms is the organizational structure. In both the banking and insurance companies this has become outdated. The Government's hierarchical system has been superimposed on them. Such a system not only adds to the relative service costs but is also responsible for delays in taking appropriate decisions. As against this, the new banks in the private sector, which came up after the economic reforms, have different organizational structures, which are much leaner and more efficient.

This holds true for the public sector insurance companies too. Let's say, the use of computers in keeping policy records of insured persons, has gained currency in big cities, but the bulk of work in small towns and villages continues to be done manually. In most private sector banks almost all the front desk work is now officer-oriented with a limited chain of command between the lowest and the highest ranking officers. This is something, which our nationalized banks and insurance sector would need to do to survive the competition from private financial companies.

The third set of reforms relate to the employees' attitude towards its customers. Even though there were a large number of banks in the public sector there was never really a competition among them, as they were following the same policies, offering same products and had the same wage/salary structure for the whole of the banking industry. There was no system of reward or punishment. And it is perhaps for this reason that bank employees by and large treat their customers with contempt. This attitude needs to change drastically. Employees must be customer-friendly. While some staff at certain bank and insurance branches has changed attitude towards customers, in most cases they continue to be far from pleasant. Therefore, in the new environment, there is need to develop a training programme to change staff attitude towards customers if they wish to survive in a highly competitive era.

The fourth aspect of reforms relates to the technological base of our existing banking and insurance companies, if these are to survive competitive business. Even though a few banks and insurance branches have been computerized in metropolitan cities, technology in our financial companies is still outdated-- most work is still done manually. It is thus not surprising that there are scams all the time, but are discovered only a year or two later. It's not enough to scrutinize bank branches alone. All banking activities must be integrated not only within the bank branch itself but also with other branches, regional offices, head office, insurance companies etc, and ultimately with the RBI. All this requires a high quality of reliable financial management package for the financial companies.

Sadly, most of our banks don't have such packages. While in other countries, one can do all the transactions at one counter, here one has to go to separate counters for each banking transaction. In some cases, the same bank may treat the same customers differently. For instance, let's take the case of the State Bank of India. At the Delhi International Airport foreign exchange counter it takes just a few minutes to change currency -- no forms need to be filled, only give your passport and the foreign currency and get the money changed. Whereas, at the SBI main branch on Parliament Street, foreigners are asked to fill up forms and write each currency note number on the reverse of the form. A customer has to wait for a good ten to 15 minutes to change currency as all this is done manually! Why different requirements by the same bank?

Rahul Gandhi's disinclination to become a minister took the fizz out of the recent cabinet reshuffle. As a result, the exercise proved to be something like staging Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark.

Although an impression was sought to be created by the Congress and the Manmohan Singh government that fresh blood was being infused with the appointments of Jyotiraditya Scindia and Jitin Prasada as ministers of state, the main point of interest continued to remain on Rahul Gandhi's future moves.

The fact that he was offered a ministerial portfolio in the Prime Minister's Office helped to thicken the plot, for it confirmed the belief that the party was moving towards giving him the top job in the government. Since then, the observations of Praful Patel and Arjun Singh have given further credence to this belief.

In this context of a major change at the top, little attention will be paid to how Scindia or Prasada fare in their new assignments. As it is, their induction hasn't done much to raise the average age of the ministers. It has been calculated that this now stands at 59 years, which is low by Indian standards, but doesn't quite suggest that the party and the government are keen on shedding dead wood.

If anything, the appointment of the 71-year-old former chief election commissioner, M.S. Gill, as the sports minister has made a mockery of the idea of encouraging youth. It's not only his age which has made Gill's appointment controversial. It has also been seen as a typical attempt of the political class to undermine institutional autonomy, for future chief election commissioners will remember that it may be worthwhile to keep on the right side of the ruling party for the sake of post-retirement benefits.

While the induction of Scindia and Prasada were long expected, the exclusion of Sachin Pilot was a surprise. Evidently, the party was treading carefully in view of the continuing Gujjar-Meena rivalry in the context of the Gujjar demand for relegation to the scheduled tribe status, which has been rejected by the commission appointed for the purpose.

But even if Pilot was appointed, he would have no more than a minister of state, a position which is increasingly becoming something of a sop unless the person has independent charge of his portfolio. Otherwise, he remains a nonentity as long as there is a minister on top of him.

This is particularly true of Scindia, who may find that he has nothing much to do as a minister under the DMK's A. Raja in the ministry of communications and information technology. Raja himself is a young man, being 44 years old. But the mindset of his party is old and conservative with a whiff of the sleaze factor in view of the presence in it of politicians like M.K. Azhagiri and M.K. Stalin, the two sons of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi.

It would have been better, therefore, if Scindia had independent charge. But the compulsions of coalition politics have ensured that he will have to play second fiddle. Even then, both for him and Prasada, it is a good beginning and their well-wishers will expect them to rise further. The same holds true for Pilot.

For the present, however, the objective of a reshuffle of this nature remains obscured by its tentativeness. It was seemingly carried out to give the impression that the government is acting with a purpose. But it is not clear exactly what this purpose is, except the fact that it is a feeble revving up operation in preparation for an election. Yet, if there have been no major changes, the reason is that the present-day governments are rarely as cohesive, or their leaders as bold as in, say, Indira Gandhi's time.

The lack of cohesion comes not only from the coalitional nature of the arrangement, but also from the presence of rival factions, which, of course, has long been a feature of Congress politics. As a result, the only person who can be said to have been firmly pushed out of favour is Mani Shankar Aiyar, who has always hidden the fact of being lightweight with his volubility.

But Arjun Singh has stayed on, notwithstanding his known antipathy towards the prime minister and despite the earlier conjecture that he will fill the vacant slot in the Mumbai Raj Bhavan after S.M. Krishna moved to Bangalore to take charge of the Congress on the eve of the Karnataka elections. And now that the Supreme Court has given its stamp of approval to the Human Resource Development Minister's policy of reserving 27 per cent seats for the OBCs in the higher educational institutions, Arjun Singh is politically stronger than he was in the last few years.

Arguably, the Congress has some of the brightest young men in today's politics. But either the party doesn't want to give them full rein for fear of offending the seniors. Or they themselves do not seem to know their role, as in the case of Rahul Gandhi, who remains an apprentice in the art of politics in spite of being talked of as the potential prime minister. (IPA Service)

Madam,

Apropos the article on 'Health and education as agendas for development-II', by Teiborlang T Kharsyntiew(date 11th April), a credible article indeed vital for understanding the situation that the state is in. But, will we judge the quality of our education in terms of numbers of students studying outside the state? No doubt this is important but there are some other critical issues involved. The state which boasts of strong educational infrastructure is losing its sheen and advantages (if it has any), but this does not cement the fact that the Khasis, Jaintias and the Garos are hesitant, in leaving their cocoons to venture out in search of 'Mawlynnai". Nor does it explain why so few students are studying outside the state.

Let's look at the basis facts. We know that Shillong has lost its competitive edge in this stream, but ironically, can we not say that we are in a much better position now than lets say a few decades back, when there were just a few colleges and few premier schools in the city (there were none in the rural areas). There are more colleges and more schools now than ever before (in the city and rural pockets). We even have an IIM now. The top-ten position holders for Class X and XII are usually from the urban schools. But students from rural areas are gradually making it to the merit list. This is a sign of competition which is good but competition should not stop only at the local level. This has to be taken to the top of the educational chain (researchers, professionals etc).

Strengthening the primary and secondary schools would only partially help. The answer lies in both the supply-demand chain (here education). There are no dearth of colleges, schools, institutions etc, but demand should be forthcoming as well. Poverty and destitution prohibits students to dream of achieving the fabled 'mawlynnai'. And education itself has been commodified and is costly. How can a poor family, ever think of sending their only educated son (out of 5/6) to pursue further studies when there is hardly enough food at home?.

Demand in this context does not materialize even if there is an increasing teacher-student ratio, libraries etc. Students needs support mechanisms like fees and tuition concessions, bus passes etc. This is important in a state where the majority of population are dependent on agriculture and therefore earning much less and where purchasing power is lacking. The fault with our education system is that it is urban centric (which leads to influx and is also directly related to the living conditions in the rural areas). Not much importance is attached to the schools in the villages. For instance, qualified and efficient teachers would not like to serve in remote places.

This would explain why the state is now lagging behind as a front-runner for education amongst states in East India. Old establishments need to be injected with a renewed enthusiasm centered around the improvement of the student. The new ones needs massive support not only from the government but from civil society as well. The government boards (MBOSE, NEHU) also need to quickly update their syllabus and education standards as students passing out, do face huge challenges outside the state. Only then can we have eminent personalities/ambassadors that would be torch-bearers for the state at the national and possibly, international level as well.

Yours etc.,
Phrangsngi Pyrtuh

Mr Apang on Monday, in a statement, termed Mr Khandu's claim on various achievements under his Government as ‘ludicrous’ and said that the State had made tremendous progress during his long 23-year tenure as the Chief Minister.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday evening, Mr Khandu while terming the statement as unfortunate disclosed that he would recommend to the high command for disciplinary action against Mr. Apang if such mud-slinging continues.

'' I am talking the language of opposition, disowning the achievements and legacy of the Congress governments both in the state and the Centre and that I am preparing the ground for leaving the party,'' the chief minister said adding, '' the fact is that Apang is jealous of the achievements of the present government and he is the person who had betrayed the party on several occasions.'' (UNI)

Deputy Director Shivaji Barua had allegedly killed the buck and kept the dead animal in a sack in the backyard of his official quarters at Khanapara area.

Local residents spotted the sack and reported the matter to the police who came and arrested the official. A case under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 was filed against him.

Barua was later produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate who remanded him to 14 days judicial custody.

The postmortem of the buck revealed that bullets had passed through its right flank and pierced the intestines, kidney and liver.

The slain buck was later buried at the Assam State Zoo by forest officials. (PTI)

Police said the rave was organised by one Dipak Bhatia in Joypur area of Kharghuli in the city, on the premises he had hired from one Rajiv Baruah. Both are businessmen and have been arrested following the incident. Baruah has denied any connection with the party, stating that he had only rented out the premise to Bhatia. About 25 boys and girls were also nabbed by the police, who were later released. Alcohol bottles were found at the spot and several couples were in a compromising position when the police arrived at the venue at about 0300 hours. (UNI)

New Delhi: The Government has said in active house-to-house surveillance for detection of outbreak of avian Influenza in poultry, a total population of 4,04,714 in the 10-km area was covered in West Bengal and Tripura from April 4 to 12, adding no human being was affected.

In Nadia district of West Bengal, surveillance team covered a population of 1,68,288 in 0-3 km zone and in the 2-10 km zone, a population of 1,99,700 was covered.

In Dhalai district of Tripura, the health teams have covered a population of 11803 in the 0-3 km zone and a population of 24923 in the 3-10 km zone.

According to Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, no person with fever/URI was detected in the zones. ''There are no fever/URI cases detected or admitted in the identified hospitals,'' it added.

There are adequate stocks of PPE and Oseltamivir with the state health authorities.

The Central Rapid Response Team from MOHFW is assisting the state authorities in containment operations. MOHFW has supplied 500 Personal Protective Equipments 200 N-95 masks, 5000 capsules of Tamiflu and 2 ventilators.

A total of 17 cases of fever/URI were detected in the surveillance zone, but none of them had history of exposure to infected poultry. There was no suspected case of human avian influenza.

In the identified hospital with isolation facilities, 16 cases with fever/URI have been reported. None of them had exposure to infected poultry. One person with fever/URI was admitted. There was no suspected case of human avian influenza. About 221 animal health workers involved in containment operations are under medical supervision and chemoprophylaxis, an official release said here on Tuesday. (UNI)

Imphal: Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh has asserted that his Government will work against all militants and insurgent groups active in the State.

Speaking here on Monday after releasing the formal report of one year of governance of his Government, the Chief Minister said, ''the State Government will emphasise on the maintenance of law and order, promotion of peace and protection of territorial integrity.''

Mr Singh's Government was formed on March 2, 2007.

''Besides the establishment of the police department, women police stations will be set up in all the district headquarters. A women commando force will also be formed,'' he added.

Mr Singh stated that 1,296 underground cadres were arrested last year while 121 ultras of different underground groups were killed during the same period. While 163 extremists were detained under the National Security Act, six others surrendered themselves to the state government.

Besides, 199 weapons of different varieties and a huge quantity of ammunition was seized during the period and security forces recovered Rs 69,29,848 of the looted cash, the Chief Minister said.

While earlier Rs 1.50 lakh was kept as fixed deposit and Rs 1,500 provided as monthly stipend for the militants who had surrendered, the state government had now increased the fixed deposit to Rs five lakh and monthly stipend to Rs 5,000.

The Chief Minister also released a booklet containing the achievements of the various departments. (UNI)