Mrs Gandhi on Saturday went to Gujarat on a day-long tour. Normally on Sundays she keeps off from party politics and hence any decision can be expected on Monday only, AICC sources told The Shillong Times on Saturday night.

There is every possibility of Mrs Gandhi calling both Mr Rymbai and Mr Lapang to Delhi and try to sort out the differences here itself even after the CLP votes are taken into account.

The whole idea is not just to keep or change a leader but also to bring back unity in the party to make it ready for the next assembly polls, the sources said.

Since Mrs Gandhi was busy with her scheduled programmes, the sealed packet containing votes of the Meghalaya Congress MLAs is still with the AICC leader Maj Ved Prakash.

Speaking at the Meghalaya Day celebration cum inaugural function of the Year of the Farmer at Polo Ground here on Saturday, Mr Rymbai said that the educated unemployed youths would be valuable assets in the proposed farm schools and village knowledge centers, which would play a vital role in the establishment of digital highways for rural livelihood.

Mr Rymbai said that there was a need to revitalize the agricultural sector by making agrarian prosperity and food security the bottom line of the State's policies and priorities.

He said that in the 11th Five Year Plan, farmer-friendly policies, schemes and institutions will be the main thrust, which will keep alive the vision for an economically strong and self-reliant Meghalaya.

According to Mr Rymbai, conditions in the State are conducive for the growth of horticultural crops and the State government has accorded the highest priority to this sector.

Chairman of the Meghalaya Economic Development Council, Mr DD Lapang said that as the farmers are the backbone of the State, the government was ready to help them by providing assistance.

Chairman of State Planning Board, Mr SC Marak stressed the need for self-sufficiency in livestock as the State government spends at least Rs 84 crore annually on import of meat, eggs and fish.

Agriculture Minister Mr Manirul Islam Sarkar called upon the farmers to make use of the facilities being provided by the government. He reminded the farmers that by taking up cultivation of strawberries, cut roses and anthurium, the monthly income of farmers rose to at least Rs 15,000.

At the MPYC meeting on Friday, Mr Nongtdu blamed the media persons for the present crisis in the Congress.

Speaking to The Shillong Times here on Saturday, former MPCC president Mr Salseng Marak said that one couldn't directly attack the press. "The press forms the fourth estate of society and no one can stop them from reporting facts," Mr Marak said, adding that no one can take away one's freedom of speech and expression.

UDP leader, Mr Bindo Lanong said that Mr Nongtdu's statement was ridiculous as the press was merely publishing reports based on facts. "Nobody can stop the press from reporting on the internal matter of any organisation," Mr Lanong said. He further said that as long as the report was not biased, no one has the right to criticise the press and pressmen.

Echoing similar view, BJP leader Mr AL Hek said that it was ridiculous on the part of the MPCC chief to make such a statement against journalists adding that "we do not expect a man of his stature to make such a childish statement".

President of Shillong Press Club Mr David Laitphlang said, "It is an unfortunate statement by a senior legislator like Mr Nongtdu who displayed such immaturity on the subject of news dissemination." He said that the role of the press was to disseminate information to the mass and no one can take away this right from them.

Former president of SSSS and member of UDP, Mr Jemino Mawthoh said that the statement by Mr Nongtdu was uncalled for, adding that this reflected the political immaturity of the person.

According to chairman of Synjuk Ki Rangbah Shnong, Mr HP Oflyn Dohling, no one had the right to condemn the press as long as the report was based on facts.

"The meeting would discuss this agenda and we will also decide on setting up an election committee of the party to start the process of selecting candidates," Mr Lyngdoh said, adding that the meeting would be attended by all the party legislators, MDCs and senior party functionaries.Mr Lyngdoh also said that the process of reunification with the breakaway MDP was still going on and there was an optimism among leaders of both the parties that reunification would be completed before the Assembly election.

"The process of reunification is moving ahead and discussions are being held from time to time between the two parties. If the merger has to come, it has to happen within the month of March this year so that we can face the election as a united party," he said.

On the proposed revival of Regional Parties' Alliance (RPA), Mr Lyngdoh said that UDP favoured unity of all regional parties under a common umbrella to fight the Congress but reviving of RPA would not be proper since the alliance was rejected by the electorate in the last Lok Sabha election. According to him, the party would discuss the issue further in the proposed CEC meeting.

Meanwhile, the RPA would meet here on January 23 to discuss the future of RPA. Leaders of four regional parties - UDP, MDP, HSPDP and KHNAM along with ten members from each party would take part in the meeting. The meeting would also decide whether to go ahead with the alliance or find another alternative for a pre-poll alliance of the four regional parties. This is the second meeting of the RPA after it met on December 12, 2006.

In a statement issued here, CSWO president Irene P Hujon said "If farmers are considered to be the backbone of the State, then the Government should have listened to their voices and not gone ahead with acquisition of priceless farmland at Upper Shillong, especially when there was hue and cry from the farming community and concerned citizens of the State and from the Agriculture Department."

"Inaugurating the Year of the Farmer smacks of pure hypocrisy and deceitfulness on the part of the Government that has literally broken the backbone of the farming community,"Ms Hujon retorted adding "what the people of the State wish to see is sincerity on the part of the legislators who are yet to mitigate the plight of the farmers in the State."

Speaking on the occasion, the president of the Association AL Hek (MLA) said hawkers performed a number of services for the urban population, especially for the economically weaker sections.

"Their rates are usually lower than those charged by shops and stores and hence affordable to the urban poor. Many of the goods sold by hawkers, such as clothes and hosiery, leather and plastic goods, and household items are manufactured in small scale or home based industries. These industries employ a large number of workers. The manufacturers could hardly have marketed the products on their own. Hawkers, therefore, not only provide a market for manufacturers, they also help sustain employment in industry," he elaborated.

"These aspects are, however, ignored by the urban authorities, the municipality and the police because more often than not, hawking is considered an illegal activity and hawkers are treated like criminals, Mr Hek pointed out.

Mr Hek assured the hawkers that the members of Shillong Road Side Hawkers' Association would continuously help the genuine hawkers.

Others who spoke on the occasion were Shillong Road Side Hawkers' Association Working president Sharif Ahmed and general secretary D Suiam.

It may be mentioned that on January 20, 2004, the National Policy On Urban Street Vendors was passed by the Central Government since then the National Association For Street Vendors Of India (NASVI) observe the day as National Vendors Day.

Mrs Diana Nicole Kharshandi from Mawkhar emerged as the first ever Winter Queen 2007 while Mrs Linda M Rani and Miss Ibadeishisha Kharkongor were crowned as the first runners-up and second runners-up respectively. Unlike normal beauty pageants, the contest is open to both married and unmarried women

Ladies with selective and outstanding features were also awarded in the sub-titles categories of the pageant on the occasion. They were Mary Lyngdoh (Miss Beautiful Eyes), Alestine (Miss Beautiful Hair), Ayesha (Miss Beautiful Skin) while Miss Debecca snatched two sub-titles - Miss Perfect 10 and Best Traditional Dress.

Cash prizes, gifts and bonus were given to all the winners.

Director General of Police WR Marbaniang and Director of Sports and Youth Affairs were the special jury of the pageant. The duo distributed the mementos and awards to the all the winning participants.

Further, as part of its continuous effort to promote tourism in the State, the Board of Directors of Sa-I-Mika Park has decided to make the beauty pageant an annual feature of the park.

Mr AL Hek will give special awards to a selective few persons from Pynthorumkhrah Constituency for their contributions towards the socio, religious, cultural and welfare of the people and the upliftment of the Constituency on January 23, the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. They are - Nantu Biswas, Ashok Upadhya, Biswajit Dey, Sujit Dey, Appurbo Das, Bivash Chakravarty, Vinod Roy, Raju Purkayastha and Deepak Verma.

The special general body meeting of the Meghalaya Gorkha Ex-servicemen (Defence veterans) Welfare Union will be held on February 24 at 12.30 in the office of the Union at Jhalupara. The main agenda of the meeting would be to elect a new president following the sudden demise of Til Bahadur Gurung in December last. Submission of nominations is open till February 9, a statement issued here said.

The All Community Transformation Society and Charisma Christ Church will jointly organise a Donor Meet 2007 here in Shillong on February 17 where the Governor, Ministers, various funding NGOs and other individual donor will meet together to contribute towards free child education for destitute children of Shillong city. The motto of the programme is "Mitigation of Child Labour and Trafficking."

The Indian political class cannot be too happy about three recent judgments of the Supreme Court. At least two of them directly erode the government's authority while the third keeps the sword of judicial intervention dangling over the executive's head.

As a result, the chances of a possible judiciary-executive spat cannot be ruled out, not least because there are sections within the ruling alliance, like the communists and the socialists in the Congress who seem to believe more in a "people's democracy" weighted in favour of the executive than in a parliamentary system with separation of powers.

There are also several caste-based and region-based parties, which might interpret the judicial pronouncements as an assault on their sectarian politics based on pandering to certain vote banks - the backward castes. The most controversial judgement is the one that undoes the half-a-century old practice of the government putting certain laws beyond judicial scrutiny by including them in the Ninth Schedule of the constitution.

The first law that was placed in the schedule in 1951 related to land reforms because the government of the time feared that conservative judges would overturn a measure abolishing large landholdings, or zamindaris, on grounds of violating the right to private property.

But as with all such measures, such as the initial 10-year period of reservations in government jobs for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, the law took on a life of its own. Just as the period of reservations has been routinely extended and communities other than Dalits and tribals have been covered under the quota system, more and more laws have been included in the Ninth Schedule; so much so that there are now as many as 284 laws in it.

What is abundantly clear is that the political class regards the Ninth Schedule as a convenient "laundry bag" where all "tainted" laws can be dumped - "tainted" in the sense that populism rather than well-thought-out measures were behind their enactment.

A case in point is the 1994 Tamil Nadu law that violates the limit of 50 percent of reservations preferred by the Supreme Court. It was to examine this law providing 69 percent reservations that a nine-member constitution bench was set up by the court. By ruling that the government can no longer bypass the judiciary by taking recourse to the Ninth Schedule for laws placed in it from 1973 onwards, the Supreme Court has put a spanner in the cynical ploy of vote bank politics under which the government generally provides preferential treatment to the numerically stronger communities.

The verdict seems to have flowed directly from its earlier judgement approving parliament's right to expel the MPs caught in a cash-for-questions scandal. At the same time, the court asserted that it had the right to undertake a judicial review of parliamentary measures.

"Constitutional system of governance abhors absolutism," the judgement said, "it being the cardinal principle of our constitution that no one, however lofty, can claim to be the sole judge of the power given under the Constitution."

Now, many of the 284 laws, put in the Ninth Schedule because the government considered itself to be the "sole judge" of their validity, might be scrutinized by the judiciary to the dismay of the politicians.

Not since the Keshavananda Bharati case of 1973, which upheld the "basic structure" of the constitution by negating the view that parliament enjoyed "unlimited power" (in the words of constitutional historian Granville Austin), has there been such a reiteration as now of the judiciary's right to review all laws.

To quote Austin again, the government of the time led by Indira Gandhi "treated the (Keshavananda) ruling as a defeat" as it "confirmed for the government its distrust of the court, whose decision in the case it had endeavoured energetically to influence". It may not be out of place to recall that the Emergency was imposed only two years later when all civil rights, including habeas corpus, were suspended.

It is unlikely that the present government will regard the judgement as a defeat although there may well be some politicians who will do so, especially if and when the judiciary examines some of the populist laws enacted after 1973. Already, there have been a few dissenting voices, as from the Congress party's Priya Ranjan DasMunsi and Abhishek Singhvi and from the PMK's A. Ramadoss, who is the central health minister.

But one immediate cause of confrontation will probably be the implementation of yet another judgement, which relates to police reforms. Till now, the central and state governments have resisted accepting the judicial diktat in this respect because it will make them lose control over the force, which they have long tended to use to serve partisan causes.

But the Supreme Court's latest observation that the governments cannot try to put off accepting its directives can set off a troublesome interaction between the two.

Unlike in the 1970s, the governments, and especially the one in New Delhi, cannot afford to be seen defying the court because of the high prestige the latter enjoys. Moreover, any sign of a face-off will scare the investors, which neither the central nor state governments will like. Besides, the 300-million strong middle class is far more vocal and active today than in the 70s when it was much smaller in number.

The votaries of "social justice" will undoubtedly kick up a row, but their presence mainly in the caste-based parties has tended to undermine their credibility. (Amulya Ganguli is a political analyst. He can be reached at aganguli@mail.com)

Something both queer and heartening is happening to the average Indian. After the economy, it is now he who is opening up, often in hilarious honesty. There was a time when our fathers used to go to great lengths to understate their salaries. They were afraid of something — not God — that kept them from proclaiming their real incomes, even to their families.

The men, in fact, vociferously reiterated that a man should never be asked his salary. To sound balanced, they would add as an afterthought,"just as a woman should not be asked her age".

These days, you can ask almost anybody almost anything. Often, you don't even have to ask. A friend of mine told me a fascinating, and very symbolic, incident that occurred while he was partying this New Year's Eve. He was hitting on a cute girl who seemed ready for the party but not for him. Sensing that he would not back off, she looked him straight in the eye and shouted above the din of music that she was gay.

Then, pointing to another pretty face in the crowd, she said,"And she is my partner". I'm quite sure this particular girl would have absolutely no hassles giving out her real age.

For that matter, even men's salaries have more or less ceased to be under the classified information category. If anything, I see young men buff up figures, add a few more thousands, and then talk about their salaries.

Perhaps it is confidence in themselves; or a new-age and eminently fashionable transparency trip. Either way, what is so apparent in our offices, malls and homes is that the modern Indian is less reticent about himself or herself.

And, boy, is it a relief! Last Sunday, I bumped into an old friend at a Chandigarh shopping mall after almost three years. Seeing a woman clinging close to him — I discounted the fact that it could be because of the cold — I asked him in wondrous happiness,"So, got married, huh?"

As the half-eaten burger in his hand went up towards his mouth again, he answered with minimum fuss,"Not married. We're kind of living-in. Two years".

His girlfriend, looking admiringly into his food-filled face, promptly corrected him."Two years and three months, sweetie". (By arrangement with The Times of India)

Uttar Pradesh, increasingly called "ulta Pradesh", has thrown up a bizarre constitutional situation. Thanks to the continuing confrontation between Governor T.V. Rajeshwar and Chief Minister Mulayam Singh, a basic question mark has gone up over the powers of the Governor: does the Constitution permit him to govern his State, like under the British raj? The interesting debate was triggered on January 9 when Mulayam Singh's Cabinet called for a special two-day session of the Assembly on January 15 to seek a vote of confidence, following the decision of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) of Ajit Singh to pull out of the Government. Rajeshwar refused to accept the Cabinet's decision on the ground that he had already prorogued the Assembly on the basis of the Cabinet's recommendation of January 3 after the Speaker had adjourned the winter session of the Assembly sine die.

It is another matter that Mulayam Singh avoided a Constitutional crisis by choosing to go by the old adage that discretion is often the better part of valair. He dropped the idea of holding the session on January 15 and instead opted for the session on January 18. But the Governor's role in refusing to go by the Cabinet's earlier recommendation has raised many expert eye brows. The Raj Bhawan's decision is viewed as unconstitutional and a bad precedent as it could create avoidable problem in various States and at the Centre. In a democracy, the will of the people is supreme. This is reflected in the legislatures at the State level and in the Lok Sabha at the national level. The Governor has no power to become a dictator or act as one. The ultimate power rests with the legislatures and its Council of Ministers, appointed by the Governor in accordance with the composition of the Assembly or the Lok Sabha. When Ajit Singh's RLD pulled out of the State Government on January 9, Mulayam Singh had every right to summon the House and seek a vote of confidence on the floor of the House on January 15, prorogation or no prorogation.

The pre-poll scene in Punjab is getting murkier and murkier, setting a scandalous trend. The main contestants for power, the ruling Congress and the Akali Dal (Badal), are not only attacking each other personally but are now indulging in a highly libellous advertisement war through the State's leading newspapers. Although these advertisements have been inserted by groups or individuals who are not covered by the moral code of conduct, they are at once highly defamatory. The ruling Congress, on its part, is trying hard to retain power. In an attempt to win over the Sikh votes, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and other State Congress leaders have even approached Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to contest the Lok Sabha byelection for the Amritsar seat which fell vacant following Navjot Singh Sidhu's resignation. Manmohan Singh is disinclined to oblige. But the last word has not been said on the subject. Manmohan Singh's term in the Rajya Sabha ends in June this year.

Next month's Assembly elections in Uttarakhand and Manipur are also crucial for the Congress party, which is ruling both the States and is facing strong anti-incumbency factor. Additionally, the already-divided State Congress in Uttarakhand has received another jolt. Chief Minister Narain Dutt Tiwari has conveyed to the Central leadership that he would not contest the upcoming Assembly elections and would like to give an upper hand to the State party Chief, Harish Rawat, in future sweepstakes if the party is able to beat anti-incumbency and returns to power. Meanwhile, the Central Committee for finalizing the party's manifestos for the poll-bound States, has decided to stay committed to the aam aadmi. In its manifesto for Uttarakhand, the Committee has identified housing, roads and employment as the key issues. It intends promising a special package for the State's faster growth.

The ruling Congress in Manipur, as also the party High Command are concentrating on the major grievances of the people. The Manipur unit has already proposed to the AICC's Manifesto Committee that the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act be adequately amended to assuage the hurt and resentment of the people in the State. Union Labour Minister, Oscar Fernandes, who heads the Group of Ministers to negotiate peace with the NSCN(IM), has visited Manipur and has had wide-ranging consultations with partymen there. Fernandes has found that within the State party the issue has triggered a popular movement in the north-eastern State which needs to be addressed. He is now having consultations with the Union Home Ministry on how best an amendment to the AFSP Act could be promised in the party's manifesto for the upcoming poll.

The Prime Minister's visit to Assam earlier this week came not a day too soon against the backdrop of increasing ULFA violence and chilling attacks on defenceless migrant workers. He visited the affected areas on Tuesday and stated in no uncertain terms that "there will be no compromise with such groups if they resort to violence." Much now depends upon how far the ULFA can be cajoled to come to the negotiating table. Of interest was the PM's reference to recent public survey over the ULFA's demand for sovereignty. This shows that no one in Assam supports ULFA's acts of violence and terror. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has been trying hard to have a peace settlement with the ULFA. But the militant group has so far spurned all gestures. Gogoi has now decided to act tough. He has constituted a Unified Command under himself on the lines of the one in J&K to deal with the militancy in the State.

Madhya Pradesh, considered immune to the spreading Naxalite menace is now beginning to face the heat. Left-wing extremists have appeared in Bhopal out of the blue, making the State Government sit up. Five suspected Naxalites were arrested last week from a residential colony in Bhopal. Some weapons and ideological literature were also seized. Searchers in several other colonies in Bhopal and elsewhere in the State were conducted. No further arrests were made, but the Police seized another cache of parts of weapons and literature. This has been taken as a warning signal and the Government has sounded a red alert across the State. Four districts, Balaghat, Madle and Dindori have already been declared as Naxal-affected. The State Police has also got in touch with its counterparts in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, to which the five suspected Naxals belong. (INFA)

The main contestants for power, the ruling Congress and the Akali Dal (Badal), are not only attacking each other personally but are now indulging in a highly libellous advertisement war through the State's leading newspapers.

Sir,

The security in NE. Police Academy campus, the only training centre for police officers in the North-east Region is at stake. There is no security of life and property of the Police Academy staff residing in the campus. Ever since the last few years, outsiders have been trespassing the campus without any restriction. Even drunkards from nearby villages easily get entry at nighttime creating problem for the staff on night duty. On January 6, 2007, some youths from a nearby village manhandled a staff with knife, as a result of which he had to be admitted to the Civil Hospital. There have been many such type of cases in the campus since the last three years. Many a time, the staff have complained to the Director and other senior officers to prevent/stop the trespass in the academy campus.

However, the Director, who is a senior IPS officer, is not taking any initiative in this regard. It may also be mentioned here that many valuable items of the trainees have been lost from the Cadet and Officers mess in the last three years. Even though some of the culprits were caught, the Director is maintaining silence.

On the other hand, to everyone's surprise, the Director with great interest called a meeting last year to get the names of all NEPA employees registered under the Headman of Umsaw village, Meghalaya. My humble questions to the authorities are:

1) How can a Director be so irresponsible as to call such a meeting?

2) Why is the Director not taking up any preventive measures to safeguard the life and property of the employees?

3) Why is the Director allowing unfiltered trespassing?

4) Is the NEPA campus a public place?

Therefore, in the interest of the Academy and society, the concern higher authorities/ministry need to initiate steps to rectify the situation and restore peace and security in the NEPA campus.

Yours etc.,
S. Kharnior,
Umsaw.
Vie -email

Sir,

We would like to bring to your attention the injustices and biased attitude of the current VC of NEHU. Recently, there was an advertisement for a number of vacancies for the post of lecturer in the School of Technology under NEHU. As per UGC's directive, one should either be NET qualified or should have a Ph.D degree to be eligible for the post. Most of us being qualified as per the rules, and also being local candidates had applied for the various posts. To our dismay, we found that we were not called for the interview. Those who had been called were from other universities as well as from other States. We know for sure that we will never stand a chance, no matter how eligible we are, in other universities within the North-east or other parts of the country.

We got to know that no proper screening committee was set up to screen the candidates. Moreover, it seems the VC had his own candidates, and that for two or three particular posts there were no ST candidates, leave alone local ones. In the interview, the VC told one or two of the candidates that they were over-qualified and that their expertise would be wasted here. What did he mean by that? Did he want undergraduate students for the posts. We have seen from experiences that in other universities in the North-east or other parts of the country, local qualified candidates are given the first preference.

We are surprised that local student bodies like the KSU are not even aware of the situation. But then, they are far too busy for such trivial matters. We just hope that this letter will shed some light on the prevailing situation in NEHU.

Yours etc.,
Concerned candidates,
Shillong
Via e-mail

Police said suspected ULFA militants planted a time bomb under the seat of a motorcycle and triggered it at 6.15 pm near Tirupati Hotel at the busy Chamber Road in the main commercial centre here.

The explosion was initially suspected to have been caused by a grenade, but an investigation revealed that the explosive device was hidden in an abandoned motorcycle found at the site of the blast, police said.

Chaos prevailed in the area as panic-stricken people fled, creating traffic jams, and shop-keepers immediately downed shutters. The area was cordoned off by police.

Three persons were nabbed at the railway station here in connection with the attack, police said.

Three seriously injured persons were sent to the Assam Medical College Hospital in neighbouring Dibrugarh district, and the rest were admitted to the Civil Hospital here. One of the dead was identified as Roshan Tiwari, while some of the wounded were identified as Maan Singh, Ganga Sah, Sanjay Dhadiya, Jadu Nath Rai, Bhim Singh, Bablu Das, Pranab Sah and Dasrath Sah.

Tinsukia was one of the areas where the ULFA recently targeted Hindi-speaking migrants in a series of attacks that left 70 people dead.

The police cordoned off the area immediately after the blast and a manhunt was launched. The Army had intensified operation in the Upper Asom district in the wake of recent killings of Hindi-speaking people by the banned militant group.

Meanwhile, police claimed to have killed an unidentified militant belonging to the banned ULFA at Garchuk area in the city .

ULFA chief flays Deka's statement on sovereignty : Meanwhile, ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa has described as unfortunate Asom Sahitya Sabha president Kanak Sen Deka's remark that the state was an inseparable part of India.

In an e-mail, Rajkhowa alleged that the statement was "typical of Deka and the people of the state are fully aware how he manipulated his way to the top literary post".

"Deka has an understanding with the Centre and under its direction has started speaking against the sovereignty of the state. In any case, nobody has asked him to espouse the cause of Asom's sovereignty," the rebel leader said.

Alleging that Deka had manipulated to make it to the top post of the apex literary body by removing several officials, Rajkhowa claimed that he and the newspaper he edits (Dainik Agradoot) are hand in glove with Indian intelligence agencies.

Deka had on Friday condemned the recent killing of 70 migrant and had asserted that Asom "was and will remain an inseparable part of India".

Our Staff Reporter adds: A suspected ULFA cadre and a hard-core gunrunner were arrested on Thursday night from Bhoirymbong near Umiam during a routine vehicle check. Three kg RDX and a nine mm pistol were recovered from their possession and the Maruti Gypsy they were travelling in was also seized.

The ULFA cadre is identified as Rajeev Basumatry while the gunrunner is identified as Wansanlang Rympei.