Meghalaya: Mother Unable to Repay Loan, Children Confiscated

Shillong, Sep 18 : Police today nabbed a woman who confiscated two kids after their parent was unable to repay loan amount. The incident took place at the suburban regions of Shillong in Meghalaya.

Few months ago, the debtor Meryline Gatpoh borrowed over Rs. 3 lacs from Rosa Mawrie, a woman who lives in that area. Rosa asked Meryline to repay the sum along with the interest, the rate of which was set to 20 percent.

Meryline managed to repay Rs 1 lakh but was unable to arrange the remaining sum of money. Rosa first seized Meryline's vehicle in lieu of the sum that was not repaid to her. But this didn't satisfy her demands. On Sep 8, she took away Meryline's minor daughter and later on Sep 15, she confiscated Rosa’s son.

Unable to tolerate any more, Meryline lodged a complaint at the nearest police station on Thursday night against Rosa Mawrie for confiscating her kids along with her vehicle illegally. The kids were rescued by the police today and were handed over to Rosa.

Meghalaya Lobby Opposes FDI in Coal Mining

By Supratim Dey

Shillong, Sep 16 : The coal mining lobby in Meghalaya, consisting coal miners and coal mine owners, has opposed foreign investment in coal mining sector in the state.

Voicing concern at a stakeholders’ meet, convened by the state government to formulate a mining policy, the coal miners and owners cautioned the state government that "heavy foreign investment will not be in the interests of local populace".

The state government plans to come up with a mining policy by next month to "systemise" mining activities in the state and to address the health, environment and labour issues. The decision came in the wake of concerns expressed by environmentalists who apprehend land degrade and forest cover depletion owing to the unscientific and indiscriminate mining.

Mining and geology minister of Meghalaya Bindu Lanong said,  "They (local miners) wanted the government to take care of small miners and their suggestions will be considered while preparing the mining policy."

"Amendments will be made in the draft to ensure that the interests of the locals are protected," Lanong said.

According to him, the proposed mining policy will "ensure that the mining mechanism is systematised and inclusive of advanced technology; that is environment and health friendly." The miners’ lobby also suggested the government not to "sidetrack" the land tenure system prevailing in the state where the coal mines are owned by private individuals.

Mining of mineral resources in Meghalaya, which is rich in coal, limestone and uranium, had always hit one or the other roadblock.

Meghalaya has over 600 million tonne of coal reserves, and around 5 million tonne are mined annually.

Meghalaya is the only state in the country where coal miners don’t need any mining lease from the government. Any individual owning coal-bearing land can extract coal and sell it in the market.

Municipal Polls: Half of Meghalaya Shutdown

Shillong, Sep 15 : Half of Meghalaya today observed a shutdown following a non-cooperation call by a group of organisations protesting the proposed first ever municipal elections, even as 205 candidates filed nominations in the four municipal boards where elections are slated for September 29.

Educational institutions, business units and government offices were closed and vehicular movement was thin in all the three districts of Garo Hills, officials said adding adequate security personnel were deployed at sensitive places to prevent any untoward incident.

While no picketing activities were observed, West Garo Hills deputy commissioner Sanjay Goyal said the administration has decided salary cut for government officials who did not report for duty.

The Joint Action Committee (JAC) had announced a two-day non-cooperation movement in the three districts from today against holding of the elections in the four municipalities of Garo Hills.

The JAC is demanding demarcation of the municipal areas before conducting elections.
Altogether 96 candidates, including 27 women, have filed nominations in the 13 wards of Tura municipality in West Garo Hills district.

55 candidates have filed nominations for the Resubelpara and Williamnagar municipalities and 54 for the Baghmara seat. The last date for filing nominations ended yesterday.

Urban Affairs Principal Secretary Prashant Naik ruled out postponing the municipal elections.
"We don''t understand why they are opposing the elections. They should wait for the court verdict instead of announcing any agitation," he said.

The proscribed Khasi militant outfit Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) had warned people of dire consequences if they participated in the elections.

Earlier, the Gauhati High Court had issued a notice to the government on a petition by the Garo Students Union which challenged the municipal polls.

Since the Supreme Court notification in 2000, there have been at least two attempts to hold the civic body election in the state but both the times the government could not go ahead due to opposition from certain quarters on the ground that such an attempt will dilute the credibility of traditional institutions in the state.

There nominated administrator of the state government governs the municipality boards.

Meghalaya CM Meets PM For Bangladesh Trade

Shillong, Sep 15 : Meghalaya Chief minister Mukul Sangma on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to facilitate trade with Bangladesh.

"This would be beneficial for both the countries and would help to reduce illegal activities along the international border," Sangma told over phone from New Delhi.

"I told the prime minister that trading activities should be promoted and infrastructure should be improved in the border ares," he said.

Sangma requested the prime minister to take up on a priority basis the proposed railway connectivity between Jogighopa via Tikrikilla, Ampati, Dalu, Baghmara, Dawki and Badarpur through the southern slope of Meghalaya, which would in turn connect the LCSs to Barak Valley and other North Eastern States including Mizoram, Tripura and Manipur in view of huge economic benefit and expected growth of trade and commerce with Bangladesh.

"The alternative railway line is also a shorter option which had taken up with the railway ministry in 2007," Sangma said.Sangma took up issues relating to various pending projects of the Centre including the expansion of airports in Umroi and Baljek on a priority basis to facilitate landing of bigger aircraft.

"I submitted a proposal to Union finance ministry for State Resource Management Programme to be funded by ADB to support health and education in the state," Sangma said.

222 Child Miners in Meghalaya: Govt

Guwahati, Sep 8 : Under pressure from the National Human Rights Commission, the Jaintia Hills district authorities in Meghalaya have found 222 children working in unscientific coal mines. The figure is way short of 70,000 child labourers a Meghalaya-based NGO had claimed were working in the hill state's coal mines

often referred to as "rat holes" for unscientific and life-threatening methods employed to extract coal.

"In a district inhabited by barely 2 lakh people, it is impossible for 70,000 children to work in coal mines here," said a senior district official from headquarters Jowai.

Of the 222 children identified, 153 were found to belong to local communities. The rest had come with their parents from Assam, Bihar, Nepal and Bangladesh.

Rat-hole mining - workers go down at least 25m to extract coal with hands and primitive tools - is prevalent in Lad Sutnga, Bapung, Lad Rymbai and Khliehriat areas of Jaintia Hills. Similar technique is used in mines in Shallang, Langrin and Borsora areas of West Khasi Hills district and Nangalbibra of South Garo Hills district.

"We have convened a high-level meeting in the next few days to discuss ways of rehabilitating the child miners," said Arindam Som, Meghalaya's commissioner-secretary of mining and geology.

NHRC had on August 13 asked the Meghalaya government to work on a package to help children working under hazardous conditions in coal mines.

But a rehab plan for the children is easier said than done as locals engage in mining according to their traditional land tenure system wherein the people own the mines, not the government.

Owing to this "technical problem", Meghalaya's mines are classified as cottage or small-scale mines not covered under the Coal Mines (Nationalization) Act.

Meghalaya Refuses to Renew Mining Lease to Coal India

New Delhi, Sep 8 : Meghalaya has refused to renew a mining lease to the Coal India Limited, leaving the government-run mining enterprise without any work in the state, the coal ministry said Tuesday.

“In Meghalaya, the only lease held by North Eastern Coalfields Limited (NEC) NEC, a CIL subsidiary, pertained to Simsang mines. But it expired in 2008 and its renewal is yet to be received from the State of Meghalaya,” said the ministry in a statement.

“In the absence of renewal of lease, at present no more mines has been planned to be opened by NEC, CIL,” the statement added.

“In Meghalaya, coal is being produced only by the local people as per the extant customary and tribal land rights,” it said.

The ministry made the revelation of Meghalaya’s refusal to renew its mining lease to CIL in a statement on total coal resources in the northeast region.

The statement said “as per Geological Survey of India’s latest inventory of the geological resources of coal in the country, 1,471 million tonnes of geological resources of coal have so far been estimated in the northeast region.”

“Of this, 388 million tonnes are in Assam and 576 milliion tonnes in Meghalaya,” the statement said, adding: “In Assam three opencast mines - Tirap, Tikak and Ledo are in operation under NEC.”

Five more new open cast mines, including those in Lekhapani, Tikak Extension, Tipong, PQ Block and Lachitkhani are proposed to be opened,” the statement added.

Meghalaya Plans Rehab of Child Miners

By E.M. Jose

Children work at coal mines in Jaintia Hills.

Shillong, Sep 6 : The Meghalaya government is working on a rehabilitation package to help the children working under hazardous situations in the coal mines of Jaintia Hills, following a direction from the National Human Rights Commission.

The state commissioner and secretary of mining and geology, Arindam Som, today said following the commission’s direction on August 13, a high-level meeting will be held next week to be convened by chief secretary W.M.S. Pariat to discuss the modalities to rehabilitate the children who work in the mines.

The commission has given three months’ time to the state government to find out ways and means to rehabilitate the children.

“We have to co-ordinate with the departments of education, police, social welfare and the district administration to find a viable package for the children,” Som said.

According to reports, coal mining in Meghalaya popularly known as “rat hole mining” has changed the ecology and landscape of the hill state, besides affecting the health of the migrant children and their parents working in the mines.

Some experts, who studied the coal mining activities in the state, have coined “rat hole mining” as the miners adopt unscientific methods.

Since the coal layers or seams are thin ranging from 6 inches to 3 feet, the miners either use hands or traditional tools to extract coal.

A minimum of 25metres is dug to extract coal. The labou-rers, including children, have to walk down through wooden steps to remove coal. If the fuel is exhausted in a pit, they look for coal in other areas.

Children, mostly from Nepal and Bangladesh, are working in these Jaintia Hills mines with their parents.

The Jaintia Hills district administration conducted a survey in 20 villages in July this year and found that there are 222 children working in the coal mines.

While 153 were local residents, the remaining were from Assam, Bihar, Nepal and Bangladesh.

According to the district administration, the survey was carried out after a Shillong-based NGO had brought out that 70,000 children work in the coal mines.

Sources in the district administration said the population of Jaintia Hills is just over 2 lakh and it is impossible for 70,000 children to work in the coal mines.

“Our priority will be to rehabilitate these 222 children,” an official with the state social welfare department said.

Other than Lad Sutnga, Bapung, Lad Rymbai and Khliehriat areas in Jaintia Hills, rat hole mining is also carried out at Nangalbibra in South Garo Hills and Shallang, Langrin and Borsora in West Khasi Hills.

The local indigenous population engages in traditional method of mining according to their land tenure system where the ownership of the mines is with the people and not with the government.

Because of this, the Union government named the mines here as local cottage mines or small-scale coal mines, which operate beyond the purview of Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act.

The government has framed a draft mining policy to check the present system of unscientific coal mining. According to the policy, there are a series of measures initiated by the government for scientific mining.

The draft mining policy points out that there is an urgent need to see that the environment is protected while initiating various mining activities.

Rogue Meghalaya Cop Dismissed

Shillong, Sep 5 : Champion R. Sangma, a Meghalaya police officer-turned-militant who floated the Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA), has been sacked, an official said Saturday.
“The government has terminated Champion’s service. He is no longer a policeman and is a free-bird now,” Director General of Police S.B. Kakati told IANS.

He said the order terminating services of Champion, a deputy superintendent of police, was notfified by the government about 15 days ago.

Champion floated the GNLA in 2008 and fled to forests.

Kakati said Champion was an indisciplined officer and his dismissal was sought on several instances.

“He (Champion) never attended work and remained absent for months, therefore, his post was never made permanent and his dismissal was sought after a departmental inquiry into his conduct,” the police chief added.

Champion, whose militant organisation is demanding sovereign Garoland in west Meghalaya, has forged a close operational relationship with other northeast-based insurgent groups such as the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) (NSCN-IM), the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB).

The GNLA’s foot soldiers are deserters, mostly from the NDFB, the Achik National Volunteers Council (ANVC) and the Liberation of Achik Elite Force (LAEF).

According to police, the GNLA is reported to have made extortion demands ranging from Rs.5 lakh to Rs.1 crore from legislators, government officials and businessmen.

Meghalaya, especially the Garo Hills region, is being used as a safe haven by various northeast-based militant groups, including the NSCN-IM, the ULFA and a faction of the NDFB, state police say.

Social Networking Sites a Hit With Meghalaya Politicians

By Rituraj Borthakur

Shillong, Sep 1 : Popular social networking sites have become a hit with Meghalaya's frontline politicians who swear by their usefulness to stay connected to the masses.

Hailing from both sides of the political divide, the leaders, including Chief Minister Mukul Sangma and Opposition Leader Conrad Sangma, are regular users of the sites.

An avid user of Facebook, Sangma said, “Technology should be utilized to reach out to people and be more accessible to them. Social networking has become a platform for the people to get their voices heard."

Stressing on the time-efficiency factor of the social networking sites, the chief minister, a medical practitioner who still finds time to attend to his patients, advocated the use of technology for the betterment of the state.

Education minister and the lone woman legislator Ampareen Lyngdoh found herself at one with the chief minister. "It is indeed a unique way to interact with the masses as our prime agenda is development of the state,” she said.

Among Lyngdoh's 261 'online friends', there are several students of the state staying outside.
“Students who study outside our state contact me, if they have any problem relating to scholarship or any such. I help them in that case,” she said.

Leader of Opposition Conrad Sangma, said, “It is a great way to connect with the people, but I don't think it is a platform for politics. I believe it is a platform for discussion.”

The senior lot of politicians also have their leaning towards the emerging technologies as in the case of Conrad’s father Purno A Sangma, a former Lok Sabha speaker and currently a state legislator.

The senior Sangma is known for his techno-savvy habits and advocates the use of technology for better changes in life.

Livelihoods And Environment: The Pnar Conflict

By Sonata G Dkhar

What mining has done to ‘these hills which we call home’ is unimaginable. The prodigious alterations caused by the extraction of coal and limestone have changed the very environmental, social and cultural precincts of the place. It has engulfed the land and slowly and stealthily whelmed in the people of Jaintia hills, a mineral rich district in the North Eastern state of Meghalaya.

On one of my visits to this coal and limestone rich region, I met Lad Phawa. In 2002, he began what he calls a “thriving business” that of sourcing out water and selling it in this water deficit region, caused by the excessive mining and its associated activities. As we stood overlooking his barren fields he had stopped cultivating in for the past eight years, Lad said “I don’t think I will farm again, I make a much better living by selling water”.

Lad Phawa's Fields - now a water storage area

What he said left me thinking – is this what is engulfing the entire region, is mining going to overtake this agrarian society, what will be the outcome of such a mass shift in livelihood and why are people making the shift, will this not lead to further destruction of the environment of this ecologically diverse land.

In Jaintia hills many men and women are turning to the mining industry, if not directly then indirectly associating themselves with this fastidiously growing economically viable industry. Many from the well- off local Pnar population have either started mining in their own land or have leased their land to other private coal mine owners, this in the absence of any regulation and the existence of a complex land ownership system that grants direct control of the land to the tribal people, qualifying Meghalaya as the only state in the country where mining is done privately. While many working the coal mines are migrant labourers, a number of the local folk work as supervisors of the coal dumps or as daily wage labourers loading trucks. There are those like Lad who utilise sources at hand and market water, while others work in making and selling the small tools needed for mining.

“Why should I even consider stopping mining” says Kong Rit (name changed) from Sohkynphor village who overlooks the loading of trucks at Kongong, a coal dumping ground adjacent to national highway 44. “I can now feed my family properly, send my children to school and even have enough money for medicines” she adds trying hard to explain to me why mining should not be stopped in these hills. This may not be a unified voice of the Pnars/Jaintias but it is a powerful dominant opinion, which many are fearful to contradict. It is this opinion that has allowed the rampant spread of mining and overlooked the harm and destruction caused by unchecked, unscientific mining to the land and the environment.

Many paddy fields have been left barren; the Jhum (Shifting) cultivation has reduced. Even though 70% of the state is dependent on agriculture, in Jaintia hills personal stories of people tell us of a shift in livelihood. According to a study by Dr K Sarma with the help of the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, the cropped area in the coal region of Jaintia hills has reduced from 2.65% in 1975 to 1.62% in2001 while the mining area has increased from 3.26% in 1975 to 10.75% in 2001. The dense forest cover in Jaintia hills has also dramatically reduced from 22.5% of the total area in 1975 to a mere 12.34% in 2001

Coal dumped and extracted next to what once paddy fields

Jaintia hills is undergoing major environmental changes due to private coal mining and the extensive limestone quarrying and the many cement plants that have mushroomed in the past couple of years. The water bodies in the area are polluted, the water table is declining, there have been changes in land forms, and the numbers of forests have decreased. In fact according to the Meghalaya Pollution Control Board air pollution levels have increased leading to warmer temperatures in the coal belt region of the state. The report states that the average concentration of suspended particulate matter is 200 micro gram per cubic metre while sulphur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen is 6.5 and 25.5 micro gram per cubic meter respectively. Shortage of rainfall over the years in a region famous for heavy rains is another indicator of the changing climatic conditions in the region.

The situation is worsening by the day and the effects on the environment and the people deleterious. “Every year we used to collect rain water for our daily use” says Puson Gympad, a resident and the secretary of Lumchnong village. “...but this year things are different, ever since the year’s first shower till now the rain water is so dirty we do not even dare use it for anything” he adds while showing me the water collected from the rain that poured as we were sitting and having tea. This is the plight of people residing in Lumchnong village which is situated along the national highway 44, whose two main sources of water – the kotsati cave and the Wah(river)Larung were polluted ever since a staggering 9 cement plants and a few captive power plants were set up within a five kilometre radius around the elaka (area) within the span of 10 years.

Unfortunately despite that most of the problems the elaka is facing is because of the setting up of the many cement plants in the region, most people still opt to work in the factories. “None of the youngsters know how to go and cultivate, they all lie by idle or even if they work they go to the factories” says Thrin Lamare, Lumchnong’s oldest woman and the last generations of farmers in the village. Puson looks at this as people “being short sighted” as one day the resources will be exhausted, the factories will close and nothing will remain, but the situation is far more complex.

Nearly 60% of the village land has already been leased to the different cement plants and this is not the situation only in Lumchnong. Vast areas of the limestone rich Narpoh elaka as well have been leased off for a mere RS 30 - 40/kmsq. While walking around some of the villages, numbered rocks and cut trees and untended orange orchards are witness to the transactions that have already been made, transactions where benefactors will always remain a handful. For the rest, earning a livelihood is of key importance, even if it means working in those very places that are causing harm to the land and environment they live in, even it means to move away from a practise integral to their way of life.

“Our land will be stripped naked” Puson’s indignant words resonate in my head. They tell me of a Jaintia hills that is being destroyed and desecrated, they tell me of the infinite woes that the people are confronting and they tell me of the irresponsible extensive mining that is killing the people and the environment

**Sonata G Dkhar is an independent film maker, currently based in Shillong. sonata84@gmail.com

** Sonata is Panos South Asia Fellow 2010 whose current work deals with conflict and environmental changes in Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya.

via Countercurrents.org

Water Supply Scheme For 'Dry' Cherrapunjee

Shillong, Aug 29 : With a drinking water crisis plaguing the once the wettest spot on earth, Cherrapunjee, now known by its old name of Sohra, a concerned Meghalaya government has promised to commission a water supply scheme to ease the situation.

With rainfall lessening at Sohra except during the monsoons, 56 km from here, women and children have to trek miles to fetch drinking water.

The perennial springs which once provided water in abundance are now on the verge of drying up due to large-scale destruction of forests.

Public Health Engineering Minister Prestone Tynsong said the project, the Greater Sohra Water Supply Scheme, at a cost of Rs 4.13 crore, will provide drinking water to about 25,000 families in Sohra and will be commissioned between October-December this year.

"The department expects to provide 40 litres of water to each individual ever day," Tynsong said after reviewing the performance of his department yesterday

HC Admits Plea by Garo Students' on Civic Polls

Shillong, Aug 28 : The Gauhati High Court has admitted a petition by Garo Students Union challenging the proposed municipal polls in Meghalaya's Garo Hills but refused to stay the polls.

Admitting the petition, a bench comprising Justice A Ansari and A Hazarika today issued notice to the government and fixed September 6 as the date of hearing.

The court, however, refused to stay the September 29 elections as sought by the petitioner, saying there was still enough time.

Earlier, the government announced elections to the offices of ward commissioners of four municipal boards in the three districts of Garo hills.

"Following the 1992 amendment in the Constitution, panchayat and municipal provisions do not extend to the tribal areas which are under Sixth Schedule," the GSU said in the petition.

The state government has decided to seek public opinion on a bill that envisages reforms on the municipal act, paving the way for holding of the first ever civic polls in the state, including Garo Hills, since it attained statehood.

The move has been initiated in a bid to avail the benefit under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, official sources said.

NEIGRIHMS MBBS Students To Be Admitted

Shillong, Aug 24 : The stalemate over the admission of nine students from Meghalaya to the North East Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) ended today with dean P. Bhattacharya agreeing to admit them from tomorrow.

Bhattacharya gave the assurance to the Khasi Students Union (KSU), which had planned to disrupt MBBS classes at the institute today — the deadline set by them for admitting the students. The dean invited the KSU for talks and assured them of the students’ admission.

The standoff between Meghalaya and the institute began early this month when the state government submitted a list of nine students, selected by it on the basis of merit, to the institute for admission to its MBBS courses.

NEIGRIHMS wrote back to the state government saying all the students would have to take an entrance test before getting admission into the institute. The matter was also communicated to the Union health ministry.

The state government, however, made it clear that it had been following the same procedure in other medical institutes and there was no need for any special entrance test. Chief minister Mukul Sangma also met Union health minister Gulam Nabi Azad last week to seek his intervention.

KSU general secretary Hamlet Dohling said they met Bhattacharya on Saturday and set a deadline of 24 hours to admit the Meghalaya students. He today led a group of KSU activists to the institute in order to stop all MBBS classes there if it failed to admit the students from Meghalaya.

“However, since we were assured that the Meghalaya students would be admitted to the institute from tomorrow, we have decided to wait and watch,” Dohling said. “If it is an empty promise, the KSU will be compelled to stop the MBBS classes which began two weeks ago,” he added.

Meghalaya chief secretary W.M.S. Pariat said the state government’s stand in sending the list of nine students to NEIGRIHMS for admission was in order and there was no cause for worry.

Lafarge's India-Bangladesh Cement Project Remains Frozen

Project backed by World Bank and Asian Development Bank has been questioned over impact on indigenous community

By Julien Bouissou

The conveyor belt leading to the Lafarge cement plant. Photograph: Alam Beg Imtiaz/Interspeed/Lafarge

Four years after operations started Lafarge's gigantic limestone mine in Meghalaya state, northeast India, is still at a standstill, pending a decision by India's Supreme Court.

In February the court ordered a temporary halt to mining, demanding the French firm carry out an additional environmental impact assessment focusing in particular on protection of biodiversity on the site and in nearby forests, and prevention of sediment dispersal towards the river. The shut-down is costing Lafarge Umiam Mining Private Limited (LUMPL) $3m a month.

In 2006 Lafarge, a global leader in cement, boasted about the diplomatic and technical expertise deployed to locate this massive industrial facility, costing $275m, on the border between India and Bangladesh. A 17km-long conveyor belt can carry up to 6,000t of limestone a day to the cement works on the other side of the border, where the supply of gas, essential to the production of cement, is plentiful.

In 1997 the project gained the financial backing of the Asian Development Bank and the International Finance Corporation, a World Bank subsidiary, on account of its contribution to developing this out-of-the-way area.

But in 2008 a confidential report by an ADB mission highlighted shortcomings, in particular the lack of transparency in the purchase or lease of land belonging to indigenous peoples. The report, which Le Monde consulted, concluded that the use of a go-between fell short of transparency requirements and did not comply with ADB policy on good governance.

The go-between in question was SG Lyngdoh, a member of the Meghalaya state parliament. In the mid-1990s he negotiated the purchase or use of land owned by indigenous peoples. From 1997 onwards he gradually sold the assets of his own company to LUMPL, a joint venture also involving Cementos Molins of Spain.

Under the Indian constitution, land in tribal areas cannot be transferred to "non-tribals", unless the transaction contributes to the development of local communities. "And so far no one has benefited from it," says a member of the Shella Action Committee, which opposes Lafarge's incursion.

Lyngdoh, however, convinced the authorities to allow him to sell the land he had purchased to foreign organisations. "As far as we know land acquisition policy followed the relevant ADB rules," a Lafarge spokesperson said.

In the village of Nongtrai, where the population has transferred land-use rights to the mine, Lafarge executives show off the recent improvements: a football pitch, an extension to the school, the purchase of six looms for the women of the village and a visit by a mobile clinic at least once a week.

"It is not much. Above all LUMPL has not allocated an annual budget for local community development. Projects are funded piecemeal," says Kai Schmidt Solau, who took part in the ADB mission.

In February the Supreme Court decided to appoint other bodies to implement sustainable development policies. It also ordered a fund to be set up and endowed with $4m a year – existing investments are estimated at $200,000 – to be paid for out of royalties on the limestone. The fund will be managed by NGOs and the state governor for villages near the mine.

At Shella, villagers are demanding more jobs. "Out of 300 jobs on offer, we only got 50," says village councillor Tobias Tiewdop. "And the lowest wages are only $65 a month, not enough to feed a family." "Mike Cowell, of LUMPL's parent company. responds: "A third of the workforce is allocated to security duties and we cannot give that work to local people."

Lafarge now plans to invest $1m in a scheme for local residents. "But it is difficult for us to deploy sustainable development policies until we are sure we can operate the mine," Cowell adds.

The villagers are already dependent on revenue from the mine. Although they only receive 25 cents per tonne of mined limestone, a third of what the owners of small mines in the vicinity – they all dread what would happen if Lafarge actually left. "We would have to take our children out of the school and find other means of subsistence," says Daioris Stembon, deputy-chair of the Shella women's council.

This story was first published in Le Monde.

Meghalaya Emerges as Drugs Transit Route

By Raju Das
 
Shillong, Aug 18 : Meghalaya has become the main transit route for smuggling of Phensedyl and other Codeine-based cough syrups to Bangladesh, recent seizures suggest.

In this year alone, Codeine-based cough syrups worth over Rs 59 lakh was seized in Meghalaya. A total of 1.12 lakh bottles were confiscated in three seizures. Officials say, many of these cough syrups were meant to be smuggled into Bangladesh via Meghalaya and Agartala.

Phensedyl, Corex and other Codeine-based cough syrups are legally available in India. These are prescription drugs. A bottle of Phensedyl cost Rs 42.25 and Corex Rs 68.

But in “dry” Bangladesh these Codeine-based cough syrups are in high demand and are sold anything between Taka 200-300. The price shoots up substantially during festivals.

In the region too there are a substantial number of cough syrup abusers. In “dry” States such as Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura the number of cough syrup abusers is growing.

In India, Phensedyl is manufactured by Indian Pharmaceutical giant Nicholos Piramal. However, there is growing debate whether the control mechanism has failed and the cough syrups are being smuggled rampantly.

Yesterday, the Customs here seized a truckload of cough syrups from Lumshonong, Jaintia Hills. The truck was loaded in Bihar and was on its way to Agartala enroute to Bangladesh.

Hidden under 30 rice sacks were 47,400 bottles of Corex and 3,600 Phensedyl bottles – a total of 51,000 bottles of cough syrup. The total price of the cough syrups was Rs 33.75 lakh. The driver and handyman of the truck were detained.

On July 31, another truck with 27,100 bottles was seized in Umling, Ri-Bhoi. The price of that illegal consignment was over Rs11.45 lakh. The bottles were hidden together with Marijuana.

Back in February this year, 35,000 bottles of Phensedyl were recovered and the cost of the illegal consignment was pegged at Rs 14.78 lakh.

Director General of Narcotic Control Bureau, OPS Malik during his visit to the region said that Meghalaya has become the favoured transit route for smugglers, both for smuggling in drugs such as cocaine, heroin from Myanmar into India via Manipur and like in these cases, smuggling out cough syrups to Bangladesh.

From Guns to Guitars This Independence Day

Shillong, Aug 14 : Once they use to speak the language of guns. Now they have chosen the strings of guitar to send across their message.

While six militant groups have called for a boycott of the Independence Day celebrations in the Northeast, one outfit, currently under ceasefire, is organizing a rock concert for peace to mark the day.

The Achik National Volunteer Council (ANVC), under ceasefire since 2004, has organized the rock concert at Tura, the district headquarter town of West Garo Hills in Meghalaya tomorrow.

Ironically, another rebel group of Meghalaya, Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) has called for a 36-hour bandh the same day.

In previous years, the bandh called by HNLC has been affecting the Khasi-Jaintia districts.ANVC spokesman Torik K Marak said the concert will start at 3 pm at the district auditorium.

"Five prominent bands of Tura will perform, including some members of the outfit," he said."ANVC is not into violence. Our objective is to focus on peace in Garo hills. We are very serious about the peace talks with the government," Marak said from Tura.

The district administration is supporting the initiative."They (ANVC) have ceased all operations against the state. They came up with this idea. We have all reasons to support them," district commissioner Sanjay Goyal told PTI adding that the initiative would send a positive signal to the people and create an atmosphere of faith.

"It is a welcome gesture by the ANVC but sadly enough it does not percolate down to the HNLC''s head," observed S B Kakati, the State Director General of Police (DGP).

The rebel group, the ban on which had expired in November, 2008, has around 175 cadres.

Formed in December 1995, the ANVC had entered into a tripartite ceasefire agreement on July 23, 2004, which has been extended every three months.

There have been two rounds of talks with the interlocutor so far. Earlier in March, ANVC had a meeting with Centre's interlocutor P C Haldar in Shillong over their demand for a separate Garoland Territorial Council, an autonomous body for all the three districts of Garo Hills East, West and South on the lines of Bodoland Territorial Council in Assam.

They have been insisting on this council after dropping their demands for a separate Garoland state.

Picturesque Setting

Priyanshu Chatterjee and Simone Singh romance in the scenic beauty of Shillong.

Mumbai: Gumshuda was the second film to be shot in the picturesque hills of Meghalaya

Asoke Vishwanathan could not think of any place other than Meghalaya to set his film Gumshuda. The director, who has directed several Bengali films, says that the film is a thriller with several outdoor scenes hence the exotic location.

“Megh-alaya is the smallest state of India but the most scenic. Shillong and Cherrapunjee are virgin locales as no Hindi film except the unreleased Har Pall has been shot there. Besides the mountains, rivers and the greenery what adds to the backdrop of a film are the local people who are a colourful, interesting race,” says the director.

Since there are several scenes where the protagonist is shown rummaging through forests, the film has been shot mostly outdoors.

“The best scene was shot on the Badda Paani river in Shillong which makes for a stunning backdrop.

The only drawback of shooting in Meghalaya is the lack of infrastructure. You have to have all your equipments in place and arrange for police and even army security if you want a smooth shoot here,” advises the filmmaker. The film, starring Rajit Kapur, Victor Banerjee, Priyanshu Chatterjee and Simone Singh, releases on August 27.

Meghalaya Asks Pvt Sector to Partner in Education

By Supratim Dey

Ri Bhoi District (meghalaya) Aug 09 : Concerned over the increasing trend of students moving out of the state and region for higher education, Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma called upon the private sector to partner the state government in providing “sustainable” and “affordable” educational opportunities within the state to stop the “brain drain”.

Sangma said education was a thrust area for his government, primarily to discourage the students from moving out of the state and the region in pursuit of higher education by providing better educational alternatives at home.

He said the Meghalaya government had enacted a law which enables private sector to set up self-financing educational institutions for higher studies as well as private universities in the state. He said that many private players are in the process of setting up self-financing educational institutions in the state in near future.

“Many self-financing institutions are willing to associate with our government to provide better higher educational opportunities in the state,” said Sangma. “Let us exercise collectively how to make quality education affordable and sustainable within the state so as to make it accessible to all sections and stop the brain drain,” he added.

Sangma was speaking at an ‘orientation’ programme at Regional Institute of Science and Technology (RIST) at 9th Mile in Ri Bhoi district recently. RIST is a non-governmental educational institution for higher studies to come up in recent years Meghalaya and is promoted by a “charitable educational trust” – Education Research and Development Foundation (ERDF).

The state, said Sangma, plans to partner NGOs and educational organisations to provide career counseling to students right from class 9 regarding career options and opportunities available in the state as well as within the region.

He said the state government had earmarked a fund and had directed the deputy commissioners of respective districts to identify NGOs for career counseling.

Sangma said that he was concerned over the increasing perception problem of people regarding education vis-à-vis the location. “People have a wrong perception on institutions based on location. Perception should be based on quality rather than on location,” said Sangma. 

“The youth of today are different from earlier generations. Youth now want to achieve and excel in life. So, we need to have availability of good educational institutions right from school level,” Sangma added. The Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management Shillong (RGIIM-S), North Eastern Hill University (NEHU), North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (NEIGRIMS), are some of the educational institutions of national repute that are presently located in Shillong.

‘A Beautiful Living Lab’

What do the stories of a million Indian deaths say about global health? A Toronto researcher aims to find out.

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William Daniels/PANOS

On a cool day a few years ago in a village in the northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya, a group of government workers approached a thatched-roof hut. They had learned that a young man in his late 30s had died there several months earlier, and they wanted to ask his family some questions. How did he die? Had he been sick? In India, a medical examination or certificate of death isn’t required before burying or cremating a corpse, and so the workers were conducting a kind of verbal autopsy.

As the young man’s father told them the story—his son had developed a cough, then become sicker until he had trouble breathing—a few children and then a couple of older neighbours gathered around. His son had started smoking at age 10, the man said, but they didn’t know exactly what had killed him, only that he was in the hospital for three days before he died.


The researchers were documenting this story for one of the world’s largest-ever health studies, which is examining one million deaths in India. The study, run out of the Centre for Global Health Research at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, which is partly funded by the Gates Foundation, aims to understand the changing nature of disease in a country undergoing massive societal transformation. It could have huge implications for global health. “By studying the dead, you can understand how to help the living,” said Dr. Prabhat Jha, a professor in public health at the University of Toronto and the founding director of the centre. Already, their model has been so successful it has been adopted by the World Health Organization and is being replicated in studies in places such as China and South Africa.

In India, the 800 field staff trained by Jha and his colleagues visit homes in every part of the country, where they know from census data—which tabulates births and fatalities twice a year—that someone has died recently. Researchers travel primarily by bus to big-city slums, middle-class apartment blocks, wealthy enclaves and the most remote villages to conduct these verbal autopsies. Unannounced, they knock on the door and ask family members to tell the story of how their children, spouses or siblings died.

Not everyone is as welcoming as the man in the hut, particularly in big cities, said Dr. Neeraj Dhingra, a Delhi-based doctor who is collaborating with Jha. “When you knock on the door, they won’t open,” he said. “The wealthy homes are more difficult because they ask more questions.” However, when they learn the research is for a not-for-profit study that may lead to better health services in their community, about 95 per cent participate. Sometimes researchers are invited inside and offered a cup of tea. Sometimes, most often in villages, they sit on a mat on the floor of a hut and pose their questions.

The stories they hear are often heartbreaking, said Dhingra. One case that stands out is that of a five-year-old boy, an only child, who died from enteric fever. His death was preventable, he said, which is true of so many—if only he’d been taken to a hospital. But field staff make no judgment. They record everything that’s said in the local language and never smile or show sorrow. “If someone cries, they say, ‘It is all in God’s hand,’ ” said Dhingra. After the stories are collected, they return to their offices and record the details, and pass the information on to two physicians who determine a cause of death. (A third is on hand in case of disagreement.)

Ten million people die each year in India—that’s over 27,000 people a day. And it is not only the elderly who are succumbing. If you live in India, you have a much higher chance of dying in childhood or in middle age than in Canada. Jha’s study began in 2001 and will continue to collect data until 2014. “In that period, there will be huge changes in India,” said Jha. Already, the country has seen booming urbanization and the growth of a new middle class. When people move to the city, they tend to burn fewer calories. From the 130,000 deaths they have tabulated so far, they have learned heart attacks are the biggest killer, and smoking-related deaths are on the rise, because when people move to the city, they tend to give up traditional beedis (tobacco hand-rolled in temburi leaf) for commercial cigarettes that contain more tobacco. There is also good news: AIDS death rates are four times lower than original estimates by the government and the WHO.

These changes tell the larger story of Indian society. Jha offers his own family history as an example. His grandmother, who passed away last year at 99, witnessed many of the diseases of her era. She remembered the Spanish flu of 1918, and the Bengal famine during the Second World War.

Her father-in-law had succumbed to tuberculosis when her husband was a child. Two of her children died of smallpox. After she moved to the city, one son died of a heart attack and she lost a daughter to diabetes. “What we find is a true snapshot of India at that time,” he said. “I call this a beautiful living lab of what’s happened to health as India has changed.”

Understanding what diseases are killing people in one of the world’s most populous regions is important to every human on earth. “In a globalized world, the main advantage you have is knowledge,” said Jha. “Global health is local health.”

Bordering on Darkness in Meghalaya

By Manosh Das

Shillong, Jul 30 : "At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom." This was India's first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's dream for the nation as projected by him in his famed speech Tryst With Destiny' on the eve of Independence.

And though governments have come and gone and India has been purported to shine', there are citizens of this great country who have been left in the darkness, quite literally.

Even after sixty years of the Partition and 39 years of attaining statehood, villages along the India-Bangladesh border languish in darkness with most of them having no electricity.

Bringing this dark fact to light, a 15-member delegation comprising headmen of 50 odd villages along the 70-km stretch from Mawpyllun to Khonjoi-Maheskola along the international border knocked the doors of the government Wednesday to apprise the state of their plight.

"We are still lying in darkness without electricity. We too deserve to live in the light of the modern world; our school-going children deserve to live and study and achieve like other children of the state," said a memorandum submitted to home minister HDR Lyngdoh by the delegation under the banner of Synjuk ki Rangbah Shnong, Border Area. "Our region has been totally neglected due to which our children cannot read or write properly and become doctors, engineers, lecturers or big officers," the memo went on.

The village headman brought to the notice of the government yet another surprising fact the government has put up signboards claiming that around 50 border villages in the West Khasi Hills have been electrified under the Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Rojgar Yojana Electrification Scheme, while the reality is that there is not a single electric post in any of these villages, leave alone total electrification'.

The memorandum complained that the villagers are unable to set up even small-scale industries due to lack of electricity, and added that this has adversely affected the economic progress of the entire stretch along the Indo-Bangla border.

"The people have been left to fend for themselves as there are no proper roads, no workable healthcare, no facilities for education, and there does not even exist a rural water supply scheme or adequate police outposts for maintaining security and law and order in the border villages," a member of the delegation, Nasar Marwein, told reporters after meeting the home minister.

The home minister, meanwhile, is understood to have assured the border representatives that he would look into their problems in earnest.