Nepalis are used to chillies. Our fiery akbare are legendary for setting mouths on fire. But even macho locals with a high tolerance for the hot stuff will raise the white flag and surrender to the Naga Viper.
With a high 9 on the Scoville Scale the bright red peppers are supposed to be 500 times more potent than jalapeño, and were even listed in the Guinness Book in 2011 as the world’s hottest chillie. Vipers are vital ingredients at the Dzoukou Tribal Kitchen’s brand new franchise in Thamel.
Owner Karen Yaptomi (pictured below) is from Nagaland and now has a string of restaurants in Delhi and Kathmandu. In jest, our one piece of unsolicited advice to her was to install fire extinguishers at her restaurant because the Vipers are so fiery.
It was a disaster that Yaptomi landed up in Nepal, but not in the way you might think. She had come to Kathmandu in 2015 with friends from northeast India to raise funds for earthquake victims through a series of concerts with her friend, Nepali singer Abhaya Subba.
Photos: MONIKA DEUPALA
“I was in Delhi, Nepal was so near and I had never been here. So I decided to make a trip up,” recalls Yaptomi, who explored the local market in Asan and was struck by the familiarity of it all. Bamboo shoots, dry fish, timur (Sichuan pepper) and niguro (fern) reminded her of Nagaland.
While the similarities excited her, she was even more intrigued by what could not be found in the local restaurant scene: no restaurants serving ethnic cuisine from India’s northeast. Through her music network, Yaptomi was offered a terrace space in Thamel, and that is how Dzoukou Tribal Kitchen came into being.
“I did not come here with the intention of opening a restaurant, but one thing led to another and I thought I would take that chance,” she says.
Even though she lived most of her life in Delhi, Yaptomi made frequent visits to Nagaland where her mother taught her the traditional food of her people. Nagas eat pork, rice and vegetables with pickles twice a day, and that staple is what she serves at the restaurant, along with other items from Manipur and Mizoram.
The food has a distinct, pungent and exotic flavor which are a result of the cooking style and spicy ingredients. We are invited to the kitchen, where we watch as Yaptomi transforms a piece of pork with timur, a basil variant called napa, fern and fermented soya to make a succulent accompaniment to rice. There is hardly any fat or oil, so it is a healthy and heady mix – with the taste and flavour coming through loud and clear.
Yaptomi has difficulty finding the right kinds of dry fish, so she sources many of the ingredients from Nagaland. Even the décor is from her home state with bamboo ceiling, walls, wooden tables and straw mats. Kettles and other utensils are also from Nagaland.
With no formal education in hotel management, Dzoukou Tribal Kitchen is purely a labour of love. And it was by sheer chance that she even got into the restaurant business. Once, she invited 30 friends home and spent the whole day cooking. The guests all raved about the food, and suggested she open a restaurant. Which she did. The rest is her story.
Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh is special to the Congress party, leader Rahul Gandhi said at an Itanagar rally on Tuesday, promising to restore the special category status to the state and others in the Northeast if voted to power.
“There are some states in the country which require special status because of their ‘unique problems and difficulties’ such as connectivity, terrain, infrastructure,” Gandhi said at the election rally.
During the Congress rule at the Centre, he said, Arunachal Pradesh and other NE states enjoyed special category status.
“Arunachal Pradesh has a special place in the heart of the Congress party and we would like to have a dil ka rishta with the people of the state,” he said.
Rahul also said the Congress would not pass in the Rajya Sabha the controversial Citizenship Amend Bill that has got the BJP much flak in recent times. Calling the Bill ‘detrimental’ to the Northeast people, he said the Congress would never allow the “suppression of the people of the Northeast”. The NDA does not have majority in the Upper House.
The Congress would never attack the indigenous language, culture, customs and traditions of Arunachal and other Northeast states, Rahul said.
The government plans to change the definition of illegal migrants with the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016. It seeks to amend the Citizenship Act 1955 that gives citizenship to illegal migrants of Hindu, Sikh, Busshist, Jain, Parsi and Christian origin. The Act, however, does not have a provision for Muslims who are Shias and Ahmediyas and who face persecution in neighbouring countries.
The Assam Gano Parishad has threatened to cut ties with ally BJP over this, stating that this law attacks the cultural and linguistic identities of population here. Opposition parties have also slammed this attempt to grant citizenship on the basis of religion.
Election to the 60-member Arunachal Pradesh Assembly and two Lok Sabha seats will be held on April 11.
Finland’s education system is globally renowned. For more than a decade, Finland has been one of the top performers in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). But the Finns are not only outperforming others in the classroom; they are also frontrunners when it comes to change management, implementation of evidence-based measures and education in artificial intelligence (AI). These factors contribute to the image of Finland as an innovative and ambitious nation equipped to meet the new societal challenges ahead. There are undoubtedly many countries in the world that could benefit from looking to Finland.
The Empire of Nokia – the rise and fall
After the fall of the Soviet Union, Finland was plagued by deep economic depression in the 1990s. However, within a few years the country changed from being an investment-driven economy to becoming a knowledge-driven economy. Many people still remember Nokia’s golden era in the 1990s and early 2000s. Nokia put Finland on the map and enjoyed global dominance as the leading mobile phone brand. That was before Apple disrupted the whole market with their innovative new mobile phones, however – and from that point on, Apple and its iPhone launched a new era marked by a new generation of phones – smartphones. Back in Finland, after Nokia’s abdication, many of the engineers went into the video game industry. This has resulted in success stories such as Angry Birds and Clash of Clans. Thus, in recent years, Finland has developed a leading start-up environment from the ashes of a fallen empire.
Radical research initiatives
Finland also impresses in its successful approach to integrating research and innovation into its own healthcare system. Between 2004 and 2016, Finland conducted a research project in which participants were screened for colon cancer with a faecal occult blood test (FOBT). The results from this research showed no clear evidence of reduced colorectal cancer mortality from this screening, and thus the plans to implement a national cancer-screening program with FOBT was put on hold.
Finland now plans to launch a new screening program in 2019, but this time using the more research-validated faecal immunochemical test (FIT) instead. This knowledge-based approach, coupled with the ability to reflect on research findings and make the necessary amendments as the basis for important decisions is exemplary.
The Finns are also focusing on the future of healthcare services. In the last couple of years, the growth of healthcare technology has accelerated globally. As a result, more and more data are used to improve clinical practices and patient outcomes. This development demands equally adept healthcare professionals, which can be achieved with the right training. Clinical informatics is the term used to describe this particular field, and Finland has already invested in it. The International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) has created an accreditation system for universities that teach clinical informatics, and the first accredited university is located in Finland.
Finland has also performed cutting-edge research on social innovation. In 2017, the controversial research study on universal basic income (UBI) took place in Finland. The concept of UBI is based on the idea that the government pays all citizens an unconditional income, without means testing. In the Finnish experiment, 2,000 unemployed people between the ages of 25 and 58 were selected to participate in a two-year pilot during which they received a monthly basic income of €560. This group of people was compared to a control group consisting of unemployed individuals who received a traditional minimum unemployment wage. The primary objective of this study was to investigate whether receiving UBI could stimulate the unemployed individuals to acquire work. The secondary objective of this experiment was to find novel ways and gather more insight on how to revise the Finnish benefits system. However, the government stopped the support for this research programme. The preliminary results after a year showed no effects of basic income on the employment rate – but the self-perceived wellbeing of participants had improved. Regardless of the preliminary results, this research-based approach shows that Finland is willing to make evidence-based decisions in political matters, and is bold enough try out big ideas that few have tested before.
AI for all
Finland was the first country in the EU to develop an official strategy on AI in 2017, even beating G7 nations such as the UK, US, Italy, France and Germany. Since then, many other countries have joined them in this endeavour. Nevertheless, few are as forward-looking as Finland.
The Finns are focusing on collective competence building in AI, meaning they want the whole population in general to become fluent in basic AI. In 2018, the University of Helsinki and the consulting agency Reaktor launched a free online course on AI available to everyone. Finland set a goal of having 1% of the country’s population take the course. The goal was reached far earlier than expected, and now several countries have been inspired to do the same. Swedenand the Netherlands have made their own versions and have set the same 1% goal.
Have you read?
This initiative is part of Finland’s plan to become a world leader in practical applications of AI. Arguably, Finland understands that AI is going to become the electricity or internet of our generation, and thus the entire population must receive training in basic AI. Finland’s Minister of Economy, Mika Lintilä, recently stated that the country will never have enough resources to compete with countries such as China and the US who are leading the race to develop AI technology. But Finland could nevertheless become a leader in practical applications of AI.
The Finns also want to challenge other countries to take part in education in AI and seeks cooperation with other neighboring countries in order to experiment with AI. It remains to be seen whether the approach of countries such as China and the US will prevail, or whether Finland succeeds in creating the most enlightened population equipped to meet the challenges of tomorrow. Nonetheless, Finland is punching way above its weight. (Source: World Economic Forum, https://www.weforum.org/).
The northeastern states of India that is Assam, Arunachal Pradesh,Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura are currently rain deficient. Although on and off rains were going on over parts of Northeast India, particularly over Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, but the intensity and spread remained on the lower side over most of the states. Thus, it failed to bring down the rain deficiency.
According to Skymet Weather, since the last few days, an Anti-Cyclone has been persisting over North Bay of Bengal, due to which moisture feed remained restricted over Northeast India.
Now a Cyclonic Circulation has formed over Assam and adjoining area. Along with this, the Anti-Cyclone is also moving away. Therefore, the moisture feed will increase over Northeast India in the form of southwesterly humid winds.
As a result, rain and thundershowers will now increase over all the states of Northeast India and these on and off weather activities will continue for at least one week. Isolated heavy spells also cannot be ruled out during this time.
We expect lightning strikes accompanied with hailstorm activity in few districts of Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura. Thus, we can say that a rainy week is ahead for Northeast India. In the wake of these rains, by the end of March, we expect rain deficiency of the northeastern states to reduce to some extent.
At the first international indigenous film festival in Bhubaneswar last month, two young women who lived an ocean apart and barely knew each other euphorically embraced, much to the amusement of the audience. Emmanuela Shinta, 26, an independent filmmaker from Indonesia’s Kalimantan rainforest, and Dinja Jakasika, a 30-year-old village sarpanch from the foothills of Odisha’s picturesque Niyamgiri Hills, had nothing in common — nationality, attire or language. What united them were their indigenous roots and a long history of struggle.
Shinta, who belongs to Indonesia’s Dayak community, which is being rapidly marginalised by the local government’s policy on transmigration and by expansive oil companies, could instantly relate to Jakasika’s struggle. Jakasika belongs to the Dongria Kondh community, one of Odisha’s few remaining tribal groups. Ever since the community turned down a proposal from Vedanta Aluminium to mine the Niyamgiri hills for bauxite in 2013, it has found itself in the cross hairs of the State government.
Finding connections
Shinta first met Jakasika two years ago, at an indigenous film festival in Kalimantan. “When I met Dinja and got to know about their struggle, I was stunned. Wherever I go, I meet indigenous people and find connections even though we don’t know each other or each other’s language. It is very important for us to assert our rights and to be strong. We should stay connected. We will fight together,” said Shinta. Jakasika agreed.
The film festival, which travelled from Bhubaneswar to Puri and ended in Kurli, a Dongria Kondh village in Rayagada district, showcased the anguish and struggle of indigenous communities in India and around the world. A small group of indigenous filmmakers and tribal communities exchanged notes and drew inspiration from each other at the festival.
For the Dongria Kondhs, the film festival was an important occasion to recount the community’s travails over the last decade, and debate what the ‘correct’ model of development could be.
Till the early 2000s, Dongria Kondhs lived peacefully in quiet and inaccessible hamlets on the slopes of the Niyamgiri range, in the Bissam Cuttack, Muniguda and Kalyansingpur blocks of Rayagada district and in the Lanjigarh block of Kalahandi district. Trouble began to brew when in 2004 Vedanta set up a pit-head alumina refinery at Lanjigarh, a nondescript village on the foothills of Niyamgiri.
Tribal elder Dadhi Pushika, in a traditional Dongria shawl |
Bauxite is the raw material for alumina and aluminum, and Odisha has 700 million tonnes of known bauxite reserves, of which 88 million tonnes are estimated to be found in Niyamgiri. In the rush to acquire mining rights, stringent environmental laws were violated, and the Dongria’s consent was not sought. Court cases and local opposition did not deter the company. Then, on April 18, 2013, the Supreme Court gave a clear direction that mining clearance can only be given if gram sabhas, comprising Dongrias, agreed to the project. In what is perhaps India’s first environmental referendum, all 12 villages selected by the government voted against the project.
Activists say the Dongria’s opposition to mining has led to them being perceived as a ‘roadblock’ to development in a region known for grinding poverty and starvation deaths. “The government has not forgotten its defeat by a tribal group. It wants to dominate the discourse of development in the region and muzzle local voices,” said Lingaraj Azad, convenor of Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti (NSS), which has been spearheading agitation against mining in Niyamgiri.
Today a huge gulf in trust has emerged between the government and the Dongria Kondhs.
Nobody exemplifies this deep divide better than Lada Sikaka, NSS president and once an important voice of the Dongrias. Today, he is distraught. Sikaka’s call for 5 ft roads to the villages rather than the government-prescribed 30 ft roads, primary schools that teach in the Dongria tongue rather than large residential schools, and Indira Awas Yojana houses that incorporate tribal traditions have either been laughed off or ignored by government officials.
Dongria women in traditional attire in Lanjigarh | Photo Credit: Biswaranjan Rout
On the sidelines of the annual Niyamraja Festival held recently on the hills, 5,000 ft above sea level, Sikaka vented his anguish. “The government is offering us a 30 ft road under the pretext that it will be useful during a health emergency. But we don’t want forests razed to the ground for a wide road. The government insists on concrete houses. This for the Dongrias means that all building material will have to be laboriously transported to the hilltops.”
Why care?
The Dongrias say that the process of selecting beneficiaries for old age, widow and disability pensions is a farce. “How many government officials have ever visited our villages? How do they identify the beneficiaries? They have no idea how many of our people live in the forest,” said Dadhi Pushika, a Dongria elder.
Sikaka said: “Once we convened a meeting at Trilochanpur in the foothills of Niyamgiri. Members of each village gathered and a charter of demands was finalised. But no government official turned up. When the government is not ready to listen to us, why should we care for them?”
The State government’s first attempt at development in this region was in the 80s when it came up with three micro-projects: two Dongria Kondh Development Agencies, in Chatikona and Parsali, and the Kutia Kondh Development Agency.
But, like all well-meaning projects that find little resonance on ground, they could not lift the literacy rate, an abysmal 33% among a population of 11,551. The community said there are barely any schools or anganwadis in the 100-odd hamlets scattered across the Niyamgiri slopes, though the government claims otherwise.
“Crèches were opened in partnership with non-government organisations. Efforts were made to propagate the Kui language in 30 centres. The topography of the area made it impossible to reach each village. Committees from each village were roped in to carry supplementary food to the children. I hope the programme continues,” said Guha Poonam Tapas Kumar, until recently the collector of Rayagada.
A group of women on their way to the Niyamraja festival | Photo Credit: Biswaranjan Rout
There are four government health centres in Trilochanpur, Muniguda and Bissamcuttack, to reach which the Dongrias have to trek three hours. Apart from this, Vedanta Alumina Refinery runs a private hospital as CSR activity. Several deaths have taken place, although there is no mention of this in any government records.
Dongria Kondhs also feel persecuted by security forces. They are suspected of being ‘sympathetic’ to Maoists in the area. “I was abruptly bundled into a police jeep last October and beaten up in custody. I was asked a volley of questions on my alleged links with left-wing extremists. When their egos were satisfied, I was let go,” said Sikaka. In the same month, Dadhi Pushika was subjected to physical assault after Rayagada police picked him up from the village. There was no concrete allegation against him. Jamu Gauda, another villager, faced similar police action.
“Allegations of police intimidation and ill-treatment of the community are deeply disturbing. Innocent tribals are being branded as Maoists,” said Manohar Chauhan, a forest rights activist and former campaigner of Amnesty International.
The Dongria’s simmering anger against the government was stoked further this month when the Supreme Court directed all State governments to evict from the forests all those whose applications for regularisation of occupation had been rejected. As per official records on regularisation of titles under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006, only 252 applications were not approved in Kutia Kondh Development Agency, Lanjigarh jurisdiction. Though the administration has promised to review all applications, confusion prevails in the community. Not all members of the tribe even know what the FRA is.
“Forest dwellers across the country got temporary relief when the Supreme Court stayed its eviction order. But the community continues to feel threatened,” said Chauhan.
The NSS sees a larger conspiracy. “What we are hearing from other activists is that the Supreme Court order has presented a golden opportunity for the government to reject applications regarding individual forest rights, community forest rights and habitat rights and wrest control of Niyamgiri. It will open the doors for bauxite mining in the hills,” said Azad, who was recently arrested for leading protests against Vedanta and later released on bail.
A woman painting a traditional house ahead of a national fair in Bhubaneswar. | Photo Credit: Biswaranjan Rout
At the annual festival, Dongria Kondhs resolved not to yield an inch if the government resorts to forced eviction. “No force on earth can drive us from Niyamgiri. Where will we go? Where will we grow pineapples, banana, oranges, turmeric, cereals and pulses? We would rather die than think of leading a life outside the hills,” raged Kunuji Kutruga, 60, from Khambesi village.
Red, gold and greenA woman in traditional attire | Photo Credit: Biswaranjan Rout
The Dongrias have largely stayed secluded. Their distinctive Kapadaganda shawl, however, has captured the attention of art lovers worldwide. The embroidery involves some very intricate needlework, and the shawl has a special place in Dongria tradition.
The fabric for the shawl is a handwoven cloth made by Dalit families. The traditional green, yellow and red embroidery threads are bought from the market. “Green symbolises the endless chain of mountains and fields. Yellow invokes turmeric and peace, a smile, togetherness, health and happiness of the community. And red is the colour of blood, energy, power, revenge, aggression,” said Purusottam Pattanaik, a researcher with SC & ST Research and Training Institute. The embroidery on a shawl can take months to complete.
Dongria women love ornaments, hair accessories and flowers. “But the shawl gives us prestige when we go to fairs or social events,” said Lakmi Sikaka, a Dongria woman. The Rayagada district administration has tried to improve the quality of the base fabric and the embroidery threads, and also to get a GI tag for the unique garment.
An ambitious resolution piloted by India to phase out single-use plastics by 2025, was watered down at the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) that concluded on Friday in Nairobi.
At the World Environment Day summit on June 5, 2018 here, Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had pledged to eliminate single-use plastics from India by 2022. This was lauded by then UN Environment Chief, Erik Solheim.
This pushed several States — notably Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh — to enforce previous commitments to ban plastic bags and similar disposables.
Ahead of the UNEA, the UN secretariat had invited inputs from member states to forge a common declaration regarding addressing a host of environmental challenges. India’s inputs on the February 16 read:
“…We will decisively address the damage to our ecosystems caused by the unsustainable use and disposal of single-use plastic products, including by phasing-out most problematic single-use plastic products as early as 2025, and we encourage the private sector to find affordable and eco-friendly alternatives…”
Deadline pushed back
However, the final declaration on March 15 removed the firm timelines and edited out the “decisively” and only committed to a “reduction by 2030.”
“…We will address the damage to our ecosystems caused by the unsustainable use and disposal of plastic products, including by significantly reducing single-use plastic products by 2030, and we will work with the private sector to find affordable and environment friendly alternatives…” says the document available on the UNEA website.
The UNEA, however, lauded India for playing a key role in advocating a time-bound ban on single use plastic. A person privy to negotiations told media that India didn’t work enough to garner international support to carry it all the way through. “We didn’t have enough subject experts at Nairobi,” he added.
Nitrogen pollution
Along with plastic, India also piloted a resolution on curbing nitrogen pollution.
“..The global nitrogen-use efficiency is low, resulting in pollution by reactive nitrogen which threatens human health, ecosystem services, contributes to climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion. Only a small proportion of the plastics produced globally are recycled, with most of it damaging the environment and aquatic bio-diversity. Both these are global challenges and the resolutions piloted by India at the UNEA are vital first steps towards addressing these issues and attracting focus of the global community,” said a press statement by the Union Environment Ministry.
A top official in the Ministry told mediathat India’s commitment to phase out plastic would continue irrespective of the global resolution. “It’s a significant step that such a resolution was accepted at the UN. Timelines per se are matters of further negotiation and debate,” Secretary, Union Environment Ministry C.K. Mishra said. “However, our commitments and efforts to reduce plastic use will continue at our pace.”
A Central Pollution Control Board estimate in 2015 says that Indian cities generate 15,000 tonnes of plastic waste daily and about 70% of the plastic produced in the country ends up as waste. Seventeen States have plastic bans, on paper. Experts have rued the inadequacy of collection and recycling systems to address the burgeoning plastic waste problem.
New Delhi: Days after a bed of six-inch long metal spikes installed by the Indian Army in Assam allegedly claimed the life of a male elephant, union minister Maneka Gandhi took up the issue with Army Chief Bipin Rawat and asked him to immediately remove the deadly spikes.
The spikes, laid down by the Army to prevent elephants around the Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary in Guwahati from entering the military installation adjacent to it, have allegedly caused at least two elephant deaths, and left several injured.
Taking strong exception to the Army’s installation of what she called “the dreadful spikes”, Maneka said, “Whoever in the Army has done this needs to be pulled up…The Army has no business of putting these lethal spikes in the middle of a forest.
“I have spoken to the commander-in-chief, and he told me he has no knowledge of this, and will take immediate action,” she told ThePrint Friday.
“We have less than 15,000 elephants left in this country, are we going to kill them all?” she said.
According to the 2017 census of elephants, there are 27,312 elephants in the country, which account for 55 per cent of the total elephant population in the world.
Gandhi not the only one to outrage
A month before the male elephant was found dead on 4 March — it reportedly succumbed to septicaemia caused by a wound in the leg — the forest department had warned the Army against the “cruel” measure, asking it to remove the spikes, which would endanger the lives of the “innocent animals”.
In a letter written on 28 December — a day after another elephant was injured — District Forest Officer (DFO), Pradipta Baruah said, “This type of cruel effort to keep the elephants at bay is definitely going to defeat the very spirit of wildlife protection and preservation.
“You are, therefore, requested to do away with this type of detrimental measures… and evolve to take recourse to a more compassionate method in tandem with the wildlife division in the true spirits of protecting the wildlife.”
According to the post-mortem report of the elephant, it had punctured wounds on its right hind leg and foreleg which officials in the forest department believe were caused due to the spikes.
“Several elephants have been injured in this area due to these spikes, and we have constantly maintained that the Army should remove them, but nothing has been done till now,” an official in the Guwahati wildlife division told ThePrint.
“The way to deal with man-animal conflict is not to put the lives of animals in jeopardy,” the official said.
Long-drawn problem in Assam
While man-animal conflict is a raging issue across several parts of the country, it is particularly stark in Assam, where 249 elephants and 761 people have died since 2010 owing to the problem.
Poaching, train-related accidents, poisoning and electrocution have all contributed to the dwindling elephant population in the region.
Additionally, the shrinking natural habitat of elephants compels them to stray into human habitation, thereby increasing the incidents of conflict.
According to environment ministry data, in the last five years, nearly 500 elephants have died in the country due to unnatural factors.
Out of the 490 deaths recorded since 2013, more than half the deaths — 267 — have occurred due to electrocution, followed by poaching (92), rail accidents (72), revenge killings (36) and poisoning (23).
AIZAWL: The Mizoram government on Friday said at least 25 illegal villages had been set up in areas bordering Bangladesh, Myanmar and Manipur. This was revealed by local administration minister K Lalrinliana in the assembly. In a written reply to a question from Zoram People’s Movement legislator C Lalsawivunga, Lalrinliana said 16 ilegal villages are located in Lunglei district which borders Bangladesh. He added that four such villages are located in Aizawl district, three in Champhai district and two in Mamit district. Lunglei and Mamit share borders with Bangladesh, while Champhai has a common boundary with Manipur and Myanmar. Recently, Mizo Zirlai Pawl, an influential students’ organization, and Mizo Students’ Union, had conducted a study of border areas. Following this, they alleged that those who have set up the illegal villages are Chakmas, who entered Mizoram from Bangladesh. They claimed that the illegal settlements in Aizawl district have been established by ethnic Mizos from Manipur. In the wake of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill controversy, Mizoram had witnessed widespread street protests. The purpose of the bill was to grant citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Mizos, who are predominantly Christians, feared that such a proposal would encourage influx of Buddhist Chakmas who complain of religious persecution in Bangladesh.
The Mizoram Government has recently raised an alert on migration of refugees to the state from Myanmar. The State Government was quite complacent on inflow of refugees till early October last year, particularly in its belief that the Rohingyas of Rakhine state of western Myanmar would not be inclined to migrate there. The State Government had also not expressed any apprehension on prospective immigration of Buddhist refugees from Myanmar to Mizoram. However, the Mizoram Government alerted Government of India, in the end of November, 2017, after more than a 1000 Myanmarese refugees entered Lawngtlai District. Assam Rifles, the Central Para Military Force tasked with guarding the India-Myanmar border, thereafter augmented its deployment by eight companies. Notwithstanding these measures, nearly 1300 Buddhist nationals from Arakan in Western Myanmar and Chin state, adjacent to Rakhine, have subsequently entered Mizoram. The latest migrants, basically of Chin origin, have been temporarily sheltered in four villages, Laitlang, Dumzautlang, Hmawngbuchhuah and Zochachhuah in Lawngtlai District.
There is palpable tension in the Mizoram villages as a result of the latest migration of the Myanmar nationals. The tension is understandable because most of these villages have population in the range of 200 to 400. The migrants (described as Zakhais and Khumis by the locals), apart from being ethnically, linguistically and religious faith-wise different from the local Mizos, are tending to numerically overwhelm the local population, apart from causing competing demands on limited local resources for livelihood. While the State Government and local non-governmental groups are presently trying to provide relief to the Buddhist refugees, these can at best be a temporary measure.
Even as the Rohingya-related phenomenon has disturbed the overall milieu in Myanmar`s Western-most province comprising Rakhine and other areas in the Eastern and Southern vicinity of Rakhine, and the local Buddhists too were impacted, the sudden westward migration of the latter to Indian territory was not anticipated. The cause for the current migration of these Buddhists can be traced to the hostile disposition and confrontation between the insurrectionist Arakan Army – armed with rocket-propelled grenade launchers and mortars, and fighting for self-determination in Rakhine and in areas West of the Arakan Yoma mountains – and the Myanmar`s Army, particularly since the last quarter of 2017. The Arakan Army, affiliated to the Kachin Independence Army, has not yet entered into a ceasefire agreement with the Myanmar Government for cessation of armed insurrection under an unified peace process which is being pursued by the Naypidaw with the country`s other Northern and Eastern militant outfits.
In this regard, due consideration to accommodating different ethnic groups of non-Mizo stock within Mizoram would be a preferable course for the State and the Union Governments. Various Mizoram Governments and the ethnically homogeneous Mizo civic society have been opposed to any administrative re-arrangement which devolves autonomy in legislative, administrative and financial domains under the enabling provisions of the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution to non-Mizo communities like those referred to above. The communities already affected are the Chakmas, Reangs, Hmars and Lais, influx of Myanmarese Buddhists to Mizoram will compound the problem in the State located in the sensitive North East. In this backdrop, any long-term-term sheltering of Myanmarese Buddhist refugees of Arakan in southern Mizoram would create apprehension among the Mizos and a negative ferment in that state. Therefore, just as Rohingya migrants to India have to be repatriated, similar stance could be adopted at the political or diplomatic levels to reverse the trend of Myanmarese Buddhist migration.
In some governmental quarters there is a perception that the causes triggering the Buddhist migration to Mizoram may be a transient phenomenon. Reckoning the prevailing disturbed conditions in western Myanmar, and many imponderables in the latter`s national consolidation and assimilation of ethnic groups` process, such a perception may not be well founded. It will therefore be in India`s national interest to adopt necessary measures to maintain politico-economic stability and the somewhat fragile, though accommodative, ethnic milieu in Mizoram. This is particularly necessary along areas contiguous to its 510 km long frontier with Myanmar and also adjacent to its border with the Tripura state where too the people are of ethno-cultural stock different from the Mizos. Efficacy of joint border patrolling by Myanmar Army and India`s Assam Rifles may also need to be enhanced to ensure better border management.
For proper outcome of India`s Act East policy and concomitant infrastructural and trade linkage plans with South-East Asia through Myanmar, a politically stable and developing region, free from socio-economic and ethnic tensions along Myanmar`s western frontier with India, is a sine qua non. The migration of the Buddhists nationals from Arakan-Chin areas of Myanmar, to Mizoram – in addition to the aftereffects of the Rohingya migration from Rakhine to neighbouring Bangladesh, with some chance of a few of them even moving to Mizoram – has all the potential to stoke internal disturbances in India. The multi-modal transport project being executed – linking Sittwe Port of Myanmar in the Bay of Bengal with Paletwa, the country`s western-most town with Zorinpui in Mizoram – may not be able to take off successfully if the upheaval and confrontation continues in Rakhine and Arakan.
In the above-mentioned context, India may adopt a nuanced and well-crafted diplomatic approach towards Myanmar which induces Naypidaw to move fast and effectively towards creating conditions on a long-term basis for the Arakan Buddhists to return to their homes. Action aimed at these Buddhist migrants need not be linked with issues contingent on resolving the Rohingya problem or implementation of the Kofi Annan Advisory Commission recommendations on reconciliation in Rakhine. Though there are some spillover impacts of the Rohingya and Arakan Buddhist problems on each other, it may be expedient to persuade Myanmar Government to evolve an accommodative solution independent of each other. Efforts for an early repatriation need to be initiated without delay and in an effective manner, suitably nuanced and reinforced by diplomatic efforts with the ASEAN comity of nations and also Bangladesh to an extent. Should an early repatriation process start in respect of the Arakan Buddhists, there may be some outcome on return of a limited number of non-Buddhists also to Rakhine, including the Rohingyas.
To ameliorate the situation in Mizoram, the Union Government may consider assuming direct responsibility for relief and temporary shelter management of the Buddhist refugees. Mizoram Government`s role may be confined to documenting the refugees, attaching healthcare and some community service personnel at refugee locations and perimeter security, with the Union Government bearing the incidence of expenditure on these accounts. Such an arrangement will not constrain the State`s resources and may be politically expedient considering sensitivities of the overall internal situation in Mizoram. With the state assembly elections only a few months away, shifting the administrative and economic burden to New Delhi will also obviate the Buddhist migration issue being capitalized on contentiously in the local milieu.
(The author is a retired IDAS officer who has served in senior appointments with Government of India and a north-east State Government. The views are the author`s own).
(Views expressed are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the VIF)
TNN NEW DELHI: Strongly rebutting claims of a substantial increase in level of pollutants in Ganga in a report by Varanasi-based Sankat Mochan Foundation, the National Mission for Clean Ganga said such high levels of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) have never been reported for the river. Questioning the capacity of the Foundation to carry out such tests, the NMCG – a central agency which has been implementing the government’s ambitious Ganga rejuvenation programme – said the high level of BOD claimed were not “scientific at all” as such a scenario could lead to sudden depletion of Dissolved Oxygen (DO) level severely impacting aquatic life. Only the Central Pollution Control Board had the wherewithal to monitor pollution along the length of the river.
Referring to CPCB data of the last six years, the Mission said the DO level has, in fact, been found to be within “acceptable limits” of notified primary water quality criteria for bathing. The BOD level should be less than 3 mg/L, DO should be 5 mg/L or more and desirable faecal coliform should be 500 MPN (most probable number)/100 ml with maximum permissible level being 2,500 MPN/100ml.
The Foundation has gone by data collected by its laboratory at Tulsi Ghat in Varanasi and claimed that the BOD level has increased from 46.8-54 mg/L to 66-78 mg/L during January 2016 to February 2019. Similarly, the NGO claimed faecal coliform in the river at Varanasi have increased from 4.5 lakh (upstream at Nagwa) and 5.2 crore (downstream at Varuna) in January,2016 to 3.8 crore (upstream) and 14.4 crore (downstream) in February, 2019. Calling these claims “incorrect”, the NMCG flagged the scientific data of the CPCB which carried out continuous water quality monitoring at two locations in Varanasi.
It said, “Analysis of water quality monitoring data of CPCB for these two stations located on main stem of Ganga in Varanasi for the month of January for period 2016-19 indicates that minimum value of DO varied between 6.7 to 7.6 mg/L and indicated healthy state of river.” Source : TNN
According to a report by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), only one out of 39 locations through which the Ganga river flows had clean water in the post-monsoon period this year.
As many as 37 of the 41 locations through which the Ganga river flows reported moderate to severe water pollution in the pre-monsoon period this year, according to the ‘Biological Water Quality Assessment of the River Ganga (2017-18)’ report that was recently made public by the CPCB in compliance with a Supreme Court direction.
The water quality of the river was either clean or slightly polluted at only four out of 41 locations during the pre-monsoon period and at only one out of 39 locations post-monsoon, it said, adding that Haridwar is the only location where the river was ‘clean’ in the post-monsoon period.
In the report, qualitative analysis of samples that were taken during pre- and post-monsoon period were analysed and put under five water quality classes — clean (A), slight pollution (B), moderate pollution (C), heavy pollution (D) and severe pollution (E).
According to the report, 34 areas showed moderate pollution in the river while three areas recorded severe pollution in the pre-monsoon period in 2017-18.
The report also said in Uttar Pradesh, two major tributaries, River Pandu and River Varuna, are increasing pollution load of the Ganga.
“On mainstream of River Ganga, although none of the locations were found to be severely polluted but most are in moderate pollution range,” the study said.
As many as 37 of the 41 locations through which the river flows, reported moderate to severe pollution in the pre-monsoon period this year, it said.
In another study titled Comparison of Biological Water Quality of River Ganga (2014-18), it was found that Ramganga and Garra river water was in heavy pollution range in post-monsoon season during 2017-18.
It showed hardly any improvement at most of the locations in the past four years. Water quality at some locations (Jagjeetpur in Uttarakhand and Kanpur, Allahabad and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh) had deteriorated in 2017-18 as compared to 2014-15, the study said.
In 2017-18, water quality at Haridwar Barrage was cleanest during both pre-and post-monsoon period while it was reported to be severely polluted at different monitoring locations in Kanpur and Varanasi during the pre-monsoon phase, it said.
“Efforts must be made to control the pollution so that all locations may comply with at least ‘B’ class water quality,” the study said. Class B water quality means the river must be rejuvenated to support aquatic life.
