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Journalism of Courage
IT was a mutiny most unexpected. The authorities at Imphal were stumped when over 600 jawans of the 7th Manipur Rifles refused to move to their new place of posting on the plea that they didn’t want to be separated from their families. The jawans, who were posted from Khabeisoi near Imphal, to Tahou in Senapati, a hill district infested by NSCN (IM) militants, took up weapons and even demolished a wooden bridge, the only entry to the campus, to prevent Manipur Director General of Police A A Siddique from coming in. It took the officer over five hours to cajole the adamant jawans to let him in. They are, however, yet to give him their nod for the transfers.
IT’S strange but true. Independence, instead of bringing Tripura closer to the mainstream India, has pushed it farther. Before independence, it used to take eight hours to cover the distance between Agartala, the state capital, and Calcutta on road. Now it takes 48. Reason: the state is landlocked. After suffering the long journey in silence for five decades, the Tripura-ites have finally trotted out the demand for a transit route through Bangladesh, that would not only reduce the Agartala-Calcutta distance from 1700 kms to 350, but also boost the state’s economy by providing the state access to the booming South East Asian region. The powers-that-be at New Delhi may not have heeded this demand, but it’s evoking interest among trade bodies like the CII, FICCI and ASSOCHAM.
Now Mizoram battles AIDS
Mizoram is one state in the Northeast that doesn’t suffer from any internal unrest despite having seen one of the bloodiest insurgency two decades ago. But now it’s battling a scourge of another kind. The AIDS Control Society revealed that AIDS has assumed dangerous proportions in the state with 317 persons testing HIV positive.
Assam ministers tighten their belts
TEETERING under the burden of Rs 12,000-crore debt, the Assam Government has decided to tighten its belt with Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi declaring that ministers would be the first to face a pay cut. It’s rumoured that while their salaries will be hacked by 25 per cent, their travel and telephone allowance will be pared down by 20 per cent. Meanwhile, government employees are already feeling the pinch, and are being forced to sit in dharna to get their salaries. But alas even sit-ins have not helped them get their dues for the month of April.
