Mizoram Board of School Education (MBSE) Class X Results 2015 Declared

Correspondence on April 29, 2015

Aizawl: Mizoram Board of School Education (MBSE) has declared the results for their High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) today. The results can be checked at indiaresults and mbse.edu.in website using your roll number and name.  The Mizoram Board conducted exams from 21st February 2015 to 14th March 2015. 

Mizoram Board of School Education (MBSE) was established by the Government of Mizoram in 1975 by the Mizoram Board of School Education Act. The MBSE has rules and regulations maintained by the chairman who is appointed on a contract basis. The Board has the power to supervise, regulate and control the schools and education in Mizoram. The secretary of Mizoram Board of School Education is the chief administrative officer who is assisted by three branches heads namely- Controller of Examinations, the Director (Academic) and the Deputy Secretary. 

Examinations are conducted every year by the MBSE and thousands of students appear for these exams. After the successful completion of the HSLC exams this year, students have been eagerly waiting for their results. The results can be checked school wise, name wise and roll number wise.

Or

Check directly here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B40xzOvNGLfnX1l1eElWUEJVRkk/view?pli=1

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Delhi Chakma protest against police firing in a Buddhist Temple

via CHT24.COM on April 24, 2015

Delhi: The Chakma people residing in Delhi staged a sit-in-protest against firearm use at Buddhist Temple.

 The Chakma people accused that Tripura state ‪#‎CPIM‬ Government and Tripura State police/ Tripura State Rifles personnel used firearms in the premises of Pechartol Buddhist Temple Udayan Buddha Vihar on 13th April 2015,

When Buddhist devotes including women and children visited the Udayan Buddha Vihar ( temple) in pecharthal, Unakoti, Tripura, all of a sudden, about 10 armed personnel including Tripura State Rifles (TSR) destroyed the fence of the temple and entered aggressively into the premises of the temple area and started firing randomly, which scared everyone. They also targeted the Buddhist devotees , injuring some of the including women and children.

The sit-in-protest was addressed and led by Dangu Sameer Chakma (Tripura) , A memorandum has been submitted to Tripura Bhawan, New Delhi with the following demands.
1). Immediate action against the members of the armed personnel involved in indiscriminate firing in a Buddhist temple.
2). Direct the authorities to inquiry into the indiscriminate firing, and
3). Punish all persons involved/ in this incident.

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Total Literacy Drive Programme Launched in Chakma Council

via Mizo News on April 23, 2015

Kamalanagar, April 22, 2015: Lawngtlai District one of the three targeted districts for total literacy drive had its Total Literacy Drive Launching Programme organized today at Kamalanagar, the Headquarter of Chakma Autonomous District Council. The Programme was organized by Lawngtlai District Working Committee on Literacy Drive whose chairman is District Education Officer, Lawngtlai.

The programme was graced by Gana Chandra Chakma, Dy. DPC, SSA Mission, CADC Area as its Chairman and by Dangu Buddhalila Chakma, CEM, CADC as its Chief Guest.

The programme was attended by the appointed animators, CADC Councilors, representatives of NGOs, Village Council Members and Departmental Heads of CADC offices.

Under the first phase of the drive ten villages under CADC were selected which have been assessed and found to have 1403 illiterates. Animators have been appointed to carry out the literacy drive in the ten villages.

The other two districts which have come under the target of the programme are Lunglei and Mamit.

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District Councils in Mizoram want direct funding, but will that really help them develop?

via Scroll on April 21, 2015

Funds may not be the problem. How they are used is more important.

A solitary doctor mans the only public health centre for 81 villages scattered along a 12-kilometre-wide and 140-kilometre-long ribbon of hilly terrain that makes up the Chakma Autonomous District Council. Trained in Ayush, the non-allopathic stream of medicine, Lauva Chakma, the young doctor, can administer only basic drugs and first aid. There is no electricity at the centre – it is yet to be connected to the power grid. “We are only running an OPD [out-patient department]," said Chakma. "We cannot keep patients overnight.” In his thirties, Chakma studied medicine in Bangalore before taking up a job in Mizoram. He said he had not received his salary for three months. 

In the capital, Chawngte, the community health centre, which provides hospital care to about 50,000 people, things are not much better. The hospital has 20 beds, four nurses and two doctors, one of whom is a homeopath. In contrast, said Vanlallawma Khiangte, the medical officer at the hospital, an equivalent centre in Khazawl, a similar-sized town in Mizoram's Champhai district, has 30 beds, 11 nurses, four doctors, a dentist, in addition to an Ayush practitioner.

High hopes, poor outcomes

The Chakma Autonomous District Council was formed in 1972 to address the development needs of the Buddhist tribal community, which is one of the ethnic minorities in the state. But on parameter after parameter, the council fares worse than other parts of Mizoram. 

This isn't unique to the Chakma council. As a previous story reported, even the Lai and Mara councils are faring poorly. There is little development spending.  Villages here, reached only on rutted roads that are all but impassable once the rains come, have little electricity, ramshackle schools and distant healthcare.

This shows up starkly in human development indices like the maternal mortality rate. In Mizoram, for every 100,000 live births, 76 women die. In Lawngtlai, which houses the Chakma and Lai councils, the maternal mortality rate is three times higher at 248.

Such poor outcomes are surprising given the councils were created to give the tribal minorities in Mizoram – small groups with distinct cultures – greater control over the management of their region. 

Blame game 

The council leaders blame the Mizoram government. “The MLAs and the Chief Minister, they are all Mizos, and so they are not liberal in giving us money," said Hmunhre Chinzah, vice-chairman of the Lai Council's Planning Board.

In Aizawl, the state capital, the Mizo leaders blame the councils. “The councils misuse the money they get,” said JV Hluna, the head of the history department in Aizawl's Pachhunga University and the chairman of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Mizoram unit.

The council leaders want greater autonomy. They are pressing the Centre to either make them Union Territories or to fund them directly.  “A state has to generate its own resources," said Hmunhre. "But to make money, you need money. As an Union Territory, we can share money of the central government.”

The lobbying has gained strength after the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power. The party is considering their requests. Ranjit Majumdar, the party official in charge of the North East, confirmed that a draft amendment has been prepared to the sixth schedule of the Constitution, which relates to the tribal areas of four states in the region. While the party is yet to take a final call on the amendment, he said, the draft enables direct funding.

In all this lobbying, a fundamental question has not received much attention: Will direct funding improve the lives of people living in these councils?

The importance of this question goes beyond these three councils. India's North East has 17 autonomous councils. If direct funding is granted to one, the rest will want it as well. For that reason, the Centre needs to be sure that direct funding will address the developmental deficit in these areas.

But to start with, do the problems really stem from low funding?

The contention over funds

In Saiha, the capital of the eponymous district, which became the Mara Autonomous District Council in 1972, Scroll met LC Chakhai, the chairman of the council. “The three councils account for 10% of the state's population," he said. "But between the Lais, Chakmas and the Maras, we get just 4.5% of the state budget.”  

However, such claims don't reveal the whole picture. While the council implements welfare programmes, so does the state administration. This means more development money is spent in the council areas than the budget separately allocated to the council administration.

For instance, while the Mara council earmarked Rs 202 lakhs for rural development in 2014-'15, documents from the state administration's rural development department showed Rs 768 lakh were spent in Saiha on just one scheme – the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

But the councils aren't pleased with this spending. The leaders claim that the pacts signed at the time of the councils' creation envisioned the state's withdrawal from governance in the council areas. “The DC [district collector] and the SP [superintendent of police] are only supposed to look after law and order,” said Hmunhre.

As a 2006 report of the erstwhile Planning Commission on the sixth schedule areas said, “Though the Council has been vested with wide powers, the State Government continues to undertake works in respect of the same devolved function, without consulting the Council.”

And so, the councils have been demanding that the state's implementation mechanism be dismantled and its funds rerouted to them. The draft amendment prepared by the BJP, said Majumdar, permits the councils to have an administrative structure similar to the state, which suggests they would be fully in charge of all development works in their areas.

But is it a good thing to give the councils complete financial and administrative autonomy?

Expense analysis

The answer to that question perhaps lies in how the councils use the money they get right now. Scroll leafed through the annual plans of the Mara council and the budget of the Lai council. In both, an overwhelming proportion of the council budget went into salaries, as the chart shows.

In Maraland, the total disbursement for 2014-'15 stood at Rs 114.50 crore. Of this, Rs 80.91 crore went into salaries. Apart from salaries, there is also administrative expenses. Add that and the amount allotted to actual developmental work falls some more. Take the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary department in the Mara council. Of its Rs 41.62 lakh allocation, it spent Rs 34.25 on salaries and wages and another Rs 3 lakh on administrative expenses, which left it with about Rs 4 lakh. Of this, just Rs 50,000 was spent on medicines – in a department meant for animal care and veterinary science.

The 2015-'16 budget of the Lai Autonomous District Council reveals similar trends.



Here too, so much gets spent on salaries that there is little left for actual developmental work. Even plan funds –marked for development work – are being used for salaries. The education department, for instance, should use plan funds to buy books or build schools. But in the Lai council, of Rs 808 lakh plan allocation for education, Rs 793 lakh was spent on salaries.

High salary bills, incidentally, is a longstanding critique of the councils. Describing them over-staffed, the 2006 Planning Commission report said: “There has been a tendency for the Council to set up multi-tiered secretariats, imitating State Governments in this regard.”

Why is the expenditure on salaries so high? To come to power, local politicians “promise jobs and contracts to supporters", claimed a local businessman, who requested anonymity.

Welfare programmes also appear to run along distinctly political lines, with the money used to reward supporters and weaken the ranks of rival political parties. “The poor get money only if they become Congress supporters," said A Chatua, the president of the BJP in Saiha. "In two years, if nothing is done, the BJP will be finished here. We cannot take care of our members. They will all join the Congress.”

The reason why people change their political affiliations so easily is because getting a party membership is often the only way to access government benefits. In the Chakma council, returns from the old occupations like jhum farming are falling.  “Thirty years ago, if people planted one tin [about 16 kilos] of paddy, they would get 100 tins as harvest," said Jyotirmoy Chakma, the president of the Central Young Chakma Association. "This is now down to five-six tins. That is enough for just one or two months."

The rest of the time, said Shanti Jiban Chakma, the BJP's president in Chawngte, people use payments from government programmes – like Rashtriya Kisan Vikas Yojana or the state government's New Land Use Policy – for subsistence. “There are no other sources of income," he said. "And so, when the council denies access to these programmes, there is a problem.”

Shanti Jiban Chakma is the BJP's president in the Chakma council area. 

It isn't difficult to see how the political system operates in the councils. These are backward areas with little economic activity. For the local elite, the easiest way to power and affluence is to get into the council. “The leaders speak on behalf of the people but these demands are ultimately in the interests of only the ruling elite,” said N William Singh, a professor of Sociology at Pachhunga University College.

“In this area, there is the Mizo National Front, the Mara Democratic Front and the Congress," said a businessman, who did not want to be identified. "All their leaders want direct funding. And they will move to whichever party that is in power. They are like a bat. Sometimes they are a bird, sometimes they are an animal.”

This competitive politics undermines the benefits of those living in the councils. But the leaders are able to escape scrutiny by shifting the blame to the state government and telling the locals that the Mizos are not giving enough money.

What makes it possible for them to get away with such characterisations is that the state administration, dominated by Mizos, does indeed neglect the councils. But the neglect does not show up in the distribution of funds. It takes other forms.

How bias shows

The state administration continues to exercise some control over the recruitment, appointments and postings in the council areas. In the Chakma council area, the hospital at Chawngte is supposed to have a senior medical officer working along with Khiangte, the sole MBBS at the centre. While a doctor has been appointed, he rarely reports for duty. People said the state administration doesn't penalise doctors who do not want to serve in the Chakma areas.

A similar pattern is visible in educational institutions. Beyond higher secondary, the local school and college in the Chakma council area only have teachers for arts. Students wanting to study science and commerce have to move to Aizawl, Silchar or Lunglei. But studying outside is expensive. So most students drop out after class 10, said Shanti Chakma, the BJP's local president.

“If we get a college for science here, then the Chakmas will overtake the Mizos,” said Deepak Larma, a resident of Borapansury, the village with the sole primary health centre in the Chakma council area. "As it is, we are Buddhists, not Christians, and so they want to keep us backward." Larma and his friends were playing cards under a tree. A heavy-set man wearing shorts and a black undershirt, Larma used to work for the Border Security Force. After leaving the force, Larma, a Chakma, has settled in Boranpansury, and like many young people, believes the Mizos are limiting the opportunities available to the state's ethnic minorities.

This perception got a boost in April, when another instance of bias surfaced. The state government amended the rules for its technical entrance exams that determine the selection of candidates for courses like engineering, medicine, nursing and veterinary science. Mizoram categorises applicants into three categories: local permanent residents get 85% of the seats, migrants from elsewhere who have settled in Mizoram get 10%, and those working in the central or state administration and residing in the state get 5%. Through the amendment, Mizoram has restricted the definition of “local permanent residents” to only “Zo-ethnic people who are native inhabitants... and have been residing permanently in the state”.

Noting that Zo-ethnic refers only to the Mizos, Chakma organisations protested this would exclude them from the bulk of seats. A statement from the Mizoram Chakma Students’ Union described the amendment as discrimination against the minority communities of Mizoram, including the Chakmas. Such steps keep the identity issue boiling and distract attention from the mismanagement and corruption in the council areas.

The conventional wisdom that the state administration is hostile to minorities might have considerable truth, but it has allowed local administrations, comprising the elite of these minority groups, to become predators on its own people.

For instance, though the Mara council is cash strapped, that has not stopped it from building a sprawling bungalow in Saiha as the residence of the Chief Executive Member.

The under-construction bungalow towers above the homes in Saiha.

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MZP take up Chakma ‘influx’ issue with Amit Shah

via TNT on April 17, 2015

AIZAWl: Capitalising on the visit of BJP chief Amit Shah, the Mizo Zirlai Pawl, Mizoram’s apex students’ body, has drawn his attention to the “abnormal increase” of Chakma population in southern Mizoram due to immigrants from the neighbouring Bangladesh.

In a memorandum to Shah, the MZP pointed out that the population of Chakmas, who are “not indigenous people” of Mizoram, has increased from a mere 198 in the first ever census in 1901 to 80,000 in 1991 Census.

“From 1901 till date, the Chakma population has increased by 44,004 percent, which is not possible normal human reproduction,” the MZP memorandum said.

Going by historical records, the MZP stated that Chakmas have never lived in Mizoram and have never been considered as indigenous people of the Mizoram. “During the British rule, the Lushai hills (Mizoram) administrators issued several orders time after time to control foreigners, and the Chakmas were one of the foreigners mentioned in those orders,” it said.

“When we were ruled by the Britishers, the Chakmas were allowed to stay for a year within Mizoram if they were willing to help out digging the roads around the state border. They were also permitted to stay up to three years if the administrators give them a special permit,” the memorandum said.

During the second census in 1911, there were 302 Chakmas in Mizoram. The population increased to 680 (225 percent growth) in 1921, then further to 836 (122.94 percent increase) in 1931. In the 1941 census, the Chakma population skyrocketed to 5,088 (608 percent increase), then further to 15,297 (300.64% growth) in 1951. In 1961 census, the figure rose to 19,327, and again to 22,392 in 1971, to 39,905 in 1981 and jumped to 80,000 in 1991, the MZP informed the BJP chief.

As it was no longer allowed to segregate the population by caste from 2001, the exact growth of Chakma population is now not known, but it is certain than they are roughly around 1,50,000.

The estimated number of Chakmas, that is 1,50,000, is extremely huge in comparison to the population of Mizoram which is a little more than 10 lakhs in the 2011 census, the MZP said.

As the abnormal growth of Chakmas in Mizoram strongly indicates illegal immigration from Bangladesh, the MZP urged the BJP president to take it seriously and intervene to solve the problem.

“Before the 2014 general election, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi visited one of our neighbouring states, Assam. During this visit he focused on the topic related to illegal immigrants and he assured that he will work towards deportation of foreigners from the country, and even after he becomes the country’s Prime Minister.”

“The north eastern states have been dealing with illegal immigrants and have suffered immensely. Out of all the North Eastern states, Mizoram is known to have been impacted the most. We were really excited and hopeful when we found out about the Prime minister’s resolution to help out with this issue,” the memorandum said.

Amit Shah, who kicked off his 13-day Northeast yatra in Aizawl yesterday, left for Kohima today after a night stay here.

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Amit Shah set for Northeast tour in 12 days

via TheIndian EXPRESS on April 14, 2015

Shah will proceed to Nagaland, where the party is part of the ruling coalition, and then travel to Manipur on Saturday.

Aizawl: BJP president Amit Shah plans to visit all the northeastern states in 12 days, starting with Mizoram on April 16 where he will address a public meeting. The party’s Mizoram unit vice president, Chalngura Zahau, said Shah will address the meeting in Aizawl and meet party workers at night. “In Aizawl, the party president will explain the party’s position on the cattle ban, secularism and the Centre’s views on governors,” said Zahau.

The party recorded an electoral victory for the first time in Mizoram earlier this year when it won seven village councils (equivalents of panchayats) in the Chakma Autonomous District Council on the state’s southern tip, bordering Bangladesh.

Shah will proceed to Nagaland, where the party is part of the ruling coalition, and thentravel to Manipur on Saturday.

He will then fly to New Delhi and return to the Northeast on Tuesday, arriving in Gangtok. He is scheduled to visit Shillong the following day and Itanagar on Thursday. On Friday, he would leave for Guwahati from where he will fly to Rajasthan.

He will return to Guwahati on Sunday and then go to Tripura which, besides Mizoram, has never had the BJP in government. The party, however, won elections to five Tripura panchayats last July.

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Chakmas celebrates 'Bizu' festival

Young generation offering flowers to the river, while elders look.

BIZU is the main festival of Chakma tribe which celebrates once in a year for three days. The BIZU festival celebrates in the month of April every year and the Chakma people have been celebrating the BIZU festival since its existence. The Bizu is the most important socio-religious festival of the Chakma. The bizu festival gave birth to the Bizu dance and Bizu song. The festival is celebrating for three days and begins on the last day of the month of Chaitra.

The first day is known as Phool Bizu and the day start with bath in the early morning and offer flowers to the river. On this day, household items, clothes are cleaned and washed, food items are collected to give the house a new look with the veil of different flowers. The second day known as Mul Bizu or one day before the New Year eve day starts with the bath in the early morning. People wear new clothes (traditional) and make rounds of the village. They also enjoy specially made vegetable curry known as “Pazon ton”, different homemade sweets and take part in different traditional sports. The day ends with the Bizu dance and Bizu songs. The last day, which is known as Gojjepojje din or New Year day involves the performances of different socio-religious activities. Children and young adults go out and bathing the elders and seeking their blessings. People attend prayer to the Monastery and offer pindu and sweets to the monks. At the evening time people light the candle around the monastery and home to as a mark of respect and its importance in their daily lives.

Before one week of Bizu, flowers are bloom and known as Bizu Phool (flower) and its decorated house surrounding with Bizu Phool by naturally. The Bizu phool looks like very beautiful and it’s very useful on this occasion mostly for offering. In the context of its nature some say that Bizu is a festival, which revolves around agricultural activities because it is celebrated in mid-April when the earth is just drenched with the first rain and the jhum (Shifting cultivation) sowing is taken up. And it is believed that with the objective of getting rich harvest worship of the earth was arranged which later on took the form of a festival. However, of late it has lost its agricultural character.

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Bangladesh: Indigenous Peoples faces obstruction on their New Year eve

via The Daily Star on April 12, 2015

Khagrachhari: Law enforcers obstructed indigenous people of Khagrachhari from bringing out a procession marking ‘Biju’ festival this morning as they failed to show any written copy of permission for holding the programme.

“But later, we allowed them to bring out the procession on instruction from the deputy commissioner’s office,” Sheikh Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, superintendent of police in Khagrachhari, told The Daily Star around 10:10am.

As part of the tradition to mark of the Pahela Baishakh, people of the indigenous community were attempting to bring out a colorful procession in Madhubazar area around 8:30am, the SP said.

“We barred them on their way as they failed to show us the copy of permission,” the police official said.

Contacted, Monam Dewan, member secretary of the festival observation committee, told our correspondent that he met the deputy commissioner on April 9 and informed him about the programme.

“I was told that we did not need any permission to observe such programmes,” he added.

Nomita Chakma, an eye witness, claimed that the members of law enforcement agencies charged batons on the locals when they were gathering at Madhubazar.

They also picked up one Alton Chakma from the scene, the witness told The Daily Star.

Asked about lawmen’s action on indigenous people and the detention, the SP told the correspondent that he has no information about it.  

“But if there was any listed criminal, police have the authority to detain anyone from any place,” he added. 

Khagrachhari Sushil Samaj organised the programme on the occasion of the Bangali New Year.

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After 30 years of peace, Mizoram facing terror again

via Business Standard on April 10, 2015

Aizawl: Nearly 30 years after Mizoram embraced peace, there are signs that terrorism may be raising its "disturbing" head in the northeastern state bordering Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Mizoram was the first and the only state in India to get Rs.182.45 crore from the central government in 2000-01 as "Peace Bonus" for keeping peace after decades of insurgency. That record was shattered on March 28 when the Manipur-based Hmar People's Convention-Democratic (HPC-D) ambushed a police party in Mizoram and killed three policemen and seriously wounded six others.

The dead included Sub Inspector Zoramthara Khawlhring.

The incident occurred when a police party was accompanying a state assembly team led by deputy chief whip R.L. Pianmawia in Aizawl district. The area is in northern Mizoram bordering Manipur and Assam.

The terror attack, which occurred after many years of peace in the state, forced Mizoram to approach the union home ministry to ban the HPC-D. It also sought that the state's northeastern part, where the Hmar tribals are concentrated, be declared a disturbed area under the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), 1958.

"The recent attack brings to the fore a disturbing trend which had for the last few years been largely ignored," security analyst Manas Paul told IANS.

Paul, who has written books on terrorism and security affairs in India's northeast, pointed out that Mizoram became a peaceful state after the 1986 accord ended two decades of militancy by the Mizo National Front (MNF).

As MNF's founder leader Laldenga, a former Indian Army havildar, became chief minister and his group took to mainstream politics, calm returned to Christian-majority Mizoram for decades, except for stray violence by HPC, Paul said.

The HPC wants an autonomous council inside Mizoram since 1994.

Mizoram's Additional Secretary for Home, Lalbiakzama, said: "The situation in the state was reviewed at a meeting chaired by Home Minister R. Lalzirliana this week."

An official told IANS that there was a proposal to train Mizoram's armed policemen at Vairengte's Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School along the Mizoram-Assam border.

There could also be tactical and advanced training with Assam Rifles.

Mizoram Chief Secretary Lalmalsawma met his Manipur counterpart to deal jointly against the HPC-D militants, whose main hideouts are in Manipur.

Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla said the militants, responsible for the recent attack, had violated the law on many occasions.

"These militants have links with the other extremist outfits of northeast India," an official said.

The chief minister said: "The militants ... have deceived us by killing our policemen. We take this as an outright challenge."

The National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) is also known to use Mizoram to transit after a fence came up on the India-Bangladesh border.

In the past two years, a huge quantity of weapons have been seized and Myanmar and Bangladeshi nationals arrested in Mizoram, which has an unfenced 404 km of border with Myanmar and 318 km of border with Bangladesh.

According to intelligence officials, Bangladeshi rebels belonging to the Chakma tribal community are involved in arms smuggling.

A Tripura Police official said in Agartala that militants used Mamit district in Mizoram as a corridor to carry out their trans-border movement involving Bangladesh, Mizoram and Tripura.

The MNF was born on October 22, 1961, under the leadership of Laldenga. It launched violent attacks from February 28, 1966.

The insurgency continued until a tripartite accord was signed between the MNF and the central and state governments on June 30, 1986.

In all, 614 MNF cadres came out of hiding and surrendered with a huge quantity of firearms in 1986. It then fought elections and ruled Mizoram.

The legendary Laldenga was the chief minister of Mizoram for two years from August 1986. He died of lung cancer in 1990.

(Sujit Chakraborty can be contacted sujit.c@ians.in)

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Mizoram: Chakmas demonstrate protest against discriminatory rules

Correspondence on April 10, 2015

Kamalanagar: More than one thousand people from all walks of life from Kamalanagar and nearby villages joined the Peace Procession called by Chakma National Council of India (CNCI), Mizoram State Committee in collaboration with all Political Parties and NGOs at Kamalanagar on 10th April, 2015 to demonstrate protest against the making of amendment of the Mizoram (Selection of candidates for Higher & Technical Courses) Rules, 1999 resultant of which the prospect to avail the facilities of pursuing technical education under Reserved Quota System shall stand curtailed totally for the Chakmas and other ethnic and religious minorities of the State.

Addressing the demonstrators Shri Rasik Mohan Chakma, President, CNCI, Mizoram State thanks them for huge and spontaneous support to the cause. He expressed that it is unfortunate in a civilized country like India, by a democratically elected government a rule to directly discriminate a Section of Citizen of the country is made. If any reservation is to be made it should be according to benign essence of our Constitution which provides for positive discrimination for the disadvantage group to give them a fair treatment because of their disadvantage status, he stressed. Elaborating his statement he pointed out that the Article 15(4) of the Constitution of India provides that “Nothing in this article (Article 15(1)) or in clause (2) or article (29) shall prevent the state from making any special provision for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Caste and the Scheduled Tribes”. He further stressed that the amendment is a upright breach of article (9) of the 1986 Mizoram Peace Accord which provides that “The rights and Privileges of the minorities in Mizoram as envisaged in the Constitution, shall continue to be preserved and protected and their social and economic advancement shall be ensured.” He urged upon the govt. of Mizoram, headed by Pu Lal Thanhawla to roll back its decision and make another amendment of the Mizoram (Selection of Candidates for Higher & Technical Courses) Rules, 1999 by inserting the provision of reservation of 20% Seats for the Chakmas and Brus out of the reserved quota in technical courses.

Shri Rupayan Chakma, President, MCSU and Shri Molin Kumar Chakma, Vice-President, CYCA also addressed the gathering and condemned the Mizoram Govt. in strong words for making racial discrimination in the matter of amendment of the rule targeting the Chakmas and Brus who are most backward and only ethnic & religious minority of the state. They pledged to continue the movement until positive solution is made. Both the speakers termed the amendment as illegal, unconstitutional and provocative to disrupt communal harmony in the state. They thanked the demonstrators and appealed for full support and cooperation in the movement.

The procession in token of expressing anguish and protest burnt thousands copies of amendment rules in front of SDO ( C ) Office, Chawngte and ended on submission of a Memorandum to the Chief Minister, Mizoram through the SDO (C ) Chawngte demanding immediate roll back of Govt’s decision and also making another amendment of the rules by inserting the provision of 20% reservation for the Chakmas and Brus out of the Reserved Quota of Seats in the Technical Courses. 

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President Pranab Mukherjee arrives in Mizoram amid strong protest

via The IndianEXPRESS on April 9, 2015

Aizawl: President Pranab Mukherjee arrived in Mizoram capital Aizawl on Thursday and was greeted by hundreds of students in school uniforms, and others draped in traditional shawls of mourning, to protest against the spate of transfers and sackings of the state’s Governors. Mizoram has had seven different Governors within nine months.

The Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP, or Mizo Students’ Association) which led the protest also submitted a memorandum to the President, expressing “deep displeasure” over the frequent changes of Raj Bhavan incumbents and that it considers “such unprecedented frequency of appointments of Governors to the state as motivated by political vendetta, and the choice of the state of Mizoram for this dishonourable action an act of sheer impunity and disrespect for the people of the state.”

“We regret the inconvenience and atmosphere of protest brought upon our state during your current visit compelled by the Government’s lack of respect and regard for thepeople and state of Mizoram,” the MZP’s memorandum added.

Former Home Minister and senior Mizo National Front leader Tawnluia also said the party would take up the issue of the frequent changes of Governors in a memorandum to the President and also raise it if the party leaders are given time to meet him.

The President arrived at Lengpui airport at 4 pm Thursday and was flown from there to a helipad within Aizawl city in an Indian Air Force helicopter.

He is on a two-day visit to Mizoram to attend the 10th convocation ceremony of the Mizoram University, which is scheduled for Friday.

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BJP village council body file case against Chakma ADC govt

Correspondence on March 9, 2015

Aizawl: Today, BJP Village Council Members of Banganpara Village Council filed a case against the CADC Government at the Gauhati High Court, Mizoram Bench. The case is put up under, The Indian Constitution, Article 126, Fundamental Rights. 

"The Democratic Rights of my Clients have been violated, and under the Constitution of India, no one is above the Law and We will win this case to safeguard the Democratic Rights of the People" said Advocate, Raymond Lalbiakzama.

The BJP Village Council Members of Baganpara V/C are Confident that the Law of our Great Nation will protect their rights as well as deliver Justice. When asked to the Young and energetic Village Council Member, Dangu Jyotirmoy Chakma, BJP VCM, about the approach he has taken to seek justice, he replied adamantly," During my College Days, I read a quote of Thomas Jefferson, When Injustice becomes the Law, Resistance is our Duty, it meant a lot. Like Me, there are many who have experienced such injustice and this for all of them. I kindly request our young educated generation to come forward and speak, like we all have done."

Baganpara V/C has BJP majority Member (four) , whereas, unconstitutionally a Congress Government (3, Three) was formed. The Congress Government was formed by inducting 2 Nominated members. As far as Democratic Rights are concern Nominated Memeber are not elected members, which coincide with the Democratic Foundation of our Nation.

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Manav Chakma earns his first GCAC weekly honour

via xulagold.com on April 8, 2015  8:30:00 PM

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's Manav Chakma is the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Week in men's tennis for March 30-April 5.

     Chakma, a junior from Agartala, India, and a graduate of Kendriya Vidyalaya Maligaon, was 2-0 in singles and 2-0 in doubles in Xavier's final two dual matches of its California trip. He scored two points for the Gold Rush in a 6-3 loss to NAIA No. 4 Vanguard, then did it again the following day in a 9-0 victory against then-No. 19 Lewis-Clark State.

     Chakma and partner Tushar Mandlekar won all four of their doubles matches in California. They are 6-0 this season against the No. 2 doubles teams of top-10 NAIA schools.

     It's the second consecutive week that the Gold Rush produced a first-time winner of the GCAC award. Adam Albrechtearned the honor the previous week.

     Next for the XU men and women will be a 10 a.m. Saturday dual at West Florida.

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Chakma civil bodies and political parties condemn Mizoram govt action

via Mizo News on March 8, 2015

Aizawl: The Chakma National Council of India (CNCI), Mizoram State Committee convened a meeting of representatives of all Political Parties, NGOs and MDCs in CADC on the 7th April, 2015 at Kamalanagar to discuss on the recent Amendment of the Mizoram (Selection of Candidates for Higher & Technical courses) Rules, 1999 made by the State Government of Mizoram.

Rasik Mohan Chakma, President, CNCI Mizoram State Committee, who presided over the meeting while placing the agenda for discussion stated that the recent amendment of the rules particularly the explanation clause on the term ‘Local Permanent Residents’ and ‘indigenous’ is the outcome of the agreement made between the MZP and the Government of Mizoram on 25th September, 2014 and subsequently called off the protest by MZP following the ‘Agreement’. In the recent amendment of the explanation clause of Rule 5, with the insertion of “Zo-ethnic people who are native inhabitants” in place of “indigenous people of the state of Mizoram” henceforth the selection of candidates for Higher & Technical courses against the reserved quota of seat shall be made on ethnic line not on merit, he stated. He called upon the representatives of NGOs, Political Parties and the MDCs to place their opinion and suggestion on the issue.

In addition to representatives of NGOs and Political Parties, Shri Pulin Bayan Chakma, Shri Adi Kanta Tongchangya, Kali Kumar Tongchangya and Alak Bikash Chakma partook in the discussion and deliberation in the meeting.

The meeting in unison condemned the decision of the Government of Mizoram for making the provision for selection of candidates for Higher & Technical courses on the base of ethnicity. It is a clear violation of the provision of the Constitution of India as Article 13(2) provides that “the State shall not make any law which takes away or abridges the rights conferred by this part and any law made in contravention of this clause shall to the extent of the contravention, be void”, article 15 (1) also provides that “The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them”. Above all the amendment is a bare violation of Article 9 of the 1986 Mizoram Peace Accord which provides that “the rights and privileges of the minorities in Mizoram as envisaged in the Constitution, shall continue to be preserved and protected and their social and economic advancement shall be ensured” which was signed non-other than the present Chief Minister Pu Lal Thanhawla.

The meeting also observed that while positive discrimination for the disadvantage group to give them a fair treatment because of their disadvantage status is practiced in other part of the country, in Mizoram the ethnic and religious minorities are being made prey of negative discrimination. The meeting also resolved to place demand to provide reservation out of reserved quota of seats in technical courses for the Chakmas in Mizoram. It was also resolved to launch peace procession on 10th April, 2015 in Kamalanagar in protest of the recent Amendment of Rules pertaining to selection of candidates for Higher & Technical courses in Mizoram. The meeting also entrusted the CNCI to take any other course of action for positive solution of the problem in this regard.

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