Assam State Committee formed at CNCI Guwahati Meet

via E-PAO on May 28, 2015

Guwahati: In a two days meeting convened at Thirthanath Hall in Guwahati on the 24th and 25th May, 2015 the Chakma National Council of India (CNCI) has formed and constituted its Assam state Committee. The meeting was well attended by members of the community living in Guwahati, members of the Guwahati Chakma Students Union (GCSU), members from other parts of the state of Assam, Mizoram, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh. The National Committee was represented by Anirudha Chakma (President), Jagat Shanta Chakma (Vice president) and two other executive members Rupayan Chakma and Kina Mohan Chakma. The Mizoram State committee was represented by its President Dangu Rasik Mohan Chakma. Representatives from the YCA and MCSU were also in attendance.

The primary agenda of the meeting was to form and constitute the Assam State Committee of the CNCI and to discuss and raise various issues of concern for the community.

In the meeting CNCI National President Dangu Anirudha Chakma briefly spoke and outlined the organizations main aims and objectives and Dangu Rasik Mohan Chakma, during the course of his speech, has elaborated them in more details while also bringing into light the problems and challenges faced by the community around the world and the need to chart a road map for the future of the community. Dangu Rasik Mohan also stressed on the ‘need to infuse and induce a sense of nationalism’ among Chakmas all across the world.

Expressing deep concerns over the anti-Chakma attitude and policies of the government of Mizoram, the Meeting sought to remind the state government of its responsibilities towards the minorities of the state.

Taking exception to the attitude of the government of Mizoram towards Chakmas of the state, the meeting strongly condemned the action of the state government to exclude the Chakma students from their rightful entitlements through the recently Amendment brought out in the Mizoram State Technical Entrance Examinations Rules dated 24th March, 2015 which, the meeting observed and declared, was not only unfair and unjust but such an act is also unbecoming of a democratically elected government. The CNCI pledged to continue to demand and strive for equal opportunities for the community and would do all that it can to protect and promote the interests of the community and the meeting urged the government of Mizoram to do away with all such discriminatory policies and rather create an environment that will be conducive for all the ethnic minority groups of the state.

While dwelling on the challenges and problems of the Chakmas in details, the meeting observed that the root cause of Chakmas present plight in India and in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) was the injustice meted out to the community during the Partition of the country in 1947. The meeting sought to remind the members of the community and the outside world about the unjust Sir Cyrill Redcliff award of Bengal Boundary Commission which awarded the CHT to Pakistan with more than 97 percent non-Muslim against the very principle on which the Boundary Commission was formed, and consequently making the Chakmas the worst victim of partition.

The meeting also adopted a decision in which it decided to seek the attention and intervention of the Government of India towards the continued incidents of gross human rights violations and persecution faced by the Jummas (tribal communities) in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh and seek to demand that the Government of India, as a responsible and key stakeholder of democratic ideals in the sub continent, must raise the CHT issue in all its bilateral engagements with the Government of Bangladesh.

On the concluding day, the Assam State Committee was formed and constituted. The 25 member strong constituted Committee is headed by Dangu Sambhu Dhan Chakma (Principle of Diphu Commerce College) as its President.

The Meeting expressed its appreciation of the commitment and dedication shown by the Chakma community of Assam in their efforts to protect and promote the interests of the community in the state. The meeting expressed its pride in the numerous contributions made by members of the Chakma community in the state of Assam since pre-Independence era in various capacities under both the State and the Central government services.

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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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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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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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Northeast’s Rewati Chetri voted Miss India-Miss Popular and Miss Multimedia

via TNT on March 30, 2015

GUWAHATI: Rewati Chetri, Miss India 2015 finalist from Haflong, Assam representing North East has won the Miss India 2015 Miss Popular and Miss Multimedia subtitles in the grand finale of Miss India 2015 at Yashraj Studios in Mumbai on Saturday evening. She was chosen among the Top 10 finalist out of Top 21 finalists. After Himakshi Agarwal and Jantee Hazarika, Rewati is the third girl from Assam who made it into the finals of the coveted fashion and beauty icon show.

In a star-studded finale, Rewati Chetri was presented the Miss India 2015 Reliance Digital Miss Multimedia subtitle by Bollywood actor John Abraham along with a cash reward of Rupees One Lakh. The event was judged by eminent personalities from the industry like John Abraham, Manisha Koirala, Sonu Nigam, Anil Kapoor, Firoz Nadiadwala, Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla, Shilpa Shetty, Sonali Bendre, Shiamak Davar and Chitrangada Singh. The 2015 edition saw electrifying performances by Bollywood stars– Kareena Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandes, Shahid Kapoor and famous singers like Kanika Kapoor, Meet Brothers, and Shalmali Kholgade.

Bollywood personalities made appearances and  judges selected  top ten finalists out of 21 contestants  for this finale. Judge Firoz Nadiadwala’s questioned Rewati: How do you define success to which Rewati replied: Success is where I want to see myself in what I do the best.

Internet generated report says Rewati Chetri is the most followed, shared, downloaded and talked about Miss India finalist and her Facebook engagement was twice her nearest contestant. Each of her Facebook post were seen by more than 5000 persons and a maximum of over 54,000. Out of the 21 contestants, she also got the highest number of votes via WeChat application which the Miss India Oganisation said were in lakhs.

On being asked about her feelings on the ramps of Miss India 2015 grand finale, she said, “I could not count my heartbeats but I could feel the number of hearts beating for me. But it was not easy, it is not only about confidence,  intelligence and beauty but also about courage and knowledge and over all personality. As advised by you all, I celebrated being there, enjoyed every moment, gave my best and cheered for myself and made it to Top 10 Finalist. I could feel seven sisters states and one brother Sikkim, Darjeeling and Gorkha and North East populated cities and towns of India and rest of world support and prayers for me. Frankly speaking, I am happy that  I won billions of hearts though I could not bring the crown”

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Three North East films bag National Film Awards 2014

via TNT on March 25, 2015

GUWAHATI: Three films from the Northeast and a biopic have been featured in the list of winners of the 62nd National Film Awards 2014, according to reports.

Omung Kumar’s ‘Mary Kom’, based on the life of Olympic medal-winning pugilist from Manipur, M C Mary Kom, was declared the best popular film providing wholesome entertainment.

‘Othello’, directed by Hemanta Das and produced by Manabendra Adhikary, under Artha Films, was declared the best Assamese feature film. The film was scripted by Ranjit Sarma. The producer and director will receive the Rajat Kamal and Rs 1,00,000 each. Not a reworking of Shakespeare’s immortal play by the name, Othello takes a look at religious prejudice and mistrust through the eyes of its lead protagonists. It won rave reviews and multiple awards at various film festivals.

“I believe pain is part of our reality. The film is a comment on terrorism, the pain of minority communities, prejudice and our society,” Sarma said.

Suraj Kumar Duwarah’s ‘Orong’ became the first Rabha film to win a National Award for best feature film in the language. An experimental film, with minimal use of dialogues, ‘Orong’ is unique in not having any music at all.

“It’s a great honour for the Rabha community. They have a great culture and heritage. My film is an experimental one and I have tried to do things differently and tell a good story,” said Duwarah, who will receive the Rajat Kamal and Rs 1,00,000.

Noted Manipuri filmmaker Haobam Paban Kumar won the National Award for the best investigative film for ‘Phum Shang’. The film focuses on fishing communities living on the floating biomass of Loktak lake. Kumar will be conferred the Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Here’s the full list of the 62nd National Film Awards announced yesterday:

Feature Film Awards

Best Feature Film: Court (Marathi, Gujarati, Hindi, English)

Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film Of A Director: Asha Jaor Majhe (Bengali)

Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment: Mary Kom (Hindi)

Best Film On Environment Conservation: Ottaal (Malayalam)

Best Direction: Srijith Mukherjee/ Chotushkone (Bengali)

Best Actor: Vijay/ Nan Avanalla Avalu (Kannada)

Best Actress: Kangana Ranaut/ Queen (Hindi)

Best Supporting Actor: Bobby Simha/ Jigarthanda (Tamil)

Best Supporting Actress: Baljinder Kaur/ Pagdi The Honour (Haryanvi)

 

Best Male Playback Singer: Sukhvinder Singh/ Haider (Hindi)

Best Female Playback Singer: Uttara Unnikrishnan/ Saivam (Tamil)

Best Costume Designer: Dolly Ahluwalia/ Haider (Hindi)

Best Music Direction: Vishal Bhardwaj/ Haider (Hindi)

Best Background Score: Gopi Sundar/ 1983 (Malayalam)

Best Choreography: Haider (Hindi)
Special Jury Mention: Khwada (Marathi)
Best Lyrics: Nag Muthukumar/ Saivam (Tamil)
Best Make-Up Artiste: Nangaraju & Raju/ Nan Avanalla Avalu (Kannada)
Best Production Design: Aparna Raina/ Nachom Ia Kumpasar (Konkani)
Best Audiography: Mahavir Sabbanwal/ Khwada (Marathi)
Best Sound Designing: Anish John/ Asha Jaor Majhe (Bengali)
Best Re-recording: Nirbashito (Bengali)
Best Original Screenplay: Srijith Mukherji/ Chatushkone (Bengali)
Best Cinematography: Sudip Chatterjee/ Chatushkone (Bengali)
Best Editing: Vivek Harshan/ Jigarthanda (Tamil)
Best Adapted Screenplay: Joshi Mangalath/ Ottaal (Malayalam)
Best Dialogues: Vishal Bhardwaj/ Haider (Hindi)
Best Children’s Film: Kakkai Muttai (Tamil), Elizabeth Ekadashi (Marathi)
Best Child Artiste: N. Vignesh, Ramesh/ Kakkai Muttai (Tamil)
Best Film on Social Issues: Chotoder Chobi (Bengali)

Best Assamese Film : Othello

Best Bengali Film: Nirbashito

Best Hindi Film: Queen

Best Kannada Film: Harivu

Best Malayalam Film: Ain

Best Marathi Film: Killa

Best Odiya Film: Aadim Vichar

Best Punjabi Film: Punjab 1984

Best Tamil Film: Kuttram Kadithal

Best Telugu Film: Chandamama Kathalu
Best Rabha Film: Orong
Best Haryanvi Film: Pagdi The Honour

 

Best Feature Films (Special Mention): Ain (Malayalam), Nachom Ia Kumpasar (Konkani), Killa (Marathi), Bhoothnath Returns (Hindi)

Best Educational Films: Komal, Behind The Glass Wall

Best Exploration/ Adventure Films: Life Force-India’s Western Ghats

Best Investigative Film: Phum Shang

Best Animation Film: Sound Of Joy

Best Short Fiction Film: Mitraa

 

Awards for Writing on Cinema

Best Film Critic: Tanul Thakur

Best Book On Cinema: Silent Cinema (1895-1930) by Pasupuleti Purnachandra Rao

Best Writing On Cinema (Special Mention): Pride Of Tamil Cinema by G. Dhananjayan

Non-Fiction Feature Films

Best Narration: Ambooty Devi/ Nithya Kalyani    

Best Editing: Andy Campbell/ Tigress Blood

Best Audiography: Tender Is The Sight

Best Cinematography: Indraneel Lehri/ Amar Katha: The Story Of Binodini

Best Direction: Renu Sawant/ Aranyak

Best Film On Family Values: Towards The Silver Lining 
Special Jury Mention: A Poet, A City, A Footballer

Best Film on Environmental Issues: I Cannot Give You My Forest

Best Film On Social Issues: Can’t Take This Shit Anymore, Daughters Of Mother India

Best Biographical/Historical Reconstruction: Amar Katha-The Story Of Binodini

Best Anthropological/Ethnographic Film: Qissa-The Parsi Story

Best Debut Film Of A Director: Goonga Pahalwan

Best Non-Fiction Feature Film: Tender Is The Sight

Source: LLC

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Rewati Chetri, the lone North East Contestant in Miss India 2015

via Nagaland Post on March 24, 2015

After touring across twenty cities that included twelve city auditions, three regional auditions, two city pageants and Mumbai final audition round, the 64th edition of Femina Miss India pageant, Femina Miss India 2015 is in full swing preparing and grooming the 21 finalists for the grand finale which is scheduled for March 28’ 2015 in Mumbai. Amongst the 21 finalists is Rewati Chetri, a law student hailing from Guwahati, Assam, the only contestant from North East amongst this year’s Miss India finalists. At just 18, this young lady with a divine smile, is brimming with confidence, and is becoming fan’s favourite to win the title. Rewati stands tall at 5’ 8” and is interested in Belly Dancing, and wants to win the title so that she can make her state Assam feel proud. Her very sensible advice to the youth of today is “Life is to chill agreed!! But not in the influence of alcohol & drugs. It’s high time we wake up and realize only when you are in your senses you can make things sensible.” Miss India 2015 grand finale will be held on March 28’ 2015 in Mumbai, and the winners will represent India at Miss World 2015, Miss International 2015 and Miss Grand International 2015. 

See Rewati's photographs: 

      To vote for Rewati click here.

Source: Republica

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Aizawl Selected as Centre of NE NCC Air Wing

via Mizo News on March 23, 2015

Aizawl: Leaders of NE National Cadet Corp (NCC), led by Additional Director General, North East Region (Shillong), Major General Satinder Kohli, today met Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla during the short recess of the ongoing Legislative Assembly session.
In the meeting, NCC leaders informed the Chief Minister that Aizawl has been selected as the main centre of hi NE NCC Air Wing which means that now people from other NE States will need to come to Mizoram for pilot training.
For the same, Tuirial Airfield is expected to be used for landing field, the NCC leaders told the CM. It is planned to install 2 Microlite Aircrafts by around 2016 June, and another 2 in the Phase II by around 2017 June, they said.
Besides, the presently available one Zen Air Microlite and another from Assam may also be installed in Aizawl, so that the all the NCC Air Cadets from the entire region may get pilot training between Lengpui Airport and Tuirial Airfield, they informed the Chief Minister.
Chief Minister suggested forming of Flying Club which was immediately agreed upon. For the same, Tuirial airfield may be the most convenient, the NCC leaders opined.
Moreover, they suggested that a complex may be set up near Tuirial Airfield where outdoor camp may be held for NCC Cadets.
They apprised the CM of their felt need of making a law by Mizoram government so as to encourage the NCC Cadets in this regard.
Chief Minister on his part suggested that incentive may be arranged for their further study or job. The NCC leaders informed the CM that the Central government has agreed to set up NCC Battalion for southern Mizoram in Lunglei and to upgrade 20 Mizoram Indep Coy NCC to Battalion and to 1 Mizo Bn to full strength with 3500 cadets.
Mizoram will be able to have a total of 13,000 – 14,000 NCC Cadets, they added.
NCC leaders also suggested State Advisory Committee for NCC, to which Chief Minister proposed constituting State Advisory Committee to be led by Chief Minister as Chairman and Sports and Education Minister as members.
Major General Satinder Kohli was accompanied by 20 Mizo NCC Commander Col. Youdvir and Wing Commander KDV Prasad.

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Jessica Crowned Sunsilk Miss NE 2015, Rinky Chakma 1st Runner Up, Emily 2nd Runner Up

via Assam Tribune on March 15, 2015

Jessica Marbaniang flanked by first runner-up
 Rinky Chakma from Tripura (left) and second 

runner-up Emily Hmingthansangi from Mizoram
 (right), at the ITA Cultural Complex, 
Machkhowa on Saturday.  – UB Photos

GUWAHATI: Jessica Marbaniang from Meghalaya was crowned Sunsilk Mega Miss North East 2015 at the grand finale held at the ITA Cultural Complex, Machkhowa on Saturday.

Jessica won a custom American diamond tiara, cash prize, and gifts from pageant sponsors, travel opportunities, professional representation by Mega Entertainment, and opportunity to walk for Reliance Trends in the biggest fashion event of the country, Lakmé Fashion Week in Mumbai.

The three winners will be offered a professional grooming session, which would guide them further on how to carry themselves forward in the professional sphere. Besides, they will also get the opportunity to be part of various regional and national assignments.

The organisers of the event, Mega Entertainment, had shortlisted 31 women, who vied for the coveted title of Sunsilk Mega Miss North East 2015. 

During the competition the contestants were judged in four segments: traditional wear, cocktail designer wear, evening gown presentation and personality interview.

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