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05/29/2005: "Nagaland orders probe into NPSC bribery case"
Nagaland orders probe into NPSC bribery case
Kohima, May 29. (UNI): The state government has ordered a probe into the reported Nagaland Public Service Commission (NPSC) bribery case. In an official release, Nagaland chief secretary P Talitemjen Ao said the state vigilance commission had been asked to inquire into the matter, the bribery case having become a public issue amid media glare. The commission would be asked to submit a detailed report immediately. Meanwhile, the Naga Students' Federation (NSF), the apex students' body of the state, urged Governor Shyamal Datta to intervene in the matter. NFS also demanded a clear insight into the modus operandi of the NPSC, which recruits officials to the "most prestigious services in the state".
In a memorandum submitted to the Governor yesterday, NFS said the the bribery allegations had deeply affected the Naga mind. The federation also felt that a CBI inquiry was necessary into the recent attempt to bribe the Controller of Examinations and asked the Governor to do the needful. The students' body demanded a re-evaluation of answer scripts on the request of candidates or the re-conduct of this year's NPSC preliminary examination at the earliest.
Stephenians meet at Dimapur
DIMAPUR, May 28: The alumni of St. Stephens College, Delhi University under the aegis "Stephenian Nagaland Chapter" held its general body meeting today at Hotel Saramati, Dimapur.
The general body meeting was represented by different generations of Naga Stephenians alumni from the 1966 batch torepresent Stephenian students. Mr. I. Imkong, the senior most alumni present chaired the meeting during which members discussed various issues pertaining to the restructuring and strengthening of the Nagaland Chapter. The members deliberated upon possibilities and avenues through which the Stephenians can contribute towards the growth and development of the Naga society.
The General Body meeting nominated a new tenure of executive members with Mr. Alemtemshi Jamir as the President, Mr. M. John as the General Secretary, Mr. Sedehol Sale as the Treasurer and Mr. I. Imkong as the Advisor to the Stephenian, Nagaland Chapter. To strengthen the representation of Nagaland Chapter, Secretaries belonging to three different decades of alumni were nominated to assist the executive body; namely Limachan Kikon, Akum Longchari, Tia Jamir and John Sangtam. The general body also nominated Mr. Ketulhou Meruno as the Convener . The next Stephenian Nagaland Chapter meeting will take place in the month of August.
Arunachal to boost border trade From Our Correspondent
ITANAGAR, May 28 – Arunachal Pradesh Veterinary & Animal Husbandry and Agriculture Minister, Tsering Gyurme visited Pangsu Pass near India-Myanmmar border on May 24 to study the feasibility of promoting the local products through border trade which is likely to begin very shortly, according to official report. The State Legislative Assembly Speaker Setong Sena, Panchayat leaders and high-ranking officers accompanied the minister was on a two-day maiden visit to the district of Changlang. The minister had a meeting with the Myanmmarese Army officers and shared his feelings about the friendly relations among the people of the two nations. He added that the boundary demarcation cannot subside the strong relation of brotherhood between the two countries.
Earlier, the minister laid the foundation stone of an Agri-Horti store cum office building at Jairampur.
Addressing the occasion, Gyurme lauded the local people for their growing consciousness over horticultural and agricultural activities. He further appreciated the Speaker for providing fund from his MLALAD for construction of the said building and assured to provide assistance required for creation of the infrastructure. The minister also visited the World War-II cemetery near Jairampur and discussed the measures with EAC M Roy and Local leaders to develop the area as a hotspot for tourist destination. On his two day tour to the district, the minister would also visit Manmao and district headquarters Changlang, the report added.
Centre invites ULFA for talks New Delhi,
May 28 (ANI): After getting the Bodo militant group, National Democratic Front of Bodoland, around the table for a ceasefire agreement, the Centre has invited the last major insurgent group in Assam, ULFA, for talks. The invitation was sent by National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan, under instructions from the Prime Minister, through ULFA's emissory and Assamese writer Indira Goswami. Goswami told ANI that she received the letter yesterday and has since e-mailed it to ULFA Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa. She however, did not divulge the contents, but said it is a "positive move". Goswami said she was waiting this response from the Centre "for a long time and it means a lot for the people of Assam." The Centre's invitation comes after the ULFA chairman wrote a letter to Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh expressing his willingness to hold talks, if the government is prepared to discuss its main demand for "sovereignity or independence".
ULFA, had as late as on Friday, set off a series of blasts in Upper Assam's Tinsukia district, blowing up two power transformers and a bailey bridge connecting Arunachal Pradesh via the National Highway. Assam government had been in touch with ULFA since last year through Goswami, but its efforts to bring them around did not succeed. Goswami, however, said the group will first discuss the contents amongst its cadres and she "expects a response in a week or ten days". (ANI)
ULFA likely to seek clarificotions From Our Staff Correspondent
NEW DELHI, May 28 – Bombs may be going off and bullets flying all over in Assam but the peace process albeit a prolonged delay inched forward as the outlawed ULFA has not outright rejected the Government of India’s offer for talks and instead likely to seek few clarifications. With the ‘core issue of sovereignty’ sought to be addressed by the Government of India, the condition of shunning of violence by the outfit before sitting for talks has emerged as the latest hicupp. On the positive side, ULFA leadership has called a meeting of the core group to discuss the offer made by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and to formulate the response to National Security Adviser (NSA), MK Narayanan’s letter. Commander-in-chief of ULFA, Paresh Barua soon after receiving the e-mail called up Jnanpith laureate, Dr Mamoni Raisom Goswami and held an hour-long tele-conversation to discuss the latest offer. As reported yesterday Dr Goswami was handed over a letter from PMO addressed to the chairman of the ULFA inviting them for talks. The communication was later forwarded to ULFA through email.
“The ULFA leader has told me that they have few doubts and want clarification from the Centre before they decide on the formal offer,” Dr Goswami told this newspaper. Soon after Dr Goswami today got in touch with the NSA and discussed the issues raised by the ULFA leadership. Sri Narayanan suggested that the outfit should write to the Government about their doubts and Government would clarify them. The doubts pertain to the condition put by the Union Government that the ULFA should shun violence. The condition is mere reiteration of what the Prime Minister had earlier said inside and outside the Parliament that Government was willing to talk to any group that shuns violence. Though the content of the letter is yet to be fully disclosed from either side, the core issue of sovereignty that had led to deadlock has been sought to be addressed this time. The PMO has reportedly mentioned that Union Government was willing to address the core concern raised by ULFA among other issues. ULFA has so far been insisting that they are interested to talk to Government only if the core issue of sovereignty is on the agenda. This led to a stalemate as Union Government was insisting on unconditional talks.
Dr Goswami said that ULFA leader’s response seems positive and she was satisfied with the latest development. She further added that she has requested Sri Baruah to consider all aspects before responding because the Government of India’s letter was an important piece of document and it had come after prolonged endeavour on everyone’s part. The Prof had been running from pillar to post meeting top officials in PMO including the Prime Minister himself to elicit a response favourable to ULFA. With the Centre unwilling to commit itself on the issue of sovereignty as demanded by ULFA because of adverse fallout, the issue had almost been shelved into the cold storage but because of persuasions by Dr Goswami and Assam Government. The first letter written by Narayan in response to chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa letter was rejected outright by ULFA, which insisted that the core issue was not addressed. They also sought a direct reply from the Prime Minister. In between, another interlocutor has also come to the picture. The pointsman identified by ULFA too has been active and communicating with top PMO officials. Dialogue with ULFA hangs over the head of Tarun Gogoi Government and if the outfit comes for talks, it could mean a massive reprieve for the ruling Congress Party, which faces election next year. With ceasefire pact with DHD, UPDS and NDFD under his belt, peace talks with ULFA would act as a major morale booster for the Congress Party.
Sources said that the Chief Minister has been supplementing the efforts of Dr Goswami and regularly in touch with PMO on the issue. The AICC general secretary in-charge for Assam, Digvijay Singh’s too has been pressed into the service and he has been in touch with PMO. In the first formal meeting between Dr Goswami and the Prime Minister, Sri Singh was asked to be present in the PMO. Early this week, the Chief Minister said that he had indication that talks with ULFA were positive and he was hopeful of making direct contact with the leadership shortly. He had also added that such pattern adopted by Government of India in holding dialogue with NSCN and NDFB would be used in case of ULFA as well. Officials familiar with the latest development said that shunning of violence clause should not be a major hurdle. After all the Government of India is not asking them to surrender their weapons before coming for talks, he added.
Central executive would decide about talks: ULFA NET News Network
Guwahati, May 28: In the latest development on the possibility of talks between the Centre and the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), Dr. Mamoni Raisom Goswami today informed that the outfit will take its decision regarding the PMO’s letter in their central executive meeting to be held next week.
Dr Goswami while informing this to media over telephone here today said that the outfit’s C-in-C Paresh Baruah called her last night after receiving the PMO’s letter. She further added that Baruah sounded positive about the contents of the letter. However, Baruah on personal capacity felt that certain points still remains unclear like whether adjourning violence is a pre-condition for the talks, Dr Goswami informed. Baruah finally reiterated that future course of action on talks would only be decided during the central executive meeting next week.
Process to update NRC under way’ Illegal migrants must leave: CM Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, May 28: In what may be termed as a positive sign for the State-wide uproar against the Bangladeshi influx, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said that all the illegal migrants who have entered the State after March 25, 1971, irrespective of their religion, must leave the State. Talking to the press here today, the Chief Minister said that to initiate the process of updating the NRC as per the recently-held tripartite talks, Deepak Sharma, ACS, has been appointed as the director while all the District Commissioners will act as nodal officers. Formation of ‘monitoring committees’ at the Thana-level for the purpose is also under way, Gogoi added.
The 1971 voters’ list would be considered as the basis for detection of the suspected nationals in the districts which do not have the 1951 NRC, Gogoi said adding that the IM(DT) tribunals have been increased from the present 16 to 32. Lashing out the AGP and the BJP for their ‘insincerity’ towards the problem, Gogoi asserted that no person would be allowed to sit in Dispur’s throne through Bangladeshi votes. "What has the AGP, which was also in power for two terms, done to solve the problem. As for the BJP, it is merely an election issue," he siad and questioned the ‘soft’ stand of the BJP on the Hindu immigrants. Terming the recent statement on Bangladeshi influx of Governor Lt. Gen. (retd.) Ajai Singh as baseless, Gogoi said that if the ‘rate’ of infiltration, as reported by the Governor, was true than it would mean that there are more than one crore Bangladeshis in the State now. "If such was the intensity of the influx why was the NDA government reticent in solving the problem during its tenure?"
Softening his stand towards the AASU, Gogoi said, "the then AASU of Prafulla Kumar Mahanta was power hungry but the present body is far more sincere and devoted to the Assamese cause."
Controversy over CM remark in Hardtalk ABVP, BJP debunk Gogoi over aliens GUWAHATI, May 28: Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi’s comment that he did not consider Bangladeshi influx as a threat has created another controversy in the State. The Chief Minister made this comment during an interview with journalist Karan Thapar in the BBC Asia talk show Hardtalk yesterday. Condemning the Chief Minister’s remark, the State unit of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has said in a press release that Gogoi’s reaction reflected his loss of mental balance and he is not in a position to continue as the head of the State.
The ABVP ridiculed the Chief Minister’s statement that he had changed his position even after the State Government had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court saying that ‘large-scale illegal migration from Bangladesh’ was a problem. Within weeks of informing the Supreme Court that ‘large-scale illegal migration from Bangladesh’ was a problem, Gogoi told Thapar that he did not consider Bangladeshi influx as a threat. Claiming that infiltration was on the decline over the last three years, Gogoi said that Governor Lt. Gen. (retd.) Ajai Singh should provide facts to substantiate his report that 6,000 immigrants enter the State everyday. It may be recalled that when asked by Thapar during the interview about the affidavit filed by the State government in the Supreme Court on April 13 that ‘large-scale infiltration from Bangladesh’ was a problem, Gogoi said, "I have changed my position."
Flaying the Chief Minister’s remark that the number of Hindu voters is more than that of the Muslims in the ‘D Voters’ category in Assam, the ABVP alleged that the Congress party is playing vote-bank politics. Referring to the Census report of 2001, the ABVP said that the number of Muslim population is alarming in more than six districts of the State. "The rise of the Muslim population in the border districts of the State is not normal at all," the release said, alleging that the Congress party is protecting the Bangladeshi nationals ignoring the interest of the national sovereignty. Meanwhile, the State unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also condemned Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi’s statement in the interview with Karan Thapar. State BJP spokesman Dhruba Prasad Baishya said that Chief Minister Gogoi is trying to mix up the issues of the Hindu refugees and the illegal Bangladeshi influx together. The BJP release further alleged that Chief Minister Gogoi is trying to promote illegal Bangladeshi influx to gain his vested political interest.
