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04/11/2007: "Canadian, Indian firms to hunt crude in Nagaland Hindustan Times"

Canadian, Indian firms to hunt crude in Nagaland Hindustan Times

A Canadian company and an Indian exploration firm will soon begin looking for crude oil in the jungles of Nagaland in the northeast, a state haunted by decades of insurgency. Agreements with Canoro Resources Ltd of Canada and Oil and the state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) have been signed and the calendar of activities will start soon, Nagaland Industry and Commerce Minister Khekhiho Zhimomi said. The predominantly Christian state of two million has the potential to yield some 600 million tones of crude oil, according to preliminary government estimates. "Nagaland is literally sitting on a multi-million dollar oil reserve. The state's economy would definitely witness a massive turnaround if oil is struck," the minister told IANS.
ONGC, India's premier oil exploration firm, began exploration work in Nagaland in 1994 but had to withdraw its operations following threats from the separatist Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM) and several other tribal groups. "We have the full support of the local people this time while executing the agreement with the ONGC. We hope there should be no problems now," Zhimomi said.A similar deal was signed between the local government and Canoro. "In northeast India, we believe the thrust belt running through the state of Nagaland to be a highly prospective area to explore for hydrocarbon deposits," Les Kondratoff, president of Canoro Resources Ltd, said in a statement from Canada.
Canoro has been engaged in exploration work in the oil-rich northeastern part of India since the past decade. The Canadian firm is now part of the Kharshing oilfield in Arunachal Pradesh that they began exploring in 1995. "Despite being geographically located in one of the most prospective areas, there has been virtually no exploration activity in Nagaland for over 12 years and limited activity prior to that," the Canoro statement said. "Nagaland's geology is very similar to the thrusting and folding found in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, an area very familiar to Canoro's management and technical team," it added.
Despite a narrow industrial base and poor economic conditions, the tribal Nagas until recently refused the vast natural resources to be tapped. "There is no point in not letting the resources be tapped. By striking oil, we would not only be earning revenue, but at the same time such ventures would ease the spiralling unemployment problem in the state," the minister said. Nagaland is also rich in coal, limestone, nickel, cobalt, chromium, magnetite, copper, zinc and platinum, besides marble and granite. The government recently adopted the 'minor minerals policy' to make exploration work possible in the region. A violent insurgency dating back to India's independence in 1947 has claimed over 25,000 people lives in Nagaland, which borders Myanmar.

ONGC in Nagaland re-entry - Mizoram hills next stop for oil and gas giant A STAFF REPORTER The Telegraph
Guwahati, April 10: The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has decided to resume drilling operations in Nagaland after a 13-year hiatus and make its debut in another northeastern state, Mizoram.
The oil and gas behemoth has also drawn up plans to revamp its ageing facilities in Assam and hire two foreign consultancy firms for technical support. The larger goal is to increase the company’s crude output from 1.33 to 1.9 metric tonnes by the end of Eleventh Plan.
R.S. Sharma, who took over from Subir Raha as chairman and managing director of the ONGC in May last year, told The Telegraph that the company’s biggest challenge at the moment was to resume operations at Champang in Wokha district of Nagaland.
The Nagaland government barred drilling operations in Champang on May 2, 1994, in the wake of objections by the NSCN (Isak-Muivah) and some other organisations, including the Naga Students’ Federation.
The ONGC has now struck a deal with the Nagaland government, making it a stakeholder in oil and gas exploration. Sharma declined to give details of the agreement.
Apart from resuming work in Nagaland, the company is aiming to start deep drilling in Mizoram. Sharma said the plan was based on extensive feasibility studies. “Optimism is the philosophy of our business and it is with this philosophy that we are venturing into Mizoram,” he added.
Assam is in the scheme of things, too. The ONGC has drawn up a “renewal package” that entails investing nearly Rs 2,500 crore in revamping its ageing facilities in the state and going for technology induction with an estimated additional expenditure of around Rs 2,000 crore.
There will be comprehensive replacement, revamp and expansion of equipment and other infrastructure. Advanced process control and communications systems will be implemented along with better health, safety and environment management.
Sharma called on chief minister Tarun Gogoi on Sunday to apprise him of the ONGC’s plans for Assam and seek better security arrangements.
The chairman and managing director was assured of the services of a security battalion comprising local youth. He reciprocated by offering two vans equipped with cancer-detection equipment. The special vehicles are worth Rs 70 lakh. A.K. Hazarika, director (onshore) of the ONGC, B.C. Nayak, executive director (security), and B.M. Singh, executive director (asset manager, Assam), accompanied Sharma to the meeting with the chief minister.
Rio invites Industries to invest in state Kuknalim.com
DIMAPUR, April 10:: Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio Tuesday wooed the industries to invest in north-east, Nagaland in particular, stating the region has all the potentials for an economic boom, provided the industries were willing to come. Addressing the 3rd North-East Business Summit in New Delhi, Rio assured that DAN government was prepared to provide all necessary incentives under its own industrial policy. He also assured that State government would take all steps to create a conducive environment for industrial investment. The Chief Minister pointed out the progress made by Nagaland in the last forty-three years after it attained Statehood and said the economy of the State was growing by leaps and bounds. On extension of the North East Industrial Policy for another ten years, Rio said the ball was now in the court of the Indian industries to take full advantage of this and come in for investment in the State.
"The Indian industry and the Indian business community have always been dynamic. The Indian corporate giants have been assertive enough to become the major players in the world's iron and steel industries. It is time the Indian industries started playing attention to the opportunities existing in the north-east," Rio said. Pointing out the slogan of his government - "peace for development and development for peace" -, the chief minister said north-east should be seen both as a business opportunity and an investment for India's future. (NPN)
8 hardcore ULFA militants killed in Arunachal encounter The Morung Express
Dibrugarh, April 10: Eight hardcore ULFA militants, including two women cadres, were killed in an ongoing encounter with security forces in Arunachal Pradesh bordering Assam’s Tinsukia district today.
A senior Army official told here that troops of 7/11 Gorkha Rifles had launched an operation in Tekelipam area of Lohit district in Arunachal since early morning and in the ensuing encounter eight ULFA militants, including two women cadres, were killed.
The dead include two top ULFA leaders Corporal Jun Bhuyan and Sergeant Pranab Rajkhowa of 28th Battalion`s `c` company, the outfit’s strike force.
Bhuyan was responsible for the banned outfit’s operations and activities in Tinsukia district.
The killing of these top leaders was a major success for the security forces and a blow to the ULFA, the official said. The General Officer in Commanding (GoC) of 2nd Mountain Division Maj Gen N C Marwah has rushed to the 7/11 Gorkha Rifles Base at Kakopathar to review the operation. The encounter was still continuing in the remote jungles of the district, the official added. Meanwhile, noted author and peace talks facilitator Indira Goswami today urged for renewal of talks between the centre and the ULFA and expressed her willingness to take the necessary initiative in this regard. Goswami said in Guwahati that the Nagarik Shanti Mancha, a recently formed forum of prominent citizens and intellectuals, floated by her, was preparing a draft to take the peace process forward. Noted political scientist Hiren Gohain and social activist Suchibrata Roychowdhury was helping the Mancha to prepare the draft and a meeting will be held in this regard tomorrow to discuss and give a final shape to it, she said. The final draft would be soon sent to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, she added. The Jnanpith Award winning writer said the only way to solve the insurgency problem in the state was through dialogue and “we must renew the peace process”. “I will continue to raise the core issues and problems of Assam on any national and international forum”, she added.
Fernandes assures to solve grievances of Arunachal Pradesh The Morung Express
Itanagar, Apr 10 (UNI): Union Labour Minister Oscar Fernandes has assured to look into the grievances of Arunahcal people, who have been feeling neglected by the ruling UPA government at the Centre. Talking to reporters here last night, Mr Fernandes said the Congress-led UPA government was committed to the development of North East. He said huge funds had been pumped into the region for the welfare of the people. On state government’s repeated plea for relaxation of protected area permit (PAP) to facilitate flow of foreign tourists and replacement of derogatory Dafla word by Nyishi as unanimously resolved in the assembly three years ago and sent to the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry, the Minister assured to take up the nomenclature issue soon. On relaxation of PAP, he said every state in the North East had different set of rules, which could not be undone or redone at one go. The Centre had always been concerned on how to maintain the tribal character and their rich culture while promoting the region as an important tourist hub. There was no harm in people coming and going but the identity of the people must be maintained, he added.
‘’But, it would lead to chaos, if the outsiders acquire property or settle down. Thus, the precaution,’’ he added. About rectification of anomalies in the Statehood Act, 1986, he said the matter was complex with wider ramifications and implications, citing the example of Nagaland, Sikkim and Mizoram. Therefore, such issues could not be taken up in isolation, he clarified.
On reopening of border trade with China, Mr Fernandes said neither the issue of sensitivity could be overlooked nor the country’s security concerns neglected despite New Delhi’s keenness to develop trade and commerce with the neighbouring countries.
Assam’s missing women and the sex trade The Morung Express
Calcutta, April 10 (BBC NEWS): The biggest problem in India’s north-eastern state of Assam is separatist militancy. But it faces another, less well known issue. Thousands of its women, old and young, have gone missing over the past 10 years.
A recent police report says 3,184 women and 3,840 female children have gone missing in the state since 1996.
That’s around two females a day on average.
The report was compiled by Assam police and their research branch, the Bureau of Police Research and Development.
The local police are far too busy, according to Assam police intelligence Chief Khagen Sarmah, fighting insurgents.
“Our counter-insurgency commitments affects our normal policing duties like checking trafficking.”
“Too many policemen are involved fighting the insurgents rather than following up on other crimes,” Mr Sarmah said.
‘Good looking women’
The Assam police recently rescued some girls working as call-girls around Delhi or used as “sex slaves” by wealthy landlords in states like Punjab and Haryana.
Most of them are from camps of internally displaced people dotting Assam, particularly the Kokrajhar district.
Many people in Assam have fled the area due to the fighting
That area is home to nearly a quarter of a million people who were displaced in the late 1990s.
Nearly 800 people died in ethnic fighting in Kokrajhar and adjoining districts between Bodo tribes people and non-Bodo communities over a decade long period from 1994.
The police survey revealed an organised racket of “recruiters” who lured good-looking women with job offers outside the state.
“We arrested some recruiters but could never put an end to the rackets fully,” said police official Anil Phukan. The modus operandi is simple: good looking women in the displaced peoples camps are offered jobs.The parents are paid a few thousand rupees in advance, and told the daughters will send back money once they start working. Once they go away, that rarely happens.

Money matters
Jam Singh Lakra of the Jaipur relief camp near Kokrajhar town says: “At least 20 girls have gone away with the jobs from our camp, not to return again.”
“We did identify a few recruiters and one got beaten up. But somehow the girls kept going away.”
Most families are cagey about the missing girls but some do speak up. Tuilal Mardi of Tablegaon village says “My parents accepted the offer and sent my sister away.”
“They got a few thousand rupees but she never came back or sent any money.”
Women’s rights activist Paula Banerjee, who works on problems of displaced women says: “Ethnic conflicts all over the world results in massive displacement of women and that gives rise to heavy trafficking - the situation in Assam is no different.”

Local pornography
But not all the missing women of Assam have been taken out of the state. Some show up in local pornographic films. Mala Newar in Kokrajhar was known to her teachers as a “decent, well behaved girl” in school. That was until one of them spied on her husband’s mobile phone last month and found a video clip featuring Mala in the nude having sex with a stranger.
Enquiries in Kokrajhar revealed that Mala and some other local girls were used in a pornographic films racket run by a local leader. A hotel in the town was used for the filming. The girls were first lured into the hotel with job offers, then offered soft drinks laced with sedatives.
They were then filmed in the nude and blackmailed into doing sex scenes for the camera.
Not all missing girls in Assam are from displaced peoples camps, though.
Indrani Bora and Ritu Borgohain are smart, educated English-speaking girls from the Assamese capital, Guwahati, who got jobs in a holiday complex in Gurgaon near Delhi seven months ago.
But both say they got slowly got drawn into a call girl racket run by the complex owner.
An officer who led an Assam police team to rescue Indrani and Ritu explains.
“All across hotels and resorts in places like Delhi and Bombay, you will find hundreds of girls from Assam and other north-eastern states working as waitresses or customer executives.
“Some do get drawn into the call-girl trade.”

Hunger driven
The Calcutta Research Group, in its recent study on conflict-induced displacement says that the displaced people in Assam live in acute poverty.
The situation has led the women in particular to desperately seek work elsewhere; even if the offers come from dubious people.
“This is because the government officials running the camps never created viable livelihood options,” says Uddipana Goswami of the Calcutta-based Centre for Studies in Social Sciences (CSSS).
Ms Goswami has worked on the displaced camps in Assam.
“Many displaced women have such exquisite craftsmanship but nobody ever tried to convert that into income alternatives,” she says. Paula Banerjee says trafficking ignores borders therefore solutions cannot be left to local agencies alone.
“This is not a local or even a national problem.”
“This reflects the global reality, so intervention by international organisations may help check trafficking.”
(Names of the girls have been changed to protect their identity.)
Manipur tribal students threaten stir Correspondent Nagaland Post
IMPHAL, APRIL 10: Tribal students have given the Manipur Government a fresh deadline of April 17 for implementation of their various demands.
"If the State Government fails to respond to our ultimatum within the deadline, we will be compelled to launch several forms of agitation from the next day," Apau Haokip, spokesperson of All Tribal Students' Union Manipur (ATSUM), told journalists at Imphal Tuesday.
One of the prominent demands of ATSUM is decentralization and delegation of more powers to the district level officers of the Tribal Development Department in the hill districts of Manipur.
Apau alleged that both tribal and poor people of the hill districts were made to spend lots of money to get their works done by the Tribal Development Department in Imphal whereas their needs could be fulfilled by the district level officers.
He said the State Government had repeatedly failed to fulfill its assurances made to representatives of the student body at consultation meetings held on several occasions.
"The student body is also demanding revival of the Scheduled Tribe Cell in the Manipur University, which has remained defunct for the last many years due to non-appointment of its officer-in-charge," he said. The ATSUM spokesperson said out of the 145 teaching staff in the Manipur University, only two professors were from the scheduled tribe which was against the State Government's reservation policy of 35 per cent for the ST, adding the figure did not even match the 7.5 per cent reservation for ST under UGC norms. According to Apau, only 47 of the total 295 non-teaching staff are from the Scheduled Tribe. He claimed although the State Government had agreed in principle to open at least one residential school in every block in the hill districts of Manipur and Rs. 15 crore was sanctioned for upgrading 10 selected schools of the hill districts to residential schools on experimental basis, yet nothing had happened in this regard till date. It may be recalled that ATSUM had earlier set April 10 as the deadline for the Manipur Government for implementation of the tribal students' demands. The government held talks with the student union on Monday and agreed to take up steps to settle the issues within April17.
NE Chief Ministers woo investors Our Spl Correspondent Assam Tribune
NEW DELHI, April 10 – The Chief Ministers of the North Eastern region tried to put their best foot forward, while acknowledging that problem areas remained. Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi addressing the Summit briefly touched on his Government’s achievements like holding the 33rd National Games, laying of the foundation stone of the gas cracker project, the ASEAN Car Rally among others. He also praised the Congress leadership including former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi.

Asserting that Look East Policy would be a boon for the region, Gogoi, however, cautioned that the Policy itself might not work for North-East unless the infrastructure is upgraded and technical skills honed in.

He said the perception outside was wrong and businessmen themselves should visit the region. “Outside perception that the region is trouble prone is absolutely wrong. Today there are over 9-10 flights out of the region. In fact, barring the metros, the number of flights in the North-East is perhaps highest in the country,” he said.

Gogoi also admitted that rural connectivity and unemployment were problem areas. He further informed that State Government was focusing on agriculture sector. The rural economy has to improve,” he said.

Meghalaya Chief Minister, D D Lapang held that because of the activities of underground outfits from Assam and the local underground outfit ANVC, the Garo Hills area has acquired a bad name amongst intending investors. Hardly any investment has taken place in this region of Meghalaya during the last five or six years. He was referring to the security environment in the three Garo Hill districts.

However, Lapang gave an impressive view of the industrial scenario in his State. Meghalaya have set up the ‘single window’ system for speedy clearances of industrial proposals. During the last financial year we exported goods worth Rs 184 crore mainly to Bangladesh.’

The cement factory at Cuttack in Bangladesh runs on limestone dispatched from Meghalaya through an aerial ropeway. Currently Lafarge Surma has requested for permission to transport limestone from Meghalaya for 2 million tonne cement project proposed to be set up in Bangladesh,” he divulged. Chief Minister of Manipur, O. Ibobi Singh, poured out his woes to the investors, listing problems faced by the State one after another. An IT Park in Hyderabad consumes 10 MW of electricity, while the entire State of Manipur has to make do with 12 MW of power. It is not possible to set up any projects in Manipur unless power situation improves.

He also lamented that the 33,000 km East-West Corridor terminated in Silchar. Why was the Project not extended right up to Moreh. In case of natural calamity, Manipur would remain cut off from rest of the country. How can entrepreneurs come to Manipur when it remained cut off,” he asked. There is no rail head, no road, so how they will bring raw material,” he questioned. He traced the root cause of the State’s problems to unemployment and lack of employment opportunity. The Chief Minister also questioned the rationale behind the Inner Line Permit System. When a extremist affected State like Jammu and Kashmir does not have this Protected Area Permit, why should it remain in force in the North-East, he asked, demanding its withdrawal.
Saving Manipur— I By Dr Mohendra Irengbam Sangai Express
A political firestorm
As we know a political firestorm has been sweeping Manipur to dismantle its age old boundaries by neighbouring Nagas. The eye of the storm is for the moment dormant. But we should keep our finger on the pulse with a deadpan half smile.
An air of uncertainty still hangs over Manipur. What if the Congress Government changes? It is hard for us not to feel a modicum of concern, like the fist of an Old Testament God coming to smash through the stained glass of a church. We still wait to face the music.
In an age defined by irony and the fatalist Islamophobia, when Muslim university boys in the UK target Hindu girls to make them pregnant and blackmail them to become Muslims and have Muslim babies to increase Muslim population, there is a valiant need to watch our backs.
Meitei and Naga duel The political duel between the Meiteis and Nagas has become vitriolic blurring the line between our boundaries. There have been Naga insurgent attempts to erode the cultural and geographical boundaries of Manipur into a valley devoid of peaks. This is trash that gives me a belly laugh. The time has come for slow winnowing of facts until just the grittiest chaff could be thrown in the faces of the stultified by stopping radical Naga expansionism and their progressive diversionist policy to polarise Nagas of Manipur. The time has come for us to plough the unpleasant furrow of Manipuri nationalism.
Importance of contemporary history
In the post-war era, the contemporary history is essential to the creation and reinforcement of a collective identity for Manipuris. We need an increased share of a common language viz. Manipuri (spoken by 85%) and willingness to celebrate a plural and secular society. We have to forge ahead in the larger interest of Manipur for Manipuris. How does this account stack up with current history?
Pre-Hindunised Meiteis drank wine and ate meat just like other tribal people of Manipur as is still in vogue among the Scheduled Caste Meiteis such as Sekmai, Khurkhul, Phayeng and Chakpa (chakcha yuthak man- aba). But this fraternal old history does not help to integrate Nagas with Meiteis. Integration is not one sided. Love between a man and a woman must be mutual.
Shelving of old history The oft-repeated old history of Manipur being 2,000 years old should be mothballed for the time being. Old history depends on the interpretation. Whether it was the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 or The First war of Independence depends on who is interpreting it.
Some Nagas make derisive remarks about the Khongjom War heroics as Meitei fabrications. M Horam, a Naga in his foreword to the Meitheis, reprint January 10, 1975 (page ix) writes: “....that the prince who accepted Hinduism as the Meiteis’ state religion was a Naga who took the title of Gharib Niwas and ruled Manipur for 40 years.” The Visnupriya Manipuris still claim with enough evidence that they were the original Indo-Aryan settlers of Manipur with Brabubahan and Chitra- ngada as their ancestors.
Nomenclature of Hao
Some Nagas might flare their noses in disbelief and take it as poppycock. In equal measure, while reading his statement Muivah does sound a bit loopy when he comments that “I lived in Ukhrul. I was born there; my forefathers were born and lived there. This land belongs to us. We are not living in the land of Meiteis.”
Now I am going to make a statement on oath but as an agnostic: ‘I confirm that I will speak the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The Meiteis were the original inhabitants of Manipur settling in the fertile dry land of Kangleipak. They did not come from anywhere. They were just there as the Burmese were in Burma. The Nagas migrated into Manipur, wherever they came from (I am not bothered) and thus settled in the hills as the valley was full. Can someone find an anthropologist who could provide sound evidence that I am not telling the truth?
The often quoted ethnographical monographs of Meiteis and Meiteilol or Manipuri, first researched by Lt Col McCulloch (married a Meitei princess, 1816-1885) and followed up by TC Hodson, who later became a Professor of Anthropology in Cambridge are well known. Indeed there are some similarities between Meiteilol and Tibeto-Burman language and between Meiteirol and other... tribal dialects of Manipur. That does not mean that Meiteis came from the Tibetan border or North West China as some philologists claim; no more than Nagas descended from Meiteis. Nor did the Bengalese migrate from the Indus valley just because their language has a lot of similarities with Sanskrit. Is it not also possible that the Tibeto-Burman language originated from Meiteirol! Size does not matter; English spoken in tiny England is not only spoken worldwide but every language has English words coined in it as in Hinglish. — to be contd