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04/19/2009: "“No-frill” banking for the poor Our Correspondent Morungexpress"

“No-frill” banking for the poor Our Correspondent Morungexpress

Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and others during the inaugural session of the 23 biennial general conference of the Angami Students Union on Saturday at Mezoma village. (Morung Photo/Chizokho Vero)

Mezoma | April 18: Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio today appealed to all ‘defaulters’ who took loans from the Nagaland State Cooperative Bank (NSBC) to clear their liabilities at the earliest and ensure ‘recycling of funds’. This is to ensure that other ‘deprived section’ of the community is also in a position to reap the benefit of financial assistance from the bank, he reasoned.
Expressing concern over poor loan-recovery, Rio said one has to pay back ‘when it had benefited’. Launching the state-wide campaign on “No Frill Saving Account” by NSCB on the sidelines of the 23rd general conference of the Angami Students’ Union here, Rio said he had learned from the management of the bank that from time to time they introduce packages with a view to provide relief to ‘defaulters’ through one time settlement, one time compromise settlement, special default settlement and so on. “But the response was far below expectation and only few people approached the management to avail benefit under schemes while most others remained unconcerned,” he said.
Rio declared that the state government, being the largest share-holder of the bank, will not remain a mute spectator and will certainly initiate strong measures to recover dues from ‘willful defaulters whatever might their affiliation and status so that the only local bank can be strong and vibrant’.
He said that the bank has been able to carry forward responsibilities entrusted to it through the network of branches spread over the state for the last 42 years. “With a view to bring more and more people under its fold, I am told that the bank has drawn up diversified plans and programmes, which is presently obstructed due to mounting of overdue and poor recovery of loan,” Rio said.
Referring to the state-wide campaign on “No Frill Saving Bank Account” under the financial inclusion policy, he said even the poorest of the poor shall have access to banking facilities by opening accounts with zero-balance. “…People interested to open such accounts shall not be subjected to any hassles as the KYC (‘know-your-customer’) procedures are simplified and such account holders can avail micro-credit at their times of need,” he said.
Rio expressed happiness that the bank has been playing pivotal roles in improving the socio-economic condition of the people of the state. He made special reference to the rural masses and weaker sections of the community consisting of agricultural farmers, cooperators, artisans and weavers and so on. They are extended thrift and credit through primary agricultural cooperative societies and individuals.
Earlier, NSCB managing director BK Thadani said “ my bank is here today to propagate the message that the bank with is a state partnered bank is committed to ensure banking facilities to the unprivileged and under privileged section of the people of Nagaland who are deprived of banking services from time immemorial.”
With this aim in view, he said the NSCB has introduced mass-banking and financial inclusions to enable even the poorest of the poor, the small farmers, marginal farmers, sub-marginal farmers, the unemployed youth and other weaker sections of the society to have access to banking and affordable credit facilities.
A ‘no-frill” accounts can be opened either with ‘Nil’ or very minimal balance as well as charges that would make such accounts accessible to the vast sections of the population, he said.
Thadani also appealed to the students’ community particularly the ASU to patronize the local bank and to extend all possible assistance in fulfilling commitment for the development of the state in general and the down-trodden and rural population in particular. The NSCB official also lauded the chief minister “who was kind enough to stand firm to protect the bank in the hour of crisis when the RBI had imposed embargo on the bank in view of poor recycling of fund to low-level of recovery.”
Prayers For Raped, Murdered Naga Girl MorungExpress News

(Left) Six-year old Naga girl Gaipuilu Gangmei is seen here in a photograph protestors displayed at a protest rally today near the Delhi Police HQ, Pragati Maidan in Delhi. Naga students in Delhi took out the rally denouncing April 17 rape and murder of the minor. (Betoka Photos)
Dimapur| April 18 : A day after the loathsome rape and murder of a six-year old Naga girl, Gaipuilu Gangmei, in Delhi’s Mahipalpur colony, a condolence service was held at Emanuel Baptist Church which was attended by over 300 people.
According to sources in Delhi, the family members of the victim and the Naga Students’ Union Delhi have met the Joint Commissioner of Police and the Deputy Commissioner of Police at the Delhi police headquarters in New Delhi. A memorandum was submitted there by the NSUD on behalf of the victim’s family, demanding fair and speedy investigation. The Joint Commissioner has assured the family that the culprits will be booked at the earliest, sources informed.
Sources informed that the victim’s body is still lying in the morgue and the official postmortem result will be declared only on Monday. Two suspects have been detained by the Delhi police in connection with the case, one of whom is the father of the main accused, one Manoj. Manjo is still at large. It was also informed that the victim’s body would be brought back to Nagaland for the last rites.
Meanwhile, the north-east community is expressing outrage at the rape and murder of the minor girl. Today, north-east community leaders went to the Delhi Police Head Office, demanding justice for the shameful crime. The delegation demanded that the Delhi police arrest the murders and absconding suspects without delay.
“North-east communities in Delhi and NCR have been targeted and continuously suffering at the hands of people for last four years. Young girls have been targeted, abused and assaulted sexually and physically,” the North East Support Center & Helpline today said in a message.
Postmortem result on Monday
It lamented that the mindset of the mainland people towards north easterners living in Delhi is that they are “cheap, strangers and a helpless community” one can “do anything one likes and none will bother, has been the major factors of the discrimination” the NESC said.
On top of these woes, the delay and denial and negligence of the police have added fuel to the fire of hurt and discrimination, the communities lamented. “In most of the cases where assaulted on NE communities, were denied and delayed in lodging the complaints. Until and unless media pressure is mounted, most of concerned police do not bother” the support-center said adding that “stories do not end here”.
Most of the cases registered are not taken up to punish the culprits or render justice to the victims, it said. It was informed that the NE Support Centre & Helpline team will soon meet the chief minister of Delhi and state officials to look into the cases pending and also to ensure appropriate action. The NE Support Centre & Helpline on behalf of the NE community appeals for immediate action to be taken to deliver justice and prevent further discrimination.
Also, condemning the crime, the Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR) expressed hurt and anger over the rape and murder of the Naga girl. A press release issued by the NPMHR from Delhi said the “horrific murder serves as a chilling reminder of how unsafe the capital of India is, especially for women and children; if an innocent six-year old is not safe in the confines of her home, it reveals the degree of violence and danger that children are exposed to.”
NPMHR expressed concerns stating that the people of the northeast region have been marginalized in the city of Delhi. “The prevailing mainstream perception and stereotype on the northeast people, in particular of the women has fuelled conditions which make northeast women vulnerable to violence and discrimination,” the note stated. The organization pointed out that not a single case of rape, murder or abuse of northeast women has been addressed in just and fair manner and that they continue to be targets of violence.
Criticizing the slack response from both the administration and governance, right from the Delhi police to the court system, NPMHR said the trend “has proven to be appalling and that the family and the community of the aggrieved have been made to fend for themselves in a very alienating and antagonizing environment.” Such apathy on the part of the administration only demonstrates the systemic racial discrimination meted out to the people of the northeast, the NPMHR said.
The organization has demanded that the case of Gaipiliu should be investigated at the earliest and the culprits booked without delay. The authorities in concern are also urged to start taking cognizance of the systemic racial discrimination against people of the northeast and initiate necessary measures to address it.
Two DHD(J) militants held in Nagaland The Hindu
Kohima (PTI): Two militants of the Jewel faction of Dima Halom Daogah (DHD-J), responsible for recent violence in Assam's NC Hills district, have been arrested at Dimapur during a raid, police said on Sunday.
Acting on a tip-off, special branch of Nagaland police conducted the raid near Industrial Estate on Saturday and arrested Gokul Giri, an alleged arms peddler, and 'Corporal' Samarjit Hashu alias Sweet Dimasa of the outfit.
According to police, Giri allegedly used to supply arms and ammunitions to NE militant groups. Recently, he had supplied about 300 AK-47 rifles and a large quantity of ammunition and explosives to some militant groups of the region, they said.
Hashu had gone to collect some consignments from Giri's house, police added.
The arrested duo during interrogation admitted that two AK-47 rifles along with 233 live rounds, which were smuggled from Myanmar, were passed on to a militant group based in north east two days back, police said, adding that during the raid they recovered some AK-47 ammunition from the ultras' possession.
Naga students protest over five-year-old girl's death Times of India
NEW DELHI: A day after a five-year-old girl from Nagaland was found murdered in Mahipalpur in south Delhi, the Naga Students' Union, Delhi (NSUD)
submitted a memorandum to the police commissioner on Saturday, demanding an immediate arrest of the culprit.

The victim, who had come to the city two months ago to spend her summer vacations with her mother, was found lying in an empty water tank on a terrace on Friday afternoon with injury marks on her neck and private parts. She was rushed to the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre (ISIC) in Vasant Kunj where she was declared brought dead. Police said that the girl seemed to have been raped but only the post-mortem report could confirm it.

On Saturday, more than 100 students and professionals from the various North-eastern states gathered outside the police headquarter near ITO demanding justice for the victim and security for the women in the city. "We want speedy investigation and trial in the case. The culprit should be brought to book soon so that nobody else attempts such an act again. We plan to submit a memorandum to the home minister and the Prime Minister too,'' said M Gonmei, former advisor, NSUD.
Keishing demeans party-hoppers By Our Staff Reporter Sangai Express
IMPHAL, Apr 18: Rajya Sabha MP Rishang Keishing has categorically stated that the politics of the self-styled leaders who have no definite principle of their own and keep hopping from one political party to another during election time has become suffocating.
Addressing a public meeting held in connection with the election campaign of Dr Th Meinya, the Congress candidate for the Inner Manipur Parliamentary Constituen-cy which would go to poll on April 22, at Khurai Popular High School ground today, Keishing said such self-styled leaders would not last long and their promises are hollow.
Pointing out that there is no other political party in the country other than Congress which is the oldest and longest party at helm of the Government, the seasoned Cong- ressman said false charges being levelled against Congress by some political parties only during election time with an eye on the vote bank is ridiculous.
“Trading charges during election time would not bring any good. Instead of that any political leaders who is worth his salt and intent to work for the welfare of the State and its people should be ready to come out and debate on the important issues besetting the State,” Keishing challenged.
Maintaining that the Congress led SPF Government in the State has been taking up various developmental works, Keishing, who is also the longest serving Chief Minister of the State called upon the UG groups not to interfer in the developmental activities of the Government but to co-operate in resolving the insurgency problem so as to usher in peace and development in the region.
Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh, who was also present, noted that Congress-led SPF Govt has completed seven years today and it has been living up to its responsibility of ensuring a stable Government.
Over the past seven years, the SPF Government has accomplished many developmental works yet there are still many more things that need to be done. So to bring about a revolutionary change in the Manipuri society, the position of the Congress led UPA Government at the Centre needs to be strengthened, he said, while appealing to the voters to support Congress party and exercise their in favour of party candidate.
The Chief Minister further said that the SPF Government views the Opposition parties on same footing. But the manner of targeting the Government is so despicable that they (Opposition parties) need to be taught a befitting lesson this time.
The public meeting organised by the Khurai Block Congress Committee was also attended by other Congress MLAs and Ministers.
Similar election meetings of the Congress party were conducted at Wangkhei and Lamlai today wherein the party leaders pleaded the voters to cast their votes in favour of Congress candidate Dr Meinya.
‘Third Front will repeal AFSPA’ PTI
Sibsagar, April 18 (PTI): If the Third Front comes to power it will repeal the Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA), CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan said on Saturday. “The controversial AFSPA must go as it has resulted in creating fear in the minds of people and has served no purpose. We will abolish it, if we come to power,” Mr. Bardhan, who was here to campaign for CPI candidate for Jorhat Lok Sabha seat Dhrupad Borgohain, said. “We will also rethink about the nuclear deal with the US,” he added.
He also asserted that Assam must be given a special constitutional status like Jammu and Kashmir as it is facing a similar situation. “Assam has many problems like porous international borders, unabated influx from across the border which has threatened the existence of local people and above all terrorism which can be tackled effectively only by special constitutional status,” Bardhan said.
The Congress, he said, claims that growth rate has increased but it is only the number of millionaires that has increased with the condition of 78 per cent of the population remaining same, he said. Borgohain is locked in a triangular contest with sitting Congress MP and Union Minister B K Handique and BJP’s Kamakhya Prasad Tasa.

DHD-J targets goods train again OUR CORRESPONDENT The Telegraph
Silchar, April 18: Suspected Dima Halam Daogah (J) militants sprayed bullets on yet another train in North Cachar Hills district, thwarting efforts to resume train services in the volatile district for the second time in three days. However, there were no casualties.
This was the fourth attack on a train in the district by the outfit since April 10.
The DHD (J) rebels opened fire on a goods train between Lumding and Haflong near Migrendisa station on the metre gauge rail track of NF Railways around 10.30am today. The train had to be terminated at the station.
The incident occurred at a time when the railways had deployed two companies of the security forces to strengthen the security structure along the tracks in the insurgency-prone district and were toying with a plan to induct army formations for patrolling along the serpentine metre gauge section.
The Dimasa outfit had on April 15 rained bullets on a goods train running between Badarpur and Lumding at Migrendisa, 19km from the district headquarters town of Haflong.
Debashis Dhar Choudhury, the area officer of the NF Railways at Badarpur junction in Karimganj district, today said the incident came just when the railway authorities resumed the goods train movement which had been suspended on April 11.
He said there were no casualties during the exchange of fire today between the security forces and the small band of about half-a-dozen gun-toting tribal rebels.
The gunmen later managed to flee into the jungles on either side of the railway track, which was repaired only last night to enable the goods trains to run.
Dhar Choudhury said he was awaiting instructions from the NF Railways headquarters in Maligaon as to whether any such goods train would be steamed off from here tomorrow in view of today’s firing.
On April 10, the DHD (J) attacked the only passenger train which was kept running in the district, killing one CRPF constable and injuring 17 others near Wadrengdisha. On April 11, two special police officers of the railways were killed and another injured when the rebels attacked a goods train carrying rice at Diajobra station under Langting police station.
NPMHR Delhi concerned over murder of Naga girl Sangai Express NNN
Imphal, Apr 18: The Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR), Delhi is extremely hurt and angry at the rape and murder of an innocent six-year- old girl Gaipuiliu Gangmei. The young girl was living with her mother and grandmother in Mahipalpur, Delhi, said the NPMHR-Delhi.
It said that this horrific murder serves as a chilling reminder of how unsafe the capital of India is, especially for women and children. “If an innocent six-year-old is not safe in the confines of her home, it reveals the degree of violence and danger that children are exposed to,” terms the NPMHR-Delhi.
“The Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR) is deeply concerned that the people of the Northeast region have been marginalized in the city of Delhi. The prevailing mainstream perception and stereotype on the Northeast people, in particular of the women has fuelled conditions which make Northeast women vulnerable to violence and discrimination. Our experience has shown that New Delhi has not been safe for women from the Northeast. And recent history has shown that not a single case of rape, murder, abuse of Northeast women has been addressed in a just and fair manner. Justice delayed is justice denied and sadly, northeast women continue to be targets of violence,” alleged the NPMHR-Delhi.
It then stated that in the various instances the response of administration and governance, right from the Delhi police to the court system has proven to be appalling.
“The family and the community of the aggrieved have been made to fend for themselves in a very alienating and antagonizing environment. The lack of response and responsibility on the part of the administration has been very disturbing.
The callous response of the administrative system has only demonstrated that the systemic racial discrimination meted out to the people of the northeast,” further alleged the NPMHR-Delhi. It also demanded to case and bring the culprits into book at the earliest.

UNLF mocks AR claim The Imphal Free Press

IMPHAL, April 18: The UNLF in a press release today mocked the claim by the Assam Rifles PRO that only one soldier was killed and six injured in the attack by the MPA, the party`s armed wing on April 14 at the Kasom area in Ukhrul district.

This was deliberate attempt by the Assam Rifles to hide its badly bruised ego at having been humiliatingly defeated by the UNLF in battle.

It said the bodies carried away in helicopters on the day is evidence of their defeat, and also claimed that in order to hide the fact from the media the injured where flown straight to Kolkata and not treated as usual at Leimakhong army hospital.

It said the soldiers posted at Singhat, Sajik Tampak, Khengjoy Range and Kasom are on their nerves` ends trying to anticipate what the UNLF would do next and many of them are driven to suicide, it said.

The UNLF release also said the current "Operation Summer Storm" is aimed at destroying the Sangai (Brow Antlered Deer) and its habitat. Those that the army claimed killed are also most likely to be civilians, it said.

As for the MPA, it does not have any camp in the area, and even if it did, there is precious little that the Indian Army can do about it, the release said.

UG camps busted at Khoidumpat, arms seized
The Imphal Free Press

Imphal, Apr 18: Temporary camps of underground activists were destroyed today by a combined team of Imphal west police commandos and 12th Maratha Light Infantry and several sophisticated arms and ammunitions along with assorted articles recovered after a search operation at Khoidumpat area under Waikhom police station.

In relation to the incident, L Kailun, SP Imphal west, who was involved in the operation told the media that on receiving specific information about the presence of armed cadres in Khoidumpat area, the combined team launched an operation today from 11 am to 2 pm.

He further said that the security personnel were fired upon by unknown armed cadres on reaching Khoidumpat and the security men retaliated resulting in firing from both sides for about 15-20 minutes.

After the firing ceased, the area was thoroughly searched and one temporary camp belonging to the outlawed KCP (Noyon faction) and two temporary camps of the Prepak were found destroyed.

During further search of the camps, the team recovered a generator set, an inverter set with battery, assorted utensils and kitchen materials, a gas cylinder and stove, three plastic chairs, one A-4 rifle, one universal machine gun, one lethod gun with five lethod bombs, one W/T set, five Chinese hand grenades and assorted ammunitions.