Tribals adopt ‘mangal sutra’ in Arunachal Pradesh
ITANAGAR, Sept 7: A tribal community in Arunachal Pradesh has made it mandatory for married women to wear a necklace similar to the mangal sutra so that people can come to know about their marital status.
Aab Tebw and Ato Lappa clans of Nyishi tribal community decided at a convention in February that for solemnising a marriage, gifting of ‘Jenjap’ by the groom to the bride was a must.
“At the convention we decided not to give our daughters in marriage unless the bridegroom agrees to give Jenjap to his bride. The In-laws will also not recognise the bride unless she agrees to wear it,” Taba Hare, president of the Aab Tebw and Ato Lappa Welfare Society said.
The move, some believe, is to check incidents of polyandry, which is barred in the community.
Replying to a question, Hare said if a man had more than one wife, as is the common practice in tribal societies, he should present Jenjap to each of his wives because it would tell the community they were married.
Hare, however, disagreed that they were introducing any new practice in the tribal community by imitating the practice of the people in the plains and insisted that they were only reviving their ancient tradition.
“We had the tradition of giving expensive necklaces by mothers-in-law to newly-wed brides. But those traditions have been discontinued or forgotten,” said Hare.
“We are reintroducing them with some modification in the design of the necklace on the line of mangal sutras. The traditional necklaces are too expensive.”
The population of the two clans is estimated to be around 20,000 spread over areas along Siang, Subansiri and Kameng rivers and parts of Asom. (UNI)

US team in hunt of WWII warplane
SHILLONG, Sept 7: A two-member team from the US defence department has begun scouting for remains of American airforce personnel who went missing over the Himalayan “Hump” during World War II, officials said on Friday.
A defence official said two members of the US defence department's Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Command (JPAC) were in the northeast of India and making their way for an isolated mountain area.
Numerous US transport planes went down in the notorious area that pilots called “The Hump” -- or the “Aluminium Trail” -- because of the number of crashes.
“It is a reconnaissance mission and the actual search will begin next month after the rains stop in Arunachal Pradesh,” a Defence Ministry official told AFP.
Arunachal Pradesh, on the border with China, was along the flight path used by US aircraft ferrying supplies to besieged allied troops in China.
They were forced to fly the perilous route in April 1942 when the Japanese army cut off the main road between Burma and China, and the operations continued until near the end of the war in 1945.
In all, Allied pilots ferried 650,000 tonnes of fuel, munitions and equipment over the mountains to supply the Chinese government and other anti-Japanese forces.
Several wreckages have been found by local inhabitants in Arunachal Pradesh in the past several years. The Americans believe more than 400 US servicemen and women were lost on the Indian side of the border. China had recovered some remains of US servicemen but JPAC has yet to make it to the Indian side of the border -- a sensitive part of India because it is claimed by Beijing. (AFP)

Tea factory opened in Meghalaya
Shillong, Sept 7: The West Garo Hills Tea Farmers Federation (WGHTFF) has set up a tea processing factory in the State which was recently inaugurated by State Planning Board Chairman P A Sangma.
With this, the teagrowers would be able to sell their outputs in the price range of Rs 10 to Rs 10.50 per kg and the federation would market the finished product under the brand name ‘Durama Tea’, sources said.
In a bid to ensure that the growers obtain better price for their produce, the federation earlier managed to raise the price from Rs 4.50 per kg to Rs 8.50 per kg, by collectively selling their leaves to the neighbouring tea estates in Asom. (UNI)

‘NSCN factions violating ceasefire’
Itanagar, Sept 7: Arunachal Pradesh Home Minister Jarbom Gamlin, while admitting that cadres of both the factions of NSCN are active in Tirap and Changlang districts of Arunachal Pradesh, said the outfits were violating the ceasefire agreement.
Talking to reporters here, the minister said the withdrawal of the Army, CRPF and other paramilitary forces from those districts had compounded the problem.
“Earlier, there was an Army brigade in Tirap, which was reduced to a few battalions, and with the withdrawal of these battalions, the infiltration of underground elements from across the border into those districts has increased,” he said.
“The State Government has written many times to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and the Union Home and Defence Ministers requesting for replacement for the Army battalions, but surprisingly even the Assam Rifles’ strength is being reduced instead of replenishing the existing security personnel,” he lamented. Pointing out that both Arunachal and Assam were victims of insurgency, the Home Minister appealed to the mediapersons from Assam to crosscheck facts before publishing any news.
Replying to a question Gamlin denied Chinese intrusion into Arunachal territory and said Army personnel from both countries go on patrolling in the border areas, though he called the “difference in the perception of the line of control” the root problem. (UNI)


77% of Mizos use tobacco
Aizawl, Sept 7: Mizoram tops the list of tobacco users with about 77 per cent of the population using tobacco in one form or the other.
Students in Mizoram are also found to be heavy users of tobacco as about 54 per cent of them have been said to be habitual smokers who publicly smoked cigarettes.
This was today stated by Dr Jane R Ralte, an officer-in-charge of the Aizawl Civil Hospital’s tobacco cessation clinic, while giving a keynote address at a state-level workshop on tobacco, meant for law-enforcers and NGOs' personnel.
Speaking at the inauguration function here, health department commissioner J C Ramthanga said, “It is high time we declare a war on tobacco.” “That we (Mizos) top the country in four different types of cancer is not a thing to be proud of,” he said. (UNI)

Teak planters demand ‘ancestral’ land back
Aizawl, Sept 7: Private teak planters under the Tut-Langkaih Forest Reserve in western Mizoram today demanded that their ‘ancestral’ land be given back to them.
On behalf of the teak planters and other land holders under Kawrthah forest division, the Hachhek Constituency Development Committee (HCDC) submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Zoramthanga urging him to help the teak planters sell their ‘fruits of labour’ at their own disposal.
As per a Supreme Court order, the state forest and environment department had demanded that the teak planters accept that the land on which the plantations had been raised are government reserved forest to be issued permit for felling and selling the teak plantations.
But the planters insisted that the SC had authorised the State Government regarding regulation of the plantations, quoting the order that stated, “Plantations raised on private and community land holdings shall be regulated under respective state rules and regulations.”
The memorandum also quoted directives of a high power committee for Northeastern region as stating that “felling of trees plantation origin raised by the individual in the state in the past, under the supervision and in consonance with the rules and regulations of the department, and their disposal outside the State may be allowed”.
According to the department’s proposal, which was as per the SC order, all operations of timbers should be done departmentally including marking, felling, logging and transportation.
In order to carry out that operation, the department and the planters should deposit 5-10 percent of the market value of the timber, as an administrative charge, the actual percentage of which may be decided between the two parties.
That the land holders must submit their land passes to the forest department is unacceptable to the villagers for that would mean surrendering their lands they ‘inherited’ from their ancestors.
While demanding revocation of the Tut-Langkai Forest Area that covers an approximate area of 500 sq m under Kawrthah forest division and amendment of the Mizoram (Forest) Act, 1955, the teak planters also demanded application of The Schedule Tribes and Other Traditional Dwellers passed by the Lok Sabha in 2006. The teak planters demanded that their demands be met before September 19 failing which the HCDC will decide their future course of actions. (UNI)