NORTH-EASTERN STATES

Mizoram’s COVID graph and infection rate are showing a declining trend in the last few days as the northeastern state registered one of its lowest single-day positivity rate of 3.48 per cent recently.

Aizawl district recorded the highest number of new cases at 356, followed by Kolasib (63) and Lawngtlai (47). The state now has 11,139 active cases, while 36,679 people have recovered from the infection so far, including 1,002. Mizoram has tested over 7.24 lakh samples for COVID-19 to date, including 15,020 in the last 24 hours. More than 6.45 lakh people have been inoculated so far.

Arunachal Pradesh governor Lt Gen K T Parnaik Monday suggested the involvement of theRed Cross Societyin addressing the pressing needs of vulnerable sections, children with special needs, the destitute and orphans.

Participating in the business session of the annual general meeting of IndianRed CrossSociety (IRCS) held atRashtrapati Bhawan, presided over by Union Health minister Mansukh Mandaviya virtually, the governor underscored the need for long and short-term planning of Red Cross activities in the state.

The governor emphasised on proper coordination with district branches towards conducting awareness, blood donation and relief camps. He also suggested exhaustive training programmes for the volunteers before they go to the field. He stressed the need for a good Network system for smooth and fast implementation of any voluntary program.

The Union DoNER ministry will identify 10 underdeveloped districts in the Northeast within a week with the aim of improving the living conditions in these districts by ensuring smooth delivery of goods and Services.

These districts, lagging behind in most Governance and development parameters, will be over and above the 14 aspirational districts shortlisted earlier, based on 49 key socio-economic indicators.

The aspirational district development programme is aimed at helping the overall improvement in the index in the districts having very poor socio-economic parameters.

There are 117 aspirational districts in the country identified by NITI Aayog, which also monitors the development in these districts.

The DoNER minister has also directed officials to prepare a comprehensive Database of developmental projects in each of the eight northeastern states in the past seven years and showcase the marked improvement in all the sectors in comparison to the previous 63 years.

Chief Minister N Biren Singh said territorial Integrity of Manipur will be protected at all costs, reacting to a demand made by 10 MLAs for a separate administration for the Kuki-dominated districts of the northeastern state. The chief minister, who had made an air-dash to Delhi to confer with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, said measures are being taken to ensure that militants, who had signed a peace pact dubbed suspension of operations’, return to their designated camps.

Singh also appealed to people not to hold dharnas or rallies in view of the sensitive phase the state has been witnessing since race riots between the majority Meiteis and the Kukis earlier this month. He also said no force would be used to break the blockades imposed by some groups on highways in the state in the wake of the rioting, and instead efforts would be made to reason with these demonstrators.

TheManipurState Film Development Society (MSFDS), a undertaking, on Saturday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mumbais Film Heritage Foundation (FHF) for setting up afilm archiveofManipuricinema inImphal.

MSFDS will be setting up the film archive to save the cinematic heritage of Manipur, said MSFDS secretary Sunzu Bachaspatimayum, who signed the MoU with FHFs founder-directorShivendra Singh Dungarpurat the societys complex.

FHF being a non-profit organization, dedicated to supporting conservation, preservation, and restoration of film heritage in India, will provide technical and intellectual consultancy and support to MSFDS in starting the archive.

Students of all schools inMizoramwill wear a common schooluniformas prescribed by the state schooleducationdepartment when the new academic session begins.

Earlier, state school Education ministerLalchhandama Raltesaid the common school uniform was introduced to ensure Equality among the students and the identification of primary, middle and high/higher secondary school students, maintenance of better discipline and procurement of uniforms at cheaper rates.

Ralte said the students of government schools will not require to buy another set of uniforms even when their parents are transferred to other cities or villages.

Except for the trousers/skirts and shirts, for which specifications are already notified separately for primary, middle and high school students, different schools can have their own badges, t-shirts and neckties.

The Indian Railways has planned to extend its RAILWAY Network to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh and other areas of the northeast frontier state in Light of India’s security strategy towards Line of Actual Control (LAC) along the India-China border. This is done in an effort to aid the Indian Army in pushing its personnel and equipment into the border.

This is done in an effort to aid the Indian Army in pushing its personnel and equipment into the border.

The commerce and ministry on Saturday said it is promoting use of drones for transportation of Lakadong turmeric from Meghalaya to other parts of the country with an aim to resolve first mile connectivity issues of farmers from the hinterland. Lakadong turmeric has been identified under the One District, One Product (ODOP) Initiative of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) as a product with huge potential for Growth and export from West Jaintia Hills, a district of Meghalaya.

The fly off event would not only give a fillip to the ODOP initiative but also leverage modern technology as a fundamental solution to overcome the bottleneck of transportation that acts as a barrier in realizing the optimal potential of this spice from Meghalaya, she said. Despite India being the world’s largest turmeric producer and exporter, turmeric imports had also been increasing.

The Percentage of curcumin and oleoresin content in turmeric determines its demand by the industry and the price. India is the largest producer and exporter of turmeric. India exported USD 236.5 million worth of turmeric in 2018 from USD 182.53 million in 2017. India produces 78 per cent of the world’s turmeric. In 2018-19, turmeric production was 389 thousand tonnes.

Nagaland‘s Konyak tribe has sought access to investigation reports by the ‘s SIT and theArmy‘s court of inquiry on the December 4 massacre of 13 tribesmen from Oting village in a botched counter-insurgency operation.

The union said if authorities fail to meet their demands, Konyaks will boycott all national events within its customary jurisdiction.

The Konyaks are the majority group of Mon. It said the tribe’s “non-cooperation” against the military will continue until Justice is done.