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Edited by Rinku Khumukcham, Owned and Published by Iboyaima Khuman at Keishamthong Elangbam Leikai, Imphal and Printed by him at M/s Imphal Times Printers, Elangbam Leikai Imphal West, Contact No. 2452159, Resident Editor- Jeet Akoijam

Tuesday, November 5, 2019Editorial

IT NewsImphal, Nov 5

Troops of Assam Rifles under HQIGAR (South) recoveredContraband Drugs worth Rs 92lakhs from Khudengthabi CheckPost in Tengnoupal district.On 3rd November 2019, duringsearch at a vehicle check post,troops of Assam Rifles intercepteda suspicious Silver Colour Vandriven by Mr Md Rafik Khan ofThoubal District. After a throughcheck of vehicle, the team recovered19 packets of Heroin weighing 230gms worth approximately Rs 92lakhs.The detained individual and the

Assam Rifles seizes contrabanddrugs worth Rs 92 Lakhs

recovered items have been handedover to Moreh Police Station forfurther investigation

By a Correspondent New Delhi Nov 5

Air pollution continues to be asignificant concern to public healthand a tough problem confronted byour society. Recently Air QualityIndex (AQI) has crossed the 400mark, which is well above dangerouslevels than the accepted norms. Particulate suspendedmatter(PM<10), ozone, sulfurdioxide, nitric dioxides, carbon monoand dioxides all lead to airwayinflammation, increased allergies andlung damage. Poor air quality isresponsible for 3 million prematuredeaths worldwide per year. “The effect that air pollution has onyour lungs depends on the type andmix of pollutants in the air, theconcentration of pollutants and howmuch of the pollutant gets down intoyour lungs. Especially, in presenttime due to extreme smog andpollution even non-smokers are athigh risk of developing COPD andother life-threatening lungdiseases.”Said Dr Rakesh Chawla,Senior Consultant, Respiratory

Depleting Air quality needs to be tackled urgently toprevent health ailments

Poor AQI leading to rise in respiratory ailmentsMedicine, Saroj Super SpecialityHospital, New Delhi. Air pollution has impact on most ofthe organs and systems of humanbody and is the major cause &aggravating factor for manyrespiratory diseases like chronicobstructive pulmonary disease(COPD), asthma, chronic bronchitisand even lung cancer. Apart fromaffecting the lungs, pollution has itsill effects on the brain, nervoussystem, digestive system, kidneyand urinary system and on theheart. “One can identify that the air qualityis not safe through certainsymptoms like burning of eyes,watering and redness of eyes, nasalcongestion, running nose, frequentsneezing, headache,breathlessness, cough, chestheaviness, in order to avoid beingexposed to it. Severity ofsymptoms depends upon level ofpollution, exposure, and personalhealth status . Higher theconcentration s of amb ientpollutants higher are the risk ofheart-attack, stroke and COPD.”

The best solution to manage thehealth effects is to avoid exposure,preserve the environment byplanting more trees, which arenatural air purifiers and avoidcombustion, (stubble burning andvehicular pollution). Healthy habitslike regular exercise, breathingexercises, healthy diet are generalmeasures. Fresh fruits andvegetables provide anti-oxidantswhich protect lungs and other bodyorgans from air pollutants. Plentyof water and juices help body to getrid of these toxins. Washing eyesand face, covering nose and mouthwith mask reduces ill-effects.Preserving the environment byadopting non- conventional energysources like solar energy /windenergy/hydro-power in place offossil fuel, coal, gasoline wood.Transforming to electric vehiclesand phasing out diesel/ petrolvehicles and providing betterpublic transport to reduce privatevehicles are few steps that can helpin curbing down the deterioratingair quality.Measures to stop waste burning,

better crop-waste-management ascrop burning has led to haze andsmog surge in NCR during thisseason every year. Town planningfor better urbanization andpreventing deforestation, as treesare the natural filters for air. Indoorplants also improve in-doorpollution.Children, the elderly, and peoplewith underlying chronic disease,especially of the heart and lungs,are particularly at risk for respiratoryproblems. Healthy people who workor exercise outdoors also experiencesymptoms.“On high pollution days, the bestthing you can do to reduce yourexposure to air pollution is to avoidmain roads and busy streets whenpossible. Wearing face-mask (N95mask or equivalent) might be a useful.Using faced mask, dusing out-dooractivity is personal protection forindividuals from pollution. There arevarieties of masks available like N-95, Cambridge mask, Vog-mask,Respro-mask and many; these havedifferent filters and duration ofprotection.” He Added.

IT NewsImphal, Nov.5

India Suraksha in collaboration withManipur Police and ManipurCommission for Protection of ChildRights is organizing a two day StateLevel Training Program for PoliceOfficials on Prevention andInvestigation of cases of HumanTrafficking at 1 MR, Banquet Hall,Imphal on 4th-5th November, 2019.The main objective of theprogramme is to train the policeofficials on various prevention andinvestigation mechanisms to befollowed by police in handling casesof human trafficking and childvictims. A total of Police Officersfrom different districts of Manipurparticipated during the first day ofthe training programme.The programme is conducted as partof project Mukti-an Anti Traffickinginitiative to combat human traffickingand child sexual abuse in Manipurimplemented with the support ofECPAT Luxembourg since 2015 inImphal and Ukhrul. Shri T Guite, IPS,Addl. Director General of Police(Modernization) graced as the Guestof Honour during the inauguralsession of the two-day trainingprogramme.Apart from him Mr. KoijamRadhashyam Singh, IGP, Int/NAB,Mr. H.T Gangte, Director General ofPolice, Crime Branch, Ms. JoyceLalremmawi, SP, CID-CB, were alsopresent as chief guests during theinaugural session.Welcoming the participants andthanking the department FXB IndiaSuraksha for organizing the two daytraining programme, Shri T Guite, IPS,Addl. Director General of Police(Modernization) said that thesubject which is of utmost importantfor the present time, during hisinaugural speech.He shared that definitions andprotocols are present in thelegislations and therefore it is theduty of the officials to follow thesame and strengthen its mechanismsin preventing and combating theheinous crimes like trafficking andcrime against children and women.Koijam Radhashyam Singh, IGP, Int/NAB stressing upon prevention

Training Program for Police Officials onPrevention and Investigation of Cases of HumanTrafficking and Child Sexual Abuse in Manipur

said, “More than investigationprevention is very much important.One who becomes a victim oftrafficking has to undergo variousforms of trauma and stigma.Counseling is therefore very muchimportant. We as police officialshave to understand and be sensitivetowards such cases and worktowards reducing such instances.”The day long training programmestarted with a welcome note bySatya Prakash, Program Manager,FXB India Suraksha introducing thepurpose and objective of thetraining programme. He stressedupon the fact that Manipur due toits geo-political location and sharingborder with Myanmar in itselfstands vulnerable in terms oftrafficking of persons andsmuggling of persons.He thanked the Hon’ble DirectorGeneral of Police and the ManipurPolice department for collaboratingand supporting in organizing theprogram. He also informed aboutthe drafting of the StandardOperating Procedures inaddressing and handling cases ofhuman trafficking.Differentiating between Want,Need and Right, Mr. Satya Prakashinitiated his training sessionssaying that Rights are non-negotiable and has legalconnotation and goes beyond anyage, gender, caste, race, religion orregion. Starting on the definition ofa child he said, “Although differentlaws have defined a child differently,the only definition consideredsupremely as per the JuvenileJustice (Care and Protection ofchildren) Act 2015 which says thatany person below the age of 18years should be treated as a child.”He also discussed various

provisions laid out under the lawespecially the procedures to befollowed by children while handlingchildren in need of care andprotection and child in conflict withlaw.The day long training concludedwith the sessions on Protection ofChildren from Sexual Offences Act,2012 and the role of Police laid outunder the law. The session alsoincluded the comparison betweenPOCSO and JJ Act which focusedon how children who are victims ofsexual offences should be treatedas a child in need of care andprotection and undergo theprocedures as per the JJ Act.Apart from that the daylong trainingfocused on the definition oftrafficking as laid out in Section 370of the India Penal Code, reason ofvulnerability, modus operandi interms of source, transit and

destination, trends and forms oftrafficking. The day long programmeended with movie screening forcontext setting, queries,suggestions and recommendationsfrom the participants.Till date FXB India Surakshathrough project Mukti has been ableto reach out to around 10,000students and 15000 communitypeople, religious leaders, communitymembers through its variousawareness generation programmes,trained around 400 law enforcementagencies including paramilitaryforces, 300 Government officials, 200journalists in Imphal, Ukhrul andTengnoupal districts of Manipur.Moreover, 4000 adolescents andteachers have been trained throughadolescent clubs and 18 VigilanceCommittees has been formed andmigration registers being introducedin Ukhrul district.

IT NewsImphal, Nov 5

With funding from SamagraShiksha State ImplementingSociety, state education sociaty isgoing to provide an opportunityfor a “Helicopter Ride” to thestudents studying in Classes IV –VIII of Government Schools.For the students to be able to enjoythe “Helicopter Ride” they have toparticipate in a Zone-wisecompetition to be organized by theconcerned the Zonal EducationOfficers (ZEO) in their respectiveDistricts or Zones during themonth of November.The competition will be carried outin two categories from Classes IV-V and from Classes VI-VIII. Thewinners of these competition willbe given “Helicopter Ride” theFrom the category of Classes IV-Vthree best students and fromcategory of Classes VI-VIII five

students will be selected aswinner. For each Zone only tenrepresentatives inclusive of eightstudents, one teacher or guide andone representative of ZEO can berecommended.The Zone-wise competitionsunder the broad theme ‘Know YourState’ in different literary activitiesof extempore speech, quiz or storytelling of other communities or inany other way to help the childrenexplore and understand the Statebetter. Topics of the competitionwill be based on information andmatters related to the State.The Helicopter Ride willcommence from the 14th November,2019 on Children’s Day. Theopportunity is being provided tothe children to explo re andun derst an d the beaut ifullandscape and landmarks of theState in a unique way. EachHelicopter Ride will be of 20minute duration.

Education Dept. to provideHelicopter ride to Students

More news

What if the much-awaitedturns out to be Samuel

Beckett’s ‘Godot’Stakeholders in all neighbouring states of Nagaland,

particularly the government of Manipur, Assam andArunachal Pradesh, will be consulted before settling the

issue of the NSCN-IM and other Naga National Political Groups(NNPGs). This was what the union home ministry had clarified amidstrumours about signing the final agreement between them on October31. Indeed, we the people of this democratic country need toappreciate the Union Home Ministry for the timely clarification whenpeople across the state of Manipur were on alert to uproar a 2001June Uprising-like situation after various news were being carriedout based on speculations and sources by media houses. But theassurance for invitation or consultation of Government of Manipur,Assam and Arunachal Pradesh reminds of Samuel Beckett’s classicplay ‘Waiting for Godot’. The air that is blowing in Nagaland state isof joy and celebration with the assurance from the government ofIndia to end the 6-decade long Naga issues, and people in the stateare waiting for December 1 as they have been told that the day willbe another historic moment as the Prime Minister will announceofficially that has been agreed on October 31.

What is that agreement that the Prime Minister is going toannounce? Is it going to be the acceptance of all the demands thathave been made by NSCN-IM? If so, then what will be the air thatwill blow in the state of Manipur?

On the other hand, similar to the way that Vladimir (Didi) andEstragon (Gogo) waited for a person named Godot who never arrivedin Samuel Beckett’s play, government of Manipur is waiting for aninvitation from the Union Government to have a consultation on theissues before any settlement has been brought. October 31, ChiefMinister N. Biren Singh himself stated that Union Home Minister AmitShah had told him that no settlement will be signed or had beensigned and such a settlement will be brought only after consultationwith the government of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

Today is November 5, and as per news report, it is only 25 daysleft for the historic announcement to be made by the Prime Ministeron the inaugural day of HornBill festival, which coincidentally isalso a day that Nagaland became a state of India in 1963.

The government of Manipur says that they have no knowledgeof the content of the agreement, but are waiting for the invitationfrom the center for the consultation, more like waiting for Godot byVladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo).

India government is not run by idiots – even though manyelected legislatures or parliamentarians have sometimes showedtheir stupidity, the country is run by highly educated bureaucratsand the Prime Minister of India is utilising and noticing every timein consultation with intelligentsia group before acting or decidingon anything. And the government of India under the Prime MinisterNarendra Modi will never act anything that will put on fire thegateway to the South East Asia (Manipur) and, at the same time, hewill never hurt the sentiment of the people of Nagaland.

The moods of the people here in Manipur are restless waitingfor what will happen if any agreement signed or accepted by theunion government against the wishes of the people is announced.So, the government of Manipur, civil society organisations as wellas the people of Nagaland are anxiously waiting for something thatthey don’t actually know.

In short, what if the much-awaited turns out to be a Godot ofSamuel Beckett.