by admin | May 25, 2021 | Opinions
Gauhati High Court
This many numbers i.e. 24000 of lawyers under the Bar Council of Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim, out of which 5000 newcomers, have declined due to Covid-19 Pandemic in the northeastern states of India alone.
Shahnaz Islam
By Shahnaz Islam | Gauhati
Lawyer’s dilemma in India didn’t ease even in the so-called post unlock COVID-19 condition. The doldrums continues in the country, when it is trying to catch fire of sufferings and loss of hopes over all professions. The debacle is same in all Government and private sectors.
Most of the practicing lawyers are into the ether of darkness and out of dearth of luminiferous in their lives. The situation here is no less than a desert, not only the advocacy profession but almost all sectors are facing vicious lore – no service, no money because of the novel coronavirus lockdown. The whole mankind, in securing the necessities of life, have drowned in its pace. Everything seems to be freezed and no movement.
Unfortunately, the ferocious Covid-19 is a bizarre storm in the lives of every individual, no matter whom we are by wealth or in identity. This many numbers i.e. 24000 of lawyers under the Bar Council of Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim, out of which 5000 newcomers, have declined due to Covid-19 Pandemic in the northeastern states of India alone. Every profession or business is at the verge of slippage. The Novel Coronavirus has dampened the Bar Association and risks the lives of lawyers and the linking tenebrous life of the shells. The place and the desks over here, once known for its busyness and over populated hustle bustle with the masses of advocates and clients, is now calmed and ill-fated. This has been the sole place of worship for many, where umpteen number of advocates from various districts have been celebrating their advocacy life and they have been earning their daily bread, is emptied now like a ghost-house and the advocates are terribly suffering to sustain each single day for their livelihood.
This advocacy profession is so stately and dignified in manner that an advocate himself can’t express his own penury state open up like a needy or an indigent person does. The stale lives will kill the advocates, before the virus reaches them.
The Gauhati High Court Bar Association (GHCBA) in representation of Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court is appealing for the reopening of physical courts and their functioning to the fulfilment. The prayers are so far unanswered and the things grooved only under the control of Covid-19.
Hafiz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury, the Chairman of the Bar Council of Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim manifested his downcast thoughts and all the pains and miseries that the entire fraternity is facing due to the Pandemic surge. Nothing but all are helpless and only craving for the tints of amber may soon touche in everyone’s lives. On 13 August 2020, when he set for a sit-in-demonstration requesting for the utmost resumption of Physical Court sooner for the help of the lawyers; his act cherished the whole fraternity and represented their dire needs.
Article 267 of the Constitution of India clearly states that the Parliament and the State Legislatives to establish a contingency fund in order to meet “unforeseen expenditure”, why then the PM CARES fund which has over Rs 9,677.9 crore is still virgin in its silk linen treasuries and untouched for the grant of relief delivery for mitigating the hardships of the advocates in India?
Meanwhile, several state bar councils have tapped their coffers to help the enrolled advocates with a share of pity amount of 5000 rupees only. How far these 5000 rupees will serve their necessities?
Prolong to the crises of the advocates which is mushrooming day by day because of no regular physical court functioning and being unable to equilibrium the expectations of this profession vis-à-vis homely needs, the common lawyers are at odd. Existing networking and infrastructure is either partly or fully broken or at least damaged due to Covid-19. Clients are unable to reach their lawyers fondly with the failure of new adaptability around the provinces these days. This not only created a havoc scenario but also lacked and declined copious number of cases in the court.
Previously the Gauhati High Court was hearing 500 cases per day in its 20 courts; now the ratio is only 30 to 40 cases daily. The income of the lawyers in lower courts basically runs through filing of fresh cases and hearing matters; but due to shut down of courts, days are becoming very crucial and merciless. No clients, no fresh filing, no hearing and no advocate fees.
Moreover, the matters which are being taken over to the video conferencing are too time consuming, not very portable and not very well to do connectivity of the internet and make face to face solid arguments like unlock periods. There is no aorta of doubt that advocates are trying very hard to muffle up themselves into the new season, brought by the Covid-19. However, it is becoming tough, rather very tough to cope with the situation.
The thought of suffering itself shreds the heart apart but it also provides to acquire the greatest lesson of one’s life that “it is only hardship that makes a man worth living his life”. If everything was so easy just like sipping a cup of latte then what would have contributed to the meaning of life? The changes or how the Covid-19 has reshuffled everyone’s life is a challenge to the whole humanity. How to make sustainability and reflect upon your deeds and means as a human being; accept this change and learn to grow by sculpting the courses of this giant shift in disguise, are just some of the obvious lessons for all of us.
(The author is Gauhati High Court advocate, freelance writer and a poet.Opinions are author’s personal.)
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
By Devyani Chhetri and Sejal Singh,
Mumbai : On November 28, Mizoram — the last northeast bastion of the Congress — will vote to elect a new government that will oversee what is planned as Indias gateway to Southeast Asia.
With about half as many voters as south Mumbai, Mizoram is one of India’s fastest-growing, healthiest (second) and most-literate (third) states.
However, there are issues that threaten to slow the growth of a state that has been administered by either the Congress or the Mizo National Front (MNF), ever since the peace accord of 1986. That agreement ended the long-running Mizo uprising, marked by air raids on capital Aizawl in March 1966, the only time the Indian Air Force bombed its own people.
Mizoram’s 768,000 voters will vote in 40 constituencies to determine if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will make its first inroads and complete the party’s surge into the northeast. After the victory of the BJP-led Northeast Democratic Alliance (NEDA) in Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura earlier in 2018, seven of eight states in the region —Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur — are governed by the alliance.
Led by Lal Thanhawla, former insurgent-turned-mainstream politician, the Congress has administered Mizoram for the last 10 years. Previously, in the 2013 elections in Mizoram, the party won 34 of 40 seats. But since 2014, the Congress’ vote share declined 13.4 percentage points across the northeast.
Mizoram has been positioned as the epicentre of the Centre’s Act East Policy, which aims to harness shared cultural and border ties between India’s northeast and south-east Asian countries such as Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand and other ASEAN nations.
Filtered through various indicators, Mizoram boasts a raft of high-performing statistics. The state is one of the fastest-growing in the country, with its economy growing by 12 per cent between 2013 and 2016. It has India’s second-best health indicators and third-best literacy.
However, the state’s achievements are challenged by four issues: Increasing poverty, racial tensions, high school-dropout rates and inter-district inequalities, which hinder growth.
It also grapples with illegal migrants, inter-tribal differences, an inability to create jobs for its educated youth and tensions sparked by allegations of corruption against the current government. These tensions have led to the rise of sub-regional alliances, such as the Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) — comprising of regional parties such as Zoram Nationalist Party, Mizoram People’s Conference and Zoram Exodus Movement — and this may disrupt the traditional exchange of governments between the Congress and MNF.
More than 94 per cent of Mizoram is tribal, 80 per cent is Christian, and minorities — the Chakmas and Brus — claim racial discrimination at the hands of majority communities, such as the Lusei, Ralte, Hmar, Khiangte and Lai.
Mizoram has one of the lowest rates of anaemia among women in the northeastern (24.8 per cent), child wasting (8.4 per cent), stunting (28.1 per cent) and underweight children (12 per cent), according to data from the National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4).
It ranked first among smaller states and second nationally in NITI Aayog’s overall 2018 Health Performance Index. The state’s health-related successes can be attributed to its per capita expenditure on health, which was five times the national average: 4.5 per cent of GDP in 2015, compared to India’s 1.02 per cent.
However, Mizoram’s progress has lagged other states. Manipur, which ranked second among smaller states in NITI Aayog’s Health index, improved by 7.18 per cent compared to Mizoram’s 2.43 per cent.
The proportion of Mizoram’s people living below the poverty line rose from 15.4 to 20.4 per cent over seven years to 2011. Mizoram’s high literacy rates are marred by high school-dropout rates and inter-district disparities. The dropout rates in primary and secondary schools are 15.36 and 30.67 per cent, respectively, more than the comparable national averages of 6.35 and 19.89 per cent; Mizoram’s dropout rates are also the northeast’s highest.
There is a 38.76 percentage point gap in literacy between the most literate district (Serchhip, 98.76 per cent) and the least literate (Mamit, 60). The districts of Lawngtlai (66 per cent) and Mamit suffer literacy rates lower than not just the state average but the national average of 70.04 per cent.
Hills cover over 80 per cent of Mizoram, and with 60 per cent of the population dependent of agriculture, the state is challenged by difficult-to-farm areas and declining soil quality, affected by the tradition of jhum — or slash and burn — cultivation.
A National Land Use Policy, 2009 (NLUP), which aims to revitalise the primary sector by introducing alternatives to jhum cultivation, such as reforestation and market infrastructure, has been a prominent promised intervention by the state government and the Congress’ previous election campaigns.
But NLUP funding has been roiled by allegations of corruption. In 2015, a government audit found funds for bamboo plantations filched. Farmers took to the streets of Aizawl to protest the NLUP’s failure in providing a market to farmers, who were made to choose broom grass and ginger cultivation.
Mizoram reports 976 females per 1,000 males, as per Census 2011 — the national statistic is 943 females per 1,000 males — and it records the second-highest rate of female labour force participation (54 per cent) after Chhattisgarh.
Yet, as the state goes to vote, another contradiction emerges: Mizoram had 2.62 per cent more women voters than men in 2013. But all 40 legislators are men. Of the six women who contested the 2013 elections, only one was from the Congress. In 2018, 4.8 per cent more women electors are set to vote. Whether any of the men will be displaced will be clear on December 11, when results are announced.
(In arrangement with IndiaSpend.org, a data-driven, non-profit, public interest journalism platform, with whom Sejal Singh is an intern. Devyani Chhetri is a graduate of LSR College. Views expressed are those of IndiaSpend. Feedback at respond@indiaspend.org)
—IndiaSpend/IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Entrepreneurship, Opinions, Startup Basics, Startup Financing
By Annapoorna Ravichander,
I recently had the opportunity to conduct a hands-on workshop on entrepreneurship, creativity and communication for three government colleges in Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram, with two of my colleagues.
We went to Aizawl with limited knowledge of what to expect. Six days of interacting with a bunch of college students primarily with a social science background was something that we were looking forward to.
I did some research on what the government had to offer with reference to skill development and entrepreneurship for students. The Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) states that 10 million youth will benefit from this scheme by 2020. The government website states that this scheme will be initiated by the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).
The primary objective of the workshop was to help students to think out of the box. This was done by encouraging them to think of a community problem that bothers them and find a solution. This clearly helped them relate to the schemes provided by the government, which supports entrepreneurship by enhancing knowledge using the latest technologies.
This also helped students to try and think of innovative ways of solving problems. For example, a group of students came up with a concept of increasing tourism in Aizawl, since there is a huge scope but the city lacks the wherewithal.
Since the government already has a clause that states the scheme will provide a platform to facilitate training for special projects, it was imperative to encourage the students to clearly communicate their needs. The session on communication discussed body language, importance on carrying appropriate communication materials while going for a meeting, and audience mapping, to name a few.
The training was an eye-opener, in terms of the lack of awareness of students to use technology for skill development and entrepreneurship.
The hands-on workshop involved a lot of activities to apply the knowledge imparted. For example, when the concept on ideation was explained and students were asked to come up with problems encountered in their daily life, they shared “problems” which was for us something that was solved, sorted and addressed. As a result of this, we had to customise some of the concepts to suit the needs of these students so that we could achieve the desired results. While there are the schemes/opportunities available there are some challenges faced by the modus operandi of imparting education.
While English is the official language all subjects (in college) are taught through the vernacular language. As a result, there is no practice and hence no scope to improve communication in the English language.
Because of lack of practice in using the English language, the students were unable to respond to questions despite having knowledge. They ended up being passive learners with no scope for interaction. An innovative way of handling this subject will perhaps improve the quality of education. For example, apart from following a text book method, role-plays, activities to understand and apply the learnings may perhaps provide confidence to the students.
Having a close-knit socio-cultural background sometimes hampers the growth of a society. There are strong organisations like the Young Mizo Association (YMA), Kristian Thalai Pawl (KTP) and Thalai Kristian Pawl (TKP) but they bond the Mizo society and hence exposure to several opportunities are ignored
Looking at the brighter side, several technical and vocational courses have been initiated. Students now stand a chance to opt for courses like pharmacy and nursing, technology, engineering, veterinary, business management, to name a few.
The city is clean following some of the best practices. The traffic is heavy but people have great respect for fellow commuters. Despite narrow lanes jammed with traffic, one does not hear the blaring of car horns/scooter honks from impatient drivers/riders. The several road curves also reduce the speed of the traffic and people follow rules.
Rain water harvesting is practised due to scarcity of water. Dustbins are provided at all junctions hence there is no littering of garbage.
The sun rises at around 5 a.m. and sets around 5.30 p.m. Hence life starts early and all shops close at 5.30 p.m. since it becomes dark.
There are no beggars or scavengers on the road. Almost every shop is run by women and they do it with great efficiency.
Sundays are spent in church, since Mizoram has a high population of Christians.
(Annapoorna Ravichander is an independent writer. The views expressed are personal. She can be contacted at annapoorna@pacindia.org)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News
New Delhi/Agartala : Over 32,850 Mizoram tribals staying in refugee camps in Tripura for the past 22 years would be repatriated to their home state (Mizoram) by September, an official release said here on Tuesday night.
The decision to repatriate the Reang tribal refugees was taken at a meeting in New Delhi where Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb, his Mizoram counterpart Lal Thanhawla and top officials of Home Ministry (MHA) and the two northeastern states were present.
“After almost 22 years, the tribal refugees would be repatriated to Mizoram before September 30 and all six temporary camps in northern Tripura would be closed in the first week of October,” the official release issued by the Tripura government said here on Tuesday.
It said that a four-partite agreement was signed on Tuesday between the Centre, Mizoram and Tripura Governments and the Mizoram Bru Displaced People’s Forum (MBDPF).the apex body of the refugees.
“The draft agreement was earlier circulated by the Union Home Ministry and a consensus was reached among all on the draft accord,” the release added.
About 32,857 Reang tribals comprising 5,413 families – locally known as ‘Bru’ — have been living in the six makeshift camps in north Tripura’s Kanchanpur and Panisagar sub-divisions, adjoining Mizoram, since October 1997 after they fled their homes in western Mizoram following ethnic trouble in that state.
Tuesday’s meeting also finalised a 6-point package for the benefit of the refugees.
The package include, each refugees family would get financial aid of Rs four lakh, each family would get an allowance of Rs 5,000 per month, Rs 1.50 lakh would be given to each family for construction of houses, each refugee person would be given free ration for two years.
The official release said that a monitoring committee headed by Special Secretary (internal security) of the MHA has been constituted with officials from Tripura and Mizoram and representatives of MBDPF.
It said : “Home Minister Rajnath Singh lauded the efforts of the Chief Ministers of Tripura and Mizoram and officials of the MHA and the two states who made the momentous agreement possible.”
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and top officials of the MHA have visited the refugee camps in north Tripura and Mizoram many times and urged both the Mizoram government and the refugees to end the stalemate over the repatriation.
The Supreme Court had last year directed the MHA and the Mizoram and Tripura governments to jointly work for the return of these tribal refugees to their home state.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, News
Mizoram Institute of Medical College of Research is located at Falkawn
Imphal : Mizoram’s first medical college is slated to open its doors in August.
The Mizoram Institute of Medical College of Research is located at Falkawn and has all the necessary infrastructures as required by the Medical Council of India (MCI), L. Fimate, the Director of the college, told IANS on Saturday.
“The MCI has recommended the Letter of Permission for setting up the college,” he said.
Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla initiated the institution’s establishment keeping in mind the rising number of medical aspirants in the state.
Fimate said:, “Mizoram has been getting just 10 seats every year in the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, (RIMS), Imphal. It is a central college. The medical aspirants of Mizoram find it almost impossible to get a seat in other medical colleges in India.”
The college will initially capacitate 100 students, 85 seats reserved for Mizo students.
Fimate has previously served as the Director in RIMS for nearly six years. He has also served as the head of the Forensic sciences in RIMS and J.N. Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal.
—IANS
