Aizawl city proposed for Smart City project

Aizawl, July 19: Mizoram state capital Aizawl city has been proposed for the Central initiative Smart Cities Mission by the State Level High Powered Committee for Smart Cities Mission in Mizoram (HPSC) which held its first meeting yesterday.

The State Level High Powered Committee for the mission was set up on 19th June 2015 with Chief Secretary of the state Lalmalsawma as its Chairman. HPSC proposed Aizawl city for carrying out the Smart City project by virtue of its being the only one eligible in the state as per the criteria set the Centre.

 

Mizoram government will submit the proposal to the Central government. As regards the funding for the Smart City Project, the State Level High Powered Committee meeting found it necessary to be considered upon.

As per plan, the Smart City Project is to be carried out under Centrally Sponsored scheme (CSS) with Centre-State 50:50 funding.
 

Smart Cities Mission was launched on June 25, 2015 in New Delhi on the occasion of which UD&PA Minister Zodintluanga and Chief Secretary Lalmalsawma along with UD&PA Department heads were also present.

If the project is carried out, Mizoram will every year receive Central assistance- Rs. 100 Crore (estimated) for the Mission within 5 years. The main targets under the Smart City Project includes, among others, adequate water supply, assured electricity supply, sanitation, including solid waste management, affordable housing, especially for the poor, robust IT connectivity and digitalization, health and education.

Secretary of UD&PA has been appointed for City Mission Director in Mizoram.

Lal Thanhawla takes up Assam-Mizoram boundary issue with Rajnath Singh

Aizawl, June 30: Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday last and discussed various problems faced by Mizoram, including the unresolved Assam-Mizoram boundary issue. 

The Chief Minister discussed about Security Related Expenditure (SRE) and that Mizoram Police has to spend huge money on fighting the state-based Hmar rebels besides those operating from neighbouring countries like Bangladesh and Myanmar. He asked the Union Home Minister to make special arrangement for grants under SRE to strengthen the police.

On the repatriation of Mizoram Bru refugees from Tripura transit camps, the Chief Minister told Singh that Mizoram Bru Displaced People Forum (MBDPF) has created problem opposing the repatriation process. However, Mizoram has created proper Road Map I & II for the repatriation, and as on 23rd June 2014, 1237 families have been repatriated, Chief Minister told the Union Home Minister.

Also taking up the contentious issue over Mizoram- Assam boundary, Lal Thanhawla told Singh that the inter-state boundary accepted by Mizoram government and the people is the one notified vide Inner Line Notification No. 2299p of 20.8.1875 of Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulations, section 2 of 1873. “Ramtharzau near Buhchangphai in Kolasib District, where an incident took place recently, is also within Mizoram,” he said.

Lal Thanhawla also discussed the Inner Line Regulatory system which, he said, is necessary for protection of Mizo tribals from being assimilated by bigger communities. He also said that the proposal to relax ILP to boost the tourism industry could have worse effect on the Mizo tribals.

Lal Thanhawla also took up the Kuki Nationalist Organisation (KNO) group of rebels issue, saying  KNO does not fight for independence, but for protection of their cultural rights and dignities.

He said the Union Home Ministry should push for continuation of ceasefire talks between the rebels, Manipur government and the Centre.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, upon listening to the matters put up by the Chief Minister, immediately asked the officers who were with him during the meeting to do whatever is possible at the moment.

Lal Thanhawla was accompanied by Minister of State for Environment & Forest etc. Lalrinmawia Ralte on his meeting with the Union Home Minister.

Mizoram to set up sugar mill at Lungleng village

Aizawl: Lungleng village under Tlangnuam RD Block in Aizawl District is likely to get a mill that will be used for making brown sugar, after successul sugarcane cultivation under the state government’s flagship programme — the NLUP.

“The Agriculture Department is planning to set up the mill,” Agriculture Director Dr.C.Lalzarliana said yesterday while visiting Lungleng village.
The official along with other staff inspected the different sugarcane fields at Lungeng village that are under the NLUP.

Since long, Lungleng village has been known for sugarcane cultivation and it is the main supplier of juggery/molasses for Aizawl city.

In Lungleng North, where 158 families live, at least 80-90 families are cultivating sugarcane. Under NLUP, about 65 families are said to achieve success in sugarcane cultivation.
Likewise, in Lungleng-I, 60 out of 164 families are cultivating sugarcane, and under NLUP, 44 families are said to achieve success in sugarcane cultivation.

Among the cultivators who met with huge success, many of them now have a huge production of 63qtls. of juggery annually.

Duhawma (VCP), Lalthanpuia and Para are some of the beneficiaries from Lungleng-I who achieve success. From Lungleng North, Lalchhuana (VCP), Lalzawmliana, Hmingthanga, R.Kapthanga and Remi are the prominent ones.

Mizoram school teacher arrested for abusing over 30 students

Aizawl: A teacher of Governmenr Primary School, Saichal, in Champhai district, was arrested on Friday on charges of sexually abusing 32 students. 

The accused H Lalhmingmawia (30) s/o Nunkima, Saichal has been lodged at the Champhai District Jail.

Meanwhile, the victims students were examined on Friday by Ngopa police and medical team in the village.

Allegations of Lalhmingmawia sexually abusing his students was first heard on November 2 following which steps were taken to unearth the truth.

The victims, aged between 8 and 12 years, did not report out of fear as the teacher had threatened them with dire consequences.

Only after they happened to watch the Mizo version of ‘Savdhaan India’ (India Fights Back) serial film, on Zonet Cable TV, they told their parents of their ordeal, sources said.

THREE YEARS

Lalhmingmawia was arrested Friday after first information reports were lodged with the police by parents of two victims. Subsequent inquiry and interrogation of the teacher revealed that he had either molested or raped 30 more girl students in the past three years in the same school.

The teacher has been charged under the concerned sections of both the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. Sources said that Lalhmingmawia is married and father of three children and joined his teaching job in 2012 on being hired by Saichal VC to be paid from the contribution of the villagers from their wage under 100 days job (MGNREGA). A 10-year-old victim was molested on October 30 and the 12-year-old victim, student of CL-VI, was molested about 2 years ago, when she was CL-IV.

CONFESSION

Lalhmingmawia according to police has confessed to the crime, villagers of Saichal said, adding, it is hard to believe what he has done because of his active involvement in church activities.

Saichal village leaders have also fired Lalhmingmawia from his job. They said that they are deeply saddened by what has happened to the children, adding, they want adequate punishment for the accused.

5th e-North East Summit held in Aizawl; Mizoram gets Emerging IT State of the Year

Aizawl: The 5th e-North East Summit was held yesterday in Aizawl. The event was jointly organised by Information Communication Technology (ICT), Department of Mizoram Government, and the North East Development Foundation (NEDF). 

 

The one-day programme was held Aijal Club in which C. Lalhmachhuana, ITS, Secretary ICT Department, delivered welcome address while Dr. Syed S. Kazi, Lead Partner, NEDF delivered key-note address.

The success stories of 51 IT projects by the state governments, organizations, business entities of NE were highlighted and discussed. The Workshop I was guided by C. Lalhmachhuana, Secretary, ICT Department and was moderated by Amitabh Singhal, Board Director, PIR, while Sanjeev Sharma, Jt. Secretary, NETIA and Prof. Basav Roychoudhury, IIM Shillong were Juror Invitees. The Workshop I theme was ‘Digital Innovations For Citizen Services Delivery in North East India’. 21 new IT developments for enhancement for service to the people and for improvement of government administration were shown and discussed during the Workshop.

Workshop II with the theme ‘Digital Innovation in Education, Learning & Healthcare’ was held under the guidance of R. Lalvena, Secretary, School Education Department and was moderated by Shri Rajen Varada, CEO, Open Knowledge Community (OKC), while Debabrata Bhadury, Chief Coordinator, East & North East, NIELIT and Biswajit Hazarika, Chairman, IT, FINER were Juror Invitees. 11 new IT new developments for improvement of education and health were discussed.

Workshop III with its theme ‘Digital Innovations in Livelihood & Enterprise, Commerce & Business, Culture & Heritage, Environment & Tourism, Inclusion, News and Media’ was held under the leadership of Madan Mohan Rao, Board Advisor, DEF, while Mrs. Smita Sahay, Partner, NEDF was Expert Invitee and Mrs. Gayatri Buragohian, Director, FST was Juror Invitee. 17 new IT developments for the subjects mentioned in the theme were demonstrated and discussed in the Workshop.

The 51 IT devices demonstrated during the workshops were all tested, and then divided into different categories. The best in each category were awarded in the programme of ‘5th e-North East Award 2014’ held afternoon at Legislative Assembly, Conference Hall. Mizoram ICT Minister Lal Thanzara, the Chief Guest of the programme, handed over the awards.

AWARDS FOR MIZORAM

There were 8 Nominations from Mizoram, of which the joint project of Regional Transport Office, Mizoram and NIC Mizoram State Unit – ‘Real Time Courtesy & Information SMS Without Using SMS Gateway received the Award in Services Delivery category.

Computerization of Taxes project under Taxation Department; East Lungdar RD Block website; and Mizoweb Livelihood Centre were also awarded under Special Mention category.

Mizoram received the Emerging IT State of the Year Award and also Special Recognition of the Year Award for the Facebook group Special Report.

There were 97 nominations for the Award from which were selected 33 finalists; each of the best project in 8 different categories received the 5th e-North East Award 2014.

Lal Thanzara expressed gratitude to the organisers and remarked that the 5th e-North East Summit 2014 held in Aizawl is a big move for IT and related sectors in Mizoram. He expressed hope the Summit would bring forth a good result in the world of IT and related sectors. He said that Mizoram Government gives importance to IT, adding, the state government is trying to create as many conveniences to the people through the use of IT.

He mentioned that various Mission Mode Project under National e-Governance project like – State Wide Area Network (SWAN), State Data Centre (SDC) ; Common Service Centre (CSC); e-District pilot project in Aizawl; VAT collection system and VAHAN and Sarathi are successfully carried out by the state government.

State Delivery Gateway (SSDG) and State Portal (SP) are also expected to be completed during the present year, ICT Minister mentioned. Mizoram government will do its best for the success of the new central government flagship programme Digital India, the minister said.

 

Further, he added that the state government acknowledged the importance of ‘digital connectivity’ for IT and related fields, and accordingly State Level Committee on Telecommunications has been set up to supervise, vigilate and review the works of the Central government projects in Mizoram like Intra-SDHQ-DGQ OFC project, National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN) and other connectivity projects.

Lal Thanzara also mentioned that Mizoram government and Ministry of DoNER in recently  collaborated with National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), for setting up of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Business Process Management (BPM) in Mizoram. If successful, the same is expected to open up good avenues of economic sources for the youth in the state, the minister said.

The e-North East Summit had been hosted earlier by Assam, Nagaland, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.