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North East : Sonia reiterates UPA’s Government’s commitment on rapid development |
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Congress president Sonia Gandhi has reiterated that UPA Government headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is committed to promoting rapid development of the North East. Speaking at a function to mark the 19th statehood day of Arunachal Pradesh in Itanagar last week (Feb. 20), the Congress president advocated a process of “negotiation and consensus” to address the insurgency problem not only in Arunachal Pradesh, but also in the whole region.
Sonia Gandhi said Manmohan Singh’s focus on setting up close economic ties with East Asian countries will benefit the north-eastern states including Arunachal Pradesh. She raised hopes of the reopening of traditional trade routes with neighbouring Tibet, Myanmar and Bhutan in the near future and said it would give the state’s economy a much-needed boost.
Abnormal growth of Christians : Church leaders protest NCM remarks
The Church leaders of the North East have strongly objected to the remark of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) where it claimed an abnormal growth of Christian population in the North East, particularly in districts bordering Bangladesh. In a hard-hitting letter to the Chairman of the Commission, Tarlochan Singh, four Church leaders including Archbishop of Guwahati Rev. Thomas Menamparampil and general secretary of the Baptist churches in North East, Rev. Nugul Khan Paul have questioned the veracity of their claim and pointed out that the Commission never contacted the Church leaders to verify the facts.
The NCM chairman had made this statement while discussing census data pertaining to the Christian community at a recent seminar at Kochi, in Kerala.
Claiming it an “irresponsible and provocative” statement of the Commission, the Church leaders regretted that the Commission which was set up to safeguard the rights and interest of the minorities, has undermined the image of the Church.
Australian initiative to help preserve tribal languages
Australian linguists are hard at work to save the languages spoken by different ethnic communities in the North East from becoming extinct. According to leading intellectual of the state Amelendu Guha, the effort by Australia is in sharp contrast to “operation Brahmaputra”, once initiated by America in the late 1970s allegedly to position itself in the strategical North East region by slowly destroying its rich ethnic heritage as well as explore the possibility to use its rich natural resources. After all, Arunachal Pradesh in the North East shares border with China, now a threat in terms of military and financial might to the US in the Asian sub-continent.
Experts from the Summr Institute of Linguists (SIL) International, the State Resource Centre (SRCA), Assam and Bosco Reach Out are working jointly to prepare study material on nearly 100 languages spoken by diverse ethnic communities in the region to facilitate reading and writing through their mother tongues.
The group has so far studied languages of ethnic communities like Tangkhul Naga, Tangsa Naga, Aka Rabha, Maram, Sadri, Hajong, Deori and Karbi.
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