Land of Jewels (Sana Leibak)

Aribam Shyam conferred V Shantaram award: New Delhi, Feb 4: Manipuri filmmaker Aribam Shyam Sharma has been selected for the V Shantaram Award for lifetime achievement in documentary film making. Chief Minister of Maharashtra Vilasrao Deshmukh, who was the chief guest at the inaugural function of the 10th Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films 2008, announced his name for the award amidst huge applause at the inauguration of the festival in Mumbai on Sunday night. The award carrying a cash prize of Rs. 2.5 lakh, a citation and a shawl instituted by the Films Division, ministry of information and broadcasting will be conferred on February 9. It is for the first time in the history of Mumbai International Film Festival (MIIF) that a person from north east India has been awarded the prestigious award. Bhagwan Das Garga was the first recipient of the V Shantaram Award for Life Time Achievement in the field of documentary in MIFF 1996 and other recipie...

Second home for Sangai suggested: Imphal, Dec 30: After making a detailed study on the survival and prospect of propagating the endangered Sangai at its natural habitat in Keibul Lamjao National Park, the Wildlife Institute of India has perceived a great threat to the lives of Sangai there. Subsequently, the Wildlife Institute of India has recommended the State Government for a second sanctuary for the Sangai. The Wildlife Institute of India based at Dehradun has been studying the lives of Sangai and the bio-diversity and physiography of the Keibul Lamjao National Park for the last few years. The Institute also undertook head count of the Sangai now existing in Keibul Lamjao. In the event of outbreak of any epidemic or any contagious disease in its natural habitat, all the Sangai population may be wiped out as the rare species living in Keibul Lamjao belong to the same stock (in breeding), mentioned a report submitted by the Institute to the State Government, informed a reliable source...

17 powerful bombs defused: Imphal, Dec. 12: Seventeen bombs were recovered from two busy Manipur roads during a search operation by security forces on Wednesday morning. The number is being pegged as the highest recovered by security forces in the militancy-ravaged state on a single day. The immediate spur of the search was the visit of the director general of Assam Rifles, Lt Gen. Paramjit Singh, to Manipur. Early this morning, troops of 34 Assam Rifles fanned out into Thoubal district for a routine search when they stumbled on three improvised explosive devices (IEDs) planted along the Imphal-Moreh road at Wangjing. The bomb squad of the police safely exploded the IEDs later in the day. The paramilitary force informed the police that they also recovered 14 IEDs laid by militants along Imphal-Ukhrul Road between Litan and Sangai and had destroyed them. Recovery of the explosives held up traffic for several hours on both the roads. “Had the IEDs exploded, they would have caused immense...