Land of Jewels (Sana Leibak)

Marriage bill sent to House Committee for scrutiny: The Manipur Compulsory Registration of Marriages Bill, 2008, has been referred to a select committee of the state Legislative Assembly for further examination after a threadbare discussion in the House on Tuesday. The Bill was moved for consideration and passage in the House on Tuesday afternoon by social welfare minister N Loken Singh The minister, in his address highlighted the main objectives of the Bill, stating that enacting of this act would prevent child marriage and ensure adherence to a minimum age of marriage, prevent marriages without consent of both parties, relieve many of the difficulties faced by women left after marriage by their husbands, and give widows the right to inherit the properties of her husband and also check illegal practice of polygamy. Opposition leader Radhabinod Koijam and senior opposition member O Joy noted that the there were no penal provision in the Bill, and the whole structure of the Bill appears...

Will wait for completion in four NE states: New Delhi: Following a lengthy meeting of a Group of Ministers chaired by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee earlier this week, the Government appears to have put implementation of the Delimitation Commission report on a fast-track. The GoM meeting took place days after the Supreme Court stayed the conduct of the delimitation operation in four Northeastern states and also questioned the delay in implementation of delimitation in 25 states for which notifications have already been issued by the Commission. Two decisions appear to have been taken at the GoM’s last meeting. One, that the President should be sent the consolidated delimitation report for final notification (with Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur) and despite the 25 notifications being placed in Parliament, Members of Parliament needed to be further sensitised on the result of the delimitation exercise in their individual constituencies. The Law Ministry, has,...

SC vacates Gauhati HC stay order: Guwahati, Dec 21: The Supreme Court of India has vacated the Gauhati High Court stay on delimitation of constituencies and asked the Delimitation Commission to carry on the delimitation exercise. The Gauhati High Court had ordered the stay on the delimitation process on June 24. In its order on the issue, Justice R V Raveendran and Justice J M Panchal said on December 14 that the delay in filing the Special Leave Petition (SLP) on the matter was condoned and the notices should be served on the respondent parties. The Delimitation Commission of India had moved the Apex Court challenging the Gauhati High Court stay order on the delimitation process. However, Advocate R P Sarma of the Gauhati High Court who moved the High Court here urging for judicial intervention into the issue of delimiting the constituencies and obtained the stay subsequently, said on Friday he would move the Supreme Court in mid-January next pleading for vacating its December 14 orde...

NESO submits memo to PM: Shillong: The North East Students’ Organization (NESO) has submitted its eight-point charter of demands to the Centre seeking its intervention for the welfare of the people of the north-eastern States in Shillong on Thursday. NESO information and publicity secretary and Khasi Students’ Union President Samuel Jyrwa submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh through Meghalaya Governor Dr SS Sidhu demanding steps to develop education in the region. Urging the Centre of assessing the state of education in the region, the NESO has impressed upon setting up of a Special Education Commission to look into the areas pertaining to civil service courses and human resource development. The memo also highlights the serious demographic change attributed to influx of illegal migrants from neighbouring countries which they fear would lead to militancy and fundamentalist activity in the region. In this context, they have pointed out that the Supreme Court verdic...

Exercise to be over in two months: New Delhi: The process for delimitation of constituencies has entered its final leg with the resumption of delimitation work in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur. The work in these North-Eastern States was held up due to the stay order of Guwahati High Court on account of petitions challenging the legality of the 2001 Census. With the stay being vacated by the Supreme Court recently, the delimitation work is going to be over very soon. The Delimitation Commission of India Chairperson Justice Kuldeep Singh told The Indian Express that the Commission is going to complete the readjustment of constituencies in these States within two months. “After the vacation of the stay by the SC, the work is going in full speed and we hope to complete it in two months. With this, the work of the Commission will be over,” said Singh. However, when asked whether the delimitation orders would be implemented in the next general elections, Singh said that it w...