Land of Jewels (Sana Leibak)

New Delhi, June 18 : An 18-year-old Delhi University student was allegedly molested by her teacher at a tuition center in Mukherjee Nagar area of north-west Delhi on Thursday (June 18) afternoon. The accused has been arrested following a complaint from the girl. The victim is a first-year undergraduate student of a North Campus college and belongs to Manipur. Ironically, she used to go to the tuition centre in Vijay Nagar area to learn Hindi. Her efforts to improve her communication skills in the language that the city speaks brought her face to face with a harsh reality: she was allegedly sexually harassed by Yogesh Kumar Arora (32), who used to give her the lessons in Hindi. Police said the student had joined the coaching institute on June 10 this year. "Yogesh, one of the teachers at the institute, started making sexual advances towards her right from the beginning. This culminated in the incident on Thursday which finally drove her to the police,'' said a senior police...

IMPHAL, June 18: Police set about quizzing the parents and guardians of the 25 children "rescued" by police in Kolkata on Wednesday (June 17) to know whether they knew about the kids' journey and the escorts. Cops in West Bengal found the kids from Senapati district in an Andhra Pradesh-bound train at the Howarh station on Wednesday morning after the three "pastors", including a man called A Athikho, accompanying the children, failed to produce relevant papers. "Soon after we knew it from West Bengal cops, I sent the sub-divisional police officer to Kaibi village in Senapati district from which the children hail," said a senior police officer in Senapati district on Thursday. "He will find out whether their parents and guardians consented to their children's journey to Andhra Pradesh with the three persons. We will act only after we get a report from him," he added. L S Salony, a member of the district's Child Welfare Committee (CWC),...

New Delhi : Hopes, dreams, fears, worry and anxiety are common to all the applicants who queue up outside the colleges in the Delhi University. If in doubt, head to help desk But while for others, the concerns end after securing a seat, for some it is just the beginning. The latter are the students from the NorthEast. “Will the city, students and teachers accept us. Will be one of them?” – is a question that bothers them all along. A few such students shared their experiences with us and told us that the problem existed more outside the gates of the university, than inside. “It’s the city that’s hostile to us, not the university,” they echo. A stranger in the city ? The one question that troubles anyone who sets foot in the city for the first time is – Are DU students and teachers, NorthEast friendly? “Most of the applicants hear about certain racist attacks from their friends, cousins, neighbours, etc, much before they arrive. We try to show them the real picture by sharing our experi...

Imphal, June 17 : Agatha Sangma, Union minister of states for Rural Development Wednesday assured the people of Manipur she would approach the Union Home minister of India for repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, AFSPA, 1958 from the state. She also asserted she would bring the issue on the floor of the Parliament. On a two-day visit to the state for the closing ceremony of the 11th foundation day of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) at the GM Hall in Imphal, the youngest union minister in the recently formed union ministry of India, stated she represented the whole of North East and not just Meghalaya and she would approach the Union Home Minister of India and the Parliament to repeal the AFSPA, 1958 from the state. Addressing the ceremony as the chief guest, she also assured the people of Manipur the NCP would fight for the repeal of the draconian law. Confirming she represented the whole North East, the young minister asserted the region can draw a lot of benefit for ...

Guwahati, June 17 : With at least 20 migrant workers killed in a series of violent attacks in and around Imphal during the past three months, migrant labourers from Bihar and West Bengal are living in fear in Manipur and some of them have started fleeing the strife-torn state. While three migrant workers were gunned down near the Central Agricultural University on the outskirts of Imphal last Thursday, two Bihari labourers were killed on June 2 — one each in Thoubal and Imphal (East) district. Those killed last week were construction workers engaged by a contractor, while those killed earlier this month included a barber and a hawker. A cobbler, hailing from Bihar, who was attacked at Lamphel in Imphal by an unidentified person on Tuesday evening, has been admitted to the Regional Institute of Medical Science in the state capital. On May 12, nine Hindi-speaking migrant workers were killed inside the Keibul Lamjao National Park in Bishnupur district, about 50 km from Imphal. Twelve migr...

Imphal, June 17 : Loktak Lake, which has the only floating wildlife sanctuaries in the world is a gift of nature to the people of Manipur. A three-day Loktak water festival was organised here recently to project and promote Loktak as a major tourist destination. The theme of the festival was ‘Save Loktak, Save Our Life’. This internationally important and biologically-rich lake besides being a unique wintering ground of various migratory waterfowls was the permanent home of many resident water birds. Organised by Loktak Development Authority (LDA) in association with Loktak Lake Fishermen Welfare Society at Thanga Chinglak Bazar, it was a major draw for people of Manipur. Several indigenous water sports like, boat race, swimming, fish-netting, plantation of indigenous Phumdi, fishing Dance were showcased to attract tourists. In April, the security forces of the State had carried out a massive `Operation Summer Storm’ to flush out militants from the Lake area. With the festival, the peo...

Imphal, June 16 : Another non-Manipuri was attacked in Imphal West district last night, as migrant labourers continued to flee the state fearing more violence. Police said an unidentified person hit Prabhu Prasad, a cobbler from Bihar, on his forehead in Lamphel. He was treated at the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences. Prasad said the man hit him on the face with a stone while he was returning from work to his rented house in Lamphel, on the outskirts of Imphal town, around 7pm. “He attacked me suddenly and ran away without saying anything.” After the incident, the police brought four migrants staying in Lamphel, including the injured, to the Kalibari relief camp opened by the government for migrants here around 11pm. The other camp is at the local dharamshala. The camps were opened after the attack on six migrants at the Central Agricultural University at Eroisemba in Imphal West on June 11 night. Two gunmen had called out six labourers, all from West Bengal, from their hut on th...