GUWAHATI, JUNE 20: The incidence of counterfeit currency in circulation in Guwahati is as high as 20 per cent in certain parts of the city with even cashiers of public sector banks failing to detect such spurious notes. This has come to light when dealers of a fake currency detecting machine recently went round the city marketing their new product.

A dealer, who spoke to The Northeast Daily on condition of anonymity, alleged that while demonstrating their machine at a nationalised bank’s branch at Chandmari, 11 fake notes of Rs 100 denomination were found in a stapled bundle of Rs 10,000 carrying the bank’s seal. At the branch of a leading nationalised bank at Bharalumukh, 100 pieces of Rs 100 were discovered in similar circumstances.

A highly-placed RBI official, who for security reasons wished to remain unnamed, refuse to buy these claims saying that all bank cashiers were well trained in detecting fake currency.

The dealer further alleged that in the downtown business precinct of Fancy Bazaar, they found that around 20 per cent of the cash in possession of the traders in Rs 100, Rs 50 and Rs 10 denominations were fake. The traders reportedly told the salesmen that they had no idea that the notes were fake. Both these businessmen and the banks are eagerly placing orders for the ultra-violet light emitting fake currency detectors, said the dealer.

The Rbi official maintained: "In the past one year, fake currency worth Rs 1.5 lakh in denominations of Rs 100 and Rs 500 was impounded and destroyed by the banks and the RBI in Guwahati." This, he argued, was a minuscule proportion of the total currency in circulation and certainly not 20 per cent as alleged.

He drew attention to the letter of the law, whereby "caveat emptor enjoins that it is the responsibility of every citizen to verify the authenticity of currency before accepting it in any transaction – the RBI will not compensate any citizen for fake currency unwittingly acquired." Admitting that it is not always possible or practical to enforce the law in its entirety, he said that when the RBI or the banks come across one or two fake notes in a depositor’s possession, the notes are destroyed and the person is not harassed. "When the number is more than that we call the police and file an FIR," he clarified.

He pointed out that the RBI has launched a massive awareness cam-paign through the media about vari-ous hi-tech features incorporated in the new series of currency notes issued from and after 1997. Since most of the counterfeit notes were printed to resemble the currency notes in Rs 100 and Rs 500 denomi-nations of the old-1987 series, the RBI even withdraws the genuine notes of that series from circulation to minimise the menace, he said.

The finance minister further assured the state government that all commercial banks would be asked to help the field management committees (FMCs) in the state to procure 2,500 tractors and 10,000 power tillers. The State Bank of India, which is the leading bank in the state, would be asked to monitor the progress in this regard, Sinha said while responding to a set of recommendations by the working groups at the two-day seminar on ‘green revolution’ in Assam, which were communicated to him on Monday.

In response to a recommendation of the seminar to urge NABARD to cover a massive programme of fish production in the state involving an investment of Rs 492 crore, the finance minister assured that NABARD would be advised to consider taking up the project.

Announcing the assurances made by the Union finance minister, director banking division, government of India, Aloke Kumar, informed that he would take with him other recommendations of the seminar and convey them to the finance minister.

Earlier, the working group of the seminar on agriculture inputs headed by agricultural commissioner, government of India, Dr CR Hazra, recommended installation of another one lakh shallow tube wells in the state at an estimated cost of Rs 230 crore under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund(RIDF).

The group also recommended that Kisan Credit Cards should be popularised among the farmers involving panchayats and the state agriculture department. It was also suggested that the FMCs and self-help groups should be considered as agencies for credit and crop loan. The group also recommended, among other things, that seed village concept of particularly oil-seeds and pulses should be encouraged and seed replacement rate be increased from 30 per cent to 10 per cent in the coming five years.

The working group on agricultural mechanization, headed by L Ryjah, recommended that bulk finance from NABARD should be made available on the pattern of STW programmes. The group on development of fisheries headed by chief general manager NABARD, SC Pathak, suggested taking up of a massive fish production programme in the state involving an investment of Rs 492 crore.

The working group on horticulture headed by vice-chancellor of Assam Agriculture University, GL Kaul, recommended that major product zones of different horticultural commodities should be identified and the zones may be through rural network and cold chain system through RIDF and other schemes.

GUWAHATI, JUNE 20: Noted agriculture scientist and architect of the green revolution in India, Prof MS Swaminathan, has urged the Assam government to chalk out a seven-year agenda to achieve a target of 10 million tonnes of rice production by 2007 coinciding with the 60th year of India’s independence. He also called for setting up a rice technology park to utilise each and every part of the rice plant.

Giving his observations on the deliberations and the recommendations of the two-day seminar on green revolution in Assam which concluded here on Tuesday, Prof Swaminathan underlined the need for taking up integrated intensified farming system in all the agro-climatic zones of the state in a suitable way to further the green revolution.

"Assam has shown the country the path to minor irrigation-led green revolution by successfully implementing the shallow tube well programme," he said.

The renowned scientist said that the challenge before the country is not just to increase production but to create more jobs and enhance income. He stressed on the need for imparting special training to agriculture extension workers, field management staff with special emphasis on women in orientation and processing technology.

Later, speaking to media persons, Prof Swaminathan said that Assam can take up the Orissa model of community food security system by creating gene, seed, water and grain banks in each village which, he said, could be run effectively by the FMCs or the self-help groups. Underlining the need for concentrating on hybrid rice variety to augment rice production, he suggested the Assam Agricultural University to set up a centre with financial assistance from Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to ensure food quality.

Grinder discharged in plane hijack case

In his one-page judgment additional district magistrate (judicial) KL Liana ruled that Grinder, who was charged under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code and Anti-hijacking Act, was dis-charged from the liabilities of the charge Supra.

The court accepted the plea made by the investigating officer that the accused be discharged as he could not substantiate the hijacking charges.

Grinder was arrested at NSC Bose International Airport, Calcutta, in March following the alleged confe-ssion of one Ranju Rangan, who was posing as director of civil aviation ministry.

Rangan had allegedly told his interrogators that he was sent by Grinder to recee Mizoram’s Lengpui airport to check possibilities of hijacking an Indian Airline plane to secure the release of Th Muivah, now in Thai jail for possessing fake travel documents.

Grinder had admitted that he had acted s a ‘go-between’ between the centre and NSCN (IM) in the peace process and said he was not a member of the outfit or of any other. He had also said there was ‘no shred of evidence’ against him except for the alleged confession by Rangan, who had denied in court that he had ever made the statement. (PTI)

Police said that acting on a tip-off on an Ulfa hideout, a joint team of Assam police and paramilitary forces raided Ghogolani village under Naharkatia police station in Dibrugarh district arounnd 4.30 AM on Tuesday. The security men gheraoed the residence of one Gobinda Sonowal in search of a top Ulfa leader, when the rebels hiding inside the house fired upon the police team. A gunbattle ensued in which, two CRPF men were killed on the spot. However, the militants were made good their escape from the police dragnet.

One magazine, 14 rounds of ammunition, Rs 21,000 in cash and some incriminating documents were recovered from the spot. A combing operation has been launched to nab the militants. The deceased have been identified as Havildar Bhagawati Subey(47) and constable Narayan Prasad(27).

In another incident, security forces killed two militants belonging to People’s United Liberation Front (PULF) in an encounter at Motinagar in Cachar district Tuesday. One SBBL gun, one AK-47 magazine and a huge cache of ammunition were recovered from the slain militants. (By Our Staff Reporter)

And if the person repeats the crime, a padlock is pierced through the earlobes with the key handed over to a village elder until the person redeems.

A tribal separatist guerrilla group has taken up the task of rooting out drug addiction and alcoholism in Nagaland where the problem is assuming serious proportions. The move by the Khaplang faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) to tackle the menace has come in for praise with both addicts and peddlers scared of the bizarre punishment meted out to them.

A wooden cage is made and itchy herbs found in the jungles are sprinkled in it. The addict or peddler is then locked inside and the cage placed in the middle of the village or town square. "We want to get rid of this social evil and so this mode of punishment," Kitovi Zhimomi, self-styled prime minister of the NSCN(K), told India Abroad News Service at the group’s mobile headquarters called ‘Oking’. "It works to an extent, but the problem of drug addiction has assumed alarming proportions in the region." he added.

The militants apart, the Naga Mothers Association, a powerful women’s group in Nagaland, has been fighting drug addiction and alcoholism for the past decade. Nagaland is today a dry state with no liquor shop running in the open.

"Once punishment is meted out to addicts and peddlers in public, it creates a sense of fear among the youth who are into drugs," an NSCN military wing leader said. It is estimated that Nagaland has around 20,000 drug addicts out of nearly 100,000 intravenous users in the northeastern states.

The northeast, which borders the heroin-producing ‘golden triangle’ of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar, has a major problem with intravenous drug use which is the most common cause for the spread of AIDS in the region. The frontier region has earned the notoriety of being the launching pad for drug trafficking to the rest of India and abroad, particularly Western and European countries.

The infamous ‘golden triangle’, which produces the world’s largest quantity of hard drugs, borders Manipur and Nagaland. The porous borders with Myanmar facilitate easy and unabated flow of drugs into Manipur, which then is routed through peddlers into other parts.

"This phenomenon has compounded the problem of drug addiction in the northeast with the youth falling prey to the drug cartels across the borders. Drug addiction in NE has also added to the spread of AIDS with nearly 50 per cent of the total 100,000 intravenous drug users getting infected with HIV," an anti-drug campaigner said. (IANS)

All chief ministers of the region, including Assam’s Prafulla Kr Mahanta have already arrived the capital and are finalising the memorandum to be submitted to the prime minister.

The meeting with Vajpayee is a follow-up action of last month’s NE CMs meet in Shillong, where the chief ministers resolved to work together to solve the various common problems faced by the states.

Sources informed that apart from infiltration and insurgency, the chief ministers would urge the prime minister to take speedy steps for the overall development of the region especially in the infrastructure sector and opening up of border trade with neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Myanmar, China etc.

Sources informed that the issue of the region’s militants taking shelter in several neighbouring countries is likely to figure in the proposed memorandum.

The Asom Bilasini was published by Devadatta Goswami, erstwhile Satradhikar, Auniati Satra in 1871. It was the first Assamese news paper published by an Assamese after the missionaries published Arunadoi, the first news paper in Assam. Deva Dutta Goswami also played a historic role by publishing two other newspapers, Asom Tara and Asom Dipika.

On this significant day, the Asom Sahitya Sabha president Chandra Prasad Saikia inaugurated a libarary containing 2056 Assamese, Bengali, Hindi and Sanskrit books and 147 sanchi manuscripts.

In this connection, a public meeting was held at the auditorium of the satra under the presidentship of Dr Nagen Saikia, ex-president, Asom Sahitya Sabha.

Inaugurating the meeting Chandra Prasad Saikia said that the Arunodoi did not follow the rules of grammar while Devadatta Goswami’s The Assam Bilasini was initiated with a view to meet the demands of the Assamese language.

Saikia further said that it was a matter of great regret that there was no written history of Majuli. He requested the present Satradhikar to write the history of Majuli.

Welcoming the gathering Pitambardev Goswami, Satradhikar Auniati Satra said that Devdatta Goswami played a historical role in the 19th century amid unrest and chaos by publishing three newspapers and 11 religious books. Besides, he also paved the way for the publication of the Vaishnava literature by publishing the borgeets of two Vaishnava saints of Assam.

On this occasion, Jatindra Nath Goswami remembered the contribution of Devadatta Goswami and expressed great satisfaction over the new awakening of the satra.

Indreswar Pegu, Dilip Kumar Phukan and, Dilip Sharma, a renowned artist of Assam and Rudhar Bora also spoke in the meeting.

By OUR CORRESPONDENT

The union also criticised the oil authority for not giving interest in the development of the region. Moreover, it also rebuked the oil authority for not being present at the tripartite discussion which was scheduled to be held at the deputy commission’s office, Tinsukia. The oil authority has thus humiliated the community by not paying proper attention in this regard. A meeting was held on 10th of June last at Borhapjan HE School in which it was decided to declare closure of all the drilling and pumping stations situated at the Moran unless the oil authority takes necessary steps within June 25.

Cenus workers fail to cover Tengapani TE : The first phase of census which was completed long back did not cover Tengapani tea estate under Bordubi police station of Tinsukia Legislative Assembly constituency.

According to information available, Tengapani Tea Estate was not covered by census workers for reason best known to them. The additional district commissioner, Tinsukia in charge of census said that all the files relating to this programme were sent to the directorate of census, Dispur.

The proposals were made by the tourism department of the state and decision was taken at a meeting between senior officials of the ministry of tourism and the secretary and director of tourism, Meghalaya at New Delhi, official sources said.

The schemes approved by the central government include accommodation and catering facilities at Dawki, Mawsynram, Lumpongdeng Island and Nongkhnum island, suspension bridges over Weina falls and river Umjarain and development of hot springs at Jakrem, construction of sitting gallaries t Assanangre and Behdienkhlam areas in Garo Hills and Jalaphet, tourist bungalow at Assanangre, model Garo village and tourism park at Chasingre, kiosks and observatories at Shillong view point, Laitkor, Tura Peak and Mawsynram.

This year the Centre has agreed to give financial support to Behdienkhlam dance festival, Nongkrem dance and Wangala festival.

The beautification of Nartiang monolith complex and illumination of Mawsmai caves have also been prioritised. Setting up of an amusement park-cum-botanical garden at Jongksha has also been given priority, sources said.

Financial support of Rs 21 lakh has been approved for the upgradation of the Shillong Golf Course. The ministry has also approved Rs 15 lakh for the preparation of tourism master plan for Meghalaya.

Senior officials of the tourism department, government of India would visit the state during the end of July, sources added. (UNI)

To help the state bridging the gap of supply and demand in fish by about 75 per cent chief general manager of NABARD, Assam Dr SC Pathak has prepared an ambitious project report to make the state self sufficient in fish production.

Pathak who placed his project report at a seminar held here on Monday in presence of the Union finance minister Yaswant Sinha said that with an investment of Rs 492.25 crore at the ground level, Assam can earn an annual income Rs 430.24 crore from fresh water aquaculture besides bridging the gap.

The strategies proposed in the report include bringing 30000 hactre water area in all the 23 districts under composite culture of major Indian carps and exotic fishes through eco-friendly semi intensive system.

Pathak said that for augmenting fish production the state should have short term as well as long term strategies. Short term measures include pisiculture and fish seed production while development of fisheries of beels, lakes, reservoirs and river have been classified as long term measures.

Over the last five years the fish production in Assam has remained stagnant at 1.55 lakh tonnes as against the projected requirement of 2.53 lakh tonnes which signifies a 39 per cent gap between demand and supply.

The state imports about 25,000 tonnes of fish worth about Rs 100 crore annually from states like Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

However, gross value of fishery economy is about Rs 650 crore. Pathak claimed that if the project is implemented then in three years the state would be producing additional 420 millions of spawn, 140 millions of fry, 35 millions fingerlings and about 84,000 tonnes of table fish every year.

The project report also stated that a gainful employment for about 3.12 lakh skilled and unskilled people directly and indirectly would be created over a period of three years.

The report further stated that capture fishery from all the three resources of the Brahmaputra river and its tributaries, beel fisheries and the Barak river contribute about 80.6 per cent but is fast declining due to over exploitation and indiscriminate fishing.

Pathak suggested that best way to increase capture production is to ban fishing in monsoon when most of the commercially important fish breed as well as to go for ranching the natural areas of by releasing surplus seed farms.

The endeavour of the state under the project will be to increase per unit area production to at least 500 kg fish per kilometre length of rivers and 1000 kg per hactre from beel fisheries, the report added.

After the Berlin Wall it is the Korean fence which is coming down. There are curious and striking affinities between the two situations which saw the involvement of the erstwhile super power USSR and the lone superpower now, the USA. Seoul and Pyongyang are coming close in the truly human way. The South Korean president Kim Dae-Jung set the ball rolling by gifting his North Korean counterpart two Chindo dogs, a breed famed for its loyalty and homing ability. This would be followed by a re-union of thousands of families separated since the armed truce of the 1950s. Mr Kim Jong II, a recluse and by all accounts a secretive man is finally coming out into the open. They are putting the war behind them which had attained the dimension it did because of the involvement of the super powers. The South, under American tutelage had become capitalist with major breakthroughs in ship-building and electronics. It even came to be called the second Japan and posed a threat to Japan’s monopoly in electronics because of its still persisting low labour costs. The North had turned left and the recession in the Russian economy and the later disintegration of the USSR left it all but shattered. The GNP in the South is six times that of the North. The two Kims are busy clipping away at the fence separating them but they are, at the same time, aware of the "mountain of tasks" before them.

The reunion of the two Germanys was objected to by the West primarily on economic grounds. They were prepared to pity their country cousins in the East and even show some affectionate concern for them but they suspected that reunion could lower their own living standards. But finally it was proved beyond all doubt that finances played only second fiddle to racial determinants. In Korea, in like manner, it is ethnicity that is proving to be the deciding factor. Seventy million Koreans would now be liberated from the fear of a possible war. They have decided to tackle the easier issues first, issues like reunion of families for instance and of making combined teams for international sports meets. They have at least agreed to march under the same banner. They are already exploring areas which will benefit them both. They will reopen blocked road and rail connections and start new sea lanes and air routes. When Koreans can travel freely between the two sides they can work better towards reconciliation, co-operation and eventual reunification. The dialogue would continue and a return visit by the North Korean president is on the cards.

This reconciliation cannot only contribute to peace and stability in northeast Asia but send a message that would echo around the world. "History has awarded glory to those nations that chose reconciliation and co-operation rather than distrust and confrontation", the visiting South Korean leader said.

The message for the world is: The 38th is not parallel. It does not divide.