Shocking Twist In 'Nagaland Lynching' - Medical Reports Show 'No Rape', 'Innocent' And 'Indian' Resident Killed

In a shocking twist to the Nagaland lynching case, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said that 'unconfirmed medical reports' show that the complainant in the case was not raped.

Speaking to INNLIVE, Gogoi said, "it is up to the Nagaland government to come out with the facts. We have received an unofficial report of no rape." The chief minister further said that the accused Syed Khan was not an illegal immigrant and was a citizen of India.

Sat-Tagged 'Amur Falcons' Of Nagaland Tracked Over Sea

By Sanjay Taluqdar | Kohima

Amur falcons Naga and Pangti, which were satellite-tagged in Nagaland, were on Thursday tracked flying over the Arabian Sea, the most difficult stretch of their migratory routes, after passing over Bangladesh, the Bay of Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra towards their final destination in South Africa.

The third falcon, Wokha, was tracked flying over the Bay of Bengal.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and head of the Forest Force, Nagaland, M. Lokeswara Rao told INN Live that the tracking began soon after the three birds were released on November 6 after satellite tags with an antenna and solar panel, weighing five grams, had been fitted on their back by a team of scientists.

Hot Spice: 'Naga Mircha', The Hottest Spice Of The World

By Sameer Tandu | INN Live

The traditional Nagaland Chilli variety is 400 times more hotter than normal ones. Can you imagine a chilli variety that is nearly 400 times hotter than the normal ones? Well, the Naga Mircha, the traditional chilli variety of Nagaland, is one of the hottest chilli varieties of the world as its pungency level is about 400 times more than the normal ones.

This hottest variety, which is available for tasting, is naturally the hottest attraction at the three-day international organic trade fair titled “BioFach India together with India Organic 2013” being organised jointly by Nuremberg Messe India Private Limited, International Competence Centre for Organic Agriculture (ICCOA) and the Karnataka State Agriculture Department at the Bangalore Palace Grounds from Thursday.

Why Nagaland Lynching Was Not Just Outrage Over Rape?

A sensational incident shook the Indian culture and forseen the change in agitation. On 5 March, the country was jolted by a horrific incident that questioned the security of India's jails. Thousands of people stormed a jail in Dimapur, Nagaland, dragged a man accused of rape out on the streets, stripped him and then lynched him. 

The man had allegedly raped a 20-year-old Naga college student several times on 23 and 24 February. Infuriated by the news, residents of Dimapur decided to turn vigilantes and murder the man in full public view.

CJ REPORT: Nagaland Faces 16 Hours Of Loadshedding

Nagaland has been reeling under acute shortage of power supply with State Power Department resorting to 12-16 hours of load shedding every day.

Chief Engineer (Power), K Miachieo in a statement has said due to the huge gap between demand and availability of power, the department has been buying an additional 20MW from Power exchange since December 2012 to make up the shortage.

He said the peak demand is 110MW and the off-peak demand is 70MW, whereas the state is getting only 40MW and 20MW during peak and off-peak hours. There is a deficit of 70MW during the peak demand and 45MW during the off-peak demand, he said.

Meanwhile, Advisor to New and Renewable Energy and MLA, Khriehu Liezietsu said that the state government in order to ease the problem of electricity faced by the people these days, has allocated 95 acres of land for setting up of mega solar projects.

NRE Advisor also inaugurated Nagaland’s first 10 KW Wind-Solar Hybrid Power Plant at Zunheboto Government College in Zunheboto district on April 9.

                                          (This Citizen Journalist Report was filed by Aztul Manchika in Kohima)

Business in Life: Naturally Naga

By M H Ahssan

The homes of the different Naga tribes have distinct architectural styles. They all use natural materials and adapt well to the advantages and challenges of the local terrain and climate.

There are 16 tribes in Nagaland, each with different architectural traditions. Each has responded efficiently to climatic challenges, dovetailed with cultural needs and providing a nurturing matrix for ordinary life. That each produced uniquely beautiful buildings is not a bonus but a natural outcome.

As a result of intense missionary activity in the 19th century, at least 90% of Nagaland’s population is Christian, and traditional belief systems are weak. Galvanized iron (wrongly called ‘tin’) roofs, another mark of modernity, cover Kohima’s many hills like a quilt. Yet traditional architectural skills haven’t died out completely.

Origins and influences
Like all traditional architecture, the Naga way of building has evolved over centuries through trial and error. Out of necessity, it engages with the local environment directly. Local forest and earth provide a large part of building materials. And houses are shaped to offer resistance to the cold and rain. The lightweight architecture that results fits well in the earthquake-prone north-eastern region (the sixth most seismically active zone in the world, it is categorized in India as Zone V, the same as Bhuj, Gujarat). The bamboo and thatch can be framed and braced well to resist earthquakes and reduce damage.

The tribal houses are built predominantly of wood, bamboo and thatch. These materials are bad conductors of heat, and are therefore good insulators that help keep the interiors warm. The houses have a low surface area per unit volume. This ensures internal heat is not lost too quickly.

In addition, the cooking fire is placed centrally enough to become the heat source around which the family spends time on cold evenings. A bamboo grid holds meats over it for smoking, as well as cooking and other implements.

Vernacular architecture is thus closely tied to culturally specific values. The different tribes occupy different parts of Nagaland, also spreading into Assam and the northern part of Myanmar. Though the broad climatic conditions may be similar across tribal territories, each tribe has a distinctly different tradition of forms.
A good part of this difference could be explained by differences in the attitude of each tribe and its social structure. For instance, though life is organized communally in each tribe, there are differences in the intensity of hierarchical organization. Hence the Konyak—who have a much stronger hierarchical social structure—also have larger houses than the Sema.

Characteristics
The sloping roofs in thick layers of thatch, elegantly secured at the ridge with a decorative weave of bamboo and grass, unique to each tribe, wash away the rain quickly.

GUEST COLUMN: Manipur And Its Demand For Internal Autonomy

By Rangja Samerkez (Guest Writer)

Reviewing the fraught political situation in Manipur with the diverging demands for autonomy, which revived after apparent progress and near closure of the talks with the Nagas, this article assesses those demands and traces their origins. Arguing that the government has now an opportunity to force a compromise solution on all parties, it calls for a proactive role of the government to bring about lasting peace in the region.

Recent days have seen much commentary on the festering turmoil in Manipur where different ethnic groups are making competing autonomy demands. These demands were always there, but they were given a fresh lease of life by the ongoing Indo-Naga political talks. The Indo-Naga talks are actually more about Manipur than about Nagaland, as the issues discussed impinge directly on Manipur and its territorial integrity. The proverbial sword of Damocles hangs over Manipur’s head. These talks have meandered for the last 15 years, still with no solution in sight. 

TERROR HAVEN: THE NASTY AND THE NORTHEAST

By M H Ahssan / Shillong

Manir Khan's 'operational area' was Assam. The sub-inspector with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence had executed two 'assignments' in the state. But he was third time unlucky, as Indian sleuths nabbed him from west Tripura in July 2010. 

Khan told interrogators that his duty was to ferry back “quality information” for better “tactical appreciation” of cross-national issues to his masters in Pakistan. In his initial visits, Khan had carried out “feasibility recces” of the Tripura corridor connecting Bangladesh-Tripura and Assam, says an interrogation report. 

DISGUSTING BUSINESS - 'CURSE OF THE RHINO HORNS'

By Kajol Singh, Sandeep Muzkala / Dispur

Soaring prices of rhino horns have led to a new spurt of poaching in the Kaziranga National Park, Assam. Once heralded as a conservation success story, the park is now being held hostage by poachers. INN travels to the park to investigate and find answers to the conservation riddle.

Many emotions flit across Kartik Pegu’s face when he talks about his exploits. Only one emotion is missing—remorse. Each time Kartik mentions killing a rhino and chopping off its horn his face lights up with enthusiasm. He curls up the fingers of his right hand around an imaginary trigger; the same hand is used to show a make-believe barrel.

The World's 'Spiciest & Strong Chilli' Grows In India!

By Hemanshu Rai in Imphal

One of the many things that puzzle people about those from the Northeast is their obsession for bhut jalokia. A fiery chilli that makes them teary eyed. It's so hot that some even cry! But these are only tears of joy. To stop the tears, they quickly take a mouthful of raw sugar! All is well again and they continue eating.

A meal in some parts of the region is hardly complete unless it is laced with hot and sizzling bhut jalokia. The scary-sounding name "bhut jalokia" is a vermilion-coloured chilli pepper which is famed as the world's hottest chilli. In 2007, it was certified by the Guinness World Records as the 'hottest chilli pepper in the world'. In fact, in 2010 the Indian military decided to use this chilli in hand grenades for crowd control.

Telangana: Politically Critical And Constitutionally Complex

By Madabhushi Sridhar (Guest Writer)

High command, Core Committee, Congress Working Committee, Amendment to the Constitution…etc are being discussed to find a solution to crisis around Telangana.  Congress is struggling to come out of killing indecision and unending assement of its prospects in coming elections.  The possible advancing of elections is another factor which makes ‘high command’ to act quickly. Not only for Congress for almost all main parties in Andhra Pradesh Telangana is a complex political issue. It is also Constitutionally complex problem for Union Government.

CJ REPORT: 'VOTER CARDS' GET TO MAKE-OVER IN COLOR SOON

By CJ Seema Singh in New Delhi

The Election Commission is considering changing the laminated voter identity card into a driving license-like hard plastic card which is more durable.

“At present, the laminated Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) is made of paper with the elector’s photograph. Now we are considering changing it at the pan-India level to a hard plastic card, something like a driving card or a credit card,” Deputy Election Commissioner Alok Shukla said today.

The new voter card with colour photos will be first issued in Assam and Nagaland, he told an Interactive Session here.

Nearly 95 per cent voters are covered with EPIC except in Assam and Nagaland. The current card costs about Rs 10-12 and the new EPIC will incur an expenditure of less Rs 50.

However, the Commission will charge a fee, which will be less that Rs 50, from the voters holding the present EPIC to convert them into hard plastic cards. The choice to opt for the new version will be that of the voter.

The Commission has already held meetings with representatives of various organisations — both private and state-owned– for price negotiations for the new card that will carry colour photos and will be long lasting as compared to the present ones.

But the new card will not be a smart card unlike a driving license, EC officials said.

Opinion: With Telangana – Divide and Rule Policy Adopted?

By Sri Sri Ravishankar (Guest Writer)

India is a phenomenon – the largest democracy on Earth, with a plethora of cultural, religious and linguistic diversity. It is simply a miracle that It still exists united, unlike the former Yugoslavian and Soviet countries. 

Though our forefathers had wisely divided the nation on linguistic basis for ease of administration and communication, the huge population and distances have forced many states to be further divided. One such crisis in the current scenario is Telangana. The situation of Telangana is very peculiar unlike Uttarakhand. 

In the cross fire between security and insurgency

By M H Ahssan

Plenty of criticism has been levelled at excess use of force and abuse of human rights by the Army in Manipur. And yet, with much infighting and corruption, insurgents themselves have lost the moral high ground.

As we are driven out of Imphal for sight-seeing to Loktak Lake (one of the largest fresh water lakes in northeast India) or to Moreh (a town at Manipur’s border with Burma), we are stopped a couple of times by the security forces to check us up. The vehicle stops almost equal number of times and the driver goes down to a shop or in some alley, comes back and we drive on. Later we learn that driver has to go to pay the ‘tax’!

In Manipur, a ten-sitter vehicle pays Rs.100 and a truck pays Rs.500-1000 as ‘tax’ to the local underground groups. And there are many along the route! Drivers quietly pay up as they factor it in as cost which is charged to us – clients. No wonder then, vehicle-hire in Manipur is an expensive part of the tour! A three hour drive from Imphal to Kohima (147 kms) costs Rs.6000-8000 for a non-AC ten-sitter. The same would cost at the most Rs.1500 for a ride along the Mumbai-Pune super express highway.

Sons of soil turning extortionists
This is just a miniscule glimpse into the extortions by underground groups – UG as they are labeled even in Manipur’s print media. And counting the number of insurgents is like counting stars, says Babloo Loitongbam of Human Rights Alert in Imphal. According to the reply to a recent Legislative Assembly question, the number of armed insurgents is 12000. The highest insurgent to civilian ratio is in Manipur, not Afghanistan or Iraq, says Babloo. The armed forces personnel strength in the state is 55000, which translates to 4-5 armed security personnel for every armed rebel.

And yet, these insurgents are literally holding entire state to ransom demanding ‘tax’ at every walk of life and resorting to violence. There is an organised racket of taking a share from government spending under every head – be it for road construction or water scheme or even salaries of government employees. Some people reckon, as high as 70 per cent of funds allocated for any development project go in distributing ‘cuts’ to underground groups. What work can be done in the balance 30 per cent is anybody’s guess!

It is not surprising then that the infrastructural set up in Manipur is in dire state with just four hours of power every day and roads are in broken condition soon after laying. Any resistance to extortions is met with the grave consequences as in case of Dr Kishen Singh Thingam. He was an upright civil servant who refused to the demands of an underground group, and was brutally killed in February this year in Ukhrul district.

Media in the line of fire
Even media in Manipur is not spared with UGs dictating their terms. A senior media person from a leading daily from Imphal who survived insurgents’ bullet injuries, says “if we print something criticizing a particular UG, they force us to retract the statement and threaten with dire consequences. They dictate what we write and what we don’t.” Another media person narrated how his newspaper was caught in the conflict between two warring UGs. One group ordered writing against the other and the other ordered an apology for doing that, he says.

“These terrorists think they are the sons of soil, then why they make their mothers and sisters suffer in their business of extortions”, says a wellknown member of the local elite in Imphal, requesting anonymity.

In the meantime, tales after tales circulate of atrocities inflicted upon common people by security personnel and also by insurgents. Villagers in Manipur come in the line of fire between insurgents and security forces – each suspecting them to be informers or accomplices.

Civil society groups do protest. The protests that are loud and clear are against the establishment – the security forces -- and not so loud against the umpteen insurgent groups. It is easy to identify the state repressors – the security forces who have unlimited power under the draconian Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA). But excesses have been committed not only by the armed forces but so also by the countless insurgent groups who are fighting each other.

Distrust, apprehension about outsiders
The situation is so complex and appears hopeless to the outsiders. There is a general atmosphere of distrust and everyone is eyed with suspicion. Given this state of affairs in Manipur, there is no tourism worth the name.

All the same time, the people of Manipur look up to the people from mainland, especially media to carry home the message from them about the grim situation and to understand their predicament. The 7th annual meet of Network of Women in Media, India (NWMI) during March 5-7, 09 was an opportunity for both – media from the mainland India and people of Manipur to establish channels of communication. The meet was organised by Manipur chapter of NWMI led by Anjulika Thingam in the face of personal tragedy of loss of her brother Dr Kishen Singh Thingam. About 60 women journalists from all over India got first hand exposure to the grueling issues of the state and also witnessed on March 7th, the release and re-arrest of Sharmila – the iron lady on the fast unto death for last eight years demanding end of AFSPA.

Armed Forced Special Powers Act
The Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA) has been in force in many parts of the Northeast and J&K for decades. But nowhere is it protested like in Manipur. Using the provisions in this Act, some security personnel misuse the power to search, destroy any structure and arrest, shoot, kill any suspect without the fear of any prosecution for gross violation of human rights. In 2000, Irom Sharmila witnessed Assam Rifle men shooting down 10 civilians at a bus stand in a town near Imphal in retaliation to insurgents attacking their convoy. Already she had witnessed Manipuri women raped and killed by the armed forces and she decided to go on fast unto death since then demanding repealing of AFSPA. She is arrested and is being force fed through nasal tubes in the custody. But one cannot be detained for more than a year for this ‘crime’, so she is released every year. Since she does not touch water or food, she is rearrested next day.

Sharmila has become an icon of Manipur women’s protest against armed forces with Meira Paibi (meaning Women Torch Bearers) rallying behind her. In 2004, Manorama was raped and killed by Assam Rifles which led to histrionic stripping down by 12 Imas (mothers) from Meira Paibi in front of Kangla – then the head quarters of Assam Rifles in the sprawling erstwhile royal fort. This sent shock waves across the region and the demand for AFSPA repeal was intensified with civil society groups and human rights activists joining the protest.

This moved the Centre too and the Assam Rifles was shifted out of the fort. A committee headed by Justice Jeevan Reddy was appointed to examine the demand for AFSPA repeal. However, while recommending AFSPA repeal, the Jeevan Reddy committee has not looked into the alternative solution to the state’s insurgency.

I spoke to a cross section of Manipuri society and experts and got a mixed response to the issue of AFSPA and insurgency. True, despite AFSPA and 4-5 security persons for each insurgent (going by available data), the insurgency still goes unabated. What will happen if armed forces are withdrawn? Will it not give insurgents a free playing field?

Says Babloo Loitongbam, “The armed forces should be above the law and not under the law, they have to be answerable to the system.” This argument is supported by a woman journalist narrating her experience of high-handedness by the security forces. Traveling in the northeast for a photo feature assignment, she reached a town in Assam late in the evening and had her camera around her neck. Just then, an armed police was beating up a person pulling down the shop shutter. This policeman pulls off the camera from her neck though she had not taken any photos and takes her to the police station where they exposed her film destroying all her painstakingly done work. All they could have done is to develop the film and remove only those they suspected. And there is no recourse for such acts of the security forces under AFSPA as it allows them to destroy anything on suspicion.

As Babloo suggests, if the armed forces were above law then this journalist at least could have sought justice. Yes, police can interrogate her on suspicion but cannot destroy her work! They cannot take law into their own hands, torture, rape and kill civilians.

In response, an army officer on condition of anonymity, says, “During a riot like situation is there time to attest a suspect’s bona fide? Again, is there enough time to get official order to take action against the suspects, if we are not armed with AFSPA? Insurgents are hiding in a structure but we await orders and fall prey to their bullets? Civilians have little knowledge about armed forces operations. On one hand they call for tying our hands and then also have unrealistic expectations from us to finish insurgency. Just for few cases of rape and violence, entire armed force is branded as villain, which irks and demoralizes our men. You must have seen soldiers with rifles keeping a roving eye on the streets of Imphal but have you noticed anyone looking straight at you or any other indication of misbehaviour?”

Most of the elite in Imphal tow the popular line of criticising AFSPA, but in private say that end of Army rule means uncontrolled extortions and a new rein of terror in the state.

But Padmashri A M Gokhale, former chief secretary of Nagaland vehemently opposes AFSPA saying “There is absolutely no need for such a law. You win people through friendship and not through confrontation”. Gokhale made his mark in Nagaland during equally bad situation winning over people’s confidence through his projects ‘Village Development Board – VDB’ and ‘Nagaland Empowerment of People through Economic Development – NEPED’.

Experts, observers and also civil servants accept that a lot of wrong was done in the Northeast states especially because of AFSPA, which gave rise to the current strife.

Genesis of the insurgency
Manipur is like a bowl - valley surrounded by hills. While valley of Imphal was ruled by Vaishnavite Meitei, the surrounding hills were ancestral domain of Nagas and Kukis. Manipur kingdom came under British Rule in 1891. After British left in 1947, Manipur King signed letter of accession and Manipur was merged with India.

However, Manipur, an ancient kingdom with a 2000-year-old recorded history and a magnificent culture, was made a Union Territory and Manipuri, an ancient language spoken and written by all the Meiteis and tribals, was not included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution then. It was granted Statehood only in 1972. This had irked the people in Manipur and insurgency in Manipur first started in sixties.

Add to this ferment the Naga-Kuki conflict and Nagas not accepting their hill districts going to the Manipur state. In fact, the seeds of over four-decade old insurgency first started with Nagas resisting Indian government taking over Naga hills from the British Empire and later distributing some Naga hill districts to Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

The situation was very complex and the Centre failed to handle it carefully.

In his report “Manipur: Blue Print for Counterinsurgency”, E N Rammohan, Director General of the Border Security Force (BSF) and advisor to the Governor of Manipur analyses of the bungling:

“The bureaucrats who came from Delhi and other states in 1949 were by and large not sympathetic to the Meiteis and the tribals. With a few exceptions, they did not win the confidence of the Manipuris. The worst was the policy of the party in power at Delhi, as a result of which the Northeast was flooded with funds, indirectly encouraging corruption, on the premise that this would make the people soft and finish off insurgency. On the contrary, it had just the opposite effect. ‘Delhi Durbar’ - a coterie of contractors, all followers of the party in power at Delhi - secured most of the government contracts in the North eastern states. This infamous band of contractors took 95 per cent of the development funds allocated by Delhi back to private coffers in Delhi. Hundreds of kilometers of roads were built on paper and even annually maintained on paper. Food grains from the public distribution system were siphoned off wholesale into the black market. The politicians and bureaucrats of Manipur quickly adapted to this system.”

Unemployed educated youth
With spread of Christianity in Naga Hills especially, education was available in the state. As a result, Manipuri youth are well educated but there are no job opportunities. Each year, some 5000 graduates roll out of the colleges, but there are hardly 50 new jobs in the government. Heavy bribes up to Rs.12 lakhs are paid for these jobs. In the meantime, of you join an underground group, there is a salary of Rs.500 per month!

‘If you don’t want your son to get into that, you sell your ancestral property to raise Rs.12 lakh!’ says Babloo. The ideology with which the insurgency started is dead and now it is a way of survival for thousands of educated unemployed youth, she adds.

Whither peace? The possibilities
Peace has eluded this beautiful state over last four decades. The central government’s solution has been, by far, to send money and armed forces. Per capita annual central grants for Manipur at around Rs.12000 is one of the highest among all states and nearly ten times all states average of Rs.1300. This does not include defence and security expenditure.

In his blueprint for counterinsurgency, Rammohan suggests:

“The first step in the kind of situation we are faced with in Manipur, where there is an undercurrent of secession, rampant corruption led by the politicians and tamely abetted by the bureaucrats, and a complete failure by the state to protect the few upright government servants, is to list out the local civil, judicial and police officers and identify the few who have not been tainted by corruption and who, if protected, are likely to stand up against intimidation. The second step is to post these officials in all crucial posts….The third step is to ensure that reliable judicial officers are posted….”

Perhaps, the first step would be to pacify people by repealing AFSPA and thereafter using existing civil laws more stringently to deal with insurgents. As Rammohan suggests, identify and appoint upright officials who should have knack of developing friendship with the people like Padmashri Gokhale (quoted above). Simultaneously, post-AFSPA, the same brigade of Meira Paibis along with civil society groups should carry on similar pressure on their own sons and brothers to quit extortionist way of making money under the guise of the cause. Alongside, the government, administration and people should work towards economic development generate work opportunities.

One such opportunity is already knocking at the door in Manipur with proposed road link from west of India through Imphal and Burma to South Asia. This will open the corridors for various business activities. But if Manipur’s ‘sons of soils’ keep a myopic view and turn this into another chance of ‘tax’ on vehicular traffic, the caravan will go away with outsiders taking the pie.

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• United Arab Emirates - Mohammed Wali, Alkhatib Younus, Salma Nazar
• Saudi Arabia - Rashed Al Marai, Meraj Khiwani, Shaik Raza, Sameera Aziz, Fauzia Arshi,
• United States - John Mathews, Vicky Kapoor, Anna Swati
• United Kingdom - Rahil Khan, Suchitra Sharma, Balwinder Singh

THE DEADLY REBELS: ASSAM BRACES FOR NEW 'THREAT'

By Simantik Dowerah (Guest Writer)

Barely out of the decades old Ulfa terror, Assam is staring at another similar, and potentially bigger, menace: Maoists. While there is no concrete proof yet that the red rebels have entrenched themselves in the state, stray indications point to that fact they could be in the process of doing so. Some recent cases prove that Maoist leaders from Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh are trying hard to spread out in the state by recruiting local youth.

WHY INDIA IS LOSING ITS WAR AGAINST NAXALITES?

By M H Ahssan / Hyderabad

Five decades ago, the special forces officer Roger Trinquier set about understanding why his nation losing to enemies it outgunned and outmanned. France, he wrote, was  “in studying a type of warfare that no longer exists and that we shall never fight again, while we pay only passing attention to the war we lost in Indochina and the one we are about to lose in Algeria.  The result of this shortcoming is that the army is not prepared to confront an adversary employing arms and methods the army itself ignores. It has, therefore, no chance of winning”.

IN LAKSHADWEEP, PETROL IS SELLING AT 200 PER LITRE!

By CJ Rajendran in Lakshdweep

At Lakshadweep Islands, which is not quite the paradise you would have imagined. Muhammad Basheer is the only and well-known Cameramen in the island of Kavarati, to whom islanders are used to reach for the video coverage of wedding ceremonies. He is roaming besides the sea by carrying his camera on the left shoulder. As all other youngster in islands he was studied in Kerala and successfully attained graduation in Arabic language.

During his Kerala days he was being dreamt about to own a Motor cycle. Five years ago his dream accomplished with unlimited pain and sorrows.

Mother Of Three Travels 2000 KM To Raise Rs 2000 To Free Son She 'Mortgaged' To Pay Back Loan For Husband's Funeral

But the utterly heartbreaking story might have a positive ending.

A girl covers her eyes as she walks with her mother on the banks of the Ganges river during a dust storm on a hot summer day in Allahabad, India.

The tragic story of a mother's utter desperation and poverty, that found resonance with people in Agra, might eventually help her reunite with her young son.

GRIM FACTS: WHAT'S BEHIND A GLASS OF MILK?

By M H Ahssan / Hyderabad

INN throws light on some grim details about the cow in India, the world’s largest producer of milk.

You know that child who throws a terrible tantrum over a glass of milk. How he kicks and screams and refuses to touch the stuff? Haven’t you wondered what the fuss is all about? After all, it’s just a glass of milk.

It turns out the child may just have the right idea. The business of producing milk — indeed, the multi-crore rupee cattle industry it’s a part of — is sustained by a process of relentless cruelty towards animals, from birth till death, with little letup. Cruelty compounded by poorly defined, poorly implemented methods and gross violations.