Tribals right: Invitation for protest to be held in New Delhi

By BlogAdmin on 7:11 AM

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All Tribal Students' Union
Manipur Camp, Delhi
October 8, 2008
INVITATION

Leaders of All Tribal Students' Union Manipur (ATSUM) were arrested and jailed on October 6, 2008 at Imphal, Manipur, when they were demanding for redressing the educational rights of the tribals in Manipur. In extending our solidarity to the demands of ATSUM for justice and equality and in condemnation of the brutality of the Government of Manipur in dealing with the democratic aspirations of the tribals, all Manipur tribal students' in Delhi will protest and demonstrate from Jantar Mantar to Parliament Street on October 10, 2008, 10:00 AM onwards to demand for a separate Hill University for the tribals in Manipur.
We humbly request for your participation.
Convenors
Mr David Buhril
Mr Andrew Luono

N-E students to play active roll in DU polls

By BlogAdmin on 4:19 AM

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Even as hot seat for the contry's students election process is still a month away, electioneering process in the Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University is witnessing new player in the form of Northeast students. Major political parties are fully aware of the 10,000-strong student community from the region.

Media reports has it that leaders from the National Students Union of India (NSUI), recently met northeastern students at the Nagaland House to garner their support. "They can make a difference in the elections," said an AICC member. Several community-based unions from the region have got together under a single umbrella, calling themselves the North East Students United Forum.

With representation from all the states, excluding Sikkim, in the Northeast, the forum includes major groupings such as the Assam Students Association, Delhi, Delhi Mizo Zirlai Pawl, Tripura Students Union, Manipur Students Association, Delhi and the Naga Students Union, Delhi.

The Northeast students' votes is expected to have some impact on the outcome of the result. But the absence of some students' union from the reported meeting made it clear that not all northeast students' unions were too keen to join the so-called forum.

The Naga of Northeast India

By BlogAdmin on 12:53 PM

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Even as the talks between the Union Government of India and the NSCN(IM) faction is said to have reached crucial stage many in the mainland of India are still not aware of the Nagas and their way of life. A friend of mine - in fact my former classmate- once told me that the Nagas "will definitely win our freedom" from India some six years back. But not much has happened even then after much negotiations between the two sides. Whether "honournable settllement" or "independence" the most important thing that has happened is that both sides have been restraining the use of force. As we wait for the next course of action from both sides of the negotion table I suggest you go deeper into the history of the Nagas so that we can have better understanding to the "Indo-Naga issue".
History of the Nagas
The history of the Nagas of Northeast India is worth reading. The Nagas has come a long way in their fight for a "dignified life" as the Naga leaders said. Amidsts the hills and valleys of history they have tread a path of various turns in their political, social and economic life. If you want to know more about their "uniqueness" in the Indian system of polity I suggest you read the link below.




Nagaland has no written history. Till the nineteenth century when their lifestyles were first recorded, the Naga’s lived a life centered around agricultural and headhunting and the various rites and rituals connected to the two activities. The Naga people belong to the Mongoloid ethnic group. Every tribe, clan, has its own myths of the origin of the Naga people, tracing between them their first homes, it is suggested that their love of marine shells points to a bygone settlement near the sea, their spears (with ornamental barbs curling outward from a shaft) suggested some relationship with the resident of the Philippine Islands and Indonesian people, generally by the use of the lion loom, these are not substantial evidence to build a history of ancient times, but it does give hints on what may have happened...