News Analysis India

Tag: Mizoram

  • High Covid positivity rate shocks Mizoram, Centre rushes team

    Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: The tiny Mizoram with a small and scattered population has puzzled doctors and scientists as it continues to maintain a high COVID-19 positivity rate.

    The hill state has so far recorded 71,922 cases, including 239 deaths. This is over 6.5% of the state’s population of 11.2 lakh.

    Every single day, the state is recording around 1,000 cases. It now has 12,937 active cases. The positivity rate is in excess of 13%. The active ratio is 17.37% which is the highest in the country.

    Alarmed by the exponential increase in the number of cases, the Centre has rushed a team of experts to the state.

    Official sources attributed the high positivity rate to aggressive testing, mass testing and contact tracing.

    ALSO READ | Mizoram fears fresh influx of refugees after Myanmar airstrikes on civilians

    “We are conducting active searches for cases through contact tracing. There is mass testing covering all members of every locality. We don’t want to miss a single household,” Dr Pachuau Lalmalsawma, who is the state’s nodal officer of the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme, told The New Indian Express.

    Given the situation, the state has constituted police contact tracing teams and emergency testing teams which are like flying squads. People suspected to be infected by the virus are mandatorily tested.

    “Whenever we hear about somebody showing the symptoms, we send an emergency testing team to the person’s house and every member is tested. If the person showing the symptoms tests negative after a rapid antigen test, we make him or her undergo an RT-PCR test the very next day,” Dr Lalmalsawma said.

    Stating that there is no denying the fact that COVID has continued to spread in communities in Mizoram, he said he was very sure the cases in other states might increase to a certain extent if they conduct the testing in the manner Mizoram is doing.

    “It is predominantly the Delta variant of the virus responsible for the infection. We have not calculated but we assume that our COVID R-value should be between two and three,” Dr Lalmalsawma said.

    He added that a two-member central team of experts was conducting a study and would leave the state after two-three days

  • Mizoram fears fresh influx of refugees after Myanmar airstrikes on civilians

    Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: The Mizoram government apprehends a fresh influx of Myanmar refugees following “bombings” by the military of the neighbouring country.

    Some 150 people from Myanmar’s Chin State fled to Mizoram over the past few days in the face of the airstrikes.

    The development comes after the National Unity Government in exile, formed by the deposed lawmakers, called for a nationwide uprising against the military.

    Mizoram Home Minister Lalchamliana confirmed the bombings as well as the fresh influx of refugees.

    “I had received a report yesterday (Friday) on the bombing from a villager, who lives near the Mizoram-Myanmar border. He told me that the villagers had seen a Burmese village, called Lungler, being bombed by Myanmar jet fighters,” Lalchamliana told The New Indian Express.

    ALSO READ | Fighting in Myanmar kills at least 15 after uprising call

    He said if such actions by the Myanmar military continued, more refugees would pour into Mizoram.

    Six Mizoram districts – Champhai, Siaha, Lawngtlai, Serchhip, Hnahthial, and Saitual – share a 510-km long porous border with Myanmar.

    Lalchamliana said an estimated 10,000 refugees had been taking shelter in Champhai, Lawngtlai, Siaha, and Hnahthial for the past few months.

    “The refugees have been given shelter by the villagers who are also taking care of their daily needs. It is a humanitarian crisis and it is our duty to help those who are in need,” the Minister said.

    The Mizoram government recently started enrolling the children of the refugees into schools. The refugees are lodged in community halls, public halls, school buildings, etc. The state government feels that they will return to Myanmar when the situation in the country improves.

    People from Myanmar’s Chin community and the Mizos in India belong to the Zo ethnic group and they share the same ancestry.

    “Before the arrival of the British, it was one country. The Britishers divided the Mizo-inhabited areas into Burma and India. But till today, we have inter-marriage and blood relations,” Lalchamliana added. 

  • Schools in Mizoram begins admitting Myanmar refugee children 

    Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: The Mizoram government has begun admitting the children of Myanmar refugees to state-run schools.

    The process of admission followed a circular, issued by the School Education Director James Lalrinchhana to all District Education Officers on August 31, which stated that children belonging to disadvantaged communities have the right to education.

    “1 am to state that chapter 2(4) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act-2009) mentioned that children aged between 6 to I4 years belonging to disadvantaged communities have the right to be admitted to school in a class appropriate to his or her age for completing elementary education…

    “I, therefore, request you to take necessary action on admission to migrant/refugee children in your jurisdiction to schools so that they can continue their schooling,” the circular reads.

    Six Mizoram districts — Champhai, Siaha, Lawngtlai, Serchhip, Hnahthial, and Saitual — share their border with Myanmar.

    ALSO READ | Mizoram reports 886 new COVID-19 cases, single day positivity rate 10.33 per cent

    According to the last count, more than 15,000 Myanmar nationals, including lawmakers and security personnel, had fled to Mizoram over a period of time following the coup by the military of that country in February. Most of the people are taking shelter in the Champhai district.

    It was learnt that 325 refugee children have been already enrolled in schools in Champhai.

    Lalrinchhana said the refugee children were being admitted into schools in Champhai, Lawngtlai, and Siaha.

    “We are giving them education under Right to Education. The children will be admitted from the primary level to class 12. We are covering all children who require education. Books etc will be provided by the state government,” he said.

    The refugees are settled in village schools, public and community halls, makeshift camps, etc.

    “The local communities are taking care of their daily needs. We are all human beings. These people will go back (to Myanmar) when the situation improves. In fact, many have gone back,” Lalrinchhana added.

    People from Myanmar’s Chin community and the Mizos in India belong to the Zo ethnic group and they share the same ancestry. The Chin people are settled in Myanmar’s Chin State, which shares a 404 km porous border with Mizoram.

  • Schools in Mizoram begin admitting Myanmar refugee children 

    Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: The Mizoram government has begun admitting the children of Myanmar refugees to state-run schools.

    The process of admission followed a circular, issued by the School Education Director James Lalrinchhana to all District Education Officers on August 31, which stated that children belonging to disadvantaged communities have the right to education.

    “1 am to state that chapter 2(4) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act-2009) mentioned that children aged between 6 to I4 years belonging to disadvantaged communities have the right to be admitted to school in a class appropriate to his or her age for completing elementary education…

    “I, therefore, request you to take necessary action on admission to migrant/refugee children in your jurisdiction to schools so that they can continue their schooling,” the circular reads.

    Six Mizoram districts — Champhai, Siaha, Lawngtlai, Serchhip, Hnahthial, and Saitual — share their border with Myanmar.

    ALSO READ | Mizoram reports 886 new COVID-19 cases, single day positivity rate 10.33 per cent

    According to the last count, more than 15,000 Myanmar nationals, including lawmakers and security personnel, had fled to Mizoram over a period of time following the coup by the military of that country in February. Most of the people are taking shelter in the Champhai district.

    It was learnt that 325 refugee children have been already enrolled in schools in Champhai.

    Lalrinchhana said the refugee children were being admitted into schools in Champhai, Lawngtlai, and Siaha.

    “We are giving them education under Right to Education. The children will be admitted from the primary level to class 12. We are covering all children who require education. Books etc will be provided by the state government,” he said.

    The refugees are settled in village schools, public and community halls, makeshift camps, etc.

    “The local communities are taking care of their daily needs. We are all human beings. These people will go back (to Myanmar) when the situation improves. In fact, many have gone back,” Lalrinchhana added.

    People from Myanmar’s Chin community and the Mizos in India belong to the Zo ethnic group and they share the same ancestry. The Chin people are settled in Myanmar’s Chin State, which shares a 404 km porous border with Mizoram.

  • Mizoram claims Assam police ‘kidnapped’ construction worker from disputed border

    By PTI

    AIZAWL: Mizoram on Thursday accused Assam police of assaulting and kidnapping a civilian construction worker from the disputed border between the two states which had earlier seen a shoot-out between their police forces in July.

    In a letter written to his counterpart in Assam’s Hailakandi district, Mizoram’s Kolasib Deputy Commissioner H. Lalthlangliana alleged that one Lalnarammawia, operator of an earth excavator was blindfolded and kidnapped at gunpoint by Assam Police personnel in commando fatigues from Aitlang area, a few kilometres from Mizoram’s Vairengte village.

    The incident occurred on Thursday afternoon when Lalnarammawia and others were working at a road construction site, the letter said.

    An excavator had been hired by farmers for road construction.

    Assam police went to the spot, disrupted construction work and damaged the earth excavator, the letter alleged.

    “Policemen also snatched the excavator’s key from the operator, who was blindfolded and kidnapped, the Mizoram official alleged. “The JCB operator was blindfolded and kidnapped with a gun pointed at his head by Assam Police wearing a Commando uniform. He was then dragged to the river and threatened. His mobile phone along with JCB keys were taken by the Assam Police,” the letter claimed.

    Terming the incident as serious and setback to the recent peace initiative, Lalthlangliana cautioned that it could further the situation, already tense as both states have deployed large numbers of armed policemen there.

    The Kolasib DC urged his Hailakandi counterpart to intervene and take necessary action against those involved in the “kidnapping”.

    He also urged Assam officials to return the items allegedly taken away by Assam police to the earth excavator operator at the earliest.

    After simmering tensions for several months over a border dispute, at least six Assam Police personnel and one civilian were killed and more than 50 people injured in a fire-fight between the police of the two states on July 26.

    The two states share a 164.6-km border between Assam’s Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj districts, and Mizoram’s Kolasib, Mamit and Aizawl districts.

    Both states have differing interpretations of their territorial border.

    While Mizoram believes that its border lies along an ‘inner line’ drawn up in 1875 to protect tribals from outside influence, Assam goes by a district demarcation done in 1933.

  • Mizoram reports 886 new COVID-19 cases, single day positivity rate 10.33 per cent

    By PTI

    AIZWAL: Mizoram’s COVID-19 tally surged to 56,642 as 886 more people, including 186 children, tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours, a health department official said on Saturday.

    The single-day positivity rate was 10.33 per cent as the fresh cases were detected from 8,576 samples, the official said.

    The new cases were reported from various districts with Aizawl reporting the highest at 383, followed by Lunglei at 118 and Kolasib at 98, he said.

    Of the 886 fresh cases, 112 were confirmed through RT-PCR test, 739 were detected through Rapid Antigen Test and 35 through TrueNat tests.

    Five patients have travel history, while the rest 881 were found to have locally contracted the virus, the official said.

    Mizoram currently has 8,100 active COVID-19 cases, while 48,336 people have recovered from the infection, including 256 people on Friday.

    At least 206 people have succumbed to the infection so far. The COVID-19 recovery rate in the state now is 85.33 per cent and the death rate is 0.36 per cent. The state has tested more than 8.37 lakh samples for COVID-19 to date.

  • Two Assam men arrested with meth tablets worth Rs 100 crore in Mizoram: Police

    Their truck was intercepted during a random checking of vehicles and 50 kg of meth tablets were found inside it, police said.

  • Arunachal Pradesh Governor BD Mishra given additional charge of Mizoram

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Arunachal Pradesh Governor Brigadier BD Mishra (retd) was on Tuesday given additional charge of Mizroam, according to a communique by the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

    Sikkim Governor Ganga Prasad has been given the additional charge of Manipur, it said.

    Mishra will discharge the functions of governor of Mizoram Hari Babu Kambhampati, in addition to his own duties, during the latter’s absence on leave, said the communique.

    “Ganga Prasad, Governor of Sikkim is appointed to discharge the functions of the Governor of Manipur, in addition to his own duties, during the absence on leave of Dr Najma A Heptulla, Governor of Manipur,” it said.

    These appointments will take effect from the dates they assume charge of their respective offices, the communique added.

  • Assam blockade: Mizoram Health Minister says COVID patients dying for want of medicines

    Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: Mizoram Health Minister R Lalthangliana on Saturday blamed the blockade in Assam for the recent deaths of COVID-19 patients in Mizoram.

    “Covid patients are dying for want of medicines. Seriously ill patients are in dire needs of life-saving drugs…” the minister said in a video, which was shared with this newspaper by the state’s Directorate of Information of Public Relations (DIPR).

    He did not specify the number of deaths of COVID-19 patients due to lack of medicines during the period of blockade. However, official sources said 25 people had lost their lives.

    “Twenty-five COVID patients have died since the blockade (started). They had been admitted to hospitals and their condition was already serious. As our Health Minister has stated, the shortage of medicines, arising due to economic blockade, was also a large factor in accelerating the quick deterioration of their health and they succumbed to it,” Mina Zoliani, who is the Deputy Director of DIPR and member of the media cell on border issues, told The New Indian Express.

    ALSO READ: Interstate border violence perpetrated by Mizoram Police: Assam Assembly team in report

    The blockade was imposed by some organisations in Assam’s Barak Valley in protest against the July 26 border skirmishes that left six Assam Police personnel dead and scores of others, including the Superintendent of Police of Assam’s Cachar district, injured.

    Lalthangliana said it was unfortunate that a number of trucks, carrying life-saving drugs, medicines and oxygen cylinders, are still stuck at the interstate border.

    “With the rise in the number of COVID cases, we are finding it very difficult to manage patients who are in dire need of oxygen given the limited supply due to the blockade. Other basic necessities of COVID-19 management such as PPE kits and other drugs used in COVID-19 treatment protocols are still stuck at the border,” the minister said.

    He said a truck carrying an oxygen plant, meant for the Zoram Medical College (ZMC) and sanctioned through PM Cares, was stranded in Guwahati. It is supposed to be commissioned before August 15 as per the Centre’s directive, he said.

    He lamented that he did not get a response to his letters written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and Assam’s Health Minister Keshab Mahanta on August 2 on the blockade and the issues connected with it. He urged them to take up the matter swiftly so that precious lives were not lost.

    “When Mizoram is badly affected by the second wave of the pandemic, it is a matter of grave concern that life-saving equipment and crucial drugs and medicines are stuck at the border,” Lalthangliana said.

    He demanded the restoration of vehicular movement to Mizoram immediately through the removal of “impediments”.

    “This act of arrogance is clearly in violation of basic human rights and the rights to life under Article 21 of the Constitution,” he added.

    The sources said the RT-PCR lab at the ZMC was facing an acute shortage of essential testing reagents which resulted in sample testing in the state getting capped based on the available stock.

    National Highway 306, which traverses Cachar, is Mizoram’s lifeline.

  • Interstate border violence perpetrated by Mizoram Police: Assam Assembly team in report

    By PTI

    GUWAHATI: The recent violence in Cachar district, along the Assam-Mizoram border, was “perpetrated” by the police force in the neighbouring state, an all-party delegation of the Assembly here that had visited the site of the incident said on Friday.

    In its report tabled in the Assam Assembly, the team also said that the incident “was nothing but a cold-blooded massacre”, with no effort on the part of the Mizoram Police to control the mob on its side.

    The delegation noted that the “Mizoram Police along with some miscreants indulged in encroachment activities” in Assam, and claimed that the border dispute has been festering for long due to this reason.

    Six Assam Police personnel and a civilian were killed in a bloody conflict along the interstate boundary on July 26.

    In its observations, the team said that the “unfortunate incident was perpetrated by the Mizoram Police”.

    It maintained that the issue of encroachment should be pursued with the central government and accordingly, an all-party delegation, headed by the Speaker, must visit Delhi soon to meet Union Home minister Amit Shah and other central leaders in this connection.

    “From the attacking style of Mizoram, it could be apparently said that it was nothing but a cold-blooded massacre leading to heavy casualties,” the report stated.

    According to the report, IGP Anurag Agarwal, who was at the incident site, told the delegation that “land encroachments, violations in the form of construction of camps, roads, etc in the occupied land by Mizoram within the constitutional boundary of Assam were at the root of the discord”.

    A joint team of Cachar district civil and police administrations, including deputy commissioner Keerthi Jalli, IGP Agarwal, DIG (southern range) D Mukherjee, superintendent of police Viabhav C Nimbalkar and Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Cachar, Tejas Mariswamy, had visited Lailapur in Cachar on July 26.

    A day earlier, the DFO had submitted a requisition for police personnel to accompany him as he sought to serve notices on officials of Mizoram, based on preliminary offence report registered by him under various sections of the Assam Forest Regulation Act, 1891, the delegation said.

    While officials on the other side refused to accept the notices, Mizoram Police personnel “in heavy numbers” arrived at the scene, the report underlined.

    During discussions between the two sides that lasted for more than two hours, the Assam team tried to serve the notices which were refused by the Mizoram officials, and in the meantime, “miscreants from Mizoram’s Vairengte town and surrounding areas gathered in the area armed with sharp weapons and air guns and attacked the on-duty Assam government officials, grievously injuring several of them,” said the all-party delegation report.

    Kolasib SP Vanlalfaka Ralte had abruptly left the spot after receiving a phone call and “suddenly there was an unprovoked heavy firing from automatic weaponry including machine guns from Mizoram side, aimed at Assam government officials present,” the report said.

    Thereafter, the Assam Police took position and fired in self-defence, but their counterparts and accompanying miscreants were at a vantage position, the delegation claimed.

    IGP Agarwal, in his deposition before the Assembly panel, further said that the firing continued for more than half-an-hour, without any provocation from the Assam Police.

    He also said Mizoram was carrying out construction work on the reserve forest land within the territory of Assam, in violation of the law.

    The Assembly delegation, during the visit on July 31, met representatives of various members of ethnic communities, who were unanimous in their demand for a permanent solution to the border dispute.

    Assembly Speaker Biswajit Daimary, who led the 17-member team, after consultations with various stakeholders, said that the Assam government would definitely take urgent measures to solve the issue amicably, the report stated.

    He also said that “primitive laws” framed during the British regime are causing hindrances in undertaking developmental activities, adding that the Assam government will, however, always act in accordance with the law.