Northeast Platform

MOTIHARI/IMPHAL, DECEMBER 1 (AGENCIES): The mystery surrounding the whereabouts of United National Liberation Front (UNLF) chairman Rajkumar Meghen, who went missing after being reportedly caught in Bangladesh about two months ago, was over finally when he was arrested at Motihari in Bihar on Tuesday. A Manipur-based banned outfit, UNLF is the oldest militant group in the northeast. It has been fighting for Manipur’s separation from India. Meghen is a member of Manipur’s royal family of Manipur. He studied international relations in Kolkata’s Jadavpur University Meghen’s father Rajkumar Madhurayyajit was an army officer in the Allied Forces during the British rule and had founded SSB for Manipur and Nagaland in Imphal. Meghen’s elder brother was a pilot with the Indian Air Force. ‘’A joint police team from Manipur and Bihar arrested Meghen from near Chhatauni Chowk. Manipur Police AIG C P Mina identified the militant leader,’’ SP (East Champaran) Paras Nath said. Meghen had taken shel

            The Kohima Ao Officers Forum (Ao Officertem Telongjem) have condoled the demise of late Nungshizenba MLA who passed away on 29 th November 2010 at Delhi. In a condolence message, the forum expressed shock and sadness to hear of the demise of the respected leader and representative of the Aos in the highest people’s forum, Nagaland Legislative Assembly, Mr. Nungshizenba.             The Forum described late Mr. Nungshizenba as a leader in every sense of the word, having continuously been elected to the Legislative Assembly consecutively since 1987 and serving the people in various capacities for nearly three decades as an MLA and Minister of various departments.             Late Nungshizenba was a political leader who was in touch with the people at the grassroots and knew their problems, their aspirations and needs. He was a man who was in touch with his roots and was a storehouse of folklore, cultural and traditional knowledge. He was thus a whetstone for the younger gene

                The first ‘Naga Chilli Eating Competition’ will be held during the Hornbill Festival this year, which is on the 6 th of December (Monday), 2010 in the Heritage Village, Kisama at 12:30 PM. This event has been managed by XL Nagaland under the aegis of the Tourism Department, Government of Nagaland. The interesting feature of this event is that it has been decided to involve all the Tribal Hohos of Nagaland. This event has been organized with the sole objective of promoting the Naga Chilli, which has already received rave reviews around the globe. Further promotion through such an event will not only put Nagaland into the horticultural map of the world and help the local farmers, but also boost Eco-tourism in the state. With this objective in mind, all the respective Tribal Hohos are requested to send two participants each for the competition, along with one Tribal representative.             Registration of the participants will be held on the 5 th of December (Sunday)

            Hornbill Festival 2010 will be slightly different from the previous years. The festival will be more people and tourist oriented, Commissioner & Secretary Tourism, Himato Zhimomi IFS said this while speaking with media persons at a press conference on 30 th November 2010 at the Directorate of Tourism, Kohima.                 He said that as per feedbacks received from previous hornbill launching programmes this year there will be less of talking and more of cultural activities. In this regard the Commissioner & Secretary said that the Governor of Nagaland will be the Chief Host at the inaugural function, where he will be received by about 1000 Kigwema villagers in their traditional attires from the parking and escort him to the main arena. The Tribal Guest, Buwang Konyak, Angh of Hongphoi village, Mon will invoke the Hornbill Festival in the Naga traditional way. All this has been arranged in order to add more of Naga flavour in order to showcase Naga culture and

            Following is the full text of the Statehood Day message of His Excellency the Governor of Nagaland, Nikhil Kumar:             Namaskar,             ‘On this day, as we celebrate the 47 th anniversary of our Statehood, as our state of Nagaland was started on 1 st December 1963 as the 16 th state of the Indian Union, I have great pleasure in addressing you my dear brothers, sisters, young men and women, dear boys and girls of our beautiful state to offer you my greetings and my best wishes. I also pay my tribute to the founding fathers of our state for their vision, foresight and concern for the well being of our people that had led to the founding of our state. I am aware that there are areas in which our state is deficient, but I also know that these 47 years have been very fruitful since there have been commendable achievements in its governance and development.             Our state has been making steady progress in the social sector, education and health care parti

            The paragliding airshow event was held on 1 st December 2010 at Kisama on the Hornbill Festival inauguration day from the hill side of Mount Kisama Naga Heritage Village from above 2000 meters high performed by Nagaland Rajya Sainik Board which was organized by the Department of Youth Resources & Sports.             This is the first time that the Government of Nagaland has taken up the paragliding show event in the Hornbill Festival and the government initiative is to take up paragliding as an adventure sports in the state. Official sources has said that 16 (sixteen) participants from all over the state were selected to undergo a month training for intermediate training in paragliding. The officials further stated that this sport is also initiated for adventure seekers for both local and tourist. The paragliding show today was from the trainers who have come from Sikkim to demonstrate what our Naga boys and girls can present in the years to come.

The celebration of the Hornbill Festival ‘Festival of Festival’ has begun at Naga Heritage, Kisama on 1 st December 2010 and will continue till 7 th December 2010.   As part of the celebration, the North East Cultural Day will be observed at the Naga Heritage, Kisama on the second day i.e 2nd December 2010 at Naga Heritage, Kisama. The Cultural Day which will be taken up by NEZCC Dimapur. The highlights of the day’s cultural programme will include traditional games like rope-swing, archery, bamboo dance & games and wrestling at 10:00 a.m., folk fusion music at 2:00 p.m. and folk dances of eight North Eastern States at 3:00 p.m. Other highlights of the day’s programme includes ‘Shadow plays’ depicting Naga folklores at State Academy Hall, fashions of North East at Indira Gandhi Stadium from 5:00 p.m. onwards, which will be organized by the Music Task Force and Night carnivals.

As another feature of the celebration of the Hornbill Festival 2010 at Naga Heritage, Kisama, various cultural troupes also took part at the cultural programme on the first day of the celebration. The following cultural troupes performed during the Festival were as follows: Yimmongdong Cultural Club Chungtia Village (Ao) performed warrior dance; Chozuba Village Cultural Troupe (Chakhesang) performed Rhosi li; Mech Kachari Cultural Troupe (Kachari) performed Dalai-o Banani (Love song); Wannong Cultural Club Keangpang (Konyak) on Aoleang Hem Lokpu (Aoleang song); Kuki Cultural Troupe, Athibung (Kuki) - Saipi Khupsuh. Other cultural troupes including Lotsu Cultural Club (Lotha), Mangko cultural Troupe, Shiponger village (Yimchunger), Sangvi Cultural, Women Society (Sangtam), Akhegwo Cultural Troupe (Pochury), Kasha Village Cultural, Troupe (Rengma), Yehemi Cultural Society (Sumi), Renga Cultural Club, Ngwalwa (Zeliang), Alder Club, Khonoma (Angami), Waoshu Village dancing Society (Chang)

            ‘Mari’ a novel written by noted writer Easterine Kire was released by Kaisa Rio, Lady wife of the Nagaland Chief Minister, Neiphiu Rio at the Angami Morung at Kisama during the first day of the Hornbill Festival on 1 st December 2010.             The novel tells a tale about the voices of the Naga people amidst the horrors of the war that overwhelmed their mountain top home in 1944 during the battle of Kohima. Easterine shows just what it meant for Nagas to be refugees in their own homeland, their home and livelihoods around them crushed by the weight of conflict and bloodshed, their families split up and separated forever.             The Governor of Nagaland, Nikhil Kumar and Chief Minister of Nagaland were also present during the book release.

            The Nagaland State AIDS Control Society (NSACS) multi-media campaign awareness through festivals is underway at the Hornbill Festival, Kisama from 1 st to 7 th December 2010.             To create awareness, NSACS is organizing Slogan Writing Competition everyday   under the theme ‘HIV & AIDS from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The results will be declared everyday at 4 p.m. Attractive cash prizes will be awarded to the winners. A variety of pamphlets on HIV/AIDS awareness is also available at the NSACS stall for free distribution.

            The Department of Art & Culture is observing the 11 th Annual Archives Week celebration 2010 at the Heritage Village, Kisama from 1 st to 7 th December 2010.             The State Archives has been established as a Branch under the Directorate of Art & Culture, Kohima, Nagaland with a view to preserve the State records. The Archives is the only repository of the records in the State where the scholars are the users and valued beneficiaries.             To create awareness and importance of archival treasures the exhibition has been put up to draw attention on the importance of archives as the nation’s documentary heritage, and to stress the role of archival institutions in restructuring future developments. The documents displayed in the exhibition have been chosen from the official records and the private papers.             Public records on display include ‘Lieutenant Vincent diary of the expedition to the Angami Naga’ (1849) to the ‘Tour Diary of Mr. S.J.

            As part of the Hornbill Festival, a flower show, sale of fruits and vegetables at the Hortiscape Kisama was formally inaugurated by the Parliamentary Secretary for Horticulture, R. Khing at on 1 st December 2010.             Varieties of flowers such as Bonsai, Bulbs and tubers, indigenous foliage and flowers, orchids-hybrid and indigenous, biennials and perennials, cactai and succulents and annuals, fresh flower and dry flower arrangements are exhibited in ten categories for competitions. The wining prizes of the flower show competition were Rs. 10,000/- for first prize, Rs. 7000/- for second and Rs. 5000/- for the third positions and Rs. 1000/- each for the consolation prizes.             The fresh flower arrangement category which bagged the first prize was a mixture of orchid and roses with ferns and other leaves looked almost royal in the show.             At the show varieties of organic fruits and vegetables such as pineapple, bananas, mandarin (orange), sweet ora

            As part of the Hornbill Festival 2010, the Handlooom and hadicraft exhibition displayed at Bamboo Pavalion was inaugurated by Parliamentary Secretary for Industries & Comerce, Dr. K.C. Nihoshe on 1 st December 2010 at Kisama.             Expressing staisfaction for the impressive exhibits put up by 83 units, Dr. Nihoshe said, ‘Every year the handloom and handicraft displayed at the Bamboos Pavilion is getting better and better and the products showcased are becoming more refined’. He further said that Hornbill Festival is attracting more and more people every year and is making marked improvement.             Entrepreneurs from Kohima, Dimapur, Wokha, Peren, Longleng, Meluri, Mon, Phek, Tuensang, Mokokchung, Lady Bug, DUDA, Medziphema, Guwahati, kolkata, New Delhi, Imphal are participating in the handloom and handicraft exhibition cum sale, organised by the Department of Industries & Commerce Nagaland. Commissioner & Secretary, Industries & Commerce, Imko

The Hornbill Festival ‘Festival of Festivals’ of Nagaland began today the 1 st December 2010 at the Naga Heritage, Kisama with Nagaland Governor, Nikhil Kumar gracing the occasion as the Chief Host and State Chief Minister, Neiphiu Rio as the Host.             Speaking on the occasion as the Chief Host, Nikhil Kumar extended his greetings to the people of the State and thanked the founding fathers for their vision and concern for the well being of the people of the State. He said that it is a significant day for the people of Nagaland as it was on this day that 47 years ago Nagaland State has became full fledged State and came into existence as the 16th State of the Indian Union. Nikhil Kumar said that the week-long Hornbill Festival is a celebration of the vibrant culture, fitting with the Statehood Day to mark the commencement of the festival. He said that the festival has acquired stature and fame and has become one of the most talked about cultural event in the country, to which