Budget session of Tripura to begin; India to raise more air borne troops for North-East; Maoists’ entry to North-East indicates serious implications; Maoist leaders arrested in Assam; Blockade continued in Manipur; Police firing in Assam leaves two dead;
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    • The six-day Budget session of Tripura Assembly would begin on April 26. On the first day, Finance Minister Badal Chowdhury would place the full-fledged Budget for 2013-14 FY. In fact, the Budget will be placed even before routine question hours. Business Advisory Committee (BAC) which held meeting in Agartala on April 22 finalized the business for the upcoming Budget session. In the first phase, the session will sit on April 26, 29, 30 and May 2. In the second phase, session will be on May 13 and 14. 1

    Against the backdrop of China strengthening its capability to airlift soldiers, India is planning to raise around 1,500 more airborne troops for deployment in the northeast along the China border. Under the 12th Defence Plan, India is planning to raise two new battalions of the airborne troops with around 1,500 personnel under the elite Parachute Regiment of the Army. The new raisings would be apparently used to check any move by any adversary to airdrop their troops within Indian territory and capture that area. The new units would also be used for the conventional roles in counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations in that area and would also be capable of being dropped behind enemy lines in case of any future war. 2

    Close on the heels of Assam Government seeking deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to track movement of insurgents and Naxals, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has warned that forays of Maoists into the sensitive north-eastern States are fraught with serious strategic implications. The MHA has told a Parliamentary Panel that the Assam-Arunachal border has witnessed Left wing extremism (LWE) as Maoists are trying to establish organisational bases in theNorth East with a view to forge relations with other insurgent groups to meet its military requirements. Certain groups are operating in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh and have been involved in incidents of looting of weapons and extortions from local villagers, areport of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs said. But the Centre has claimed that because of the pressures from security forces, the linksbetween the insurgent groups and the Maoists have also been snapped after the arrest of some functionaries of Manipur-based insurgent groups and elimination of the remnants of Maoists in Upper Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. 3

    In a major breakthrough, police on April 26 arrested two Maoist leaders of the State and seized a large quantity of arms and ammunition. The duo – Aklanta Rabha @ Maheshji and Chiraj Rabha @ Bijoy Rabha – was arrested at Jorabat while they were on their way to Meghalaya to have organizational meetings aimed at spreading the Maoist ideology. Aklanta Rabha (41) is the lone member from Assam in the Maoists’ eastern regional bureau. Chiraj Rabha (35) is the Maoists’ central training instructor. The duo was engaged in strengthening organizational matters including enhancing enrolment of members in the region, and is paid Rs 5,000 against every new recruit. 4

    The indefinite blockade by a student body on two National Highways continued for the sixth day on April 26 in Manipur, leading to a sharp rise in prices of essential commodities. Zeliangrong Students Union began the blockade on two NH – Imphal-Jiribam-Silchar and Imphal-Dimapur-Guwahati – from April 21 demanding release of a girl student Alice Kamei by an insurgent outfit Revolutionary People’s Front. Transport services between Manipur and its neighbouring States remained suspended shooting up the prices of essential and other items brought in from other States. 5

    Two persons were killed and at least six injured in police firing in Assam on April 29. Police opened fire in Goalpara district around noon after being attacked by residents protesting a suspected murder. The police team had gone to Goalpara town to recover the body of a man who had been reported missing. The body was spotted by residents. 6

    A new and dangerous trend of drug trafficking has come to light in recent times and the Barak valley area of Assam has become one of the main transit routes for such trafficking. In recent months, major hauls of medicines were made by the security agencies in the Barak valley while unscrupulous elements were trying to smuggle to Myanmar via Mizoram and the same drugs are again brought back to India through the same routes after turning the same into party drugs in the factories in Myanmar. 7

    The United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences (UNSRVAW) Rashida Manjoo held a consultative meeting with the representatives of the civil society organisations, women human rights defenders, victims and other advocates working on violence against women at Imphal on April 28. The UN envoy introducing her mandate and purpose of her visit to India, said that the death of a woman is not a new act, but the ultimate act in the continuing violence in the life of a woman. The meeting was attended by more than 200 delegates and family members of women victims of violence from all over the Northeastern region and West Bengal based organisations. 8

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