THE BEAUTIFUL PARADISE ASSAM; INDIA

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ASSAM FLOODS DISPLACE 5.77 LAKH PEOPLE

ASSAM FLOODS DISPLACE 5.77 LAKH PEOPLE:

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 FLOODS IN ASSAM :

(Image: Officials check railway tracks that were damaged because of the floods in Lakhimpur.)

The flood situation in Assam has turned for better since Thursday with the Brahmaputra River and its tributaries showing a receding trend. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Friday said that administration in flood-hit districts had been kept on alert, though flood waters were already receding in most parts of the state.

 (Image: A father wades through water with his son in Lakhimpur) Gogoi informed that this year's flood affected over 5.77 lakh people from 21 revenue circles in nine districts of the state. The situation was grave in Lakhimpur, Dhemaji and Sonitpur districts. The floods have claimed four lives so far.

 

  (Image: Young boys carry an old woman in Lakhimpur,) The flood affected crop land spread over 15,941 hectares in over 500 villages across the districts. People displaced by the floods were sheltered in 262 relief camps.

 

(Image: Villagers using boats to move around, in Lakhimpur,) Gogoi warned that there might be another bout of floods in September if there is intense rainfall in hills of neighbouring states, where other rivers originate before converging into the Brahmaputra in Assam.

(Image: A villager on a makeshift boat in Lakhimpur.) The chief minister claimed that the devastation due to floods could have been much more if the government had not built and repaired many of the embankments. He said state government would constitute a disaster management force to deal with the flood devastation, as well as other natural calamities. The force would be handy in providing prompt relief and rehabilitation in the wake of any natural calamities.

(Image: A woman carries her belongings in Lakhimpur.) Meanwhile, Japanese encephalitis and malaria which become rampant around this time of the year have claimed 86 lives in Assam so far. Gogoi informed that out of these, 29 deaths were because of encephalitis. He said Sivasagar district in Upper Assam was the worst hit by Encephalitis.

(Image: An old man with his belongings in Morigoan district.) The state government has so far covered 30 lakh children in the age group of 1-15 years under the Japanese Encephalitis vaccination drive, and adult population will be covered in the next phase of vaccination. Moreover, 35 lakh chemically treated mosquito nets have been provided to poor families in all the 27 districts to prevent incidence of malaria.

ECONOMIC MINERALS OF ASSAM

ASSAM is endowed with vast mineral resources. The major minerals like coal, oil and gas, limestone, dolomite, sillimanite and corundum, iron ore, felspar, glass-sand, refractory and fire clays, kaolin, beryl, gypsum, pyrite, vermiculite, salt, copper, gold etc. have been reported to occur in the state. The most important minerals being exploited so far in Assam are coal, oil and gas, limestone and sillimanite.

COAL

In Assam, coal occurs in Garo hills, Khasi and Jaintai hills, Mikir hills, Jaipur and Makum. The tertiary coals of Assam are remarkably low in ash but high in sulphur. Assam coal is being consumed at present by the railways, iron and brass foundries, brick kilns, inland water steamer services, tea gardens and other industries in addition to household consumption. Apart from its general uses, Assam coal is eminently suitable for the manufacture of coal distillation products.

OIL AND NATURAL GAS

The oil producing areas of Assam lie in the upper Assam valley and are geologically confined to the Tertiary Strata - mainly Oligocene. Assam is first state in the country where oil was struck in 1889 at Digboy. At present oil is being tapped at two areas - the Digboy and the Naharkotiya and Moran fields. Two more refineries of considerable size have come up in the public sector at Gauhati and Barauni and the third with a petrochemical complex is under way. A new refinery, Numaligarh refinery (3m. tones capacity) was commissioned on July 9, 1999. The availability of associated natural gas is dependent on the extraction of crude oil. Vast quantities of natural gas are being produced along with the production of crude oil. Only two projects under the "utilization of natural gas scheme" have so far come up in the state. These are the thermal power plant and the fertilizer factory at Namrup.

LIMESTONE
Limestone is a very common sedimentary rock of biochemical origin. It is composed mostly of the mineral calcite. Sometimes it is almost pure calcite, but most limestones are filled with lots of other minerals and sand and they are called dirty limestones. The calcite is derived mostly from the remains of organisms such as clams, brachiopods, bryozoa, crinoids and corals. These animals live on the bottom of the sea and when they die their shells accumulate into piles of shelly debris. This debris can then form beds of limestone. Some limestones may have been derived from non-biogenic calcite formation. Although some limestones can be nearly pure calcite, there is often a large amount or sand or silt that is included in the shelly debris.

The high-grade fossil limestone or 'nummulitic' limestone deposits of Assam are geologically known as 'Syket limestone' as these belong to that groups of rocks. The limestone deposits are confined in areas of Garo hills, united Khasi and Jaintia hills, Cachar hills and Mikir hills. One of the largest outcrops of limestone is at the foot of the Khasi hills. Vast deposits of high-grade limestone are best observed in the Jowai area. Lime stones of the Khasi and Jaintia hills can be used for manufacture of cement and for lime-burning purposes. It can be used in chemical industries and for metallurgical purposes. The limestone deposits of the state offer vast scope for developing innumerable industries where limestone is required.

SILLIMANITE

Sillimanite (also called Bucholzite) is a polymorph with two other minerals: kyanite and andalusite. A polymorph is a mineral that shares the same chemistry but a different crystal structure with another, or other, minerals. Sillimanite is the rarest of the three trimorphs. A variety of sillimanite is called "fibrolite". It is a common fibrous massive form.

The sillimanite deposits of the Nongstoin state in the Khasi hills are world famous from the point of view of quantity and purity of the mineral. Assam is the major producer of this mineral in India and contributes more than 90% of the total production. Corundum is found to occur in association with the sillimanite deposits. Low-grade 'quartz-sillimanite schists' also occur in the same area.

CLAY
Clay is a naturally occurring material composed primarily of fine-grained minerals, which show plasticity through a variable range of water content, and which can be hardened when dried and/or fired. Clay deposits are mostly composed of clay minerals (phyllosilicate minerals), minerals which impart plasticity and harden when fired and/or dried, and variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure by polar attraction. Organic materials which do not impart plasticity may also be a part of clay deposits.

Assam is endowed with fairly large reserves of sedimentary white clays as well as Kaolin or 'China clay', which forms an important basic raw material for ceramic or refractory industries. These Clays are found to occur at many places in the Garo hills, Khasi and Jaintia hills and the Mikir hills. This clay is quite suitable for the manufacture of medium to low-grade white wares and other ceramic products like stoneware pipes, sanitary ware, glazed tiles and bricks. The Kaolin deposit near Mawphlang is found to be as good as the Kaolin of corn wall.

GLASS SANDS
Glass sands are High-quartz sand used in glassmaking; contains small amounts of aluminum oxide, iron oxide, calcium oxide, and magnesium oxide. They are also called as Sand Stones.
Deposits of fine-grained, white friable sandstones has been located in the coalfields of the Laitryngew andCherapunji areas. The friable quartzite of the Shilllong series around shillong and the Tura sandstones of the Garo hills are suitable for manufacture of sheet glass and fruit glass after washing.

IRON ORE
Iron ore is a mineral substance which will yield metallic iron (Fe). It almost always consists of iron oxides, the primary forms of which are magnetite (Fe3O4) and hematite (Fe2O3). The image below shows a few specimens of iron ore. The grey metallic ore is magnetite, while the red ore is hematite. The round thing in the middle is a quarter.

Occurrence of banded-iron ore have been located in the Chanderdinga hills and Abhayapuri areas in Goalpara district and in the Aradanga-Rangchapara areas on the border of the Kamrup and Khasi and Jaintia hills districts.

Copper

Copper minerals occur in the Umpyrtha and Ranighat areas in the Khasi and Jaintia hills and also in the Mahamaya hills in Goalpara district.

Felspar
Feldspars are a group of rock-forming tectosilicate minerals which make up as much as 60% of the Earth's crust.Feldspars crystallize from magma in both intrusive and extrusive igneous rocks, as veins, and are also present in many types of metamorphic rock.
Felspar is a common mineral found to occur in association with granites. Recently workable felspar deposits have been recorded near the Hahim area in Kamrup district.
* Feldspar is a common raw material in the production of ceramics and geopolymers.
* Feldspars are used for thermoluminescence dating and optical dating in earth sciences and archaeology
* Feldspar is one of several abrasive ingredients in Bon Ami, a brand of household cleaner in the USA.
In 2005, Italy was the top producer of feldspar with almost one fifth of world share, followed by Turkey, China and Thailand—reports the International Monetary Fund.

Gold

Gold is reported to occur in sands, gravels and alluvial terraces along some of the rivers in the Lakhimpur, Sibsagar and Darrang districts of Assam. A gold-bearing rock was located at a place about 5 miles southwest of Mawphlang.

Gypsum

Gypsum in the form of selenite crystals and disseminated in shale beds occur at Mahendraganj in the Garo hills and at a few places in the Mikir hills.

N. C. HILLS SCAM & ASSAM POLITICS:

N. C. HILLS SCAM & ASSAM POLITICS: ©subhankar_karmakar

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There was a great deal of brouhaha over a report that appeared in The Week of February 7 about a Rs 1 ,000- crore swindle of development funds in the North Cachar Hills district and the involvement of seven ministers of Asom, an MP and an MLA as also a former governor of the State, Lt Gen. (retired) Ajai Singh in the swindle. Unfortunately, there was a knee-jerk reaction of sorts both in the political circles of the State and among the media fraternity. This was quite uncalled for, since all that was required was to ascertain whether the worthies named in The Week report actually figured in the charge-sheet filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) or not. Ultimately it turned out that The Week had far exceeded the limits of journalistic propriety and ethics in naming the ten worthies. Only two of the ministers named did what was mature and expected: Himanta Biswa Sarma sent the magazine a legal notice and Rockybul Hussain filed a libel case against the magazine without bothering about a legal notice. Other ministers expressed surprise and issued denials. The sudden reactions to an unconfirmed magazine report must have struck most psychologists as a typical manifestation of a guilt complex that is also part of native wisdom. I was reminded of the familiar Assamese aphorism that is a question and a reply to it: “Who is in the prayer room?” “No, I haven’t eaten the bananas.” When the dust had settled, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi merely issued a directive to The Week saying that it had to offer an unconditional apology. But this was hardly the kind of response expected from the Chief Minister of a State, seven of whose ministers and an MLA had been maligned. Considering the damage done to the image of his Council of Ministers, Gogoi should have asked all the aggrieved ministers to sue the publication for libel and to claim hefty compensations in civil cases. That is the only way newspapers and magazines can be dissuaded from indulging in unmerited character assassination of people. During the few days following the Week exposé, rival political parties like the AGP had demanded that the investigations be handed over to Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI). They had also demanded the resignation of Tarun Gogoi as Chief Minister of Asom. Quite expectedly, Tarun Gogoi said he did not have to resign since nothing had been proved against him or against his ministers. He also added that if involvement in the Rs 1 ,000- crore swindle could be proved against any of his ministers he would make them resign. But he kept declining to hand over the investigations to the CBI. This was imperative because the NIA had no jurisdiction to investigate cases of public servants involved in corrupt practices. Gogoi’s unwillingness to hand over the investigation to the CBI was very intriguing, to say the least. It is all very well for him to be always talking of proof. But no minister or politician involved in swindles of this kind leaves fingerprints all over the place. On the contrary we even find some of the most corrupt politicians preaching sermons against corruption. For them the facade is all that seems to matter. Naturally, therefore, people have to infer developments and actions from the indirect evidence before them. For instance, the declared personal assets of several candidates of the 15 th Lok Sabha elections show that their personal assets were five to ten times the assets declared for the 14 th Lok Sabha elections. People with a sense of humour are likely to ask whether these candidates were exceptionally lucky with their stock market investments or real estate investments during the five years preceding the last Lok Sabha elections! Be that as it may, it would have been expected of Tarun Gogoi, known for the claims of ‘transparency’ that he makes about his government, to have seized the earliest opportunity of handing over the inquiry of the Rs 1 ,000- crore North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council swindle to the CBI to clear the ministers of his government of any shadow of suspicion if he is indeed so sure that all his ministers are above reproach and that none of them had the means to do anything with the development funds of the district council in question. He should have jumped at this opportunity to prove the innocence of his ministers if they are indeed as innocent as he claims. But are they all so innocent? What I am trying to get at is that no one really needed a report in The Week to know that astronomical sums of money had gone out of the development funds of the autonomous council to help the DHD(G), commonly referred to as the Black Widow, to procure weapons for the terrorist outfit. There was a wealth of other corroborative evidence to establish the involvement of people like Mohit Hojai, the Chief Executive Member of the North Cachar Hills Autonomous District Council and Rejaul Hussain Khan, Deputy Director of the Social Welfare Department in the siphoning and diversion of development funds to terrorist outfits like the Black Widow. On April 2 , 2009 , the Assam Police arrested two members of the Black Widow, Brojen Hojai and Babul Kemprai, on National Highway No. 37 with Rs 1 crore in their possession. This was money that Mohit Hojai had given to the Black Widow to buy weapons from an international arms dealer. The interrogations of Mohit Hojai and R.H.Khan revealed that about Rs 90 to Rs 100 crore had been given to the Black Widow for purchase of weapons. The Black Widow is not an insurgent group; it is a terrorist outfit. So here was a clear case of a public servant in a responsible executive position of the district council actually subsidizing a terrorist outfit with public money! Here was a man who had sworn by the Constitution of India to defend the country and the Constitution actually sabotaging his own administrative machinery and the nation as a whole. This is how some people in the political executive of the State have helped to turn terrorism into an industry in the State. There is also adequate evidence to establish that the then Governor of Asom, Lt Gen. (retired) Ajai Singh had returned from a frenetic visit to Haflong just a day before he handed over charge as Governor of the State. In these days of sophisticated communication facilities, where was the need for the then Governor to make that car trip to Haflong over roads that are like minefields in certain parts in such unholy haste? One must consider two other significant facts along with this. *One is that the District Council was under the direct control of Governor Ajai Singh for six or seven months until an election-related matter came to court. *The other is that the ever helpful Khan came in direct contact with the Governor during those months. This remained an enduring relationship till the very end. All this was very well known much before the Week report. What was also well known was the intriguing fact that it took Tarun Gogoi nearly two months after the arrest of Brojen Hojai and Babul Kemprai to order the arrest of Mohit Hojai and R.H.Khan on May 30 , 2009. Why did he have to wait nearly two months to order the arrest of these two worthies for a crime as serious as funding a terrorist outfit with government money? Did he prefer to wait because of the fallout of the news of their arrest on the 15 th Lok Sabha election results? The Week report has not exposed to the people anything that was not already known to them in bits and pieces. But what the report did was to partially open a Pandora’s box that Tarun Gogoi must have wanted completely shut for all times to come. [This reminds me of how the Pandora’s box idiom came into the English language. Its origin is in Greek mythology. According to it, Pandora was the first woman on earth. Zeus apparently gave her a box that she was forbidden to open, and when she opened it, all the evils flew out of it into the world.] Today’s politicians have stronger reasons for wanting Pandora’s boxes to remain shut permanently. They have all their evil deeds in them. In any case, Tarun Gogoi who was so adamant about not wanting to hand over the N.C.Hills swindle to the CBI for investigation had a very recent summon to New Delhi and a discussion lasting 40 minutes with Home Minister P. Chidambaram. One of the first things he did after his return was to announce that he was handing over the N.C.Hills swindle inquiry to the CBI. People will have to make intelligent guesses whether his meeting with Chidambaram had anything to do with his change of heart. Tarun Gogoi, for his part has said that the N.C.Hills swindle did not figure in his 40- minute discussion with the Union Home Minister. Tarun Gogoi claims that he has decided to hand over the inquiry to the CBI because the AGP has been politicizing the N.C. Hills issue. But why should any political party not politicize it? After all, it is a political issue among other things. Would the Congress not have politicized it if the AGP had been in power? To cap it all, Tarun Gogoi wants to know why he should resign just because the AGP wants him to. “The people of Assam haven’t asked me to step down,” he says. We would like to know what manner of indication by the people of the State he is going to take cognizance of. The only language he understands is the language of votes. For that, he will have to wait till next year. But until then, the Pandora’s box that has been partially opened is likely to reveal a whole lot of things that cannot be good for the electoral prospects of the Congress.