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were being checked. It is quite astonishing that politics in the Northeast, which used to be cleaner than that of mainland, has degraded to such an extent that prompted the Chief Minister of that state, Mr. Dorjee Khandu, to say – “What can the government do if the family members are involved in such crimes?” Getam along with his music teacher Narendra Rai was abducted on June 18 evening, while they were returning home. “It is unfortunate that Getam and his music teacher were abducted from the heart of the state capital, but the government can’t be blamed if the family members are involved,” Mr. Khandu told a press conference here. It is interesting to note that Mr Khadu had dislodged Mr. Apang in April last year after revolting against him and Mr Khandu’s followers now believe that the entire episode was stage-managed and done to show the state government in poor light. Mr. Khandu alluding to this said, “It is unfortunate that political mileage was sought to be derived by attempting to show my government in poor light.” Arunachal Pradesh is one of those states in the Northeast, which is largely infested with militants. Though the state does not have any major group of local militants, militants from neighbouring Nagaland and Assam have being using its territory as their safe sanctuary. Only five months back, as many as 39 Tirap boys had been reportedly abducted by a militant outfit that took the state government off guard. Naturally, yet another abduction of a high profile man had left the entire police force in a tizzy. But, after the return of the duo, the people in general are now debating as to what went wrong in a society that never saw such crimes in the past. The Home Minister himself told a press conference that the last fortnight had been a very testing time for all in Arunachal Pradesh and incidences have occurred in these few days that have never happened before in that society. “I 38

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entirely understand the fears and insecurities that the people have in their hearts and as the Home Minister of the state, owe moral responsibility for it.” “During the time of trial, there have been lots of calls for me to step down in the light of these incidents and I could have chosen to do that just as I could have chosen to respond to each and every statement that came out. But I decided not to.” Gamlin believed that real courage under such circumstances would be to stand firm and contribute as best as he could in finding solutions to the prob-

statements made in leading national dailies with a lot of insinuation about the motive behind the incident and about political rivalry being behind it. This was very un-expected and disturbing as well,” he rued. He reminded that it was not a time to look backwards and play the blame game and added: “We as a society must look ahead and take lessons from what has been happening around us.” “This is the time to introspect on the question of whether the rise in crimes in our state is solely the responsibility of

All Tripura Mega Quiz

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lems. “I decided that I will not run away but take things head on.” The Home Minister said immediately after the kidnapping the police force went into action and many leads emerged and were followed which led to the arrests of Tahak Tatak, Tapiam Tali and Upen Basumatry. Gamlin, who was otherwise happy to see the young boy getting back to his family, was however, disappointment that in the midst of tragedy, the kidnapping was used by the people as the way to derive political mileage. “There were

the Home Ministry. Are we all as conscious citizens of the state, at least partially, not responsible to do what we can in the prevention of crime to help the police in investigations and to interact more closely with them?” These are certain questions that are echoing in the southern Himalayas and no state can escape from answering them. Sooner or later, introspection would be necessary to reduce crime in the region. (With inputs from Sabyasachi Bhattacharjee)

t was a day of celebration and true to its word the third ‘All Tripura Mega Quiz’ was a mega success. With the town hall flooding with participants the show was a tremendous success and the organisers ensured that none of the winners left empty handed. There were a host of dignitaries as well, such as, the Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, Principal Secretary A. K. Mangotra, Maharaja of Tripura, Pradyot Kishore Manikya, Tapas Dey, Tripura University Vice Chancellor, Arunoday Saha, Bikash Roy and eminent journalists such as Shekhar Datta, Subhir Bhowmick, and Manas Paul among others. Speaking on the occasion the Chief Minister, Manik Sarkar, said that he felt such programmes would create a thirst of knowledge amongst the youth and would play a key role for the generations to come. Maharaja Pradyot Kishore also echoed similar sentiments and said that the future of Tripura is in the hands of the youth, and that personal growth is as important as overall growth of the state. He also praised the efforts of tripurainfo.com for this initiative. The first prize was won by Shidhartha Sankar Choudhury, while Chayan Bhaumik and Dhritiman Addya won the second prize. The special prize of Rs 10,000 was won by Abhinav Majumdar who answered a soccer related question specially chosen by the Maharaja of Tripura. Overall, kudos to the entire team of tripurainfo.com, for this was a quiz show which was by far the best ever in the Northeast. TNT News July 08

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