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Tripura schoolboy uses windmill power to light up trains.

BRIGHT IDEA: Parinaha Chakraborty

15-yr-old Tripura schoolboy uses windmill power to light up trains

Biswendu Bhattacharjee TNN

Agartala: 15-year-old Tripura schoolboy Parinaha Chakraborty has come up with an innovative way of using a windmill to generate electricity that can light up bulbs inside a moving train. Parinaha came up with the idea after travelling on a meter gauge train that did not have electricity, water or toilet facilities — even though such trains cover distances upto 200 km, often at night.
    “The conventional energy mechanism is obsolete in these trains,” says Parinaha, who travelled with his parents from Agartala to Dharmanagar on the northern end of Tripura last year, sitting in one such train in pitch darkness. That’s when he started thinking about how to improve the lighting.
    Last December, he hit upon an incredibly effective solution — installing a windmill in front of the train. Using the speed of the train, the windmill produces mechanical energy which can easily be converted into electrical energy that can light up low voltage bulbs inside the train.
    “Parinaha’s idea can easily be put into practice in any train in any part of the country,” says Jayanta Chowdhury, evaluator at the Tripura University Innovative Club, which has accredited the idea as a grassroot innovation.
    “No Indian train moves at less than 60 kilometres per hour and if we install a small windmill right on the front engine, it could generate at least 12 volt of power each hour, that can meet the demand of conventional energy consumption on travel.” Meanwhile, the young innovator, who is a student of class IX of Shiksha Niketan H S School in Agartala, has got a pat on the back for his innovation from none other than President Pranab Mukherjee who interacted with him during his visit to Tripura.
    Mukherjee had, after assuming office as President, asked central universities to establish innovation centres which would be breeding grounds for inventive ideas. According to Tripura University vice-chancellor A K Ghosh, their university’s Innovative Club has achieved a lot of success, having accredited almost 60 grassroots innovations like Parinaha’s, which are in the process of being registered under the Intellectual Property Act.

Bhutan has a new Government.

Oppn storms to power in Bhutan

PDP Wins 32 Of 47 Seats, Vows To Sort Out Problems With India; Turnout 80%

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Thimphu: The opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) drubbed Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) to capture power in Bhutan’s second general election on Saturday.
    PDP is known as an organization whose foreign policy is in alignment with that of the Bhutanese monarchy, which stands for a strong friendship between India and Bhutan.
    PDP won 32 seats and DPT 15. The National Assembly, the kingdom’s parliament, has a total of 47 seats. “We’re grateful to the people of Bhutan and will try our best to fulfil their expectations,” PDP secretary-general Sonam Jatsho said. He pledged to sort out all problems with India.
    PDP president Tshering Tobgay (47), who contested from Haa in western Bhutan bordering the strategic Chumbi Valley, is likely to be the next prime minister.
    Tobgay, an alumnus of Harvard University, is a former civil servant.
    In the 2008 polls, DPT had humiliated PDP by winning 45 seats. PDP was founded by Sangay Ngdup, an uncle of former monarch Jigme Singhey Wangchuck (the present monarch’s father). After the defeat, Nhedup quit politics, paving the way for Tobgay to take charge of PDP.
    PDP’s win came as a big surprise to most Bhutanese. It had won just 12 seats as against DPT’s 33 in the primary election held in May last to choose the two top parties eligible for Saturday’s poll. The kingdom follows a bi-party system. Druk Nyamdrup Tshogpa (DNT), which had won two seats in the primary round, merged with PDP.
    DPT had a number of heavyweights, including former PM Jigmi Y Thinley, as its candidates. Thinley’s family has served the palace for generations. “It was Thinley’s father who had composed our national anthem,” said a journalist. Compared to this, PDP had mostly nominees who were little known in the country. “In 2008, we got just two seats because DPT said we had no experienced leaders,” remarked Jatsho while reviewing the 2008 defeat.
    PDP’s chances grew manifold after word spread that India was not happy with DPT, especially Thinley, when campaigning gained momentum after the preliminary round. This was followed by a bitter argument between the two parties over whether India would help Bhutan implement its 11th five-year plan. Delhi contributes almost 70% of every plan.
    Around this time, New Delhi announced cuts in cooking gas and kerosene subsidies for Bhutan, pushing up their prices by two to three times. As panic spread in the kingdom, DPT and PDP decided not to raise India-Bhutan ties during campaigning, which had never happened in the kingdom before.
    The main cause of “discord” between India and Bhutan is said to be Thinley’s meeting with then Chinese premier Wen Jiabao in Rio last year without taking India into confidence. Besides, Delhi is also understood to be upset with the DPT government’s decision to establish diplomatic ties with 32 countries in five years.
    About 80 % of over 380,000 electors cast their votes. Hundreds of people in colourful attire queued up outside over 1,000 polling stations across the kingdom. Soon after voting began, Tobgay said, “ This election is absolutely critical because stakes are high.”
    With inputs from agencies

QUEUING UP FOR CHANGE: People queue up to cast their votes at a polling station in Thimphu on Saturday

Section 135 of the Companies Act, the East West Interconnect Opportunity!

The much awaited Companies Bill, 2012 (Bill) was passed by the Lok Sabha on December 18, 2012, replacing 56-year-old Companies Act, 1956. The Bill seeks to consolidate and amend the law relating to the companies and intends to improve corporate governance and to further strengthen regulations for corporates.

The Bill is divided into 29 chapters, 470 clauses and 7 schedules. One of the key highlights of the Bill is  - “ Section 135 -Corporate Social Responsibility”  

By virtue of Clause 135, the most debated concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been introduced. Accordingly, every company having net worth of Rs.500 crore or more, or turnover of Rs.1000 crore or more or a net profit of Rs.5 crore or more during any financial year is required to constitute a Corporate Social Responsibility Committee. The Corporate Social Responsibility Committee will formulate a Corporate Social Responsibility Policy.  Such a company is required to spend at least two per cent of the average net profits of the company made during the three immediately preceding financial years, in pursuance of its Corporate Social Responsibility Policy. If the company fails to spend such amount the Board shall give in its report the reasons for the same making it a binding obligation on the Board.

We appeal to you to sponsor and work with EWI Development Initiative Foundation, towards this objective. Allow EWI to help you fulfil your obligation.  North East India needs your help. Come along with us!

Backward Area Development in the North East - any takers ? Come along ! First to Tamenglong !

The con-call meeting with CII's Backward Area Development Committee earlier today was interesting. CII members involved in Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives from various cities, towns and companies called in. It was a pleasure to speak with the Chairman of the Committee, Mr. Sandipan Chakravortty, Managing Director of Tata Steel Processing & Distribution, in Kolkata. Thank you CII.

Most interventions were related to skills development. EWI team members Mr. Mathew John from Mumbai and Ms. Grace Guria of Guwahati met with Fr. Benny Alex of the Don Bosco Technical School, Maligaon Guwahati, earlier, over the weekend. They to are into Skills Development.

Related to this and the other activities of EWI Development Initiative Foundation, we have identified the following for further action.

The CNN IBN Citizen of the Year Nominee, Armstrong Pame - IAS, only 28 years of age, wrote in to let us know more about the needs of Tamenglong. He has recently worked on the road connecting Haflong, Tousem and Dimapur, a project initiated by him. He is from from Inpa village, of the Tousem Subdivision of Tamenglong, which had no road connectivity earlier. His family rallied community support and from total strangers around the world to construct a 100 Km road which has come to be known simply as `The People’s Road` since it was built totally from donations from the public. While the collections that came in through Facebook led to a figure of Rs 38 lakhs, Armstrong resorted to his traditional roots. “In Naga tradition if one is in need of help, he or she gives a pinch of salt to a household and in return the house gives cash or kind,” Armstrong said during a meet at the Tamenglong DC Bungalow on Feb 14, 2013. He continued that he ended up distributing a total of 6000 kg of salt to seek financial help from the public of Tamenglong area that amounted to Rs 3.5 lakhs!

This is only the beginning of Armstrong's efforts. He now wishes to enroll young ladies from his district into nursing education programs. We are working on the arrangements in Pune and have requested assistance for enrollment, housing and funding for this in Pune. Our Pune University MBA interns Dipti Kale and Pradeep Pawale are looking into this along with Rock Lungleng, of Ukhrul and an ILS Law Student, who is the Promoter of Hari Lung Hostel in Pune.

Tamenglong is one of the most backward districts. EWIF's Juliana Chakungliu NK, an MA Economics student from Pune college,  is from Tamenglong.

School education is of poor quality and so are the buildings. New classrooms, toilets, solar power, introduction of computers and TVs is necessary.

Skills education is required for school dropouts whose parents cant afford any further schooling. Training institutes for vocational guidance are required.

Health care in non-existent. Patients are carried on bamboo stretchers through hilly terrains and bad roads. Doctors are 2 Phc for Touesm and 6 for over 1200 sq kms area and a population of 32,000! Health care services in clusters every 5 kms are required, where basic health care facilities are provided. These sub-centers could be taken care of by trained nurses. Bigger facilities are required too. An ambulance service should be instated says Armstrong, with a 4x4 wheel drive to ferry patients to nearest health care centres.

Water sources are at a lower elevation than the village settlements. Tribals live in the hills and refuse to shift from their settlements to valley or plain areas. Water management solutions are essential through rain water harvesting. Each family needs 20,000 litres storage tank. A water storage point needs to be connected to nearby water sources, 5 kms away - rivers and streams and piped to the villages where again there would be a distribution network.

Oranges of Tamenglong are famous. However there are no distribution systems or food processing initiatives.  The crop is dying and no one knows why? Papayas are fed to pigs ! Sweet Lime / Lemon is not grown at all.

Armstrong has a local team ready to work on all this. EWIF invites Western region support and sponsorship!

We spoke to Rajiv Tayung of Itanagar who spends a lot of time in Assam. He is keen on identifying solutions to supply clean water to Dhimaji & Lakhimpur, in Assam. With monsoon floods, fresh and drainage water mix and the ground water gets contaminated too. EWIF invites Western region support and sponsorship!

Next was Kamal Basumatary of Kajalgaon, Chirang District, Assam. The district needs doctors and nurses to run their hospitals. A better quality of primary education is necessary. Colleges don't have infrastructure. Small hotels with 40 rooms need to be set up for visitors. Market place needs development. He is sure that the locals will cooperate and so will the local Government agencies. EWIF invites Western region support and sponsorship!

Cleophas Syiem of Nongpoh was next. Ri Bhoi District in Meghalaya too needs health care facilities, schools, small hotels and better organized markets. He is willing to take things forward with Western Region support.

Its been a rocking day for EWI Development Initiative Foundation! Come join us!

Assam Flood Waters

Self Financed Schools

http://mls.org.in/pdf/vidhayk_council/Vidhayke_7E.pdf

Assam tea Planters need gas for power.

Hottest Curry! Makes Ghosts Walk! Bhut Jalokia !

WHY THIS KOLAVARY, SHILLONG CHAMBER CHOIR

Ao Baptist Church - Ao Naga Choir - Concert at the Rashtrapati Bhavan December 15th, 2012