The Manipur Students Federation asked the government to amend the Arms Act under the Indian Constitution to provide arms to the people of the north east region for self defence. Speaking to media persons at MSF office, advisor of Manipuri Students Federation, Th Udoy Luwang condemned the recent attacks on students from North east in various parts of the country. He also urged the government to take action to prevent such attacks and discrimination of students of the region in the future. MSF President Kh Sirajuddin said the recent attacks on the people from the Northeast implies that mainland Indians do not seem to accept Northeast as a part of the country. 

State-level North East Sports Competition 2014 under Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan Scheme concluded yesterday at Khuman Lampak Sports Complex. The competition was held in athletics, archery, badminton, boxing, judo, taekwondo, weightlifting, karate and wushu. Athletes from all districts of Manipur competed in the competition. Imphal East emerged team champion while Imphal West and Thoubal district bagged the 1st and 2nd runners up. Selected athletes from this competition will represent Manipur in the National North East Sports Competition 2014 to be held at Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh from December 10 to 13.

Union home minister Rajnath Singh has hinted that there will be no relaxation in the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act. The minister's statement comes a day after vice-president Hamid Ansari nudged the government on the alleged “misuse” of the act. Rajnath Singh said although there was a perceptible change in the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, the government would wait before considering any relaxation in AFSPA. Singh’s answer is an iteration of Narendra Modi government’s hardline stand on AFSPA. Since the Modi government took over in May this year, hopes for AFSPA to be abrogated or even relaxed have been dashed. Manipur has been demanding repeal of the act that gives the army sweeping powers even to kill on suspicion. Manipur’s rights crusader Irom Sharmila has been on a hunger strike since November 2000, seeking repeal of the act. Former home minister P Chidambaram had openly endorsed reworking the act, but the defence ministry during the UPA administration had toed the army line. While the NDA government appears to have a consensus on not tinkering with the act, a nudge came from Ansari yesterday. A Supreme Court-appointed commission, headed by Justice Santosh Hegde, had last year noted after investigating six cases of AFSPA misuse in Manipur that the continuous use of the act evidently had little or no effect in Manipur. Singh’s statement in context with the AFSPA, however, did not include any concerns on alleged human rights violations either in Jammu and Kashmir or in the Northeast. In the backlash and opposition that followed, the government had to constitute the Justice Jeevan Reddy Committee to look into the continuation of AFSPA. The Hegde Commission agreed with the Reddy committee’s report, which said that AFSPA had become a symbol of oppression, an object of hate and an instrument of discrimination and high-handedness. 

A free medical camp was organised by Thongju Chingonglei Makhong Development Club in collaboration with Babina Digonostic Centre at the Club premises today. The medical camp that began from 10 am continued till 4 in the afternoon. People consulted in general medicine, paediatrics, orthopaedics and dermatology. They also availed facilities like X-Ray, Ultra-sound and blood test. According to organisers, the primary objective of the camp is timely prevention from diseases and keep them healthy. 

Films from the North East states are screened from this morning at the 45th International Film Festival of India at Panaji in Goa. The festival has also special section on it. This year the  festival highlights the films which put the spotlight on women centric stories. Padum Barua’s Ganga Chilanir Pakhi considered as classic of Assamese cinema will be screened during the festival. Other films in this section, include Aribam Syam Sharma’s Sanabi, Dr Santawana Bordoloi’s Adajya, Oinam Gautam Singh’s Phijigee Mani, Pulinthanath’s Mathia, Bhabendranath Saikia’s Abarton and Manju Borah’s Akashitorar Kathare.