BJP-ally IPFT for separate state for Tripura tribals
Agartala, June 21 : The Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), the junior ally of ruling BJP, will hold demonstrations across the state in August to spearhead its demand for a separate state, a party leader said on Thursday.
"We will organise sit-in-demonstrations all over Tripura on August 23 in support of our demand for a separate state and withdrawal of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016," IPFT Vice President Ananta Debbarma told the media.
He said: "We would continue our agitation in the state to highlight the two important demands."
The IPFT has been agitating since 2009 for a separate state to be carved out by upgrading the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), which has jurisdiction over two-thirds of the state's 10,491 sq km area, home to over 12,16,000 people, mostly tribals.
Most political parties, including the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, the Communist Party of India-Marxist, Congress and even the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura, have rejected the IPFT demand, saying it was not practical to divide the small state.
The IPFT, a tribal-based party, forged alliance with the BJP before the February 18 Assembly polls and secured eight seats in the 60-member assembly.
IPFT President Narendra Chandra Debbarma and General Secretary Mevar Kumar Jamatia are cabinet ministers in the nine-member council of ministry headed by Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb.
Debbarma said that the proposed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 would jeopardise tradition and customs besides demographic positions of the indigenous people not only in Tripura but also in the entire northeastern region comprising eight states.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, introduced in the Lok Sabha in 2016, seeks to enable Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who have fled to India from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh without valid travel documents or those whose valid documents expired in recent years to acquire Indian citizenship through the process of naturalisation.
Many parties in the northeastern region are also opposing the Citizenship Bill, which is now under scrutiny of a Joint Parliamentary Committee.
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Mangaluru to host international workshop on clinical neuroimmunology
Mangaluru: An international workshop on clinical neuroimmunology will be held in Mangaluru on March 7 and 8 at Avishkar Hall of KS Hegde Hospital, ABSMIDS.
The two-day academic programme is being organised by the Centre for Advanced Neurological Research of Nitte (Deemed to be University). The event is expected to bring together neurologists, clinicians and researchers from India and several other countries.
According to the organisers, the workshop aims to improve the diagnostic skills of practising neurologists through exposure to advanced imaging methods, visual diagnostic tools and biomarker analysis used in the diagnosis of neuroimmunological disorders.
The programme will feature hands-on training sessions and demonstration-based learning. Activities will include live Optical Coherence Tomography workshops, video-assisted demonstrations and interactive discussions with experts from Canada, the United States, South Asia and the UAE.
The workshop is being conducted under the leadership of Dr. Lekha Pandit, Professor of Neurology and Director of the Centre for Advanced Neurological Research at KS Hegde Medical Academy, Nitte (Deemed to be University), who is serving as the course director for the programme.
Dr. Asha Kishore, Director of the Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Centre at Aster Medicity, Kochi, will inaugurate the workshop as the chief guest. The inaugural function will be presided over by Prof. M. S. Moodithaya, Vice-Chancellor of Nitte (Deemed to be University).
Registrar Dr. Harsha Halahalli and Dr. Sandeep Rai, Dean of KS Hegde Medical Academy, will also be present at the inaugural ceremony.
