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Chowra emerges Champion in Team events, Carnic dominates Athletics
Car Nicobar, March 28: The District Sports Meet for the students of 6-14 years of age, under Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan Concluded at Bishop John Richardson Stadium on 26th March 2013. The meet was of great significance, being the only mega Sports meet in the southern region, of the junior students. The Sports Administrators kept eye on this event to spot the talents. This year, though the results in the team events were quite startling, the underdogs Chowra team had some plans to execute to perfection before the beginning of the Competition. The low profile Chowra team simply demolished the mighty Carnic team in all the team events. The team won the finals of Volly ball, Kabaddi, and most surprisingly football.
In the football’s final match of Primary students played, the Chowra team surprised everyone present in the stadium with their outstanding game. In the first half the Carnic team was ahead with one goal, but the second half of the game was entirely dominated by the Chowra boys. The little dynamites of Chowra shattered the dreams of Carnic by scoring the equalizer. The goal keeper of the Carnic team David Bekham though made the opponent’s task very difficult by putting extra ordinary efforts but the Chowra team succeeded in scoring the winning goal in the last few minutes to win the match by 2-1. The football lovers got to see some fine footballing skiils, which they would not have expected from these little boys came from deprived region.
Many Sports lovers were expecting a one sided match in the favour of Carnic boys, who have the legacy of great footballers, but the small boys of Chowra, who depend mainly on the rain to get water, in the absence of any resource, came out victorious outplaying the mightiest. The team got good support from the audience for their classic game. Mr Gregory, Physical Education teacher and a keen observer of the game commented that the Chowra boys are very hard working, determined and committed in their approach. They learn, watching the games of their elders in the villages.
Applonius and Romika of the Carnic team were declared the champions in the boys and Girls Categories respectively, in the Middle school level competitions. In the sub-Junior Category of Primary level also the Carnic students maintained their dominance in Athletics and won the individual Championships. In boys, Nicolas bagged the Championship trophy whereas Natasha was declared champion in the girls group. All the four Champions were felicitated with Rs 1000/- each, sponsored by the Shakti Builders, a local Enterprise. The Trophy for the best student went to Faraznaz of Noncowry, for the best skills shown in the Multi Purpose Camp. The overall Championship trophy went to Car Nicobar. Campbell bay won the group dance competition.
Distributing the Prizes the Chief Guest, the Assistant Commissioner Mr. Akhil Kumar advised the students to be optimistic in life, and do their best to achieve the goals.
The Secretary of the Tribal Council Mr. Martin Luther congratulated the Chowra team for their beautiful play in the football field. Citing the example of Deborah, the Medal winner International Cyclist from Car Nicobar, he asked the young School Champions to excel in their chosen Sports areas like her. He appreciated the efforts of the organizing team of this mega event, for putting up a great show. Earlier welcoming the guests in the valedictory function, the Education Officer Mr. H. Nathaniel informed that more than 250 students of the elementary classes from Campbell bay, Katchal, Teressa, Noncowry, Chowra and Carnicobar took part in the mega sports meet and participated enthusiastically in all the activities. He told that apart from the Sports, the students showed tremendous interest in learning the life-skills in the Multi-Purpose Camp, conducted at the Priyadarshini Hall, adjacent to Stadium.
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Administration Clarifies on the issue of laying undersea optical fibre cable between mainland India and Islands
Port Blair, Mar 26: Just three days after the statement of the Minister of Communication and IT, Mr. Kapil Sibal regarding uncertainty over laying undersea optical fibre cable between mainland India and Islands, the Administration today clarified that the project has already began in Andaman.
Mr. Sibal on 23rd March 2013 had made it clear that the cost of the project is too high and is under discussion in the Planning Commission.
Answering questions asked by Media persons during National Editor’s Conference, Organised by PIB, at New Delhi, the Mr. Sibal said that the Planning Commission is yet to decide how much money is required for the ambitious project.
However, in a press release today the Administration mentioned that The Planning Commission, Govt. of India in April 2011 approved the proposal for laying of undersea optical fibre cable to provide a reliable and secure telecommunication link between the islands and the mainland. The A & N Administration appointed ANIIDCO as the implementation agency, accordingly bids for the project were floated in November 2011 and subsequently after various rounds of pre-bid meeting with the potential bidders, the revised bid was issued during July 2012.
The proposal is to connect nine islands viz. Port Blair, Havelock, Neil, Little Andaman, Car Nicobar, Kamorta, Katchal, Teressa and Campbell Bay. North & Middle Andaman are already connected by optical fibre cable. With the implementation of the undersea cable project, telecom services will improve in the islands and will also promote setting up of IT industries in the island providing employment opportunities in the fields of e-commerce, e-governance and m-commerce.
The project involves taking two branching units from one of the existing submarine cable from Chennai to Singapore having minimum balance life of 15 years. Presently only two companies viz. M/s Bharti Airtel Ltd. and M/s Tata Communications are having undersea cable going through A & N Islands and both the bidders participated in the tender.
The financial bid of the eligible tenderer was opened on 25.03.2013 and the estimated capital cost of the project is Rs. 413.55 crores plus operation and maintenance expenses for a period of 15 years.
Administration has already obtained defence clearance and clearance from MHA and DOT for restoration path via Singapore. The proposal is being sent to Govt. of India for approval of the Public Investment Board (PIB) for award of the work. The estimated project completion time for connecting Port Blair is 15 months, and for other islands, it is 20 months from the date of award of work.
At present telecommunication facilities are available in the islands through satellite transponders provided by ISRO. The present bandwidth availability is only around 350 Mbps, against the present projected demand of around 8.0 Gbps. Because of non-availability of sufficient bandwidth, telecom services in the islands have not been satisfactory.
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Car Nicobar, March 25: The long wait at the helipad of car Nicobar by the parents, villagers, captains, students and officials turned up into smiles, when the day’s first helicopter from Port Blair landed. The International Star Cyclist Deborah became emotional, seeing her beloved ones and well wishers after such a long period. Her mother Smti Silvia and father Shri Herald could not control their feelings and their eyes got moist.
The grateful relatives and captains, of the different villages, showered their blessings on the pride of Car Nicobar. The Captain of the Tamaloo village and the grandfather of Deborah Shri Paul Benjamin felt very proud on the achievements of his granddaughter.
The Education Officer, teachers and the students of her Ex-school Kakana were all waiting since morning for her arrival. She was accorded a hero’s welcome when she walked out of the campus, with children clapping, standing on both sides of the road.
The entire village was eager to see a glimpse of her, when her vehicle reached Kakana. She had breakfast with her family members, relatives and the officials of the Education Department, hosted by Shri Great Heart, the lone Engineer of the village. Later Deborah proceeded to head quarter to start-off the Torch Rally of the Nicobar District Sports meet, which was to be conducted by the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan for the students of 6-14 years of age. The Superintending Engineer Shri M.K. Varma lit the torch and handed it over to Deborah.
People waved their hands, standing on the road side, as Deborah leading the convoy passed through.
In the evening Deborah was the star attraction at the Inaugural function of the District Sports meet at the Bishop John Richardson Stadium. In his address the State Project Officer Dr. M. Ayyaraju said that Deborah has become the role model to the young students. He called upon the children to work hard and try to achieve their dreams like Deborah. Congratulating Deborah on her achievement, the Education Officer Shri Nathaniel said that she made the occasion historical with her presence. The young winners of the sporting events felt proud when they received the prizes from their role model Deborah. It was like a dream come true for them.
Later in the evening a grand felicitation program was arranged at her own village Kakana. Expressing their happiness over the achievements of Deborah the Chief Guest the Vice Chief Captain of Car Nicobar Shri Chamberlin Paul, the Air Commodore B.V. Upadhyay, the Ex Captain of Kakana Shri Saumel Edward Kuchart and Shri Great Heart wished her best of luck for her future endeavours.