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The Morung Express
Dimapur VOL. VIII ISSUE 279
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www.morungexpress.com
Open your eyes, look within. Are you satisfied with the life you’re living?
Rahul Gandhi praises PM, calls him his ‘guru’ [ PAGE 08]
reflections
By Sandemo Ngullie
I agree everyone is always up in everybody’s business and then spreading.
AR apprehends ‘arms peddler’ Dimapur, OctOber 10 (mexN): Based on “specific information,” troops of 29 Assam Rifles carried out a search operation at general area 6th Mile here and apprehended an alleged arms peddler, Aku Kapfo Chakesang, with one .22 pistol and one magazine. The individual is a resident of Khriezephe village, Dimapur district. The apprehended person was handed over to the Diphupar Police Station here. This was stated in a press note from the Assam Rifles PRO.
October 14, 2013 is restricted holiday
Myanmar takes ASEAN chair, but can it cope?
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Spreading eco-friendly message through cycling [ PAGE 02]
Souls Rhapsody wins NSACS Zbto audition
[ PAGE 09]
[ PAGE 11]
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Friday, October 11, 2013 12 pages Rs. 4 – Bob Marley
Sachin to retire after 200th Test [ PAGE 12 ]
nobel Prize in literature restructuring bureaucracy awarded to Alice Munro through ‘decentralization’
StOcKhOLm, OctOber 10 (ap): Alice Munro, a Canadian master of the short story revered as a thorough but forgiving chronicler of the human spirit, won the Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday. Munro is the first Canadian writer to receive the prestigious $1.2 million award from the Swedish Academy since Saul Bellow, who left for the U.S. as a boy and won in 1976. Seen as a contemporary Chekhov for her warmth, insight and compassion, she has captured a wide range of lives and personalities without passing judgment on her characters. Unusually for Nobel winners, Munro’s work consists almost entirely of short stories. “I knew I was in the running, yes, but I never thought I would win,” the 82-year-old said by telephone when contacted by The Canadian Press in Victoria, British Columbia. Atwood — a fellow Canadian who also figured prominently in the Nobel buzz — tweeted, “Hooray! Alice Munro wins 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature.” Munro’s publisher, Penguin Random House, welcomed the award with “jubilation and great pride,” and sent “joyous good wishes to our beloved author and to our family of her publishers and
KOhima, OctOber 10 (Dipr): The Government of Nagaland has today, vide Notification No. GAB/GEN/ Misc/3/2012, granted restricted holiday on October 14, 2013 to all State Government employees belonging to the Hindu community on tueNSaNg, OctOaccount of Durga Puja. ber 10 (mexN): In the backdrop of the people of Eastern Nagaland being sidelined by the State Government, the Eastern Dimapur, OctOber Naga Students’ Federation 10 (mexN): The DC of Di- (ENSF) today served a sevmapur, N. Hushili Sema, en (7)-day “ultimatum” to has issued an order to ban the Government of Nagafrom immediate effect the land, addressed to the Chief “selling and bursting” of Minister of Nagaland. “The ultimatum is fire crackers in and around Dimapur during the ensu- based upon the historical ing Durga Puja and Diwali facts & figures of the six celebrations. Soundless eastern tribes since the atfire work display, however, tainment of the Statehood has been exempted from in1963. It is to be pointed the order by the DC who out to utmost dismay; passed the order as Dima- many posts were transferred out from the region pur’s District Magistrate.
Morung Express News Dimapur | October 10
Alice Munro. (AP File Photo)
editors.” Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper congratulated Munro on Twitter “on behalf of all Canadians.” The award is likely to be the capstone to Munro’s career. She told Canada’s National Post in June that she was “probably not going to write anymore.” In announcing the Nobel Prize, the Swedish Academy called her a “master of the contemporary short story.” The academy’s permanent
secretary, Peter Englund, said he had not managed to get hold of her but left a message on her answering machine. “She has taken an art form, the short story, which has tended to come a little bit in the shadow behind the novel, and she has cultivated it almost to perfection,” Englund told The Associated Press. Munro is the 13th female literature laureate in the 112-year history of the Nobel Prizes.
along with the incumbent for the past three decades or more. Such ill practices of the government had directly deteriorated the educational system in the region. It had also deprived off the employment opportunity to the have-not class of society and not forgetting the economic disparity which stands still,” stated a press note from the ENSF’s President, Shahsha L. Menhahu, and General Secretary, Honang M. Jessuhu. The Federation has declared its door “closed” for negotiation and “can be intimated only through
letters.” The ENSF reiterated the “step-motherly” treatment accorded by the Nagaland State Government to the people of the six eastern tribes who have endured “numerous sufferings” while “the rest of the state is on the verge of celebrating its Golden Jubilee.” Since repeated appeals to the State Government have been turned a deaf ear on, the ENSF, has shifted all its “appeals and pleas” into an “ultimatum” which should be “responded positively on or before 17th Oct 2013.” If this fails, the Federation
Decentralization is an imperative for the bureaucracy of Nagaland. Chief Secretary of Nagaland, Alemtemshi Jamir, stressed on this and how a number of bureaucratic reforms are the need of the hour. “We have been talking about reform and restructuring. That is why I pushed for creation of Mission Teams instead of fullfledged departments,” informed Jamir, speaking on the sidelines of Tir Yimyim’s 10th anniversary. Jamir quoted instances of the Nagaland Bamboo Mission, Nagaland Beekeeping and Honey Mission, Nagaland Bio Resource Mission and Nagaland Empowerment of People through Economic Development (NEPED) mission programs that have shown good results while more are under “experiment.” “In a mission program, people work as a team; there is no hierarchy. There is a team leader but no creation of new posts. We get officers from existing departments to join the mission programs; they continue to draw salaries from their parent department. The outcome has been much better than that of departments,” noted the Chief Secretary of the Nagaland
Chief Secretary says bureaucratic reforms are the need of the hour
State Government. “Departments with a strength of 50, 100 or 200 show little result except for the implementation of government programs. But, say, the Beekeeping and Honey Mission, has increased its production manifold in the past 4 years. The Bamboo Mission has planted 29,000 hectares worth of bamboo trees, based on which the Tuli Paper Mill is being revived by the Government of India.” “But much more important than that,” held Jamir, “we are discussing decentralization. Everything is centralized because of the 90s underground, tension and violence. Now the guys down there feel like they have nothing to do, sitting there whole day twiddling their thumbs.” Does that mean work will now be re-distributed? “Money. Work in terms of money. The powers of sanction etc. That is where we are focusing now.” In a top heavy bureaucracy, junior level officers are often left with delegated duties, which they do not feel empowered enough to conduct. This is a clear first-rung problem for Jamir: “Kohima treasury handles 80% of the State’s
budgetary sanctions, and no one on the field has sanctioning powers.” Lack of initiative and drive creep into the system giving rise to myriad problems within the State bureaucracy like faltering results. “We have recognized that decentralization is an imperative; it is a must. Without this, the system just won’t function. Since underlying tension and violence continues in the State, we have to start with looking at delegating powers which will be concurrent with the advances in Information Technology,” reflected Jamir. But the move to decentralize the power to sanction funds has bifurcated views within the State Government. Trust seems to be deficient. “We have to learn to trust each other, and that is an issue,” said Jamir on a drifting note. When asked about his presentation to the 14th Finance Commission, Jamir maintained that “We are still a primitive people, and Dimapur or Kohima do not represent Nagaland’s development as a whole. There is a huge development gap to be bridged as our resource base is very small. It will take many more years for us
to catch up,” said Jamir. Given Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio’s admission that no new development works can be taken up for the time-being given the financial health of the State, the Chief Secretary noted that Rs. 1,700 crore is still available for that. “After the plan discussion, we had no option but to accept a Balance of Current Revenue (BCR) gap of Rs. 1445.39 crore. Only after covering the BCR, our plan size is calculated. That may be in some way the context. Unfortunately, this year, the Government of India may have had financial problems. Otherwise we still have Rs. 1,700 crore of the Rs. 2000 crore [Nagaland’s annual plan outlay for 2013-14] for development,” stated Jamir, adding quickly, “not that I am contradicting what he [Rio] said, but he was only trying to say that we are sacrificing a lot for the salaries of the government servants.” On being asked why the September 1, 2012 incident’s fact-finding report has not been made public yet, Jamir said that the cabinet has not discussed it till date, though the file has been forwarded to them. “The cabinet has so many issues to discuss, sometimes lot of things get pending. It will be made public only once the cabinet discusses it.”
KOhima, OctOber 10 (mexN): The Naga Hoho has “strongly reaffirmed” that the apex bodies of the seven member tribe Hohos from Nagaland will “neither participate nor send their representatives to Nagaland Tribes Council (NTC) keeping in mind unity and peace among the Naga family.” This was reiterated at the Federal Assembly of the Naga Hoho held Thursday at Hotel Vivor here. Eighteen Tribe Hohos from different Naga areas attended today’s meeting. “During the deliberation on the various issues, the formation of the so-
called NTC was once again surfaced in the house and thereby unanimously resolved to strongly reaffirm the resolution passed during Naga Hoho consultative meeting held on 3rd May, 2013 at Hotel Japfu Kohima, the Resolution No.4 of the Federal Assembly held on 28th June, 2013 at Hotel Vivor, Kohima and the resolution of the Naga Hoho consultative meeting on 28th September, 2013 at Hotel Vivor Kohima,” a press statement from the Secretary of Information & Publicity, C. Daipao, stated. The seven tribe Hohos from Nagaland that have
reaffirmed this stance are the Angami Public Organization, Ao Senden, Rengma Hoho, Pochury Public Forum, Kyong Hoho, Chakhesang Public Organization and Zeliangrong Baudi. However, keeping the space open for dialogue, the statement also mentioned that “In the event of necessity arises to form NTC within Nagaland state in future, it should be thoroughly deliberated amongst the mandated/ established Tribe Hoho’s with the participation of all tribes with proper consultation of Naga Hoho in the interest of common Naga people.”
ENSF serves 7-day ‘ultimatum’ to State Govt Naga Hoho reaffirms stance on NTC
Sale and bursting of firecrackers banned
“shall be compelled to revoke the temporary suspended agitation in which the state Government shall held solely responsible.” In this, the ENSF has notified its federating units to reach Mon Town on October 16 without fail. All inspection reports of all the schemes/projects and development works within the respective jurisdiction, it directed, should be furnished by October 15. The Federation shall examine the inspection reports before the Federal Assembly on October 17. Full text on page 4
Naga Chef Season One to begin on Oct 19 Morung Express News Kohima | October 10
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The Synergy Group Enterprises in collaboration with the State Government will host the first ever cooking reality show ‘Naga Chef’ from October 19. Briefing media persons at Hotel Legacy here today, Alezo Kense of Synergy Enterprises said, “The Naga Chef is a first of its kind culinary skills competition in Nagaland. The objective of the competition is to increase the appreciation of Nagaland’s unique indigenous cuisine and to provide a platform to entrepreneurial Naga chefs to showcase the delectable range of Naga food to the world. Naga indigenous food is the real story of the Naga people: of our rich and unique cultural heritage, our history, and our gastronomic innovations over time from our special relationship with our mountains, forest and nature.” Adding, “Our indigenous cuisine is not just food; every morsel embodies the true Naga way of life, passed down through generations. Naga Chef aspires to keep the age-old Naga recipes alive and to let the world discover the soul-filling and mouth-watering wonders of our local cuisine.”
Members of the Synergy Group Enterprises and Abu Metha addressing a press conference in Kohima to announce the start of reality show, the Naga Chef.
Kevitsu Doze of Synergy opined, “We believe that love for good food connects people across communities and countries. It creates special and lasting bonds of a lifetime. Food is one of the key drivers for economic empowerment of farmers, producers and entrepreneurs. The show, therefore, aims to holistically promote Naga food with conscious awareness of engaging all local stakeholders in the value chain process involved in bringing every special Naga dish
from the farm to the table.” Abu Metha, press secretary to the Chief Minister of Nagaland, speaking at the press conference said, “Naga Chef - Season One is designed to effectively support individuals who possess genuine skills for Naga indigenous cuisine preparation and those with the potential and dedication to upscale their capabilities to a higher level. The competition has a number of rounds that will identify different skills required to be a successful
chef and entrepreneur. Contestants will be assessed on specific cooking skills, creativity and innovation, experience and knowledge of local cuisine, passion for food and the art of cooking, ability to work under pressure, attitude and teamwork.” The top four finalists of the competition will be allotted food stalls in the upcoming Hornbill Festival, while being financially assisted by the Synergy Group for the same. The top ten finalists of the contest will be given automatic slots for the Hornbill Master Chef Contest. A total of 20 contestants will be screened for the six rounds of the show. The winner of the show will walk away richer by Rs. 5 lakh, while prize money and gift hampers will be given to the winners of the Group round. The Synergy Group further informed that the contest will be documented and aired through local cable operators while talks are on with various channel distributors for airing the show in other states. Organic Nagaland will partner with Synergy Group in supplying organic herbs and food items for the competition. The screening round will be held on October 19 while the elimination rounds will commence October 26.
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