19th February 2014

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Dimapur VOL. IX ISSUE 47

The Morung Express “

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No schoolboy debate with Modi: PC [ PAGE 8]

Lok Sabha passes bill to divide Andhra amid din NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 18 (IANS): Amid pandemonium and a television blackout of the proceedings, the Lok Sabha Tuesday passed a bill that seeks to carve out a Telangana state out of Andhra Pradesh. The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill was passed by voice vote in the face of noisy protests by Andhra Pradesh MPs opposed to Telangana as well as a section of the opposition parties. The critics, including Congress minister D. Purandeswari and CPIM members, massed near Speaker Meira Kumar. But they and others opposed to the division of Andhra Pradesh were simply ignored as amendments to the bills were taken up and then the bill was finally declared passed by the lower house. Congress president Sonia Gandhi watched the proceedings with visible dismay. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was not present. So high were the tempers in the house that a group of Congress members from Andhra Pradesh stood near Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde as he read out the bill in a bid to protect him from anti-Telangana MPs. Related story on page 8

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The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance Kareena Kapoor shoots with international crew!

Training on interpersonal media campaign underway [ PAGE 2]

Thai PM to face charges over rice scheme

[ PAGE 11]

[ PAGE 9]

Wednesday, February 19, 2014 12 pages Rs. 4 –Herodotus

Kiwis win series against India

[ PAGE 12]

tune disaster management Rajiv GaNdhi killiNG: ‘Fine in North East Region,’ appeals Rio SC commutes death sentence

NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 18 (AFP): India’s Supreme Court Tuesday spared three killers of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi from the hangman’s noose, citing delays in the case 23 years after his assassination by a Tamil suicide bomber.

The top court headed by Chief Justice P. Sathasivam handed the three life in prison on the grounds that successive Indian presidents had taken 11 years to decide their pleas for mercy against execution. “We implore the government to render advice in a reasonable amount of time for taking a decision on mercy pleas,” Sathasivam told the court in announcing the judgement.

A lawyer for the three men -- Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan, all known by single names -- hailed the judgement as “humane,” adding that they were now living in hope of one day being released from prison.

“There is hope that the convicts will walk out of jail. The remission will be decided by the state government of Tamil Nadu,” Yug Chaudhary told NDTV outside the court. “It is time that the

FILE - In this 1991 file photo, former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, center, leaning in, listens to the grievances of a man while campaigning for election in a town in central India, a few days before he was assassinated. India’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014, commuted the death sentences to life in prison for three men convicted of playing minor roles in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. (AP Photo/File)

death penatlty is abolished in this country,” he added.

The decision comes after the Supreme Court issued a landmark judgement last month that places new restrictions on executing prisoners in the world’s biggest democracy. The top court then commuted the death sentences of 15 convicts, ruling that “inordinate and inexplicable” delays in carrying out a death sentence were grounds for commuting a sentence.

The three at the centre of Tuesday’s ruling were members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who were convicted of plotting the May 21, 1991 murder of Gandhi by a female suicide bomber.

Their appeal to the president in 2000 for clemency was only rejected in 2011.

Amnesty International said Tuesday’s decision piles pressure on the government to abolish the death penalty altogether. “India must now do away with the death penalty -- a cruel, inconsistent and irreversible form of punishment that has no proven deterrent effect on crime,” senior researcher Divya Iyer said in a statement.

DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 18 (MExN): Nagaland chief minister, Neiphiu Rio, has appealed to the central government and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to further fine tune the disaster management mechanism for the North Eastern Region, duly taking into account the geographical distance from the mainland and rising costs.

Speaking at the inaugural programme of the three-day ‘Training for trainers (ToT) on Incident Response System (IRS)’ for officials of state disaster management authorities of the North East at Chumukedima Police Complex on Tuesday, Rio said, “The North Eastern Region has a peculiar topography and a different social profile from the rest of the country with various attendant vulnerabilities. All these factors need to be accounted for while formulating and planning specific policies for disaster management in the North-East.” Small and major landslides are a prominent force in the North Eastern Region—there has been a noticeable increase in the frequency of landslides and Nagaland State has recorded 80 major landslides in the last six decades, the chief minister stated.

Another area of concern in Nagaland, he said, was the devastation caused by forest fires, recent being the forest fire at Mount Japfü near Kohima which destroyed about 50 acres of land, causing loss to precious flora and fauna. Rio lauded the thousand of local volunteers, Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority, fire & emergency services, forest department and the Eastern Command of the Indian Air Force which, for the first time in the country, did aerial fire-fighting (with helicopters). He said that the NSDMA will shortly start an extensive outreach programme on forest fires specifically targeting communities living in and around haz-

Three arrested for murder, theft ‘Set up govt law college in Nagaland’

DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 18 (MExN): Dimapur Police have arrested three persons in connection with the murder of an auto driver, Gulya Ahmed, whose body was recovered on February 7. A press note from Dimapur Police informed that they recovered the stolen autorickshaw, driven by the victim, from Nihoto Colony. The accused have been identified as Hussain Ali, Feroz Shah and Rahul Ali. On interrogation, the

accused admitted to hiring the auto rickshaw on February 6 and strangling the driver near Khughovi village area. After disposing the body, the accused concealed the autorickshaw in the woods near Nihoto village, until a prospective buyer was found.

Police informed that the accused are part of a gang who were earlier arrested on February 9 for hijacking a Manipur bound truck and abducting the driver and

MON, FEBRUARY 18 (MExN): The Konyak Union (KU) will enforce a ban on coalmine extraction in Mon district till a systematic and safe method of extraction is practiced by the Government of Nagaland’s Department of Geology and Mining. The ban will come into effect from October 2014.

This was decided at the KU Advisory Board meeting held on February 16 at its Mon HQ. A press release from KU president S. Manlip Konyak and general secretary Y. Hosea Konyak noted that since 2008-09, “the Geology & Mining Department had issued random Coal-Mining License to many firms/individuals like TCP (Tiru Coalmine Project) & NCP (Nagaland Coalmine Project) for extraction of Coal from Mon District like Tiru, Naganimora and Tizit.”

The KU brought to the attention of the Department that none of the coalmine contractors/ firms had “re-fill-up or replant” in the excavated areas, as agreed in the MoU, and now all the coalmine areas are posing a danger

to living beings, apart from having an environmental impact. In this, the KU has questioned if the said Department is authorized only to collect or accept “Departmental tax (royalties) without estimating safety measures for human lives and its surrounding.”

The Konyak apex body claimed that the Department of Geology and Mining should accept the responsibility of “all failures for not undertaking any safety measures in the Coalmine areas,” asking for these to be put in place immediately.

The KU also called upon the head of the Department, the Commissioner & Secretary (Geology & Mining), Commissioner & Secretary (Forest & Environment), and District Administration Mon HQ, to make spot verifications on these claims. Subsequently, the KU urged the Department not to renew or issue any more Coalmine Licenses under Mon District. It has advised respective Village Councils, individuals and contractors concerned to strictly adhere to the notifications.

KU to ban coalmine extraction in Mon

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handyman for ransom.

The accused also admitted to kidnapping at gunpoint and assaulting another auto driver, Rupal Biswas, on February 5 at Eralibil, near Garo Baptist Church. The accused admitted to looting the victim of Rs 1200, his mobile handset and one spare tyre of the auto rickshaw.

The gang is also involved in a number of other serious crimes in Dimapur, informed police.

DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 18 (MExN): The Nagaland Law Students’ Federation (NLSF) has drawn the attention of the Nagaland Government’s Higher Technical Education and other authority concerned to the urgent need of setting up a Government Law College in Nagaland.

“As the absence of Government Law College in Nagaland is creating much hardship among the students having interest to pursue legal studies within the state of Nagaland, the existence of three

Law colleges in Nagaland i.e.

Dimapur, Kohima and Mokokchung Law College is not able to provide adequate standard in terms of facilities required in a legal studies which making the students lagged behind in their academic studies,” noted a statement from NLSF president, Kehounie-u and general secretary Hotoka Zhimo. The Federation has appealed to the Government and the department concerned to set up a Government Law College either in Dimapur or Kohima.

As such, the NLSF requested the authority concerned to “take up necessary measures in setting up Government Law College in Nagaland which is very much needed, as law education is the most important aspects and are in needs of urgent nurture and attention to make society a more informed and law abiding citizens and where students having interest to pursue legal studies can take up their legal studies without much hardship and follow their dreams.”

ardous and forested hilly terrain.

Rio also suggested a re-look into the norms prescribed for dispensation of relief under SRDF. He said most of the ceilings prescribed prove to be incommensurate to the actual extent of loss or damage to property sustained by an individual.

“There is need for further enhancement beyond the revised rates of 2013. We are also being constantly advised to equip our trained state disaster response forces, but the ceiling on purchase equipments at 5% of the relatively smaller sanction of state disaster response fund, when compared with larger states in the country, restricts our earnest desire to modernize our SDRFs,” he added. The chief minister said the objective in formulating the IRS is to minimize loss of life and property by strengthening and standardizing the disaster response mechanism in the country. Rio said a proper understanding in the implementation of IRS with different roles and responsibilities assigned to different officials and organizations will enable the government and the people to effectively respond to large-scale disasters in the quickest and most coordinated way.

NDMA members JK Sinha and KM Singh highlighted on the activities of NDMA and also on the upcoming mega mock exercise in simulation of the 1897 Shillong earthquake of 8.7 magnitude in all North Eastern states.

‘Dreamz Unlimited’, a local theatre group staged a scintillating play on natural disaster, which was applauded by all delegates from NE region. Deputy speaker of Nagaland Assembly, Er. Levi Rengma; Parliamentary Secretary for CAWD, R Tohanba; Chairman, Development Authority of Nagaland, Jacob Zhimomi; DGP Nagaland, B Kezo and a host of government officials and police attended the inaugural programme.

Naga ITBP official dies in accident

KOHIMA, FEBRUARY 18 (MExN): Twenty nine year old Khoto Yhokha, an Assistant Commandant in the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) died on February 17, when a tree fell upon him, while he was inside his camp.

The incident occurred in the interiors of Tezu, Arunachal Pradesh, where Yhokha was on survey duty, amidst rough weather conditions along the Indo-China border. Sources informed that the deteriorating weather has made it unfeasible for the body to be airlifted from the spot of the incident. As a result, it was informed that the body is being brought to the headquarters on foot, and is scheduled to reach Kohima on February 19. Yhokha had joined the ITBP in 2012 and had been posted in Tezu, Arunachal Pradesh.

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Wednesday 19 February 2014

Kohima | February 18

A four day long Saakshar Bharat training on interpersonal media campaign got underway here today at Zonal Council Hall under the aegis of the Directorate of School Education, State Literacy Mission Authority (SLMA) in collaboration with SRC Tripura.

Speaking on the occasion as the chief guest, Sentiyanger Imchen, IAS, commissioner & secretary health & family welfare & CEO termed the training programme as important and hoped that it would bring a positive impact. Touching on adult education, he asserted that unless the persons know their rights and entitlements, they would find difficult to access to various facilities. He was optimistic that the trainees would enlighten and empower the illiterate persons and make a difference in their lives. Also touching on electoral literacy, he said the voters turn out in elections in Nagaland touches not less than 90%, which is very high in comparing with other states. He also stressed on the need to stop malpractices during the elections

and at the same time emphasized on the need to reform the electoral process.

T. Imkonglemba Ao, IAS, commissioner & secretary school education & SCERT chaired the function. Debajyoti Banik, SRC Tripura delivered keynote address while Th. Tunglut, chief manager SBI Kohima delivered short speech. Vote of thanks was proposed by K. Phesao, director school education.

Topics to be covered during the four day long programme included disaster management and civil defence by Dr. Hovithal N. Sothu, state coordinator (DM Cell) ATI; electoral literacy by Vekho Vero, deputy chief election officer; interpersonal media campaign by Debajyoti Banik, SRC Tripura; preparation of NIOS exam i.e pre-exam, during exam and post exam activities by SLMA; financial literacy by Rajib Malla SRC Tripura; electoral literacy

by Tanuj Sharma; disaster management by Abhijit Sarkar SRC Tripura; legal literacy- rights, rights & entitlements by Kishore Acharjee, SRC Tripura. K. Phesao, director school education, will grace the valedictory session on February 21.

Chief guest and other dignitaries with the participants of Saakshar Bharat Training on interpersonal media campaign in Kohima on February 18. (Morung Photo)

About Saakshar Bharat Mission

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aakshar Bharat Mission, a centrally sponsored scheme of Department of School Education and Literacy (DSEL), Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India (GoI) was launched in 2009. It aims to further promote and strengthen adult education, specially of women, by extending educational options to those adults who

having lost the opportunity of access to formal education and crossed the standard age for receiving such education, now feel a need for learning of any type, including, literacy, basic education (equivalency to formal education), vocational education (skill development), physical and emotional development, practical arts, applied science, sports and recreation.

The Mission has four

RIMC entrance exam for class VIII

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Training on interpersonal media campaign underway Our Correspondent

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The Morung Express

Kohima, February 18 (Dipr): The Directorate of School Education, Government of Nagaland in a Press Release informed that the RIMC Entrance Examination for admission to Class VIII in the Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC) Dehradun (UK) for the January 2015 term will be conducted on 1st (Sunday) and 2nd (Monday) June 2014.

Only boys are eligible to apply for admission to the RIMC, Dehradun. Candidates appearing for the above test should not be less than 11 ½ years in age but should not have been attained the age of 13 years as on 1st January 2015 i.e. they should have been born not earlier than 2nd January 2002 and not later than 1st July 2003.

Candidates should either be

studying in Class VII or passed Class VII from any recognized school at the time of admission to the RIMC i.e. on 1st January 2015.

The written part of the examination will consist of three papers namely, English and Mathematics (on 1st (Sunday) 1st June 2014 and General Knowledge (on 2nd June (Monday) 2014). The oral interview will be held for only those candidates who qualify in the written Exam. And the date for interview will be intimated to them by early September 2014. Intelligence and personality of the candidates will be tested in the oral interview.

Application forms and prospectus and Old Question Papers can be obtained by registered Post/Speed Post by sending a written request with an account

broad objectives, namely; impart functional literacy and numeracy to non-literate and non-numerate adults, enable the neo-literate adults to continue their learning beyond basic literacy and acquire equivalency to formal educational system, impart non and neo-literates relevant skills development programmes to improve their earning and living conditions and promote a learning society

by providing opportunities to neo literate adults for continuing education.

The principal target of the mission is to impart functional literacy to 70 million adults in the age group of 15 years and beyond. Auxiliary target of the mission is to cover 1.5 million adults under basic education programme and equal number under vocational (skill development) programme.

payee bank demand draft of Rs. 400/- (for registered post) or Rs. 450/- (for speed post) for General Candidates and Rs. 355/- (for registered post) or Rs. 405/- (for speed post) for SC/ ST candidates. The demand draft will be made in favour of THE COMMANDANT RIMC DEHRADUN, DRAWEE BRANCH, STATE BANK OF INDIA, TEL BHAVAN, DEHRADUN, (BANK CODE01576), UTTARAKHAND. Application forms alognwith three passport size photograph should reach the Director of School Education on or before March 31.

Certificate of age (in duplicate) from the school record or Municipal Board should be submitted. The applicant is informed that no change in the date of birth as originally given by them will C.M. Chang, former MP and Minister for Education, Nagaland donates an Ambunot be entertained. lance (Tata Sumo) to the Zion Hospital & Research Centre, Dimapur from MPLADF.

Govt High School Mon & Aboi in admission dilemma

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moN, February 18 (Dipr): The Mon District Planning & Development Board meeting was held under the chairmanship of Angau I Thou, IAS on February 15 at DC’s conference hall, Mon. The house had lengthy discussion regarding admission problems at GHS Mon and Aboi in class 9. More than 400 students, 300 in Aboi and 100 in Mon are yet to be admitted in Class 9. In this regard, the ADC Aboi informed the house that 480 students have been already admitted in class 9 alone while around 300 students are yet to be admitted in GHS, Aboi. He asserted that admission

of the remaining students is impossible because there are inadequate teachers, classrooms and furniture in the school. He also asserted that some recently upgraded schools have less students but excess teachers and suggested for internal arrangement of teachers in the district.

In this connection, the DC said that no children should be deprived or denied admission in any class as per the RTE Act and appealed to the administrative officers, NGOs and the department concerned to make alternative arrangement for ad-

mission of all students. She said To meet the shortage of teachthat influx of students from rural ers she directed the DEO and to urban school indicates that the SDEOs to prepare enrollment of students want quality education teachers and students of each school’s class wise for internal arrangement within the district and report immediately. She also directed the administrative officers to prepare necessary furniture from the 13 Finance Commisand she stressed on the need of sion to resolve furniture problems quality education for all round in the schools where required. development of the district. In Earlier, the DC in her address order to impart quality educa- thanked the members for smooth tion she said besides VEC and the conduct of Republic Day celebrateachers, parents too should take tion 2014 at Mon. In connection equal responsibility. with the ensuing Lok Sabha elec-

DC Mon directs department concerned to make alternative arrangement

tion 2014, she directed all the HoDs not to grant earn leaves to their employees. She also directed the HoDs to submit the list of the employees along with their attached vehicle on or before February 20 for election duty.

For this, she asked the members to keep their respective vehicles in good condition. The CMO, Mon Dr. UK Konyak has informed the house that the 2nd phase of the Polio Campaign would be held on February 23 and requested the DPDB members to extend their cooperation for successful conduct of the polio campaign in the district.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Ura College of Teacher Edu inaugural on Feb 20 N

o matter how prepared we think we are for the death of a loved one, it still comes as a shock. It still pains very deeply, even despite the hope that the departed has gone to his Heavenly home... We would like to express a heartfelt gratitude for the kind words of comfort and continuing support during the loss of a much loved husband, father, grandfather, brother, friend and colleague, Mr. Gaiduwan Gaipuizei Kammei (G. G. Kamei), who left his loved ones on 6th February 2014. We thank each one of you, friends and relatives of both Mr. Mrs. G. G. Kammei, as well as of their children far and wide, for your unconditional and constant support (prayers, financial and personal support, as well as in kinds) during Kammei’s prolonged battle against cancer.

MR G. G. KAMMEI

A very special “Thank You” to all, who showed their love and attended his funeral, sent cards and floral tributes, telephoned, messages or emailed their condolences and comfort to us. We can never thank you enough for the

kindnesses you have all shown us.

Although we cannot list all of the people who have been with our family, we would like to make some special mentions:

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1. The CCD (Critical Care Department, Naga Hospital, Kohima) team led by Dr. Sendimeren Aonok who gave the best possible care to Mr. Kammei.

2. Dr. B.K. Mohanti of IRCH, AIIMS, Delhi whose love and care both as a doctor and as a person throughout the past two decades have helped him outlive cancer for 20 years.

Also doctors and nurses of other departments in AIIMS, especially the doctors and staff of the ENT department.

3. Dr. Vinay Aggarwal and his colleagues and team in Pushpanjali Crosslay Hospital, Ghaziabad and Delhi for their unstinting care and support.

4. Mr. Mrs. Nourhe and Boisi Yhome, the couple nurses who rendered their most loving and caring services to him at home for over six months during his last days.

5. The congregation, elders and youth of Rongmei Baptist Church, Kohima, Nagaland who have always been there for him and our family throughout his illness, and during the funeral. We have never felt alone or in need of any kind of support because of their love and support.

6. Mr. Mrs. L. Lukhei Sema, I.P.S. Retd. DGP and family and Mr. S W. Yaden, Retd. DGP and his late wife and family, our long time neighbours and friends who stood by us through thick and thin, showing and living the love of God to our family in their words and deeds.

God is good. May God continue to bless you all abundantly.

Beloved wife, children, son in law and grandchildren of Mr. G.G. Kammei

Kohima, February 18 (mexN): The inaugural ceremony of Ura College of Teacher Education, Kohima will take place on February 20 at 3:00 AM in the UCTE Seminar Hall, old Kohima College building. Parliamentary secretary for Higher Education & State Council of Educational Research and Institute Deo Nukhu will grace the function as the chief guest. Ura Academy president Dr. Shürhozelie Liezi-

etsu will deliver dedicatory address. The function will be chaired by Vipralhou Kesiezie, chairman management board UCTE. Short speech will be delivered by Rev. Rheiliebeiü Shüya, member Board of Director Ura Academy. Prof. D. Kuolie, secretary general Ura Academy will highlight the background of the UCTE. Vote of thanks will be proposed by Pheluopfhelie Kesiezie, treasurer Ura Academy.

Training on communitization activities held in Mokokchung

moKoKchuNg, February 18 (mexN): Training of village health committee and capacity building on communitization activity of stakeholder of Mokokchung district was held at Ongpangkong Salang, Mokokchung on February 18.

Dr. Kibang, Dy CMO and resource person highlighted on the communitization activities. He stressed on the powers and functions of a communitized village.

All the health units of the district are to become delivery points so that more facilities like NBCC and SNCU will come in due time. He also advised the health committee chairman to check proxy workers and absentees of the health workers and to deal with them as per the powers provided under communitization act. He also

spoke on VHND to be held monthly in every village and to converge this day with other departments like social welfare, school education, rural development etc. He also explained the RBSK programme and to be prepared for screening when the respective doctor visits the village.

Ayim, Accountant highlighted fund utilization and timely submission of SOE. Dr. Limatula Aier DPO (UIP and RCH) spoke on low achievement on first round of IPPI as per 2011 census and requested all the health units to submit the actual population of the targeted age to the office at the earliest. Later, a thorough group discussion was held.

The chairperson of the programme was Yongdang CHO. Lanutoshi Kichu VHC Chairman Aliba village invoked God’s Presence for

the meeting. Chief Medical Officer Dr. S.S. Akaba Longchar in his welcome address encouraged all the health workers to join hands and work together with coordination when problem arises in sub centre. He highlighted on few important duties to be done by the VHC’s and sub centre like the quarterly VHC meetings, proper maintenance of records, timely submission of SOE, to update the eligible couple register, to observe the VHND monthly, ASHA’s to be utilized for health services and to improve the IPPI coverage.

Three best performing VHC’s during the year 2012-13 was given cash prize with certificate. Dibuia Sub centre, Yaongyimsen and Aongza Sub centre were adjudged first, second and third respectively.

MEx File

Advocacy program held at Longmisa village

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Dimapur, February 18 (mexN): An advocacy programme was organized at Longmisa village on February 2. A press release informed that the meeting began with a prayer by Temjen Lkr., coordinator (Community Based Rehabilitation). He highlighted the five matrix of Community Based Rehabilitation, i.e. Health, Education, Livelihood, Social, and Empowerment. Meanwhile, the managing director, Imchawati Kichu shared on the formation of Disabled People’s Organization (DPO) in the village and its advantage.

He encouraged the DPO members to be registered in the block level and avail different schemes available for persons with disabilities. He further asked the church leaders and Village Council to break the barriers on persons with disabilities.

Computer training for PNGO held

Dimapur, February 18 (mexN): Computer training for the Women’s Development Department PNGO at NIELIT got underway today. The training, which is part of the capacity-building programme of the Department, is being organised by the Directorate of Women Development in collaboration with National Institute of Electronics Learning & IT, Meriema, Nagaland, Kohima from February 17 to 22. Launching the training, Nzanthung K Yanthan, Women Development Officer dwelled on the importance of the information technology in our daily live. He opined that, the training would help in strengthening the sharing and dissemination of information, collection and correlation of data in the working system with the partnerNGOs. Zhoto Khamo, WDO, who also delivered the vote of thanks, chaired the launching programme function.

Lanu Wapang, Dy Director, NIELIT and Y Alepla Chang, President, ENWO Tuensang delivered Short Speeches.

CTHRA formed

Dimapur, February 18 (mexN): All the owners of hotels and restaurants of Chumukedima Town held a mass meeting on February 9, 2014 and formed Chumukedima Town Hotel and Restaurant Association (CTHRA). This was stated in a press release issued by the Association’s general secretary.

Disaster management training for youth Kohima, February 18 (Dipr): Training and capacity building programme on disaster management for the youth members from all the 19 (Nineteen) KMC wards will be held in a phase wise manner i.e. divided into 3 (three) different groups on February 24, 25 and 26 at Zonal council Hall, Kohima from 10:00 am onwards. Deputy Commissioner & Controller, Civil Defence, Kohima, W. Honje Konyak will be the chief guest at the inaugural function on February 24. According to the programme, welcome address and felicitation will be given by Deputy Controller, Civil Defence & District Commandant, Home Guards, Kohima, Mulai Lamniah.

The function will be chaired by Company Commander, Home Guards, Kohima, Temjenwati. ADC Kohima, Asangla Imti and CEO, KMC, Elizabeth Ngully will be chief guests at the inaugural functions on February 25 and 26 respectively.

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DSE informs

Kohima, February 18 (mexN): Directorate of school education has asked all the district education officers and sub divisional education officers to furnish the detail of ministerial staff/staff engaged as ministerial staff in different establishments under their jurisdiction to the directorate on or before February 24.

For any clarification, contact Vihoshe, joint director at 9436004336, stated a release issued by principal director Kesonyü Yhome.

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Resource person speaking at the seminar held with the theme “Management of Work” organised by Nsamding Development Agency.

Junior Red Cross unit set up at Brownson School Dimapur, February 18 (mexN): A Junior Red Cross (JRC) unit was officially established at Brownson School, Dimapur on February 14. Zakie Kire, general secretary, IRCSN officially inaugurated the JRC unit. In his speech, he highlighted on Red Cross movement and the important role students play in providing much needed humanitarian services. Lucy J Tungoe, APO, IRCSN spoke on the fundamental principles and also administered the pledge to the students. Vijay Shah, Headmaster, Vidhya Bhavan School, Dimapur also spoke on the activities that the students can play in uplifting the society. He also encouraged the students to be always ready to respond to any emergencies.

Kohima Aor Telongjem general meeting

Kohima, February 18 (Dipr): Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Dr. N. Benjongliba Aier will grace as chief guest of the Kohima Aor Telongjem (KAT) general meeting at Molu Ki Kohima on February 22. Pro Vice Chancellor, Nagaland University, Prof. A. Lanunungsang will speak on the topic 'Aor Oktenshidi ma'. Welcome speech by President, KAT; short speech by President, Watsu Telongjem Kohima; special number by Ao Students Union, Kohima and presentation of reports are some of the highlights of the programme. The programme will be chaired by the office bearers, KAT.

NVFAA emergency meeting on Feb 25

Dimapur, February 18 (mexN): Nagaland Veterinary Field Assistants’ Association (NVFAA) has convened an emergency meeting on February 25 at 10:00 am at the residence of its president S Tokiho Swu, Burma camp Dimapur. All district executive members have been informed to attend the meeting without fail.

It further inform the district executive members to collect the membership fees and other dues and submit it during the meeting.

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The Morung Express

‘Gold smuggling in India to rise if curbs stay’

MUMBAI/SINGAPORE, FEBRUARy 18 (REUtERS): Gold demand in India is expected to be robust in 2014, likely leading to a further jump in smuggling if curbs on bullion imports remain, the World Gold Council (WGC) said.

Indian gold consumption is expected to be 900-1,000 tonnes in 2014 on strong jewellery and investment purchases, according to the WGC, still slightly behind top buyer China, whose demand is expected to be 1,0001,100 tonnes.

Bullion demand in India rose 13 percent last year to 974.8 tonnes, according to the WGC’s quarterly report issued on Tuesday, in a sign that consumer appetite has been largely unaffected despite restrictions on gold imports.

Struggling with an unprecedented high trade deficit and a plunging rupee, India was forced to impose curbs on gold - the second-biggest expense in its import bill. A record high import duty of 10 percent and a rule tying import quantities to exports have crimped supply in what was until a year ago the world’s biggest bullion consumer, prompting a sharp jump in smuggling.

“Despite all the curbs, demand has come in at 975 tonnes.

The question obviously is where the supplies came from,” said Somasundaram PR, the WGC’s managing director for India. “We

will happen sometime before.”

Reducing the import duty alone will not be enough to ease supply constraints, the WGC executive said. Easing of the central bank’s 80/20 rule, which requires a fifth of all imports to be re-exported, will have more of an impact, he added. Global gold demand fell 15 percent in 2013 as huge outflows from physically backed investment funds outweighed record consumer demand, London-headquartered WGC said in the report.

An employee shows gold bangles to a customer at a jewellery showroom at a market in Mumbai. (REUTERS Photo)

have seen anecdotal evidence of smuggling. Our estimate is 150200 tonnes, more towards the upper end.”

Smuggling could have been even higher as Indian gold imports have sagged in recent months to 20-30 tonnes a month, compared with the record 162 tonnes in May. Scrap gold is also being used to meet demand.

India’s official gold imports in the first 11 months of 2013 totaled about 655 tonnes. “If supply restrictions continue, then we

will see a much higher figure for smuggling,” Somasundaram said, declining to provide an estimate.

Indian gold smugglers are adopting the methods of drug couriers to sidestep the government curbs, stashing gold in imported vehicles and even using mules who swallow nuggets to try to get them past airport security. Customs officials have said though the number of seizures they have made has increased, they have been able to catch only a fraction of the illegal shipments

grinders, juicers, shavers and hair removers, hair dryers, toasters, video recorders, DVD players, CDs, VCDs, DVDs and television STBs, monitors and projectors.

Manish Sharma, MD, Panasonic India, said, “It will help stabilize and provide growth opportunities to the industry which has been witnessing a slump for some time now. As far as prices are concerned, we are in the process of studying and assessing the impact.”

Highlighting the lack of growth, the index of industrial production for the industry declined 12.9% year-on-year during AprilDecember 2013 as against 3.7% in the same period last year, said India Ratings in a report.

ADA Ratnam, president and sector head of Philips Consumer Lifestyle, said, “We hope that the next government also prioritizes these products from lifestyle categories in its budget plan.” One hurdle has been the high interest regime which is still hampering consumption, experts said.

Soon Kwon, MD, LG India said the excise cut would boost the manufacturing sector.

“This will generate a positive consumer sentiment and encourage new buyers. We are reviewing various aspects regarding pricing,” he said.

BAlI (INdONESIA), FEBRUARy 18 (IANS): Samsung Tuesday launched here its big-screen smartphone Galaxy Note3 Neo, which, the company said, would be available in India later this month. The Note3 Neo is priced at Rs.40,900.

The product was unveiled at the Samsung Forum 2014 here and Vineet Taneja, country head, mobile & IT, Samsung India Electronics, said it would be available in India “between last week of February and early March”.

The smartphone sports a 5.5 inches HD display, a super fast hexacore processor and innovative solutions, including multi-window feature. The device is equipped with multiple sensors such as accelerometer, compass, gyroscope, and proximity sensor to further enhance user experience.

The company also launched Galaxy Grand Neo for the Southwest Asia market. Samsung started the Note series in 2011. The company also added to its the tablet series, launching the 12.2-inch

_

LEISURE

Simple Rules - There is just one simple rule: “Fill in the grid so that every row, every column, and every 3x3 box co ntains the digits 1 through 9.”

SUDOKU Game Number # 2796

NEW dElHI, FEBRUARy 18 (PtI): Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles, a part of the Mahindra Group, today slashed the price of its electric car e2o by up to Rs 1.7 lakh by introducing a scheme under which a consumer pays a rental fee for the battery.

“What we are doing with the scheme is bringing down the cost of acquisition while we guarantee the customer’s battery performance coupled with inflation-proof running costs. We will own the battery, all that the customer needs to do is pay a monthly fee,” Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles Chief Executive Officer Chetan Maini told PTI. Under the scheme, a customer needs to pay ‘energy fee’ starting from Rs 2,599 for a month, which will allow the user to drive 50,000 km (800 km of usage per month) over 5 years.

The company will also provide 24x7 assistance and guarantee a courtesy car when the battery is under repair.

“With this, the acquisition cost of the e2o will come down on an average by about Rs 1.7 lakh in cities, including Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai where it is currently available,” he said. For instance, in Delhi the base variant of the e2o will come at Rs 4.99 lakh as against Rs 6.5 lakh earlier, he added.

Commenting on the idea behind the scheme, Maini said: “We have had a lot of customers who liked the car but were deterred by the cost. Now with this, we hope, will make it more affordable for them and push up sales.”

The sales of the electric car have been not up to expectations since it was launched in March last year with less than 500 units.

Expressing disappointment over the Interim Budget proposals, he said: “It has done something for the conventional car but the electric segment has been left out.”

Finance Minister P Chidambaram yesterday announced a cut in excise duty on small cars, motorcycles, scooters and commercial vehicles to 8 per cent from 12 per cent, while that of SUVs to 24 per cent from 30 per cent. Large cars also saw excise reduction to 24 per cent from 27 per cent earlier and mid-sized cars to 20 per cent from 24 per cent.

Samsung Galaxy Note3 Neo in India by Feb-end

Cool move to beat poll heat: ACs, fridges to get cheaper

NEW dElHI, FEBRUARy 18 (tNN): There may be good news for those of you planning to buy airconditioners and refrigerators this summer as the finance minister proposed a 2% cut in excise duty for a range of consumer durable products in the interim budget. Excise duty on products ranging from vacuum cleaners to food mixers and microwaves will come down to 10% from the present 12%.

Most companies, though, said they would assess the impact of this announcement before passing on the gains to consumers in terms of price cuts. This cut comes in the backdrop of a an ailing consumer durable industry which has struggled with rising raw material costs and an appreciating rupee tapering the growth of the sector over the past few years.

Domestic durable major Godrej & Boyce said price cuts are likely to come in but not immediately. George Menezes, COO, appliances division, Godrej & Boyce said, “There is a huge inventory pile up of up to 40 days. Once this is exhausted, the benefit of the excise duty reduction will kick in for the consumer.”

Items which will be impacted by the duty cut include freezers, dish washers, washing machines, computers and laptops (see box),

into the country.

The Indian finance ministry and the central bank have acknowledged that smuggling has increased considerably but have said they will not ease the rules until they have a better grip on the trade deficit. “All pointers are towards some kind of relaxation,” said Somasundaram. “One possibility is that they will wait for the current account deficit figure till March end. The next possibility is that they may wait till elections (in May) but our expectation is that it

CHINA DEMAND In contrast to India, top buyer China will likely introduce more reforms to make it easier for consumers to access gold in the growing market, said Albert Cheng, WGC’s head of the far east region. China made a string of changes last year, granting approval to its first gold-backed exchange traded funds and import licences to foreign banks for the first time.

“It is a measure to make sure that there are more suppliers. I think there will be a further opening up of the market,” Cheng said, though he didn’t elaborate. Chinese demand in 2013 - which soared 32 percent to 1,065.8 tonnes last year - was supported by significant growth in both manufacturing and retail network capacity and that will continue this year, Cheng said.

Mahindra Reva slashes e2o price

ing category as well the NX30 and Galaxy Camera 2. Samsung NX30 is 20.3 megapixel with 1/8000 sec shutter speed and nine frame per seconds continuous shooting function. The Galaxy Camera 2 comes with 16.3 megapixel with Android operating system. The company introduced server-free business core printing solutions in Xpress Series to cater to the small and medium-sized businesses.

Samsung also showcased the latest from its stable in monitors for consumers and businesses. The lineup includes ultra-high definition (UHD) monitor UD 590 along with SD590, SD390 and SD391.

The company, which is in television technology for the last 8 years, unveiled new curved and UHD TV, U9000. “In 2014, Samsung is taking home entertainment to the next level by opening a new era of television with our new products in Southwest Asia,” Rajeev Bhutani, director, sales, Samsung India Electronics, said. It will be available in 70, 65 and 55 inches.

Vineet Taneja, Country Head of Samsung India during the launch of Galaxy Tab3 and NotePRO Series at the Samsung Forum 2014 in Bali on Tuesday.

Samsung Galaxy NotePro. Priced at Rs.64,900, it has more than 4 million pixels with 3 GB RAM and a 10-hour battery life.

The company also unveiled a mid-segment device, Galaxy Tab3 Neo, with 1 GB RAM. It is priced at Rs.16,490. Talking about the potential of the tablet market, Tane-

ja said: “The tablet market grew 186 percent in 2013.”

The factors which are driving the mobile and IT business now, he said, are the demography of the place, consumer behaviour and the net and data network expansion.

The company also added two new products in the digital imag-

DAILY CROSS WORD

CROSSWORD # 2807

DIMAPUR Civil Hospital:

STD CODE: 03862

Metro Hospital: Faith Hospital: Shamrock Hospital Zion Hospital: Police Control Room Police Traffic Control East Police Station West Police Station CIHSR (Referral Hospital) Dimapur hospital Apollo Hospital Info Centre: Railway: Indian Airlines Chumukedima Fire Brigade Nikos Hospital and Research Centre Nagaland Multispecialty Health & Research Centre

Answer Number # 2795

KOHIMA

Police Control Room: North Police Station: South Police Station: Fire Brigade: Naga Hospital: Oking Hospital: Bethel Nursing Home:

232224; Emergency229529, 229474 227930, 231081 228846 228254 231864, 224117, 227337 228400 232106 227607 232181 242555/ 242533 224041, 248011 230695/9402435652 131/228404 229366 282777 232032, 231031 248302, 09856006026

STD CODE: 0370

Northeast Shuttles

100/2244279 2222222 2222111 2222952 2222916 2243339 2224202

O

R

Product desiGN

ANALYSIS

MANMADE-

CAD

BOARD

CAM CHALLENGE CREATIVE DEVELOPEDIDEAS

MANUFACTURE METALS NONFERROUS PLASTICS PROBLEM

DIVERGENT

RENDERING

EVALUATION

SKETCHING

ICT

SPECIFICATION

ILLUSTRATION

THERMOPLAS-

INFLUENCE

TIC

INITIALIDEAS

THERMOSET

INNOVATION

TOOLS

D S J L T U P I N N O V A T I O N M

L T N C C E R U T C A F U N A M A

S A R A T N I T H E R M O S E T G N

T D K N A A R E N D E R I N G I M

E E I N I T I A L I D E A S W O T A

M D Y I C H A L L E N G E R A H D

A D E V E L O P E D I D E A S N E E

A O A I N F L U E N C E T I A R B

T Z O C R E A T I V E O E N L M O

R O U B I P L A S T I C S G U Y O A

O A I L L U S T R A T I O N S P R

C L O S K E T C H I N G H Z K I L D

S E D Z N O N F E R R O U S S A I

O D P R O B L E M J A C A M I S H

H E S P E C I F I C A T I O N C T P

L R E V A L U A T I O N H L T I I

ACROSS

P T G D I V E R G E N T E P H C T

1. Cavalry weapon 6. Welt 10. Phone 14. Marble 15. Dogfish 16. Hodgepodge 17. Taxonomic group 18. German for “Mister” 19. Exploded star 20. Extra 22. Tibia 23. To and ___ 24. Homeric epic 26. Wind sock 30. Liberates 32. “Bolero” composer 33. Initiation 37. Not closed 38. Grain to be ground 39. Border 40. Pass into or through 42. A loud sleeping sound 43. Unsmooth 44. Belonging to the peerage 45. Rock 47. Adult males 48. Hearing organs 49. Blockhouse

56. 57 in Roman numerals 57. By mouth 58. Female demon 59. Chair 60. Relocate 61. Lacquer ingredient 62. Countercurrent 63. Visual organs 64. Notes

DOWN 1. Epic 2. Matured 3. Musical group 4. Decorative case 5. Relaxing 6. “Yippee!”

7. Ends a prayer 8. Former Italian currency 9. Soonest 10. Coherent 11. Hello or goodbye 12. Enraged 13. Give temporarily 21.

Fury 25. Meadow 26. Let go 27. Sexual assault 28. Baking appliance 29. Unselfishness 30. Religious belief

31. Ploy 33. Outcropping 34. False god 35. Monster 36. Require 38. Shockingly repellent 41. 2,000 pounds 42. Undershirt 44. One more than nine 45. Rescued 46. Threesome 47. Burrowing mammals 48. If not 50. “Iliad” city 51. Rant 52. Angel’s headwear 53. Portent 54. Citrus fruit 55. Speaker’s platform

Ans to CrossWord 2806

DIMAPUR: 03862-232201/101 (O) 9436601225 (OC) CHUMUKEDIMA: 03862-282777/101 (O) WOKHA: 03860-242215 (O) 9402643782 MOKOKCHUNG: 0369-2226225/101 (O) 9856872011 (OC) PHEK: 03865-223838/101 (O) 9436012949 (OC)

TUENSANG: 03861-220256/101 (O) 8974322879

08974997923

MON: 03869-290629/101 (O) 9856248962/ 9612805461 (OC)

Toll free No. 1098 childline

W

KOHIMA: 0370-2222952/101 (O) 9436062098 (OC)

ZUNHEBOTO: 03867-220444/101 (O) 9856158740 (OC)

CHILD WELFARE COMMITTEE

MOKOKCHUNG:

FIRE STATIONS

STD CODE: 0369

Police Station 1: Police Station 2 :

2226241 2226214

Civil Hospital: Woodland Nursing Home: Hotel Metsüpen (Tourist Lodge):

2226216 2226263 2226373/2229343

TAHAMzAM (formerly Senapati) STD CODE: 03871 Police Station: Fire Brigade

222246 222491

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* CONDITION APPLY *3 YEARS / 100,000 KMS WARRANTY * FOR PETROL *CASHLESS OWNERSHIP MAINTENANCE OFFER

For details & Test drive Contact: Urban Station, Near NSC Petrol Pump, 6th Mile Dimapur. Ph No : 240994 CURRENCY ExCHANGE CURRENCY NOTES BUY(Rs) SELL(Rs) US Dollars Sterling Pound Hong Kong Dollar

61.6 103.11 7.92

62.03 104.26 8.01

Australian Dollar

55.45

56.22

Singapore Dollar Canadian Dollar Japanese Yen

48.77 56.01 60.42

49.34 56.69 61.15

Euro

84.26

85.18

LOCAL/REGIONAL

The Morung Express

Biodiversity conservation event Rate of royalty on coal

enhanced in Nagaland

Participants of National Environment Awareness Campaign Programme held at Niuland Town on February 17.

DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 18 (MExN): Akimbo Society in collaboration with Nagaland Pollution Control Board and Ministry of Environment and Forest, New Delhi carried out National Environment Awareness Campaign Programme (NEAC 20132014) at Niuland Town on February 17.

Biodiversity conservation in the context of people living in rural areas was the main theme of the programme, stated a press release. Project Director and staff of Akimbo Society and the resource

person Immuksungla carried out the programme.

The resource person shared on the importance and need of biodiversity conservation because biodiversity provides things that are fundamental to health, like clean air, fresh water and food products.

She also spoke on the other important services provided by biodiversity including recreational, cultural and spiritual nourishment that maintain personal and social wellbeing. Therefore, she asserted, looking after biodiversity is an impor-

NEw DElHI, FEBRUARY 18 (IANS): The central government has agreed to include geography, history and tradition and culture of the indigenous people of the northeastern states in NCERT textbooks, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki said Tuesday.

"I met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the recent attacks on people from the northeastern states here in the national capital and after a long deliberation the prime minister has agreed to include information about the northeastern states in the NCERT text books," Tuki told IANS. He said the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks will include the geographical location, history of the northeast besides the tradition and culture of the people in the seven northeastern states, which border China, Myanmar, Bhutan, and Bangladesh.

On frequent attacks

on and harassment of the northeastern people in Delhi, the Arunachal Pradesh chief minister asked the people from here to visit the northeastern states and learn more about the region.

"They should visit our region to learn more about the geography, history and culture of the people of the region. These racist attacks on our people in metropolitan cities across India are mainly due to discrimination and lack of knowledge of the people about the northeastern states," he stated.

"The Nido Tania incident is not the first case. We have brought many dead bodies back to the northeast and these racist attacks can be stopped only if the people in the region know more about the northeastern region," Tuki said.

Tuki was referring to Tania who was beaten up by shopkeepers in south Delhi Jan 29 following a quarrel over his appearance and clothing. He died the next day.

north east history, culture in nCerT books: Arunachal Cm

tant task for all people.

She also explained about some of the main threats to biodiversity: loss, fragmentation and degradation of habit, the spread of invasive species, unsustainable use of natural resource, climate change, inappropriate fire regimes, change to the aquatic environment and water flows etc. She affirmed that it was the responsibility of every individual to preserve and protect our ecology. Participants of the campaign programme consisted of Police force, SHGs, youth and local leaders.

KOHIMA, FEBRUARY 18 (MExN): The Department of Geology and Mining of the Government of Nagaland has enhanced the rate of royalty on coal from Rs. 165/- per tonne to Rs. 290/- per tonne. “In exercise of the powers conferred by rule 12 of the Nagaland Coal Mining Rules, 2006 enacted under Section-15 of the Nagaland (ownership and Transfer

of Land and Its resources) Act, 1990, and Cabinet decision NO.CAB-2/2013 dated 10th February, 2014,” the State Government made the enhancement, stated a notification from the Secretary to the Government, Bendang Longchari (IAS). It notified, “In the said Schedule item (one) 1, the existing rate of royalty has been enhanced from Rs. 165/- (Rupees one

hundred sixty five) only per tonne to Rs. 290/- (Rupees two hundred ninety) only per tonne with effect from 1st November, 2012.” It was also informed that royalty shall be collected as per data generated by the “Weigh Bridge.” Since the installation of “Weigh Bridge” became practically difficult, royalty shall be collected based on “volume measurement of the truck body.”

KOHIMA, FEBRUARY 18 (MExN): PHED (Rural) division, Dimapur will be observing National Rural Drinking Water and Sanitation awareness week from February 20 to 25. In a release, the department informed that the launching programme would be held on February 20, 9:00 am at IMC hall, Fellowship colony with Dr. Kadambari Bhagat, IAS, SDO (C) Dimapur as chief guest.

Representatives have been invited from departments like medical, rural development, social wel-

fare, education, besides students and NGOs. It further stated that on February 21 and 22, three renowned NGOs, namely Naga Women Hoho, Western Sumi Women Hoho, Chakhroma Women Hoho will be conducting IEC campaign at Niuland, Kuhuboto, Dhansiripar and Medziphema blocks.

Meanwhile, for February 23, a circular has been served to all the churches in respective villages to devote 5-10 minutes and reach out the message of safe drinking water and

sanitation on Sunday service.

On February 24, WATSAN committee team will be visiting Khonoma, Jotsoma and Kohima water treatment plant as part of an inter district exposure trip.

The awareness week would culminate on February 25 with an essay competition for Class 8 to 10 students, representing various schools around Dimapur on the topic "Water, sanitation and their impact on human health" slated at Little Star School at 1:00 pm.

National Water and Sanitation Awareness week to kick off in Dmp

Wednesday 19 February 2014

Dimapur

5

MEx FILE One held for extortion DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 18 (MExN): Police have arrested one person for making threatening phone calls to citizens of Medziphema town and demanding Rs 5 Lakh from them. Medziphema police tracked down the caller and arrested him from Jalukie B village, Peren. A press note from the PRO, Dimapur Police identified the accused as one Asu Nchang (57). Police also recovered the mobile phone along with the SIM used to make the demands. Police stated that the accused has admitted to making the extortion demand and that he has been forwarded to court for remand.

NSF calls for meeting

DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 18 (MExN): The Naga Students’ Federation has called for a meeting on February 19 at IMC Hall, Fellowship Colony, Dimapur to discuss and deliberate on the recent controversy surrounding Blooming Bud Montessori School, Dimapur. A press note from the NSF informed the school authority of BBMS, students of present class10 batch and students who have failed to appear their HSLC examination 2014 and parents or guardians of all students of the school to attend the meeting. The Federation has also invited officials of the Dimapur Naga Students Union (DNSU).

NCSU Kohima informs members

KOHIMA, FEBRUARY 18 (MExN): Nagaland Contractors’ & Suppliers’ Union (NCSU) head office, Kohima has informed all its office bearers, executive members and action committee members to participate in the mass social work to be held on February 22 in Kohima on account of the Princess of Thailand’s visit. A press release issued by NCSU vice president, Ntsenthung Tungoe and its general secretary, John Kath further informed all the members concerned to reach the Union’s office at 8:00 am on the same day.

Hindi teachers continue agitation

DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 18 (MExN): A press release issued by one Lanuienla has informed all the Hindi teachers (GT and PT) under DEO, SDEO Dimapur and SDEO Niuland establishment 2012-2013 appointees that until their demands are fulfilled, they will boycott classes and continue the agitation. All the teachers concerned have been directed to attend the agitation at DEO office Dimapur at 9:00 am everyday without fail. “Action will be taken if anyone fails to attend the ongoing agitation,” the press release added.

Sikh Pritinidhi Board meeting held

DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 18 (MExN): The first executive meeting of Sikh Pritinidhi Board Eastern Zone, Dhubri Sahib in Nagaland was held at Gurudwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Gurudwara Road, Dimapur on February 16, 2014 at 11:00 am. Delegations from all the Gurudwaras in northeast attended the meeting, informed a press release.

WSBAK revival hour concludes ATMA-Phek in collaboration with NIC, Phek webcast the Krishi Vasant 2014, which was held in Nagpur, at DC Conference Hall, Phek. In this image, ATMA-Phek officials pose for a photograph after the webcasting event.

3 loan agreements for NE infra projects NEw DElHI, FEBRUARY 18 (AgENcIES): The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India on Tuesday signed loan agreements for three separate projects to better rail services, power and roads in the country.

To improve rail services along some of its busiest and most critical freight and passenger transport routes, a $130 million loan was signed. The second tranche loan is part of the

$500-million Railway Sector Investment Programme approved by ADB in 2011, and will finance track components for 840 k.m. of additional tracks along existing railway lines.

Another loan for $350 million was signed for improvement in selective transmission and distribution system to meet the growing demand of power in Madhya Pradesh.

The project will carry out physical upgrades to increase capacity and

deliver power more efficiently, the statement said. It will fund about 1,800 circuit km of transmission lines and more than 3,100 circuit km of distribution lines, as well as building or upgrading transmission and distribution substations.

To upgrade roads in North East region, a $125.2 million loan was signed by the two parties. The North Eastern States Roads Investment Programme is designed to reconstruct

roads in Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, and Sikkim.

Improvements include widening existing sections of roads, strengthening pavements, raising embankments, and providing permanent structures at river crossings, the statement added.

The project is expected to be completed by September 30, 2019 with improvements to more than 236 km of roads in Assam, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.

DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 18 (MExN): The WSBAK has concluded its three days revival hour. The conference was held at Ghoshito Baptist Akukuhou from February 14 to 16 under the theme, “Put on Love for perfect unity” (Col. 3: 14). The speakers were Rev. Dr. Vitoi Kappo, Pastor, Sümi Baptist Akukuhou Purana Bazar; Kanili Aye, Home Evangelist, Dimapur Sümi Baptist Church; and Rev. S. Vitoshe Swu, Executive Secretary, WSBAK. More than 5,500 delegates attended the conference and were blessed by powerful messages on exercising Christian love, stated a press release received here.

DPE condemns

DIMAPUR, FEBRU- Raben Lotha and its secARY 18 (MExN): The retary, Mhathung Lotha Dimapur Podinakup Ek- in a press statement aphung (DPE) comprising pealed to all the citizens of ten Lotha villages has of the ten villages to costrongly condemned the operate with the conFebruary 17 incident at struction team, so as to Longtsung village area enable them to complete in Wokha district, where the road construction in Libenthung, Tsanthungo a congenial atmosphere. and Robert allegedly man- It further appreciated the handled Kekhrie, supervi- Longtsung Village Counsor of road construction cil for the prompt action candidate and the party will soon team. The DPE chairman, taken against the accused. announce the candidate's name.

Meanwhile, it is also worth mentioning here that the Naga Peoples Front (NPF) was making effort to field its candidates in Arunachal Pradesh vis-a-vis the Apropos a news article “Notification on misquoting of Lok Sabha poll. However, the party Tening as Tenning,” which was published on February will now only support a regional 18 in this daily, it is clarified that the correct nomenclapolitical party of that state with- ture to be used is “Tening” and not as rendered in the last paragraph of the article. out fielding its own candidate.

Naga People's Front may delay announcing Lok Sabha candidates Newmai News Network Dimapur | February 18

The Naga People's Front (NPF) is likely to take longer than expected in announcing the names of its Lok Sabha candidates to contest for the lone Nagaland seat and Manipur Outer Parliamentary constituency.

Earlier, it was speculated

W

hilst the tricolour Indian flag flutters atop the hills of the Northeast, her mongoloid inhabitants cannot be conceptually received in the notion of “Indian” and she is a mere geography for racial experimentation. In the brahmanic-conceived notion of “India”, the cradle of the casteist-hindu constitutes the “mainland” which completes the whole notion of geographical India and the peripheries thereto are mere attachments and annexes. Within this fundamental contradiction, the notion of federal India was conceived and the Constitution of India reinforces this dichotomy by not permitting multiple citizen-

that the NPF would be declaring officially the names of its candidates for both Nagaland and Manipur after the party's meeting of February 19.

When contacted by Newmai News Network this evening, an NPF leader in Kohima said the party will take time to announce the candidates' names for Manipur and Nagaland say-

ing, "There is a series of procedures to be followed before we officially announce the names of our candidates."

Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio's name has been doing the round for contesting the lone Lok Sabha seat of Nagaland. The 'search committee' of the party has reportedly recommended the name of the Chief

Minister sometime ago.

There have also been reports that the NPF is working hard to garner supports for the 'consensus candidate' of all the political parties in Nagaland. However, this idea of the NPF has been challenged by the Congress party in the state saying the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) will definitely field its

Corrigendum

Public SPace Racist Apartheid and the Mongoloid Northeast

ships or federal identities to its divergent subjects.

Resultantly, the idea of multicultural “India” can consist only of the Hindu Aryans and any deviating culture such as mongoloid cannot be co-existent with this hindu-exclusivist construct of “Indian” identity. The notion of “Indian” must be Hindu by culture and any race not Aryan is a social “impure” who must be culturally proselytized and assimilated into this dominant identity. Feeding on this cultural and racial exclusivism, cultural and racial minorities become an object of disdain and ridicule and simultaneously made scapegoats for blaming for non-conformi-

ty. Thus, the idea of multicultural and federal India remains only a fictional rhetoric and is non-existent in reality.

There is then, unfortunately, no legal regime to criminalize such racisthate crimes and on the contrary legitimizes yet reinforces them. Taking its own typical form of Apartheid, the Northeast is racially and geographically segregated and by manufacturing a perpetual state of emergency, racist legal tools such as Inner Line Permits, Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and Disturbed Areas Act are articulated. To further the segregation, the states such as New Delhi and Banga-

lore sponsor establishment of separate hostels for the mongoloid race all in the name of security.

Given this prevailing systemic ubiquity and racist-conceived constitutional regime, no amount of judicial activism, attitudinal transformation of Indian schools and families or resetting of the narratives and articulation of Indian history alone can completely erase racism in India unless the sociological premise of the notion of “Indian” is simultaneously reconstructed and the Constitution is revisited in tandem with its irreconcilable historical diversity.

New Delhi’s extra-constitutional Northeast policy

in particular is a faux pas ab initio and is responsible for all this yawning sense of alienation and prevailing racial “othering” of the Northeast. With no intention to demeaning the Statesman, Jawaharlal Nehru’s imagination of multicultural and federal India has notoriously failed in accommodating the Northeast into the fabric of Indian confederation.

One might trace the origin of modern nation-state to the charter of Magna Carta Libertatum, however, Jawaharlal Nehru failed to reflect that the process of nation making must strictly remain an Indian contextualized historical construct.

His Anglicized schema of

“divide and rule” and belligerent armed response in particular have remained replete with contradictions vis-à-vis the idea of multicultural India. In his policy response towards the Northeast in general, he failed to distinguish the process of nationalizing adjacent home boundaries from that of colonizing overseas colonies typical to Elizabethan East India Company. This unresolved political and historical contradiction in the policy response is solely responsible for this aggravated racist disorientation.

New Delhi’s elitistracist conception of traditional Northeast policy in short needs tectonic shift in

order to find a permanent solution to this chronic historical problem. The subcontinental India in order to meet its democratic obligations must fundamentally recast its idea of multiculturalism within a redefined structure of expanded federal polity in proportion with its cultural diversity. Perhaps, post-nationalists quest as an alternative search for solutions to such conventional problems in modern nationstate making has become an imperative.

What the mainstream political actors have pathologically failed to appreciate is the socio-political and historical dynamics of the Northeast, whose no-

tion of dignity and self-respect is founded on the traditional notion of republic of free villagers which is conceptually not incompatible with the idea of multicultural and federal “India”. It is the sanctity of this profoundly democratic traditional-political culture that any outside meddling is repelled as adversarial and oppressive. Unless this historical and political diversity is duly recognized and accommodated, the notion of multicultural “India” in its true federal form and the idea of sociological “Indian” are bound to remain replete with racist persuasions.

Sira Kharay Advocate Delhi High Court

The Morung Express is introducing “Public Space” as part of our intention to provide deliberate space for the opinions of the people to be expressed and heard through this newspaper. Nonetheless, The Morung Express points out that the opinions expressed in the contents published in the “Public Space” do not reflect the views and position of the newspaper or the editor.

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The Power of Truth

The Morung Express WEDnEsDAy 19 FEbruAry 2014 vol. IX IssuE 47

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The Press & the People

ournalists around the world risk their lives on a daily basis in unprotected situations by bringing stories, sharing experiences and impartially reporting unfolding situations. Many journalists’ desire is to reveal the truth, promote justice and peace; facilitate pluralism and encourage political and cultural expressions.

Consequently, the media in its role as a public institution is the primary platform that exercises freedom of speech which is essential to every democracy. They also serve as a watchdog of good governance practices. All too often we see examples of the press that are constrained by rigid polities, and censored by restrictive legislation and other policies. These types of conditions that are controlled by intimidation, impunity or societal dogma indicate the lack of democratic space and practices.

Empirical truth has quite clearly documented that there can be no freedom of press if journalists are constricted by conditions of poverty, corruption and fear. This, in turn, has direct implications on society and its democratic values. Any deliberate assault on the institutions of the free press is seen as threat not just on democracy, but the people that make up the society. These types of assaults include any systematic or deliberate actions that threaten, intimidate and suppress the very idea of a free press; and in essence the very people that make up the institution of the media. Invariably the concept of a free press is naturally connected to the idea of safety and security. And in an increasingly polarized world which is characterized by exclusivity, public mistrust, rising violence and fear, the idea of safety has become very relative.

In the Naga context, the press as an institution needs to be strengthened. In a situation where truthful disclosure is often the first casualty and one in which rumors and suspicion governs public perception, the need for a pro-active media is even more critical. While it has weathered many difficult circumstances and assumed an important role in societal narratives, garnering public trust needs to be strengthened as the press takes a more deliberate role in catalyzing democratic change. Sadly, the gap between the press and the society is widening, and, as a result, the dialectical relationship required between a responsible media and a conscious citizenry is not developing. This stagnation needs to be reversed so both the media nor the society are progressing at a steady or healthy pace that has a direct relationship to society’s overall growth and development.

In this fast-paced world, where authentic credible information is vital in decision making, the inter-relation and inter-dependency between the press and the public is vital for building public trust. They each empower the other – it is a symbiotic relationship which directly contributes to achieving a vibrant and empowered Naga society and a responsive and relevant press.

lEfT wiNg |

Andrew M. Seaman Reuters Health

Effects of bullying may add up in kids

T

IN-FOCUS

he negative physical and mental effects tied to bullying among children and teens may accumulate throughout the years, according to a new study. Researchers found that teens who had been bullied in the past and those currently being bullied tended to have a lower quality of life, compared to those who were bullied less or not at all.

This finding and previous research on the effects of bullying suggest more rigorous work should be done on finding ways to intervene and stop bullying, said the study's lead author. "I think this is overwhelming support for early interventions and immediate interventions and really advancing the science about interventions," Laura Bogart, from Boston Children's Hospital, told Reuters Health.

In the past, when researchers have surveyed students at one point in time, children and teens who were being bullied tended to score lower on measures of physical and mental health. But few studies have examined whether the possible effects of bullying accumulate over the years, the researchers write in the journal Pediatrics.

They analyzed data from the Healthy Passages study, which surveyed students in Alabama, California and Texas about how much bullying they experienced and evaluated their physical and mental health. Overall, 4,297 students completed the surveys in fifth, seventh and 10th grades.

The researchers found that about a third of the students had been regularly bullied at some point during the course of the study. Generally, those who had been bullied in the past scored better on measures of physical and mental health, compared to those who were currently being bullied. Teens who were bullied throughout their school career scored the worst.

For example, about seven percent of 10th grade students who had never been bullied scored low on mental health measures. That compared to 12 percent who had been bullied in the past, 31 percent who were currently being bullied and almost 45 percent of those who underwent persistent bullying.

About eight percent of 10th grade students who were never bullied had poor physical health, compared to 12 percent of those who were bullied in the past, 26 percent who were currently being bullied and 22 percent who were continuously bullied.

Poor mental health included traits such as being sad, afraid and angry, according to Bogart. Poor physical health included limitations like not being able to walk far and not being able to pick up heavy objects.

"I think one key thing to take from this is that any adult that has any contact with children . . . (should) know what the signs of bullying might be," Bogart said. "This study tells us some of them, but not all of them." "There are physical signs, but they're not always physical," she said. For example, one non-physical sign that a young person is being bullied is that the child doesn't want to go to school.

Bogart also said it's important for parents to know if their child falls into one of the groups at high risk for bullying. Those groups include children with physical disabilities, those who are overweight and obese and those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or questioning. "I think this says - especially for parents - to be really attuned to what's going on in their kids' lives by paying attention, knowing what's going on during the school day and being aware so they'll notice changes like these," she said.

THE EDIT PAGE

C O M M E N T A R Y

Danny Schechter Common Dreams

Does the Media Hate the Poor?

O

ne is always proud to be invited to speak at the United Nations, one of the few global institutions that is still taken seriously and that can generate international resolutions and shape programs free of total domination by the big powers.

When you are an outsider like I am, it’s a bit of an ego boost to think that the world might be listening to little old you and that, at least for one session, you are among the chosen to hold forth on something serious in what critics deride as “The House of Babble.”

I have been around the world body for years, even as recipient of a prize for a TV documentary from the UN Correspondents Association (UNCA). In that case, the film offered a strong critique of the UN cockup in Bosnia, but the award was presented to me by the then-UN Secretary General Boutros-Boutros Ghali, who clearly hadn’t seen it So, yes there is pretense and hypocrisy, but there are also sincere and dedicated people – diplomats and international civil servants – working to improve the world. This is not to say that the big powers lack influence there since they control the Security Council and show clout by lobbying for their political positions, while staffing the Secretariat and agencies with their loyalists. Right across the street is the spanking new U.S. Mission, a symbol of Washington’s power and intent to stay in control.

While the UN was created in the name of the peoples of the world, it is the governments with all their rigidities, personalities and ideologies that effectively run the place with some autonomy left for UN officials and decision-makers like the current man at the top, South Korea’s Ban Ki Moon.

Nevertheless, an allowance has been made to give a platform to citizens’ movements and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that used to meet in the basement or in the rarely utilized Trusteeship Council set up decades ago to speed decolonization.

They were always a sideshow, but attracted activists with a calling to try to change the world.

Now, with the UN headquarters undergoing an expensive renovation, in part to get rid of toxic asbestos that made it an unsafe workplace, much of the action, including the small conference room in which I spoke, has moved to a temporary all white structure built on the grounds. Its satirical nickname: “Bantanamo.” I was invited to speak by an impressive lawyer, Nigerian-born but UK-trained, Ugoji Adanma Eze. We met a week earlier at a Bar Association talk I gave on Mandela and she liked my spunk or something, and invited me to take part. But then, when I sought to back out because of all the bureaucratic hassles involved in getting accreditation, she cut some red tape and escorted me in. Ugoji is a force of nature – and not to be crossed!

It was the 52nd Session of the Commission for Social Development. The focus of this side event was finding a “new paradigm for poverty eradication and environmental resource management.” How’s that for heady title?

Unfortunately after two UN diplomats spoke at length, as well as a representative of the UN Environmental Program, there was no real time for me to deliver my hastily prepared but solidly documented treatise on the subject I assigned myself: “Why Does The Media Hate The Poor?”

I had prepared some remarks that I thought might provoke debate by arguing for the importance of advocating for poverty alleviation in the cultural environment, not just the physical environment. And, I hoped to discuss how the media has, because of its indifference and self-importance, made it harder for change-makers to attract the resources needed to fight poverty and promote sustainable development.

Here’s how I started: “As we meet in this winter of too much snow and too little inspiration, it is heartening that at least in this room and among NGOs big and small, the war on poverty soldiers on – however inadequately resourced and neglected by the powers

S

ri Lanka’s war-battered Northern Province had reason to celebrate when the results of a countrywide exam were announced last December.

Of the 16,604 students from the province who sat for the exam, 63.8 percent secured the required marks for entry into prestigious national universities.

It was a spectacular performance for a region wrecked by three decades of sectarian conflict that ended in May 2009 with a military offensive. The region has endured a tedious reconstruction effort since then.

“It is a national high,” Sivalingam Sathyaseelan, Secretary to the provincial Ministry of Education, told IPS. “Education was always seen as a ladder to a better life in this region – even before the war. Once again people seem to be thinking about that.”

Sathyaseelan, however, was quick to point out that a good education did not mean a good job or even gainful employment in the province. “There are lots of graduates who are unemployed, there are no jobs here. Graduates have to either move out or settle for manual jobs, [and] even become masons or assistants to masons.”

The country’s overall unemployment rate is around four percent of the labour force, but the figures for the north are exceptionally high. Data is only available for two of the five districts that make up the province, and they are twice the national unemployment rates – Mannar at 8.1 percent and Kilinochchi at 9.3 percent.

Some economists say unemployment rates in the north and, overall in the island, may be higher if stricter calculation parameters are used. In the Northern Province “the unemployment rate could be a staggering 32.8 percent,” economist Muttukrishna

An Indian laborer's child stands near his sibling resting in a temporary cradle hanging from a tree by a road side in Hyderabad, India on Monday, February 10, 2014. Some 800 million people in the country live in poverty, many of them migrating to big cities in search of a livelihood and often ending up on the streets. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

that be and those who should know better, except rhetorically of course.”

I droned on: “This has been the year that the term inequality is finally being heard – at least in this city – but as a journalist and media analyst, I know all too well that when an issue is not on TV, it doesn’t exist for millions of Americans whose notion of what’s real is shaped by a news system more engaged, at this moment, with ski competitions in Sochi or the upcoming Academy Awards ceremony, with the pricey gowns and dazzling jewelry we hungrily await on the red carpet of stardom. …

“This week, New York’s cable company, TimeWarner. went on the block for $45 billion to the more conservative commissars of Comcast, assuring even more media concentration, and if the deal goes through, there will, for sure, be even more money flowing upward to the one percent of the one percent.

“Our media will remain dominated by the weighty and deceptive thoughts of the rich and powerful, while the voices of the poor and anonymous remain treated only as consumers who are paying more than ever for less and less and kept on the sidelines.

“As media moguls enrich themselves, the issues that this gathering plans to address moves more and more to the margins. Unfortunately, the UN is better at holding talkfests like this than in assuring that the public will hear about them.”

I cited journalist Dave Smith writing in Texas: “It is not difficult to see global poverty issues are largely absent from news tickers and the national media outlets where many Americans get their news, leaving the poor around the world out of the proverbial conversation. …

“With the passing of the latest national election season, the media coverage focused mostly on the American economy and jobs, but paid little attention to real American poverty beyond sound bites and talking points. Global poverty issues were even more of an afterthought, which is confusing when considering the connection between global poverty solutions, national security policy and the national economy.”

I was then prepared to cite many studies of how the subject of poverty has disappeared from much of the mainstream the way human rights activists used to “disappear” in Argentina after the military goons took power. I was overloaded with over-researched facts and quotes but, alas, I had already run out of time before I even began. My moment in the UN sun

was suddenly clouded by the reality of a forum with more speakers than time to hear them all.

Happily, there were some folks there who are engaged in the poverty fight every day. Members of a Mennonite mission based on Sugar Hill in Harlem spoke of their work as volunteers in overwhelmed food pantries in New York, and showcased their religious devotion with an upbeat hymn. Their sincerity and sense of sacrifice was evident. It was a small group – some from Kansas and Mississippi, but all devoted to a big idea – serving their God and the poor with unpaid community service.

Perhaps, the most impressive and passionate advocate in the room. was Aaron Campbell, an articulate Philadelphia-based minister who runs the Angoon Alive Project in Alaska where Native Americans are getting help with sustainable entrepreneurial employment projects, aided by micro-loans.

He showed slides detailing the extreme and obscene poverty on Native American reservations like Pine Ridge in South Dakota with a growing suicide rate and rampant social problems that just go on. Everyone was impressed with his commitment to his people and to waking the rest of us about their plight.

It was a small forum in a small room on a windy winter day overlooking what they used to call Turtle Bay and today is known only as the East River. We were all driven by some sense of duty to making this issue matter and to show that there are solutions out there if anyone is listening. We each spoke of the world’s failure to respond. I tried to ring a bell about media myopia.

These exercises go on every day—at least someone is trying to make a difference. Writing in, of all places, the Financial Times, a capitalist tool if there ever was one, Simon Kupfer noted: “You’d have thought the economic crisis would have made poverty newsy. ‘If it bleeds, it leads’ is a journalistic maxim, and the Cambridge sociologist David Stuckler found sharp increases in suicides in recession-hit European countries after 2008. The crisis arguably caused 1,000 ‘excess’ suicides in England alone.

“But they weren’t news. The global poor – 2.5 billion people living on less than $2 a day – are considered even more boring, due to the triple whammy of being non-white, non-Anglophone and poor. To become news, poor people have to cause disorder. Middle-class people raise issues by writing; poor people do it by rioting.”

Will it have to come to that? What else is to be done?

Peace, not prosperity, after Sri Lankan war Amantha Perera Inter Press Service

Saravananthan who heads the Point Pedro Institute for Development based in northern Jaffna told IPS. Overall unemployment among those who have successfully passed the university entrance exam is higher.

According to the Department of Census and Statistics, around 10 percent of all those who have successfully completed the exam remain unemployed.

Lack of jobs and income is creating a vicious circle in the north. Experts say many secondary school children are dropping out to search for jobs.

Rupavathi Keetheswaran, a government agent for Kilinochchi district, says that as post-war assistance reached an end and income levels suffered, many families either headed by women or with disabled family members have found it hard to make ends meet.

There are an estimated 40,000 families headed by women in the Northern Province.

Ramalingam Sivaparasgam, a national coordinator with the International Labour Organisation (ILO), told IPS that children in secondary schools were most prone to being pulled out of school.“The primary reason is lack of livelihoods – the responsibility of earning falls on children,” he said.

Children mainly seek jobs in the construction sector or in agriculture.

The two sectors have boomed in the province due to the construction of thousands of houses and roads as well as the traditional dependence on agriculture.

Education official Sathyaseelan says that when graduates and others with higher educational qualifications struggled to find jobs, it acted as a deterrent for younger students. “When younger students see others struggling to get jobs, they find that education does not help much, and want to quit.”

Analysts warn that despite the government spending on the rehabilitation of the former conflict zone, few benefits have gone to those who suffered the worst – the more than 460,000 who fled the war and have now returned.

Within a lopsided reconstruction effort – in which many experts feel more attention has been paid to large infrastructure projects over creating jobs and income – education is one area where everyone, from the government to tens of thousands of returnees, seems more or less satisfied with the redevelopment effort.

During a survey by the United Nations High Commissioner for Ref-

wRiTE-wiNg

ugees released last year, an overwhelming majority of the war displaced who have returned to the Northern Province said they had no complaints on how the region’s education system has been revived.

The survey of 997 households found that “87 percent of the respondents are satisfied with the quality of education.”

But education – one of the fruits of peace – has not spelt prosperity for the Northern Province. “Till date there is no targeted incentive scheme by the government for the private sector to invest and generate employment in the north,” economist Saravananthan said.

A recent study on global terrorism trends by the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, also found that the government needed to do more to help the population.

The report said the Sri Lankan government needs to address the needs of ordinary people in the former conflict zone, dominated by the Tamil community as opposed to the Sinhalese majority in the rest of the country.

“This would not only include addressing issues such as livelihood relief and food insecurity but also examine local participation in the implementation of development programmes, psychological counseling for victims of violence and recruiting a sufficient number of Tamil-speaking government officials,” the report said.

This would mean projects such as factories that create jobs, funds to help farming and fishing, and efforts to get children to stay in school – efforts that have been slow to take off amid mega development projects.

Letters to the Editor should be sent to: The Morung Express, House No. 4, Duncan Bosti, Dimapur - 797112, Or –email: morung@gmail.com All letters (including those via email) should have the full name and Postal address of the sender.

Readers may please note that the contents of the articles, letters and opinions published do not reflect the outlook of this paper nor of the Editor in any form.

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WEDNEsDAy

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

19 February 2014

PERSPECTIVE NEWS ANALYSIS, FEATURE AND DISCOURSE

The Newspaper with an Opinion The Morung Express

How our big, cheap wedding fought consumerism and helped the planet Linnea M. Paton

O

Waging Nonviolence

nce we had decided affirmatively that, yes, we did want to get married, we were left with a daunting question: “What does a noncommercial, environmentalist, radical wedding look like?” Furthermore, was it possible to make the wedding not only about celebrating our commitment and bringing our families together, but about making a difference in the world?

While some of our friends couldn’t believe that we were going to make our wedding political, our thought was, “How could we not?” The personal is political. As humanists, it was important to us that our actions reflect not only our values, but come from a place of reflection on our growing awareness of the consequences of our actions. For us, once we know that something is harmful or unjust, we believe we have an obligation to do something about it. No aspect of our life is off limits, including our wedding.

For us, a relatively young couple thinking about having children, the climate crisis was on the forefront of our minds. We were also concerned about the corrosive effect of a society that turns every experience into a transaction and tells us that you can shop your way to love and happiness with greener, better products. And, finally, there was the historical baggage to deal with — oppressive religious traditions, the subordination of women, unequal access to marriage benefits. Could we create a ceremony that reflected our commitments on these issues while still feeling celebratory? Here are some ways that we were able to do just that.

Put your values (and your guests) to work Most people want their wedding to be affordable.

We were no exception. But we wanted our wedding to be more than affordable. We wanted to escape the wedding-industrial complex that injects people with needs and desires that are ultimately incompatible with their long-term happiness and only serve to drive corporate profits.

Firstly, we realized it would need to be inexpensive for people to attend. Having family members stay at local hotels would have been prohibitively expensive. We decided to rent low-cost housing that came with kitchen access using the website Vacation Rentals by Owners. This had the added advantage of allowing our guests to prepare food. Cooking food together is an inviting and accessible way to get people to have conversations with each other. We did our best to arrange it so that my husband’s friends and family were staying with my friends and family so that ties could form between the two groups.

Since making and sharing food was such a powerful symbol to us of people coming together to support a couple, we decided that the lunch after the wedding would be potluck. By asking each person to bring a dish big enough to serve five people, we could invite as many people as we wanted without worrying about platecount. This meant that I could hand each of my parents and grandparents a stack of 30 or so invitations and tell them that they could invite whomever they wanted. For the ceremony, we decided to change things up from the typical template. I have never liked the idea of fathers walking their daughters down the aisle to give them away to another man, as if women are property to be exchanged; I also don’t like the “Here Comes the Bride” moment, which can make it seem as if the whole event is all about showcasing the woman. In order to make clear that our union was about two equals coming together from different families, we decided to walk in at the same time from different sides of the room. I was accompanied by all the women of both families, and he was accompanied by all the men of both families — with special attention to accommodating people’s gender identities. This structure not only allowed us to symbolize equality, but once again gave the two different families time to meet each other.

During the ceremony, which was both in English and my husband’s native Quebecois French, guests

O

n January 23, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar and humanitarian chiefs voiced "deep concern" on reports of "alarming levels of violence" against ethnic Rohingya in Myanmar's western Rakhine State. When their houses were being robbed in DuChiraDan village, Maungdaw, the Rohingya residents called for help, according to reports. The villagers fled the site when they realized that the robbers included police and ethnic Rakhine extremists.

At 3am that morning, a group of military, other security forces, and police raided the village, blocked the entrance, and fired indiscriminately on escaping men, women, and children. At least 40 people were killed and many more injured. The remaining villagers were rounded up, put into two trucks, and carried off to an unknown location. Authorities later declared the village a "no-entry zone".

The UN Rapporteur demanded the government immediately investigate the reports of violence. This call was ignored, as have been all the other "urgent" calls for action by various international groups. Instead, the Ministry of Information announced that journalists responsible for reporting the story would be held accountable for any "unrest" in Rakhine State supposedly caused by their reports. The government's media mouthpiece, New Light of Myanmar, ran an article claiming false reports of violence, citing a Maungdaw policeman who denied any incidents occurred. The article concluded that "reports of killings caused by racial and religious conflicts seemed to instigate unrest".

Ethnic Rohingya are not recognized as one of Myanmar's 135 "official national races". According to the UN, they are one of the world's most persecuted minority groups. The UN refused a Myanmar minister's request in 2011 to resettle to second countries all of the estimated 800,000 Rohingya now resident in Myanmar. President Thein Sein, meanwhile, refuses to amend the 1982 law which

were given a little piece of string. We asked everyone to look to the person next to them and tell them a wish they had for us as a couple moving into this next phase of our lives. The person sitting next to them would reciprocate, and then they would tie their strings together. These strings were collected and brought up to the stage before we made our vows.

We purposely designed this activity to be a little confusing. We wanted people to be talking to each other as well as to have to work together to meet a challenge — as couples must in marriage.

Lastly, we decided against using rings, not only because of their expense and environmental impact, but because neither of us likes wearing them.

We opted for a handfasting ceremony instead, in which a scarf-like cloth is tied around the hands of the couple as they say their vows. Talk about tying the knot! (The idea originally came from watching old Doctor Who episodes while we were snowed in one night.) This practice, which was once common in medieval Europe, fell by the wayside as the church began to formalize its power. As atheist humanists, we thought it was an appropriate tradition to revive.

Don’t sweat the stuff With all the magazines and TV shows trying to make us think that weddings are all about expensive dresses, cakes, frill and opulence, sometimes it can be hard to remember that it’s not about any of that. It’s not about the stuff. One of the most common things that people focus on in our fashion-crazed culture is what everyone is wearing, especially the bride. While I admit that I’ve watched Say Yes to the Dress more than once, and I respect that people like to express themselves through their clothing, there’s a difference between personal expression and showing off your economic status in a profoundly unequal society. I had no interest in thousand dollar designer dresses. I did end up wearing a dress, though, because I think they’re fun. It was $70 at a thrift shop. It wasn’t exactly what I had had in mind, but it was good enough. After all, it didn’t really matter what I wore; to me beauty is a feeling that comes from the inside and doesn’t depend on what I am wearing.

My husband also wanted to find something that was special and out of the ordinary. He had lived in India for awhile, and the men there wear fantastic garments at their weddings, which he thought about wearing. But the cultural appropriation didn’t quite feel right to us. In the end, we found something special for him through a member of our family. My husband was close enough in size to my great uncle that he was able to wear the beautiful cream-colored suit that my uncle had worn at his wedding. For my bridesmaids, rather than forcing them into the same kind of dress, I invited them to wear any dress they wanted, formal or informal, in a medium shade of blue, a color I knew they all liked. I loved the way the different shades came together bringing together a sense of unity among individuality. As for decorations, we did our best to keep things local, seasonal and, when possible, edible. Instead of lavish flowers likely picked by poor, exploited women in Ecuador and Columbia harmed by the pesticides sprayed on the ground to kill weeds and prevented from unionizing for better conditions, we wanted local, seasonal decorations.

We hired local farmer and caterer extraordinaire Theresa Freund, from Freund’s Farm and Market in Canaan, Conn., to help with set-up and table decorations.

Theresa created exquisite mixed bouquets of the flowers in season on her farm. For centerpieces Theresa assembled big baskets of freshly-picked, local September-ripe apples, which people took home with them as party favors. We had our guests pick the apples the day before at Averill Farm in Washington, Conn. The money we spent on local apples not only supported the local economy, but it helped us have an experience of togetherness, not just some fancy material goods.

Put the planet in your budget As an environmentalist concerned about the impacts of many products and the conditions under which they produced, choosing materials and food for an

event is no small task. It was important to me to avoid products that I knew were built on the exploitation of others or that had harmful environmental impacts.

Firstly, we insisted that all emissions for travel should be offset. On our RSVP form, we invited people to offset their travel emissions — it’s less expensive than you think — with one of several reputable offsetting companies. We told them that if they did not offset their emissions, we would pay for them through TerraPass, a certified for-benefit company that does emissions offsets through projects in the United States, where emissions reductions are needed most. We included this as a non-negotiable part of our wedding budget. For us, not taking into account the social and environmental costs of carbon pollution while having the means to do so would have been unconscionable.

Secondly, we asked that all food at the potluck be vegetarian. Industrial meat production is hugely fossil-fuel intensive, and we wanted to show people not only that vegetarian food can be delicious and fulfilling, but also that it comes in tremendous variety.

By having a potluck, it was guaranteed that everyone would have a least one dish that they liked to eat.

We were able to get a significant amount of produce from nearby Marble Valley Farm in Kent, Conn., for people to use in their cooking.

Finally, there were lots of little things that we did to reduce our impact. The beer we served was solarbrewed from the Barrington Brewery in Great Barrington, Mass. All the dining ware that wasn’t washable was compostable. Overall, it helped a lot to be on the lookout for when advertising-imposed expectations were getting in the way of keeping our wedding simple, local and true to our values. The less we paid attention to those expectations, the easier everything became.

Don’t be afraid to talk about politics For us, inspiring others to take action on climate change was more important than anything. This will be the defining issue of our lives and almost certainly our future children’s lives, too. We know that the industrialized world’s rabid consumption of stuff requires huge amounts of energy, yet many people refuse to take the problem seriously enough to reduce emissions in the drastic ways that are needed. This problem was too big to ignore at our wedding.

We really wanted to encourage people not to give us stuff, most of which wouldn’t fit in our little New York apartment anyway. Instead, we suggested that they could donate in our name to one of five groups: 350.org, whose networking skills and science-based platforms have been driving the global climate movement; the Electronic Frontier Foundation, whose work supports the freedom of the Internet; Peaceful Uprising, founded by Tim DeChristopher, whom we had met just before he was sent to jail for bidding on and winning public land that was being auctioned off for coal and gas exploration; Rootstrikers, which is working on passing a constitutional amendment to overturn corporate personhood; and the National Lawyers Guild, without whose support so many of my friends, future generations of protesters and I would be stuck in jail. Even our conservative family members who wouldn’t like most of those organizations could at least support people getting legal representation from the NLG in the backward court system.

For my husband and me, the wedding was about bringing our families together, inviting our communities to recognize and support us as a couple in the years to come, and celebrating our values of sustainability, community, political action and atheism. We developed a weekend of interactive events and a unique and meaningful ceremony that felt right to us. It cost us about $3,000 total, all of which we received back in small gifts. Part of that cost includes voluntary donations we gave to the music hall and community groups that let us use their tables, chairs and space. (In comparison, the average cost of a wedding in various parts of the country is between $15,000 and $75,000.) After the knot was tied, the contra dance was over and the singing ended, dozens of our 300 invitees told us that it was the most fun wedding they had ever been to.

silence as Myanmar 'genocide' unfolds Nancy Hudson-Rodd asia Times Online

stripped all Rohingya of their citizenship.

He recently asserted: "the law is meant to protect the country and the government has no plans to revise it". A census to be completed in 2014 has no category for the Rohingya, only Bengali, an exercise that will effectively erase the minority group's existence from the country. The Rohingya's lack of legal status effectively gives state approval to endemic discrimination. Thein Sein claims sectarian, religious or ethnic tensions are an "unwelcome by-product" of political liberalization. Such official deflections deny the state's involvement in the unfolding genocide now taking place in Myanmar.

They also build upon dangerous psychological and ideological factors that have induced violent grassroots reactions to racist rumors and claims against Rohingya. Progress Magazine, the official journal of the Rakhine Nationalities and Development Party, openly wrote (November 2012) of ridding Myanmar of its Rohingya population. The magazine wrote: [Adolf] Hitler and [Adolf] Eichmann were the enemy of the Jews, but were probably heroes to the Germans. ... In order for a country's survival, the survival of a race, or in defense of national sovereignty, crimes against humanity or inhuman acts may justifiably be committed as Hitler and the Holocaust.. If that survival principle or justification is applied or permitted equally (in our Myanmar case) our endeavors to protect our Rakhine race and defend the sovereignty and longevity of the Union of Myanmar cannot be labelled as "crimes against humanity", or "inhuman" or "in-

humane". ... We no longer wish to hold permanent concerns about the Bengali in our midst. We just want to get it over and done with, once and for all.

Along that editorial line, Myanmar has witnessed unprecedented pogroms and riots against Rohingya since the summer of 2012. They have been systematically uprooted, with 140,000 held in internal displacement camps and unknown thousands have taken to sea as refugees. Their homes, businesses, and mosques have been destroyed. Amid the destruction, many Rohingya have been unfairly imprisoned, with some tortured to death while behind bars. The UN Rapporteur has urged Thein Sein to release two prominent Rohingya prisoners of conscience, community leaders Dr Tun Aung and Kyaw Hla Aung. Both have been falsely charged, denied lawyers, refused medical care, held incommunicado, and referred to in racist terms. Instead, Thein Sein has denied the UN's and other groups' claims of widespread, systemic, and state-supported acts of violence against Rohingya. He has conducted no independent investigation into the spreading violence, held no person accountable for the deaths and destruction, and denied holding prisoners of conscience.

Gregory Stanton, president of Genocide Watch, a nongovernmental organization, describes genocide as a process that develops in 10 not necessarily sequential stages, with many occurring at the same time. As defined by this 10-point metric and determined by the Toronto-based Project for Genocide Prevention, Myanmar is at extremely high risk of full-blown genocide.

For instance, there is a proliferation of internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Rakhine State. Sealed off ghettoes within urban areas constitute by some definitions genocide by isolation, starvation, and deprivation of the necessities of life, if done with the intent to destroy the group. The Rohingya are being systematically purged from towns, villages, and cities throughout Rakhine State and elsewhere across the country.

This purge is being hidden from the outside world. The government asks for and receives international funds under the guise of humanitarian help for Rohingya, yet does not allow aid workers to visit all the IDP camps. In November 2013, when the European Commission promised to increase humanitarian support to Myanmar, they issued a statement likening conditions for Rohingya held in IDP camps in Rakhine State, to those of Jewish people in ghettoes established by Nazi-run Germany. Australia is the largest funder, giving US$8,410,411 of humanitarian assistance as of January 2014.

In his book Genocide: A Critical Bibliographical Review, Leo Kuper explains that nations will continue to express their optimism about certain government's reforms despite abundant evidence about continued systematic repression. Thein Sein's abusive policies, cloaked in terms of democratization and political reform, are openly supported by many Western governments. The term "bystander nation" was originally used to describe Allied governments' lack of response to early knowledge of the unfolding destruction of European Jews, the reluctance to believe allegations of genocide, and the refusal to adopt policies for action. Today, genocide is an unfolding reality in Myanmar and the complicit silence of Western donor nations is deafening.

Dr Nancy Hudson-Rodd, human geographer, has conducted research into human-rights abuses and military confiscation of land in Myanmar for over a decade. She is honorary research fellow, Edith Cowan University and university associate, University of Tasmania.

She is also a member of Hobart Amnesty Group supporting the release of Dr Tun Aung.

Development has reached some places in Nagaland but there are still some villages sparsely developed and lacking in good schools, electricity and roads.

Yet, they can still be appreciated for the charming simple life and natural beauty. Temsukumla Ao, Head of Department of Sociology, shares her reflections of both worlds, as she takes a sojourn to Longchang village in Mon district.

Sojourn to a Naga Village Temsukumla Ao, Head of Department of sociology

6

th January 2014 - the day started with mixed feelings of excitement, reverence, confusion and fear. I was going on a journey with my mother and siblings to pay a final tribute to my late grandmother. We also decided to catch up with near and dear ones.

Our destination was Longchang village, under Mon district. The situation between the Karbis and the Rengmas in the Karbi Anglong areas was quite tense during this time and a curfew had been imposed that morning. In spite of this, my brother was keen on taking this trip, while my sister and I were quite reluctant and my mother was in a dilemma. After much deliberation, we decided to take the risk. By the time we made up our minds, it was already 6:30 am (we had actually planned to depart at 6am). True to our practice of, as we call it, ‘Naga timing’, we departed 45 minutes later.

Throughout the journey we were plagued by apprehension and fear. However, the journey turned out to be peaceful and calm. We were able to cross Assam without any problem and heaved a sigh of relief when we reached Nagaland gate.

Once we entered Nagaland, the road was ceaselessly marked by bumps and jolts. On the way, I saw an old school building with broken windows and walls. It was an unpleasant view to encounter. Schools are actually supposed to be welcoming with good infrastructure and environment, a place in which children are attracted to study, but instead here was a view that conveyed the exact opposite. If we were to go by the reports of the Education Commission 1964-66, within a radius of five to ten miles in the rural areas, there should be about one secondary school, five higher primary schools and 28 lower primary schools. These schools should also have well qualified and trained teachers, with larger and well-developed playgrounds and sports facilities. If such recommendations were actually implemented everywhere, our society would probably be at a better position than it is now.

As we were nearing one village, I was distracted with yet another sad sight. I saw a very young boy aged around 6 carrying a tiny basket, fully laden with sweet potatoes. He was returning from the field along with his sister and mother. It was sad, because a boy that young should actually be playing around and enjoying his childhood, while attending school. In Naga society, it is apparent that we have overlooked the existence and practice of child labour. If we take a closer look, we will find that this practice has prevailed in our society for so long. On the pretext of giving them education and also because of the lack of good schools in the villages, the parents send their children to their relative or friend’s place to live, without thinking twice about the feasibility. As it turns out, in many cases such children become victims of child labour. Now, if the Directive Principles of the Constitution to provide free and compulsory education to all children upto the age of 14 was fulfilled everywhere, then such a scenario would not exist in our society.

Coming back to our journey, we reached our destination Longjang village around 10 pm. We had some family time, after which we returned to our rooms for a good night’s rest.

The next morning my grandfather took us to my grandmother’s grave and we paid our respects and homage to her. She was one of the best human beings I have ever come across in my life. She will be dearly missed.

We also had other things planned for the rest of the day. After breakfast we were ready for an adventure trip. My brother was so excited about this particular trip as he wanted a break from the stress of work and the crowded city. My sister and I also needed a welcome break too. This trip was adventurous because we had to walk down a hill for 3 to 4 hours to reach the river belt. We hired some people to carry items such as generator, food items, clothes and other items. It took us 4 hours to reach the riverbank, while, we were told, it usually took the villagers only 1 hour.

We had to spend two nights in the jungle. I felt both excited and scared at the same time. As I lay there at night so many thoughts ran through my mind. I began to reminisce about the past, when society was much simpler and care-free, void of pollution, corruption and life’s complexities. At the same time, I could not imagine how things were even possible without the help of machines and technology. How could people walk miles without vehicles, and survive with just hunting and food gathering. Life appeared simple yet happy. As I lay there lost in thought, the cool breeze and dew drops falling on me made me realise I had not slept. I turned around to see my sister struggling to sleep in the other corner too.

The trip made me realise that technological advancement has brought about a lot of changes in the present world, which have made us dependent on them for comfortable and luxurious lives. It has also changed our outlook, making us feel so secure and protected inside the four walls of our home that sometimes we fail to appreciate nature and our surroundings.

During this trip, I was able to enjoy the rich flora and fauna and the natural beauty of the place, the freshness and pollution free atmosphere. Yet, deep down inside, I was also saddened at the thought that after 20 to 30 years, this place might not be the same as it is now. Indeed, I felt lucky to have been here and experience natural beauty at its best.

“Degree of Thought is a weekly community column initiated by Tetso College in partnership with The Morung Express. Degree of Thought will delve into the social, cultural, political and educational issues around us. The views expressed here do not reflect the opinion of the institution. Tetso College is a NAAC Accredited UGC recognised Commerce and Arts College.

For feedback or comments please email: admin@tetsocollege.org”.

Readers may please note that, the contents of the articles published on this page do not reflect the outlook of this paper nor of the Editor in any form.

8

Dimapur

NATIONAL

Wednesday 19 February 2014

The Morung Express

Telangana celebrates as CM prepares to resign

HyDErabaD, FEbruary 18 (PtI): The passage of Telangana bill in Lok Sabha on Tuesday sparked celebrations across the ten districts of the region even as chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, strongly espousing the cause for keeping the state united, appeared set to quit his post in protest. Pro-integrationists denounced the move and seemed downcast as stage is now set for the creation of a separate state of Telangana once the Rajya Sabha also gives its nod.

YSR Congress, in the forefront of the agitation against division of Andhra Pradesh, has called for a bandh on Wednesday in the state in protest against the passage of the Bill. “This is the black day in the history of this country,” YSRC president and Kadapa MP, Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, told reporters in Delhi.

The ruling Congress suffered a setback in Coastal Andhra, with state infrastructure and investment minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao quitting his post and the party in protest against the Centre going ahead with the state’s division.

“A decision (regarding division) was taken against people’s wishes...,” said Rao, a former MP and an influential leader in north coastal Andhra, who was elected in 2009 from Anakapalle in Visakhapatnam district on the ticket of Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam, which later merged with Congress.

A defiant chief minister has invited his loyalist ministers and legislators for a meeting tomorrow to formally communicate his

LS live telecast disrupted during Telangana debate

NEW DELHI, FEbruary 18 (IaNs): Live telecast of the Lok Sabha proceedings was Tuesday disrupted soon after the house started discussing the bill to create a separate Telangana state. An official said the disruption was due to a “technical problem”. The disruption of live telecast, however, raised many eyebrows as there was intense curiosity about the proceedings on the bill that was being firmly opposed by a number of MPs from the Seemandhra region.

The live telecast on Lok Sabha TV channel abruptly went off the screen minutes after the house met at 3 p.m. to discuss the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2014. A few minutes later, the channel briefly put out a message that live telecast would resume shortly but that did not happen. TV news channels

later ran news of the proceedings on their tickers.

Lok Sabha Secretary General S. Bal Shekar said the proceedings of the afternoon session could not be telecast due to a “technical problem”. “There was a technical problem. They are attending to it,” Shekar told IANS. Shekar said he has asked for a report on the issue.

He agreed that it was a coincidence that disruption in live telecast occurred when the house took up the discussion on the crucial bill. YSR Congress leader Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy alleged that the live telecast “was cut off”. Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen MP Asaduddin Owaisi also voiced a similar protest. “Why is the government embarrassed? People have a right to see. They have a right to know,” he said.

Rajagopal, pepper spray MP quits politics

Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party president K. Chandrashekar Rao shows a thumbs up sign to supporters after the Indian parliament’s lower house passed the bill for the creation of new state called ‘Telangana’ in New Delhi, on Tuesday, February 18.The 29th state will be carved out of existing Andhra Pradesh state. (AP Photo)

decision to quit, according to state Social Welfare Minister Pitani Satyanarayana.

“The chief minister will address a press conference at 10.45am and then proceed to Raj Bhavan to hand over his resignation to Governor E S L Narasimhan,” the minister, one of the his close followers, said.

As the news of the passage trickled in, chants of “Jai Telangana” rented the air in many parts of the region, where a festive atmosphere prevailed with the separate statehood supporters bursting crackers, distributing sweets, taking out victory rallies and dancing to the tunes

of popular songs hailing Telangana. A large number of students gathered in Osmania University here, the nerve-centre of separate statehood agitation, and danced in joy.

Congress activists at some places in Telangana rejoiced distributing sweets and held pictures showing their party president Sonia Gandhi in the image of ‘Telangana Talli’ (Telangana mother).

“Greetings to Telangana people. This is the result of a long struggle. The bill will be passed in Rajya Sabha tomorrow. We thank Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, BJP

leaders Sushma Swaraj, CPI general secretary Sudhakar Reddy and each one of those who supported separate Telangana bill. We are actually at loss of words to express our joy,” Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) chairman M Kodandaram said.

APNGOs, a powerful union of employees from Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema who have been agitating against the division, slammed the passage of the bill. “People will not forget this. They will teach a lesson to this government.

People (of Seemandhra) need not feel sad. We have to move ahead in such a

way the loss is minimal on account of state’s division,” APNGOs’ president P Ashok Babu, who also heads the forum for protection of united AP, said in Delhi.

Security in Seemandhra region of Andhra Pradesh was today beefed up and forces were put on alert to meet any eventuality on law and order front. “We are monitoring the situation... police in districts have already been asked to be on alert... depending upon the situation we will take appropriate action,” Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) VSK Kaumudi said.

NEW DELHI, FEbruary 18 (PtI): Seemandhra MP L Rajagopal, who had created a storm by splashing pepper spray in Lok Sabha, on Tuesday resigned from Parliament and announced quitting politics, saying he was “hurt” as Telugu people have been divided following the passage of Telangan bill in Lok Sabha. Rajagopal, an expelled member of Congress, said he has sent his resignation to the Lok Sabha Secretariat and he would meet Speaker Meira Kumar on Wednesday to press for its acceptance.

The Vijayawada MP’s action came within hours after the controversial bill was passed by the Lok Sabha. The Speaker had suspended 16 Seemandhra MPs, including Rajagopal who opposes Telangana state,

after the pepper spray incident on February 13 and they could not attend the House today. “I submit my resignation from Lok Sabha. I am quitting politics too. I’m hurt as Telugu-speaking people are divided now. It is a sad day.

I lost interest in politics,” Rajagopal told PTI. The industrialistpolitician said he had announced in the year 2009 at the peak of pro-Telangana agitation that he would quit politics if a separate state is formed. “Formation of separate Telangana is not in the interest of Telugu-speaking people and the nation as a whole,” he said. He said he would work for the unity of Telugu-speaking people. “I have formed an NGO Rajagopal Foundation. I will now work for the unity of Telugu-speaking people,” Rajagopal said.

Asked whether he regrets the pepper spray attack in the House, which had attracted widespread condemnation, he said, “I did everything for the unity of Andhra Pradesh”.

His resignation comes at a time when the Committee of Privileges of Lok Sabha, which has got punitive powers, has been asked by the Speaker to go into the incident termed Meira Kumar as a “blot” on democracy.

Unprecedented pandemonium had broken out in the House when Rajagopal, who is opposed to the division of Andhra Pradesh, brought a canister from which he sprayed pepper. All political parties have demanded action against him. Government has already said it would not oppose whatever decision the Speaker takes in this regard.

Italy recalls ambassador from India Polls to cost country Rs 3,500 crore this year

rOME, FEbruary 18 (aFP): Italy on Tuesday recalled its ambassador from India in protest over a new delay in the legal proceedings against two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen.

Ambassador Daniele Mancini will return to Italy immediately for consultations, the foreign ministry said in a statement, condemning “a new and unacceptable delay by the Indian Supreme Court” in a case that has heightened tensions between the two countries.

The two marines, Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, who are staying at the Italian embassy in New Delhi, are accused of killing two Indian fishermen they mistook for pirates while guarding a cargo ship in 2012.

“Given India’s evident incapacity in handling this case, Italy will continue and intensify action to defend its sovereign rights in line with international law,” foreign minister Emma Bonino was quoted as saying. “Italy’s main aim remains trying to obtain the return of the two marines as quickly as possible,” she said.

A Supreme Court hearing scheduled for Tuesday

Under what law are Italian marines to be tried: SC

NEW DELHI, FEbruary 18 (IaNs): The Supreme Court Tuesday asked the central government to categorically spell out its stand about the law under which to try the two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen. The apex court bench headed

by Justice B.S. Chauhan said the government will spell out its stand in writing by next Wednesday, when the court takes up the matter for further hearing.

The order came after Attorney General G.E. Vahanvati told the court that the law ministry’s opinion has been sought on the Suppression of Unlawful Act against the Safety of Maritime Navigation and Fixed Platforms on Continental Shelf Law (SUA) being invoked for the marines’ trial. The law ministry is examining the home ministry’s opinion and that of the external affairs ministry which favours withdrawal of the SUA. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) invoked the SUA but the decision has come under review after the Italian government opposed it, saying that its two marines could not not be tried under the anti-piracy law. Appearing for marines Massimilliano Lattore and Salvatore Girone, senior counsel Mukul Rohtagi told the court the two could not be tried under the SUA, which is an anti-piracy law. Latorre and Girone have been held in India since February 2012 when they allegedly killed two Indian fishermen off the coast of the south Indian state of Kerala, mistaking them for pirates.

was immediately postponed because prosecutors are still waiting for the law ministry to decide which law to try the case under, according to Italian media.

The next hearing will be on February 24. Italian authorities have lobbied the Euro-

pean Union and the United Nations on the case, saying the two should be tried in Italy because it says the incident took place in international waters.

India denies this, saying it happened in Indian waters.

CHENNaI, FEbruary 18 (tNN): The Election Commission has estimated that the 2014 Lok Sabha elections will cost the exchequer Rs 3,500 crore. That’s about 150% more than the amount spent for the 2009 polls (Rs 1,400 crore).

This does not include the expenses incurred for security and the amount political parties will spend.

“Every state will send the expenditure statements to the Centre for reimbursement. The Union law ministry will peruse the statements and reimburse the states.

The EC’s preliminary estimate for this Lok Sabha election is around

Rs 3,500 crore. The final amount may be more or less,” an EC official said on condition of anonymity.

The costs have gone up since 2009 due to inflation and the EC running a number of awareness campaigns. Over the last few years, it has been trying to draw more voters, digitise electoral rolls and prevent buying of votes, especially in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, said the official. “The expenses have increased in the last five years. Six months before polling, EC starts campaigns across the country asking people to enroll. We release advertisements, visit places and stage

street plays. After the rolls are finalised, they are digitised,” he said.

Other expenses include payment of honorarium to officials who are involved in election related work. “The officials are paid for attending training sessions and for their travel. We also conduct campaigns and videograph polling and campaigns of political parties.

These measures have increased the expenses manifold in recent times,” the official said. Another major expense is preventing parties from distributing cash to voters. This is prevalent in Tamil Nadu and AP, he said.

The first general election held in 1952 cost the exchequer Rs 10.45 crore. The parliamentary election in India is the biggest democratic exercise in the world.

Security expenses are borne by the respective state governments during the Lok Sabha elections, said Tamil Nadu chief electoral officer Praveen Kumar. “The expenses are on the rise due to increasing use of electronic equipment. We use technology from the stage of enrolling voters to the counting exercise. The honorarium paid to officials is rising for every election,” he said.

7 Maoists killed in gun battle No schoolboy debate with Modi

GaDCHIrOLI, FEbruary 18 (IaNs): Seven Maoists were killed in a 2-hr long gun battle with Maharashtra Police on the border the state shares with Chhattisgarh, a top official said Tuesday. This was a major success for Maharashtra Police in their counterinsurgency operations in the Vidarbha region’s Gadchiroli district which has been a Maoist stronghold for years. The gun battle took place in the deep forests of Bedhkati area near the Gadchiroli-Gondia border, said Gadchiroli Superintendent of Police S. Haque. “The crossfiring lasted for nearly 2 hours. We subsequently recovered seven bodies, including of 2 women. They were all clad in Naxal uniforms. So far, we have identified 6 of them as well as their dalams (platoon),” Haque told IANS. He said the security forces also recovered a large cache of arms and ammunition from them, including at least one army AK-47 assault rifle, 3 SLRs, hand grenades and a large quantity of live ammunition rounds. In the joint operation carried out by Gadchiroli and Gondia police units, 4 policemen sustained injuries and have been admitted to a hospital.

NEW DELHI, FEbruary 18 (PtI): “I don’t want to take the level of this debate to a Class 8 schoolboys’ debate,” finance minister P Chidambaram said dismissing criticism of his interim budget by Narendra Modi.

“What does he mean by a decade of decay? The fact is that we are delivering growth above the trend growth rate. I have pointed out that the growth rate in 1999-2004 was below the trend growth rate. In the last 33 years, the last decade (under UPA) has been the best decade for growth. Now these are facts. Now he (Modi) likes fake encounter with facts. I don’t think the media should join and repeat his tweets,” Chidambaram said in aninterview.HewasaskedaboutModi’sreaction to his Interim Budget on Monday calling it “a final act of misery after a decade of decay.”

On Monday, the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate had tweeted: “The only solace

one gets from the vote-on-account is that this was UPA’s final act of misery after a decade of decay & policy paralysis.”

When asked about the other comment of Modi that it was “upto the people to decide whether the Economist PM & FM have been ‘hard working’ or ‘hardly working’,” Chidambaram shot back, “I don’t want to take the level of this debate to a Class 8 boys’ debate.”

The finance minister was critical of Modi’s knowledge of economy when he said it can be written on back of postal stamp.

Asked about this comment, the minister said, “What he (Modi) had said on that day betrayed a lack of understanding and therefore I used that phrase about writing on the back of a postage stamp. But if he articulates himself, then we can engage him in a debate. If a persons refuses to spell out his views on economics what else can you say.”

For railway children, a dangerous life by the tracks

NEW DELHI, FEbruary 18 (rEutErs): The young boys huddled over a fire between two tracks just beyond the platforms of New Delhi railway station, oblivious to the trains rolling past. They were trying to boil some water to make tea.

One, a grime-encrusted urchin wearing a filthy baseball cap at a jaunty angle, said this was their home. He had run away after his mother died and he could take no more beatings from his alcoholic father.

The nine-year-old from Haryana said he slept on the platform or in a waiting room, scrounged for food and earned some money scavenging plastic bottles for reselling. “I used to go to school but when my mother died everything was shattered,” he said. These were just a few of India’s “railway children” - whose ranks are swelled by an estimated 120,000 runaways arriving each year at the stations of the world’s fourth-largest railway network to make their homes there.

They have fled poverty, violence and abuse or are simply seeking ad-

A ragpicker boy jumps onto a moving train in search of plastic bottles for reselling, at a railway station in New Delhi February 18, 2014. (REUTERS Photo)

venture, attracted by the bright lights of the big cities such as Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. The children are a reminder that despite newfound wealth, ranks of billionaires and a growing middle-class, there is no

magic wand to solve the problems of the old India.

Even though growth has slowed in the last few years, the chance to make money still attracts the railway children to the big cities. With India

on course to have the world’s youngest population by 2020, their plight is a signal the country could fail to exploit this economic advantage. The last survey of New Delhi station in 2007 by charity groups estimated 35 to 40 children were arriving each day.

“Now it is increasing,” said Pramod Singh from the Salaam Baalak Trust, who combs the platforms each morning for new arrivals and tries to bring them into his group’s safety net. Navin Sellaraju, country director of the Railway Children India, a branch of the UK-based organisation, said it is a huge issue in a country that has a fifth of the world’s children.

“A good number of them have run away from poverty in rural areas of the most backward states. In Delhi and Mumbai, you have many from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal,” he said, referring to large northern and eastern states whose combined populations exceed those of Brazil and Russia together. “A lot of remote areas are connected by rail but not

by road. A child can get on a train and travel without a ticket.”

Despite the shelter of the stations, danger is everywhere. The minute the children arrive, they are exposed to the risk of physical abuse by older boys, sexual abuse by adults and gang rivalry. Girls are particularly vulnerable and are often taken off by traffickers with hours of landing. Social workers try to get to them first. “It is important to get to them within a day or so of arrival, otherwise it becomes difficult,” Singh said. “They pick up survival skills. They are easily trapped.”

RELUCTANT RETURNEES A number of boys were being cared for by Salaam Baalak and Railway Children in a shabby building in the station compound. Nine lads, all barefoot, sat on a rug, playing checkers. A few had arrived that morning.

The oldest was thought to be 14.

One said he came from Kishanganj in Bihar state - a journey of nearly 1,000 km (620 miles). He arrived in

Delhi three years ago but met social workers only in the past few months.

“I don’t want to go home. Now I’m attached to this place,” he said.

Railway Children’s Kiran Jyoti said it was often hard to get the children to return to their families. “Newcomers are reluctant to talk. They can take months to disclose where they are from,” she said. “If they can’t be restored to the family, they eventually have to go into long-term care.”

Some do not want to return to abusive homes. Others simply like the freedom and the fact they can earn money - 250 rupees on a good day. On the downside, some take to sniffing substances and turn to pickpocketing and petty crime. Indian law provides a framework to tackle the problem with child protection and anti-trafficking laws, but enforcing and funding those measures prove difficult, Sellaraju said.

The children have also suffered threats and violence from the police and railway officials but that is now changing.

InternatIonal

the Morung express

Wednesday 19 February 2014

Dimapur

9

Thai PM to face charges over rice scheme BANGKOK, FeBruAry 18 (reuters): Gun battles erupted between Thai police and antigovernment protesters in Bangkok on Tuesday and four people were killed and dozens wounded as authorities made their most determined effort yet to clear demonstrators from the streets.

In a day of tangled developments in Thailand’s long-running political crisis, the country’s anti-corruption body announced it was filing charges against Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra relating to a rice subsidy scheme that has fuelled middle-class opposition to her government.

The troubled rice scheme, already near collapse, suffered another blow when the Government Savings Bank (GSB) said it was scrapping a loan to a state farm bank that could have been used to prop the scheme up in the face of a revolt by depositors.

The clashes were some of most intense between protesters and security forces since the campaign to unseat Yingluck began in November, and raised the prospect that the army might feel compelled to in-

tervene if the bloodshed worsens.

The protests are the latest instalment of an eightyear political battle broadly pitting the Bangkok middle class and royalist establishment against the poorer, mostly rural supporters of Yingluck and her billionaire brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Reuters witnesses heard gunfire and saw police firing weapons in the Phan Fa Bridge area in the old quarter of the city. Police said they had come under fire from a sniper on a rooftop and M-79 grenades were also fired.

The policeman was killed by a gunshot and several were wounded by a grenade, security officials said. The Erawan Medical Center, which monitors hospitals, said on its website that three protesters had also been killed by gunfire. The centre said 64 people had been wounded.

It did not provide a breakdown of how many of the wounded were police and how many were civilians.

Security officials said earlier that 15,000 officers were involved in the operation, “Peace for Bangkok Mission”, to reclaim protest sites around central Bangkok’s Government House

An armed Thai police officer, center, aims his rubber bullet rifle as medical team carry a injured person on a stretcher during a clash between police force and anti-government protesters Tuesday, February 18, in Bangkok, Thailand.

Clashes between police and anti-government demonstrators in Bangkok left two people dead and 57 others injured Tuesday as riot police attempted to clear out protest camps around the Thai capital. (AP Photo)

and other government offices in the north of the capital. Yingluck has been forced to abandon her offices in Government House by the protesters, led by a former deputy premier, Suthep Thaugsuban, who have also blocked major intersections since mid-

January.

Police said they had arrested 183 people at two protest sites at the Energy Ministry, which had been cleared of protesters, and Phan Fa Bridge, and were detaining them for violating a state of emergency declared last month.

Trouble started with clouds of teargas near Government House and soon police were crouching behind riot shields as officers clashed with protesters. It was not clear who had fired the teargas and the authorities blamed protesters.

By the afternoon, po-

lice had largely withdrawn from protest sites and the streets were quiet. National Security Council Chief Paradorn Pattanathabutr said top officials were meeting to decide whether to continue the operation on Wednesday. There has been no move against

Arctic getting darker, ‘China pillages Africa like old colonialists’ FeBruAry wells and running related construc- mines, China is also a big market for making Earth warmer JOHANNesBurG, 18 (AFP): China is exploiting Africa’s tion companies. Activists accuse Chi- elephant tusks and rhino horn, which

WAsHINGtON, FeBruAry 18 (AP): The Arctic isn’t nearly as bright and white as it used to be because of more ice melting in the ocean, and that’s turning out to be a global problem, a new study says.

With more dark, open water in the summer, less of the sun’s heat is reflected back into space. So the entire Earth is absorbing more heat than expected, according to a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

That extra absorbed energy is so big that it measures about one-quarter of the entire heat-trapping effect of carbon dioxide, said the study’s lead author, Ian Eisenman, a climate scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California. The Arctic grew 8%t darker between 1979 and 2011, Eisenman found, measuring how much sunlight is reflected back into space. “Basically, it means more warming,” Eisenman said in an interview.

The North Pole region is an ocean that mostly is crusted at the top with ice that shrinks in the summer and grows back in the fall. At its peak melt in September, the ice has shrunk on average by nearly 35,000 square miles (90,650 sq. kilometers) — about the size of Maine — per year since 1979. Snow-covered ice reflects several times more heat than dark, open ocean, which replaces the ice when it melts, Eisenman said.

As more summer sunlight dumps into the ocean, the water gets warmer, and it takes longer for ice to form again in the fall, Jason Box of the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland said in an email. He was not part of the study.

resources just like European colonisers did, with disastrous effects for the environment, acclaimed primatologist Jane Goodall has told AFP. On the eve of her 80th birthday, the fiery British wildlife crusader is whizzing across the world giving a series of lectures on the threats to our planet. And the rising world power’s involvement on the continent especially raises alarms when it comes to her beloved chimpanzees and wildlife habitats.

During the last decade China has been investing heavily in African natural resources, developing mines, oil

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nese firms of paying little attention to the environmental impact of their race for resources.

“In Africa, China is merely doing what the colonialist did. They want raw materials for their economic growth, just as the colonialists were going into Africa and taking the natural resources, leaving people poorer,” she told AFP in an interview in Johannesburg. The stakes for the environment may even be larger this time round, she warns.

“China is bigger, and the technology has improved... It is a disaster.” Other than massive investment in Africa’s

has driven poaching of these animals to alarming heights. But Goodall, who rose to fame through her groundbreaking research on chimpanzees in Tanzania, is optimistic.

“I do believe China is changing,” she said, citing as one example Beijing’s recent destruction of illegal ivory stockpiles. “I think 10 years ago, even with international pressure, we would never have had an ivory crush. But they have,” she added. “I think 10 years ago the government would never have banned shark fin soup on official occasions.

But they have.”

NAGALAND PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION KOHIMA

NO.NPSC/CON-35/2009

Dated Kohima, the 18th Feb., 2014

NOTIFICATION In pursuance of the Commission’s Advertisement NO. NPSC-2/2013 dated 17th June,2013, Addendum/Corrigendum of even number 30th September, 2013 and Notification NO. NPSC/ADVT-TECH/1-2010 dated 4th July, 2013 the Commission is pleased to declare the written examination results of NCS, NPS, NSS & Allied Services (Main) 2013 and the candidates bearing the following roll numbers (in ascending order) have qualified for the Viva-Voce: 5395 5466 5322 5230 5132 5058 5001 5467 5235 5323 5141 5061 5005 5396 5468 5245 5324 5062 5142 5006 5397 5469 5247 5325 5063 5143 5008 5400 5470 5326 5249 5145 5064 5010 5401 5472 5330 5251 5147 5065 5011 5402 5475 5332 5252 5148 5067 5016 5403 5477 5335 5257 5150 5068 5018 5405 5479 5342 5152 5258 5020 5072 5480 5414 5343 5259 5154 5021 5076 5482 5416 5483 5344 5262 5161 5079 5023 5417 5484 5347 5263 5167 5081 5027 5421 5486 5348 5268 5172 5083 5028 5422 5489 5271 5350 5087 5173 5029 5424 5491 5273 5354 5088 5177 5031 5425 5492 5357 5274 5089 5178 5033 5427 5493 5365 5275 5179 5092 5035 5494 5429 5366 5278 5183 5095 5036 5495 5432 5368 5190 5282 5037 5101 5496 5440 5370 5283 5192 5038 5102 5499 5443 5501 5371 5285 5193 5104 5039 5444 5504 5372 5289 5196 5106 5040 5447 5505 5290 5375 5108 5198 5041 5451 5506 5381 5293 5199 5110 5044 5509 5452 5382 5299 5209 5112 5045 5511 5453 5383 5304 5212 5114 5046 5512 5454 5216 5307 5047 5116 5384 5513 5455 5308 5217 5117 5048 5386 5514 5456 5312 5223 5121 5049 5387 5515 5457 5313 5224 5123 5053 5517 5388 5459 5519 5315 5128 5226 5056 5465 5391

Note: i. Viva-voce shall commence from 4th March, 2014. ii. Interview call letters shall be issued to the selected candidates at the time of submission of attested copies of the following documents from 19th to 28th Feb., 2014: (a) HSLC/Matriculation Admit Card for proof of age. (b) Mark Sheets and Pass Certificates from HSLC onwards till required qualification.

(In the absence of Degree Pass Certificate, Provisional Certificate of Board/ University must be submitted). (c) I.I., SC/ST, BT, Phy.Handicapped & Internship Completion certificates (if applicable). iii. Selected candidates will also be required to exercise their post preference and submit their particulars in prescribed format which will be issued by the Commission. iv. Candidates can also access the Commission’s Notice Board and website at www.npsc.co.in for information on Medical Test. ( KELHOUSETO NAKHRO ) Deputy Secretary, Nagaland Public Service Commission, Kohima

the biggest protest sites in The GSB had said on the city’s commercial and Sunday it had lent 5 billion shopping districts. baht to the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural ARMY STAYS ALOOF Cooperatives, which manThe protesters are trying ages the rice programme to oust Yingluck, whom they and has all but run out of view as a proxy for her elder money to pay farmers. brother Thaksin, a former Some GSB depositors, telecoms tycoon-turned- either worried that the premier, toppled by the army loan could destabilise the in a 2006 coup. The military bank or unwilling to see has remained aloof from the their money used to help latest crisis, but has a long the government, have been history of intervening in pol- taking out their cash. On itics, generally in support of Monday, 30 billion baht the Bangkok establishment was withdrawn. that includes the top brass, In a response to the royal advisers and old-mon- withdrawals, Thaksin’s ey families. son, Panthongtae Shinawa“If enough people are tra, posted a picture on killed then the arch-royalist Facebook showing he had grouping might pressure deposited just over 11 milYingluck to retreat from lion baht in a GSB account. her pro-active approach The protests have taken a towards Suthep,” said Paul toll on the economy and Chambers, director of re- data published on Monday search at the Institute for showed growth slowed South East Asian Studies in sharply in the fourth quarChiang Mai. “I don’t think ter of 2013. The baht curthe military would carry rency weakened after out a coup, but they would Tuesday’s violence. ask Yingluck to back off Yingluck called a snap from Suthep.” election in December and Among the protest- has since led a caretaker ers’ grievances is the rice administration with only subsidy scheme, a popu- limited powers. The main list move to pay farmers opposition party boycotan above-market price that ted the February 2 election has proved hugely expen- and protesters disrupted sive and run into funding it in parts of Bangkok and problems. The National An- the south. It may be many ti-Corruption Commission months before there is a announced an investigation quorum in parliament to last month, and on Tues- elect a new prime minister. day said it was summoning Demonstrators acYingluck to hear charges cuse Thaksin of nepotism against her on February 27. and corruption and say he “Although she knew that used taxpayers’ money for many people had warned populist subsidies and easy about corruption in the loans that have bought him scheme, she still continued the loyalty of millions in the with it. That shows her in- populous north and northtention to cause losses to east. They want to suspend the government so we have what they say is a fragile deunanimously agreed to mocracy under Thaksin’s charge her,” Vicha Mahak- control and eradicate his hun, a member of the com- influence by altering elecmission, said in a statement. toral arrangements.

BOYS’ HOSTEL

WARDEN NEEDED A warden for a boys’ hostel at Sepfuzou Colony, Kohima, is required. Interested persons may please contact phone number 9862009372 for further details. Candidates should be atleast a graduate, preferably with experience in dealing with young people.

Childrens participating at the drawing competition under the theme “We for Environment” organised by People Welfare Society.

Clearing of forest was held in Jalukie organised by Rural Development Agency.

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Dimapur

SPORTS

Wednesday 19 February 2014

The Morung Express

Arsenal need perfection against Bayern

LONDON, February 18 (reuters): Arsenal will be out to show they have learnt the lessons of last season's painful home defeat by Bayern Munich when the sides meet again in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie in London on Wednesday.

Holders Bayern were utterly dominant in 3-1 victory at the Emirates Stadium, and although Arsenal went on to salvage pride with a 2-0 win in Munich in the return leg, it was not enough to prevent the Gunners going out of the competition in the round of 16 for the third consecutive season.

They face a daunting task to avoid making it four years in a row, however, with the Bayern juggernaut showing little sign of slowing under Pep Guardiola, who led Barcelona to victory over Arsenal at this stage in the 2010-11 season.

Despite recent wobbles, Arsenal are a sterner proposition this time as they mount their first serious Premier League challenge for years, and should be boosted by a 2-1 FA Cup victory over Liverpool, eight days after the same opponents thrashed them 5-1.

German defender Per Mertesacker acknowledged that it would take "two perfect games" for Arsenal to progress, but that it was important not to show Bayern too much respect "We have to go for two perfect games against them," he told reporters. "We know we can beat them now, so maybe mentally we are in a better condition than last year. "We respected them too much in

Gritty Gunners can pass Bayern test, says Wenger

Arsenal's Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, second left, celebrates his goal against Liverpool with teammates during their English FA Cup fifth round soccer match at Emirates Stadium in London, Sunday, Feb. 16. (AP Photo)

the first leg then, so it was too easy for them.

"Maybe we have learned something from those lessons and will do better this time. "Now we have another chance and an opportunity to beat the champions. We want to achieve something exceptional this season, so we have to beat the best.

"That is not only Manchester City and Chelsea, that is Bayern Munich in the Champions League." Midfielder Mikel Arteta is suspended after being sent off in the group stage loss to Napoli, while Jack Wilshere and Ba-

cary Sagna, who remained on the bench against Liverpool, Kieran Gibbs and Santi Cazorla, who were second half substitutes and Tomas Rosicky, who was rested, were expected to return.

BAYERN DOMINANT Bayern's domestic dominance shows no sign of slowing, with Saturday's 4-0 win over Freiburg coming despite Jerome Boateng, David Alaba, Thiago and Mario Goetze being rested.

Their Bundesliga winning streak is 13 matches and victory extended their un-

beaten run to 46. Their only loss in this season's Champions League group stage came at home to Manchester City, with qualification already assured.

They will be without France winger Franck Ribery, who is suffering with a buttock injury, and his potential replacement Xherdan Shaqiri, who scored twice against Freiburg, is also out with a thigh strain.

Despite the comprehensive nature of last season's victory in London, where early goals by Toni Kroos and Thomas Muel-

GTC Chess grand prix held

Players in action at the 11th GTC Chess grand prix.

KOHIma, February 18 (mexN): The 11th edition of the GTC Chess Grand Prix 2013-2014 was held on February 16 at Gauhati Town Club.

This is a part of a yearlong event organized by GTC Chess Foundation in the format of a grand prix, wherein one tournament is played each month of the year starting from April and ending on March.

Altogether, 38 players participated in this edition including 13 FIDE rated players. Nitish Das, a Student of GTC CHESS Foundation clinched the 11th edition by scoring 7 points out of 7 rounds, according to a release issued by Biswajit Bharadwaj, Director GTC Chess Foundation The prize distribution ceremony was attended by Mridul Mahanta, President, Guwahati Chess Association in the presence of senior Assam player Khanindra Barman, Biswajit Bharadwaj, Director, GTC Chess Foundation, Nandan Buragohain, chief coach and Swaraj Buragohain, Chief Arbiter of the event.

Naga archers shine in NRAT KOHIma, February 18 (mexN): The Ist National Ranking Archery Tournament (NRAT) was conducted at Warm Up area, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Lodhi Road, New Delhi from February 14 to 17 last. Nagaland team is led by junior state archery coach Hunezo Thisa.

Four archers from the Archery Academy, Kohima fetched positions. They are: Vesato Resu (Compound boys) 2nd rank, Vetavolu (Compound girls) 2nd rank, Vehuyi (Compound boys) 3rd rank and Kilenmeren (Recurve boys) 3rd rank.

RESULTS

Final Ranking *Nitish Das *Amlan Mahanta *Ravikant Tiwari *Debanga Kalita *Debanga Kaushik Bhattacharyya *Abhilekh Mahanta *Kaustav Lahiri *Rishita Sinha *Tridev Buragohain *Dhrupad Kashyap Special Category Prizes Under 7 1. Aayushraj Sharma 2. Jayaditya Das 3. Anmol Bharadwaj

Under 9 1. Anubrat Barthakur 2. Nibir Baruah 3. Navya Bajaj Under 11 1. Bhabishnu Pranti Bordoloi 2. Prithwis Das 3. Bhuvnesh Dixit Under 13 1. Jigyashdipta Gogoi 2. Arnab Kr Pathak 3. Maharnav Deka Girls 1. Jenifa Islam 2. Unmilita Pathak 3. Ashlesha Talukdar

ler put the visitors 2-0 up after only 21 minutes, Bayern captain Philipp Lahm remained wary of Arsenal "That game is a warning sign to us," Lahm said. "We had been very good in London, we thought nothing can happen to us in the return leg.

All of a sudden you are 2-0 down and there are still some minutes to play. It shows that things can go really quickly in the Champions League. We will have that in the back of our minds."

Lahm said he kept a close eye on Arsenal given their strong German con-

India retain second place in ICC ratings

DubaI, February 18 (IaNs): India retained their second position in the Reliance ICC Test Team Rankings following the Wellington Test, which Tuesday ended in a draw to give New Zealand a 1-0 series win.

But the series result has made Australia's task of finishing ahead of India on the table before the April 1 cutoff date slightly easier.

Australia, who lead 1-0, need to draw the ongoing three-Test series with South Africa to leapfrog India.

India have slipped from 117 ratings points to 112 ratings points, and are ahead of Australia by just one ratings point. If Australia win the series 1-0, they will rise to 115 ratings points, whereas a 2-0 win will put give them 116 on ratings points.

In contrast, if South Africa bounce back and win the next two Tests, then they will not only retain their pre-series rating of 133 ratings points, but Australia will also remain behind India on 110 ratings points.

South Africa is already guaranteed the number-one position at the April 1 cut-off date and, as such, will retain the mace and will also collect a cheque of $450,000, while the side that finishes second will pocket $350,000, while $250,000 will go to the third-ranked side. England will collect $150,000 as they will finish fourth at the April 1 cut-off date. Meanwhile, New Zealand have gained five ratings points following the 1-0 series win over India. They join the West Indies on 87 ratings points. However, they are ranked above the West Indies when the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point.

Nlumrai is Zeliang wrestling champ

KOHIma, February 18 (mexN): Nlumrai emerged the wrestling champion title of 22nd Zeliang wrestling tournament held under the aegis of Zeliang Wrestling

Association (ZWA) held on February 17 last at Mhainamtsi Local Ground.

Puikube, Dilu and Kuhaube stood 2nd, 3rd and 4th position respectively.

Parliamentary secretary for justice & law, land resources and labour & employment Dr. Neikesalie (Nicky) Kire graced the tournament as the chief guest.

Earlier, ZWA acting president Ichilia delivered presidential address while administration of oath to the wrestlers was done by Ikulung Elunglung.

tingent of Mertesacker, Mesut Ozil and Lukas Podolski, as well as uncapped youngster Serge Gnabry "They're fighting for the championship, that's not a coincidence: I believe they have developed as a team. They've become much stronger, the squad is more balanced," he said.

"And they still play the way Arsenal always play. They want to have the ball, they like playing it short, and they have outstanding individuals." The return leg in Germany will be played on March 11.

LONDON, February 18 (aFP): Arsene Wenger insists Arsenal have no reason to fear Bayern Munich as they prepare to face the Champions League holders in the last 16 first leg on Wednesday.

Just 12 months after they crashed out of Europe's elite club competition at the hands of the German giants, Wenger's team have an opportunity for revenge after being drawn to face Bayern at the same stage. Arsenal were outclassed in the first leg last season as Bayern, who were then managed by Jupp Heynckes, cruised to a 3-1 victory in north London. But the Gunners responded with a shock 2-0 win in the return game and came close to competing a stunning fightback before bowing out on away goals.

Winning in Munich proved a major boost for Wenger's side, who had lost their way at that time but finished the season strongly and have maintained their impressive form for much of the current campaign.

Yet Bayern, now coached by former Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola, are arguably an even more formidable force this season than they were last year, when they won the Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup. The Bavarians will swagger into the Emirates Stadium on a 46-match unbeaten run in the Bundesliga. They lead the German top-flight by 16 points, al-

lowing them to focus fully on retaining the Champions League crown they won against Borussia Dortmund at Wembley last year. But Wenger remains optimistic and the Gunners manager is confident the experience of last season's encounters will stand his players in good stead as they seek to end Bayern's reign as holders.

"I think we know them better, individually the players," he said. "We will be in a better condition hopefully, because last year was after the disappointment of losing against Blackburn in the FA Cup, to play Bayern three days later it was very difficult for us. "I think in the league as well we were in a much more difficult position. Now we are mentally better prepared to go into a game of that stature."

While Bayern have swept aside all challengers under Heynckes and now Guardiola, Arsenal's trophy drought has stretched into a ninth year. Still, the Gunners' French midfielder Mathieu Flamini sees no reason for his team-mates to go into the tie with an inferiority complex. Arsenal will be without suspended Spanish midfielder Mikel Arteta, but Bayern have more significant absentees.

France winger Franck Ribery is sidelined after buttock surgery, while Swiss forward Xherdan Shaqiri suffered a thigh injury after scoring twice in Saturday's 4-0 win over Freiburg.

America wins its first Olympic ice dance gold

Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the United States compete in the ice dance free dance figure skating finals at the Iceberg Skating Palace during the 2014 Winter Olympics, Monday, Feb. 17 in Sochi, Russia. (AP Photo)

sOCHI, February 18 (reuters): A sultry performance that lasted four spellbinding minutes, but was 17 years in the making, propelled Meryl Davis and Charlie White to become the first Americans to win the Olympic ice dance title at the Sochi Games on Monday.

In a showdown with rivals and Canadian training partners Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, the American couple proved a cut above the rest by winning with a world record total of 195.52.

An adventure that began rather tentatively in 1997 when a nine-yearold Davis was left blushing and tongue-tied after being told to gaze deeply into her eight-year-old partner's eyes, ended on Monday with the duo exchanging looks of joy.

"We're so excited, we're kind of in shock a little. I'm not sure what we're feeling," a beaming Davis told reporters after improving on their silver medal from four years ago. "It kind of all came together for us and we're so pleased to be here.

We're kind of in disbelief."

White added: "To come away with a gold medal is amazing... And 17 years of hard work was justified."

From the moment the Americans stepped on the ice, with Davis wearing a sequined purple halter neck dress and White in an embroidered velvet jacket, the crowd waited with bated breath to see which side of the International Boundary the gold medal would end up in. The Americans were soon showing why they have been unbeatable for 22 months.

They flew around the ice at a frantic pace, seamlessly weaving dazzling lifts and synchronized twizzles into their dramatic performance of Scheherazade the story of a sultan's wife whose enchanting tales stopped her husband's bizarre habit of marrying a new wife every day and beheading the previous one.

When White held aloft Davis in the splits as he spun around rapidly, the crowd cheered. When Davis stood with one blade on White's right thigh with her other leg wrapped around his shoulder, the crowd roared. When White ended the performance on bended knees, he was shattered.

A breathless White struggled to put one boot in front of the other as the couple skated off the rink and when their scores flashed up to

confirm they were only the fourth non-Russian couple to scoop ice dance gold there were hugs all around. A journey that led the American pair down a path in which they won two world championships, five consecutive grand prix finals and a record six successive U.S. National titles, ended on Monday with the biggest prize of all.

RECORD SCORES They also finished off with a flourish as they earned world record scores in each segment of the competition - following up their 78.89 in the short with 116.63 in the long program. "Gold is something that you dream about. It has been an amazing journey," a dazed White gasped as he tried to digest a winning streak that has now stretched to 12 events.

Virtue and Moir had hoped to join Russians Oksana Grishuk and Evgeny Platov as the only couples to have won back-to-back Olympic ice dance golds but had to settle for silver with 190.99. The Canadian couple, who charmed the world four years ago on home ice in Vancouver, were delighted with their classical interpretation of Petit Adagio, Waltz in Concerto No.2.

Entertainment

The Morung Express C M Y K

Horror genre hasn't caught up well in India: Jimmy sheirgill

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ctor Jimmy Sheirgill, who will be seen in the soon-to-release horror film ‘Darr @ The Mall’, says there is a dearth of filmmakers who can do justice to the horror genre, which he feels has not caught up really well. There are one or two people only in our film industry who do justice to this (horror) genre. Otherwise, it`s not a genre that has caught up

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horror films do that much business, he asked. In ‘Darr @ The Mall’, Jimmy plays a security agent. The film`s premise is a mall haunted with spirits who have killed many people.

Jimmy said that before coming on board for ‘Darr @ The Mall’, he was sceptical about trying his hand at horror, but the film`s setup and the script caught his interest. Personally, I

love watching horror films but initially I was sceptical of doing horror films.

But this time the script was good, character was good, producers were also very nice. Infact, the entire setup was very nice, said the ‘Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster’ fame actor. Directed by Pawan Kirpalani, the film also features Nushrat Bharucha and will hit the theatres Friday.

teamed up with a crew from New York to shoot for a global ice-cream brand in order to give the commercial an international appeal.

Ac c o rd i n g to re ports, the `Gori Tere Py-

19 February 2014

Dimapur

11

James Blunt enjoys

online abuse

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nglish singer-songwriter James Blunt says he enjoys being abused online on social networking sites such as Twitter. The “Bonfire Heart” hitmaker doesn`t mind getting nasty messages on Twitter and likes using the social networking website to engage in humour with his critics. I used to tweet a lot more because I was being abused and I rather enjoy being abused, because I`m a sadomasochist,” contactmusic.com quoted Blunt as saying.

I was in the army and I was abused much more there! It`s only words but I can understand why young people can feel bullied by that kind of thing, but for an adult like myself, it`s not abuse, I enjoy it.

And I really enjoy writing back and having a laugh with them. I don`t think we should take Twitter that seriously,” he added.

Kareena Kapoor shoots with international crew!

ollowing in the footsteps of her c o n te m p o ra r i e s , Kareena Kapoor Khan has joined the league of actresses who endorse popular international brands. The Kapoor girl

C M Y K

really well in our industry, the actor said here Monday during the film`s promotion on the set of TV show ‘Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah’.

He believes that the genre has a good scope in the country. There is a lot of scope for this genre and it is evident from the Hollywood horror films that release in India and the huge business they do. So why can`t our

Wednesday

C M Y K

Jared leto took 15 years to sign 'Dallas...'

aar Mein` star shot her first ad for the international ice-cream brand, which has ambassadors like Eva Mendes and Eva Longoria. The actress was styled by young stylist Tanya Ghavri.

Lady Gaga shoots music video with 'Real Housewives...' Stars

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scar-nominated actor Jared Leto has said that he got the script of “Dallas Buyers Club” 15 years back, but he doesn`t remember looking at it thoroughly. I was sent the script... it was 15 years ago. I doubt it resembled anything like the script I got last year, so quite a bit of work had been done. I don`t think I read the script 15 years ago, I just got sent it, I

may have looked at a couple of pages,” Leto said in a statement.

“But everything happens for a reason, the script needed 15 years to gestate, I needed six years off from films to marinate and here we are,” he added. Leto has already won Golden Globe and SAG awards for playing an AIDS positive person in “Dallas Buyers Club”, which will release in India Feb 28.

C M Y K

“NATIONAL RURAL DRINKING WATER & SANITATION AWARENESS WEEK” FROM 20th FEBRAURY TO 25th FEBRUARY 2014.

PROGRAMME

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ady Gaga has reportedly hired stars of popular reality show `The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills` for her upcoming music video. The video shoot took place after the ladies` recent reunion special, reportedly. Contestants Lisa Vanderpump, Kyle Richards, Kim Richards, Yolanda Foster and Carlton Gebbia are all going to be featured in the clip.

Gaga, 27, recently admitted that she is a fan of the TV show. The `Poker Face` hitmaker is currently promoting her latest album ARTPOP. She will embark on a tour later this year to support the record.

20.02.2014 Launching Programme at Kohima and all District HQs.

21.02.14 & 22.02.14 IEC Campaign at District & Block Level through NGOs and Mass Media (Radio).

23.02.2014 Deadline for Submission: February 22, 2014 Date of Publication: March 1, 2014

Message on Rural Drinking Water & Sanitation Awareness in all Churches in the Villages.

24.02.2014 Inter District Exposure Trip for WATSAN Members.

25.02.2014 Essay Competition for Schools at district HQs February 22, 2014 C M Y K

TOPIC: “Conservation of Drinking Water & Good Sanitary Practices.”

Increasing coverage and ensuring sustainability through People’s participation and Government efforts

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win series against India MMA CoMes Kiwis Wellington Test ends in draw after Kiwi fightback To NagalaNd

MMA professionals grappling.

Sopei Joel Rungsung Dimapur | February 18

Naga style wrestling has been highlighting sport pages of major newspapers here. There are also a number of schools providing martial arts training. But Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) isn’t something one would come across in this part of the world. And one would certainly not have seen a spar between Naga style wrestlers and MMA professionals. This is exactly what people who came to ‘The Introductory Special to Mixed Martial Arts’ witnessed today. The function was hosted by The Combat Academy Nagaland at North-East India Academy of Performing Arts (NIAPA), Near Agri Expo, Dimapur.

MMA, one of the fastest growing sports in the world, is finally here in Nagaland. And it is here to stay – at least according to the emcee of the event. MMA as a sport has been creating sensations worldwide. What sets MMA apart from other martial arts is that it combines wrestling, grappling and striking techniques borrowed from different forms of martial arts. Isaac Kario’s win of India’s Super Fight League (SFL) that premiered on National television channels, has helped MMA gain reputations in the North East. Kario now plies his trade at the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in the United States of America.

The force behind bringing MMA to Nagaland is a young man named Khriemelie Metha. Metha has trained in Muay Thai in Thailand, and MMA in Singapore and Mumbai. His Combat Academy is set to open by the end of March and so far he has received encouraging responses from the people here, with registrations for the yet-to-open academy already underway. Metha says he was enthralled with martial arts as a child, and adds “As a kid, it was difficult to find a place to train everyday and be the ‘deadly ninja warrior’ you dreamed of as a kid.” The Combat Academy is his solution for the many interested in learning MMA and says it his personal

goal to see the academy being recognized by everyone. “Not everyone can be a professional in MMA,” Metha says before adding, “but anyone interested in learning about MMA can come and learn from here.” Metha wishes to identify talents who will wish to pursue their careers in MMA and help push them as much as possible.

MMA is associated with discipline, and so The Combat Academy’s motto – Unity in Discipline. The academy would provide special classes called ‘Fighting Fit’ which would just be for fitness.

The academy would provide training in Boxing, Muay Thai, Brazilian Jujitsu, and Olympic style wrestling. These will be combined and amalgamated into one.

Professionals and experts in the field of MMA from Singapore and Mumbai were present during the function. Notable ones included Singapore Muaythai team coach, Darren ‘Senz’ De Silva and Jitendra Khare, Team Relentless, Mumbai – an MMA institute. The program was witnessed by Nagaland Wrestling Team, Faith in Action, Instructors from Nagaland Police, Nagaland Muay Thai Association, and, Livingstone Foundation Higher Secondary School.

Speaking during the occasion, Silva, who is the first martial arts coach in Singapore, sought to highlight the emergence of MMA in Asia. Giving a brief introduction on MMA, Silva stated, “MMA is a blend of many martial arts,” before adding, “MMA combines the very best of every martial arts.” Silva further quips, “To me, MMA is a lifestyle.”

Jitendra Khare of Team Relentless, Mumbai, also speaking during the occasion, stated that there was no Indian representing India at the International level earlier, but adds “we are now recognized as a legit team in the international circuit.”

The function saw a demonstration from the MMA professionals from Mumbai during which Khare briefed about the rules and regulations of MMA. The MMA professionals also grappled Nagastyle with the Naga wrestlers.

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An MMA professional wrestling Naga-style with a Naga wrestler.

WELLINGTON, FEBRUARY 18 (AP): New Zealand won the two-test series against India 1-0 when the second test ended in a draw on Tuesday after captain Brendon McCullum made a historic triple century to lead a remarkable fightback.

McCullum made 302 — the first triple century by a New Zealander in tests — to allow the home team to declare at its highest-ever test score of 680-8, with an overall lead of 434 after it had trailed India by 246 runs on first innings. India was 1663 when stumps were drawn early at the Basin Reserve with Virat Kohli 105 not out and Rohit Sharma 31.

McCullum played the longest and largest innings by a New Zealand test batsman, with the 13-hour innings eclipsing Martin Crowe's 299 against Sri Lanka, also at Basin Reserve, in 1991. "I'm very respectful of all the guys who I managed to get past today, Martin Crowe in particular who has held the record for over 20 years. "I almost feel a little embarrassed to go past a player of that character and Stephen Fleming and all the other names on that list as well. It's just incredibly humbling to put your name up there and score the first triple century for New Zealand."

New Zealand had been 52-3 when McCullum came to the crease and 94-5 four overs after lunch on the third day — facing defeat and the prospect of a squared series. Then began the world-record sixth-wicket partnership of 352 with wicketkeeper B.J. Watling which turned the match. When Watling was out for 124 at 446-6, New Zealand held a 200-run lead but the match was still in the balance. So McCullum carried on, putting on 179 for the seventh wicket with Jimmy Neesham who made a century on debut and was 137 not out when the declaration came.

Through those two partnerships, McCullum led New Zealand for the precipice of defeat to a position from which defeat was impossible. His innings was widely hailed as the best ever by a New Zea-

McCullum first NZ player to score Test triple-century

New Zealand’s captain Brendon McCullum poses with the trophy after his teams series win over India on the final day of the second test at the Basin Reserve in Wellington, New Zealand, Tuesday, Feb. 18. (AP Photo)

lander, not just for its duration or magnitude but because it took his team from seemingly imminent defeat into a position of strength.

McCullum began the final day 281 not out, and a big crowd turned out on a working day to witness history. Men in suits lounged on the grassy bank and spectators applauded every ball as he edged towards the historic mark.

Hearts leapt into mouths when McCullum, at 293, edged a ball from Ishant Sharma which bounced inches in front of the gloves of Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

He finally ushered New Zealand to test cricket's 300 club — the last of the top eight nations to admit a member — with a four behind point of Zaheer Khan and received a standing ovation that lasted several minutes. He was out two balls later, having batted 775 minutes and faced 559 balls. "I was pretty

Short contract not a worry: Moin Khan

ISLAMABAD, FEBRUARY 18 (AP): Pakistan coach Moin Khan is not worried about his shortterm contract. Good performances by the team over the next seven weeks, he believes, should earn him an extension. Last week, Khan was appointed for the Asia Cup this month and World Twenty20 next month, both in Bangladesh. After that, the Pakistan Cricket Board say Khan will be reviewed.

"I don't have a problem with a short contract," Khan said in Lahore on Tuesday on the first day of a short training camp for the Asia Cup, starting in a week.

"Contracts are always performance-oriented and if the team performs well you get the continuation."

Khan was the captain in 2000 when Pakistan won its maiden Asia Cup title by defeating Sri Lanka in the final in Bangladesh.

Fourteen years later, Khan will be in a new role to assist captain Misbah-ul-Haq, who also will be defending the title won in 2012.

Misbah joins five other survivors from that tworun victory in the final against Bangladesh; Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Afridi, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal.

tired after the batting," McCullum said. "But for us to come through this game under immense pressure for a couple of days on end against a bowling attack which was operating at their very best was a pretty big relief. "We're going to enjoy this moment. Test series wins don't come around very often, especially at home against a very good India team."

India, which went into the match with only three specialist fast bowlers, bowled 210 overs over more than seven sessions.

The 35-year-old veteran Zaheer bowled 51 and finished with 5-170. India captain Dhoni said while his team was disappointed to lose the series it could only admire the New Zealand fightback. "We need to appreciate how Brendon batted along with Watling," Dhoni said. "New Zealand played very good cricket to win the series, especially in

this test match."

New Zealand flirted with the possibility of a victory on Tuesday which would make its fightback even more spectacular by achieving a 2-0 series win.

India lost both its openers, Murali Vijay (7) and Shikhar Dhawan (2), within seven balls after lunch to be 10-2. Kohli survived an appeal for caught behind from the bowling of Trent Boult: television replays revealed he had edged the ball.

Had that wicket fallen and Tim Southee held a catch from his own bowling to dismiss Sharma when he was 10, New Zealand might have pressed for victory, but Kohli and Sharma negated the threat. Kohli reached his sixth test century from only 129 balls with 15 fours and a six. Watling held a catch to dismiss Cheteshwar Pujara for 17; becoming only the second test wicketkeeper to take 15 catches in a twomatch series.

WELLINGTON, FEBRUARY 18 (REUTERS): Brendon McCullum became the first New Zealand batsman to score a Test match triple century on Tuesday during the fifth day of the second Test against India at the Basin Reserve. The 32-year-old McCullum had resumed on 281 and brought up the milestone with a late cut for his 32nd boundary to surpass the 299 that Martin Crowe scored against Sri Lanka on the same ground in 1991 and move to 302 with New Zealand on 625 for six.

He was the 24th player to score a triple century in Tests and it was the 28th time someone had achieved the mark. World record holder Brian Lara, Virender Sehwag, Chris Gayle and Don Bradman all did it twice.

After four days of brilliant sunshine, the fifth day at the boutiquesized ground began under heavy overcast skies, suggesting India's pace bowlers could exploit the conditions to their advantage. Lengthy queues were evident when play began as people tried to get into the ground to witness the event.

McCullum had first strike and his intentions were set from the first ball, watching a wide Zaheer Khan delivery go through to wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. He scored his first run of the day when he pushed an Ishant Sharma delivery wide of mid-off and strolled through for a single, which was warmly applauded, and pulled an Ishant delivery to the midwicket fence for his first boundary. Ishant caused a collective intake of breath from the burgeoning crowd when he comprehensively beat McCullum on 293, though the batsman did not get a nick.

The presence of these senior pros has given Khan enough confidence to eye a third title against the likes of India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and first-timer Afghanistan. "Luckily, it's almost the same team which played last time," Khan said.

"I know this team is capable of winning us the Asia Cup again." Khan pipped Waqar Younis for the coach position after Australia's Dav Whatmore quit last month when Pakistan drew the test series against Sri Lanka in the United Arab Emirates.

Khan played in Pakistan's 1992 World Cupwinning team, and was captain in 1995 and 2000 for short periods. He's been the manager for the last six months. "I know the technical problems of the players and I know their psyche as well," he said. "I am quite confident that it will help me in shaping up the team well." The selectors have persisted with young players and have yet again ignored the experienced Younis Khan for the Asia Cup. Younis, who retired from T20s after leading Pakistan to the World Twenty20 title in 2009, has not played in the 50-over format since competing against South Africa a year ago.

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