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Dimapur VOL. IX ISSUE 53
The Morung Express “
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Ukraine’s fugitive prez wanted for mass murder [ PAGE 9]
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Morung Express News Dimapur | February 24
We are open to criticism from you, but....
144 crPc promulgated in Dmp-KA border area
DIMaPur, FebruarY 24 (MexN): The All India LPG Distributors Federation has come to terms with the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas till March 31, regarding demands made by the former. Nagaland LPG Distributers Association Senior Advisor, MB Longkumer, in a press release, said that normal operation of LPG distribution in all distribution units of the state will continue till further notice.
NCP to support Rio for LS polls
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koHIMa, FebruarY 24 (NePS): The Nagaland Unit of NCP and its legislature party members have, today, unanimously resolved to support the candidature of Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio as the DAN consensus candidate for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. In a meeting of the Nagaland Unit of NCP and its legislature party members held today, deliberations were carried out on the prevailing political development, following DAN’s unanimous decision to support the candidature of Rio to contest the ensuing Lok Sabha elections on NPF an ticket as a DAN consensus candidate. In the meeting, both the Nagaland Unit of the NCP and its legislators expressed hope that Rio would be able to effectively play the role of an MP in the Center, besides pushing the ongoing Naga peace process towards an early solution.
Nadal proves his form with Rio Open win [ PAGE 12]
nagaland state’s Power conundrum
By Sandemo Ngullie
LPG distributors suspend agitation
–George Bernard Shaw
Disaster management training for youth underway
reflections
DIMaPur, FebruarY 24 (MexN): Dimapur District Magistrate, N Hushili Sema has promulgated 144 CrPC, in view of the “situation in and around Dimapur and Karbi Anglong District, between Indisen and Rilan villages.” The DC in and order informed that the situation in the said area is “critical, with destruction of properties and movement of large number of Naga public, thereby resulting in law and order problems.” Stating that there is apprehension of danger to human lives and property, the order prohibited the assembly of five or more persons in the area around Inidsen and Rilan villages from 5:00 am of February 25, till further orders.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014 12 pages Rs. 4
Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance
End of road for Lalu? 13 RJD MLAs quit party to join Nitish Kumar
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A girl from the Dongria tribe holds her traditional weapon and dances on the last day of their two day long Niyamraja Festival atop of the Niyamgiri hills near Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district, Orissa state. Every year, members of this indigenous group celebrate this festival by sacrificing animals and birds in worship of their deity. (AP Photo)
Thai Princess arrives today
koHIMa, FebruarY 24 (MexN): “Nagaland is the only other state that the Princess of Thailand has chosen to come,” said Chief Secretary Banuo. Z Jamir at a conference held at the Chief Secretary’s Conference hall, Kohima on February 24. After her visit at Bodhgaya, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand will be arriving in Nagaland on February 25 and will continue her stay till the 27th. The official visit has been coordinated by the Ministry of External Affairs. This is the second royal visit that Nagaland will be honored with, the first being Prince Andrew, the Duke of York who visited the state in 2012. The Princess will be arriving at Dimapur on a special aircraft whereby she will pay a visit to Kisama
Heritage Village, Kohima for the Sekrenyi Festival. After the festival, the Princess will visit the WWII Museum and State museum whereby she will unveil a monolith to commemorate her visit. She will then head to Jotsoma to visit the Regional Centre of Excellence for music and Performing Arts (RCEMPA). On February 26, the Princess will be visiting Khonoma village, Cathedral, WWII Cemetery and Nagaland University, Meriema Campus. At NU, Merima Campus, Dr. N. Tiaeren Ao, a faculty member of Department of Plant, NU will give a brief presentation on “Agricultural system in Nagaland and Agricultural Education in Nagaland University” while “Education System in Nagaland” and “Higher Education System
People in power aren’t that lonely
New York, FebruarY 24 (IaNS): It’s widely perceived that people in the position of power are often lonely. But that can’t be completely true, claims new study. On the contrary, powerful people feel closer to others even though the sentiment is not necessarily reciprocated. This sense of closeness also explains some of powerful people’s confidence, the study found. Emily Rutter, a graduate student in psychology at Harvard University, was interested in how power influences interpersonal relationships. There are two main theories of power. The behavioural approach theory holds that powerful people are aggressive risktakers who tend to assume others share their goals. The social distance theory, on the other hand, suggests that high-power individuals should actually feel more distant from other people. Rutter and her colleagues first measured the participants’ trait power, meaning how powerful they feel on a day-to-day basis by
asking questions about their feelings of control in life and influence over others. In the first study, volunteers were asked how close they felt to various people in their lives, such as neighbours, parents, bosses and friends. In the second study, the participants were assigned to actually interact online with another person. Both studies found that the more powerful people felt, the closer they felt to others. The powerful people also felt less stressed about getting their cover letters evaluated. “If you feel similar to the person who is evaluating you, you feel less stressed,” Rutter was quoted as saying. “What I found coolest is people who have a high sense of power are feeling closer to others and if you think about the reverse, the lower-power people are feeling farther away,” she added. The study was recently presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology in Austin, Texas.
in Nagaland” will be delivered by Commissioner and Secretary, School Education and Higher Education, Government of Nagaland. Nagaland University’s official reception of the Princess will be done by the Pro Vice Chancellor and faculty members. The highlights of the programme will include interaction with students, faculty members of NU and government officials, where a welcome song will be presented by students. The formal programme will be held at Ladies Common Room and the proceeding will be compered by Dr. Jano L. Sekhose, Associate Professor, Department of English, NU. On February 27, before her departure, the Princess will visit the Nagaland Bamboo Resource Centre. (With DIPR inputs)
People crave easy fixes: the one simple change that will erase a problem in a stroke. However, a solution requires numerous small steps, no slipups, no goof ups and everyone pitching in. The same may be applied, while considering factors to address Nagaland state’s power dilemma. Round the clock maintenance personnel, sound distribution network along with steady generation and supplydemand ratio, and consumer responsibility are general requisites for healthy supply of power. All these put together would then result in a sound revenue base. Nagaland’s peak demand at present is tipped at 110 megawatts (MW). At the current rate, a twofold increase is projected by the end of this decade. Hypothetically, the existing distribution infrastructure in Nagaland at its three load centers located in Kohima, Mokokchung and Dimapur is capable of handling the current requirement. Dimapur load centre has an installed load capacity of 100 MVA (80 MW), Kohima 24 MVA (19.2 MW) and Mokokchung 25 MVA (20 MW), providing a statewide distribution capability of around 120 MW. It looks easy enough in theory but the difficulty is in the supply. Nagaland seldom receives its requirement, the supply from the grid falling well short of the requirement, often going as low as 50 percent of the requirement. Homegrown generation is limited with supply from the state-owned 24 MW Likimro Hydro-electric Project (LHEP) wholly dependent on the rains. There are, according to the Power department, six mini-hydro electric projects (1 MW and below), of which only two are operating. It brings the state’s generation capacity to around 27 MW, including LHEP. Ageing and overloaded distribution paraphernalia at the local level is another hurdle in
the way of uninterrupted power. For instance, in Dimapur, though the distribution capability at its load centre may have doubled with the commissioning of the 100 MVA transformer at Nagarjan, its four main distribution sub-stations (Metha colony, Industrial Estate, Burma camp and 4th Mile) are illequipped to withstand the distribution load from the main sub-station. If at all the Dimapur load centre receives the estimated requirement of 60 MW for Dimapur area and its immediate periphery, its distribution sub-stations have a combined load capability of only around 50 MW. Simply put, a total revamp of the system, including all distribution equipments ranging from transformers, feeders to conductors connected to the sub-stations is essential. Chief Engineer for Power, K Maichieo concedes that “a lot of system (distribution set up) improvement is required.” He further laments that fund constraints and the prevalent landownership system are two major barriers coming in the way of power self-sufficiency in Nagaland. For the interim though, the power position has seen a slight improvement. Miachieo informed that the government allocated additional fund to buy power from the market, which has improved supply to a certain extent. At present, the Nagaland is buying a maximum of 30 MW during peak hours and 15 MW at off peak. Upgrading and system improvement Echoing the Chief Engineer’s views, other department officials state that upgrading the existing distribution set up is imperative. In addition, checking theft and increasing revenue collection is no less important, stated Additional Chief Engineer, Imlikumzuk Ao. The state’s energy demand graph has tilted upward at a phenomenal rate over the past decade, while the system and manpower has witnessed no significant change.
To balance the surge in demand, a project called ‘System Improvement Scheme’ is in the pipeline to perk up the distribution set up in Dimapur. It primarily seeks to replace and upgrade ageing equipments. The peak requirement in Dimapur proper is more than the demand from the rest of the districts combined. Peak supply at present for Dimapur area is 4550 MW against a demand of 60 MW. Supply during off-peak is 30-35 MW. At present, there is a proposal to upgrade the existing 10 MVA distribution transformers at 4th Mile and Industrial Estate sub-stations to 20 MVA, which will ease over-loading of equipments. Meanwhile, setting up of a 5 MVA sub-station at Super Market is underway. On a statewide perspective, Chief Engineer, Miachieo disclosed that plans are afoot to upgrade the capability of Mokokchung and Kohima load centres. Mokokchung load centre will be upgraded to 50 MVA, after the re-commissioning of the 25 MVA transformer, which was lent to Dimapur load centre in 2012. Kohima load centre is expected to have a distribution load capacity of 48 MVA in two years time. Another factor to consider is the rampant stealing of power. This is evident from the fact that in Dimapur, there are only forty five thousand registered power consumers. Executive Engineer, Dimapur Transmission Division, Moameren states that there is a need for awareness among consumers that energy is not a free commodity. “They need to be responsible and understand that the government too pays for power.” He however expresses optimism that despite hurdles, the Anti Power Theft Mobile Squad will eventually succeed in substantially curbing down power theft. Despite the technical, political and even societal hurdles, the department expects to address the said factors through concerted efforts, a small part of which is the system upgradation work underway in Dimapur.
Imchen calls for equitable healthcare
NUHM formally launched in Nagaland Our Correspondent Kohima | February 24
The National Urban Health Mission (NUHM), Nagaland, aimed at providing adequate and efficient urban public health delivery system for the urban poor, was formally launched by Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Imkong L Imchen here today. Speaking on the occasion, the Minister announced that Government of India has agreed to upgrade the District Hospital Kohima to Medical College under the 12th plan. The college will have a Tertiary Care Hospital which will be the referral centre for all difficult and complicated cases. He further announced that setting up of a Tertiary Cancer Hospital in the Medical College is also on the pipeline. He added that the department of
Nagaland Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Imkong L Imchen, with delegates at the launching of the NUHM in Kohima on Monday.
Health and Family Welfare is working towards rapid development and progress in all fronts, saying that the department has bagged the top most position of health care delivery system in the small category states in the country. The Minister informed that Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in the state has been brought down to 18 (2012-
13) from 27 in 2009. With this, he congratulated all the doctors, nurses and staffs for the significant achievement and urged them to work harder. “The National Urban Health Mission aims to address the health concerns of the urban poor through facilitating equitable access to available health facilities by rationalizing
and strengthening of the existing capacity of health delivery for improving the health status of the urban poor. This will be done in a manner to ensure that well identified facilities are set up for each segment of target population, which can be accessed conveniently,” said Imchen. The minister said all the services delivered un-
der the urban health delivery system through the urban- PHCs and urbanCHCs will be universal in nature, whereas the outreach services will be targeted to the target groups (slum dwellers and other vulnerable groups.) Unlike rural areas, sub-centres will not be set up in the urban areas as distances and mode of transportation are much better here. He said that the Government of India’s policy commitment to ensure ‘Health for all’ is envisaged with the advent of ‘National Urban Health Mission’ in the first quarter of 2013-14. During the launching ceremony, Beiu Angami, secretary health & family welfare Nagaland chaired the function while Dr. Neiphi Kire, principal director health & family welfare delivered the welcome address and Dr. Neikietuo Chiesotsu, mission director NRHM, gave the keynote address. Dr. Sukhato A. Sema, additional director & nodal officer NUHM, proposed the vote of thanks.
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Dimapur
Tuesday 25 February 2014
A call to resolve for unity
Kohima, February 24 (Dipr): The Kohima Aor Telongjen (KAT) held its general meeting at Molu ki Kohima on February 22 with Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture Dr. Benjongliba Aier as the chief guest and Pro-Vice Chancellor Nagaland University Kohima Campus Meriema Prof. A. Lanunungsang as the main speaker. Speaking on the occasion, the chief guest informed that Kohima Aor Telongjen (Kohima Ao Union) was started back in the year 1979 with a purpose to help, encourage and to work together in times of need. The chief guest observed that during the 35 years of existence, there may be many ups and downs but the record clearly states that the KAT has really done wonderful job through KAT members which includes bureaucratic, technocrats, policy makers. The Parliamentary Secretary said the construction of Molu ki is a great pride for all the KAT members. He also informed how all the 11 MLAs from Ao tribe have contributed from LADF and thanked the entire KAT members for donating for the successful completion of Molu ki. The main speaker ProVice Chancellor NU Kohima Campus Meriema Prof. A. Lanunungsang spoke on C M Y K
the topic of ‘Aos Okentenshidima”. He elaborated on the topic, which is calling for rededication, re-strengthening, re-organising and a call to resolve for unity. Prof. A. Lanunungsang described “Oktenba ola” as a voice which is backed by a great strength and if the leader and people fail to use and understand these virtue, the rate of success in any field will be minimum. He pointed out some points which distinguishes Ao identity like the Ao language, songs, dance, dresses and marriage and further adviced the gathering not to forget the traditional values and exhorted to preserve for the future generation. Stating that the Mokokchung district was declared as the land of pioneers, he urged upon every Ao to bear in mind their responsibilities and practiced in whatever field one is working. He suggested some important steps “Aor Okenshitsunungdakba Wadang” as: to increase the size of Mokokchung town; to make Tuli and Tzurang plain into a linear city; to gave more emphasis on the construction of Foot Hill Road; to take the lead for the Naga peace talk; the importance of Look East policy; to preserve the importance of Ao language; and to choose leaders who are capable enough and make Nagaland a more developed state.
P r e s i d e n t Wa t s u Telongjem Kohima Watilemla informed that Watsu Telongjem Kohima was first started in 1982 and has completed 32 years and during this course of time KAT is always supported with regard and love which is in the record of WTK. Describing Naga men folk as headhunters who always stood for truth and even sacrifice with their life, she called on the men folks to take the lead in providing security for the women. The outgoing President KAT S. Martsungba Aier thanked all the office bearers executive and members of KAT for their support and expressed full confidence with the new office bearers. The new office bearers for the current session are President- Youdang; Vice President- Talituba; General Secretary- Sentimenbang Jamir; Assistant General Secretary- Imsennok; Finance Secretary- Sentiyanger and Treasurer- Amen Yaden IFS (Rtd). MLA & Advisor NBDA Dr. Longrineken and MLA & Chairman NPCB Amenba Yaden accompanied the chief guest. The programme was chaired by the office bearers of KAT, opening prayer by Pastor KABA M. Asangba Lkr. Special number by Ao Students Union Kohima, vote of thanks proposed by Vice President KAT Youdang.
The Morung Express LocaL IRCSN conducts medical team in memory of Lt. H. Hesso
ZuNheboto, February 24 (mexN): The Indian Red Cross Society, Nagaland State Branch conducted a medical camp at Usutomi Village, Zunheboto district in memory of Lt. H. Hesso, Vice Chairman, IRCSN on February 21. Abeni TCK, Chairperson IRCSN chaired the short programme. Zakie Kire, General Secretary spoke on the importance and significance of conducting the medical camp while Dr. S. Imkong Tushi Ao, Vice Chairman, IRCSN paid a special tribute to Lt. H.Hesso. The camp commenced with prayer by the pastor, Usutomi Baptist Church. The team was led by A volunteer of Indian Red Cross Society, Nagaland State Branch during the medical camp Abeni TCK, Chairperson, at Usutomi Village, Zunheboto.
Yongnyah area villages against Dikhu hydro project
Dimapur, February 24 (mexN): In continuation to protest against the construction of Dikhu hydro project, the village council of five villages of Yongnyah area held a meeting on February 10 and resolved to oppose the said project. The villages, Yongnyah, Nyan (Nian), Yongam, Yongshei and Tangha including Chingong and Sh-
emshangching in a press note, “reminded the government of Nagaland, department of power and M/S Manu Energy System Pvt Ltd to see the public grievances and stop the work immediately.” Yongnyah Area Public convener Hamyong Phom in the press release said that the meeting reviewed the representations, memorandums and ultimatum
submitted to the government opposing the construction of Dikhu Hydro project and deliberated at length. During the meeting, the house accepted the resignation of former convener Longjieh Phom and replaced him by Hamyong Phom as convener and all chairman of village council of the area as executive committee members.
Disaster management training for youth underway
Kohima, February 24 (Dipr): Training cum awareness campaign on disaster management for the youth member of 19 Kohima Municipal Council (KMC) Wards started today at Zonal Council Hall, Kohima. The training will be held for three days, phasewise for all the Wards falling under Kohima town which is being organized by the Civil Defence and Home Guards.
Speaking as the chief guest on the occasion, Deputy Commissioner and Controller, Civil Defence, Kohima, W. Honje Konyak appreciated the organizers for taking the initiative to train up the youths of all the 19 Wards. He said that disaster is something that cannot be avoided and we are not alarmed as yet because huge disaster has not come to us as it has in other parts of the world. He
said that we have not experienced the trauma that others have done so. He urged upon one and all to change the lackadaisal attitude and be trained in disaster management so that we are aware of the safety measures and would not get confused when disaster strikes. He called upon all to compulsorily train up all the leaders and youths of the colony for preparedness to face consequences
of disaster. The DC also said that trained personnel should be ambassadors in convincing the public that trainings in disaster management is of utmost importance. Deputy Controller, Civil Defense and District Commandant, Home Guards, Kohima, Mulai Lamniah in his welcome address said that we are confronting disasters in our day to day life and we also have to deal
with it individually. He said that being prepared for disasters has become the need of the hour. He also underlined the need to continually update ourselves in tackling emergencies. Chairman, Bayavu Ward-2, Povotso Lohe spoke on behalf of the participants. The inaugural session was chaired by Company Commander, Home Guards, Kohima, Temjenwati.
On February 25, the Phase-II of the training will continue with participants from Midlane, Hospital Colony, Officers Hill, PWD, Upper Chandmari, Lower Chandmari and Porterlane (Dzuvuru). On February 26, the Phase-III of the training will be held with participants from AG Colony, Ministers Hill, Lerie, NST, Agri, Forest, Electrical, Paramedical (Merhulietsa) and P.R. Hill.
PRP from OMPLIS Andhra ACOIN 2nd Continue Medical Pradesh visits Nagaland Education conducted in Dimapur
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The team led by Rajesh Shekhar from OMPLIS, Andhra Pradesh along with Block Level Manager, Chumukedima Block, Dimapur on February 24.
Dimapur, February 24 (mexN): A 17 member team of Professional Resource Persons led by a senior training faculty, Rajesh Shekhar from OMPLIS, Andhra Pradesh arrived at Dimapur for a field visit. The main objectives of their visit was to recommend for uplifting the poorest of the poor and help develop a better Nagaland through formation of qualified and workable self help groups in rural areas of the state. The team started through interactions of local SHGs at Chumukedima – ‘A’ village, under Chumukedima village Block of Dimapur district on Feb-
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ruary 24. It was conveyed under Block Development Manager (BDM), R.D. Block, Chumukedima, Dimapur, M. Yimok Phom and Block Development Officers and Area coordinator. In an informal interaction, Rajesh later on lamented that the saving idea is very poor, which is needed to built up through better awareness on its importance as long as livelihood is concern. In the first day session was attended by SMMU Team, DPM, BDO, SMMU Team along with the Central team and local SHGs. It is pertinent to note that NSRLM in the state has been started in Nagaland
last year 2013 and PRP stands for Professional Resource Persons, which are useful for especially SHGs and other training on such issues, are concern. The team will split into two parts where they will be heading for other districts during the stay of a week time in Nagaland for knowing better in the rural areas to execute various projects under Rural Livelihood Mission. It is a project currently sponsored by the World Bank implemented by Nagaland State Rural Livelihood Mission (NSRLM) and Department of Rural Development, Government of Nagaland is the nodal agency to implement it.
Dimapur, February 24 (mexN): Association of Community Ophthalmologist of India (ACOIN) organized its 2nd Continue Medical Education (CME) on Community Ophthalmology at Saramati Hotel, Dimapur on February 22. It was organized under the aegis of Indian Council of Medical Research, State Blindness Control Society, Nagaland, AIOS and Nagaland Opthalmological Association under the theme ‘They need sight and we need vision.’ Dr. Neiphi Kire, Principal Director, Health & Family Welfare graced the inaugural as chief guest. Dr. Kire stated that it is a privilege to be an Ophthalmologist as it is really rewarding to restore the sight of a blind person. He further stated that strengthening of private public partnership in Nagaland was very important in the curative and preventive aspect of blindness. He also thanked ACOIN for giving the opportunity to Chumukedima villagers by conducting survey on community eye health and hope that through the survey, the data collected will be help-
ful not only to the country but also to Nagaland in assessing the prevalence of Ocular morbity. Dr. Kasturi Bhattacharjee speaking on the theme stated that aim of the theme was to restore sight by excellence and equity, which the Ophthalmologists have been able to achieve through cataract surgery and vision to reduce the burden of the blind people. She also stressed on the need of awareness on the curative, preventive and rehabilitation of blindness. During the function, ACOIN also felicitated prominent Ophthalmologist of Nagaland, amongst them was the first Ophthalmologist of Nagaland Lt.Dr. Tajen, the first Ophthalmologist of Nagaland and also remembering Lt. Sutsungkokba Ao, Ophthalmologist and amongst the non-medical association were Lions Club and Rotary Club, Dimapur. Dr Leena Sen chaired the function and earlier the programme, short Dr. Swapan Samanta, Dr. Harsha, Dr. G. Kemp and Dr. T. Lemtur delivered speeches. Special song was presented
by children of Naga Blind Association, Nagaland and Welcome address was delivered by Dr. Narola Ao while the vote of thanks pronounced by Dr. Asonla Aying Chang. Earlier, orientation training was imparted to Opthalmic Assistants of Nagaland and Volunteers from the village of Chumukedima on Community Eye health Survey to be conducted on February 23. Scientific Sessions were also held for Opthalmologists with resource person included Dr. S. Samanta, Dr. Suraj Senjam, Dr. Taba Khanna, Dr. Kasturi Bhatttacharjee, Dr. Chandana Chakraborty, Dr. Lobsang tsetim, Dr. K. Das, Dr. N. Bardoloi, Dr. S. Das, Dr. Harsha Bhattacharjee, Dr. S. Deka, Dr. S. Home and Dr. J. Bhunia. The Scientific Session was carefully crafted with an aim of activating interaction between the stalwarts of clinical ophthalmology sharing their updated knowledge and the local ophthalmologists and administrative authorities working in the areas delivering their unique experience.
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IRCSN which included Managing Committee members - Dr. S. Imkong Tushi Ao, Vice Chairman, Dr, Seyiekietuo Angami, Keplhousie Angami, Dr. Vikato Kinimi, Sawathang Kez, C.R. Lotha and Zakie Kire, General Secretary while Dr. Zhimatho, ENT specialist, Naga Hospital, Kohima and Dr. Rosemary, Medical Officer i/c Primary Health Centre Saptiqa also provided their valuable services. Blankets were also distributed to the widows and aged persons by Mrs. Abeni TCK, chairperson during the camp. The Indian Red Cross Society, Nagaland State Branch has acknowledged all concerned for the services rendered.
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ANIEF general meeting today Kohima, February 24 (mexN): All Nagaland Industrial Entrepreneurs Federation (ANIEF) general meeting will be held on February 25 at 11:00 am at the Red Cross Complex Conference Hall, PR Hall Kohima. The meeting will discuss the latest position of the pending cases under central transport subsidy and central capital investment subsidy for the year 2007, 2008 and 2009. Therefore, all the ANIEF state office bearers, district representatives and beneficiary unit of the pending cases from all the 11 districts are requested to attend the meeting positively.
ATSU informs
Kohima, February 24 (mexN): The Aboi Town Students’ Union (ATSU) informed all the government employees under Aboi Sub Division to report to their respective department at the earliest, failing which ‘no work no pay’ shall be imposed. The Union also stated that it would carry out surprise checking in all the government departments in the town and if any staff found absent, they would face ‘ dire consequences.’
NPF central office meeting
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Kohima, February 24 (mexN): NPF central office bearers parent body, frontal heads and divisional presidents meeting will be held on February 28 at the central hq office at Kohima. All the members concerned are informed to attend the meeting without fail.
SCERT informs
Kohima, February 24 (mexN): The State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) notified all the qualified candidates of Nagaland Teachers Eligibility test 2013 that those who have lost their admit card may apply for a duplicate admit card from the department of SCERT Nagaland within March 5 and 25. No further information will be notified nor any request entertained thereafter, a release received here said today.
SKK Union Assembly
Dimapur, February 24 (mexN): The 3rd Union Assembly of All Sumi Students’ Union (SKK) will be held on March 13 at 9:30 am at SKK office building. Therefore, all the unit presidents, representatives and senior leaders are informed to attend the assembly without fail.
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DEO Dimapur informs
Dimapur, February 24 (mexN): The District Education Officer, Dimapur informs all the principal of government higher secondary schools, headmaster and headmistress of government high school under Dimapur district to submit the detail list of its employees such as name, designation, personal contact number and assembly constituency. The details are to be submitted to the District Education Officer Dimapur on or before February 27 without fail. Failing which stern disciplinary action shall be initiated against defaulting school, Dimapur DEO Nungshila Sohe stated in a press release.
YAA informs
Kohima, February 24 (mexN): The Yimchungru Akheru Arihako (YAA) golden jubilee planning and history committee will have a coordination meeting with all the villages of Yimchunger under the block of Pungro/Khongsa/Shamator and Chessore. In this connection, the Committee has directed all the head GBs/Council chairman/VDB secretary and students union president of the respective villages to attend the meeting without fail. SCHEDULED TIME *Pungro & Khongsa Block: March 4, 9: 00 AM at Pungro town *Shamator block: March 3 at 9:00 AM at Shamator *Chessore Block: March 7 at 9:00 AM at Chessore town
CSU frame guidelines for schools & teachers
ChumuKeDima, February 24 (mexN): Keeping in mind the welfare of students, Chumukedima Students Union (CSU) has framed guidelines for strict compliance by all the schools and concerned teachers within its jurisdiction. CSU President Hovise Naleo in a press release said that safe drinking water should be provided for all the students in the school. Coaching by individual teachers in the school after school hours will be strictly checked. In case of coaching for any subject where the number of students is, more than seven the fee charged should be less than tuition amount. Number of students in private tuition should not exceed 7 in one batch. Teachers
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should not supervise 2-3 batches of students in different rooms in the same hour. Tuition should be 5 days a week of one-hour duration @ of Rs. 300 per students. There should be no home tuition from 6 a.m to 6 p.m this is to allow more students to get guidance from the teacher instead of limiting it to 1 or 2 students. CSU will be visiting the school anytime to interact with school heads, teachers and students on matter relating to the welfare of the students community. CSU would further requestss all the schools of Chumukedima area to grant leave to all the Angami Students, Teachers and Office Staff on February 25 on account of Sekrenyi.
Collection of waste in Kohima to resume today
Kohima, February 24 (mexN): The Kohima Municipal Council (KMC) informed to all the general public and business establishment of Kohima town that the collection of waste in Kohima town will resume from February 25. The Council trucks will be stationed in designated places from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM. In this collection, all the traders/public of Kohima town have been reminded not to throw their waste randomly in the street but to properly wrap and throw the waste accordingly to the sanitary trucks which will be stationed in the following locations; TCP Gate, AOC, PHQ junction, Old NST, North PS junction and High School.
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The Morung Express
Tuesday
25 February 2014
Dimapur
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Manipur’s economy improving: Duggal Mizoram keen on exploring natural resources
iMPhaL, FebRuaRY 24 (NNN): Manipur Governor, V.K. Duggal, has said Manipur’s economy continues to grow at a steady pace though activities of insurgents have adversely affected the development of the state. According to the governor, the average growth rate was about 9% during 2013-14, which is higher than the average of 6.5% registered during the 11th Five Year Plan and the growth momentum is expected to continue. Duggal was addressing the 7th session of the tenth Manipur legislative assembly, which commenced today, highlighting different issues and the departmental achievements of the state administration. The Governor said that the state government has been striving for all round development and delivery of good governance for the welfare of the people. Equi-
table and inclusive development with secular ideals have been the guiding principles of the government conveying that the government has impartially pursued development of the people residing in both the hill and valley areas. On law and order, Duggal said Manipur has been affected by insurgent activities spread over a period of four decades where more than 60 underground outfits, including factions and the insurgency problems have adversely affected the development of the state. "Realizing that effective counter insurgency operations alone cannot solve the problems of insurgency and militancy in the state, my government has invited various underground groups operating in the state to come forward for negotiation. As a result various underground groups have responded positively
Northeast Briefs
10 injured in Assam blasts Guwahati, Feb 24 (iaNS): At least 10 people were injured when militants triggered two blasts in Assam's Kamrup district Monday evening, a day ahead of Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's scheduled visit to the state, police said. The blasts took place at the crowded Gasbari daily market near Baihata Chariali. Residents told police two motorcycle-riding youth lobbed two grenades at the market. "A preliminary investigation indicated they were grenade blasts. We are yet to ascertain which militant outfit was involved," police said. All the injured were taken to a hospital.
Another bandh on NH-37
and signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Central and State Governments. In all over 450 cadres from different underground groups have laid down arms and process is on for their rehabilitation", Duggal said. Meanwhile, for implementation of various developmental schemes under Tribal Affairs and Hills, an amount of Rs 181.58 crores have been earmarked for the year 2013-2014. With the enforcement of the National Food Security Act, 2013 with effect from September 10, 2013, a total of 24.84 lakh beneficiaries (87%) of the total population as per 2011 census in Manipur will be covered under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) under Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Department, the governor informed. To improve the qual-
ity of education, the Government opened 715 new Primary Schools, upgraded 158 primary schools to Upper Primary and upgraded 58 Junior High Schools to High Schools under the Rastriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA). Under Power Reforms, the state will receive about 82 MW of power from two projects namely, Pallatana Gas Power Project and Bongaigaon Thermal Project. “It’s an immense pleasure that under Health and Family Welfare Department, our state has the lowest infant mortality rate (IMR) of 10 in the country along with Goa whereas the all India average is 42. The total fertility rate (TFR) is 1.5 against all India average of 2.4. The under-five mortality rate is 12.5 against the all India average of 55”, Duggal added. Motion of thanks was proposed by MLA T. Man-
gibabu and seconded by MLA Y. Surchandra. Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh who is also Finance Minister presented the Ninth report of the Business Advisory Report Committee, 2014. Chief Minister O Ibobi also presented the Supplementary demands for Grants 2013-14 sought for Rs. 541.36 crore covering 35 demands and 2 Appropriations. Out of this, Rs 9.14 crore is charged on the Consolidated Fund of the state and Rs. 532.22 crore to be voted by the house. A budget estimate for 2014-15 was also presented to the house. In further proceedings, Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh moved the motion for Vote of Accounts, 2014-15 for grant of expenditure covering the first four months of the financial year, 2014-15 to enable the state government to carry on its activities from April 1, 2014.
Traders in Moreh in grip of fear psychosis
iMPhaL, FebRuaRY 24 (the hiNdu): Though the residents of the border town Moreh have suspended the sealing off the international border protesting against the abduction and murder of two Indian traders, S. Singh from Uttar Pradesh and Dhan Singh from Mumbai, near Tamu in Myanmar on February 11, most of the Indian traders are avoiding venturing deep inside the country as there is a sense of insecurity and fear psychosis. Indications are that the murderers who are still at large will never be accounted for. The residents were upset over the lukewarm response from the Myanmarese government on the issue. The Manipur government had announced an exgratia of Rs. 5 lakh to each of the bereaved family members and assured to pursue the probe in coordination with Myanmar. Prior to the legalisation of the border trade on May 12, 1995, the Myanmarese traders used to bring various commercial items to Moreh. Businessmen, mostly Tamils who were displaced from some cities in Myanmar, used to buy these items in wholesale and sell it to the retail market. However, after the legalisation of the border trade, the military rulers had con-
structed a marketing complex at Namphalong just across the international gate as the traders wanted to sell the goods to the Indian counterpart direct. Indian traders can go to Namphalong without any restrictions. However they have to pay Rs 10 as the immigration fee if he wants to go to the Tamu market about 30 km from the international gate. In sharp contrast, there is no such system in Manipur resulting in the arrest of Myanmarese nationals inside the state territory. Some of them had been sent to long prison terms. Though shops and vendors sell most of the items at more or less equal prices, sources said that the drug addicts and traffickers do get heroin from some business women at Tamu. There is no official mechanism to frisk the traders returning from Tamu to Moreh. Some of the traffickers had established cordial personal relations to such an extent that drugs costing huge amounts are taken on credit. Police and anti-narcotic personnel have been confiscating such drugs which are banned in Manipur in view of the abuse by the drug addicts. One high-ranking army officer who was arrested is now in judicial custody facing trial.
iMPhaL, FebRuaRY 24 (NNN): The 72-hour bandh along Silchar-Imphal road or NH-37 imposed by Kuki Students Organisation and Kuki Women Union, Tamenglong district, will end Monday night. But the highway will continue to be affected for the next 72 hours as another tribal organisation sponsored chakka bandh of hill districts begins from midnight of February 24. Committee on Protection of Tribal Areas Manipur (COPTAM) sponsored hill districts chakka bandh will begin from midnight of Monday in protest against the state government's 'indifferent attitude to the legitimate and rightful demands of the tribal people. "Till date there has been no response from the state government side so we will resume our agitation soon with sterner agitation," said the tribal organisations. Earlier, KSO-Tamenglong district and Kuki Women Union (KWU), Tamenglong district had announced to call bandh along the NH-37 strongly objecting to the perpetual encroachment of the 'tribal lands' which is in Tamenglong district contiguous with Jiribam sub division of Imphal East district, in connivance with the police and the Additional Guwahati, FebRu- pay heed to its demands. manding implementation Deputy Commissioner of Jiribam. aRY 24 (iaNS): A man died The state recently ap- of the Scheduled Tribes after setting himself ablaze proved giving land pat- and Other Traditional Foroutside the Assam capital tas to families residing on est Dwellers (Recognition aGaRtaLa, FebRuaRY 24 (iaNS): With the grow- complex in Dispur Monday, government land till 2001. of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, ing industrialisation and expansion of railways in Tripu- protesting the state's refusal However, the government and land rights to indigra, the mafia activities have also increased in the state, to give land pattas (deeds) to made it clear that land enous people," said KMSS Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said here Monday. "Current- people. The man in his 40s deeds would not be given general secretary Kamal ly, names of 109 mafias are registered with the state's 18 - identified as Pranab Boro - to people living on forest Kumar Medhi. The governof the 70 police stations. They are illegally and forcibly was rushed to the Guwahati land and in wetlands. The ment's refusal to implecollecting money from the people and also involved in Medical College and Hospi- KMSS has been demanding ment the act led to Boro's many unlawful activities," Sarkar told the Tripura assem- tal, but he died from his se- land deeds for people liv- self-immolation, he said. bly. "This (increase of mafia activities) is a national trend. vere injuries. "The person re- ing also on forest land and Chief Minister Tarun With the increasing industrialisation and extension of ceived over 90 percent burn wetlands till Dec 13, 2005. Gogoi termed the incident railway network in Tripura, the mafia activities are also injuries and he was brought "We have been de- as "unfortunate". on the rise in the state alongside. This should not be taken here in a critical condition. in a negative perception," he said. Opposition Congress We tried our best to save legislator Ratan Lal Nath, quoting previous replies of the him but he died around 4.30 chief minister in the house, said there were 42 and 34 p.m.," said hospital superinmafias in the state during 2008 and 2011, respectively. tendent Ramen Kalita. The beneficiaries of Vepvuli Project would like to express Replying to the Congress MLA's question, Sarkar, who Police and paramiliour sincere appreciation to Shri C.Peter Yanthan, District also holds the home portfolio, said the Left Front gov- tary forces were Monday Agricultural Officer Wokha for undertaking various Agroernment has taken a series of measures to curb the Based activities as well as construction of fresh power tiller deployed in and around mafia activities in the state. "Police started confiscatroad covering large areas under Vepvuli Project, Baghty the city to prevent any uning the properties of absconding mafia and killers," he Valley of Wokha District. toward incident in view of added. The chief minister regretted that the convicThe general public would like to assure our outmost coopa protest called by farmers' tion rate of all types of crime in Tripura is 14.9 percent eration to the department in the near future and wish him organisation Krishak Muka great success in his endeavour. against the national average of over 38.1 percent. ti Sangram Samiti (KMSS). Vepvuli Project Beneficiaries of Lakhuti, Upper Baghty, The KMSS had threatened Makharong Villages. to launch a strong protest, (LIBENTHUNG LOTHA) On behalf of Beneficiaries itaNaGaR, FebRuaRY 24 (Pti): The Arunachal including self-immolation, Upper Baghty Village Pradesh unit of the BJP on Monday expressed concern if the government did not Wokha District:Nagaland over the lackadaisical attitude of the State government as well as the Assam government and Centre over the inter-state boundary dispute between two neighbourNAGALAND ELECTRICITY REGULATORY COMMISSION (NERC) ing states. Stating that the boundary dispute between NAGALAND : KOHIMA Assam and Arunachal Pradesh should not be taken Old MLA Hostel Complex, lightly, the party demanded a detailed report on the Nagaland : Kohima -797001 status of the investigation on the January 29 incident Tel: (0370) 2292101(O) / 2241592(R) where 11 CPI (ML) activists were killed at Chaoldhowa Fax: 2292104 (O); www.nerc.org.in e-mail: nerc_kohima@yahoo.com in Assam’s Sonitpur district and subsequent recovery of four decomposed bodies from the area on February NOTICE FOR PUBLIC HEARING 22 last. “Adequate measures are the need of the hour Dated Kohima, the 20th Feb., ‘14 for the people from both the states. The government No. NERC/TARIFF/CONV/2014: Chief Engineer, Department of Power, Nagaland has should not overlook the arising situation and should filed a petition for approval of Aggregate Revenue Requirement (ARR) and determination act immediately,” party spokesman Techi Necha said in of Tariff for retail sale of electricity for the FY 2014-15 under section 62 of the Electricity Act, a statement in Itanagar. “We are sad to know that several 2003 before the Nagaland Electricity Regulatory Commission, Nagaland. organisations have re-imposed road blockade at Behali Chief Engineer, Department of Power has published a public notice on 4th & 5th Feb., 2014 and Bargang areas in Assam since Sunday to protest in 3 leading Local Newspapers of Nagaland indicating therein the proposed ARR and Tariff the inaction of both the state governments to arrest the for the FY 2014-15 inviting suggestions / objections from the public up to 20th Feb., 2014. culprits involved in the January 29 incident,” he said.
Assam man kills self demanding land rights
Tripura CM on mafia activities
APPRECIATION
BJP slams Arunachal, Assam govts
72 kidnapped in 3 years in Tripura
aGaRtaLa, FebRuaRY 24 (Pti): The insurgency was in wane in Tripura and altogether 72 persons were kidnapped and three others killed during the past three years in insurgency related incidents, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said in the Assembly here today. Replying to a question of Ratan Lal Nath (Congress), Sarkar said the insurgency was on the wane as none was killed by the ultras last year and 10 persons were kidnapped during the time, but all of them returned. In the last three years 92 insurgents of different underground groups have surrendered, he said. However, the chief minister said, there was no room for complacency and security forces remained alert to thwart any attempt by insurgents of any such attack.
The Commission shall hold public hearing on the ARR and tariff proposals of Power Department as per schedule given below: Date 14th March., 2014
Venue for Public Hearing Time and Category Office premises of the 10.00 AM to 1.00 PM Chairman-cum-Member, - For all consumers – focus NERC, Kohima. on domestic, commercial, agricultural consumers. 2.00 PM to 4.00 PM - For all consumers – focus on Industrial consumers. Sd/P. SANI Secretary Nagaland Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Kohima.
aiZawL, FebRuaRY 24 (NNN): Keen on exploring its natural resources, Mizoram government has urged Oil India Ltd., the company engaged for the exploration of natural resources within the State, to accelerate its ongoing works for the same. In this regard, Geology & Mining Minister Rohluna and Parliamentary Secretary Joseph Lalhimpuia held interaction with Oil India Ltd. Chairman & Managing Director Sunil Kumar Srivastava. The meeting was held at OIL chairman & MD’s office in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, on the February 20. The duo apprised Srivastava and urged the latter to speed up the company’s ongoing works of natural resources exploration in Mizoram. Rohluna informed the OIL Chairman that he had visited on-spot the OIL Block at Maubuang and Thenzawl witnessed the
completion of ‘site preparation’ there. He also informed that the same at Keifang is also near completion. In order to explore oil from such locations, installation of ‘rig’ needed to be done soon, the Mizoram minister told the OIL Chairman. He also requested the OIL India Chairman to employ more Mizo youths under OIL and also to regularize those working on contract at present. Parliamentary Secretary Joseph Lalhimpuia also asked the OIL Chairman to organize ‘Short Course Skill Development’ so that more Mizo youths may be employed. He further requested Srivastava
to find ways so that OIL may work together with Education Department, and also with the Mizoram Government in spreading awareness to the masses on cleanliness and protection of the environment. The OIL Chairman informed the Mizoram government representatives that ‘Letter of Intent’ has been given to Shivani Company in September 2013 for installation of ‘rig’ but that the company has not yet started works for the same. The OIL Chairman expressed his gratitude to the Mizoram Government and the people for their support and cooperation in exploration of natural resources.
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WATCHMEN PRAYER CONFERENCE
“Standing in the Gap for our Land” “I have set watchmen upon they walls..”— Isaiah62:6. Dates Venue
: 25 - 27th February (Tues, Wed and Thurs) : I.M.C. Hall, Dimapur. Time: 4pm daily.
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There will be Nagamese interpretation. All are invited.
NAGALAND STATE E-GOVERNANCE SOCIETY (A Registered Society under the Govt. of Nagaland) Directorate of lnformation Technology & Communication Below New Secretariat, Thizama Road Nagaland: Kohima
NSeGS/CSC-1 3/ALTPLN-2/201 2
Dated Kohima, the 21st February 2014
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Applications are invited from suitable Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) for operating and managing the Common Service Centers (CSCs) under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP). The Common Service Center Scheme aims at establishing lnformation Communication Technology (lCT) enabled kiosks to deliver e-Services to citizens in selected locations across the state indicated as Annexure - l. lnterested candidates can attend the walk-in interview at the date & time specified, along with all relevant documents including:1) Educational Qualification (Minimum Class Xll) 2) Computer Proficiency Certificate (if any) 3) Trade License (if any existing business) 4) Two recent passport photo. 5) Proof Of Address & lD : i, Village Council / Panchayat letter/PRC ii. Bank Passbook/ Driving License /Pan card/Aadhar Walk-in interview at The Directorate of lnformation Technology & Communication, Thizama Road, Below Nagaland Civil Secretariat, Kohima. Sd/K.D Vizo, IfS CEO NSeGS & Commissioner & Secretary to the Government of Nagaland
Annexure-l 1 Longkhum 2 Longmisa 3 Salangtem Mokokchung 4 Alichen 5 Ongpangkong North 4th March 2014 (10 a.m) 6 Kubulong 7 Piphema Town 8 Dimapur Diphupar B 9 Tenyiphe 2 10 Meluri Phek 11 Raze ba 12 Satakha 5th March 2014 (10 a.m) 13 Zunheboto Satoi 14 VK Hq 15 Lotsu Wokha 16 Longtsung 17 Pongo Longleng 18 Namsang 19 Tesen 6th March 2014 (10 a.m) Peren 20 Ntu 27 Longkhim Tuensang 22 Noklak N.B : Applicants should strictly adhere to the Date and Time specified for each district .
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The Morung Express
Bajaj to launch four-wheel E-commerce firm Myntra raises 50 million Dollars vehicle but it's not a car
MUMBAI, FeBrUAry 24 (reUters): It's got four wheels and seatbelts, but Bajaj Auto(BAJA.NS: Quote, Profile, Research), the creator of India's first quadricycle, would rather you didn't call it a car. Bajaj Auto is marketing the RE60 as a more stable and comfortable alternative to the three-wheeled autorickshaws ubiquitous on India's roads even though it looks like a small hatchback car and is expected to cost less. Weight, top speed and other specifications, including safety standards, mean the RE60 will not be classified as a car. But that didn't stop executives from top automakers such as Tata Motors (TAMO.NS: Quote, Profile, Research) from comparing it to a car and finding its safety features come up short. Rajiv Bajaj, the company's managing director, insists the RE60 is neither a car nor an autorickshaw. The government is even creating a new classification category for the vehicle, which is expected to be launched within months. "In every market that a three-wheeler is available the quadricycle should be relevant," Bajaj told Reuters in a phone interview. "Because at the end of the day it provides a very logical upgrade from a three-wheeler for people who want to pay a little more and want to have the comfort and safety of four
make up to 5,000 vehicles a month and has been waiting for two years to get them on India's roads. The federal government is expected to allow quadricycles from October 1. Bajaj hopes the quadricycles will catch on in countries where three-wheelers are widespread, and has sent samples for test runs in Sri Lanka, Colombia and Kenya. Managing director Bajaj, however, declined to give any sales forecasts. Analysts said quadricycles are likely to have broader appeal than the autorickshaws.
increase in the previous year and a 28 percent rise in 2010/11. Motorcycle sales also showed a similar trend: they fell 2 percent in 2012/13 compared to a 13.2 percent gain in 2011/12 and a 35 percent increase a year earlier. Exports of motorbikes and autorickshaws account for more than a third of Bajaj's sales. The company counts Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd (MAHM.NS: Quote, Profile, Research), TVS Motor Company Ltd (TVSM.NS: Quote, Profile, Research) and Italy's Piaggio (PIA.MI: Quote, Profile, Research) as competitors in the three-wheeler segment.
early summer bookings. The bookings under the 'super summer sale' offer will remain open till Wednesday mid-night, SpiceJet said in a release here on Monday. "Super summer sale offers up to 75 per cent off base fare plus fuel surcharge relative to last minute fares, for travel between April 1 and June 30, 2014," the airline said.
This offer comes after the overwhelming success of the earlier two similar schemes and aims at making those seats available to passengers at highly discounted advance purchase rates which would otherwise go empty, the release said. "We received overwhelming positive feedback from customers who booked the earlier 'super
kilograms (880 pounds), about 100 kg more than Bajaj's smallest autorickshaw and half as much as a small hatchback. The engine, which can run on gasoline or compressed natural gas, goes up to 70 kilometres per hour (about 40 miles per hour). The vehicle is likely to be priced between an autorickshaw and a small car. Analysts expect the RE60 to cost 200,000 rupees, more than the roughly 150,000 rupees for the most basic Bajaj three-wheeler but less than the 270,000 rupees for India's bestselling car, the Maruti Alto hatchback. Bajaj spent 5.5 billion rupees developing the vehicle, acSAFER, BUT NOT CHEAPER cording to media reports. The RE60 weighs 400 The company can initially
Super summer sale: SpiceJet slashes fares by 75%
MUMBAI, FeBrUAry 24 (PtI): In yet another bonanza to air travellers at the onset of the summer season, budget carrier SpiceJet on Monday reduced its fares by up to a whopping 75 percent under a special offer. This is the third time in the last one month that the Kalanithi Maran promoted carrier has slashed fares to avail
sales' for taking the lead in making air travel more affordable, where travellers can now book more spontaneously and more often by air, and also for attracting many first time travellers," SpiceJet chief operating officer Sanjiv Kapoor said. These advance purchase offers are a win-win for customers, for airlines, and for the travel industry, he said.
Lyonnais Securities Asia (CLSA) projected the e-commerce market size to grow by seven times to $22 billion over the next five years from $3 billion currently. "We are bracing up to capitalise on the emerging growth opportunity with a compelling business model, product innovation and strong leadership," Bansal asserted. As a fashion e-retailer for branded shoes, clothing and accessories for men and women, the six-year-old online shopping store had earlier raised $75 million from venture funds such as Accel Partners and Tiger Global.
The portal showcases about 50,000 products of 600 brands and gets over 50 million hits every month. "A robust business model and a customer-centric approach have enabled us to emerge as a major fashion destination for shoppers across the country," Bansal said. The company plants to scale up online presence by ramping up its technology infrastructure and hiring more techies and industry professionals. "We are targeting $1 billion gross merchandise value by 2016 and become the largest fashion destination in the country," Bansal added.
able to students from other educational institutions. The quality of education doled out in the IITs is beyond compare. Only the most qualified teachers in the country deliver lectures to students. Nearly all of the faculty members in IITs have a Ph.D. degree. Their research impacts their reading, govern their consultancy methods, and enable their continuing education. Since these institutes enjoy full academic autonomy, their curricula is updated frequently to keep up with modern developments. The infrastructure is a class apart, and the labs are well-equipped with the latest technology available. The libraries are buzzing with enthusiastic students throughout the day. All hostels have high-speed internet connections, counted upon as a blessing by one and all. It goes without saying that IITs attract the most glorious job-offers. All the renowned companies flock to the IITs for their annual recruitments, accompanied by their hefty pay-packages. Internships are integral to the life of a student in a technical in-
stitution. IITians almost always participate in eminent internships programs, most of which are located abroad. Projects undertaken by IITs are laudable. Students from college across the country join these projects as interns. This helps them get the exposure that IIT students are already privy to. The IITs are not just about trudging from the hostel rooms to the classrooms. They are a hub of cultural and sports activities. All the IITs organize their own annual fests, both technical and cultural. In the run-up to the fests, the air inside the institutes is electric. Excited faces everywhere, the colleges are bustling with activity. The technical fests attract all the brilliant, innovative minds across the nation and beyond to test their skills. Winning these competitions not only fetches massive cash prizes, but also widens internship opportunities. The cultural extravaganza in these colleges is a sight to behold. The annual cultural fest of IIT Mumbai, Mood Indigo, is the biggest festival organized in all of Asia. The
extra-curricular scene in these colleges is unparalleled, which makes them all the more enticing. There are a lot of students with great ideas who feel lost because they didn’t have a pedestal. This is one of the most rewarding benefits of being in an IIT: getting a jumpstart. It doesn’t necessarily have to be academic. Bookstores in every nook and cranny of the country today are flushed with novels penned by IITians. While the books themselves are seemingly ordinary, they’ve gained popularity mostly because people want to hear what an IITian has to say. The brand-value of an IIT is huge. They have acquired a bourgeois-like status in everyone’s eyes. Wherever they go, they command respect. Seeing that respect for yourself in other people’s eyes is worth every bit of effort that you need to put in before your exams. The exams are fast approaching, but there is still time. Push yourself all you can. The IITs await.
Public DiscoursE Reaching for the stars
Bajaj's four-wheeled RE60 is pictured in New Delhi in this January 3, 2012 (REUTERS Files)
wheels, four doors, a roof and seatbelts," he said. In India, autorickshaws typically have no doors and a soft roof. The vehicles are usually turned into taxis and known in many countries as tuk-tuks. The RE60 is part of a long-term expansion strategy by Bajaj to boost sales growth at home and abroad. The company is the world's largest autorickshaw maker and India's second largest motorcycle maker, and sales of both these vehicles have decelerated over the last two years, hit by falling demand in a slowing economy. Bajaj's three-wheeler sales fell 6 percent in the 2012/13 financial year compared to a 17 percent
BAngAlore, FeBrUAry 24 (IAns): Premji Invest of Wipro chairman Azim Premji is among the private investors from whom leading e-commerce portal Myntra has recently raised an additional $50 million (Rs.310 crore), a statement said here Monday. "The fresh round of funding will enable us expand our operations to spur further growth with better infrastructure and proactive userbased technology," Myntra co-founder and chief executive Mukesh Bansal said. A study by the Hong Kong-based leading financial services group Credit
I
t has been established beyond doubt that when it comes to joining a technical institute an IIT is the most obvious preference, it being a holy grail of sorts among them all. India today boasts of almost 4000 engineering colleges with a capacity of 15 lakh seats across countless courses approved by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). In this sizeable population of colleges and engineering graduates, the IIT graduates each year stand out in their accomplishments. This illustriousness can be attributed to one major factor: the selection process. Getting into an IIT requires clearing their entrance examination, JEE Advance, a Herculean task as is considered by the ordinary student. Living up to its name of being the most grueling examination in the country, it requires rigorous training and practice. And why shouldn’t it? The IITs being tagged as “elitist” could not be more justified. Once you step into the gates of any of the institutes, numerous portals open up; portals which are unfathom-
Abhijit dutta Ceo Concept educations
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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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 # 2802
DAILY CROSS WORD
CROSSWORD # 2813
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 # 2801
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
R
CouNtries ANd NAtioNAlities iN freNCh
ALLEMAGNE BELGIQUE BRITANNIQUE CHINOISE
INDONESSIENE ITALIENNE JAPANAIS LIBAN
COREEN MONACO DANOIS NORVEGE ESPAGNOL FRANCAISE GREC
POLYNESIE FRANCAISE SEYCHELLES
GRECQUE
TUNISIE
INDIENNE
VIET NAM
D N O E F F T F R A N C A I S E A Y D N Y A
E A T I D L I A S D A B F R A E H B O E Y
S A E C A I R G B H L R O P U L U R A R E E
T A T B L D I F L Z A E O N I O E W V B P
E O S A I H I T E N N H S L E T E S C E E E
I N E N O E M H T N P P Y N A G I O G L I
N J A D E A D R E A R A N D L M N N E G A
D N N O G E G N U H T G E D I B G R O I T
A I D V N E N D N Q N S N S I E R T C C Q T
E A E E M T O O C L E O I X N I A H O U F
N I A S A O P O E R Y L E E N T O I R E W
R N N G S W Z N J R A C V F O E A W N E N B
E J R I J A N A G O H J R I E N T O E E T
A A E E H F D P C Y E G A F O N Y I N A E
C A T C N M I V A E O L S N E E I O S E O M
A U E E E B I N T D L U C A B Q O E D W A
T I I N J Q E A O I E S A D Y U C G A O E
H L A D N L E T I A T S L I R T E D O N G J
A E O Q C L N S T I H I S E Y L T X O I U
E G U A A C A C N I Q E E W Y O G A I T A
I O D Z N Y M A F T I E I S I N U T S N T
CROSS 1. After-bath powder 5. Abrasive 10. Powdery dirt 14. Pearly-shelled mussel 15. Run away to wed 16. Ancient Peruvian 17. Shower 18. Change 20. Skittish 22. Physicians 23. Regret 24. Product of bees 25. Traverse on foot 32. Bad treatment 33. Angers 34. Was victorious 37. Colored part of an eye 38. Coil of yarn 39. Broad valley 40. Put clothing on 41. Portion 42. Cowboy sport 43. Notch 45. Angler’s basket 49. Ribonucleic acid 50. Remedy 53. Walks unsteadily 57. Eclipse 59. Notion 60. Japanese wrestling
61. Picture 62. Poems 63. Char 64. Prison-related 65. Gestures of assent
DOWN 1. Territory 2. A Freudian stage 3. 53 in Roman numerals 4. A national legislative assembly 5. Fastball (baseball slang) 6. Friend 7. Decay 8. Hurried 9. Protagonist 10. Repeat 11. Labor group 12. Gain points in a game 13. A Eurasian aromatic herb 19. Pains 21. Large 25. Gave money 26. River of Spain 27. Wreckage 28. Annoyed 29. Daughter of a sibling 30. Extraterrestrial 31. One more than nine 34. Dry riverbed
35. Margarine 36. A noble gas 38. Transgression 39. An endowment 41. Heaps 42. Deliver a tirade 44. A small hand tool 45. Pass over 46. Variety show 47. Swelling under the skin 48. Mistake 51. Transport commercially 52. Identical 53. Roman robe 54. Cocoyam 55. Marsh plant 56. Back talk 58. One of the tribes of Israel
Ans to CrossWord 2812
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The Morung Express
RH lauds relief efforts TsEMINYU, FEBRUARY 24 (MExN): The Rengma Hoho (RH) has expressed its appreciation to the Chief Minister of Nagaland, Neiphiu Rio for “his continued contribution, financially towards Rengma Nagas in relief camps during the Rengma-Karbi conflicts.” It further lauded all Naga tribes, particularly the Pochury and the Chakesang communities for their contribution, in cash and kind, to the Rengma Nagas at relief camps in Assam. A press note from the President of the Rengma Hoho, Sawathang Kezseb informed that the CM and a high-level team met with the Assam Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi at Circuit House, Jorhat on December 31, where he expressed serious concerns about the unrest in Karbi Anglong. The RH informed that Rio stressed on the need to bring understanding, peace and harmony to calm the situation and protect the lives of the Rengma Naga community in Assam. According to RH, Rio also urged the Assam CM to set up Village Guards in each village so that the villages can protect themselves as is the practice in Nagaland, with all expenses of the Village Guard, including salaries and allowances borne by Ministry of Home Affairs.
Tuesday 25 February 2014
Stage set for Sekrenyi fest 2014 Our Correspondent Kohima | February 24
The stage is set for Angami Nagas premier festival Sekrenyi 2014 at the picturesque Naga Heritage Village Kisama on February 25 in commemoration with the 50 years of statehood with Southern Angami Public Organization (SAPO) as host. The festival is being held under the theme “Fostering unity and oneness.” SAPO president Zadeho Rikha extended invitation to one and all for the celebrations. All the Kohima based tribal Hohos have been invited to the festival.
Cultural activities will start from 9:30 onwards. It will be marked by traditional fire making, cultural performances, youth medley, Phreda and Sei Bagei, top spinning, war cry, high jump and crease pool climbing. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand will grace the main function at 12:30 AM. Sekrenyi greetings will be delivered by chief host Neiphiu Rio, chief minister of Nagaland while Sekrenyi blessings will be pronounced by Neisa Thol. Naga unity dance, wrestling exhibition, Sekrenyi chef competition, agri expo at Bamboo Pavilion, flower
exhibition at Hortiscape, exhibition cum sale at Bamboo pavilion will also be part of the festival. Earlier, SAPO) has informed that no guns and ammunitions will be allowed beyond Gate No. 2 at Naga Heritage Village, Kisama on the day of the celebration. All the celebrants as well as uniformed personnel and bodyguards have been requested not to bring arms and ammunition. The security forces have been requested not to attend the celebration in their uniform. Sekrenyi is celebrated by the Angamis in the month of
‘Keno’ (February) after the full moon, every year. It is observed to ensure the good health of the community for the coming year; in soul and body and hence is also regarded as ‘Phousanyi’ (the feast of Ablution). Sekrenyi therefore, is of two phases; the ritual and the feast, of five days each. The Sekrenyi rituals commence with ‘Dzuseva’ (the pre-dawn cleansing bath) by all males at the sanctified virgin spring well. Simultaneously, the women perform ‘Kizie’ (the house dedication). On return from the symbolic ablution, an unblemished sacrificial “cock
of omen” for every male person, is strangulated to observe the tenacity and position of its legs and the fullness of its innards for interpretation of the vitality and prosperity, for the corresponding individual in the coming year. Thence, the male and female folks maintain segregations in living and in hearth; the male hearth is ignited only from “Süguo Mi (Stick and rope friction fire). Strict chastity is adhered to for three days till ‘Krupo (the adjournment ritual). The ‘Thekrane’ (feast) phase subsequently follows for five days and Sekrenyi is concluded.
Political parties dismayed at Election Dept Naga society is undergoing KOHIMA, FEBRUARY 24 (NEPs): which the Election Department irmetamorphosis: Er. Levi Representatives of various political responsibly behaved. parties got today thoroughly embarrassed when they came to attend a meeting of the “Registered Recognized Political Parties of both National and State” here at the Hotel Japju as they found the “meeting hall” locked. In a circular on February 17, 2014 by Chief Electoral Officer, Nagaland, Sentiyanger Imchen, a meeting for the Registered Recognized Political Parties of both National and State was called by Sudhir Tripathi, Deputy Election Commissioner, Election Commission of India (ECI) at 16:30 hrs on February 24 at the Conference hall of Hotel Japfu. According to the circular, 2 representatives from all “Registered Recognized National and State Political Parties” had to attend the meeting. But representatives of the National Political Parties were shocked when they found the “conference hall” of Hotel Japju, where the meeting would be held, “locked.” Representatives from Nagaland Units of the Indian National Congress and the RJD who had rushed to attend the meeting expressed dismay at the manner in
Leaders of the Nagaland Unit of INC, Vapramu Demo and Kushatho while talking to NEPS said they were not informed on the postponement of the meeting. “We have to take the trouble of coming here to attend the meeting on time by braving the capital traffic congestions,” Demo added saying that “At least they should have acted responsibly by properly communicating with us even if they are going to postpone the meeting.” “We have come all the way from Dimapur to attend this meeting called by Sudhir Tripathi, Deputy Election Commissioner, ECI only to find the conference hall of the Hotel Japfu under lock,” Mhao Yanthan, General Secretary of the RJD Youth Wing, Nagaland told NEPS. “We have not been informed of any postponement of the meeting.” Later, querying the hotel staff, NEPS found that the meeting to be held on February 24 has been rescheduled to February 28 at 1600Hrs. However, the Election Department had not communicated this with the representatives of the concerned National Political Parties.
KOHIMA, FEBRUARY 24 (MExN): Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA) deputy speaker Er. Levi Rengma said that the structure of our Naga society is undergoing metamorphosis due to urbanization, westernization, industrialization and politicization, which in turn is adding new problems to the family and society as well. Inaugurating the new school building of Government Primary school at Lower Tesophenyu on February 22, Er. Levi said that it is important that the children are given proper education and should be taught to have self respect and discipline from childhood. To be able to read and write is the greatest gift to the modern men and women which enables many to be taken in, as spoken and written words cannot be denied and it becomes a tool of power, he added. He further said that it is very important that the children grow up to be responsible citizens and
it is the duty of the parents and teachers to inculcate in them the sense of responsibility, self respect and respect for others. He also reminded the villagers that it is important that proper infrastructure should be provided to the students where they will learn to respect the school and the education system as well. Others who spoke on the occasion included Zaveyi Nyekha, director school education, Pollem Tep, additional director school education, Theyivilie, assistant district coordinator DMA, SSA, presidents of Tesophenyu Group Union and Tesophenyu Officers Forum. The programme was chaired by Watilo Jemu, SDEO Tseminyu. Welcome address was delivered by Mezaseng Jemu chairman Tesophenyu Village Council while brief report of the building construction was given by Agwalo Mesung, chairman VEC. Vote of thanks was proposed by Honthini Magh.
Public SPace
Dimapur
5
MEx FILE NPF Wohka on NTTU statement WOKHA, FEBRUARY 24 (MExN): The Naga Peoples’ Front (NPF) Wokha Division has expressed concern on statement by the Nagaland Timber Traders Union (NTTU), wherein, it demanded the “removal/replacement of the Minister of Forest" accusing him and the Dimapur DFO of malpractise. A press note from the NPF Wokha Division made it clear that “we are neither in favour nor against any party/union or department.” However it felt that the “matters could be solved through mutual dialogue and understanding instead of pointing fingers at each other through the press media which will only make matters worse.”
NCSU meeting on Feb 26
KOHIMA, FEBRUARY 24 (MExN): The Nagaland Contractors and Suppliers Union has convened an emergency meeting (matter relating to payment and other issues) on February 26 at 11 AM at the union conference hall in Kohima. A press note from the NCSU informed all union head office advisors, executive members, action committees, presidents and general secretaries of district units to attend the meeting positively.
Seminar for MSMEs in Mkg
MOKOKcHUNg, FEBRUARY 24 (MExN): Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Government of India will be organizing a three-day National Level Vendor Development Programme for Micro, Small and Medium enterprises in Mokokchung beginning February 25, in collaboration with the Mokokchung Chamber of Commerce and Industries. Mokokchung Deputy Commissioner, Murohu Chotso will be the chief guest for the event to be held at Multi-Purpose Hall, Imkongmeren Sports Complex, Mokokchung from 10:30 am onwards.
Dimapur VCs, GBs informed
DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 24 (MExN): The Office of the Superintendent of Food and Civil Supplies, Dimapur has informed all village council chairmen and head GBs of all villages under Dimapur district that there will be a consultative meeting on February 27 at Dimapur Town Hall from 10 AM onwards. It informed that the meeting will be held with regard to implementation of the Nationa Food Security Act 2013 and requested all concerned to attend positively.
RSU, RWSK clarify
DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 24 (MExN): With reference to the news published in local dailies on February 21 with the caption ‘Two Widows with 100 Kgs of Ganja’, the Razeba Students’ Union and Razeba Women Society Kohima have clarified “that there is no such name Ale wife of late Nasu of Razeba village who was allegedly involved in the case as published in the local dailies.” RSU and Razeba Women Society Kohima strongly condemned “such false citizen who damages the good image of Razeba village” and request the concerned authority to thoroughly verify the person’s citizenship and punish her as deemed fit. RSU and Razeba Women Society Kohima also ask the person concerned to tender an unconditional apology to the two organizations at the earliest failing which the organizations would initiate stern action against her.
Electric Energy’s rate formula must be “fair, equitable and reasonable” Part-1 U
Er. Albert Ovung
nlike a for-profit utility, Power Department may not recover more than its costs, but it also, by law, may not recover less — rates must be designed to recover the costs to serve each customer group. Power Department, classes include residential, commercial and industrial customers, plus very small groups consisting of streetlights and agricultural sector. Residential customers make up almost 90 percent of Energy’s customer base, with an estimated 172846 meters, but make up just 67 percent of annual usage, and contribute almost one-half of annual revenues. Technically residential customers consist of 90 % base load but less efficient to serve an account for half of the revenue The roughly 17612 commercial customers served by Energy make up 10 % of customers, 11 percent of annual usage and contribute 33 percentages in revenue. Industrial customers make up one percent of customers — there are about 2,050 — but use 4 % of all the power produced, and contribute 10 percent to annual revenue. The Bulk customers consist of 600 less than 1 percent (.3) but consume 15% of the energy and contribute 16% of the Revenue and have a connected load second highest in the category. Power Department ’s electrical system must be built to handle the maximum demands placed on it. Customer energy use is greatest on the hottest summer afternoons. Residential customers, as a category, use a greater portion of their energy than do the commercial and industrial category of users. Industrial and commercial customers use of power is more stable over time, which means they are using power more efficiently. The use of power over time is how electric utilities define “load factor.” The higher the load factor, the more efficient that customer is in using power. Part of power Department when designing rates should be to promote cost-effective load management. Industrial and commercial customers use power in bulk, which is more efficient, because it means that the fixed costs of serving those customers can be spread over more kilowatt hours, so the unit price is a little lower. It’s analogous to carpooling: the cost for one person to drive to work might be Rs100, but if four people share the ride it would be Rs.25 per person. The above statement was just to high light the practical problems faced by a electrical customer in Nagaland need introspection and revaluation of the tariff rate to avoid theft of Energy and improvement of revenue
collection. Let me point out some of loopholes or discrepancies I have found out from the DPN and NERC report for Electrical Tariff revision for 2013-14 for revaluation whether tariff should be revised to bridge the revenue gap or system need to be changed/modified improved first.
meter rent should be excluded in the billing. 8. Specially Dimapur district 40% of the Electric bill/moth comes from drawing water through inductive motor till the Government build an infrastructure for potable water supply to the Dimapur district bill consideration be made on the basis on reduce rate of tariff.
C. Category need to be reviewed Revenue gap for FY 2013-14 1.Domestic category should be further Table-6.34: Net revenue requirement and bifurcated as per contractual load demand. gap with revenue at existing tariff (Rs. crore) 2.Industry Category should be further bifurcated as per contractual load demand. Approved Sl. Projected 3.Commercial Category should be further Particulars by the ComNo. by DPN bifurcated as per contractual load demand. mission 1 Net Revenue Require- 393.25 272.45 4.Bulk category need to be abolished and ment (Rs. crore) accommodate into the above 3 category. 2 Revenue from sale of 178.42 185.63 (Reasons :- 1.Major industry have shiftpower (Rs. crore) ed to Bulk category and enjoy cheapest rate 3 Government subsidy 2.Major commercial building have shifted to proposed Administration of SubBulk category and enjoy cheapest rate) sidy The Licensees are directed to submit to the Commission by 15th of every month a status report on payment of subsidy amounts agreed to paid by the Government u/s 65 of the Electricity Act, 2003. 4 Gap (Rs. crore) T&D 214.85 losses of 27% 5 Energy Sales (MU) 417.30 6 Average cost (Rs/kWh) 9.42
-
86.82
445.16 6.12
A. 1.The gap of T&D losses of 27% need to be re-assessed as Bad debt of around 35 crores are billed to non existing consumer or untraceable consumer which goes on accumulating everymonth with increment (penalty) hence these amounts need to be waived or considered as bad debts then the actual T&D losses can be calculated and new tariff can be formulated. B. 2. The Commission has not included the fixed charge like minimum billing and Kva charges are not included which constitute major revenue collection. 3. The commission has shown only the meter rent collection and surcharge as no tariff revenue. 4. The commission has not shown the free power of 27MU 5.The rate at which surplus power are sold need to be reviewed as per competitive prices need to be made not as fixed price of Rs.4/unit. 6. CHARGES OF POLES USAGE FOR ADVERTISEMENT/water pipe/cable etc are difficult to collect as billing format or directive need to be discussed as all advertisement comes under the municipal corporation. 7. A consumer who purchase meter by themselves through deposit to the department
5.New Category proposed . a).Religous (Churches, Mosgue,Temple etc ) are presently billed at Commercial category and Bulk category which is very costly compared to their usage. b).Educational Institution (private and Government) which are presently billed at Commercial and Bulk category.
We therefore need to review some changes for fair and improvement of revenue billing some suggestions are noted down :a). Where an individual consumer seeks to avail supply for Domestic purpose with a connected load of over 56 kW/75 HP, such consumers may be given supply under this category subject to the following conditions. i. The metering shall be provided on HT side of the distribution transformer. ii. Meter reading shall be done monthly and the energy recorded in the HT metering shall be billed at tariff rates . (b) COMMERCIAL 1. For loads 10 kW and above, a LT trivector meter shall be provided and energy charges shall be billed on kVAh. 2. For loads below 10 kW, the billing shall be based on kWh. 3. In respect of the complexes having connected load of more than 56 kW /75 HP released under specific orders of Licensee for Single Point Bulk supply, where such complex is under the control of a specified organisation/agency taking responsibility to pay monthly current consumption bills regularly and abide by the Terms and Conditions of supply as per agreement, the billing shall be done at the highest slab tariff rate under domestic category. The energy shall be measured on the High Tension side of the transformer. In case, where energy measured on LT side of the transformer, 3% of the recorded energy during the month shall be added to arrive at the consumption on High Tension side of the transformer. C) Metering and load Conditions i. A LT Tri-vector meter shall be provided for the consumers with contracted load of 15 kW/20 HP to 37.5 kW/50 HP. ii. For loads above 37.5 kW/50 HP to 75 kW/100 HP, the metering will be provided on HT side of the Distribution Transformer. iii. Energy charges shall be billed on kVAh basis, for all consumers with contracted load of 15 kW/20 HP and above. For loads below 15 kW/20 HP, billing shall be done based on kWh. iv. If the recorded demand of any service connection under this category exceeds the 75 kVA (1 kVA = 1 kW), such excess demand shall be billed at the demand charge prescribed under HT Category (11 kV supply). v. In cases where metering is provided on LT side of transformer (due to space constraints), 3% of the recorded energy during the month shall be added to arrive at the consumption on High Tension side of the transformer.
At present the Industry category are mostly fabrication unit and small furniture unit who could not afford to buy their own transformer. The connected load of the Industrial i.e 8000KW and Bulk i.e23000Kw. D. Fixed Charge( Minimum Charge) need to be stopped from Domestic and commercial category below 10kw. At present in Dimapur prepaid meters don’t pay minimum bill if they don’t use where as non prepaid pay minimum bill even if they don’t use or reading is zero. E. The commission says domestic customer minimum tariff is 0 to 30kwh then rate Rs.3.10 i.e 30kwh into Rs.3.10=Rs.93.00/ month but the minimum bill is set as Rs. 100.00 pm/kwh of contract demand or part thereof. Hence the computer generates Rs.100/pm, again if your contractual demand is 10 kw but your consumption is 30 kwh/ month then you will be billed at 10kw into Rs.100.00 that comes to around 1000 plus meter rent , street light etc. But the commission has not included the above amount to recover the energy Gap. F. The commission has calculated the sales of energy on the basis of Kwh only or resistive load of unity power factor but in reality even the Government pays for the pure energy cost ,reactive power cost ,UI charges F. MAINTENANCE OF POWER FACTOR AT wheeling charges distribution charges etc. CONSUMER END
HT consumers, who are provided with metering capable of measuring active and reactive power under the orders of the Commission, shall maintain their power factor preferably in between 0.95 lag and 0.95 lead in the interest of the system security. The consumers should not maintain the power factor on leading side less than 0.95. If any consumer maintain the power factor less than 0.95 lead for a period of 2 consecutive months, it must be brought back in the range of + or -0.95 within a period of 3 months failing which without prejudice to such other rights as having accrued to the licensee or any other right of the Licensee the supply to the consumer may be discontinued. However, for the purpose of kVAh billing leading kVArh shall be blocked. G. Generation Transmission /DT staff : should be encouraged by awarding bonuses monthly to maintain the required frequency and sell the surplus power at better rate this will reduce the penalty from the grid and increase the revenue. H. Service Calls (a)Charges for attendance of Fuseman for Low Tension Consumers i) Replacing of Licensee’s cut out fuses Nil ii) Replacing of consumer's fuses ` 3/(b)Charges for attendance of Fuseman/ Wireman at the consumer's premises during any function or temporary illumination provided a Fuse man/ Wireman can be spared for such work` 100/- for each day or part thereof. (c) Charges for in fructuous visit of Licensee employees to the consumer's premises` 25/- for each visit when there is no defect in Licensee’s equipment.
The above write-up is purely for the general interest of electrical customer in Nagaland and have no personal interest in any way to any person related to the DPN or NERC as the tariff proposed is much higher and will be a huge burden for the common people and business community which may indirectly effect the price rise in the Market. If the above suggestion is implemented the growth rate of Revenue collection may reach at 2% profit annually with the previous tariff alone. As per the NERC report the department is fully on the verge of corporatization but just raising the tariff should not be more than 4%-8% but present suggestion is more than 90% on average per unit. The commission should also take into account for the welfare of the power department staff before unbundling .What the commission should do first is to change the system and bring the T&D loss to below 10% before unbundling .
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.
6
IN-FOCUS
The Power of Truth
The Morung Express TuEsDAy 25 FEbruAry 2014 volumE IX IssuE 53
Human Development
I
n the pursuit for human development, it is important to distinguish material growth or the accumulation model from genuine human development. The greedbased race for material acquisition under the accumulation model remains the central deterrent to human development that has devastating consequences on indigenous people that live in close proximity to vast repositories of natural resources. This race, characterized by competitive consumerism, destabilizes and destroys the power and essence of culture by replacing it with a culture of power based on wanting something they don’t have. This wanting negatively disrupts life and alienates people from their roots, causing confusion, despair and poverty. The impact of the accumulation model undermines the richness of humanity by replacing it with unhealthy wanting generated by advertising images that are supposed to bring happiness, financial wealth, sex appeal, status and so forth. Our true feelings and sincere desires are suppressed and questioned by this alluring greed. When this happens our very survival is reduced to a race for power that threatens every aspect of our existence from natural resources to human resources. Appalling sacrifices have been made for such relentless materialistic progress, trampling over everything in its way that justifies all the sacrifices made in the name of progress. This is driven by the idea that only the strongest survive and that the end justifies the means. Subsequently, humankind is reduced to objects of history and systems that suppress and deny the people’s basic human worth and dignity. Everything is legitimized in the name of progress. Clearly, the systems that perpetuate structural oppression and push people to the margins are what stand in the way of human development. This phenomenon has been disorientating and has usurped common sense; perhaps it is time to reflect and discern upon our own culture and honestly identify what the heart is saying. It is reassuring to know that when knowledge and wisdom meet, the truth emerges. At its core, human development is about creating new ways of thinking, living and doing through generating an inclusive and life-giving culture.
lEfT wiNg |
Nivedita IANS
‘Our films misinform about cancer’
M
anisha Koirala, who hails from Nepal and emerged a star in Bollywood and then survived cancer, does not approve of the kind of portrayal that cancer patients get in Hindi films where they are invariably shown as fighting a losing battle. She says it misguides already misinformed people about the feared disease. "In our films, they show that if you are suffering from cancer, then you have to die. Nobody has till now shown that you can deal with cancer and you can also survive for 30 to 40 years," Manisha, a survivor of ovarian cancer, told IANS in a conversation in the capital. She returned to the country last June after spending over six months in New York for treatment. About a million cases of cancer are detected in India every and it kills about half of them. These numbers are projected to go up considerably in the coming years. The 43-year-old feels "a lot has been done in India for cancer awareness, but a lot needs to be done especially the villages. "The information is not sufficient. People say that if you are suffering from cancer, you will die. Unfortunately, that upsets me. "I come from a background where people are educated, but what about poor women? Maybe the disease has not killed them, but the fear will take their lives. Even if they have a chance to survive, they will be dead with all the negative talk around," said the 43-year-old, who looked her charming self even with her cropped hairdo. Now as a Good Samaritan, Manisha, who comes from one of the best-known political families of Nepal, is doing her bit for cancer awareness by speaking out about the disease. She recently lent support to the Sahachari Foundation to raise funds for cancer survivors with its Design One initiative. She also hopes to launch an NGO that will promote good health. Manisha, one of the prettiest actresses of her time, says supporting such causes comes naturally to her because of what she went through during her ordeal. "One can't describe the tough time. We (I) don't even remember how tough it was because it is painful to remember that. When you come out of it, you take a while to gain confidence and to meet people because you wonder what the other person is thinking..." It is thus imperative to "learn to take it in one's stride". "We have to learn to accept it and move on. One should not be bogged down with anything in life. God has given each of us enough strength within us. We must find that core strength within, fight it and emerge successfully," she said, flashing what still looks like a million dollar smile! She finds herself a changed person. "I am hugely changed from earlier on. I think I started seeing things in a clearer way. I feel one should value life every day - valuing your moments; valuing people around you is needed because god knows what is going to happen. Grab life with both hands and hug it," she said. During her prime, Manisha worked in critically acclaimed films like "Bombay", "Dil Se" and "1942: A Love Story". She had made her Bollywood debut with "Saudagar" in 1991, and recently made a comeback with Ram Gopal Varma's "Bhoot Returns", which didn't do well at box office. Now she is hopeful for a second innings but has her choices set in her mind. "I made many wrong choices earlier. I started taking myself for granted as I felt I am good-looking and talented, but not any more. I know my talent and whatever capacity I have as an actor. "If that is going to get utilised to the optimum, only then am I going to do the film," said the actress.
S O U N D BITE
"I
was not happy when some things were said in public...but past is past now. The BJP cannot understand my pain. No social media foot soldier has the right to judge my bereavement," said Tharoor, claiming that some people were trying to derive political mileage out of his personal tragedy. He hit out at BJP leader Subramanian Swamy for claiming Sunanda was murdered. "Let Swamy produce evidence that Sunanda was murdered. No one in Indian politics takes Swamy seriously." Shashi Tharoor
THE EDIT PAGE
C O M M E N T A R Y
Thomas Hintze Waging Nonviolence
Why are the big movies of 2013 so disempowering?
T
About Him,” Sady Doyle captures this sentiment, rejecting the flimsy and apologetic argument that Theodore is well-meaning: “No matter how sensitive or tearful Theodore is, all that doesn’t stop him from fucking a woman that he has purchased so that she can provide him with unpaid labor.” The surprising ending does, however, offer a twist that alters this dynamic, posing questions that strike at the heart of the logic of monogamy and begs a different, spoiler-filled reading.
here are a number of important political lessons we can derive from this year’s big holiday movies, but the most valuable might come from audiences: Movies about desperate people sell. For the third straight weekend, American Hustle and The Wolf of Wall Street, movies about ambition, greed and lies, have finished in the top five at the box office, outflanking holiday heart-warmers like Saving Mr. Banks. Meanwhile, Her — although far from being among the biggest earners — is leading the awards conversation with its story of a desperately lonely man in a future of omniscient technology. So how do movies about desperation deal with questions of power? The real question might be: How can we, the audience, take back our power and force Hollywood to do things differently?
To watch or not to watch the ‘Wolf’ Martin Scorsese’s latest film The Wolf of Wall Street is a three-hour journey into the depraved minds of a handful of rags-to-riches stockbrokers who break all the rules, do all the drugs and discover new levels of misogyny. Based on a memoir by Jordan Belfort (played by Leonardo DiCaprio), the film depicts a home-cooked boiler room operation that balloons under the leadership of Belfort into the firm Stratton Oakmont — eventually employing more than 1,000 brokers whose sole purpose is scamming blue collar workers on the sale of penny stocks. The film, which opened on Christmas Day, has come under fire for being an ambiguous retelling of the story of the “Wolf” without the condemnation that he deserves. Slate movie critic Dana Stevens explained the dilemma by asking, “Was Wolf of Wall Street a critique of capitalist masculine privilege, or a three-hour-long feast on the goodies such privilege can buy?” Her answer was “both.” However, there is a problem with this logic, which credits the opaqueness of the film as its strength, and seems content to accept complexity as complexity, without giving it context. As Jordan Belfort learns when he gets panned in a Forbes article and gains the eponymous moniker “The Wolf of Wall Street,” all publicity is good publicity, which in this culture means the dominant narrative, no matter how scandalized, wins. The next day, after the exposé is written, young stock brokers flood his office looking for a job. In an open letter to Martin Scorsese and others involved in the making of the film, the daughter of one of Belfort’s associates attacks The Wolf of Wall Street for once more giving Belfort and bad men like him space. “You people are dangerous,” she wrote. “Your film is a reckless attempt at continuing to pretend that these sorts of schemes are entertaining, even as the country is reeling from yet another round of Wall Street scandals… Come on, we know the truth. This kind of behavior brought America to its knees.” Watching the film in theaters, at noon on a weekday, this ambiguity came to a head over and over again, creating uncomfortable situations for the crowded audience, reinforcing the movie’s tension. During some of the raunchier scenes of sex and excess, the theater seemed evenly split: Some cheered or laughed appreciatively, others sighed loudly or hushed the cheers. A number of audience members walked out at various times. From a conscious perspective, there are two ways to look at The Wolf of Wall Street: Wade through the filth to get to know your enemy, or take the Bartleby approach, and remove your consent and say “I would prefer not to.” The technology of loneliness Her is a new and engrossing film by Spike Jonze — director of Where the Wild Things Are and Being John Malkovitch. It takes viewers on a beautiful journey into our collective isolation chambers, which we create for ourselves everyday, often with the aid of technology. Set in a sort of vintage future where men
E
ven authors of international repute are finding that publishers can no longer protect their right to freedom of expression in India, the world's largest democracy. The blame for this lies in the way publishers are being sandwiched between tough Indian libel laws and claims that books violate certain religious or other "rights". When zealous interest groups or elements get involved, punitive legal provisions more often than not tilt the scales against authors. Throw in politicians of all hues ready to latch onto "emotive" issues, and one begins to comprehend why the going is getting so tough for writers and their publishers. This explains the now familiar tussles that have in recent years repeatedly pitted "extreme elements" against writers seeking to uphold the right to freedom of speech and expression. The most recent outcry in Indian and foreign media was over Penguin India's decision to recall and pulp, at its own expense, copies of the Indian edition of leading American academic Wendy Doniger's 800-page book, The Hindus: An Alternative History, published in 2009. This followed an "out-of-court settlement" between the publishers and Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti, a Delhibased Hindu outfit, who was up in arms over alleged "inaccuracies and biases". Reactions to the scandal have been as expected. For instance, leading Indian historian Ramachandra Guha, an author in the Penguin stable, has called Penguin India's decision "deeply disappointing", adding that the publishers should have appealed in a higher court. Booker prize-winning author and activist Arundhati Roy, also from the Penguin stable, has flayed Penguin's move, asking "what is it that scared you so?" and reminding Penguin of how it
wear high-waisted wool pants and women tie light, polka-dotted scarves around their necks, the film shows us a world searching for authenticity at every turn. Technology is at the forefront of the movie, which hinges on the relationship between a man and his operating system, but as Kyle VanHemert pointed out in Wired, the technology of the movie is largely invisible. Instead of focusing on the dynamic interaction of humans with technology, as many sci-fi genre movies do, the film centers on human relationships, making it feel personal and intimate. The question of technology is also important for activists and organizers — a problem which was recently animated by the media response to Kony 2012. But more important than the devices, it’s the connections that the devices make between people that the film draws attention to, which current metrics are unable to account for. In the future world of the movie, according to VanHemert, “technology hasn’t disappeared… It’s dissolved into everyday life.” Theodore (played by Joaquin Phoenix) works for a website called Beautifulhandwrittenletters.com, plays video games and has naughty chats with other singles before bed. Then Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson), Theodore’s new Siri-like operating system, comes along and changes everything. The tender relationship he discovers, which the film wisely avoids sending into the realm of comic absurdity, illuminates the dark corners of Theodore’s life, allowing him to look with fresh eyes on his past relationship and reevaluate his place in the present. Unfortunately, all this comes at the cost of a hackneyed female character trope that overshadows the film’s poignant message. Samantha is an operating system, the perfect computerized secretary who organizes Theodore’s work schedule and his personal life — before, ultimately, satisfying his sexual needs as well. In short, Samantha is at Theodore’s beck-and-call in nearly every way, offering a picture of a more perfect woman from the point of view of a man’s desire, and she comes in the form of an invisible object that he has purchased. This means that despite Scarlett Johansson’s penetrating vocal performance, Joaquin Phoenix has an incredible amount of screen time all by himself, literally banishing women from the picture. It begs the question: Will women’s second-class status in society be replaced by the second-class status of a computerized woman in the future? In her review of Her called “’Her Is Really More
Do the hustle Last on this list of disempowering films is American Hustle, a slick, comedic thriller about a few clever con artists who get in over their heads. It is also an absurd retelling of the 1978-1980 FBI anti-corruption operation Abscam, which took down six congressmen and one senator. Christian Bale plays Irving Rosenfeld, the expert crook who is apprehended by the FBI and used as a pawn by rogue agent Richie DiMaso (played by Bradley Cooper) to devise schemes that will ultimately entrap the politicians. Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence play Rosenfeld’s love interests — Sydney the co-conspirator and Rosalyn the wacky wife, respectively — who prove time and again that women are the driving force behind the plot. The film offers a funny and human glimpse inside the dark world of FBI covert operations, which is often mythologized in the world of political activism, when it should instead be demystified. Unfortunately, the best coverage the movie is getting from this angle has been celebrating FBI reforms following the Abscam scandal. In his attempt to construct the biggest corruption bust in history, DiMaso shows how FBI agents can abuse their positions, taking for themselves the autonomy to operate in morally ambiguous areas without accountability. This perspective largely ignores the recent history of FBI entrapment against Muslims and political dissidents, and the shift back toward more autonomous roles for agents with less accountability. DiMaso also uses the sympathetic and idealistic politician Carmine Polito (played by Jeremy Renner) as the bait to lure in other politicians, who raise money under the table in order to revitalize Atlantic City and create working-class jobs. It’s a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t proposition that shows the powerlessness of politicians to enact change. In this sense, the film makes a case (albeit a weak one) that change must occur outside the system because it exposes the fatalistic mechanisms the system uses to maintain the course, no matter where it is leading. It’s a complex interrogation of a confusing historical moment that will keep you on the edge of your seat. You might not leave feeling empowered, but you’ll feel a whole lot wiser about how this whole entrapment thing works. Here’s an idea for 2014: Instead of making movies about the outrageous abuses of stock brokers, the banality of lonely white men, or glorified FBI entrapment, what if Hollywood took up the counter-narratives and inverted relationships of power. Let’s see a film about the families impacted by evil stockbrokers like Jordan Belfort. There wouldn’t be as much ambiguity there. Or why not a movie from the perspective of Samantha — the human-made female consciousness, burdened with man’s work, trapped in an operating system? Or the activists who recently came forward, admitting that they broke into an FBI field office and leaked documents to the press exposing COINTELPRO? That’s the kind of movie I want to see in the new year — viable alternatives to the spat of disempowering films about desperate people. And if the same kind of talent is involved in their production — a slew of great actors and directors — I bet big audiences will storm the box offices, desperate for an uplifting story. Perhaps they’ll even leave the theaters with a new sense of agency, inspiring new activism.
literature clashes with the law in India Anindya rai verman Asia Times Online
has "fought for free speech against the most violent and terrifying odds" in the past. It has been suggested that publishing houses like Penguin, with "deep pockets", ought to do a better job of protecting authors' rights. On the other end of the spectrum, the Washington-based Hindu American Foundation, an advocacy body for the Hindu American community, criticized Doniger's book, saying it found it "atonal, inaccurate, and non-reflective of actual Hindu practice". Penguin India has officially reacted to the speculation by blaming "intolerant and restrictive" Indian laws, a position consistent with Doniger's own. Now that the reactions of both author and publisher are in, would suggestions that Penguin India did little to protect Doniger's rights as an author be put to rest? Doniger herself has been most "accommodative" in her response, acknowledging that Penguin India defended her book in the courts for four years, "both as a civil and as a criminal suit", but that it was "finally defeated by the true villain of this piece - the Indian law". Penguin India, too, has cited its "obligation as any other organization to respect the laws of the land in which it operates, however intolerant and
restrictive those laws may be" and its "moral responsibility" to protect "our employees against threats and harassment", for bringing to a "close a fouryear legal process in which Penguin has defended the publication of the Indian edition" of Doniger's book. The ongoing tussle between authors, publishers and interest groups seems unlikely to end anytime soon. India which was the first to ban imports of Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses for "hurting Muslim sentiments", and saw famed artist M F Husain die in exile in 2011 after facing death threats in India from far-right Hindu groups "angered by his paintings of Indian deities in the nude". Elements that are eager to silence or censor unwanted voices are emboldened by India's tough libel laws (particularly section 295A of the Indian Penal Code, as Penguin India has cited in its response). The Doniger issue has already assumed political hues which are particularly significant given the approaching general elections in April-May 2014. The opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is perceived as mainly "proHindu" and predicted to do well. Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh of the ruling Congress party
wRiTE-wiNg
has described Penguin India's decision as "atrocious", calling the Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti (The Save Education Movement) "some Taliban-type outfit" that is "distorting and destroying our [India's] liberal traditions". In another recent book-related tussle, it was concerns over defamation and not hurting religious sentiments that saw a book pulped. London-based Bloomsbury Publishing took a "unilateral" decision in January to "withdraw from the market and destroy copies" of The Descent of Air India by Jitender Bhargava, published only in October last year. Praful Patel, former aviation minister and now federal minister for heavy industries and public enterprises, named in the book among others, had filed a defamation case against the author and publisher in an Indian court. While Bloomsbury India offered an apology to Patel, Bhargava maintains he wasn't kept in the loop by Bloomsbury India about its decision. In the event, Bhargava has decided not to be "bulldozed into submission" and says he will get the book reprinted "either on my own or through a new publisher". He said he may also bring it out as an "e-book" because facts can't be "allowed to be suppressed". In the end, it seems, even authors in the stable of international publishers have little choice where India is concerned. If an author's physical book is taken out of print, he or she will have to find a new way to keep it in circulation. As Penguin has clarified in the Doniger case, international editions of his book "remain available physically and digitally to Indian readers who still wish to purchase it". Anindya Rai Verman is a New Delhi-based journalist and writer who analyzes Asian issues and how they affect global business and politics.
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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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TuEsday
THE MORUNG EXPRESS
25 February 2014
PERSPECTIVE NEWS ANALYSIS, FEATURE AND DISCOURSE
modern Islam, Reclaiming the WoRd Morocco, and the future of Africa In missionary hands, the gospel was too often a bludgeon used to divide and conquer Native communities. Today, Indigenous theologians are finding redemptive power in that very same gospel
ahmed Charai
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Terry LeBlanc
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Sojourners
OR GENERATIONS, Native North Americans and other Indigenous peoples have lived the false belief that a fulfilled relationship with their Creator through Jesus required rejecting their own culture and adopting another, European in origin. In consequence, conventional approaches to mission with Indigenous peoples in North America and around the world have produced relatively dismal outcomes. The result has subjected Indigenous people to deeprooted self-doubt at best, self-hatred at worst. One of the more egregious examples of the “conventional” approach in Canada involved the church-run residential schools. Indigenous children were taken from their families, prevented from speaking their native languages, and subjected to various other forms of abuse. Isabelle Knockwood, a survivor of church-run residential schools, observed, “I thought about how many of my former schoolmates, like Leona, Hilda, and Maimie, had died premature deaths. I wondered how many were still alive and how they were doing, how well they were coping, and if they were still carrying the burden of the past on their shoulders like I was.” Given the countless mission efforts over the past four centuries (which in practice were targeted not so much to spiritual transformation as to social and cultural annihilation), we might conclude that Indigenous people must possess a unique spiritual intransigence to the gospel. But that would not tell the whole story. The real tale is best told through a more careful examination of the many Indigenous people who, despite the tragic history of Christian mission in their lives and communities, still claim affinity to one tradition or another of the Christian church. Here we discover people from the Arctic to Mexico stumbling heavenward within the kingdom of God despite the bleakness of their current social realities—devastation clearly connected to the wrong-headedness of mission to their people. (Native North Americans “lead” in all the negative social statistics: Poor health, addictions, family violence, unemployment, homelessness, lack of education, etc. are all extremely high in First Nations, Inuit, Métis, and Native American communities.) THE NORTH AMERICAN Institute for Indigenous Theological Studies (now simply known as NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community) emerged in response to a growing need to transform otherwise depressing, death-dealing statistics into life-giving reconciliation—of people with their Creator, of individuals with themselves, and of humanity with the rest of creation. A small cadre of mature Native Christian practitioners directs NAIITS. Most have been personally invested in exploring and living out the theology they have espoused for more than 25 years. Theological and biblical understanding that resonates from within the cultures and traditions of Indigenous people has emerged from this interaction. Christianity, as presented to us over the centuries, offered soul salvation, a ticket home to eternity, but was essentially unconcerned with the rest of our lives—lives that, history makes clear, were nonetheless fully exploited by those bringing the offer. It was with this in mind that, in 1999, the emerging controversy over Indigenous cultural and theological contextualization of the gospel provoked our small group of Indigenous Jesus-followers to respond. Since that time, our unwavering commitment has been to facilitate transformation and growth through the power of the gospel versus the often controlling, Westernized, religious expression of that gospel frequently presented to us. This has been a daunting task at times, since the juggernaut of Western mission, theology, and theological method has tended to decry anything of a contrary nature as heterodox. (Particularly in the U.S., both conservative and liberal Christians, with their respective points of dogma, tend to expect their particular tracks to be followed.) Challenging this deep-seated Western ethnocentrism in theology and mission—at least among our own people—will encourage Native followers of Jesus to more effectively contribute to the wider community of Christian faith. This is necessary not only for ourselves, but also for the wider church. The mono-cultural and monophilosophical foundations of most Christian faith in North America has had a negative, limiting effect for many decades, not only on theology but on missiology as well, often relegating the practice of faith to unhealthy patterns of self-absorbed individualism. Questions that might offer opportunity for real change are not asked—or if asked, they are responded to out of the same unchanging interpretive and philosophical framework. Shift One: Away from Dualism Our theological response to all of this is visible in several shifts. First, we have shifted away from the dualistic philosophical frames within which European and EuroNorth American theology has been classically undertaken to a more holistic philosophical frame of reference. To Indigenous people, life is not easily captured in the simple binaries and either/or realities common within Western thought. Our philosophy is much more akin to the Hebraic “both/and.” Making this shift has resulted in active engagement with traditional Indigenous thinking and a more biblically faithful position. Consider, for example, the continuing Western struggle to understand that the whole of creation is the focus of God’s redemptive activity in Christ. Christian scripture is abundantly clear that redemption through Jesus’ work on the cross has implications far beyond the church’s usual emphasis on the restoration of human beings alienated from their Creator. The creation itself groans in travail awaiting its own redemption (Romans 8:18-25). Yet, even as we give tacit assent to this in Western Christian theologies, we fail miserably to account for the work of the Spirit—dare I say, the gifts of the Spirit—so abundantly evident in the rest of Creation through which that groaning is becoming increasingly unmistakable. We might learn
Native American Christians dressed in traditional regalia.
something about the means and trajectory of our common salvation were we to listen more carefully. Seldom in evangelical writing does the idea that Jesus came to give his life so that the rest of creation might also be redeemed find a voice. (Howard Snyder and Joel Scandrett’s Salvation Means Creation Healed is a recent exception.) Make no mistake: Our current environmental quandary is the outcome of Christian theology, framed in dualist thought over many centuries, gone awry. Compounded dualisms in classical Christian theology have also, from an Indigenous vantage point, created senseless divisions of reality into the sacred and profane, sacred and secular, natural and supernatural. Not everyone assumes life happens on two separated planes of existence, isolated from the rest of a supernatural creation by human-dictated delimitations. For most of us in the Indigenous world, everything expresses the sacred, for it all proceeds from God—regardless of the means of its creation. Not only is it fully sacred, but clearly, despite scientific discovery, it is still a significant mystery.
Shift Two: The Biblical Starting Point The second shift is in our biblical starting point. Western theology, in the firm grip of Augustine’s articulation of sin and sin’s nature, has inevitably begun its theological undertakings with Genesis chapter 3, the Fall. Scraping the bottom of the sin barrel, then turning it over to see what lies beneath, has occupied much of Western Christian thought through the centuries. This practice made it theologically possible for missionaries and monarchs, popes and priests, vicars and viceroys to proclaim our soullessness and lack of humanity— to pronounce, as did missionaries of the 17th century, “These heathen must first be civilized before they can then become fit receptacles of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” It is curious those who believed in the omnipresence of God would then announce God’s absence from a godless, heathen land and people! Indigenous people were subjected to capricious death at the hands of European colonials, per Thomas Aquinas’ own thought, expressed in his Summa Theologica centuries before: “Unbelievers deserve not only to be separated from the Church, but also ... to be exterminated from the World by death.” Recently I was confronted by a prominent evangelical who claimed that our efforts at contextualization of the gospel—of cultural appropriation in worship—were leading people astray, since according to him the precontact Indigenous world was an evil place filled with lust, murder, idolatry, and devil worship. He asserted that Western civilization came to our rescue, since in his view nothing of value existed within us. (If you reflect on the political landscape of Europe from 1492 through the 20th century—of the countless wars over land and the lust for more—you might think twice about where murder, idolatry, and greed were centered!) To the NAIITS community, resolution of these conflicting images requires that we start at the beginning of the biblical narrative, Genesis 1, asking questions about the thought, plan, idea, and intent of God and interpreting all we see and experience in light of this plan—before we ask how it is that it became “subjected to futility.” This shift seems particularly important and relevant in this postresurrection time where all of creation, not simply the human soul fit for heaven, has been and is being redeemed and restored through Jesus. Shift Three: Notions of the Spiritual The third shift runs along two tracks. The first concerns traditional Christian notions of what is “spiritual.” Reading the devotional and spiritual masters over the centuries (for example, the Ignatian exercises), one might conclude that spiritual matters are primarily cognitively embraced and experienced. Rationalist theologies and mission practices—many of which have been based in propositional truth and the positivistic, evidentiary approach to decisions about God—owe their existence to this understanding. The second track emerges when we ask regular Christians about the spiritual. Responses will usually suggest that being spiritual is about behavior—whether I do devotions, read scripture, pray a particular way, fast, etc. What I do is my spirituality! Several years ago I spent days on the streets, sleeping in the back of my vehicle, searching for a young crack addict. He was my relative, falling deeper and deeper into the grip of his addiction. Accompanying me one day was a Euro-Canadian pastor friend. Having finally tracked the young man down, we sat together on the curb listening to his story. At a pause, my pastor friend contrasted the young man’s church upbringing with his current state, to which the young man replied, “You don’t think I’m spiritual, do you?” That is precisely what most Christians, regardless
Richard Twiss advocated for allowing Native Americans to worship as Christians in their traditional garb.
of church tradition, have come to believe—spirituality is about behavior, not an inherent quality of creation imparted by the act of God’s creation, augmented in human beings through the gift of God’s image and likeness, irrespective of behavior! For Indigenous people, the biblical text, our history, and our life experience suggest that all of creation, not just human beings, is of a spiritual nature and is the focus of God’s redemptive activity in Jesus. We see this clearly expressed in a non-metaphoric, non-anthropomorphic, non-epitomized reading of scripture (for example, Genesis 1:28-30; Job 12:7-10; Romans 8:22ff). This has implications for how we view the work of Jesus and the cross—not simply as providing for soul salvation, but rather ensuring the restoration of all things to the plan and intent of God (see shift two above). Evangelical theology, particularly in the U.S., has struggled to comprehend this, assigning the label “pantheism” to any understanding of the nature of the spiritual that includes all of creation as a focus for Jesus’ work on the cross.
Shift Four: The Significance of Story A fourth shift is in our understanding of story. To us, communal narrative serves a compelling and significant function. It can be objective and factual—containing clear teachings for life, which, if ignored, put one in dire peril— and simultaneously mythic and broadly flourished for narrative effect. Each form or genre of story, each teller of a story within the grander narrative of the community, is integral to the wider collection—a compendium the community has stewarded through the generations to teach the ways of life. Removing one voice, form, or story, subjecting it to dissection, or truncating its meaning by casting doubt on its authenticity when the ancestors have clearly included it, destroys the whole. As one of our members has said, “Changing the story of the ‘Three Little Pigs’ to remove the house of sticks and go directly to the house of bricks is to lose the story. My grandchildren would respond and say, ‘Nookum, that’s not the way the story goes!’” This means, to most of us in the NAIITS community, that the Christian scriptures cannot be dissected by literary methods—or even contemporary narrative theological technique—so as to arrive at the “essence of the story” and its teachings or the central story-teller’s words; doing so truncates the story and renders it impotent. NAIITS has created theological education programs that incorporate these four shifts and others, offering several undergraduate and graduate degree programs in partnership with credible evangelical educational institutions. Our hope in doing so is to bring change for our people and others who may come along on the journey, all rooted in the story of the person, work, life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Terry LeBlanc is Mi’kmaq/Acadian, a founder and chair of the North American Institute for Indigenous Theological Studies (naiits.com), and adjunct faculty in Indigenous and intercultural studies for Tyndale Seminary in Toronto and Asbury Seminary in Kentucky
IaNS
n the wake of unprecedented Islamist explosions and attacks across North Africa, the foreign ministers of 19 countries - including France and much of North Africa launched an equally unprecedented response. Meeting in Morocco's capital Rabat last November, they vowed to pool their intelligence efforts against the Al Qaeda and its fellow travellers. Their agreement, known as the Rabat Declaration, creates a counter-terrorism intelligence fusion centre and formalises its plans to share secret reports on terrorists. This is a major blow against Al Qaeda's North African affiliates, which have long exploited intelligence gaps among neighbouring nations. The Rabat Declaration has got little notice in Washington, but it signals that some major changes are under way in Europe and Africa. France and Morocco have acted with vision and boldness. France sent its forces to Mali to combat Al Qaeda affiliates there. For the first time in nearly 50 years, French ground forces fought the terrorists of Sahara and routed the Islamist enemy. Morocco's efforts were largely diplomatic, but, if anything, more dramatic. While the kingdom is America's oldest ally in the region, it had been largely ostracised by neighbouring Algeria. Algeria's influence has long kept Morocco out of the African Union, the only nation on the continent to be excluded, and Morocco has been excluded from most major regional security initiatives. But when Islamist-inspired civil war ravaged neighbouring Mali, Rabat did not stand idly by. At first, the European Union and North African nations looked to Algeria to lead efforts to stabilise Mali. As Algeria's Francophone southern neighbour, Mali has largely been seen as part of Algeria's sphere of influence. But Algeria did nothing. Algiers was consumed by a power struggle between the powerful Department of Intelligence and Security and the ruling FLN party. The battle turned on who would ultimately replace the nation's ageing president, Abdel Aziz Bouteflika. So Algiers turned a blind eye as suffering in Malian cities mounted and refugees poured desperately into the desert. All Algeria could manage to do was patrol its own vast borders with Mali. With Algeria on the sidelines, Morocco charged on to the field. The Moroccan king saw a chance to partner with the new French leader and forge a regional alliance to defeat the Islamists in Mali and contain the contagion of radical Islam. This is a major reversal. Long excluded, Morocco emerged to lead an AfricanFrench coalition against jihadists in Mali. The king knew that due to North African migration patterns from 1960 onwards, the North African jihadist threat actually stretches from the Congo to Belgium. That requires a broad strategy encompassing intelligence and military operations, economics and, most controversially, religion. Morocco has also launched initiatives to boost trade and investment across the region. In the past decade, Morocco signed free-trade accords with the European Union and the United States. Now it is looking south. Morocco's Attijariwafa Bank, which recently acquired a majority stake in Mali's Banque Internationale, has an innovative approach to emerging market banking. Many of its clients have opened their first bank accounts or taken their first bank loans in the past five years. Where Western banks only see risk, Moroccan banks see high-margin opportunities. Office Cherifien des Phosphates (OCP), the Moroccan phosphates company, increased mining operations in Mali (while its phosphate-made fertiliser has boosted food production). These investments are creating economic growth, which should also minimize the appeal of radical Islam. The third pillar of Morocco's strategy is religion and it is the one that makes Western policy makers most uncomfortable. Raised in a culture that separates religion and politics, many Westerners intuitively believe it is wrong for secular parties to make religious arguments. And, they always say, it is the jihadists who mix religion with politics. What they fail to fully grasp is that in Muslim countries, politics and religion are one. In Morocco, King Mohammed VI is both the head of state and the highest religious authority, the Commander of the Faithful. He has used his religious post to champion moderation and reform across North Africa and southern Europe, which is home to many Moroccan and Algerian migrants. Among his initiatives, the king dispatched Muslim imams to French and Spanish cities to emphasise the religious errors in radical Islam. The king has also engaged Mali on religious grounds. Morocco and Mali (and other North African nations) share the moderate Malikite school of Islam, which preaches deference to civil governments. The king wants to strengthen this school and inoculate other north African Muslims against extremism. This pre-empts the appeals made by Saudi and Pakistani missionaries, who spent the past two decades trying to radicalise North African Muslims. Meanwhile, Morocco is building on its success in the religious outreach by announcing partnerships with Tunisia, Guinea and Libya to jointly train imams and fight extremist ideas. President Obama will host a US-Africa summit in Washington on August 4-5. American officials should take a closer look at Morocco's case of deploying moderate Maliki Islam to combat radicalism. Like the Cold War, the War on Terror is a war of ideas. How to promote peaceful religious ideas should be a major focus of the summit, even if it makes some Westerners uncomfortable.
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.
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Dimapur
NATIONAL
Tuesday 25 February 2014
The Morung Express
End of road for Lalu?
13 RJD MLAs quit party to join Nitish Kumar Patna, February 24 (agencies): In a big setback to Lalu Prasad Yadav just before the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and in what could change the political equations in Bihar, thirteen Rashtriya Janata Dal MLAs have left the party and may join the JD(U). These 13 MLAs met Vidhan Sabha Speaker Uday Narain Choudhary this afternoon pledging support to Nitish Kumar government. The Speaker is reported to have recognized the breakaway faction as a separate group and has declared them “unattached” from the RJD. RJD chief is in the national capital at the moment. He has 22 MLAs in the 243-member state Assembly. Lalu was convicted in the Fodder scam last year and was sentenced to five years in jail. At present he is out on bail. When asked by mediapersons about the split, he sidestepped the matter and said that he had also heard something on similar lines. On the other hand, talking to reporters, rebel RJD MLA Samrat Chaudhary said that there is no such thing as the RJD left in Bihar.
“For the past three months party’s leader is in Delhi. The way he is wooing the Congress, RJD should be merged with the Congress,” he said. He also said that they had written to the Vidhan Sabha secretary on February 14 asking to be allowed to have separate seating arrangement or be allowed to merge with JDU. “Today we have got permission to sit separately,” Chaudhary said.
“I am with the MLAs who have revolted. We have asked the Speaker that we want to join the JD(U). Let’s see what happens. Whatever, Nitish (Bihar CM) will tell us, we will do,” he added. Lalu has been in talks with the Congress regarding an alliance with the grand old party for the Lok Sabha polls. He has met Congress president and vice president, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi respectively
couple of times in the recent past. It is being said that the rebel RJD MLAs were not sure of getting tickets for the Lok Sabha polls as they feared that Lalu would offer them to the Congress. The RJD chief has also been taking on the BJP and its PM candidate for 2014 polls, Narendra Modi, after coming out from the jail and has been talking about fighting the communal forces. In most of the opinion polls done in the recent past, BJP is expected get more than 20 seats in Bihar, followed by the RJD and then the JD(U). However, things may change after the split in RJD. Meanwhile, speculation is rife that Ramvilas Paswan may tie up with the BJP. However, Paswan’s son has said that no such decision has been taken till now. LJP was part of the NDA camp during Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s regime. He quit the NDA a month after the 2002 Gujarat riots. The LJP is reportedly unhappy about the number of seats that has been offered to it in Bihar by the Congress and the RJD for LS polls.
Residents wear costumes and ride bicycles as they celebrate Car Free Day in Mumbai, India, Sunday, Feb. 23. The event locally organized for the fourth consecutive year aims to cut down on pollution and give people an opportunity to enjoy a traffic free environment. (AP Photo)
Moily writes to PM, defends gas pricing deal with Reliance PRESidEnt’S Now Kejriwal writes to Rahul on Reliance gas price RuLE in dELhi
new Delhi, February 24 (ians): Reliance Industries’ (RIL) contract for KG-D6 gas fields cannot be terminated pending arbitration on the issue of thecompany’s production shortfall, Petroleum Minister M. Veerappa Moily has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. A senior ministry source, requesting anonymity, told IANS Monday that the Prime Minister’s Office had forwarded for a response to the petroleum ministry a letter written by former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal demand-
ing that the decision to hike natural gas prices be kept in abeyance till the completion of an anti-corruption case he had ordered while in office. A case was registered against Moily, RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani, and former minister Murli Deora alleging cabinet ministers colluded with Ambani to steeply raise gas prices. Kejriwal, who addressed the media last week, wants the government to terminate RIL’s KG-D6 contract for noncompliance. “In view of the contractual provision under the PSC (production
new Delhi, February 24 (ians): After a letter to the BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, Aam Admi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal has shot a similar missive to Congress party vice president Rahul Gandhi on the hike in gas prices for Reliance Industries. In the open letter released to the media, Kejriwal alleged that Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Induries had already secured a higher price of over $4 per unit for natural gas by using questionable means, as against the cost of $1 per and an agreed price of $2.3 per unit. Now, the United Progressive Alli-
sharing contract), the government will not be able to terminate the contract on account of shortfall in production as the matter is pending before the arbitral tribunal,” Moily said in the letter. The ministry had in 2012 ordered a penalty of over $1 billion on RIL for failing to produce gas in line with the pre-stated targets. It blamed the company for deliberately suppressing production by not drilling the required number of wells.
ance (UPA) government has decided to hike it further to $8 per unit and it is believed it will result in an undue benefit of Rs.54,000 crore to Reliance Industries -- as opposed to a budget of Rs.40,000 crore for Delhi. “Panic will spread within the country from April 1,” Kejriwal said, adding that the cost of cooking gas, transportation and fertilisers will all go up, resulting in higher food prices and an inflationary spiral. “Why are you and Modi quite on this issue,” he queried. “People are also wondering as to why gas prices were doubled just a few months before the general elections,” he said,
RIL has approached for arbitration against the order, saying the fall in output is owing to geological complexities and lower than anticipated reserves. There is a PIL before the Supreme Court due for hearing March 4 seeking review of the government decision to hike the natural gas price from $4.2 to $8.4 million British thermal unit (mBtu) from April 2014, that has also sought a halt to the arbitration proceedings.
asking if the Congress party in any way was being funded by, or getting other favours from, Mukesh Ambani. “If so, what is that/” He said when the anti-corrruption wing of Delhi filed a filed a case against Ambani when the Aam Admi Party government was in power, senior leaders of both the Congress and BJP raised objections. “Do the two parties have such bonding with Mukesh Ambani?” Kejriwal said he was making the letter public since it concerned the average citizens. Also, while Rahul Gandhi may choose not to reply to it, if he makes his views on these matters public, it will remove people’s doubts.
The government had in June 2013 approved the new price for all types of domestically produced gas at an average of the cost of LNG imported into India and international hub, or market, rates - a formula suggested by the C. Rangarajan Committee constituted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to look into issues concerning the oil and gas sector. RIL was permitted to sell natural gas at the revised doubled price from
April provided it gave a bank guarantee to be encashed be encashed if it is proved that the company hoarded gas or deliberately suppressed production at the main Dhirubhai-1 and 3 (D1 and D3) fields in the eastern offshore KG-D6 block. Regarding the hike in gas prices, Moily wrote that several gas fields of both RIL and state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) were economically unviable at the current $4.2 rate, the source told IANS.
Will take up AFSPA withdrawal with Centre: Omar Abdullah
sheeri, February 24 (Pti): Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today reiterated his demand for revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), and said he would take up the issue again with the Centre later this year. “Talks (for revocation of AFSPA) are on and I am of the opinion that because of the improved situation, there are areas in the state from where the AFSPA should go,” Omar told reporters on the sidelines of a function here, 60 kms from Srinagar. He said a start had to be made for the revocation of the AFSPA and he would take up the issue with the Centre. “Some people expressed apprehensions about 2014. That is why I have said let the first half of the year pass, then I will surely take up the issue with the Centre,” Omar said. In reply to another question about the closure of the Pathribal encounter case by Army, Omar said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had assured him that he would take up the issue with the Defence Ministry. “The Prime Minister has assured me that he will take up the issue of Pathribal case with the Defence Ministry and will not allow this case to be buried,” the Chief Minister said, adding “it is up to the Prime Minister now how much he will take the issue forward, but he is on it.”
No death penalty for Italian marines, Centre drops anti-piracy charge
new Delhi, February 24 (Pti): In a major reprieve for the two Italian marines facing trial for allegedly killing two Indian fishermen off Kerala coast in 2012, the Centre on Monday informed the Supreme Court that the duo would not be tried under the antipiracy law (SUA). This effectively means that the Italian marines would not face death penalty if convicted of killing the two Indian fishermen. The Supreme Court, meanwhile, agreed to examine the Italian government’s plea challenging jurisdiction of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to probe the marines’ case. During the last hearing, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Italian government and the marines, had submitted that the Centre has not been able to move in the case despite the apex court’s order and pleaded that his client be allowed to go back to their country till Centre takes a decision. The bench had said that it will take up the case on February 24 and will then hear the submission. The bench was hearing a petition filed by Italian government challenging invoking of anti-terrorism law SUA, saying it is against the order of the apex court which allowed proceedings only under the Maritime Zone Act, IPC, CrPC and UNCLOS.
Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, second right, shakes hand with Canada’s Governor General David Johnston, as Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, left, Governor General’s wife Sharon Johnston and Indian president’s daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee, look on during Johnston ceremonial reception at the Indian presidential palace, in New Delhi, Monday, Feb. 24. Johnston is on a week-long official visit to India. (AP Photo)
Setback for AAP as SC refuses to issue notice to Congress, BJP
new Delhi, February 24 (agencies): In a huge setback for the Aap Aadmi Party (AAP), the Supreme Court on Monday refused to issue a notice to BJP and Congress in response to its petition challenging the imposition of President’s rule in Delhi. The apex court also sought a response from the Centre in this regard within ten days. A bench comprising justices RM Lodha and Dipak Misra issued notice to the Centre asking it to respond within 10 days on the issue raised by the AAP. The bench, which posted the matter for hearing on March 7, refrained from issuing notice to BJP and Congress which were made party in the petition, saying it only wants to deal with the constitutional issue and does not want to have a political contest. “It is a constitutional issue so whoever has passed the order has to answer,” the bench said and added, “We don’t want it to be a political contest”. When it was stated that allegations have been made against the two parties, the bench said it will see when it will come. Senior advocate Fali S Nariman appeared for the AAP and explained the facts which led to the filing of the petition. Earlier, on February 21, the apex court had agreed to hear on Feb 24 the petition seeking a direction to the Lieutenant Governor to dissolve Delhi Assembly and hold fresh polls along with Lok Sabha elections. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, who had appeared for AAP, had said there was no possibility of any alternate government in Delhi and the Lieutenant Governor should have dissolved the Assembly. The joint petition filed on the basis of newspaper reports and documents available in public domain by AAP and Saurabh Bhardwaj, who was the Transport Minister in Kejriwal Cabinet, challenged the decision to impose President’s rule in Delhi on the recommendation
of the Lieutenant Governor alleging it was done to protect Congress leaders and former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit from corruption charges. It contended that the February 16 order imposing President’s rule was with a motive to frustrate the ongoing investigation in those corruption cases in which FIR has been lodged by the Arvind Kejriwal government. The petition has said, “Apparently, the motive behind not dissolving the Delhi Legislative Assembly and holding fresh election is to allow a political party, which had badly lost the Delhi Legislative Assembly Election, and of which several important leaders including ministers in central government and the former Chief Minster are facing serious corruption charges. “....To govern the NCT of Delhi indirectly through the central government as the same party is presently in power in the Centre and also to frustrate the ongoing investigations in those corruption charges under the FIRs which were recently lodged by the Delhi Government. “Thus, the aforesaid decision is not only arbitrary and illegal and in violation of the democratic rights of the citizens of Delhi but also malafide.” The petition has said the order to impose President’s rule was “illegal, arbitrary and in violation” of Article 14 of the Constitution as after the resignation of the Kejriwal government neither BJP nor Congress were in a position to form the government and they had already expressed unwillingness in this regard. It has further raised constitutional questions to keep the assembly under suspended animation by ignoring categorical recommendation of the majority government of the NCT of Delhi for dissolving the House. The petition has said that imposition of the President’s rule has denied the citizens of Delhi their democratic right to have an elected popular government.
India, China hold defence and security dialogue new Delhi, February 24 (ians): India and China held their sixth annual defence and security dialogue here Monday during which they agreed to continue to work towards maintaining peace and tranquility on their disputed border. The dialogue was co-chaired by India’s Defence Secretary R.K. Mathur and Deputy Chief of General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army, Lt Gen Wang Guanzhong. Both sides noted that the leadership of both countries has recognised maintenance of peace
and tranquility on the border as an important guarantor for development and growth of the bilateral relationship and it was decided that both should continue to take suitable measures in this direction, an official statement said. In this connection, it was, inter alia, decided that a senior level exchange between the Directorates General of Military Operations would be conducted in India in 2014, during which both sides would discuss practical measures for management of border issues. Both sides also decided on a
number of measures for exchanges and interactions between their armed forces in 2014. Both also discussed issues concerning the security situation in South Asia, the Asia-Pacific and the Indian Ocean region. They also agreed that strengthening of strategic consultation and communication would facilitate sharing of perspectives and mutual understanding in the evolving regional security situation, said the statement. With 2014 being designated as the ‘Year of Friendly Exchanges’, both sides
agreed to continue to expand the exchanges between their armed forces so as to foster mutual trust and understanding. They noted that the visits of Defence Minister A.K. Antony to China in 2013 and of his Chinese counterpart to India the year before had provided an impetus to the expansion of military exchanges. The proposed visit of the Chinese defence minister to India in 2014 was welcomed. Following the successful conduct of the joint army exercise in China in 2013, both sides agreed
to conduct the next joint exercise in India in 2014. Other measures agreed upon include strengthening of maritime security cooperation between their navies; officer exchanges and professional interactions at various levels of all services and exchanges in the areas of peacekeeping, counter terrorism and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, the statement said. After the meeting, the Chinese delegation also called on Antony and Army chief, Gen. Bikram Singh, who is also the chairman of the chiefs of staff committee.
InternatIonal
the Morung express
Tuesday 25 February 2014
Dimapur
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Ukraine’s fugitive prez wanted for mass murder KIEV, FEbruary 24 (rEutErs): Fugitive Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, ousted after bloody street protests in which demonstrators were shot by police snipers, is wanted on an arrest warrant for mass murder, authorities announced on Monday. As rival neighbours east and west of the former Soviet republic said a power vacuum in Kiev must not lead to the country breaking apart, acting President Oleksander Turchinov said Ukraine's new leaders wanted relations with Russia on a "new, equal and good-neighbourly footing that recognises and takes into account Ukraine's European choice". European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton was travelling to Ukraine to discuss measures to shore up the ailing economy, which the finance ministry said needs $35 billion in foreign aid over the next two years. Russian-backed Yanukovich, 63, who fled Kiev by helicopter on Friday, is still at large after heading first to his eastern power base, where he was prevented from flying out of the country, and then diverting south to the Crimea, acting interior minister Arsen Avakov said. "An official case for the mass murder of peaceful citizens has been opened," Avakov wrote on his Facebook profile. "Yanukovich and other people responsible for this have been declared wanted."
Yanukovich had left a private residence in Balaclava, in the Russian-speaking Crimea, for an unknown destination by car with one of his aides and a handful of security guards, Avakov said. It was an ignominious political end for Yanukovich who has been publicly deserted by some of his closest erstwhile allies, stripped of his luxury residence outside Kiev and had to witness the return of his arch-rival Yulia Tymoshenko. Russia recalled its ambassador from Kiev for consultations on Sunday, accusing the opposition of having torn up a transition agreement with the president it supported. In a sign of nervousness over how Moscow may react, Oleh Tyahnybok, a farright nationalist who was one of three opposition leaders who negotiated with Yanukovich on Friday, said the Defence Ministry should check out reports that Russian troops might gather on Ukraine's border. He gave no details and did not suggest such troop movements had actually taken place. Interfax news agency later quoted Ukrainian border guards as saying there was no sign of any Russian troop movements near the border. Tyahnybok said a boat was due to arrive in the Crimean port of Sevastopol with 200 Russian commandos. Russia's Black Sea fleet is based in Sevastopol and its forces come and go freely. It was not clear whether this
slightly. The cost of insuring Ukraine's debt fell on hopes that the country would now receive aid and avoid default, while sovereign dollar bonds recorded gains on expectations that a new government would focus on the economy. Scuffles in Crimea and some eastern cities between supporters of the new order in Kiev and those anxious to stay close to Moscow revived fears of separatism. A week ago those concerns were focused on the west, where Ukrainian nationalists had disowned Yanukovich and proclaimed self-rule. A man lights a candle at a memorial for the people killed in clashes with police at Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine on Monday, February 24. Ukraine’s acting government issued a warrant Monday for the arrest of President Viktor Yanukovych, last reportedly seen in the pro-Russian Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, accusing him of mass crimes against protesters who stood up for months against his rule. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)
was a long-scheduled arrival. showing the faces of the dead, one after another, on CAMP FIRES a loop. "Now is not the time On Independence for celebrating. We are still at Square in central Kiev, war. We will stay here as long cradle of the uprising, bar- as we have to," said Grigoriy ricades of old furniture Kuznetsov, 53, dressed in and car tyres remained in black combat fatigues. place, with smoke rising Galina Kravchuk, a from camp fires among middle-aged woman from tents occupied by diehards Kiev, was holding a carvowing to stay until elec- nation. "We are looking tions in May. to Europe now. We have The mood among the hope. We want to join Eufew hundred on the square rope, " she said. was a mixture of fatigue, Russia on Sunday resorrow for the 82 people called its ambassador in killed last week, and a Ukraine for consultations sense of victory after three on the "deteriorating situmonths of protests. ation" in Kiev. A large video screen by A day after Yanukovich the side of the stage was fled, parliament named its
new speaker, Turchinov, as interim head of state. An ally of the ousted leader's rival, Yulia Tymoshenko, he aims to swear in a government by Tuesday that can run things until a presidential election on May 25.
baNGKOK, FEbruary 24 (rEutErs): Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, the target of anti-government protesters who have blocked parts of Bangkok for weeks, has left the city and is staying 150 km (90 miles) away, her office said on Monday, without specifying the location. The protests, punctuated by occasional gunfire and bomb blasts, including one on Sunday that killed a woman and a young brother and sister, are aimed at unseating Yingluck and erasing the influence of her brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra who is seen by many as the power behind the government. Yingluck's office told reporters she was not in Bangkok and asked media to follow a convoy outside the city to where they said Yingluck was "undertaking official duties". The office would not confirm how many days Yingluck had
been working outside the capital. She was last seen in public in Bangkok nearly a week ago, last Tuesday, and is due to attend a corruption hearing there on Thursday. Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul said Yingluck would hold a cabinet meeting on Tuesday. "It is highly likely that we will hold the cabinet meeting outside of Bangkok. As for the prime minister's exact whereabouts today, I have not been informed," Surapong told reporters. The political crisis, which pits the mainly middle-class anti-government demonstrators from Bangkok and the south against supporters of Yingluck from the populous rural north and northeast, shows no sign of ending soon. But the army, which toppled Thaksin in 2006 in the latest of 18 coups or attempted coups since Thailand became a constitutional monarchy in 1932, said
BATTLE-HARDENED With battle-hardened, pro-Western protesters in control of Kiev and determined to hold their former leaders to account, lawmakers rushed through decisions to cement their power, show their rejection of rampant corruption and bring to justice officials who ordered police to fire on Independence Square.
Whoever takes charge faces a huge challenge to satisfy popular expectations and will find an economy in deep crisis and which faces state debt payments of around $6 billion in the remainder of this year. The Finance Ministry said it needed $35 billion in foreign assistance over the next two years and appealed for urgent aid. It called for a donors' conference involving representatives of the European Union, the United States and the International Monetary Fund. The hryvnia currency fell by 3.8 percent on Monday after the weekend drama before recovering
"GRAVE MISTAKE" President Barack Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice, was asked on U.S. television about the possibility of Russia sending troops to Ukraine, which President Vladimir Putin had hoped Yanukovich would keep closely allied to Moscow. "That would be a grave mistake," Rice said on Sunday. "It's not in the interests of Ukraine or of Russia or of Europe or the United States to see a country split." Yanukovich's flight left Putin's Ukraine policy in tatters, on a day he had hoped eyes would be on the grand finale to the Sochi Olympics. The Kremlin leader spoke on Sunday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose foreign minister had brokered a short-lived truce in Kiev on Friday. They agreed
Ukraine's "territorial integrity" must be maintained, Merkel's spokesman said. British Foreign Secretary William Hague was asked if Russia might "send in the tanks" to defend its interests. "It would really not be in the interests of Russia to do any such thing," he told the BBC. Earlier this month, a Kremlin aide had warned that Moscow could intervene. It is unlikely the United States and its allies in NATO would risk an outright military confrontation with Russia, but such echoes of the Cold War underline the high stakes in Ukraine, whose 46 million people and sprawling territory are caught in a geopolitical tug of war. EU officials offered financial aid to a new government and to revive a trade deal that Yanukovich spurned under Russian pressure in November, sparking the protests that drove him from office. In addition to any economic assistance the EU might offer, the United States has also promised help through the International Monetary Fund, which has demanded painful economic reforms as a condition. In Russia, where Putin had wanted Ukraine as a key part in a union of ex-Soviet states, the finance minister said the next tranche of a $15 billion loan package agreed to in December would not be paid, at least before a new government is formed.
China’s premier unveils more Thai PM leaves Bangkok amidst unrest measures to tackle corruption bEIJING, FEbruary 24 (rEutErs): The Chinese government will decentralise authority, be more transparent and adopt a "zero tolerance" attitude to corruption this year as it deepens its fight against graft, reported state media, citing Premier Li Keqiang. President Xi Jinping has launched a sweeping crackdown on corruption since taking power, warning that the problem is a threat to the Communist Party's very survival. The latest measures were laid out in a speech by Li on February 11, in a meeting on tackling corruption, but only published by state news agency Xinhua late on Sunday. Li criticised the overconcentration of power by the central government and urged the institution of an open government "as the most effective way to accept supervision". "When the
government controls too much, directly intervenes in micro-economic activities, it not only influences the ability of the market to play a decisive role in the allocation of resources, it also increases transaction costs and makes it easy for corruption to breed," Li said. In 2013, the government recouped 400 billion yuan during its investigations into corruption, Li said. More than 40,000 officials received disciplinary violations and 10,000 people have been fired, he said. Li said the government will have a "zero tolerance" approach to "corrupt elements" within the government. "Regardless of who is involved, they must be investigated to the end, they must not be tolerated," Li said. Li's speech comes as the investigation into China's powerful ex-domestic
security chief, Zhou Yongkang, has been gaining traction, with a number of close allies coming under scrutiny. Zhou was a member of the party's Politburo Standing Committee - the apex of power - and held the immensely powerful post of security tsar until he retired in 2012. The government has yet to officially announce an investigation into him. Li said the government would open its budget and all its accounts further and urged top cadres to "strengthen constraints on their relatives and staff". Though the government has professed greater transparency in combating corruption, it has detained dozens of activists who have urged officials to disclose their assets, last month jailing one of those people, the prominent dissident Xu Zhiyong.
US drone, phone taps used to hunt Mexican drug lord
MExIcO cIty, FEbruary 24 (aFP): US authorities announced plans to seek the extradition of Mexico's most powerful drug lord after his capture in a US-backed operation that included a drone, cellphone intercepts and elite Mexican marines. As prosecutors in New York prepared their request, new details emerged Sunday from the manhunt that led to the capture of Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, whose empire has smuggled drugs to the United States, Europe and Asia. The US surveillance drone was used for two weeks between mid-January and mid-February to back up a massive operation in the northwestern city of Culiacan, a US government official told AFP on condition of anonymity. Guzman eventually slipped out of Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state, after escaping through tunnels under one of his safe houses as the marines closed in on him, Mexican and US officials said. Under pressure, the 56-yearold drug capo, who had been on the run since escaping from prison 13 years ago, fled further south to the beach resort city of Mazatlan. It was there that the elite marine unit captured him on Saturday, in the fourth floor of a condominium, with a surprisingly small entourage that included one lookout, one bodyguard and a woman believed to be his beauty-queen wife, the US official said. "Cellular telephone intercepts were involved in the arrest," the official said, stressing that no drone was used in Mazatlan. The US of-
In this Saturday, February 22, 2014 photo, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is escorted to a helicopter in handcuffs by Mexican navy marines at a navy hanger in Mexico City, Mexico. Guzman, the head of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, was captured overnight in the beach resort town of Mazatlan. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
ficial said the remote-controlled aircraft was used in Culiacan to corroborate other intelligence and that Mexico's military had authorized its use. Despite being one of the world's most wanted man, Guzman had been spending most of his time in the bustling city of Culiacan, living in a network of safe houses with escape tunnels, extra thick walls and steel-reinforced doors, officials said. "It's a big city where he has his contacts, his women, his houses," the US official said. Officials had hoped that Guzman would flee to a rural, more open space to capture him, and his decision to run to Mazatlan around three days before his arrest was a surprise, the official said.
His arrest capped a monthslong operation that resulted in the arrests of a dozen Sinaloa cartel operatives, including alleged bodyguards of Guzman's top associate, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada. Several cellphones were seized from the detainees and later used to establish wiretaps as part of the operation against the Sinaloa cartel, said an official from the Mexican attorney general's office. The official said authorities are still searching for Zambada, who is seen as Guzman's natural successor. US seeks extradition Nabbing Guzman, who is considered the world's biggest drug trafficker, was a major victory in President Enrique Pena Nieto's
push to rein in drug violence in his country. The Sinaloa cartel's turf wars with rival gangs contributed to a wave of drug violence that left more than 77,000 people dead in the past seven years. The United States had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture, with several indictments in multiple cities from New York to San Diego. Robert Nardoza, a spokesman for the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, said prosecutors there "plan to seek his extradition." A senior Republican lawmaker backed extraditing Guzman to the United States, warning "the biggest fish ever" may try to flee again in a repeat of his legendary 2001 escape from prison in a laundry basket. "I think that would be the best course for not only Mexico, but also the United States, in ensuring that what happened in 2001 does not happen again," Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told ABC television. A Mexican foreign ministry spokesman declined to comment on the planned extradition request. An official in the Mexican attorney general's office said Guzman has to finish the 20-year sentence he avoided by fleeing eight years into his prison term. But he is also facing new charges of drug trafficking, using illegal funds, organized crime and possession of weapons reserved for the military, the official said. The captured kingpin is not facing murder charges, the official said.
Tayakorn Yos-ubon, left, and Noppawan Chairat, right, the parents of two children killed in Sunday’s bomb attack on an anti-government protest site, embrace each other as they wait for their children’s bodies at a hospital in Bangkok on Monday, February 24. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
it would not intervene this time round. "Somebody has to take responsibility but that doesn't mean soldiers can intervene without working under the framework (of the law)," army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha said in a rare televised address. "How can we be sure that if we use soldiers, the situation will return to peace?" Protesters, who disrupted and boycotted this month's general election, have been urged by their leader to target businesses linked to Thaksin and gathered outside a television station on Monday managed by Thaksin's son. They also headed for the foreign and finance ministries. The Election Commission had said it would try to complete the election process in late April, but has since suspended that date pending a court decision, leaving the country in limbo under a caretaker government with limited powers.
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Dimapur
SPORTS/LOCAL
Tuesday 25 February 2014
The Morung Express
Thunder humbled WSTH organize seminar on sanitation by LA Clippers Dimapur, February 24 (mexN): A seminar observing National Rural Drinking Water & Sanitation Awareness Week organized by Western Sumi Totimi Hoho (WSTH) and sponsored by the department of Public Health Engineering, government of Nagaland was held today in KGPO Hall, Kuhuboto. Ahimsa K. Zhimo, president WSTH and Jolly K. Aomi, general secretary, WSTH were the resource person of the day-long seminar. Ahimsa presented a topic on ‘safe drinking water & importance of sanitation for good community’ while Jolly spoke on ‘good sanitary prac-
Participants of the seminar along with resource persons during the programme in KGPO Hall, Kuhuboto on Friday.
tices’. More than hundred women participants from Kuhuboto area representing churches, Sumi Totimi Hoho, WATSAN, Anganwadi and ASHA attended the programme. Earlier, Hokiye Yep-
Health mela cum medical camp at Sendenyu village held
thomi, president, Western Sumi Hoho exhorted the occasion during the inaugural function the seminar. He lauded the WSTH for organizing the event that would go a long way in equipping women of the
area with the awareness of total sanitation. He was of the view that women play equal role as men in the well-being of the society and hence women should be given more responsibilities in the society.
Highlighting the objectives of the programme, Ahima K. Zhimo quoted a scripture from the Bible that teaches about sanitation. Kashini H. Swu, president KGSTH, said invocation for the programme.
kohima, February 24 health of the society in general and for contribution of the individual in particular. Discussions with VHCs ciety, Department of Health were held in regard with & Family Welfare, NRHM Communitization, where conducted a health mela the elders urged for more cum medical camp at Send- health camps to be conenyu village under Kohima ducted in near future. Inter-Personal Communicadistrict on February 19. Hundreds of people tion was also done covering thronged Sendenyu vil- different topics like ARSH, lage to avail various health ANC, Family planning, Imservices. The programme munization & HIV/AIDS was chaired by the Medi- etc. Fully immunized chilcal Officer I/C. Awareness dren were distributed with on Revised National Tu- gifts and prizes and mothberculosis Program (RN- ers were encouraged to TCP) was delivered by Dr. be more prompt in health Vezokholu (DTO) where issues. Besides, films on she emphasized that indi- health matters were also Thetsumi youth presents cultural dance during the inauguration of the GHS and VDB multi viduals with related symp- screened while patients purpose buildings by minister for youth resources & sports Merentoshi R. Jamir and MARCOFED chairman Mmhonlumo Kikon respectively on February 21. (Morung Photo) toms should undergo spu- awaited their turn for doctum test for early detection tor’s consultancy. Altogether 300 patients of TB. Dr. Atsung, Deputy CMO, spoke on the need for from Sendenyu and surcontrol of tobacco and the rounding villages availed harmful effects of tobacco the services. Blood slides and urged the community were collected and tested not to be misled by the ad- for malaria. Eight clients vertisements of the tobacco were counseled and tested industries. Dr. Avino Metha, for HIV by ICTC. ImmunizaChief Medical Officer Ko- tion of 15 children and anhima, in her exhortation te-natal checkup services reminded the gathering of were also provided. Nine the responsibilities of all doctors from CMO’s chamin bringing about health ber and staff of Tesophenyu awareness to uplift the PHC conducted the camp.
Los Angeles Clippers forward Matt Barnes (22) dunks in front of Oklahoma City Thunder for- (mexN): Office of the Chief ward Serge Ibaka (9) and guard Reggie Jackson (15) in the first quarter of an NBA basketball Medical Officer Kohima, with the District Health Sogame in Oklahoma City, Sunday, Feb. 23. (AP Photo)
okLahoma CiTy, February 24 (ap): NBA scoring leader Kevin Durant marveled at what Jamal Crawford did to his team. Crawford scored 36 points to help the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 125117 on Sunday afternoon. Durant scored 42 points, but such performances are almost expected from him. Crawford, on the other hand, averages about 19 points. He's known to be streaky, and in this game, he was on. He made 5 of 8 3-pointers, many of which were launched from well beyond the line. "Jamal Crawford comes across halfcourt shooting," Durant said. "You've got confidence once you start seeing the ball go in the rim." Matt Barnes scored 24 points, Chris Paul had 18 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds, Blake Griffin scored 20 points and DeAndre Jordan added 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Clippers, who snapped a
two-game skid and beat the team with the league's best record. "We were on the plane yesterday flying here and we were just talking about how we hadn't beaten any good teams on the road, any really good teams, and this would be a perfect time to start," Paul said. "Doc (Clippers coach Doc Rivers) was on us, telling us that in the playoffs, you're going to lose a home game at some point and you've got to be able to win on the road. Hopefully this is a win for us that gets us moving." Durant also had 10 assists, and Serge Ibaka added 20 points for the Thunder, who lost their second straight. It was the most points the Thunder have allowed this season, and it came on the heels of a 103-81 home loss to Miami on Thursday. "We've just got to get over this little slow stretch that we're in," Durant said. "We'd better. We've got to play defense. That's the thing. We can't just let teams come in here and
do whatever they want offensively." Oklahoma City overcame a 15-point deficit late in the third quarter to take a 115-112 lead on a 3-pointer by Durant with 2:43 to play, but the Clippers controlled the game from there. A 3-pointer by Crawford with 1:30 remaining gave Los Angeles a 119115 lead. Crawford scored again on a floating jumper in the final minute to push the lead to 121-117. "Jamal made timely shots," Paul said. "Every time they made a run and we just needed a bucket, Jamal was our guy." Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook missed a 3-pointer on the other end, and Paul made two free throws to extend the Clippers' lead to six. Paul sprained his right thumb against Memphis on Friday, and he wasn't sure he'd play. "I think the credit goes to our training staff," he said. "I came here to the arena thinking that I wasn't playing, but they found a way."
Atl Madrid's defeat leaves Real at top
GPS Phek town school building inaugurated
phek, February 24 (Dipr): The newly constructed building of Government Primary School at new colony Phek town was inaugurated on February 21 with Phek sub-divisional education officer, Vamu Lohe as the chief guest. Acknowledging that the school building was constructed with the active participation and tireless effort of the colony leaders, the chief guest called upon to play equal roles in bringing up the children by imparting all round development. He also thanked the land donors for their gesture in constructing the school building with their generous support. Reminding that parents and teachers play the most important role in a child’s life, he urged them to be devoted in their duAtletico de Madrid's Koke, left, tries to controls the ball with Osasuna's Emiliano Armenteros ties. Noting the importance of Argentina, during their Spanish League soccer match, at El Sadar stadium in Pamplona, given by the government Spain, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014. Ateltico de Madrid lost the match 3-0. (AP Photo)
barCeLoNa, February 24 (ap): Atletico Madrid slumped to a stunning 3-0 loss at Osasuna on Sunday, leaving Real Madrid as the sole leader of the Spanish league for the first time since May 2012. Osasuna beat Atletico at its own game, both in its tough, physical approach and its set piece strategy to take a three-goal lead at the break after one of Atletico's worst first halves in three years under coach Diego Simeone. Alvaro Cejudo opened the scoring from a corner kick in the sixth minute before fellow forwards Emiliano Armenteros and Roberto Torres added goals in the 21st and 42nd. Atletico's loss came one day after Barcelona lost 3-1 at Real Sociedad, with both the former front-runners looking weary after their Champions League trips in midweek. Atletico fullback Filipe Luis, who returned from injury, said that their win at AC Milan on Wednes-
day had nothing to do with this defeat. "Osasuna played a great game," said Filipe Luis. "You can't take anything away from them. They beat us in every facet of the match." Atletico and Barcelona have both dropped 10 points over the last seven rounds, allowing Madrid to turn a five-point deficit into a three-point lead despite playing without Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo during a threegame suspension. Madrid hadn't topped the standings since winning the title in 2011-12. Simeone quickly needs to restore both his team's fitness and confidence before it hosts Madrid next weekend after its crosstown rivals travel to German side Schalke 04 on Wednesday. Also on Sunday, Athletic Bilbao strengthened its hold on fourth place by winning 2-0 at Real Betis after the bottom side had two players dismissed, while Valencia and Sevilla won to move to within five
points of sixth place and Spain's last Europa League spot. Osasuna had already earned draws against Barcelona and Madrid at El Reyno de Navarra Stadium this season, and Javi Gracia's side lived up to its reputation as being one of the toughest hosts in the Liga. "I think the fact that those three teams haven't won here says a lot," said Cejudo, who credited his team's fans for their vocal support that he said "pushes" the team forward. Osasuna used a bit of well-executed trickery to strike first when it sent several players to the near post to draw in Atletico's defense before Torres crossed to the far post, where Cejudo had charged in late to drive the ball home. Osasuna was a step faster to almost every ball and Armenteros beat Gabi Fernandez to a loose ball before he unleashed a blistering left-footed strike from outside the area that went in off the post.
in the education sector, he said that equipment and infrastructure could be accommodated if people extend cooperation. The chief guest further called upon the people to make best use of the existing infrastructures for better development. Shevozo, in charge of SSA under Phek Block also spoke on the occasion and highlighted the aims and objectives of SSA, which assures compulsory education for children between the ages of 6-14 years and also emphasized on community participation. Earlier, invocation prayer was pronounced by teacher in-charge of Government Primary School Vehucho Rhakho, and vote of thanks was proposed by District Evaluation Officer, Phek, Shevolhu Nyekha. Public leaders and students attended the function.
Second phase of IPPI in Peren
The department of veterinary & animal husbandry, Wokha conducted a mass vaccination camp for FMD, swine fever and ranikhet disease at Wozhuro block (Phiro, Shaki and Sankitong villages) on February 21. The team was led by Dr Myinthungo Shitiri, DVO; Dr. Lhuveta VAS(G) along with seven field staff.
Minister of Forest, Y. Patton accompanied by a team of officers from the Department visited Nagaland Zoological Park, Rangapahar for physical inspection of the ongoing construction of Perimeter Fencing of the Park on February 21. While acknowledging the quality of the works, Patton urged that proper curing should be emphasized during the construction works. He expressed his satisfaction regarding the progress of the works and assured that priority would be given for protection and development of the Zoological Park.
Dr. Tiala Longkumer, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, administering the first polio drops at the launch of 2st phase of IPPI on February 23 in Peren.
pereN, February 24 (mexN): The second phase of Intensive Pulse Polio Immunization (IPPI) was held in Peren on February 23 at District Hospital with Dr. Tiala Longkumar, Deputy Chief Medical Officer administering the first polio drops. A press release from District Media Officer, CMO office informed that the IPPI was successfully carried out in the whole district. The whole operation was monitored by supervisors comprising of Dr. Tiala Longkumer, District
Program Officers, UIP/ RCH, Dr. Khrielasanuo and medical officers in their respective block. Officials from Directorate of Health & Family Welfare, Kohima, Dr. Longai, Dy. Director and Benjungtoshi, RCH Coordinator, NRHM came as observers for Peren district. The staff of Chief Medical Officer’s Office and Medical Superintendent Office took the initiative in carrying out the operation in and around Peren Town. The overall target is to immunize 13,293 children across the district
Supremacy For Christ ministry on February 23 visited railway areas slum in Burma Camp, Dimapur and gave the children clothes, food, played games and had fellowship with them. Supremacy For Christ is a youth ministry formed by dedicated youths, mostly students with a vision to serve God through ministering and helping the poor and needy. Without any self income and support from any individual or organization, the group gathers materials such as clothes, books, food, toys etc and out of their own pocket money go about ministering around the slums areas and orphanages within and out of the state. To know more about the ministry and to reach out, log in to: https://www.facebook.com/SupremacyForChristMinistry?hc_location=timeline
Entertainment
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Adam Levine
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op star Adam Levine has opened up about the challenges of living with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in a new public service announcement. The Maroon 5 frontman says he was not surprised when he was diagnosed with the disorder after struggling to concentrate at school, and now he hopes his Own It campaign, set to be launched on Monday, will help other sufferers overcome the challenges of Adhd. Levine tells Usmagazine.com, When I was first diagnosed with Adhd, it wasn't a surprise because I had difficulty in high school focusing, And I think now, people notice my Adhd as an adult on a daily basis. When I can't pay attention, I really can't pay attention. If somebody approached me and said that anything that I said, helped them figure it out - or someone came to me and said 'I need help what do you suggest I do' - the first thing I would suggest they do is see somebody. See a doctor about it.
Miley cyrus considers own performances 'educational'
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iley Cyrus has revealed that she thinks her performances are educational for kids. The ` Wrecking Ball ` hitmaker, who has recently been hit with furious complaints from shocked parents, said that the she works her ass off to be a better person, a leading daily reported. She said that she wants her Bangerz tour to be pretty high-end and like good art, and that she is really excited to go to
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Big Grammys hat on
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harrell Williams is auctioning off the headline-grabbing Vivienne Westwood buffalo hat that he wore to the recent Grammy awards. As
the ostentatious accessory on eBay. With 9 days and 7 hours left on the auction, bidding currently stands at $10,500 (£6,300) and the winning bidder will not only receive the hat and a certificate of authenticity but also that warm glow of
places where people are usually not exposed to too much good art. The 21-yearold singer said that her performances can be educational for kids who come to her concert. She added that people don`t think of her first when it comes to education, but she might surprise them. Cyrus confessed that she wants to change all the time and become a better artist, a better person and she likes who she is.
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A visual spectacle
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historical drama based on the ill-fated Roman city of the same name, director Paul W.S. Anderson`s `Pompeii` is a far cry from Robert Harris` 2003 novel. Yet, the film is distinct and appealing. It`s a revenge drama with a tinge of romance and dollops of natural disaster. The film begins eerily with the camera drooling over fossilized bodies. The stoned images, gruesome and weather-beaten, are accompanied by a quote - In the darkness some prayed for help, others for death, attributed to Pliny the Younger. It claims it is accurate as far as the history and politics of Pompeii at that time. Set in 79 AD, the film dismisses the plot of the novel and invents its own set of main characters. It follows Milo (Kit Harington), a Celta slave. He is the last surviving member of his tribe, The Horsemen.As a young child, Milo survived the massacre by being dumped beneath the corpses while he watched his mother and his entire tribe being slaughtered by the corrupt Roman General Corvus (Kiefer Sutherland) and his Aide Proculus (Sasha Roiz). Seventeen years later, the boy, trained to be a deadly gladiator, is the star performer at the arena in Londinium, the capital of Britanny. Soon his greedy master packs him off to the city of Pompeii to serve as violent entertainment for its blood-hungry citizens. En route to Pompeii, by pure happenstance Milo meets and creates an impression on Cassia (Emily Browning), the non-conformist daughter of the town chief Severus (Jared Harris) and his wife Aurelia (Carrie-Anne Moss), who`s heading back home after spending a rather turbulent year in Rome.
Meanwhile, Corvus too lands in Pompeii as the Senator of the Emperor Titus and is the deciding factor for investments from Rome. He craftily gets Severus to hand over his daughter in marriage to him. Milo arrives in Pompeii on the eve of the Vinalia festival and is flaunted to the citizens. The next day, he is expected to fight the local champion - a massive black slave named Atticus (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) who is nearly one last death-match away from earning his freedom.
With deadly sword fights in the gladiator`s arena, the love triangle, inclusive of horse chases and the rumbling Vesuvius followed by a killer tsunami, gives thrust to the narration that keeps you spellbound and glued to your seat. As far as the performances are concerned, there is nothing extraordinary. The characters are immediately recognizable as sympathetic or not, and on the whole, there is not very much complexity in character development. Though the romance could be generic and the gladiator fights seem to be borrowed lavishly from films like Gladiator and The Legend of Hercules, there is some freshness in the action set pieces. The sword fights as well
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as the chases are well devised and choreographed. The script by Janet Scott Batchler, Lee Batchler and Michael Robert Johnson, is crisp and focused. The tension is carefully and precisely mounted to construct the doomsday effect. Though the event is predictable, the look and feel of Glen MacPherson`s visuals in 3D is enchanting. They beautifully merge with computer generated special effects of the volcanic eruption, the tsunami and the submerging of the land. What also makes this film remarkable, is that Anderson has managed to cut bird`s-eye view wideangle lens shots with tight close-ups with equal ease, thereby making the actionpacked portions seems razor sharp and participatory. The film is worth a watch for being a grand visual spectacle.
Miranda Kerr reveals plan to release Elvis song S
he first gave fans a glimpse of her singing voice in a Lipton tea ad back in 2012, and now Miranda Kerr is set to release her debut single. The 30-year-old former Victoria's Secret model has recorded a duet with Jersey Boys star Bobby Fox, but insists she's not pursuing a 'career change' as a pop star. 'I usually just sing in the shower but @thedancingfox convinced me to record a duet with him,' she tweeted on Sunday. 'Not a career change, just a bit of fun!' The Aussie model who has three-year-old son Flynn with ex-husband Orlando Bloom - sings a version of Elvis and Ann Margaret’s You're The Boss from the classic Viva Las Vegas, but it's going to be
a one-off thing for her. 'She has no plans to embark on a singing career, she loves music and just thought this would be fun,' said a source close to Miranda. The supermodel and Broadway star seem like an unlikely combo, but the Irish-born Bobby - who is based in Australia - reached out to Kerr and 'convinced' her to do the duet with him for his U nlik debut album. snap ely duo: The 31-year-old flew to after on InstagBobby Fo t x sh ared New Zealand where Miran- his newhey recorrdam with M th album ed a n Elviranda Ke is da was working on a shoot is du r et fo r and they recorded the song r in a studio in one night. 'Miran-
da was amazing to work with,' said a spokesperson for Bobby. 'She didn't take herself too seriously – she just got into character and had a ball recording it.' You're The Boss is set to be released on iTunes on March 14. It's not the first time Miranda has sung publicly. In 2012 she
starred in a bizarre Japanese ad for Lipton ice tea where she pretends to be a waitress singing to male customers in bar.
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insecure relationship Bono to write about his DaD in affects career: ViDya Balan
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soon as the singer stepped out on to the red carpet wearing the oversized, brown, brimmed headwear, his image pinged across the world and its own Twitter account was quickly created ( "chillin on @pharrell's head" don'tcha know). Capitalising on his hat's seemingly instant iconic status, Pharrell has decided to raise some serious cash for charity by putting
charitability too. "I'm giving up the Buffalo hat I wore to the GRAMMYs to help underserved kids get the educational tools they need," Pharrell explained in a statement, via The Guardian. "Our organization, From One Hand to Another, is committed to bringing kids experiences that ignite their passions, challenge their minds and prepare them for success."
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ctress Vidya Balan says an insecure relationship can have a negative impact on people`s career. If you are in an insecure relationship, you may not be happy and your career may go for a toss. But if you are in a happy relationship, it will only help you. There is a certain restlessness in me which has calmed down a bit after marriage. Definitely, that is helping me concentrate on work, Vidya, who married UTV Studios CEO Siddharth Roy Kapur in December 2012, said. I am extremely happy being married, said the actress, who is busy promoting her forthcoming film `Shaadi Ke Side Effects`. Also featuring Farhan Akhtar, the movie will release Feb 28.
New Essay Collection
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2 star Bono has written a new essay about his father to help raise funds for the hospice where the rocker's dad spent the last weeks of his life in 2001. The rocker's piece will be part of a book that will benefit the Irish Hospice Foundation charity, where Brendan Robert Hewson battled cancer. The tome will feature a series of essays about father-and-son relationships, penned by high-profile figures from the world of music, literature and film. Bono had a close connection to his dad and penned the U2 song Kite in his memory. He was with his father when he died, recalling, Actually, his last words were an expletive. I was sleeping on a little mattress right beside him in the hospital. I woke up, and he made this big sound, this kind of roar, it woke me up. The nurse comes in and says, 'You Ok, Bob' He kind of looks at her and whispers, 'Would you f**k off and get me out of here This place is like a prison. I want to go home'.
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Nadal proves his form with Rio Open win
Spain's Rafael Nadal bites his trophy after defeating Ukraine's Alexandr Dolgopolov at the Rio Open tennis tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday, Feb. 23. (AP Photo)
RIO DE JaNEIRO, FEBRuaRy 24 (aFP): World number one Rafael Nadal shrugged off the injury concerns that wrecked his Australian Open bid as he dismantled Ukraine's Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 7-6 to win the Rio Open on Sunday. The 13-time Grand Slam winner showed no evidence of the back injury that hampered him in Melbourne as he wrapped up his 48th ATP title against an opponent with no answer to the relentless pressure exerted by the Spanish clay-court legend. And by winning a 43rd career clay court title, the 27-year-old threw down a gauntlet to pretenders to his French Open crowd which he defends in Paris in May. Nadal went into the match
with a 4-0 winning record against Dolgopolov with the Ukrainian never having even broken the world number one's service. And the Spaniard was on top quickly in the first set, breaking Dolgopolov's second service game to love as the Ukrainian made a succession of unforced errors. Dolgopolov could find no rhythm against Nadal's trademark topspins on the Rio clay and made little inroads into the world number one's service games as he raced into a 4-1 lead in less than 20 minutes. Dolgopolov held his next service game with three aces and earned a break point in the crucial seventh -- the best of the match -- which Nadal saved with incredible retrieving and a sublime drop shot.
Bayern wins to extend Bundesliga lead BERLIN, FEBRuaRy 24 (aP): Bayern Munich routed Hannover 4-0 away to increase its Bundesliga lead to 19 points and extend its league record unbeaten run to 47 games on Sunday. Bastian Schweinsteiger made his first start after recovering from ankle surgery and the Germany midfielder had a hand in both his side's first half goals, as Bayern strolled to its 14th win in succession. Earlier, 10-man Werder Bremen held on for a 0-0 draw at Eintracht Frankfurt, a result that leaves both sides just three points off the relegation zone. Hannover made the better start and Bayern reserve goalkeeper Tom Starke, replacing the rested Manuel Neuer, had to be alert to deny Artjoms Rudnevs in the 15th minute when Szabolcs Huszti played the Latvian striker through. "It took us a while to get into it but once we scored it went very well," Bayern coach Pep Guardiola said. Bayern gave the home side a lesson in efficiency and scored with its first attack of note in the 25th when Schweinsteiger spotted Rafinha on the right and the Brazilian crossed for Thomas Mueller to head inside the right post.
Bayern's Thomas Mueller, second right, scores during the German first division Bundesliga soccer match between Hannover 96 and Bayern Munich in Hannover, Germany, Sunday, Feb. 23. (AP Photo)
Schweinsteiger played a great ball over the Hannover defense for Thiago Alcantara to make it 2-0 with a confident finish nine minutes later. "It was great to play from the beginning, to get the practice back and play without any problems," Schweinsteiger said. "I still have to get into my rhythm. The
foot feels good and I hope it stays that way." Hannover threatened briefly after the break, when Rudnevs fired over and Starke saved from Mame Biram Diouf before blocking Huszti's effort. Mueller killed any hopes of a comeback with his second goal in the 59th after Mario Mandzukic laid the ball off
Kohli excited about captaincy challenge
with his heel. It was the Bayern winger's 10th strike of the season. Mandzukic celebrated his 100th Bundesliga appearance by meeting Rafinha's cross to complete the scoring in the 66th. Schweinsteiger went off shortly afterward, when he vented his frustration at not receiving the ball from substitute
Arjen Robben after making a run. "When you get to a certain age you don't like to run as much," Schweinsteiger joked. "I know what Arjen is like." Bayern can wrap up the title in record time with closest challengers Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund losing on Saturday. Fourth-placed
Schalke also slipped up by drawing on Friday. No other side has had such an advantage after 22 games in 51 seasons of the Bundesliga. Bayern can theoretically seal the title on March 15. "I look at the table but in the end it's only important what we do," Guardiola said. Frankfurt dominated its game Sunday but failed to make the most of its numerical advantage after Felix Kroos was sent off with his second yellow card in the 34th minute. "We're not at all happy with the point," Frankfurt coach Armin Veh said. "We were the better team even before the sending off." Joselu should have scored in the ninth but was thwarted in a one-onone by Bremen goalkeeper Raphael Wolf. Frankfurt attacking midfielder Alexander Meier grazed the outside of the right post with a free kick in the 29th, shot wide from a promising position in the 78th, and then headed the best chance against the other post with two minutes remaining. "This little victory for morale can help us," Bremen coach Robin Dutt said. "We don't yet know what the point is good for but it will be good for something."
Kohli rises to career-best 8th rank
Bangladesh cricket team captain Mushfiqur Rahim, left, Pakistan cricket team captain Misbah-ul-Haq, second left, India cricket team captain Virat Kohli, third left, Afghanistan cricket team captain Mohammad Nabi, second right and Sri Lanka cricket team captain Angelo Mathews right, pose with the trophy ahead of the Asia Cup tournament in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Monday, Feb. 24, 2014. The person in the center is unidentified. Pakistan plays Sri Lanka in the opening match of the five nation one day cricket event that begins Tuesday.(AP Photo)
DHaKa, FEBRuaRy 24 (PTI): Far from being bogged down by captaincy, Virat Kohli said he is looking forward to leading an under-fire Indian cricket team in the Asia Cup starting tomorrow even though it is a tough position to be in. Kohli has been made stand-in captain for the regional mega-event after regular skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is under the scanner following the team's dismal showing in
the recent tours of South Africa and New Zealand, was forced out due to a side strain. "I don't think this is anything compared to what he has gone through in the past few years," Kohli said while addressing the media after the team's arrival here. "I am captain for just one tournament. It is completely different from regularly captaining the side. When you win, you're praised, when you lose,
you're criticised. It is all a part of it. "I am not in a position right now to experience all that. I have got this one-odd opportunity like I did in the past as well. I am sure it is a very tough position to be in. You have to be ready to take all the criticism and praise that comes your way," he added. India will open their Asia Cup campaign on Wednesday against Bangladesh at Fatullah. The 25-year-old batsman,
whose fine form was one of the few positives that India could latch on to during their winless streak in South Africa and New Zealand, said he is excited about leading the side. "I have only been captain for about eight games till now. It went pretty good but this is a big tournament. It's a challenge I'm looking forward to. We have got a young group of guys and some exciting players," Kohli said.
PHOENIX, FEBRuaRy 24 (aP): Patrick Beverley sank the go-ahead 3-pointer with 34.3 seconds to play and the Houston Rockets escaped with 115-112 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Sunday night. Dwight Howard scored 25, James Harden 23 and Beverley 20 for the Rockets, who trailed by 10 entering the fourth quarter. Goran Dragic scored a career-high 35 for the Suns, but missed what would have been the game-tying 3 at the buzzer. Gerald Green added 23, 18 in the third quarter, and Markieff Morris 21 for Phoenix. Beverley, who scored 12 in the fourth, made two free throws that boosted Houston's lead to 113-110 with 20 seconds to go before Dragic scored on a layup to cut it to 113-112 with 14.7 seconds Houston Rockets power forward Terrence Jones (6) shoots to play. Donatas Motiejunas over Phoenix Suns power forward Channing Frye (8) in the sank two free throws with first quarter of an NBA basketball game, Sunday, Feb. 23, in 14.1 seconds left to put Houston up 115-112. Phoenix. (AP Photo)
Phoenix's last lead was 110-108 on Morris' driving layup with 47.3 seconds remaining. The Rockets scored four points in one possession when Marcus Morris was called for a questionable clear-path foul against Chandler Parsons with 6:16 to play. Parsons made both free throws, then Harden sank a 19-footer to cut the Suns' lead to 98-96 with 5:54 to play. Houston tied the game three times before Beverley's big shot put Houston up for good. The Rockets dominated inside with a 64-42 advantage in points in the paint. Dragic made 10 shots in a row, half of them 3s, from the first quarter until he missed a long 3 midway through the third. He had 19 points on 7-for-7 shooting in the second quarter to help Phoenix erase Houston's 17-point lead, but Howard returned to the game and the Rockets were up 60-56 at the break.
Rockets fight back to sink Suns
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DuBaI,FEBRuaRy24 (PTI): Owing to his decent performance in the recently-concluded twoTest series against New Zealand, India batsman Virat Kohli today rose to his career-best eighth position in the latest ICC Test rankings issued on Monday. Kohli, who made 214 runs in four innings in New Zealand, jumped a place to be at eighth with 784 ranking points. Cheteshwar Pujara is still the highest ranked Indian at seventh position in the batsmen's list, which is headed by South Africa's AB de Villiers. In the bowlers' table, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has climbed up a spot to be the highest-ranked Indian Test bowler at ninth place. Ashwin, meanwhile, maintained his top position in the player rankings for Test all-rounders. Meanwhile, India's second position in Test rankings is threatened by Australia, who need just a draw against South Africa in the ongoing Test series to move ahead.
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