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Dimapur VOL. VIII ISSUE 240
The Morung Express “
www.morungexpress.com
Asaram quizzed by Jodhpur Police [ PAGE 08]
Kate Bosworth marries Michael Polish
By Sandemo Ngullie
Syria hails “historic American retreat” as Obama hesitates [ PAGE 09]
Brick prices costing people dear Dimapur | September 1
There was a time when a prospective buyer procured bricks directly from a manufacturing unit or a brick-kiln. Times, however, have changed. Middlemen have taken over this business from whom the consumers are compelled to buy at a rate higher than what is prescribed. Sellers may blame it on the monsoons, yet price I don`t know what to do, He`s begging me to be his of construction bricks is polling agent.” costing the people dear. The asking price of the allThe Morung Express too-essential construction POLL QUESTIOn item is now hovering at Rs 7 Vote on www.morungexpress.com apiece, way above the preSMS your answer to 9862574165 scribed rate. The existing official rate as prescribed Is dependency on by the Dimapur district adgovernment jobs ministration is Rs 5.50 per hindering the development block for the ‘1st class’ variof Naga society? ant and Rs 4.70 for the ‘2nd class’ variant. The existing Yes no Others rate came into force in February 2012 and is still in efIs the print media in nagaland exercising fect. The official rates notresponsibility to ensure withstanding, buyers are ‘spirit of inquiry?’ left at the mercy of sellers, Yes 28% who seem to employ a take51% no it-or-leave-it policy.
One shot dead DIMApUr, SepteMBer 1 (MexN): In another killing suspected to be fallout of factional rivalry, one man was found shot dead at Lama Basti, KarbiAnglong on Sunday, September 1. The deceased was identified only as Pukhato hailing from Ahoto village, Niuland, Dimapur. Police quoting sources stated that the deceased was a ‘section officer’ in the NSCN-IM. The body was recovered around 8:00 pm and handed over to relatives, police said.
A labourer in one of the many brick kilns in Dimapur. Photo by Caisii Mao
This is how the brick business is conducted in Dimapur at present. Orders in bulk are made by individual businessmen also known as middlemen from the brick-fields who in turn act as the end sellers. It virtually blocks direct dealings between the kilns and
end buyers. According to one such seller, who does business at the junction leading to Zion Hospital & Research Centre, bulk buyers manage to procure it at the official rate as prescribed and eventually sell to customers but at a margin of profit. The
initial asking rate would be Rs. 7 apiece but following negotiation, the seller would agree to trim down the price to not below Rs. 6.75 or at the least Rs. 6.50 apiece. Another factor which dissuades end buyers from venturing to the brick-kilns
BANGKOK, SepteMBer 1 (Ap): Police in Thailand have arrested a Thai man wanted in India for alleged involvement in international arms deals with an Indian insurgent group worth nearly $2 million, authorities said Saturday. Wuthikorn Naruenartwanich, also known as Willy, was arrested Friday at his home in Bangkok, said Police Col. Charoen Sisa-
salak. Willy, 57, is accused of buying weapons, including nearly 1,000 rifles and an unspecified number of rocket-propelled grenades, to be sold to Naga rebels in northeastern India, Charoen said. During initial questioning, Willy told police that he was a restaurant owner in Bangkok and denied any involvement in arms deals, Charoen said. Prosecutors next week will try to convince a judge to send Willy to India, where he is being tried in absentia. India’s National Investigation Agency
charged Willy and three others in 2011 with criminal conspiracy to wage a war against the Indian government. If convicted, he could face the death penalty or life imprisonment. The Nagas are a conglomeration of several tribes inhabiting parts of northeast India and northwest Myanmar. The Naga rebels have been operating one of India’s longest-running insurgencies, fighting for more than 50 years, though a cease-fire with the government has held since it was signed in 1997.
Making laws for empowering women is not enough unless it is implemented: NMA
here. The information, the PIB release stated, was provided by Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Ghulam Nabi Azad at the Rajya Sabha. Local dailies had also carried the PIB report subsequently. “In the National Survey conducted by the FSSAI to ascertain the quality of milk throughout the country, 68.4% samples were found to be non-conforming to Food Safety and Standards Regulations, 2011,” the PIB release stated. Nagaland stood fourth (at 86 percent) in the state-wise details of non-conforming samples in the descending order of percentage with
respect to the total samples collected in different states and union territories. The report did not specify what kinds of adulterants were found in the samples which deemed the samples as not conforming to safety standards. “Random samples of food items including milk are drawn by the State Food Safety Officers and sent to the designated food testing laboratories for analysis,” it added. Surprisingly, food safety officials were unaware of milk samples from Nagaland making it to the non-conforming list. Sources stated there was no recent activity of the state
food safety authority collecting milk samples for quality checks and also there was no confirmed report of samples being sent to the FSSAI as part of the national milk quality survey. Neither the Commissioner & Secretary nor the principal director of Health and Family Welfare could be reached for ascertaining the credibility of the information. The food safety wing of the department of Health and Family Welfare is vested with the responsibility of maintaining food safety standards in Nagaland with the Commissioner & Secretary designated as the overall incharge for food safety.
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Details on page 7
Dimapur | September 1
The State government and the department responsible for maintaining food safety standards in Nagaland, it appears, have chosen to keep mum on a recent Food Safety and Standards of Authority of India (FSSAI) survey report on milk quality in Nagaland. According to a Press Information Bureau (PIB) report released on August 28 last, Nagaland stood fourth among states not conforming to Food Safety and Standards Regulations, 2011 with regard to milk produced and sold
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to directly make deals with the manufacturing units is the omnipresent menace of ‘tax collection’. An ordinary customer has to shell out anywhere between Rs. one to two thousand as ‘tax’ for a truckload of brick starting from the brick-fields till the ZHRC junction , said a sand-cum-brick dealer at the ZHRC junction. The well connected bulk buyers however are spared this problem, it was added. Price of brick during the past three years has increased alarmingly. Till the early part of 2010, the prevailing rate was around Rs. 3-3.50 apiece. Fast forward to 2013, the price has shot up to Rs. 6-7 apiece, almost a 100 percent increase since then. In neighbouring Khatkhati and Bokajan, the existing rate is well below Rs. 5. At the prevailing unofficial price, a truckload of a thousand bricks costs anywhere between Rs. 6500-7000, excluding the transport, labour, municipal toll charges and unsolicited ‘tax’.
South Korea edge India for Asia Cup [ PAGE 12]
Relief for stranded North East students
MUMBAI, SepteMBer 1 (tNN): Several students from the northeast who sought admissions to technical institutions in Maharashtra post the deadline (August 15) set by the Supreme Court have got some relief. Intervention by the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) has ensured provisional admissions for the students in the institutions where they were originally allotted seat. The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) too has filed a review petition in the SC seeking an extension in the deadline for this year to facilitate admissions for affected students. On July 1, the MHRD sent a letter to state governments stating that seats be reserved in technical institutes for northeast students. Around 1,500 students from the northeast were allotted seats in technical institutions in several states. The letter stated that the students could
take admissions till August 30. However, a SC order set a deadline of August 15 for admissions to all technical institutes in the country. While some candidates sought admissions before the August 15 deadline, some could not, for several reasons. In Maharashtra, around 40 candidates were denied admissions as they arrived post August 15. The AICTE has now filed a review petition seeking an extension in the admission deadline. “We have also sent letters to the technical board in all states asking them to give provisional admissions to the affected candidates up to September 15. The review petition was filed in the court three days ago and we are expecting the matter to be resolved,” said AICTE chairman SS Mantha. A student from Sikkim claimed that their state government, AICTE and MHRD officials have ensured that all students who returned to their respective states, after not getting a seat, were called back.
Thai police arrest alleged arms dealer NE cycle tour reaches Nagaland
Accused of supplying arms to Naga rebels
Govt silent on FSSAI report on milk quality Morung Express news
–Pablo Picasso
[ PAGE 02]
Morung Express news
Others
Monday, September 2, 2013 12 pages Rs. 4
8 farmers from Nagaland to receive “Best Farmer Award” at Gujarat
[ PAGE 11]
reflections
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I’d like to live as a poor man with lots of money
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Our Correspondent Kohima | September 1
Sougaijam Bidyalashmi Leima from Manipur, who is currently on a cycle tour of the North East to create awareness on violence against women, reached Kohima today. The objective of the tour is to raise consciousness on the prevalence and high human, social and economic costs of violence against women. It aims to sensitize, motivate and build capacity of governments to develop and implement policies to combat gender violence and to support networks, public and private organizations and programmes that work to eradicate violence against women. On her arrival in Kohima, Leima was received by the Naga Mothers’ Association (NMA), DYC, NYK Kohima and Women cell police personnel. Later, Leima and her entourage proceeded to Dimapur. The NMA, in a statement, lauded her bold and noble venture to spread the message to stop vio-
Sougaijam Bidyalashmi Leima along with parents, naga Mother’s Association leaders, DYC nYK Kohima and women cell police personnel in Kohima on September 1. (Morung Photo)
lence against women in the North East region. “It is an important moment for us and we support every movement and programme to stop crimes and violence against women and girls,” said the NMA. Stating that India is gripped with rising rapes, murders and violence, the NMA added that Nagaland as well as the rest of the North Eastern states are not far behind. “We need to address the present social menace and introspect where society has gone wrong with all seriousness. The need to change our mindset
has also become a necessity. We need to find out the root cause and family background of perpetrators and their families to access more knowledge and try to find remedial measures to curb the rising rate of all crimes,” it added. The NMA further said that girls in the family should be given equal status as boys. “This should start from the family itself. Men need to be taught to respect girls, women and mothers.” It said that the “misuse of technology, easily adapting to foreign cultures, greed and difficulty to adhere to honesty also
begets violence.” “Violence against women needs to be addressed right from the grassroots level,” it added. The NMA reiterated its demand to the government to set up Fast Tract Courts in every district of Nagaland to deliver timely justice to victims. “The slow legal system in disposing cases is seen as one reason why rapists and murderers remain largely unpunished thereby encouraging other likeminded criminals. NMA feels that making laws for empowering women is not enough unless it is implemented,” it stated.
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