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The Morung Express

Dimapur VOL. IX ISSUE 355

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www.morungexpress.com

Mika to do a song with Rakhi Sawant soon

[ PAGE 08]

reflections

By Sandemo Ngullie

Sunday, December 28, 2014 12 pages Rs. 4

If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading PDP seek BJP’s assurance over Article 370, AFSPA

RNPC declare December 27 as Rengma Black Day [ PAGE 2]

Blood-based therapy an answer to Ebola?

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– Lao Tzu

India fights back in Melbourne test

[ PAGE 9]

[ PAGE 11]

[ PAGE 12]

27, 2013: AssAm: indian security December KA waits for justice forces intensify operations Morung Express News Diphu | December 27

Army chief reviews Assam’s volatile situation Merry businessmas!!

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4 injured in grenade explosion in Manipur imPhaL, December 27 (Pti): Four persons were injured when a grenade exploded at a shop in Uripok area on the outskirts of Imphal town, police said on Saturday. Suspected militants lobbed the grenade at the shop late last night injuring the four, including the shop owner identified as Subhas Singh, the police said. The four persons were immediately rushed to Regional Institute of Medical Science and Hospital. The motive behind the attack was not known but monetary demand from the shop owners apparently led to the incident.

Guwahati, December 27 (iaNS): Indian Army chief Gen. Dalbir Singh Saturday reviewed the security situation in Assam in the aftermath of the gory killings by Bodo militants, as the security forces intensified operations along the international border with Bhutan.

At least 73 tribals were massacred in Assam earlier this week by militants of a hardline faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland.

Retaliatory activities and agitations have been taking place in different areas after the massacre.

The army chief said he would continue to maintain a close watch on the region.

An army spokesman said Gen. Dalbir Singh headed to the army base in Rangia straight from the Guwahati airport and reviewed the security situation with top commanders.

He was given an overview of the current status of operations, including the various measures taken to improve the larger security milieu in Assam.

The general reviewed the deployment of 66 army columns in the disturbed areas, after the violence unleashed by Bodo militants left 73 people dead and rendered over 70,000 homeless in the four districts of Kokrajhar, Chirang, Sonitpur and Udalguri.

"He was briefed on the proactive actions undertaken by the army along with different agencies to intensify the pressure against the militant outfits," a defence spokesperson said in a statement here.

"The general also took note of the roadmap being planned by the army jointly with police and directed his troops to extend all possible support to the state administration in bringing back normalcy, while at the same time carrying out relentless operations against the perpetrators of terror," it said.

The army has already intensified operations along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh inter-state border and along the international border with Bhutan in the aftermath of the massacre by the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB).

The central government has already sent 50 companies of additional forces including those from the Sashastra Seema Bal, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Central Reserve Police Force and Border Security Force to control the situa-

Luky Moni Orang, 22, a tribal settler, holds her three-day old baby as she takes refuge in a local church after her village was attacked by an indigenous separatist group, in Shamukjuli village in Sonitpur district of Assam on December 25. Police says the death toll from rebel violence has risen to over 70 with the recovery of more bodies from abandoned villages. (AP Photo)

tion. Although there has been no fresh incident of violence since Tuesday's killings, the exodus of people continued in the districts.

Assam Police sources said the Bhutan border has been sealed and a special operation might be launched soon against militants from the northeast hiding there. The State Disaster Management Authority said over 70,000 people have taken shelter in 77 relief camps in the affected districts.

Centre asks NIA to probe violence The central government Saturday directed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to probe the recent violence in Assam that claimed 73 lives.

"The ministry of home affairs today (Saturday) directed the National Investigation Agency to take up the investigation of four cases registered

by Assam Police relating to the recent attacks by suspected NDFB(S) group in the two districts of Sonitpur and Kokrajhar in which a large number of people were killed," an official statement said.

The Assam government had recommended that the investigation of these cases should be handedovertotheNIA."Consideringthegravityof the offences and relevant factors," the central government agreed to get these probed by the NIA.

Centre to assist Nagaland in expanding road network

Young girls checking out items being sold at ‘Party in the Street - Duncan Winter Festival’ at Duncan Bosti, Dimapur on December 27.

(Morung Photo) Related story on page 5

One body recovered

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DimaPur, December 27 (mexN): The Dimapur police stated today that one dead body was recovered.

On December 27, at around 11:00am, the G.B. of Westyard Colony, Nading Zeliang, stated that one non local person, suspected to be a beggar, was found lying in Rail Bazar, Dimapur in a serious condition. A press release from the Dimapur police PRO informed that they took the patient to District Hospital Dimapur for medical aid but he succumbed to his illness while undergoing medical treatment.

On examining the body, no foul play was detected. He is suspected to have died due to illness/freezing or starvation. The dead body is kept at Dimapur Civil Hospital morgue for identification.

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New DeLhi, December 27 (Pti): The central government will provide every help to expand road network in Nagaland, according to the Union Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh.

Singh said this while responding to a demand for assistance in construction of Phase-II road from Chuchuyimlang to Yali via Salulemang, Longra Yangpi at an estimated cost of Rs 38 crore.

The demand was placed before him by the Nagaland Minister for National Highways and Mechanical Engineering, Nuklutoshi here. The Union Minister said he is aware that the road from Chuchuyimlang to Yali via Salulemang, Longra Yangpi connects three districts of Nagaland -- Longland, Mon and Tuensang. The importance of this road can, therefore, by no means be underestimated.

Construction of new roads and extension of the road network is a boon for the people of remote far flung areas particularly in a state like Nagaland where other means of travel like railway and air are not adequately available.

In reference to setting up of a modern workshop-cum -training institute at Dimapur in order to train the unemployed youth with vocational skills, Singh said this demand will also be sympathetically considered.

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is particularly concerned about improving employment avenues for the youth living in peripheral and insurgency hit states of North East. Singh also referred to rain water harvesting and recharging of the ground water for assuring round the year availability of water in addition to ecological and environmental sustenance.

Police arrest one for bombing DimaPur, December 27 (mexN): The Dimapur police have arrested one person today with regard to the bombing of a gas agency at Darogapathar on December 22 at around 10:00pm. Information received by the Dimapur police suggested that “unknown persons came in a car and lobbed a bomb at the go-down of KT Gas Agency.” After initial investigation, stated the Dimapur police PRO in a press release today, one prime accused namely Nagaho Ayemi (34), a cadre of NSCN (K) in the rank of Capt. from Lhothavi vil-

lage, Dhansiripar, presently residing in Thilixu village, Block-4 near Sumi Baptist Church, Dimapur was arrested and remanded to police custody. A case has been registered at Dimapur East Police Station for further investigation.

Crude bomb recovered The Dimapur police have recovered one crude bomb from a motorcycle on the night of December 26. The said motorcycle was reported to have met with an accident at Naharbari junction here on December 26 night. While the police personnel on

duty were examining the place, they recovered one crude bomb in the motorcycle. Accordingly, rider of the motorcycle, Obeto (26), a cadre of GPRN/ NSCN in the rank of 2nd Lieut. from Suruni village, Suruhoto, Zunheboto, presently residing in Padampukhuri village, Dimapur, was arrested and taken into custody. On conducting house search of the arrestee, stated the Dimapur police, another crude bomb was recovered. Based on the findings, a case has been registered and investigation taken up.

Ferrying of essential goods affected Ferrying of essential goods from different parts of India to the northeastern region has been affected due to the violence in Assam, officials said here Saturday.

"Due to the violence in Assam, truck drivers out of fear are averse to ply goods laden vehicles through Assam from West Bengal and other parts of the country. Road blockades in north Bengal also worsen the situation," a Tripura government official said.

"Hundreds of vehicles, mostly goods laden trucks, remained stranded as adivasis (tribals) Friday and Saturday blocked roads in different areas of Malda district in protest against the massacre of adivasis (by Bodo militants in Assam)." "We expect that the situation would improve soon. The state government's transport department officials are in touch with the authorities of other northeastern states," the official said.

The goods laden trucks stranded in West Bengal are mostly bound for Tripura, Mizoram, southern Assam and parts of Manipur. The eight northeastern are largely dependent on Punjab, Haryana and other bigger states for food grains and other essential commodities.

The Rengma Naga Students’ Union (RNSU) organised a candle-light vigil at 5:00pm here on December 27 in memory of the victims and their families affected during clashes between Karbi and Rengma people in Karbi Anglong, Assam, on December 27, 2013. The organisations that participated in the event were Karbi Students’ Association (Mirjeng Kro), KSA (Bidya Teron), KSA (Binod Rongphar), KSA (Liachen Engleng), Hills Youth Democratic Front (HYDF), Karbi Anglong Bhojpuri Students Association, All Assam Bengali Youth Student Federation, Gorkha Students, Police-Public Coordination Committee, Diphu, United Movement for Autonomous State, and All India Karbi National Assembly.

“We remember the untoward incident that took place between the Karbi and Rengma people last year. We pray for the victim’s families and that, as we light this candle, may such incidents never occur again,” said Mirjeng Kro while speaking on the occasion, also expressing “deepest sympathies” for the victims in Sonitpur district and BTAD areas of Assam.

The laxity of the Government of Assam (GoA) towards such recurring incidents of violence was pointed out. “I take this opportunity to express dissatisfaction with the GoA. No inquiry has been done yet,” stated Longkiri Timung, ex president of the HYDF, Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao.

“At the same time, we have seen how the Government of Nagaland took responsibilities to nab culprits of the Pachaspura incident. Why does the GoA neglect the tribal?

We request the GoA to initi-

ate inquiry of the culprits behind the 2013 Karbi-Rengma clash,” he asserted. As shops, offices and houses of Diphu Town lit up with candles donated by shops, in memory of the victims, the message of peace and reconciliation was further reiterated.

“Let these candles be a sign of renewed hope, a fresh beginning for a prosperous Karbi Anglong. We light them in memory of the souls of the victims, their families and the people who had to be in relief camps for four months,” said Phenpiga Rengma, president, RNSU, reminiscing how babies were born in jungles, Christmas and New Year having disappeared in the din of bullets and daos in 2013.

“We also remember every individual, organisation and bureaucrat who helped both the suffering tribes in times of distress and grief. Let this lighting of candles be a covenant between man and god in not repeating such inhuman acts of cowardice. Justice shall prevail,” he noted.

Expressing “deepest condolences and tribute” to the victims of the recent violence in Sonitpur district and BTAD, Rengma said, “Peace and harmony needs to be restored at any cost and the GoA and GoI should take immediate steps in nabbing the culprits so no further clashes occur. Let the year 2014 end with reconciliation, peace and harmony, and 2015 start with love and hope.”

Earlier, a small gathering took place at the graveyard, Diphu Lorulangso Colony, where Karbi and Rengma women lit candles on the graves of the deceased (from last year’s incident), also paying respect to the victims of the recent clashes in Assam. Rev. Athang Seb read from the scripture and gave a peace message.

Fatalities mar Christmas 3 killed, 5 injured as car runs into carol procession Morung Express News Dimapur | December 27

Christmas Eve ended in tragedy as a car hit a group of people on a carol procession on December 24. The incident, which occurred around 3:30 pm near the junction leading to Signal Basti Evening Bazar, claimed three lives and wounded five others. The car, a Toyota Etios Liva (NL-07/C 6288), after slamming into the pedestrians, tried to escape towards West Yard colony before it was intercepted by the public. The driver, identified as one Ravi Meeng, was reportedly driving the car in an inebriated state. One of his minor children was also in the car at the time.

According to a press release from the Additional Superintendent of Police, Dimapur, Meeng admitted to hitting the pedestrians. Meeng, who resides in Thilixu village, had taken out his family for treatment. After dropping his wife and one of his two children at a pharmacy at the Dhobinalla junction, Meeng headed towards Living Stone School with the other child and picked up a friend, the release said. They then headed back towards town, stopping at a “hotel” along the way to consume liquor. The friend, identified as one Santosh Das, took the driver’s seat, subsequently hitting a motor-cycle, the release stated. After the mishap, Das got off and Meeng drove on towards town. The release stated that before hitting the carol procession, the car met with a mishap hitting an autorickshaw before slamming into a culvert. He got the car back on the road only to miss hitting another autorickshaw. In the ma-

Three teenagers drown in frozen lake Morung Express News Kohima | December 27

Three teenagers from Khonoma village reportedly drowned at Dzükou Sanctuary Fall on December 26 around 10:30am during an outing with friends. The deceased are Rokosietso Mor (19), Ketourovino Mor (14) and Mhiesikhono Viyie (14). Two of the deceased are said to be siblings.

Their bodies are yet to be recovered.

Sources revealed that 12 friends had gone for an outing at the Dzükou Sanctuary Falls. When too many of them stood on the ice to take pictures, thin ice on some spots gave way and six of them fell inside the lake. While two of them could somehow manage to come out, one of them was pulled out by friends. Three of the others drowned after much struggle. A mesnoeuvre to avoid it, the car ended up ramming into the carol procession on the other side of the road, the release said. One of the pedestrians died on the spot, while two others succumbed to injury in hospital. The condition of the five others, who were injured was said to be stable. The deceased were identified as Purtula (62), Zungalemla (75) and T. Noklen Longkumer (73).

The injured were indentified Y. Alima, Imnasenla, Imsurenla, Rongsenlemla and Lanukumla. All the victims were residents of Kevijau colony.

ASTD says matter ‘amicably settled’ The Ao Union Dimapur (ASTD) stated on December 27 that the matter has been “amicably settled.” ASTD president, Supu Jamir stated that the bereaved families handed over the re-

sage could be sent to the village only by afternoon, after which the community immediately began rescue efforts. The lake measures 80x60 feet, with a depth of 35 feet.

The bodies have not yet been retrieved due to freezing temperatures on December 26 and 27, and the lack of gear. Sources informed that the Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority immediately coordinated efforts to bring in professional scuba divers from Guwahati to rescue the children, while some other professionals were brought in from Wokha to support the operations. However, the Guwahati team could reach only tonight, and efforts can be renewed only on the morning of December 28.

Rescue operations were carried out with support from various organisations and neighbouring villages. sponsibility of handling the case to the ASTD subsequent to which a meeting was held between the owner of the vehicle, Parliamentary Secretary Vikheho Y. Swu and the ASTD. At the meeting, the two parties decided to amicably settle the matter “in the spirit of forgive and forget.” Stating that Swu was accompanied by his colleagues, Jamir added that the two parties jointly agreed on three resolutions.

“No one should bail out Ravi Meeng (the driver). Meeng’s driving licence should be instantly cancelled. As and when Meeng is released from jail or on completion of prison sentence, on the day itself, Meeng should leave Nagaland.” “It is also resolved that the owner of the vehicle will instantly intimate the ASTD as and when Meeng is released from jail,” said Jamir.

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The Morung Express 2 LocaL Homecoming Christmas programme at Impur Christmas at Phek celebrates Dimapur

Sunday

28 December 2014

Church leaders, Reverends and faithful of Impur (ABAM Mission Centre) carrying out a carol on December 25. (Photo courtesy: Aso Imsong) Our Correspondent Impur | December 27

It was a Christmas of a different kind at Impur on the 25th of December when well known Reverends,

who were served at Impur and a cabinet Minister celebrated the birth of Christ in a homecoming celebration.

The programme which was organized by the Impur

Kaketshir Telongjem (Impur Students Union) was organized in commemoration of 119th Christmas Celebration programme of Impur Baptist church.

This year the pro-

gramme was made grander by the presence of thirteen Reverends who served the Ao Baptist Church Council (ABAM) in different capacities over the past years. The programme was also at-

tended by cabinet Minister Dr Benjongliba Aier. The cabinet Minister’s father, who is also a well known church leader served the ABAM during the past days, and the Minister also studied at Impur.

It was the first of its kind in the history of Impur when thirteen reverends and a cabinet minister celebrated the Christmas together with the faithful at Impur.

It may be noted here that Impur, which is located around 26 kilometers away from Mokokchung town, is the Mission Centre of the Ao Baptist Church Council. For the Impur Kaketshir Telongjem and for those who attended the 119 Christmas Celebration programme at Impur, it was a homecoming treat whilst celebrating the birth of Christ.

Christmas solemnized at Holy Cross and Cathedral Church

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Dimapur, December 27 (mexN): Christmas Vigil was celebrated solemnly at Holy Cross Church, Dimapur with Most Rev. Dr. James Thoppil, Bishop of Kohima as the principal celebrant.

Rev. Fr. Thomas PJ, Parish Priest accorded a warm welcome to Bishop James Thoppil, Fr. Nestor Guria, the salesian provincial, Fr. Bosco, the Vice-Provincial, and to all other fathers, sisters, dignitaries and people.

‘In his homily the bishop said that Christmas is the story of love – self-emptying love of God to enrich hu-

mans, so that human may become divine. There is the inner and insatiable longing for God in the human heart, which only God, born in the manger can fill it. Bishop urged everyone to let God enter their lives by paying heed to the words of Christ’s teaching and values.

The vigil celebration ended with the procession with the baby Jesus to be placed in the crib. The faithful greeted each other and shared the cakes and tea as a sign of fellowship.

The bishop was also the main celebrant at the Christmas-Day-Mass at

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the Mary Help of Christian Cathedral, Kohima, along with Rev. Fr. Carolus Neisalhou, Vicar General of the Diocese of Kohima and other priests and hundreds of people participating in it. Bishop in his homily reiterated that the story of Christmas, of incarnation as presented in the prologue of St. John’s Gospel is repeated year after year.

Jesus comes to us a light and all those who accept the light become children of God. However, many prefer darkness because to accept Jesus the light demands cleansing of oneself

from works of darkness. At the first incarnation some accepted Jesus’ presence while many others rejected it. Referring to the second reading of the day from the letter to the Hebrews the bishop said that Jesus is the ultimate and final speech of God to humanity and only through Him and in Him we have the possibility of salvation. Each one appropriate the salvation brought by Jesus to the extent one inculcate and live the commandment of Love. It is through love and love alone that one becomes and known as a

disciple of Jesus. Love gives life and lack of love leads to death. Christmas is the repeated story of God’s love.

The solemn Christmas celebration at the Cathedral Church was concluded with many sports events including the tug of war, busting of balloons, raffle and community agape shared by all.

The bishop also blessed the Jubilee memorial Children’s park and grotto at the Little Flower School in the presence of the Sr. Ldyia, the Superior, Sr. Anna Molly, the Principal Sr. Mable, the Vice Provincial and other sisters, people and students.

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A section of the congregation attending the Christmas service at Phek Town Baptist Church on December 25. (Morung Photo)

Our Correspondent Phek | December 27

A large number of believers both young and old in their best attire and glitter smile celebrated Christmas at Phek Town Baptist Church on December 25.

Rev. Dr. Razouselie Lasetso spoke on the topic “The miraculous birth of Christ.”

He called upon the parents to acquaint themselves with the latest development in

the modern society and take their children forward. He maintained that the greatest university is home and parents are the best professors. Rev. Dr. Lasetso also encouraged the congregation to read Bible on a regular basis and take it (Bible) as the principal means to secure a prosperous and peaceful life.

Vevolii Vero led the morning service.

The celebration also witnessed special praise by CYE choir and Teens Group.

NCF Chennai celebrates Christmas with Patkaians Patkaians with Naga Christian Fellowship Chennai members on Christmas day.

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Women In God’s Service (WINGS), the women department of Sinai Ministry organised a jumble sale at Light Junction, Dimapur on December 27. A variety of donated items including books, kitchenware, clothes, footwear, accessories etc were offered on sale along with food items and game corner. The profit is channeled to sponsor a leadership programme of the Sinai Ministry in the year 2015. (Morung Photo)

kohima, December 27 (mexN): The Mezoma Students’ Union (MSU) will hold its 65th general session under the theme “Persevere to succeed” on December 30 at Mezoma Village Council Hall.

Er. Vikedosie Kehie, chief engineer, PWD (National Highway) will be the chief guest while Khriezono Lhousa, former vice president Angamimiapfii Mechii Krotho will be the guest of honour. The inaugural session will start from 9:00 AM onwards.

The function will be chaired by MSU advisor Megolhoutuo Hieme while welcome address will be delivered

by MSU president Chiisiviko Chiisi.

Greetings will be shared by Mezoma Mechii Kehou. Special number will be presented by Mezo-Kuotsu Youth Organization while vote of thanks will be proposed by MSU auditor general Zapulie K. Kuotsu.

Volleyball competition has been scheduled at 11:00 AM. The valedictory session will take place at 4:30 PM.MSU librarian Sedevino Khawakhrie will chair the function.

Greetings will be shared by Mezoma Women Organization (MWO) while guest of honour Khriezono Lhousa will speak on the topic “Students and parents responsibility.”

The function will also be marked by special number by Phetsumia Youth Organization, reports by general secretary and treasurer, nomination committee report, speeches by outgoing president and president elect, prize distribution. Vote of thanks will be proposed by MSU social & culture secretary Seyielhouca Kehie. All bonafide MSU members have been requested to attend the conference positively. All the senior leaders, pioneers and well wishers also invited to the conference.

conference at Khonoma

kohima, December 27 (mexN): The Western Angami Students’ Union (WASU) is all set to hold its 41st biennial general conference on January 13, 2015 at Khonoma under the theme “Each one, teach one”.

Minister for social welfare Kiyanilie Peseyie will be the chief guest while Salhoutuonuo Kruse, advisor Angamimiapfii Mechii Krotho will be the guest of honour.

The inaugural function will start at 10:00 AM. WASU advisor Rokophrezo Rocus Rino will chair the function while Mesasielie Meyase, president Khonoma Students’ Union will deliver welcome address.

Presidential address will be delivered by WASU president Kedoroko Casavi. Greetings will be shared by Zakie Khate, president

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MSU general conference on Dec 30 WASU 41st biennial general

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“The miraculous birth of Christ”

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Angami Students’ Union and Dolhunyii Chasie, chairman Khonoma Village Council. Special numbers will be presented by Vikhotsono Zhiinyu, finalist Ist Naga Idol and Visedelhou Terhiija, finalist Naga Talent Promo 2012. Vote of thanks will be proposed by WASU speaker Neilhouvilie Senotsu. Competition hours have been scheduled at 12:30 PM. Savilie Krunilie, president Western Angami Public Organization will exhort the gathering.

WASU deputy speaker Keneiviu Sechii will chair the valedictory function, starting from 3:00 PM onwards. Guest of honour Salhoutuonuo Kruse will speak on the topic “Gender equality and responsibility.” Keneilhounuo Dziivichii, finalist Kids for Fame 2011 will entertain the gathering with a special number.

A woman engaged in drying paddy rice at Losami village in Phek district on December 26. (Photo by Chizokho Vero)

Dimapur, December 27 (mexN): The Naga Christian Fellowship Chennai (NCFC) celebrated Christmas this year with the students of Patkai Christian College (PCC), Dimapur. While welcoming the guests Wapangtoshi, pastor NCFC express appreciations to the PCC authority and the students for visiting the Naga community.

The Patkai students presented two special songs and Walusangla, assistant pro-

fessor (Economic) at PCC, greeted and encouraged the congregation.

Lambila led the programme with Christmas carols from praise and worship team and Lee Chang, Yati and Jongshina presented special numbers. Moreover, the Christmas message was delivered by Moanukshi, Director at East-West International ministry (South India) based on the topic ‘God’s Gift’. Also, ‘Christmas cake session’ was held to boost the spirit of Christmas.

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BJP Nagaland expels one Dimapur, December 27 (mexN): Bharatiya Janata Party Nagaland State Unit office bearers had a meeting on December 27 at BJP State Office at 11:00 am and resolved to expel Er. Vekho Swuro from the BJP party for the period of six years, since he failed to reply within the time stipulated to the Suspension Order ref. no BJP/SUS-01-01-2014 dated 20/11/2014. This was informed in a press release issued by BJP Nagaland State Unit Office Secretary Lachit Kachari.

Meanwhile, the Party also vehemently condemns the recent massacre of innocent civilian numbering 83 by the Bodo Militants at Kokrajhar, Assam. Such an inhuman act has no place in the civilized Society. Further, the Party has inducted Kuduta Neinu as State Executive Member.

LPG Dealers’ appealed to lift closure Dimapur, December 27 (mexN): The district administration and police of Dimapur district has condemned the cowardly act of crude bomb attack at the gowdon of M/s KT Gas Agency at 2 ½ mile Darogapathar on December 22 by some unknown miscreant and thus intimidating the business community. Meanwhile, DC Dimapur Wezope Kenye in a press release has appeal to the Dimapur LPG Dealers’ Association to lift the indefinite closure as announced by the Association on December 23, as it will greatly affect the consumers. “The district administration and police also assures the Association that the law enforcing agencies of the district will take all necessary steps in apprehending the culprits and book them as per the provision of the law.”

TSU 52nd general session on Dec 29 Noklak, December 27 (mexN): The 52nd general session of the Thang Students’ Union will be held on December 29 at Buchesouh, Noklak Village under the theme “Towards Intelligentsia”. The session will have Career guidance on various fields to be delivered by different imminent resource persons to enlighten and lead young students towards prospective life career and studies. The union will felicitate students who achieved outstanding, 1st Div/Topper in their academic performance. For this, all concerned should submit their name to any office bearers before December 27. All former office bearers, elders, parents and well wishers are cordially invited to be a part the session

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Dimapur, December 27 (mexN): Recollecting the December 27, 2013 incident the Rengma Naga Peoples Council (RNPC), Assam stated that “KPLT militants and Karbi villagers alike with a view to finish off Rengma Nagas in Assam mercilessly butchered six innocent Rengmas, including five women. The carnage was a conspiracy of the highest order, which the Rengmas of Karbi Anglong, Assam, still remembers vividly.”

The RNPC has declared December 27 as Rengma Black Day in memory of those innocent Rengmas killed by KPLT on December 27, 2013.

RNPC General Secretary Solomon Rengma in a press release reminded the Government of Assam that lives of innocent people matters. However, instead of learning from past mistakes, the Assam Government and police both have most callously

allowed lapses to occur again resulting in massacre of innocent Adivasis in Bodoland Territorial Council. The RNPC also stated that prior to December 27 carnage, the Rengma villagers complained to the police that KPLT and Karbi villagers were planning to strike Rengmas but the complaint was contemptuously discarded. Later on, Rengma villages were burnt, people killed and whole Rengma popula-

tion was displaced as refugees over a period of two to three days. Even in the midst of burning and killing of villagers, the Assam police and security forces stood as silent spectators refusing to tackle the Karbi militants and mobs. “This was a conspiracy and sheer cowardice on the part of Assam police and KAAC,” adds the RNPC. Further, it stated, “therefore, it is most condemnable that the Assam

police, instead of acting on central intelligence input that Songbijit faction of NDFB were planning to kill Adivasis, allowed lapses to occur citing the lame excuse of inaccessible terrain, thereby allowing the merciless butchering of innocent Adivasis including women and children.

The prompt measure taken by the Home Minister, Rajnath Singh to bring normalcy in the state is indeed laudable.”

St Francis Xavier’s Church Advent culminates kiDima, December 27 (mexN): The St Francis Xavier’s Church under Kidima Parish, Diocese of Kohima Advent Culminates observed Advent with the rest of the world began from December 16 to 25 at Church premises.

Reverend Father Thomas Muttathil, Parish Priest of Kidima addressing in the Christmas vigil the faithful were gave up their sleep for the love of Jesus and waiting in the Church the hour of Jesus Christ birth’s which was in Bethlehem some 2000 years ago.

Father Thomas Muttathil while explaining the meaning of Christmas is joy and happiness. Parish Priest in his homily asked the faithful people give their sin in the hand of Jesus and receive the blessing return who is the saviour of the world.

Reverend Father Raymond D’ Souza SJ, Director of Eden Garden, Khuzama joined in St Francis Xavier’s Church Kidima novena with Holy Mass celebration asked the faithful people to be born Jesus Christ in their mind, heart and life who is the saviour of the world.

Novena, Christmas vigil, baptism and celebration of Holy Eucharist followed by fellowship meal were the highlights of the nine days preparation for the Christmas the birthday of the Lord Jesus Christ the savior of the world.

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REgional

The Morung Express

Sunday

28 December 2014

Dimapur

3

Fighting for India, and Against Prejudice

MARY KOM Nida Najar The New York Times

MANGTE CHUNGNEIJANG MARY KOM, the most celebrated female boxer in India, grew up fighting.

She fought convention as the eldest child of a landless farmer in the fractious northeastern state of Manipur, where she drove steer across rice fields, work that boys in the village let her know, derisively, belonged to men.

She fought lack of means when she trained in the state’s capital as a teenager — buying knockoff sneakers in a black market bordering Myanmar, making do with two meals a day, shadowboxing her reflection in a mirror.

She fought her own body after undergoing one cesarean section for twin boys, then another for a third boy, then going back to train through postpartum sluggishness and her legs’ sudden unwillingness to bounce step.

It is perhaps not surprising then, that Ms. Kom, 32, who goes by the name Mary, cannot seem to give up the fight.

She is a five-time world champion, was the Olympic bronze medalist at the London Games, and gold medalist at this fall’s Asian

Games in Incheon, South Korea. Her autobiography, “Unbreakable,” was released in 2013 at a ceremony hosted by the Indian actress and former Miss Universe, Sushmita Sen, who called it a story of “a woman’s road to emancipation and empowerment.” She was the subject of an operatic Bollywood biopic released in September that was a commercial success, perhaps the chief indicator of having arrived in India.

But her rise has been punctuated by deep grievances, often against what she describes as a sports bureaucrac y stacked against her and fellow boxers. At the Asian Games medal ceremony in October, another Manipuri boxer, Laishram Sarita Devi, tearfully refused her own bronze in the 60-kilogram category, protesting the judges’ decision to award the victory in a semifinal match to her Korean opponent. Ms. Devi was suspended by the International Boxing Association for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Her colleagues, including Ms. Kom, stood by her, and India’s sports minister wrote a letter to the amateur boxing federation pleading for the revocation of her suspension.

For Ms. Kom, a devout

Skeletons tumble out of Manipur closet ImPhAL, DecembeR 27 (tNN): At least eight human skulls and other skeletal remains have been found at the construction site of a new market complex in Imphal city.

The site, located opposite the old assembly complex, previously housed the government-run Tombisana High School before it was occupied by the central paramilitary forces and Manipur Police, raising fears that the skeletal remains may have come from victims of extra-judicial killings.

Police have registered a case and the remains have been taken by experts of the Manipur forensic science laboratory for further examination, police said.

Insurgency-hit Manipur has often witnessed enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings by security forces. A clubbed case of over 1,500 fake encounter killings, filed by the Extra-Judicial Execution Victim Families’ Association, Manipur, and Human Rights Alert, is currently pending in the Supreme Court.

Seven skulls, skeletal remains, ornaments, including bangles, rings and old coins, were recovered on Thursday. One skull was found on Friday. The remains were recovered when the earth mass excavated from the market complex was dumped for ground-leveling at the construction site of the Manipur state secretariat complex at Mantripukhri on the city’s outskirts.

A mobile forensic experts team collected the remains and soil samples, a police officer said. The age of the skulls cannot be ascertained without tests, a forensic expert said.

“We suspect the remains are of people picked up by security forces,” Kangujam Ranjit, president of the Families of the Involuntarily Disappeared’ Families, Manipur, (FIDAM), told TOI on Friday. Ranjit’s elder brother, K Loken, along with a friend, Th Lokendro of the Khongman area in Imphal East district, never returned after being picked up by the Army in September, 1980.

“FIDAM takes the recovery of the skeletal remains very seriously. We urge the government to investigate the new development and take necessary action,” Ranjit said and added that he would convene a meeting on the matter. Human rights lawyer and director of Manipur unit of Human Rights Law Network, Rakesh Meihoubam, demanded that the case be handed over to CBI.

Christian from the tiny Kom tribal community, who has remained somewhat of an outsider in India and who has railed against bias in judging, Ms. Devi’s suspension reflects deeper fissures in the sport.

“Of course she won the bout,” said Ms. Kom, in a hotel suite not far from the presidential palace in New Delhi, asserting that the referee cheated, wanting to advance a Korean candidate to the finals. “We are always facing the same problems. Sarita was facing internationally. I was facing nationally.”

Some say Ms. Kom has used her grievances to her advantage, and they have certainly added color to her underdog story. But they have also isolated her, limiting her impact on India’s sporting culture.

“What is the use having a women’s boxer like Mary Kom?” said S. Sabanayakan, a sportswriter who has followed Ms. Kom’s career. “I hardly see Mary Kom talking to other boxers, giving tips. She only wants to be Mary Kom. Mary Kom is an iconic figure in Indian women’s boxing. Why can’t she motivate all the boxers in India? Why only Manipur?”

The Indian Boxing Federation suspended Ms. Kom for unsportsman-

like conduct in 2009, after a tied bout was awarded to her opponent, Pinky Jangra, from the north Indian state of Haryana. Ms. Kom used “foul language” with the judges. She lost to Ms. Jangra again in 2014, in a qualifier for the Commonwealth Games.

Her opponent, she said, had “never, ever beaten me. But the referees don’t favor me, they don’t give any points to me.” Ms. Kom added, “In India, there is this problem facing most of the boxers from the Northeast.”

INDIA has struggled to contain multiple insurgencies within its cluster of northeastern states, thinly tied to the mainland by a 14-mile stretch of land in West Bengal. Most of the states are dominated by tribal populations with ethnic ties to their Southeast Asian neighbors. When they come to Delhi or Bangalore for school or work, many complain of discrimination.

Ms. Kom is no exception. On a Sunday several years ago, Ms. Kom was walking to church in a South Delhi neighborhood with friends, all Koms. A bus pulled up beside them, and the conductor called them Nepalis, implying, she said, that they were part of a migrant servant class.

Refugees from Assam are guests in WB, says Mamta ALIPURDUAR, DecembeR 27 (PtI): Describing refugees from Assam as guests, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said her government would stand beside them. “They are more than our guests, our own people. They don’t have shelter now. We all know their mental condition. They are the victim of circumstances, so let us all stand beside them,” Banerjee said at Changmari refugee camp in Alipurduar district.

She also made an appeal to local people to help the refugees in whatever way possible and asked officials to ensure that no one was inconvenienced. When asked by reporters whether the refugees do not want to return to their homes, she said, “They will decide.

If they do not want it is their decision. If anyone wants to return, we’ll make all the arrangements. They are our own people. More than guests. We have to take care of everything including their food. We want them to stay in peace.” On central government’s role in controlling violence, she said, “I do not want to make any political comment here. I do not get into politics all the time. I have come here on humanitarian grounds”.

Hit by violence carried out by NDFB(S), refugees from Assam have taken shelter in four camps at Kumargram and Cooch Behar of West Bengal.From her own savings, the chief minister bought one thousand pieces of winter clothing which she distributed among the refugees.During her visit, she took stock of the arrangements at the relief camp and instructed officials to arrange all meals on time.

“The food is still not prepared? When would it be ready,” she asked officials. Banerjee was accompanied

by North Bengal Development Minister Goutam Deb, district magistrate and other officials during the visit.

DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL DIMAPUR : NAGALAND

2 ½ MILE, DAROGAPATHAR DIMAPUR : NAGALAND

Requires 1. Electrician : 1 Post.

Qualification : Minimum Matriculate, ITI qualified having 2 -3 years experience.

2. Girls Warden : 1 Post Qualification : Minimum BA with 2 -3 years working experience in any hostel.

3. Salary : Negotiable 4. Interview Date : 04.01.2015 (Sunday) at 3pm in the school office.

Principal

She does not remember who threw the first punch, but before she knew it, her male friends were fighting with passengers, while others fled.

Among northeastern Indians, she said, “the face is mostly similar, they think that we’re from Nepal, and they really look down on us.

That’s the main problem.

They don’t know where we are from.”

Many deflect criticism of judging bias in India based on state origins. But Ms. Kom represents a bit of a puzzle for the country — the pride and joy of Indian boxing, in the shape of a woman who bears little stamp of its dominant culture.

“People love Mary Kom,” said Mr. Sabanayakan, who attended the 2009 match. Mary had recently given birth, and Ms. Jangra “pounced on Mary like a lion on prey.”

Her complaints, he said, were an extension of the caginess she deploys inside the ring. “It’s the psychology of a boxer to keep everyone under pressure,” he said. “She has a knack of creating this psychological pressure on the judges.”

But even as judges defend themselves against accusations of bias, some reveal deeply entrenched attitudes in India’s heartland about Manipuris.

Mr. Sabanayakan said that there were a large number of boxers from Manipur because tribals tend to fight by nature. Jay Kowli, recently named the head of Boxing India, a national amateur boxing organization, said that Manipuris come from a martial society, and are “hot-blooded.”

“She comes from a tribe which is genetically aggressive,” he said. “They’re warriors. You don’t expect a man on the front, a soldier on the front to be like a gentleman.”

Ms. Kom, for her part, seeks a change in the box-

ing establishment through representation. She recently met with the sports minister and suggested three men who could be named as independent observers of matches, including one of her first coaches in Manipur.

It has been a long road to holding court with ministers in the nation’s capital.

When she first showed up at a national competition in the southern Indian city of Chennai, Mr. Kowli was a judge. He barely remembers Ms. Kom from that meet.

But a couple years later, he noticed she had improved, how she moved swiftly around the ring in her left-handed stance, about 100 pounds of

springy, buoyant energy.

She circles opponents, deftly ducks punches, and lands left hooks straight on the face for maximum points. And she has a knack for intimidation. “When Mary Kom enters the ring, she’s already won,” said Mr. Sabanayakan.

SHE has been described alternately as cagey and simple, humble and proud.

Her focus now is on the Rio Olympics in 2016, where she hopes to win gold. She is seen as a straight-talker, and by extension, an ineffective diplomat. When she complains of bias, she does it with an air of setting the record straight. And she is not humble about her status — she wears the distinction with an air of vindica-

tion and defiance.

“It happened because of God’s grace and my struggle, hard work, determination — because of my dedication,” she said.

She wore a T-shirt with two gloves on it, each emblazoned with her name.

Thoiba Singh, a former soccer player and husband of Ms. Devi, the boxer who refused her bronze, sounded weary when asked about prejudices in sport.

But he also offered a possible explanation for Ms. Kom’s success.

“It makes you realize that you have to be at your best, you have to dominate your opponents in order to reach this level,” he said.

“You can’t take anything for granted.”

PATHSO NOKNIU AND SANGPHUR COUNCIL TUENSANG-NAGALAND URGENT PRESS RELEASE

The Joint Village Councils of Sangphur and Pathso Nokniu held an age old good will meeting on the 1st-DEC- 2014 and jointly resolved the following in the common welfare and well-being interest of the citizens of both the neighbouring villages and to uphold the traditional relationship between the two.

The Joint Council also extends Christmas greetings and good will for peace and tranquility in the coming New Year to the people of Nagaland.

MEETING MINUTES 1. The co-existing relationship between Pathso Nokniu and Sangphur village will be maintained as same which was maintain since the time immemorial.

2. The historical background between the Sangphur and Pathso Nokniu will be kept and maintain as same, as forefathers had set. No other duplicate history from any source will be entertained in any form or manner.

3. There is no land mark boundary between Pathso and Sangphur Village.

1. K. LAKIUMONG H/GB SANGPHUR VILLAGE 2. T. RAMJI VCC SANGPHUR 3. PENGCHANG H/GB PATHSO 4. K. CHETEI VCC PAHSO 5. PESHE H/GB PATHSO NOKENG 6. KHAOSHAI VC SECRETARY PATHSONOKENG 7. PESHIA H/GB PANSO TOWN 8. POKOI H/GB EKHAO VILLAGE 9. LIANG VCC EKHAO VILLAGE

T. Chillo G.B Pathso Session Chairman

T. Thraneanba VCS Sangphur Session Secretary

4

The Morung Express public discoursE Gift in The Pot: Earth BURN YOUR TREE FARM IN JAN-FEB TO SAVE IT FROM MAY-JUNE FIRE Dimapur

Sunday

28 December 2014

Poetry - A Review Esther Syiem

hands”.

The journey continues, as do the stories that unravel to the earthy essence of pot-making.

There is functionality about the women whose elements are of clay and earth itself. Their wisdom is reflected in an attitude of willing submission that serves none of the chimerical gods of the present age. “I am the master.

I am the servant”, says the woman whose “soul” is “consumed” by her “craft” and who asks Earth to “accept” her “unconditional love” in a narrative of unconditional giving that speaks of a relationship fostered with assiduous patience and care.

Historically, women such as these who are the “backbone/ That sustains the ancestry / So prized and coveted” have struggled on for generations without expectations of any kind. It is in being able to give words to their craft that the poet facilitates, in visual images and poetic metaphors, a public viewing of the deservingness of women such as these. They are ordinary; yet extraordinary in their dedication to a craft that is surely dying out.

The poems inscribe incredible moments of pot making that connects with a distant past: Words cannot always convey/ Language cannot encompass/All that is in our souls But we can lose ourselves/ In the warm, healing earth/Defining our essence …For a while we are young again The public and private, the personal and extra personal, the physical and metaphysical, the mundane and mystical, shape the realities of women who see beyond the “putty” in their hands into “The miracle/Of the living earth” The essence of these poems is a kind of visionary perception that is Blakean in spirit and that sees “a world” in a “Grain of Sand” and “Heaven in a Wild Flower” (Auguries of Innocence).

Their lyricism springs from the tension between celebration and introspection. And the journey that the poet has chosen to undertake brings her close home to the hearts of the women whose histories are “etched” in the “fineness” of their “craft”, in the “whiteness” of their hair, the “stoop” of their shoulders, the “gnarls” in their hands, the “deep

Professor, Dept. of English, NEHU Shillong

T

here is starkness about the poems in Gift in The Pot Earth Poetry by Jungmayangla Longkumer (2014). Photographic images on one side of the book create verbal resonances within the poems on the right.

The vignettes are juxtaposed to each other and tell their stories through thirty poems. These are the women potters of Changki, Longjemdang and Japu villages of the Mokokchung District in Nagaland.

Jungmayangla Longkumer or Ayang, as she is better known to me is also a trained sociologist who works as an associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural Extension, SASRD, Nagaland University, Medziphema Campus. Her earlier book Pottery: Earth Stories (Dimapur: NEZCC 2010) documents the women potters of a few villages in Nagaland. In order to better appreciate the recent collection of poems by her, one would have to understand that her association with these women potters goes far beyond the confines of the strictly academic or the purely scientific. She has allowed them to touch her in a way that reaches beyond her present status and their present circumstances, to enable her to meet them in that poetic space where in her “grateful soul” they “live on”.

So do they inspire her in the first poem “Inspiration” which is dedicated to a grandmother “Azao” who is also her muse and the muse of all such earthy creations. The photograph on the left focuses strongly upon a woman with competent hands and strong feet, able to walk the distance to fetch the clay that will give shape to her pots. And as one turns on to the next page one is warmed by the curing fires of the potter’s hearth; “moulding the essence of our being”, says the poet as she finds a place for herself in the company of women, at ease with one another; defined by their roles as mothers, sisters, aunts, friends, grandmothers; bound to each other and to the poet, through the earthy dimensions of baking pots: “ Allow me to sculpt you / And feel your silkiness/ Against my roughened

Thepfulhouvi Solo IFS Retd (RR-68)

lines” in their skin that chronicle the narratives like the flowing river never still, never faltering, never giving up For the poet, discovery is identity. Her own journey follows the trajectory of an earthen pot, circular and cyclical. It takes her back to herself, back to her grandmother, back to the earth and to the source of all being.

The dynamic of work and play, and human exchanges that takes place within the poems, interrogates everything else that is not consonant with it. The poems are not fragments. If at all they shed light on a society that has lived close to nature. In a patriarchal structure these women are committed to the feminist values that have withstood the toughest test. Their strength lies in their commitment to earth, to nature itself. That society must emulate their spirit, is, it would seem the understated truth. In their inclusiveness lies their strength.

The photographs on the left are the black and white etchings of a photographer, none other than the poet’s husband, Temjenmenba, whose keen eye captures the inner sense of an “earth poetry” embedded deep within the psyche of women whose communitarian sense of pot making is art in a truly shared sense. The black and white images profile women who contribute towards a sense of living history; women, unselfconsciously female and free.

The collection of poems is an important addition to the creative writing that has been coming out of Nagaland. They speak of a dimension that has rarely been spoken of in the face of vast political turmoil in the past. Paradoxically it is the poet’s training as a sociologist that gives her poems poetic clarity as each workas-art related detail is recounted, retold and reinvented with the thoroughness of a skilled observer. Her poetic simplicity matches the simplicity of women whose vision conquers the complex and unduly complicated. The pots are an extension of them. They are not by any means empty. They contain within them the souls of the women potters of Changki, Longjemdang and Japu villages of the Mokokchung District in Nagaland.

Principal Secretary, Forest, Wildlife & Environment.

Government of Nagaland.

C

OAL, OIL and MINERALS are NON-RENEWABLE Natural Resources: Once they are exhausted they are finished, just finished; that’s all. WOOD is a RENEWABLE Resource. It is RENEWABLE. It generates itself again and again.

No other State in the North East has more potential for Economic Wealth from WOOD Production than NAGALAND has for the following Factors: The State has: i. Every household own Land, every Family owns land. ii. very rich mountain Soil, iii. plentiful of rainfall, iii.Tropical climate, iv. Vast jhumlands lying idle, v. Home of jhum Cultivation for Plantation.

The stumbling block are: i. Weeds, ii. Lack of Political Will in our Leaders and iii. Lack of INNOVATION in our Leaders.

Besides the Weeds, trouble with our leaders and lack of Innovations; the most destructive factor that destroys Tree Plantation in Nagaland is the Forest Fires.

The solution to the Weeds, Lianas and Climbers that choke the Tree Plantations is Tree Plantaion through Jhum Cultivation. Cultural Operations for the Agriculture Crops in the Jhum Cultivation profits the Jhum planted Trees and they grow very fast gaining Height and Diameter growth quickly after the Agriculture Crops are

harvested in October/November but Forest Fire in May-June becomes the greatest hazard.

It is economically not possible for Villagers to continuously ‘Clean’ the Plantations beyond the 2rd year of plantation. The Plantations are best protected by burning the Weeds and Grasses during JAN-FEB. The undergrowth of Grasses, Herbs and Shrubs in the Plantations are still half green and not died dry in January-February. This does not encourage run-away wild Forest Fires. If the Plantations were to catch Fire later in MARCH, APRIL, MAY OR JUNE when the undergrowth is Matchbox dry, that would completely destroy the priceless TREE Plantations: Some Species like Hollock, Cadam or Neem are Fire-tender and die easily after being burned. Teak, Gomari, Bogipoma, Oaks, and Sal are Fire-hardy, but Fire-hardy or not; Trees are never benefited from Forest Fires.

Wood from the Trees are the strongest Economic backbone of the Villagers in Nagaland. Wood Production and not Agriculture Production; has the greatest potential to become the ‘Economic Backbone’ of the State. Greening the State and Carbon ‘sinking’ is only a collateral benefit that Forestry plays: an estimated 17 lakhs Tons of Carbone Dioxide (CO2) is eliminated by the Forests in Nagaland.

The main aim of Forestry is to make EVERY VILLAGER or the State of Nagaland rich in one Generation. EVERY Naga Family must have an income of at least `72,000/- per year in one generation. This is possible only from Wood production.

No other Resources have more potential to becoming the Economic Backbone of Nagaland

than Timber. Agriculture has not the blessing to become the economic backbone of mountainous, labor short Nagaland.

Nagaland has vast stretches of vacant jhumlands lying idle, Rainfall plenty, Sunshine –generally enough and expert in Jhum Cultivation: nothing can beatthisTeamforthegeneration of Economy for the Villagers.

The Wind blows away more soil in the Ganga basin States and Rajasthan than Rain washes away soil from Nagaland. The sudden disturbances of the Natural drainage system of the mountainsides due to extensive Road and Development constructions in Nagaland and the whole North East cause landslips, Soil erosion and River bank erosions. It is not Jhum Cultivation alone that causes of the Brahmaputra water muddy.

ALL Development activities in the NorthEast involve almost always Earth cutting and that causes soil erosion problems.

It is not Jhum Cultivation of the Northeast alone that causes soil loss in the Region!

Nowhere in this ancient land of India has Villagers planted more Trees than in Nagaland! Even the remotest Villages of Nagaland like Yimrep in interior Tuensang District – the Village where Gaidinliu was stowed away after her release from Kala Pani –Andaman Islands on India’s Independence by the last Naga Hill’s DC Sir CR Pawsey, as a precaution against possible social disturbances in future if she were to move to her own Village again in Tamenglong- has Tree Plantations. Already the Villagers have started harvesting their Tree Crops.

How can Nagaland stop the destruction of the priceless Tree Plantations from wild Fires?

Preservation of the precious Tree Plantation from Fire is of immense importance to the Economy of Nagaland.

Tree Species like Hollock [Terminalia myriocarpa], Ghora Neem [Melia azadirecta] Naga Neem (Spondias axilaris?), Kadam [Anthocephalus cadamba], Bogipoma [Amoora wallichii], most Pomas are all thin skinned trees and are ‘Fire Tender’ [not resistant to fire]. The Plantations of these species, grow to the size of a Man’s Thigh [30CM = 1foot] in 12 years and are vulnerable to destruction from Forest Fires.

The Year 2014 has proven to be Colder, Drier and may prove to be Hotter; the prospect of sever Forest Fires in FEBRUARY, MARCH, APRIL, MAY, JUNE next is very likely. There were no rains in OCTOBER, NOVEMBER, DECEMBER this year .

Usually Japfü Mountain experiences Rain and Snow at least once in JANUARY, if there is no Rain in January 2015, the indications are that year the Spring Season of 2015 March–June is going to be very dry. This may portend serious Forest Fires.

The Forest Undergrowths of Herbs, Shrubs, Grasses and annual Lianas will not completely dry-up in February and would not burn furiously but by March they become dry like a Match Box. By then Forest burn furiously. Therefore to choose the less of two Evils; your Tree Plantations may be set on Fire -management firein January-February to prevent destructive jungle fire MayJune. One of the best measures to control Forest Fire is by Fire!

BURN YOUR TREE PLANTATION in JANUARY/FEBRUARY to save it FROM destructive FIRE inferno IN MAY/JUNE!

businEss

RBI Gov questions farmer debt waiver MUMBAI, DECEMBER 27 (PTI): Putting a question mark on the effectiveness of government's farm debt waiver programmes, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan on Saturday said such schemes have constrained flow of credit to farmers.

"In some states on certain occasions we have had debt waivers. How effective these debt waivers have been? In fact the studies that we have typi-

cally show that they have been ineffective. In fact they have constrained the credit flow post waiver to the farmers," he said.

On farmers suicide, he said there was need to study this important and sensitive issue.

"One question is how else we should deal with over indebtedness in the farm sector. Also worth examining very important issue is of farmer suicide.

How much they are caused

by indebtedness especially to the formal (banking) system, how much formal system alleviates indebtedness....," the governor said.

Andhra Pradesh and Telangana governments have declared loan waivers for the farmers hit by cyclone Phailin last year. "...The positive aspect is that you are giving a benefit, a cheap credit to agricul-

ture. The concern, however, is whether this credit is being put to right use or is it leading to over indebtedness or distortionary investment.

"We, for example, have crop loan that we have subsidised. But we don't subsidise longer term loans. Does that change the nature of what kind of activities are subsidised in agriculture? So that's one issue...," he added.

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.

_

LEISURE

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

SUDOKU Game Number # 3093

DAILY CROSS WORD

CROSSWORD # 3102

Answer Number # 3092

DIMAPUR Civil Hospital:

STD CODE: 03862 232224; Emergency229529, 229474

Metro Hospital:

227930, 231081

Faith Hospital:

228846

Shamrock Hospital

228254

Zion Hospital:

231864, 224117, 227337

Police Control Room

228400

Police Traffic Control

232106

East Police Station West Police Station

227607 232181

CIHSR (Referral Hospital)

242555/ 242533

Dimapur hospital

224041, 248011

Apollo Hospital Info Centre:

230695/ 9402435652

Railway:

131/228404

Indian Airlines

229366

Nagaland Multispe- 248302, cialty Health & 09856006026 Research Centre

W

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Kitchen COLANDER GRATER PANCAKETURNER CUTTINGBOARD TONGS STRAINER SPATULA RUBBERSCRAPER CHEFKNIFE VEGETABLEPEELER WOODENSPOON BOWL MEASURINGCUP MEASURINGSPOONS WHISK LADLE JELLYROLLPAN BAKINGSHEET DOUBLEBOILER FRYPAN SAUCEPAN BLENDER MICROWAVE MIXER PARINGKNIFE PROCESSOR

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E T A P F K H R B V Z N K P B S U H I J

D T A R E D N E L B A Y U L P G X C Y K

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I E W O F P G H D P L C V A Y S P U J L

G E U C V N R R E E G D N P F D R T J E

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E S R S Z V U G I U A I E O B B H I J P

V G D S I A E R Q K U L N B J I E N Z N

A N V O S H U G E J D N E K A V F G Q Z

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O K W P A B U V L T S E N F E N N O N K

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C B M O N R F E R X Y B I S I E F R K J

I K D E G P F A B F G M L A G T E D A N

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K E R M S P A T U L A X N A G R A T E R

ACROSS 1. Stair 5. Small fatty European fish 10. Skittles 14. A flexible pipe 15. Small African antelope 16. Modify 17. By mouth 18. Rejuvenate 20. Domestic fowl 22. Instructor 23. Utilize 24. Beach 25. Wrist (Scottish) 32. Fertile area in a desert 33. City in France 34. Animal doctor 37. Desiccated 38. Rope fiber 39. Workbench attachment 40. New Zealand parrot 41. Allowed 42. French for “Queen” 43. Profanities 45. Blackthorn fruits 49. Gorilla 50. Control and direct 53. Green gem 57. Incriminating 59. Diva’s solo

60. Sweet gritty-textured fruit 61. Tag 62. A noble gas 63. Being 64. Hard wood 65. Went under

DOWN 1. Store 2. Lawn mower brand 3. Brother of Jacob 4. Transparent 5. Reddish brown 6. Quarry 7. 18-wheeler 8. Assist in crime 9. Prong 10. Alight 11. Potato state 12. Fertilizer ingredient 13. Cubic meter 19. Relieves 21. Sounds of disapproval 25. Saturate 26. Rabbit 27. Largest continent 28. Long stories 29. Introductory 30. Give a speech 31. Zero

34. 8 in Roman numerals 35. Feudal worker 36. T T T T 38. Bro or sis 39. Former soldiers 41. Fails to win 42. Fully developed 44. To wit 45. Appearance 46. Shoestrings 47. Killer whales 48. Habituate 51. An exchange involving money 52. Knife 53. Not odd 54. District 55. King of the jungle 56. Musty 58. Nigerian tribesman Ans to CrossWord 3101

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

STD CODE: 0370 100/2244279 2222222 2222111 2222952 2222916 2243339 2224202 08974997923

CHUMUKEDIMA: 03862 282777/101 (O) 9856158740 (OC)

MOKOKCHUNG: 0369 2226225/ 101 (O) 9436012949 (OC) PHEK: 8414853765 (O) 9862130954(OC) ZUNHEBOTO: 03867 280304/ 101 (O) 9856156876 (OC)

MON: 03869 251222/ 101 (O) 9436208480 (OC) KipHire: 8414853767 (O) 8974304572 (OC)

Toll free No. 1098 childline

Police Station 1:

DIMAPUR: 03862 232201/ 101 (O) 9436017479 (OC)

TUENSANG: 8414853766 (O) 8414853519

CHILD WELFARE COMMITTEE

MOKOKCHUNG:

KOHIMA: 0370 2222952/ 101 (O) 9402003086 (OC)

WOKHA: 03860 242215/101 (O) 9862039399 (OC)

Chumukedima Fire 282777 Brigade Nikos Hospital and 232032, 231031 Research Centre

KOHIMA

FIRE STATIONS

STD CODE: 0369

2226241

Police Station 2 :

2226214

Civil Hospital: Woodland Nursing Home:

2226216 2226263

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The Morung Express

Z. Lohe

‘W

e have regained the lost empire of Delhi after 800 years’ said Ashok Singhal, the patron of VHP. He further stated that ‘we have a government (in Delhi) which is committed to protect Hindutva.

Our values will be gradually established in the country’ as read in the papers. In order to claim that India belongs to Hindus alone, the Union Minister of State Smti. Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti asserted that ‘all Muslims and Christians in India are children of Ram’. The RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal and all those associated Hindutsva organisations, taking shelter under BJP Govt., have been aggressively converting Christians in India with force and allurements.

The Union Govt. seems to be willing to bring amendment to Art 25 of Indian Constitution. The Hindutva activists seem to be determined to install one nation one religion. There-

Sunday 28 December 2014

The conversion is a bait

fore, the modus operandi is to initiate as much controversies and provocations as possible on conversion of Christians and Muslims to Hinduism knowing that hornet’s nest is stirred. As expected, there has been hue and cry in both the Houses of Parliament including voices raised by many in media against such communal activities of BJP and its frontal organisations. When the combined opposition parties raised objections, questioned the BJP Govt. and sought PM’s statement on conversion, BJP ministers took advantage and challenged the opposition as to whether they would support anti-conversion bill as they vehemently opposed conversion when it is tabled by Govt. All what BJP has been dreaming is to bring about a law that bans conversion of a citizen from one religion to another. BJP takes the protest of opposition MPs against conversion of others to Hinduism

as an opportunity to push through the anti-conversion bill.

I personally feel that the opposition faces discomfort as sandwiched between two gravitational forces. To remain as mute spectator to the ongoing forcible conversions would be un-secular. Opposing such conversion and to support such anti-conversion law is untenable as such law would be detrimental to secular principle embedded in Art 25 of Indian Constitution. Nevertheless, at this rate, retention of Art 25 is becoming less relevant when it is not honoured by BJP in letter and spirit. After all, what does the Art 25 safeguard when BJP allows its frontal organisations to scrap it conveniently and brutishly.

The fate of this Art 25 may be uncertain as BJP, having 282 odd Lok Sabha MPs, is willing to transform India into a theocratic country.

In regard to conversion, Hindu philosophy of

conversion is totally different from that of Christians’ belief. As Christian and as nominal as I am, I have never been responsible for a single case of conversion.

Yet, I know and I believe that Christians do not believe in the method of conversion either by force or by allurement. Whoever from any background, when converted to Christianity out of coercion cannot be expected to survive stably.

Christians do not opt for pampered and parasite members. The Christians propagate the Good News solely out of compassion, and whoever is convinced by the Good News, he becomes one and that on his own volition. Christianity cannot become dormant but it has to remain vibrant for the sake of humanity.

Accordingly, propagation of Good News continues and definitely conversion will continue. By conviction he becomes Christian and by the same conviction he will remain so. That

is what the Art 25 permits.

Whereas, the Hindu fundamentalists force others to convert to Hinduism through unconstitutional means both by force and enticement. There is no comparison between Christians’ conversion and BJP’s conversion. Yet, I do not believe that those converted will remain loyal to Hinduism in the long run. Those may shift loyalty since they are not convinced by reason but by fear or by material gain.

Therefore, blaming Christian community for having converted Hindus into Christianity and retaliating in such unconstitutional manner can be compared to that of Asop’s story on how the tiger devoured the lamb citing lame excuse.

Christmas: Releasing the BJP agendas in its manifesto during the last Lok Sabha elections, it became obvious that BJP would do this to Christians when voted to power. It is

not surprising; therefore, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) directed 25th December would be working day. Indeed, this is the advent of theocracy starting with Christian community in India. BJP is ruling and none can stop it from discriminating the Christians in India even at the cost of violating the Art 25. Now, practically, the PMO’s directive amount to derecognizing the existence of Christianity in India after 67 years of its Independence.

Nevertheless, unlike other religious festivals as Diwali or Durga puja, Christmas is the greatest universal celebration on earth. If BJP and its frontal organisations think that discarding Christmas in India would make Jesus Christ less significant, it is a misnomer. If BJP believes that desecrating Christmas and treating Christians with contempt would discourage people in other religious groups from con-

verting to Christianity, it is misread. If BJP and its frontal organisations are confident that by means of forcible conversions and removal of the red letter day of 25th December from Govt’s Calendar w.e.f. 2014 would wane down the size of Christian population drastically or steadily, it is a misconception. I do not blame BJP for being ignorant of how God Almighty works in the face of such rebellion. God, the Jehovah, hardened the heart of king Pharaoh of Egypt so that the power and majesty of God was exalted through such rigidity.

Declaring 25th December as working day by PMO is a rude shock to all Christians across the globe. Can such parochial and sectarian order enhance the image of India in international arena? PM Modi made much efforts to invite other countries to make investments in India through visits to several countries.

Along with it, he tried to

Dimapur

5

build his personal image internationally. Yet, the single action of PMO dented the image built up, and it rather proved him to be the leader of Hindutva than of the country.

I rather believe now that there will be faster growth of Christianity in India as God, the Jehovah has His own way of expanding His kingdom. Till 2014, Christmas was considered as good as any other festival and nothing special with it. By the grace of God, Christmas is made most popular above the rest of all celebrations in India.

Salman Rushdie’s book titled ‘Satanic Verses’ would not have become popular had not the Islamic fundamentalist banned it and severely threatened his life. Such uncivilized act of extremist created more curiosity for more people to read the book than expected. Similarly, more Indians will hopefully try to know more about Jesus Christ than before.

Party in the Street - Duncan Winter Festival SAYO’s stand on Morung Express News Dimapur | December 27

“Carnivals are an in thing at the moment. This is the time when everyone has a smile on their faces. They help boost up the holiday season for everyone.” This is how Wati Longkumer described a carnival.

Wati is one of those who opened a food stall at ‘Party in the Street – The Duncan Winter Festival,’ organised by the Duncan Women’s Union, which got underway here on Saturday evening.

Wati has partnered with Impang Jamir in opening the stall. The duo also owns a food joint called ‘Foodtionary’ near the SBI Rangapahar Branch at Duncan Bosti.

Here, at the carnival, their food joint serves Chocolate Lollypops, Chicken Soup and Sweet & Sticky Pork.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of young and old thronged to get a taste of the 4-9pm Carnival. The

(LEFT) A man barbecuing seafood; (RIgHT) A young boy selling wigs at ‘Party in the Street - Duncan Winter Festival’ at Duncan Bosti, Dimapur on December 27.Dimapur on December 27. (Morung Photo)

younger lot showed visible excitement, while the older folks could be seen laughing and smiling.

There are plenty of stalls, most dealing with food, but there are those selling shiny masks, lighted horns and other accessories. There are also he stalls for games like target shooting, tambola, card games etc. The ‘live’ music on Saturday evening

consisted of contestants from various local singing competitions, some of them belting out Hindi songs and drawing loud cheers from the crowd.

Monalisa Changkija, Treasurer of the Duncan Women Union, speaking to The Morung Express, said, “It’s basically a fun thing. It’s good to liven up the place.

It feels great to see people

come out and have fun.”

Saying that the carnival should in no way be looked as a means to boost our economy, Changkija noted, “Let’s look at Carnivals and night bazaars as a way to cement community bonds and not as a means to make money overnight.”

She added that this is a very good avenue for people to enter into entre-

preneurship. “These carnivals/fairs should provoke the thoughts of our young people to ideate on the sort of entrepreneurship one wants to enter into.”

Further, extending thanks and saying that the carnival was made possible because of the Duncan Village Council, GBs, Youths, Women, District Administration, and Police, Chang-

Kikheto calls for healing society

IGHANUMI, DECEMBER 27 (MExN): “Many diseases come from a state of unforgiving nature,” Y. Kikheto Sema, IAS, Secretary, Finance, said and called for concerted effort to make meaningful social progress. He was addressing the 54th Annual Session of Ighanumi Kiphimi Kuqhakulu (IKK)

on Saturday at Ighanumi village under Pughoboto sub-division.

Admitting that forgetting was more difficult than forgiving, Kikheto, however, said one should try in the best interest and welfare of a progressive society. He expressed delight to see that Ighanumi village being the pioneers

EDSC urges for peace & progress among Nagass DIMAPUR, DECEMBER 27 (MExN): The East Dimapur Sumi Council (EDSC), in its annual general meeting held today at Sumi Council Hall, Purana Bazaar deliberated that the need of the hour for Naga society to progress is peace and development.

The council re-affirmed its endeavor to strife for the progress of the society and Nagas at large. The East Dimapur Sumi Council comprises of Purana Bazaar, Darogajan, Darogapathar and Naharbari.

Khekuto Khulu (IAS), retired Additional Chief Secretary, Nagaland addressed the meeting and shared words of encouragement to the gathering. He enthused the council to have a common goal to uplift the community and at the same time to promote and uphold peace in the society besides bringing about realization of reformation and moral values. He also called upon the council members to give importance towards education and economical well-being which are vital for the growth of the society.

Tokheho Yeptho, Leader of Opposition, Tokugha Achumi, General Manager, DIC Dimapur, Inazhe Assumi, Advocate and L.K. Achumi, former, president Western Sumi Hoho were among those who attended the day-long meeting.

The meeting was chaired by council chairman Tohoshe Awomi. Rev. Dr. Shiwoto Assumi, Senior Pastor NCRC Purana Bazaar said the invocation prayer. Azheto Chophi, vice chairman of the council proposed vote of thanks. Khetoi Shikhu, Associate Pastor, SBC Purana Bazaar pronounced the benediction.

of ushering Christianity in Sumi areas was progressing spiritually and socially. He encouraged members of Ighanumi village to know their roots and remain level headed as they set an example for good neighbourly relations.

During the programme, GB Ighanumi, Kihoto Zhimo spoke briefly and be-

stowed words of blessings for Kikheto. Winners of Best Folk Fusion, 6th Annual Music Awards, Nagaland 2014, the Mughammi Melos sang their awarding winning song. The IKK annual session is being held under the theme, “Self reliance” and will conclude on December 29.

Earlier, Kikheto also

inaugurated IKK office building constructed in memory of Late Rev Inaho G. Swu the first General Secretary of IKK 1960-64.

Late Rev Inaho was also the former Pastor of Dimapur Sumi Baptist Church.

The office building was dedicated by Rev Hotokhu P. Zhimomi, Executive Secretary SABAK.

Wild elephants intrude into village

Houses destroyed by a herd of wild elephants in New Wokha Village.

WOKHA, DECEMBER 27 (MExN): A herd of wild Elephants numbering about 40 have intruded and have started grazing in New Wokha village, about 6 kilometres from Wokha town, for the past two weeks. A press note from the Lotha Hoho, Wokha has informed that the elephants have been “damaging agriculture crops including a few houses.” The Lotha Hoho Chairman, Mhao Humtsoe; and team, visited the area along with the officials of state Forest department, on December 27. All travellers, along NH 61, and those that are passing through the said village area, are apprised to be aware of the elephants and to take precautionary safety measures.

The state Forest department has also taken notice of this and the Lotha Hoho expressed hope

that the concerned department will take safety measures, to “contain the menace of the animals.”

Meanwhile, a press note from the New Wokha Village Council Chairman, while corroborating the presence of the elephants in the area informed that “wild elephants have been in the area since many centuries but due to extreme deforestation and jhum cultivation by the neighboring villages they have started to enter the New Wokha village area in search of food as the village have reduced jhuming to a great extent.”

The note informed that so far the elephants have “destroyed two houses belonging to Chilow Kithan and Yingao Murry and number of Banana & Passion fruit farms belonging to the villagers.” No human casual-

ties have been reported as of yet.

It added that volunteers from the village have been on vigil particularly for the past two nights as the herd comes out to the village only at night. The village is built along the Wokha to Mokokchung National Highway (NH61), and as such, the village council advised travelers to be careful and as far as possible avoid travelling at night. It further informed that according to reports, the elephants come out even to the highway, especially at night. With the growing threat on human habitats, the village authority has appealed to the concerned departments to arrange competent measures for the safety of the citizens and their farms, as the citizens primarily depend on Agri & Horti products.

kija said, “This is community cooperation at work.”

Wati, meanwhile, is appreciative of the Duncan Women. “I am happy that the Duncan Women Union took up the initiative to organise this and promote such event,” he said. “The turnout is very good.”

On being asked what would be the biggest takeaway from the carnival for him, Wati maintained, “Some people are interested in cooking and being able to take part in the event would motivate us and in the long run, they will have the courage. This event is promoting us.”

The carnival will conclude on December 29 and the timings are 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

anti-social elements

F

rom the desk of the president Kekriihol Mekro and the general secretary Neiba Bio of Southern Angami Youth Organization volunteers for nabbing three (3) Highway robbers at Phesama Check Post on 26th Dec’ 14.

The accused namely (1) Khape Koza (NSCN-K), s/o Dipur from Khezhakeno Village Phek, residing at Forest Colony, Kohima (2) Sheneta Khamo (NSCN-K) s/o Lt. Ziiveta from Pholami village Phek, residing at Forest Colony Kohima and Vizome Lothii s/o Asho Lothii from Jakhama village Kohima residing at Potterlane Kohima. The Organization also thanks the South Police Kohima for timely action at the spot and taken into custody. Also, request the police personnel and administration the book the culprit accordingly.

Reiterating its stand, the Southern Angami Youth Organization will not tolerate anti-social elements within its jurisdiction. Thereby any individual/ group/ organizations are to be aware that anybody found violating the norms of SAYO shall be dealt severely.

Kekriihol Mekro, President SAYO Neiba Bio, General secretary SAYO

MEx FILE 3 arrested with Ganja

brands of handsets from their possession. A case has been registered at DiDIMAPUR, DECEMBER 27 (MExN): mapur East Police Station in this regard.

Dimapur Police on December 22 arrested three persons from Purana Bazar for il- LMUD annual legally possessing approximately 2 (two) meeting-cum picnic Kgs of contraband Ganja which was concealed in a black coloured back pack. A DIMAPUR, DECEMBER 27 (MExN): press note from the police identified the The Lotisa-Mapulu Union Dimapur three arrested as Azuto Assumi (20), Yan- (LMUD) will hold its 33rd annual meetren Humtsoe (20) and Izaka Sumi (22). ing -cum-picnic on December 29 at Chathe River (4th Mile) starting 9 am. All CNTC condoles members have been requested to attend DIMAPUR, DECEMBER 27 (MExN): the meeting positively and to reach the The Central Nagaland Tribal Council venue on time. has expressed heartfelt condolences to NCYM mourns the bereaved family members of late Noklenchiba of Akhoya Village, late DIMAPUR, DECEMBER 27 (MExN): Zungalemla of Mopungchuket Village The Nagaland Catholic Youth Moveand late Purtula of Yoonyimsen Village, ment (NCYM), along with the rest of who died in an accident on December the Diocese of Kohima, has expressed 24. A press note from the CNTC stated sadness at the demise of Rev. Fr. Joseph “we share your grief and hold you in our Edakkudan SDB, who passed away on prayer to grant you solace and in this dark December 22 at Dimapur. A press note hour, and also prays for early recovery of informed that hailing from Kerala, Fathe other victims who suffered injuries in ther Joseph was one of the first Indian the said accident.” The CNTC has further missionaries to the North-Eastern reurged upon the law enforcing agencies gion. He was an educator and a pastor to expedite the investigation process and as well. As headmaster, rector and parensure appropriate punishment to the ish priest, he served at several places in culprit as per law. “We also acknowledge the States of Assam, Meghalaya, Maand extend our appreciation to our Ao nipur and Nagaland. “He was known community and its leaders for maintain- for his pioneering missionary work, efing peace,” it added. ficient handling of conflict situations and promotion of family devotions as Dimapur Police a pastor. He had a special love for the Church which he defended zealously arrest 5 burglars from opponents outside the Church D I M A P U R , D E C E M B E R 2 7 and also from within,” the note added.

(MExN): Dimapur police have arrested The NCYM stated that “we have lost a five persons in connection with a bur- legendary and valiant missionary” and glary at a mobile store in Nyamo Lotha offered their condolences to the beRoad near Breeze restaurant. A press reaved family and to his confreres in the note from the police informed that the Salesian Province of Dimapur. burglary was committed on the night of December 17, with the burglars mak- One apprehended ing off with stolen mobiles worth of Rs 4 with arms Lakhs. Police informed that on December 21, they apprehended one person, DIMAPUR, DECEMBER 27 (MExN): identified as Khitovi Zhimo (26) from Troops of the 29 Assam Rifles under the the Hong Kong Market area and recov- aegis of Headquarters 6 Sector Assam ered two stolen mobile handsets (Nokia Rifles launched an Operation on DeX2 and Micro Max-A102) from his pos- cember 25 and apprehended one indisession. After further investigation, vidual at Dhobinala near Police Point, another five accomplices identified as in possession of one 7.65 mm Pistol. A Kitoshe Awomi (23), Alobo Sema (21), press note from the AR identified the Ganesh Sharma (28), Enyei Konyak (40) apprehended person as one Nipato and Khetsimong Sangtam (25) were ar- Achumi (27), a resident of Dimapur. The rested from different locations in Dima- apprehended individual along with the pur. During the course of these arrests, recovered weapon were handed over to police recovered nineteen different West Police Station, Dimapur.

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.

Sunday 28 december 2014

6

www.morungexpress.com

EXPRESS

Review

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

The Relentless Ticking Time (PART III) Khekiye K. Sema IAS (Rtd) Forest colony, Kohima

I

t just seems like yesterday when the year 2014 was ushered in. A lot of sincere, well intended thoughts have been shared in the print media concerning the plight of the Naga Political Journey during the long course of the year. In it all, the one unmistakable voice of the masses that has emerged is the desperate cry for all the NPGs to UNITE and put an end to this miserable greed dictated, out of control 'multiple taxation/extortion' in the name of sovereignty and tackle the real issue at hand as one united force. The relentless time keeps ticking on and with it, this voice is steadily gaining momentum...albeit without much perceptible change of attitude amongst the NPGs in response. It is about time that our NPGs start listening and read the writings on the wall carefully. The responsible NGOs (that pointedly include the Churches) and the intellectual populace of Nagaland too have fearfully preferred to cautiously hedge around the podium of truth rather than dare stepping on to the platform of truth itself.

Before the year 2014 passes us by therefore, let the final candid, founded speculative thoughts unfold for what it is worth.

Late Scato Swu, former President of the Federal Government of Nagaland, has recounted his experience during the bloodiest chapter of the Naga History in his book titled "Hails and Blames". It is presumed that for those Nagas who have been following the Naga Political Movement closely, would have read Chapter 8 of this book specifically dedicated to our Southern Brothers..."The Tangkhuls". In the interest of those who have not read the account from the horses' mouth, the uncensored chapter in question is being reproduced (Quote): "The Tangkhuls did not physically join the Naga Freedom movement in the early stages. As early as 1962 few people like Lt. Punutha, Company Commander of Saposhu area, Raju Peyu Ongso and other two Khapurs were appointed for the same area. Ngayan Tatar of Haimi village and Lungshi an elder of Hondung village were the first Tangkhuls who served the Federal Government of Nagaland. In 1962, from Sati camp, I (President, FGN) sent Captain Vighoto Swu along with one section of Naga Army personnel to enrol Tangkhul volunteers into Naga Army.

Accordingly, Captain Vighoto Swu entered

into 52 villages of East Tangkhul area in between Kuchangpong village and Senakathel village, who were awakened to Naga Independence movement. One Tangkhul gentlemen told Captain Vighoto that they had no political consciousness despite having 264 graduates at that moment and he wished the Federal Authorities to be informed of the fact. The 52 villages agreed to raise Re 1/- per house for Naga Army ration. At the time, like any other villages, Government of India employed CID workers in all Tangkhul villages, who reported on the movement of Naga Federal workers. Under the Tangkhul CID guide, the Indian Army killed two Naga Army Personnel, namely Tukukha and Vighoto, both from Alatomi village, and Sergeant Nikhaje of Shoipu village was arrested at Chingai forest. Tatar Ngayan was also arrested before his Tatar-ship was approved by the Federal Authorities. Captain Vighoto and his troops suffered starvation for 14 days from 5 May to May19, 1962, as they were surrounded by the enemies and the villagers dared not to meet them.

Th. Muivah, Z.Ramyo, S. Angam and Chongsen joined the FGN in 1965 only after the ceasefire of 1964. "Where were we when Nagas were fighting in fortitude for sovereignty?" said Muivah regretfully. Gradually the late comers joined our movement. I am happy that Th. Muivah leads NSCN (IM)." (Unquote).

This author would like to stress the reason for quoting the authentic rendition of Ino Scato Swu, a Naga National stalwart amongst the National Leaders in their historic times, not with a malicious Tribalistic intent, repeat: not with a malicious intent, but to instil a sense of HUMILITY in the perception of our Southern Brothers while dealing with the Naga Political Issues. History abundantly records with definitive clarity that our Southern Tangkhul brothers had absolutely no political comprehension or consciousness when the Naga Independence Movement had begun in Nagaland.

Consequentially therefore, 'their' true respect and appreciation for the kind of excruciating pain and cruelty suffered by the Nagas of Nagaland during these brutal years can only be defined at best as a lip service acknowledgement. When thousands upon thousands of Naga families of Nagaland had had to make supreme sacrifices, shedding bitter tears at the loss of their dear martyred sons yet replacing the loss with another son if they had one more, for the cause that they

wholeheartedly believed in; These are scenarios, the magnitude of which 'they' will have less comprehension about...the extremely heart wrenching pain of the Nagas of Nagaland having watched their wives, their sisters and their daughters being raped and shamed before their very eyes and our simple men folks being brutalised and murdered as a matter of routine in the hands of the ruthless aggressors to weaken the Nagas' resolve for freedom. The Nagas of that generation courageously DARED all odds unlike today. When all these extreme inhuman suffering were being borne by the Nagas of Nagaland, our Southern Brothers were oblivious to it all. When the Nagas of Nagaland were not even able to complete counting all the fingers of a hand to assess Graduates in our land, it makes one wonder what prevailed in the 'gray matters' of our Southern Naga brothers with over 264 Tangkhul graduates floating around the countryside totally oblivious to what was going on in Nagaland. That a special task force was deployed in an effort to spread awareness and welcome Tangkhul volunteers to join the Naga National Movement explains the acceptance of the Tangkhuks as brothers by the Nagas of Nagaland. They must learn not to spit on this welcome that was and is sincerely being intended and extended. The monumental lack of consciousness and indifference within their fold at that time ought to have had a humbling impact in their very psyche at the present times. That the whole effort culminated in a cowardly betrayal, slaughter and starvation of the 'Naga Independence awareness campaigners' instead in the hands of the enemy, lead

by Tangkhul CIDs as described by the Ino Scato Swu, should have helped reduce the cold ruthlessness within their cadre in the present times. Such a history ought to have necessarily tempered the level of arrogance and stubbornness in the present generation Tangkhuls at the helms of affairs on an extremely important issue such as the unification of the Factions... and not be the stumbling block. It is a common undeniable knowledge that the Tangkhul brothers have now taken over the entire Naga National Movement within the NSCN (IM) setup. The 'presence' of other Naga Tribes within this Faction no doubt is an acknowledged fact ... even if they are but a mere window dressing.

All critical policy decisions are being dictated by Mr. Th. Muivah the Ato Kilonser and

the top heavy echelon of Tangkhuls within the hierarchy under the pretentious "Collective Leadership". No amount of explanation can erase this factual reality.

This brings us to the core issues that the people of Nagaland find it difficult to understand or swallow: 1. The Nagas rejoiced with great expectation when all Factions had shown their willingness to unite [including NSCN (IM)] by signing: (a) The Naga Concordant Agreement and (b) The Landen Agreement through the tireless efforts of FNR. The people were crestfallen when the NSCN (IM) backtracked on these agreements by citing "National Principle" as a reason. Since then the people of Nagaland have been raising questions as to what this "National Principle" is all about... without their response to clear the minds of the people. Taking into consideration that the GoI has made it amply clear that the subject of "sovereignty" and "integration" are not negotiable and the fact that the NSCN (IM) has resigned itself to acceptance of it should then necessarily nullify the tall claims to "National Principle". Once the issue of "Sovereignty" is compromised, there is no distinction between NSCN (IM) and the other Factions who have agreed to "the rule of law of the land" in their ceasefire agreement. Pointing a figure at them on that score would amount to a meaningless hypocrisy.

2. The unpalatable absurdity of the fate of the majority being decided by the AK 47 totting minority is in total violation of natural justice and human rights. The people as stakeholders have an inherent right to be consulted and be taken into confidence on issues that would impact their future: BEFORE and not AFTER the settlement is arrived at. This total lack of transparency on the part of NSCN (IM) in the on-going negotiation with the GoI is unacceptable by any yardsticks.

3. According to the street talks, the present negotiation with the GoI is being conducted by a full entourage of Tangkhuls only with Mr. Isac Swu being the sole nonTangkhul spectator. Be that as it may, the Tangkhul brothers must believe in the bigness of heart of the Nagas of Nagaland.

They would surely acknowledge that such a negotiation would greatly be reliant on brainwork and would thank the Tangkhuls for shouldering this difficult task. Nevertheless, the fact that they were "late comers", joining the Political Movement only after the 1964 ceasefire when the clouds of

critical danger had passed; where they did not have to make sacrifices equal to the average Naga household of Nagaland, but is now in the driving seat is a reality that cannot be taken for granted casually. Even at this juncture however, being in the driving seat is not being brought to question but deciding the fate of the Nagas of Nagaland in SECRET is not an easy pill to be swallowed even amongst the open-minded best of the Nagas. What needs to be registered here is the fact that the Nagas are a highly sensitive Tribal race seriously conscious of representation in any worthy forum. This is one such critical forum concerning our future.

A balanced representation is a must, essential and necessary. The NSCN (IM) would do well to clarify the factual status on this.

Maintaining a stoic silence, against all the speculations thrown up as they have been doing so far, would not be in their interest.

In fact having an open debate with the Civil Societies and responsible Senior citizens of Nagaland for all the speculation thrown up against them thus far, is what NSCN (IM) should be proposing if they have the truth behind them and the guts to do so without AK 47. Can they accept such a challange?!!!!

4. Further, there is a growing speculative perception that the Tangkhul's claim for a separate "Alternative Autonomous Administrative Status" in Manipur becoming the stumbling block in the final solution for the Nagas of Nagaland is gaining ground; That the inability on the part of NSCN (IM) to transparently declare the agenda of negotiation with the GoI is being linked to this subject for which everything is being kept under a tight wraps; This is the general belief doing the round. The NSCN (IM) would do well to clarify the factual status on this as well and arrest speculation from growing.

The ticking time is now drawing us closer to bid adieu to 2014 even as we open our doors to welcome 2015. The bottom-line message to NSCN (IM) for the year 2015 is this: Take the Nagas of Nagaland into respectful confidence in the truest sense no matter what the circumstances. Take the honourable initiative to unite the Factions and believe that the Nagas of Nagaland will understand the "intricate" problems sympathetically. This could be the New Year's gift that all Nagas of Nagaland would pray for and looking forward to.

May The Good Lord bestow a very blessed and rewarding Happy New Year for all!

Communalism To Be Replaced By Unity Of India December 25 a working day? A danger Dr. E. Rengphamo Lotha eminent constitutional expert and activist

I

n India today, it has been proved beyond any reasonable doubt that rampant communalism is becoming like the wild fire!

The government in power has totally forgotten that India is a land of “Unity in diversity” and not uniformity in religion as conceived by Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the Nation. In theory the NDA government continues to unite India under one nation theory, but in practice, she is trying to make India a purely Hindu country which is directly against the principle of secularism with equal respect to all religions.

This is totally unconstitutional, illegal and unacceptable to the law abiding citizens of India.

It may be recalled that within a short duration of 100 days of Modi in office, there have been 600 cases of communal violence against the religious minorities, namely, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Atheists

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any changes, some frightening ones are taking place in India today. The impact of contemporary forces of our environment are bringing some noticeable changes in the outlook of culture and the religious practices. The impact ofenvironment find an expression in many areas of religious experience. We may call it as a modern movement because it arises as a consequence of modern Scientific and technological development.

Resurgent movement of any religion comes in the form of(i) Reform( ii) Revival (iii)Renaissance and(iv) Revolt. Reformstake place because of external factors. Changes take place with the acceptance or incorporation of new ideas and practices. Revival on the other hand is an old come to life as a new relevancy to the environment. Renaissance is the result of both from inside and outside. In fact it is an interaction between the old and the new bringing about restatement of the fundamentals of a religion. Revolt is a violent reaction of the ancestral faith which is considered as outmoded. Compromise has no place as the ancestral faith cannot be brought in line with the time.

Hinduism has been defined as a religion without a creed.

Hinduism, in fact is a generic name for a family of religion. It affirms that the ultimate reality is unknowable. No religion can have an exclusive claim on the absolute Truth. No religion is wholly true. It is a mixture of truth and error. In our modern India, some Hindu Intellectuals like Ram Mohan Roy, RabindraNath Tagore, Keshap Chandra

from across the country. Christian researches have confirmed that there have been 78 cases of communal violence against them within six months of NDA government in office. The minority communities today are critically questioning as to whether the government is only for the 80 per cent majority hindus. If so, where will the 20 per cent minorities stay? Are they made foreigners in their own mother-land?

If NDA government wants to make India a holistically developed country, she must develop the senseless, inhuman, uncivilized, fanatic and extremists Indians led by RSS, Bajrang dal, Sangh Parivar and others to a more developed, sensible, human, civilized and middle path secular Indians. She must stop unequal treatment of Indians on the basis of religions. Mind you, the Constitution, the supreme law of the country promised to deliver to justice, liberty, equality and fraternity to all Indians irrespective of caste, creed and religions. Under the aforesaid holy book, you have all taken oath of

allegiance when you entered the new office.

Hence, keep your sacred promise to the nation.

Do not betray yourself and the nation. People of India are now fully mature to understand the working system of parliamentary democracy.

Do not fool them like children of three years.

They are as old as 67 years.

If America, the oldest democracy of the world with multiracial, multilingual, multicultural and multi political parties can become a fully developed super-power number one through their unity in diversity, why not India, the biggest democracy. Modi, keep in mind, “everything too much is bad” so also your intoxication with Hindu religion must be stopped if you want to be the best Prime Minister of India. Otherwise, you may become the worst Prime Minister worse than Dr. Manmohan Singh within ten years in office. Hence, abide by the core principle of the Constitution, the only holy book of the Indians.

Otherwise, you better resign on moral ground for condemning the Constitution. All the best.

RESURGENT HINDUISM Dr. L.M. Murry Sen and Mahatma Gandhi advocated a new Hindu theism.

The theism of AryaSamajis orthodox whereas Brahma Samaj is more of liberal and advanced.

Gandhian theism is middle way between them. The Aryasis militantly opposed to nonHindu faith and Western culture. But the Brahma Samaj is more cosmopolitan and Westernised. The Neo-Vedanta propounded by the former President of the Republic of India Dr.RadhaKrishna is of more defensive and apologetic one. The Colonial Era brought in a lot of changes in the Cultural area of the Hindus. There is open denunciation of foreign ways, but we can see that there has been slavish imitation of the West. In the urban population, there has been more widespread adoption of Western standard of living and patterns of social conduct. The reformed Hinduism are the abolition of Caste system and Sati,untouchability,eman cipation of Hindu women,and adoption of individualistic way of life by distancing from the practice of joint family system.

All these changes came about through their contact with the alien culture of the West.

At present the movement repudiatingorthodox Hindu practices are among the educated Hindus who are in Urban areas. They are mostly passive indifference to any religion and not active denial of Hinduism.

They consider that what matter

most is to make the most of the here and now, in terms of material prosperity and the earthly joys of living. The other movement is the DravidaKazagham that repudiates the perpetuation of Brahmin supremacy that imposes Aryan culture and Sanskrit tradition on the Dravidian non-Brahmins. We can see clearly the conflict between Upanisha Brahmanism and the Puranic tradition of the nonBrahmanic tradition.

The Hindu resurgence in whatever shape or form it may take or manifest is the result of self-consciousness which attempts to bring out the beliefs and practices of the ancient Hindu dharma in line with the demand of a modern World. It is related to national movement. freedom movement,against the Colonial power. However with the achievement of freedom from the Colonial rule, the Sovereign Republic of India has now taken a new turn. The desire to be itself, there is a conscious attempt to revive and restate the culture of Hindu people for a rallying ground for unity.

Therefore, in spite of the national commitment to the ideal of Secular State, they are all out to revive Hinduism as a philosophy of life and as the basis of the national culture.

The wrong premise is thatthey are making Indian culture as synonymous with the religious practices of Hinduism . They seek to impose religion of the majority on the others. The Hindu recognisesthe right of every Hindu to accept and practice whatever way of life

he may find useful to his mode of thinking and his peculiar circumstances. But they refused to practice it.This religious concept has infiltrated into the Government functionary jeopardizing the Secular Democratic Indian Government as the Constitution provides.

The all India Hindu Mahasabha has started an aggressive claim of Hinduism as the national religion. They want to dominate all political and social programmes of the Country. The RSS (RashtriyaSwayamSewakSangh) has now been embolden by the massive mandate of their ally BJP. This political party has a soft corner on the RSS agenda of attempting to establish a Hindu India. The celebration of Christmas on 25th Dec. has been re-named “Good governance day”. We are passing through a very dangerous time in our history. We, the believers of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, must be wise to read the signs of the time. We cannot predict what lies in the future for a World religion such as Hinduism. What is sad to be noticed today is that the World is changing the Church instead of the Church changing the World.

But we believe in a God, Who is the Lord of history and Who is ever at work, redeeming man and the World to bring it to its fulfilment of His purpose. It is time for Christians to give serious thought to the changes that are taking place all around us and reassess the nature of our evangelistic responsibility.

As we step into a New Year, let us seek the mind of God and obey Him, wherever He leads us. Humanly speaking, the future look dark and black but our destiny is with God and there is no reason to be despondent.

signal for Secular & Democratic India

Dr Maongsangba he circular issued by the government of India declaring December 25 as ‘good governance day’ and a working day is an assault on secular fabric of India. In the name of promoting a towering personality and a former prime minister of India, the government by a stroke of a pen has demeaned the Christendom.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee, birthday falls on 25 December. He was born ninety years ago. He is one moderate politician, who is respected across political spectrum. The contribution of Atalji to Indian politics cannot be undermined and deserves to be honored in a manner that befits his stature. The Christian community will have no objection even to engrave his name in the golden letters to acknowledge his contributions to the nation should the government takes a call.

But to propel him to foil and belittle the 25 December making it a working day smacks of antiChristian posture by the government of the day in a multi-religion nation like India.

Jesus the savior of mankind was born two thousand years ago in Bethlehem. His birth was prophesied seven hundred years ahead of the time. It did happen and the very birth of Jesus has changed the course of history. The birth of Jesus literally split history into two parts. This miraculous birth has ramification in world history. It has brought about a sea change in the life of millions of people across the globe. It has brought joy, peace and reconciliation to the mankind. The day is being celebrated with all solemnity it deserves across socio-politico and creed barrier.

Therefore it is incumbent upon Modi to honor this auspicious day. The learned and erudite BJP members must enlighten Modiji on this very important event. Circular or no circular the celebration will go on. The Christians ought to worship their ‘GOD’ on this day without obstruction from the government. A secular government must safeguard and uphold the sanctity of secularism and Modi should not play to the gallery of Hindu fundamentalism.

The circular has hurt the sentiment of millions of people across the nation and Modi and his cohorts should not be under the mistaken notion that the people will take it lying down. Modi has made a cardinal error riding on the crest of electoral success coupled with an obligation to Hindutwa agenda. The circular must be resisted and defied. In an eventual confrontation Modi’s standing will nosedive in the eye of the nation. The best course for Modi government is to revoke the circular, the earlier the circular is withdrawn the better for Modi and his team and the country as a whole.

The present BJP leadership must do well to remember that secularism is not a decorative piece to illuminate the constitution. The word ‘secular’ was even inserted in the preamble of the constitution through an amendment to make it more meaningful and consequential.

This philosophical postulate cannot be done away by an executive order. The BJP is one political party with highly qualified and articulate members in their ranks with pan India appeal.

But the tragedy is that they have not been able to define the concept of secularism in the correct perspective and view it from the lens of Hindu-

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ism. The BJP leadership must realize that religious fundamentalism has reared its ugly head with tacit support from across the border. The nation has been grabbling with the menace unabated. The government has sounded a red alert and geared up to resist such tendencies from religious fundamentalism. India has paid a heavy price for the same sixty four years ago.

It is unfathomable that the government of the day has sowed the seeds of religious fanaticism within six months of its coming to power.

The MHRD circular appears to have been laced with venom in as much it has the potential to dismantle the multi-lingual multireligion and multi-ethnic country like India.

In this context, the present regime should not view the nation from the prism of one religion.

The Modi ‘Anee wala Hee” slogan in the leadup to the last parliamentary elections appears to be that of an intimidation to the Christians as unfolded now. He has come with a vengeance, demolished all his opponents in and out of BJP and desecrated the very foundation and core of Christian faith to the letter.

The government headed by Modi should have been more sensible notwithstanding a majority in the parliament. The 282 BJP MPs may keep the government afloat, but if loses the confidence of the citizens and dismembers the nation on the basis of creed and belief, history will not forget them. Majoriatanism is no license to batter and suppress the minorities. The circular to make 25 December a working day is a camouflage for a ‘theocratic state’ that is in vogue in our neighbor Pakistan. Insofar as secular India is concerned, it is but a danger signal.

Modi government must revoke the circular to steer clear of theocratic tendencies.

This is one decision conceive as ill-advised and implemented in haste with an intention to isolate the Christians and the minorities in his scheme of things. The Modi government must spell out either to keep the country united by the secular chord or appease the Sangh Parivar and invite divisive forces to take control of the system. Development mantra is only one aspect of good governance that Modi espouses, but he must recognize the fact that unity in diversity and inclusive governance matters at the end of the day.

The Christians are docile, tolerant and accommodative. Nonetheless imposition of such order will not go down will with the Christian community. It is bound to boomerang on the government. The Christians had never interfered in the celebration of Durga Puja, Diwali etc. and any other Hindu religious rites in Christian dominated state like Nagaland. However it has come as a bolt from the blue within six months of Modi coming to power the bugle had been sounded to suppress the Christians.

It has left us bewildered and raged. The six months old Modi government should desist from fiddling with a divine history of more than 2000 years. The obnoxious circular is contrary to what the Atal Bihari Vajpayee espoused. Let Atalji, the nonagenarian live in peace. And let the docile Christians in India celebrate Christmas in peace. ……….

The circular must go lock, stock and barrel!

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.

FAITH LEAF

SunDAY

THE MORUNG EXPRESS 28 December 2014

www.morungexpress.com

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INSPIRATIONAL STORIES, MESSAGES, POEMS & SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES

Understanding the Triune God G od is the Creator of the universe. The whole cosmic system of matter and energy of which the Earth is a part was created by him out of nothing.

The cosmos is a systematic whole held to arise by and persist through the direct intervention of divine power. God is the Creator and not a created being nor a part of the creation.

God is omnipotent. He is all-powerful.

He is the Almighty God. He has the ultimate power and authority over all things.

God is eternal. God has always existed.

There was never a time when He did not exist.

He is not bound by the limits of human time.

He has neither a beginning nor an ending.

God is holy and perfect. God is righteous and in him there is no sin. God cannot sin for it is not in His nature.

God is omnipresent. He is present everywhere at the same time, observing and watching everything we do.

God is omniscient. God knows everything. He knows and sees our actions. He knows our thoughts and he knows our heart.

God is love. God's love is unconditional and selfless toward mankind, supremely expressed when he sent his own Son Jesus as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

God is good. God is good and all that he originally created before the Fall was good.

God is full of mercy. Our sins demand punishment and damnation, but God does not destroy mankind. Instead he offers the gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

God is patient. God expressed his patience first with Adam and Eve, for he did not destroy them as he could have done. He even made for them clothing from animal skins to cover their nakedness. As humanity grew extremely wicked, God was angry and regretted that he had even made man. He vowed to destroy mankind, but waited patiently while Noah constructed the ark.

God is truth. God cannot lie. God is truth and is trustworthy in all He says and does.

God proclaimed before Moses, "The Lord,

The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth." (Exodus 34:6 KJV). His Spirit is called the "Spirit of truth" (John 14:17 KJV). His Son called Himself, "The way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6 KJV).

God is just. God is fair, honest and just in His dealings with and treatment of mankind. God hates sin and loves righteousness. He is just in condemning fallen man to death, yet sent his Son to atone for our sin that we may have life. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them… For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Corinthians 5:19,21 KJV).

God is faithful. God will perform what He has revealed in his Word, and will carry out His promises and warnings. His faithfulness should be of comfort to all believers, and bring fear to those who walk in unrighteousness.

He is Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord who provides. He is El-Shaddai, the all sufficient one. He is Abba, our Heavenly Father.

God is Triune. God is one God who is manifested in three distinct persons, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Each person is fully divine and equal to the other two; yet they are not three Gods, but one, fully and completely united in purpose.They are not three Gods but one.

The word used to describe this attribute of God is known as the Trinity(triad, union of three). The doctrine of the Trinity states: 1st: God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

2nd: Each person is fully God. 3rd: There is one God. Trinity is not a word which Jesus used. It is not even found in the Bible, but it is used to describe what we know about God. The doctrine of the Trinity is a difficult subject to understand even for many Christians. But one must be clear on one fact--- Christianity stands or

Selie Visa

falls by what the doctrine says. The doctrine of the Trinity is not an invention of men, nor is it an addition to the Bible. The Trinity is a crystallization of the teachings of the Bible.

The creation story hints of the trinity with the plural words US and OUR, "And God said, Let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness" (Genesis 1:26 KJV). "For there are three that bear record in heaven," John tells us. "The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one." (1 John 5:7& 8 KJV).

Jesus said"he that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9 KJV). Many scriptures mention all three persons of the Godhead. Jesus said, "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."

(John 14:26 KJV).

“We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with

the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3 NIV).

“That all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him” (John 5:23NIV).

The Son has been entrusted with the power of judgment. He possesses equal dignity with the Father and shares with him judicial as well as executive authority. Conversely, since the Son is equal in authority, He can rightly claim equal honor with God. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain (2 Peter 1:17 & 18 NIV).

These verses explain how and when Peter was an eyewitness of the majesty of Jesus Christ. God the Father gave honor and glory to Jesus. The "honor" is the public acknowledgment of his being the Son of God, and the "glory" is the transfiguration of the humiliated Son into his glorious splendor.

On the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus' face shone like the sun, his clothes became as white as the light, and a unique voice sounded from a bright cloud that covered them and said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." The scene showed Jesus as Messiah and was a preview of his glory as King.

Peter emphatically says, "We [i.e., Peter, James, and John] heard this voice that came from heaven," while they were with Jesus "on the sacred mountain." It was the Transfiguration that transformed the mountain from a common one into a sacred one.

“You were shown these things so that you might know that the LORD is God; besides him there is no other” (Deuteronomy 4:35 NIV).

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the

LORD is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4 NIV). "The most important one” answered Jesus, "is this: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Mark 12:29 NIV).

That God is one does not deny the doctrine of the Trinity.

“I and the Father are one" (John 10:30 NIV).

"I and the Father" preserves the separate individuality of the two Persons in the Godhead; the word "one" asserts unity of nature or equality.The Jews were quick to apprehend this statement and reacted by preparing to stone Jesus for blasphemy because he, a man, had asserted that he was one with God. Three significant things took place when Jesus Christ was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. These threethings further validate and authenticate the doctrine of the Trinity.

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased"(Matthew 3:16 & 17 NIV).

Jesus Christ the Son was baptized. When Jesus stepped out of the water the Holy Spirit came down upon him. Then the voice of the Father is heard. In one single episode we find the manifestation of all the three persons of the Trinity.

In conclusion, God's final revelation of his attributes and his character is found in Jesus Christ. If we want to understand fully who God is and what he is like, then we must look to Jesus, who was God in the flesh.

The writer of Hebrews states, "In the past, God spoke to our forefathers at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word" (Hebrews 1:1-3).

Why 2014 goes down as a painful year in church history nothing Wasted

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Katey Hearth

ow would you rate 2014? Good? Bad? Somewhere in-between? Emily Fuentes with Open Doors USA says it's been a rough year for the global church.

There has been more persecution in 2014 than any year in recent history.

"Even non-Christian news agencies and secular news agencies are paying attention," Fuentes notes. She's been with Open Doors for the past decade.

"My entire time here, I have never seen, first of all, the types of stories (the widespread persecution) or the significant increase globally in persecution."

Why? From the ISIS crisis to Nigeria's kid-

napped schoolgirls, much of this year's persecution springs from a single source: radical Islam.

"We are seeing the rise of Islamic extremism in many countries where it wasn't necessarily as present—or even present—before," says Fuentes.

For example, Christians in Iraq previously faced persecution on a "moderate" level: Believers were pressured by society and governmental restrictions. It was "never the whole Christian community fearing for their lives, like they are now," Fuentes shares. Syria, another persecution hotspot that's frequently in the headlines, jumped from #37 to #3 on the Open Doors World Watch List in just three years.

"Every year the World Watch List comes out, there are more and more Af-

Unreasonable Love Kay Horner he word "love" is a commonly used word in our language. We love pizza and chocolate, shopping and hunting, our spouse or significant other, and our children. However, love at its best is the height of human affection and loyalty. In New Testament Scripture, the word used to describe the divine love of God is agape—a selfless love, which gives and sacrifices expecting nothing in return, an unconditional love that has the best interest of the recipient at heart. One might say it's an "unreasonable love."

In one of the most intimate writings in Scripture, John uses tender terminology such as "dear children" and "dear friends" as if he is writing a family letter from the heavenly Father to His "little children." He essentially looks at the evidence and gives clear proof of the incarnation of the Son of God—Jesus Christ.

Based upon this extravagant demonstration of divine love, John challenges us to love one another with these words: "This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another" (1 John 4:9–11).

When you pause to think about it, the Incarnation narrative (Matt. 1:18– 25) is one of the most unreasonable love stories in all of Scripture. Webster defines "unreasonable" as "not governed by or acting according to reason ... absurd." How absurd that God would send His Son to be our Savior—one who shares the nature of the Father—God manifested in human flesh! "For in Christ all the fullness of deity lives in bodily form" (Col. 2:9).

Consider how unreasonable it was for God to ask a young, virgin handmaiden, engaged to be married to a righteous man, to conceive an unplanned pregnancy then endure the shame and risk that would involve. How ridiculous that Joseph would be requested to follow through with his wedding plans with Mary and accept the responsibility for her "illegitimate" child! Unreasonable! Yet what would our world be like if they had chosen otherwise?

We tend to divorce ourselves from certain accounts in God's Word.

This occurred more than 2,000 years ago to some people in Israel. It is an interesting story, but nothing like that would ever happen today. No, we will never have another virgin birth. Jesus Christ is the one and only Savior of the world. Yet, all of us have experienced disappointment, loss, or overwhelming needs. Sometimes entire communities and population segments have been ignored and marginalized.

Who are we in their story? What could be asked of us as recipients of God's unreasonable love? Could He be challenging us to respond with unreasonable love for those the world might deem unlovable?

Why not consider the following as this year ends and we face new opportunities in 2015: Place yourself in Joseph's and Mary's story and ask, "What have I recently done for God that seemed totally unreasonable to my world?

Ask God to birth afresh in you His love that compels you to see neglected and hurting people through the lens of the gospel, so that you and your church can begin to address their needs through word and deed (Matt. 25:31–40).

Pray, asking the Holy Spirit to strengthen your faith walk with Christ, so that you may be used to impact those in your sphere of influence to come together in unified strategies and unreasonable love, accompanied by practical actions that will transform your entire neighborhood, community, and city.

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Kay Horner is the executive director of the Awakening America Alliance

rican nations," Fuentes adds. "They con- we've seen over the years is that, in fact, tinue to rise because of Islamic extremist it causes the gospel to flourish." groups, like al-Shabaab and Boko Haram."

More Help Needed And yet, hope prevails.

This unprecedented year of persecution is also leaving behind significant Persecution Paradox needs, along with a $1.8 million funding In many cases—and 2014 is no dif- gap for Open Doors. ferent—stopping the church is like kill"We're asking and praying that peoing weeds; the more you try to eradicate ple would prayerfully give to help our them, the more they grow. brothers and sisters," shares Fuentes.

"It would seem like in countries where there's so much more persecu- Most importantly, pray. tion, it would have that effect of stopping "We know that prayer has moved the growth of the Church, right? That's mountains and changed the course of what these governments or Islamic ex- history. It's changed leaders' hearts, it's tremist groups are all attempting to do," changed nations," Fuentes states.

Fuentes says.

"Persecuted Christians have seen this "But the most amazing thing that over and over again."

The Truth About Passionate Worship David Santistevan

sional in our craft, yet like a child in worship.

But a blog post like this can be mistaken for ow would you define it? sensationalism.

Or emotional rubbish.

Hearing that word almost creates The wild, abandoned, free worship I’m confusion. talking about isn’t just relegated to stages, It has become so many things. Songs, sersongs, services and church buildings. It’s a way vices, singing and industry.

Records, sold-out shows, iTunes charts and of seeing the world—seeing your life through the lens of worship. royalty checks.

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Jobs, productions and emotional feelings.

But what is it … really? More than anything, we need to get this right. Worship is foundation—it’s the rock that everything is built upon.

As leaders, we can never tire of hearing this.

We can never graduate from the heart of worship. There are no bigger and better things.

Christ is all—His worth, magnified in our hearts and in the hearts of the people we lead.

Seeing Him clearer, knowing Him deeper.

Let’s ask some pointed questions: When was the last time you were really desperate for God? Where you felt like you really needed Him? Do you remember a time when your desire to know Jesus was stronger than your desire for anything else?

Have you ever felt the fire that Paul felt?

“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ” (Phil. 3:8).

Is Christ so valuable to you that everything else seems like rubbish?

The Dangers of Professionalism I don’t have a problem with being a professional. Professionalism is a powerful standard to strive for.

But our hunger for Jesus shouldn’t be professional, tamed, civilized. It needs to run wild.

It needs to burn. It needs to spread.

Oftentimes, the more professional we get, the less desperate we become. We start to adopt the world’s values and crave its attention. Rather than living our lives to magnify the greatness of Jesus, we subtly crave a slice of that pie.

Our hearts crave the glory that belongs to One name.

But here’s the goal: We want to be profes-

Defining Passionate Worship This Scripture is one of the most powerful worship verses in the Bible, and it’s not referring to music or passionate singing: “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Share with the Lord’s people who are in need.

Practice hospitality” (Romans 12:11).

Worship.

How would you define it?

According to this verse?

• Consistent zeal • Spiritual fervor • Joy • Hope • Patient in affliction • Faithful in prayer • Giving to the needy • Being hospitable By all means, light up your local church stage with your zeal, passion and fire for God. But balance that passion with this: Your private passion must back it up.

How you maintain zeal in a complacent society is a reflection of your worship.

Serving God is a reflection of your worship.

Giving is a reflection of your worship.

Being hospitable is a reflection of your worship.

How passionately you sing at a worship concert doesn’t mean much if you aren’t stoking the flames of worship on Monday morning.

Believe me, I’m all for passionate, loud singing at a concert. But let that passion find expression where you live every day.

Let’s labor for a more robust worship. Worship that spreads into every fiber of our being, every moment of our day and every appointment on our calendar.

David is a Worship Pastor at Allison Park Church in Pittsburgh, PA.

John upChurch

Senior editor, bibleStudyTools.com

When they had all had enough to eat, [Jesus] said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over.

Let nothing be wasted.” (John 6:12)

I

n your house somewhere, there’s probably one of those things. Although it looks like any other scribbled-up notebook or faded picture or crinkle-edged envelope, you know better. You know better because there’s a ton or two of memories tied around that thing. You avoid it for years because you don’t have time (or courage) to drag all that weight back out. It’s best left dusty and dormant. You tell yourself you’ve forgotten. You don’t really believe that, but it’s what you tell yourself.

Then, that thing finds you. Okay, so technically you found it while you were cleaning or trying to decide what to pitch out from your overstuffed closet. But whatever the case, it’s there in your hand.

You plop down in the floor and place it on your lap.

Your fingers smooth down the edges. Maybe your gut tightens up a bit.

Once again—just like the last time you “found” it—the I-was-a-fool song zips into your head. It’s a song that only has one verse, but that verse plays over and over. Usually, you turn the melody into a prayer that goes something like this: God, what was I thinking? How could I not see?

How could I have done that? Why didn’t I say something?

Waste—eventually, it all comes down to that.

While tracing pencil indentions with your fingers or taking in the smooth surface of the photo, you wonder how many years you wasted. What mighty things you might have done. At least, it seems like that now.

But there’s another song that comes, too, and that one has many verses and many versions. One of the best sounds like this: You were dead because you lost sight of Christ.

But He never lost sight of you. Right when you needed it most, God made those nail-pierced wrists very real to you, and it crushed you to know what shame had been hammered to the cross—all our regret-filled yesterdays. (Colossians 2:13-14, author paraphrase) And if you listen to that song (or dozens more like it), you won’t fear that tattered thing in your hands, that memento too heavy to keep close by. Instead, you’ll see how God never wastes anything. Not busted up plans, not years of prodigal living, and certainly not you. Instead, He picks them up—when He picks you up—and teaches you how to talk about His can’t-believe-it’s-possible grace.

So, talk.

Intersecting Faith and Life: If there was anyone who should have wanted to forget his past, it was Paul.

This Christian-murdering, Jesus-denying man pretty much owned the record for most regretful decisions.

But Paul never hides what he was. In fact, he keeps repeating it to believers, to governors, to kings. He never hides the years that we might think were wasted.

You see, Paul had it figured out. He’d done shameful things, but he’d received shameless grace. And all those years of not knowing Jesus became the foundation for his new life. He spoke from his weakness and God’s ridiculous gift of salvation. Even for him.

And the same is true with your past. You may hate what happened or what you did. But it’s not about where you’ve been or the wounds you inflicted on yourself; it’s about showing God’s love through your scars.

Further Reading: Colossians 2 and John 6

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

8

Dimapur

NATIONAL

Sunday 28 December 2014

The Morung Express

PDP seek BJP’s assurance over Article 370, AFSPA SRINAGAR, DECEMBER 27 (PTI): Hinting that it is ready to do business with BJP, the PDP, which has emerged as the single largest party in the assembly elections, on Saturday sought assurance from its prospective partners over contentious issues like safeguarding Article 370 and revocation of AFSPA. "All options are still open. No decision has been taken yet on formation of government in the state with any other party," PDP spokesperson Naeem Akhter said here.

He said the leadership of PDP, which has won 28 of the 87 seats in the assembly, was discussing all its options for government formation, hinting at an alliance with the BJP. "There are certain issues which form our core agenda and require an assurance that these will be accepted by our potential alliance partner, whichever party it might be," he said.

Akhter said his party's stand on safeguarding Article 370, which guarantees special status to Jammu & Kashmir within the Indian union, was non-negotiable.

He also said that the party was committed to revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act from the state, besides initiating a political process for resolution of Kashmir issue.

The PDP and the second largest party BJP, which has won 25 seats, all in Jammu, have been invited by governor N N Vohra for separate discussions over government forma-

Centre wants quick govt formation in Kashmir SRINAGAR, DECEMBER 27 (AGENCIES): Governor NN Vohra’s initiative of asking the PDP and the BJP, the parties with the highest and second highest seats in Jammu and Kashmir, to meet him in order to discuss their proposals to form the next government is indicative of the Centre’s conviction that a popular elected government must assume office before the term of outgoing assembly expires in less than three weeks.

There have been many instances when a fractured verdict of this kind saw the imposition of President's rule in the state and the Assembly has been kept in suspended animation. Delhi is the the most recent example. But this option is not on radar for J&K. Imposition of President's rule, even if for a brief period while parties explore possibilities of getting the numbers to form a government, would offset the gains made nationally and internationally by conducting a free and fair election in the state, that too in most among the most difficult conditions following the floods.

A senior BJP leader told Firstpost, “Let us be clear that Jammu and Kashmir’s situation is different from rest of the country. The option of President Rule and keeping assembly in suspended animation is ruled out."

"Our view is clear that a popularly elected government must assume office at the earliest. Voters have given a manKashmiri supporters of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) celebrate the news of early election result trends outside a date, which is fractured but has an inhercounting centre in Srinagar on December 23. With talk of an alliance with the BJP, the PDP has asked for assurances ent message for us. We are committed to give good governance to the people, as from the former regarding Article 360 and AFSPA. (AP Photo) tion by January 1.

Asked if his party would consider the demand for rotational chief ministership from any future alliance partner, the PDP spokesman said the negotiations have not reached that stage with any of the parties.

He said Congress has also given a proposal for government formation to the PDP which is under the consideration by the party.

Centre asks its wings to procure products of 'Made in India' NEw DElhI, DECEMBER 27 (IANS): The Cabinet Secretariat has asked all government agencies to give preference to domestically produced goods in its procurement programme in a bid to push Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Make in India" campaign.

"A committee of secretaries has decided that all ministries and departments should identify department-specific domestically manufactured electronic products for procurement, and notify them within a fortnight," an official communique said Saturday.

"All government departments have been asked to adhere to a tender template already issued by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, for procurement of electronic items," said the communique from the PMO. "The Department of

Electronics and Information Technology has also been asked to put in place an online monitoring system for reporting by Ministries/ Departments and State Governments, on procurement of electronic products."

The official note said this system, to be operationalised within a fortnight, will capture the break-up of domestically manufactured electronic equipment by value.

The "Make in India" campaign was launched

by Modi Sep 25, promising the investors, domestic and overseas, an environment conducive to turn the country into a manufacturing hub. The vision statement commits to increasing manufacturing growth over the medium term and increase the share of manufacturing in the country’s gross domestic product from 16 percent to 25 percent by 2022.

Eight killed in Maharashtra fire ThANE, DECEMBER 27 (IANS): At least eight migrant workers were killed in a major fire that swept through a timber warehouse in Bhiwandi town early Saturday. Initially, five people had suffocated to death. Four others, who had suffered burns were admitted to local hospitals. Out of them, three succumbed to their injuries.

According to Thane police, the blaze was reported at 2 a.m. in the timber goods warehouse in Mankoli. The fire fighters managed to rescue another three injured people alive while eight lost their lives in the fire, police said. The cause of the fire has not been ascertained yet but it was brought under control by daybreak after a four-hour operation. Among the dead are north Indian and Nepali migrant workers, but their identity is yet to be determined.

On the National Conference's offer of unconditional support to PDP for government formation, Akhter said his party has received no such communication so far from its arch rival. "As and when such an offer is received we will surely discuss it and decide the future course of action," he said.

National Conference working president Omar Abdullah on Friday said his party had only conveyed

a "verbal offer" to the PDP through an intermediary.

The PDP leadership is caught in a 'catch 22' situation with some influential leaders within the party strongly opposing an alliance with the BJP on the grounds that such a partnership can reverse the gains made by the party during recent times.

A senior PDP leader, on the condition of anonymity, said an alliance with the

BJP which emerged as the second largest party with 25 seats, would be "suicidal" for the regional party.

"While good governance and development is a universal yearning among the people, people in a sensitive place like Kashmir also keenly watch the friends you keep. One of the reasons for decline of National Conference was its hobnobbing with which ever party was in power at

the centre," he said.

National Conference, which has 15 seats and can play a key role in government formation, withdrew from the race following open expression of dissent by some senior party leaders after reports suggested that the regional party had entered into parleys with BJP to cobble up an alliance.

The results for the state assembly elections on December 23 threw up a hung

was outlined by Modiji during election campaign. We are therefore talking to stakeholders and hope to arrive at a conclusion soon,” the leader said on condition of anonymity.

While Omar Abdullah’s unconditional offer of support to PDP was surprising, it was soon dismissed as a googly. Omar thus couldn’t get the desired impact, at least for now.

Interestingly, despite Omar’s public overture to the PDP, sources insist that the possibility of an agreement between the BJP and National Conference is still there. BJP leaders say it was very clear in the minds of party leadership and the J&K party unit that they must be in the government.

The problem boils down to a simple issue – who will be chief minister of the state, a Hindu from Jammu (BJP) or a Muslim from Kashmir valley (PDP)? A BJP-PDP alliance means that Mufti Mohammad Syed will be chief minister and the BJP can get the Deputy Chief Minister’s post. Though the BJP will try to drive a hard bargain for the chief minister's tenure to be evenly split between the two parties, three years each for the PDP and BJP, it wouldn’t be a stumbling block.

The negotiations, albeit informal, are on and will go on. What actually matters is when and with what conditions PM Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah take a decisionl. The situation is slightly fluid at the moment. Once an decision to align with the PDP or otherwise is taken, other things will fall in line.

verdict with no party getting clear majority.

Congress, with 12 MLAs, is neither in a position to form the government or help PDP or National Conference to cross the 44 seat mark in the 87-member state assembly.

Congress spokesman Salman Nizami on Friday said the party was in touch with PDP and six other independents to prevent BJP from coming to power in

asks Pakistan Bihar Speaker disqualifies four JD(U) MLAs toIndia hand over Dawood PATNA, DECEMBER 27 (PTI): Four JD(U) MLAs were disqualified today from the Bihar Legislative Assembly for anti-party activities, the Assembly secretary in charge Hareram Mukhiya said.

Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary passed the verdict in his court in the presence of four JD(U) MLAs against whom the ruling party had initiated proceedings for termination of their membership for antiparty activities, he told PTI. The disqualified JD(U) MLAs are – Ajit Kumar (Kanti, Muzaffarpur), Raju Singh (Sahebganj, Muzaffarpur), Poonam Devi Yadav (Khagaria) and Suresh Chanchal (Sakra, Muzaffarpur).

Chaudhary disqualified these four rebel JD(U) MLAs under the provisions of the anti-defection law, Mukhiya said.

The Speaker had reserved his order on disqualification proceedings against these four JD(U) MLAs

last month, the Legislative Assembly secretary in-charge said.

With disqualification of four MLAs, the JD(U)’s strength in the state Legislative Assembly has come down to 111.

The BJP has 88 members in the House followed by RJD (24), Congress (5), CPI(1) and Independents (5).

Four rebel JD(U) MLAs – Gyanendra Singh Gyanu, Neeraj Singh Bablu, Ravindra Rai and Rahul Sharma on same charge -were disqualified under the anti-defection law for anti-party activities last month.

The disqualification of eight MLAs so far, however, does not pose any threat to its government in Bihar as the RJD, Congress, CPI and three Independents continue to extend outside support to the JD(U) government since last year.

The disqualified MLA Suresh Chanchal said that the aggrieved

legislators were not given proper chance to present their case during hearing of disqualification proceedings against them.

The Speaker had passed a unilateral verdict after meting out similar treatment to his four other erstwhile colleagues, Chanchal said.

He said that they would move a court challenging their disqualification from the House as all of them had faith in the judiciary.

The JD(U) Chief Whip Shrawan Kumar welcomed the Speaker’s decision on a proceeding initiated by him and said that the disqualified lawmakers deserved punishment for working against their party.

These four MLAs had broken party discipline and indulged in anti-party activities by working for another party which the party leadership took note of and initiated proceedings against them under the anti-defection law, Kumar, who is also the Rural Works Minister in Ji-

tan Ram Manjhi government, said.

“You cannot remain member of one party and work of another as it amounts to breach of discipline and indulgence in anti-party activities,” Kumar, a close aide of the former chief minister Nitish Kumar, said.

In a strong warning to other rebel ruling party MLAs, he said they should also be prepared for strict against them and anti-defection proceedings would be initiated against them soon, but in an incremental manner.

The rebel MLAs include Rajiv Ranjan who was recently suspended from the party for six years after he was made NDA’s Nalanda district convenor despite being a ruling JD(U) MLA. The suspended JD(U) MLA had dared the party leadership to take whatever action it deemed fit and said that he would not move court even if he was disqualified from the House under the anti-defection law.

Tobacco litter a challenge for a clean India T h I R U VA N AT h A PURAM, DECEMBER 27 (PTI): Even as the Clean India campaign is going on in the country, acclaimed environmental experts have called for no-holdsbarred implementation of the ban on public smoking as a means to keep the cities, towns and villages clean and litter-free.

They contend that callously discarded cigarette stubs found abundantly in public places in violation of the smoking ban poses a challenge to the dream of a clean India besides bring-

ing the need for stricter implementation of laws to the fore.

Prof M K Prasad, environmental expert and educationist, said, "while there are public discourses on the health impacts of tobacco use, its effect on the environment have come up for scant discussion in Kerala and India."

"Developed countries have woken up to this fact and have undertaken steps to identify the enormity of the problem. According to one estimate, the overall littering rate for cigarette

butts in America is 65 per cent," he said.

"The non-biodegradable nature of cigarette butts, a hazardous solid waste, makes it a challenging area to address. The butts also contain dangerous chemicals such as cadmium, arsenic and lead.

Stricter implementation of laws on public smoking will not only improve public health but also restrict the environmental damage caused from cigarette use," Prasad said.

A paper published in the International Journal of

Environmental Research and Public Health cites that an estimated 1.69 billion pounds of butts are littered worldwide a year.

Harish Vasudevan, environmental law expert, said, "studies point out that tobacco refuse is a major source of litter on the planet."

"Filtered cigarettes offered as an alternative to reduce the amounts of nicotine and tar consumed are a mainstay with smokers now. Cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate, a plastic slow to degrade,"

he said.

"Presence of cigarette stubs in public places provides cues for smoking.

This major environmental and public health issue can be effectively controlled by implementing laws that prohibit smoking in public places," he said.

Indian Tobacco Control Law COTPA, 2003 vide Section 4 prohibits smoking in all public places including public offices, educational institutions, public conveyances, restaurants, hotels, health institutions and all workplaces.

‘Education and healthcare before ghar wapsi’ ATIYA, DECEMBER 27 (IE): Around 40 Scheduled Caste Manjhi families, whose conversion to Christianity became public this Christmas, said they embraced the religion between 2007 and 2010 because missionaries promised them better healthcare, education and livelihood.

The families, however, said they would agree to VHP’s “ghar wapsi” offer if they get the same deal.

A day after the conversion of Atiya villagers came to light, local BJP MP Hari Manjhi and VHP leaders reached out to them with “ghar wapsi” request.

The converted families, however, first demanded better facilities from the Hindu leaders and the Bihar government that otherwise has failed to pro-

the state.

State governor N N Vohra has invited PDP and BJP for separate discussions over government formation. "The governor has asked the two parties to inform him about the developments on government formation in the state," Raj Bhavan sources had said.

All eyes are now on the PDP to come up with its decision on government formation in the state.

vide them free decimal land to construct houses and old-age pensions.

Bhuiyan (Manjhi) tola of Atiya village under Bodhgaya police station now has a church that doubles up as Promise Mission School, which claims to be “purely English medium” school offering “continuous comprehensive education” and computer facilities.

The village community hall, constructed as part of PM Adarsh Gram Yojana, houses pastor Rajkishore’s family, living in the village for three years and taking care of Sunday prayers.

However, Bodh Manjhi (60), at whose house had Christmas celebrations were arranged on Thursday, vehemently denied having converted and displayed his “Durga pendant”, saying

he was still a Hindu. But, fellow villagers admitted that they had stopped going to temples around seven years ago.

“We came in contact of some good people (who came from a missionary) and they first convinced us to quit drinking and started giving our children good education,” said Anil Manjhi (35), who attributed his better health to this “good company”.

Safet Manjhi(22), a mason, said: “Around 40 families hold Sunday prayers under guidance of pastor Rajkishore, who is from Sasaram. One Ramesh from Bodhgaya was the first person from the missionary who contacted us and told about the benefits of conversion.” The pastor, whose family was at the village, had left the village af-

ter Christmas celebrations.

Asked if they could reconvert to Hinduism, Safet said: “Yes, we can.

But, local VHP leaders and state government will have to take better care of us, should give us hospital and land to raise homes.”

Other villagers showed a plaque that said the village was under”PM Adarsh Gram Yojana”. Pointing at electric poles without wires, they said the benefits promised by the government do not them. “We have a Manjhi CM (Jeetan Ram Manjhi), but we have not yet got free three decimal land to raise homes,” said Vinod Manjhi, a daily wager.

Atiya has over 250 households of OBCs and SCs.

A group of Manjhi women, who looked livid at so many people questioning them now. They got into arguement with a local VHP leader, asking why the saffron outfit did not come to village even once in past to ask about their well being. “Now that you have heard about conversion, you are here,” said an angry woman.

The VHP leader, Barik, told women: “We need to listen to your problems.

We will sort it out but please come back to your home (Hinduism).”

Gaya BJP MP Hari Manjhi, who held meeting with representatives of converted Manjhi families, told them: “Hindu is sanatan dharma… You should tell your problems and let us sort it out.”

NEw DElhI, DECEMBER 27 (IANS): India Saturday asked Pakistan to hand over the “country’s most wanted” and 1993 Mumbai blasts’ mastermind Dawood Ibrahim, while the Congress said it was time for the Narendra Modi government to “walk the talk” and sought to know what it had done so far.

“He is the most wanted... India has asked Pakistan to hand him over... you just wait,” union Home Minister Rajnath Singh told reporters here.

India has made this demand to Pakistan many times earlier also but Pakistan had denied his presence in the country. However, Dawood, listed as an international terrorist, has reportedly been caught on tape by a western intelligence agency talking to one of his associates from Pakistan’s Karachi city.

Reacting to the home minister’s statement, Congress leader Manish Tiwari sought to know what the government headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party, which had raised the issue frequently while in the opposition, had done about getting Dawood.

“So what is this government is doing about it? When they were in the opposition they used to do a lots of chest thumping about how they would use diplomacy.

How they would explore other means and mechanisms in order to bring Dawood Ibrahim...

“If Dawood Ibrahim is indeed in Karachi than this government should walk the talk and bring him to justice,” Tiwari told reporters.

The BJP, however, defended the government, saying it “was committed towards the fact that Dawood is brought back to India”.

Dawood is reportedly involved in a number of crimes in India, including for planning the 1993 Mumbai blasts, sport fixing and others.

The US, believing that Dawood maintained close links with Al Qaeda and other terrorist organisations, had declared him a “global terrorist” in 2003.

It had also taken the matter to the UN in an attempt to ensure freezing of his assets around the world and a crackdown on his operations.

InternatIonal

the Morung express

Sunday 28 December 2014

Dimapur

9

10th anniversary of tsunami is marked with tears

Jenny Brand, from Sweden, center, who had friends that were victims of the Asian tsunami, releases a lantern which symbolizes the releasing of spirits, amidst hundreds of others during a commemoration service to mark the 10th anniversary of the day this natural disaster happened on December 26, in Ban Nam Khem, Thailand. Dec. 26 marks the 10th anniversary of one of the deadliest natural disasters in world history: a tsunami, triggered by a massive earthquake off the Indonesian coast, that left more than 230,000 people dead in 14 countries and caused about $10 billion in damage. (AP Photo)

PERELIYA, DEcEmbER 27 (AP): A packed train in Sri Lanka that was swept off the tracks by waves as big as elephants.

A boat patrolling off Thailand’s shore hurled more than a mile inland. Streets in Indonesia turned into roaring rivers that carried people to their deaths.

Vivid and terrifying memories such as these were recalled Friday at ceremonies marking the 10th anniversary of the Indian

Ocean tsunami that left nearly a quarter-million people dead in one of modern history’s worst natural disasters.

The Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami was triggered by a magnitude-9.1 earthquake — the region’s most powerful in 40 years — that tore open the seabed off Indonesia’s Sumatran coast, displacing billions of tons of water and sending waves roaring across the Indian Ocean at jetliner speeds as

far away as East Africa.

Weeping survivors and others took part in beachside memorials and religious services across Asia, while some European countries also marked the anniversary, remembering the thousands of Christmastime tourists who died in the disaster.

Pain and hope alike were harvested from the tragedy. “There is no need for anyone to remind us — the sorrow will be there until

I stop breathing,” said Kapila Migelratne, a 50-yearold businessman who lost his 14-year-old son and his brother when the train they were riding was derailed along Sri Lanka’s shoreline.

More than 35,000 people in Sri Lanka died in the tsunami, including as many as 2,000 in what is regarded as the world’s worst train accident.

In the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where more than 6,000 people

died, Liguvariyal Daveed — a tsunami survivor who lost her son, mother and two grandchildren in the disaster — said the fear from that day remains with her. “Whenever we see the ocean, we get reminded of how this same ocean took away all these people,” she said at a memorial ceremony in the town of Kanyakumari. “You can’t even imagine how much we fear the sea now. We didn’t even want to stay close to it, so we moved ... away from the sea, in a small house allotted to me by the government.”

In Europe, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven delivered a speech at a ceremony at Uppsala Cathedral, just north of Stockholm, to remember the 543 Swedes who died.

President Joachim Gauck of Germany, which lost more than 500 people, said: “Locals and tourists found themselves in a situation in which they had a shared destiny, a bond which can still be felt today.”

Those at a memorial service in southern Thailand included European tsunami survivors, who were serenaded by a small orchestra and took part in a minute of silence and a candlelight ceremony.

About half of Thailand’s 8,212 dead were foreign tourists, mostly Europeans escaping the winter cold.

The ceremony was held in the resort area of Khao Lak, next to a police boat that was out at sea when the tsunami struck and was carried 2 kilometers inland by the waves. The boat has

Blood-based therapy an answer to Ebola?

LOnDOn, DEcEmbER 27 (IAnS): With no drugs available to treat Ebola, all eyes are now on a therapy that had largely been relegated to the history books.

The therapy is all about transfusing patients with blood plasma donated by survivors, which contains antibodies against the virus, scientific journal Nature reported.

Clinical trials of convalescent plasma therapy (CPT) have started in the past few weeks in Liberia

and are due to begin soon in Guinea and Sierra Leone. If the therapy saves lives, the approach could quickly be scaled up.

Success would also raise awareness of CPT’s potential to treat other new and emerging infectious diseases for which there are no readily available effective drugs or vaccines, such as SARS, avian influenza and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).

“Clinical trials of convalescent plasma should be

considered in other emerging infections,” David Heymann, infectious disease researcher at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and chair of Public Health England, was quoted as saying. Results from the first safety and efficacy trials in West Africa are expected within weeks.

If the therapy is effective, many of the thousands of Ebola survivors there will be potential donors, each capable of giving up to one litre of plasma every

two weeks. “Even relatively poor countries often have a good enough infrastructure for processing blood to use the therapy,” Heymann said. However, adequate screening for pathogens in donated blood can be an issue in poorer countries.

In the CPT Ebola trials, a chemical is being added to the donated blood.

When the mixture is exposed to ultraviolet light, the compound irreversibly crosslinks the DNA and RNA of pathogens, pre-

venting their replication.

Many scientists have long argued that CPT has been wrongly neglected, both as a therapy for emerging diseases and in preparation for future unknown threats.

Today, the approach is gaining ground. Trials of convalescent plasma are beginning for the treatment of patients with MERS, which has infected 938 people and killed 343 of them since it was discovered in 2012, the report added.

China offers to help electricity-starved Nepal KATmAnDU, DEcEmbER 27 (AP): China said that it would help Nepal develop its power industry to alleviate severe electricity outages that can last up to 12 hours a day in the Himalayan nation, where Beijing is trying to increase influence and investment.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said his country would provide funding and human resources to train Nepalese profession-

als in the hydropower and other sectors. Wang spoke to reporters during his three-day visit to Nepal, which ends Saturday.

Nepal is trying to woo investment from its giant neighbors China and India. New Delhi recently offered billions of dollars in both investments and development grants.

China’s state-backed Three Gorges International Corp. is negotiating with Nepal over construction of

a $1.6 billion power plant over the Seti River in western Nepal that can generate 750 megawatts of electricity.

“Nepal has power shortages and electricity is essential for Nepal’s efforts to industrialize, to create more jobs, to build its capacity in independent development and to raise quality of lives of its people,” Wang told reporters in Katmandu, Nepal’s capital.

He said China could assist Nepal in a variety of sectors, including agriculture, infrastructure, science and technology, tourism, security and law enforcement.

Wang said China and Nepal have some common security needs and that they need to work together to crack down on “illegal border crossing and transnational crime” — an apparent reference to Tibetans who flee to India from

China through Nepal to join the Dalai Lama.

The Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader has lived in exile for decades in India’s Himalayan foothill city of Dharamsala, after fleeing China following a failed 1959 uprising.

The Dalai Lama gave up his political role as the leader of the Tibetan government-in-exile in 2011.

Chinese officials, however, denounce him as a separatist.

become a permanent memorial to the power of the tsunami. Many at the memorial ceremonies celebrated how people — locals and the international community alike — pulled together in the wake of the tragedy, saving strangers and launching a process to build back better.

Czech supermodel Petra Nemcova was vacationing in Khao Lak with her fiance, Simon Atlee, when the waves struck. He drowned and she barely survived with serious injuries, including a broken pelvis. After recovering, she founded the Happy Hearts Fund to rebuild schools devastated by natural disasters. “Ten years ago, everyone who is present here today got connected in a very profound way, and through our experience, which we have shared, our lives have been connected ever since,” Nemcova told the crowd at Friday’s ceremony. “The 2004 tsunami didn’t connect just those of us here, but the whole world, as individuals, families and countries have been asking, ‘How can we help?’”

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha noted that the tragedy “allowed us see the kindness and help that came from around the world that helped us pass through the difficult time.”

Indonesia’s Aceh province, which was closest to the quake’s epicenter, was hit first and hardest. Initially, the quake toppled homes and buildings and sent communities rushing into the streets in panic.

About 20 minutes later, a wall of water up to 10 meters (33 feet) high surged inland for miles with seemingly unstoppable force, carrying along trees, houses, train cars — and thousands of people — in a churning rush.

More than 170,000 people died in Indonesia alone, about three-quarters of the overall death toll. Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla led a prayer ceremony in Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province. He and other officials placed flowers at a mass grave where thousands of unknown tsunami victims were buried.

“Here in this field 10 years ago ... we tearfully saw thousands of corpses lying,” Kalla said. “No words can describe our human feelings at that time — confused, shocked, sad, scared — in seeing the suffering of the people in Aceh. But we could not remain in sadness. Aceh had to rise again, and all Indonesians in this archipelago helped, and people all over the world offered their assistance.”

In Sri Lanka, survivors and other mourners took a memorial journey to honor those lost in the train accident. The Queen of the Sea was chugging down Sri Lanka’s palm-fringed southwestern coast, headed from Colombo, the capital, to the town of Matara, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) away, when the tsunami struck. Waves described by survivors as being as big as elephants enveloped the train, lifting its

cars off the track into a thick marsh in Pereliya village.

The dead included more than 400 villagers who tried to escape the waves by climbing on top of the eight-coach train. Only a few dozen passengers are believed to have survived.

The memorial ride on Friday included the train’s original Engine 591 and five restored coaches. They were decorated with Buddhist flags for the occasion, and Buddhist chants were played throughout the journey, which replicated the train’s ill-fated route.

At a memorial in Pereliya, Buddhist, Christian and Hindu rituals were performed and tearful relatives lit candles and offered flowers. Shanthi Gallage, along with her husband and two daughters, was riding home on the train after a Christmas visit to relatives when the waves struck.

She saw her husband alive, trapped under a log, when she set out to find her daughters. But later she was told that her husband had died and been buried in a mass grave. She found one daughter, but never found the other, who was 13.

“I believe that she is alive and someone keeping her will return her to me today,” said Gallage, who carries portraits of her husband and missing daughter. “There are people who tell me to forget about it, but I don’t talk to them anymore. When I try to give it up, something prompts me not to, and I pray and search for her.”

What makes people ‘intellectually humble’

nEw YORK, DEcEmbER 27 (IAnS): Do you know why some people are “intellectually humble” from others? This is simply because they love learning so they spend time learning from other people.

According to a study, the two clusters of humble traits - the social and intellectual - often come as a package deal for people who are “intellectually humble”.

“In many ways, this is the defining feature of ‘intellectual humility’ and what makes it distinct from general humility,” said lead study author Peter Samuelson.

A psychologist at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, Samuelson embarked on a new voyage for academia: a bottom-up exploration of what it really means to be humble. Samuelson teamed up with Brigham Young University psychologist Sam Hardy for this.

To carry out the study, Hardy utilised a statistical technique called multi-

dimensional scaling that made sense of open-ended responses from the 350 study participants recruited from Amazon’s “Mechanical Turk”. “This is more of a bottom-up approach; what do real people think about humility, what are the lay conceptions out there in the real world and not just what comes from the ivory tower,” Hardy added.

Hardy’s analysis found two clusters of traits that people use to explain humility. Traits in the first cluster come from the social realm: sincere, honest, unselfish, thoughtful, mature, etc. The second and more unique cluster surrounds the concept of learning: curious, bright, logical and aware. “Some of the participants showed unique aspects of intellectual humility: curiosity, love of learning, willingness to learn from others,” the authors said. The study appeared in The Journal of Positive Psychology.

NKorea compares Obama to monkey in hacking row In this December 22, photo, a South Korean army soldier walks near a TV screen showing an advertisement of Sony Picture's "The Interview," at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea. (AP File Photo)

Leaving Cuba: A father and son risk lives at sea

mIAmI, DEcEmbER 27 (AP): It was hot and dark as 23-year-old Jose Fuente Lastre boarded a raft with eight other men, intent on fleeing Cuba. Their vessel built from scraps of metal, wood and inner tubes had failed repeatedly. Oil leaked. The propeller sputtered.

“I’m not going,” Lastre said. “It seems we weren’t meant to leave.” “Don’t be a fool,” said his stepfather, Antonio Cardenas. “After trying this hard, you have to try again.” Four companions decided it was too risky, jumping out and wading back to shore.

Tens of thousands of Cubans have made the harrowing journey on homemade rafts across the Florida Straits, preferring to risk their lives than remain in Cuba.

President Barack Obama’s promise to reverse 53 years of hostility has raised hopes that with normalized relations, Cubans will stop taking these

risks. But Obama’s deal with President Raul Castro isn’t expected to stop the tide anytime soon. Obama lacks the votes in Congress to abandon the embargo, and the provision allowing almost all Cubans who reach the U.S. to stay is law.

This last year, the number of Cubans picked up at sea by the U.S. Coast Guard or making it to U.S. shores rose nearly 75 percent, from 2,129 to 3,722.

Lastre didn’t grow up with dreams of leaving Cuba. He lived with his girlfriend, Yainis, and resold bread on the black market, making about $115 a month, far more than the $20 average Cuban salary. His dream was to save enough money to build a house like his stepfather’s one day.

Then he saw his neighbor Omarito disappear on a raft, and come back later with enough money to build a house and a business. Watching Ameri-

can movies with Yainis, he couldn’t help but notice that even teenagers in the U.S. had cars.

Lastre and Yainis had grown up under the revolution, never knowing life without Fidel Castro or the embargo, but far more exposed to outside influences than previous generations.

About 500,000 U.S. travelers now visit the island each year, most of them Cuban Americans. They bring stories of life in the U.S., cellphones and laptops.

With no close family in the U.S., Lastre felt he could never afford these things.

The thought of Lastre on a raft at sea made Cardenas, 50, and his wife, Olea, nervous. But if his stepson was going to try it, he wanted to protect him. “Go and look at the raft,” Olea said. “If it looks strong, go with him.”

At first the skies were blue, the water calm. They drank water, ate crackers and started making plans.

“The first thing I’m going

to do is get a job,” Cardenas said. By the sixth day, they were nearly out of gas, with no sign of land. “We should use what we have left for when we’re close to shore,” suggested Cardenas, the oldest on board.

They would need to move quickly then — If the U.S. Coast Guard reached them in the water, they’d be sent back to Cuba. When they woke the next day, all they saw was blue sea.

Some of the men wanted to return to Cuba.

Desperate, Cardenas took out a sledgehammer and threatened to destroy the motor if anyone touched it. The next day, the men saw a flicker of light across the sky, then another. Planes. They began rowing the boat in the same direction.

Their 10th day at sea, they kicked on the motor and sprinted toward shore, hitting sand near a condominium. They jumped out and ran barefoot to a metal

gate. A guard opened the door. “Welcome to the land of liberty!” he said.

In Miami, the men were treated like celebrities. Soon, though, their days looked like this: Long hours in a small hotel room, awaiting resettlement. One month and three days later, the men woke before dawn and loaded nine duffel bags filled with donated clothes into an airport shuttle.

Their destination: Portland, Oregon, where the Church World Service had arranged housing, English classes and jobs.

Three months after the men’s arrival, Obama announced efforts to restore ties with the island they left behind. The news came as a relief: Perhaps they would not have to wait years to see their families. Had they known relations between the U.S. and Cuba were about to improve, Cardenas said he would have risked the journey anyway. “I’m not looking back,” he said.

SEOUL, DEcEmbER 27 (AP): North Korea compared President Barack Obama to a monkey, and blamed the U.S. on Saturday for shutting down its Internet amid the hacking row over the comedy “The Interview.” North Korea has denied involvement in a crippling cyberattack on Sony Pictures but has expressed fury over the comedy depicting an assassination of its leader Kim Jong Un. Sony Pictures initially called off the release citing threats of terror attacks against U.S. movie theaters.

Obama criticized Sony’s decision, and the movie has opened this week.

On Saturday, the North’s powerful National Defense Commission, the country’s top governing body led by Kim, said that Obama was behind the release of “The Interview.” It described the movie as illegal, dishonest and reactionary. “Obama always goes reckless in words and deeds like a monkey in a tropical forest,” an unidentified spokesman at the commission’s Policy Department said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

It wasn’t the first time North Korea has used crude insults against Obama and other top U.S. and South Korean officials.

Earlier this year, the North called U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry a wolf with a “hideous” lantern jaw and South Korean President Park Geun-hye a prostitute. In

May, the North’s news agency published a dispatch saying Obama has the “shape of a monkey.”

The defense commission also accused Washington for intermittent outages of North Korea websites this week, which happened after the U.S. had promised to respond to the Sony hack. The U.S. government has declined to say if it was behind the shutdown. There was no immediate reaction from the White House on Saturday.

According to the North Korean commission’s spokesman, “the U.S., a big country, started disturbing the Internet operation of major media of the DPRK, not knowing shame like children playing a tag.” DPRK refers to the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The commission said the movie was the results of a hostile U.S. policy toward North Korea, and threatened the U.S. with unspecified consequences.

North Korea and the U.S. remain technically in a state of war because the 195053 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. The rivals also are locked in an international standoff over the North’s nuclear and missile programs and its alleged human rights abuses. The U.S. stations about 28,500 troops in South Korea as deterrence against North Korean aggression.

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Sunday 28 December 2014

The Morung Express

Wins for Chelsea, City keep title race sizzling

MANCHESTER, DECEMbER 27 (AP): Chelsea and Manchester City kicked off the Premier League's hectic festive schedule with commanding victories Friday to keep the title race finely poised, while Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool also won on a successful day for the country's top teams.

John Terry and Diego Costa scored as Chelsea beat West Ham 2-0 to retain its three-point lead over City, which netted all of its goals in the first half in a 3-1 win at West Bromwich Albion played in a snowstorm.

Only United looks capable of gatecrashing the fight for the title between the top two, with Wayne Rooney scoring twice to set up a 3-1 win over Newcastle that tightened the 20time champions' grip on third place — seven points behind City.

Southampton makes up the top four, climbing above West Ham thanks to a 3-1 win at Crystal Palace, but there are a slew of teams battling for that fourth and final Champi-

Chelsea's captain John Terry, left, scores his side's first goal, during the English Premier League soccer match between Chelsea and West Ham at Stamford Bridge stadium in London, Friday, December 26. (AP Photo)

ons League spot.

Arsenal is only two points behind in sixth after beating Queens Park Rang-

ers 2-1, with Alexis Sanchez card for a head-butt with a making up for his saved goal and an assist at Emirpenalty and teammate Ol- ates Stadium. ivier Giroud's reckless red Liverpool built on re-

cent encouraging perfor- half goal to keep in sight of mances by eking out a 1-0 the top four. win at Burnley through Tottenham and SwanRaheem Sterling's second- sea were other teams in the

Sanchez inspires Arsenal win over QPR

LONDON, DECEMbER 27 (AP): Alexis Sanchez scored one goal and set up another to make up for a moment of madness from teammate Olivier Giroud and help Arsenal beat Queens Park Rangers 2-1 in the Premier League on Friday.

Sanchez had a penalty saved in the ninth minute at the Emirates Stadium but responded by heading Arsenal ahead in the 37th from Kieran Gibbs' cross.

France striker Giroud received a straight red card in the 53rd for head-butting QPR defender Nedum Onuoha directly in front of the referee, jeopardizing Arsenal's chances of three points in a game the hosts had controlled.

Yet Arsenal doubled the lead in the 65th when Sanchez went on a winding run before laying the ball off for Tomas Rosicky to side-foot home from inside the area.

Charlie Austin smashed a penalty down the middle of the goal in the 79th to set up a frantic finish, but Arsenal held on and consigned QPR to a ninth straight away loss — equaling the Premier League record held by Bolton from the 1995-96 season.

Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez, right, celebrates scoring a goal with teammate Oliver Giroud during the English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Queens Park Rangers at the Emirates Stadium, London, Friday, December 26. (AP Photo)

Arsene Wenger's 400th league win as Arsenal manager was more hardearned than it should have been — and it was all down to Giroud's recklessness.

The striker was bundled over by Onuoha on the edge of the area as they chased a long ball. Giroud scrambled to his feet to confront Onuoha, pushing his forehead into the

defender's face. Onuoha fell to the ground and referee Martin Atkinson, who was right on the spot, brandished a red card.

"It was a deserved red card, Olivier didn't control himself," said Wenger, who stared at Giroud as he left the field. "It completely changed the dynamic of the game, we were completely in control at that stage and

it was quite comfortable.

"Olivier is a guy who, when he makes mistakes, he stands up and admits it."

Giroud will miss the next three games — and in the short term left Arsenal to play with 10 men for about 40 minutes at the start of a busy schedule of matches over the festive period.

Rosicky's goal gave the home side crucial breath-

Liverpool's Raheem Sterling, left, tussles with Burnley's Dean Marney during the English Premier League soccer match at Turf Moor, Burnley, Friday December 26. (AP Photo)

bURNLEY, DECEMbER 27 (AP): Raheem Sterling's second-half strike gave Liverpool its first league victory in four matches, beating Burnley 1-0 Friday despite turning in a poor performance at Turf Moor.

Last year Liverpool was top of the Premier League on Christmas Day having scored twice as many goals as this season after 17 matches. Liverpool began this match in its lowest position on this day since 199293, when it was also 10th.

But having failed to create anything resembling a genuine chance against Burnley, Liverpool took the lead out of nowhere just past the hour. Philippe Coutinho's lob sent Sterling clear and around goalkeeper

Tom Heaton, rolling a shot past Burnley's despairing defenders trying to get back.

Earlier, Liverpool goalkeeper Brad Jones was injured, handing the recentlydropped Simon Mignolet a route back into the team.

The Belgian was routinely teased and taunted by the home crowd and not all of that was unjustified in an erratic 75-minute performance.

Danny Ings fired over early on for Burnley after Lucas Leiva had dived into a challenge on Dean Marney and was easily sidestepped.

Ings was a threat and when Martin Skrtel came out to attack a Burnley throw and missed, the striker rammed a shot against

beat Newcastle Utd

MANCHESTER, DECEMbER 27 (AP): Wayne Rooney scored twice in the first half as resurgent Manchester United easily beat Newcastle 3-1 Friday to strengthen its grip on third place in the Premier League. Rooney was set up well by his teammates for both goals as Radamel Falcao met a long cross into the area in the 23rd minute, sliding to reach the ball at the far post and square a perfect pass for Rooney to tap into an empty net.

Falcao then helped United win possession just outside the Newcastle area in the 36th, and Juan Mata laid the ball off for a wide-open Rooney to slot a low shot inside the post.

Rooney then helped set up the third by pinging a 35-yard pass to Robin van Persie, who headed past Jak Alnwick, before Papiss Cisse scored a late consolation for the Magpies from the penalty spot. Louis van Gaal's decision to cancel Christmas Day training did not backfire. United was the best team for most of the match.

Falcao had one of his best performances in a United shirt up front while Mata was a constant threat, threading dangerous passes through Newcastle's stretched, unorganized defense. Rooney again excelled in a midfield

with a low finish for his 13th goal in the season.

It was a dominant performance from Chelsea, which was barely troubled until the last few minutes.

"The challenge this season was to bring that creativity, that dynamism, without losing the good defensive qualities of the team," Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said. "In this moment, we have a good balance."

Playing without a striker for the second straight game, City relied on its midfielders for goals in blizzard-like conditions at The Hawthorns and they obliged through Fernando, Yaya Toure — from the penalty spot — and David Silva.

It was City's seventh straight win in the league, with the defending champions showing the kind of form that swept them to a second title in three years last season.

There could be a new twist in the title race on Sunday when Chelsea heads to Southampton, which has recovered from its recent slump and is hard to beat at St. Mary's Stadium. City hosts Burnley.

James helps Cavaliers rally past Magic

ing space but QPR came close to an equalizer on a number of occasions, with Mathieu Flamini clearing the ball from near Arsenal's line and QPR striker Bobby Zamora denied a penalty.

Sanchez — one of three Chileans on show with QPR's Mauricio Isla and Eduardo Vargas — again stood out and he earned the penalty after being tripped by Armand Traore.

Sanchez held onto the ball — Santi Cazorla, who scored from the spot against Newcastle this month, gave way — but his spot kick was weak and goalkeeper Robert Green got down to his left to make the save.

Sanchez made amends by guiding a cushioned header into the far corner for his 15th goal of the season in all competitions and his tireless work was crucial in the second goal scored by Rosicky, who was making his first start of the campaign.

"He is a guy full of confidence and playing with some real style," Wenger said of Sanchez. "He worked tirelessly today in setting up one goal and scoring the other, so we can't be too harsh on him for missing a penalty."

Liverpool beat Burnley in Premier League Resurgent ManUnited the post with Ashley Barnes ballooning over the rebound.

That signalled the end for Jones as he was immediately substituted and it was as if Burnley sensed blood with the arrival of his out-of-form replacement as early as the 16th minute.

Mignolet's every touch was jeered and the ridicule only worsened when he drilled a clearance straight into Ings and scrambled to recover.

Burnley swarmed forward with renewed encouragement — Barnes headed over, Scott Arfield's goalbound shot was prevented from creeping inside the post by the tips of Lucas' toes and both George Boyd and Marney threatened before the break.

Mignolet's only minor victory saw him come off his line sharply to beat Barnes to the ball.

Sterling's goal in the 62nd provided no sense of calmness or composure for Liverpool, mainly thanks to the unconvincing Mignolet who managed to save Arfield's angled shot with his legs, having dived the wrong way anticipating a cross, and then allowed a Mamadou Sakho back pass to roll out of play before he cleared it.

Liverpool moves up a place to ninth with 25 points from 18 games while Burnley remains in the relegation zone with 15 from 18.

top half to register wins in the first of three rounds of league fixtures over seven days across the relentless holiday period. In the other games, Stoke beat Everton 1-0 and Hull snapped a 10game winless run by defeating Sunderland 3-1 to climb out of the relegation zone.

Leicester's miserable season back in the top flight continued with a 2-1 home loss to Spurs, leaving the team in last place and six points from safety. A winless run of 13 games is piling the pressure on Nigel Pearson, who is the British bookmakers' favorite to become the first manager fired in the Premier League this season.

Since losing 2-1 at Newcastle to end its unbeaten start to the campaign, Chelsea has rediscovered its fluency and the leaders cut down to size a West Ham team enjoying its best season in nearly three decades, arriving at Stamford Bridge in fourth place.

Terry tapped home from close range in the 31st following a downward header from a corner from Costa, who made it 2-0 in the 62nd

role, although Newcastle's defending for all three goals was sloppy.

United, on the other hand, remain 10 points behind leader Chelsea thanks to its seventh win in eight matches.

Newcastle created the best chances early on, but United finally sparked into life when Rooney found Van Persie with a pin-point pass, but Alnwick raced off his line and forced the Dutchman wide. David de Gea then saved United with an acrobatic dive to deny Daryl Janmaat, who had surged forward from the back. Despite the pressure from Newcastle, the hosts took the lead with an impressive team goal.

Rooney started the move, laying the ball off to Mata, who chipped toward the back post after the Newcastle defense backed off. Falcao hooked the ball back across the box and Rooney tapped in from close range. Mata again played a key role for the second goal, sliding the ball through the away defense to the England captain, who tapped in past Alnwick. Eight minutes after the break, the game was all but over as Rooney looked up and floated a 35-yard pass over the away defense to find Van Persie, who nodded past Alnwick.

Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James (23) goes to the basket as he gets between Orlando Magic's Kyle O'Quinn (2) and Tobias Harris (12) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, December 26, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo)

ORLANDO, DECEMbER 27 (AP): LeBron James had 29 points and eight assists, and the Cleveland Cavaliers rallied to beat the Orlando Magic 98-89 in the NBA on Friday night.

Kevin Love scored 22 points and reserve Dion Waiters added 17 for Cleveland, which bounced back from a 101-91 loss at Miami on Christmas. Tristan Thompson grabbed 13 rebounds.

The Cavaliers played without point guard Kyrie Irving, who was sidelined by a bruised knee.

Tobias Harris led Orlando with 16 points. Nik Vucevic had 12 points, seven assists and eight rebounds, and reserve Evan Fournier scored 15 as the Magic lost for the fifth time in the last six games.

Vucevic's dunk with 1:58 left got Orlando within three, but the Magic were unable to score again.

James converted a three-point play with 40.7 seconds remaining, and then hit three foul shots to help close it out.

Reserve forward Jared Dudley made all 10 shots, including four 3-pointers, and scored a season-high 24 points to lead the Milwaukee Bucks to a 107-77 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.

Brandon Knight added 16 points for Milwaukee,

which ended Atlanta's fivegame winning streak.

The Hawks had won 14 of 15 but were routed in front of a rare sellout crowd at home, where they entered with a 13-2 record that was the best in the Eastern Conference.

After Dudley made back-to-back 3-pointers for a 21-18 Milwaukee lead with 2:51 left in the first quarter, the Bucks led the rest of the way and went ahead by 30 in the final period.

Russell Westbrook scored 29 points to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 98-75 victory over Charlotte.

Charlotte scored the game's first basket then the Thunder reeled off nine straight points to take a lead they never relinquished in winning for the second straight day.

Westbrook scored 13 points in the first quarter, and Oklahoma City opened a 59-40 halftime lead. Serge Ibaka added 13 points, 14 rebounds and blocked four shots for the Thunder. Neither player saw action in the final period.

Brian Roberts came off the bench to lead the Hornets with 17 points, 11 in the final period.

At Portland, Oregon, Damian Lillard had 28 points and nine assists, and the Portland Trail Blazers

beat the Philadelphia 76ers 114-93 for its seventh win in the last eight games.

Lillard, who had scored at least 40 points in two of Portland's previous three games, had 19 second-half points for the Blazers. Wesley Matthews went 7 of 14 from 3-point range and finished with 25 points.

Joel Freeland pulled down a career-high 17 rebounds, most by a Blazer this season.

Tony Wroten, who missed Philadelphia's last game with a right knee sprain, came off the bench to score 22 points. Michael Carter-Williams had 17 points and K.J. McDaniels finished with 12 for the 76ers.

Anthony Davis had 22 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks, leading the New Orleans Pelicans to a 97-90 victory over the slumping San Antonio Spurs, and Marcus Morris had 20 points and nine rebounds as the Phoenix Suns outlasted the Sacramento Kings 115-106.

The Detroit Pistons ended a four-game slide with a 119-109 victory over the Indiana Pacers, the Houston Rockets beat the Memphis Grizzlies 117-111 in overtime, the Brooklyn Nets edged the Boston Celtics 109-107 and the Dallas Mavericks topped the Los Angeles Lakers 102-98.

Opang Jamir invited as jury for Eclectic Model Hunt

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umbai based Naga Supermodel Opang Jamir has been invited as a jury for the seventh Edition “Eclectic Model Hunt” (EMH) 2014 scheduled on December 30.

On the recent years, modeling and beauty pageants have come-up to a greater extend to be enjoyed, experience, learn and make it as a profession in the world of glamour.

Brittany Snow: I was bullied in high school

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mika to do a song with rakhi Sawant soon

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ollywood singer Mika Singh, who scorched the headlines after his kissing controversy with Rakhi Sawant in 2006, says he will soon do a song featuring the item girl.

The duo, who parted ways after the kissing controversy, are back together. Mika and Rakhi were spotted together at the trailer launch of upcoming movie ‘Mumbai Can Dance Sala’, which

Mick Jagger dating young ballerina lover post L’Wren Scott’s death

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eet the now 28-years-old ballerina, Melanie Hamrick; Mick Jagger’s pursuing 10 months after his girlfriend L’Wren’s tragic suicide. Hamrick, an Upper West Side resident, was photographed beside the rock star, nuzzling his neck just three months after Scott’s death, the New York Post reported.

The professional dancer, who looks like a living, breathing porcelain doll, was no longer engaged to her longtime beau, former ABT principal dancer Jose Manuel Carreno. The dancing duo’s wedding Web site was even still online, complete with details on the Royal Playa del Carmen sunset ceremony they had planned, originally for March 15, 2013, and Jose’s romantic May 2011 proposal. Hamrick first met Jagger on March 6, when she and a group of fellow dancers were invited backstage at a Rolling Stones concert in Japan.

Sources told The Sun that the pair, who lives blocks away from one another in Manhattan, exchanged contact info and reconnected after Scott’s death on March 17.

After graduating from Kirov Academy, Hamrick joined ABT’s Studio Company in September 2003, rising to a member of the corps de ballet in April 2004. She recently performed in ‘The Nutcracker’ at BAM, and would return to the stage for May’s ‘Les Sylphides’ at the Metropolitan Opera House. Even though Hamrick’s been keeping her relationship with Jagger indoors ever since their infamous balcony photo, but people in the dance world think dating him was like dancing with the devil.

28 December 2014

stars Rakhi, here on Monday. When asked about working with Rakhi in the future, Mika said: “Yes, whenever we get a chance, we would definitely do a song together in future. But for now, we both are busy in our work.”

Apart from Rakhi, ‘Mumbai Can Dance Saala’ would also see Ashima Sharma, Prashant Narayan, Aditya Panscholi and Shakti Kapoor in its cast. The film will hit the screens on Jan 3, 2015.

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Avril Lavigne x calls rehab rumours ‘hilarious’

Guwahati based Eclectic Magazine the organization of the Eclectic Model Hunt contest 2014 is set to reveal the 20 finalist at the ITA, Machkhowa on December 30 where in the past actors, singers and celebrity graced the contest like Actress Dipannita Sharma, Football Bhaichung Bhutia, Norden Wangdi, Prasad Bidappa and former Indian Male Supermodel Marc Robinson.

Eclectic Model Hunt is one of the biggest pageant in the entire North-East India.

he grew up to have an enviable career, but “Pitch Perfect” actress Brittany Snow says she was bullied during her growing up days in school. The 28-year-old has said most of the abuse happened online over instant messaging while she was in high school, reports people.com.

“AOL Instant Messenger was a big thing back in the day...where girls would get on it and make fun of me,” Snow said. Years later, she decided to help other young girls when she saw teenagers committing suicide over bullying in school.

In October 2010, Snow started an organisation Love is Louder, with The Jed Foundation, to encourage the use of social media to promote love and support for anyone who is in need of it.

“When the suicides were starting to happen and kids were being bullied in schools, I felt really compelled to do something because I was bullied in school, and I didn’t really fit into a category that a lot of programs that were being started had.

“Now we have a really great opportunity with social media to use that communication for good, where people can go online and actually feel like they’re part of a community,” she added.

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inger Avril Lavigne has slammed rumours that she is battling addiction issues in a rehabilitation centre. The rehab RUMORS are hilarious, the 30-year-old wrote on Twitter on Tuesday, reports aceshowbiz.com.

The only thing I’m addicted to right now is Bing Crosby. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! And to all a goodnight, she said. A magazine had earlier claimed that Lavigne was in a rehab for depression and substance abuse issues.

Earlier this month, Lavigne had told

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a fan on Twitter that she’s having some health issues. In a direct message exchange posted by @AvrilMusicChart, Lavigne wrote I feel bad because I haven’t been able to say anything to the fans to let them know why I’ve been absent. I’m torn as I’m quite private.... I’m not feeling well.

I’m having some health issues. So please keep me in your prayers.

The fan posted You know we’re always with you Avril. Get well soon ;( we’re always pray for you. I’ll tell other fans to keep you in prayers ;(, to which the ‘Hello Kitty’ singer replied, Thank you.

EmInEm

pLAyS gAy In ‘ThE InTErvIEw’

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n a surprise cameo in ‘The Interview’, Eminem declares that he is gay while being interviewed by James Franco’s TV host character. Playing himself, the rapper casually mentions he’s gay while explaining the content of his songs. But the claim causes Skylark (Franco) and his producer (Seth Rogen) to freak out. The chat then starts revolving entirely around his coming out much to Eminem’s publicist’s chagrin.

“When I say things about gay people, or people think my lyrics are homophobic - it’s because I’m gay,” Eminem says in the movie. “People probably are shocked by what you’re saying,” Franco said. “I’m

more shocked with people haven’t figured it out now. I mean, it’s kind of like I’ve been playing gay peek-a-boo,” the rapper further says in the movie.

Eminem has often been accused of being a homophobic for using anti-gay slurs in his lyrics, a claim that the rapper has disputed. ‘The Interview’ finally released on Christmas in selected theaters and online after being postponed following threats of violence by a group of hackers, who carried out a massive cyber attack on Sony Entertainment to protest the film’s plot of a fictional assassination of North Korean leader.

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Egypt bans Hollywood bible epic Exodus because of ‘historical inaccuracies’

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idley Scott’s new biblical epic ‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’ has been banned in Egypt because of ‘historical inaccuracies’. The head of the censorship board said these included a claim that the Pyramids were built by Jews, and that an earthquake, not a miracle by Moses, caused the parting of the Red Sea. Morocco has also reportedly banned the film, which stars Christian Bale as Moses, despite the fact that state-run Moroccan Cinema Centre (CCM) gave the movie the green light. Cinema owners in Morocco claimed that they were given a ‘verbal’ directive to not show the movie by the CCM on Wednesday just a day before its planned release.

Hassan Belkady, said he was threatened with the closure of his multiplex, Cinema Rif in Casablanca, if he didn’t comply. ‘They phoned

and threatened they would shut down the theatre if I did not take the film off the schedule,’ he said.

The film tells the story of Moses rising up in defiance against the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses, setting 600,000 slaves on a journey of escape amid a series of plagues. Moses is considered a prophet in Islam which is the predominant religion in Egypt and Morocco. The religion is opposed to visual depictions of its prophets.

The managers of the Renaissance cinema in Rabat said they were told the ban was nationwide, TelQuel magazine reported. Mr Scott has already come under fire over the decision to cast white actors in the lead roles, despite depicting events in the Middle East and north Africa.

The veteran British film-maker who directed Gladiator and Alien said casting on his Moses epic was predicated on the need to attract fi-

nancial backing. Christian Bale, who plays Moses, caused upset last month after he described his character as ‘barbaric’ and ‘schizophrenic’ at a press conference.

Speaking in Los Angeles, Bale said he had undertaken significant research for the role in the Biblical epic, reading the Torah, the Koran and Jonathan Kirsch’s life of Moses.

The actor said: ‘I think the man was likely schizophrenic and was one of the most barbaric individuals that I ever read about in my life.’

Mr Bale also said he was surprised by the complexity of the Old Testament figure – and his creator. CCM chief Sarim Fassi-Fihri declined to comment on the decision. Biblical epics have made a comeback this year with Darren Aronofsky’s Noah and Son of God from the producers of the highly successful TV series The Bible.

One direction snubbed by Academy Awards again

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rit boyband One direction has been snubbed from best musical track shortlists by the Academy Awards. The Academy recently announced their 79 shortlisted artists and ignored the fourmember band’s hit like ‘Story Of My Life’ and ‘Midnight Memories’ from their movie ‘Where We Are’, the Daily Star reported.

A source asserted that One Direction was very disappointed and upset at being overlooked for a second year in a row as their music from the movie were hits across the world, and especially ‘Story Of My Life’ was one of the greatest tracks of 2013. The source added that even Executive Producer Simon Cowell felt snubbed. Coldplay, singer Lana Del Ray, Glen Campbell and Lorde are among the artists that have been nominated in the original song category.

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India fights back in Melbourne test Registration for National Games MELBOURNE, DECEMBER 27 (AP): Murali Vijay brought up his fourth half century of the series as India made 108-1 at stumps in a solid start to its chase of Australia's massive firstinnings total of 530.

But it was Steven Smith who set the standard for the day, falling just eight runs short of a double century on the second day of the third test Saturday.

Australia's captain smashed an imperious 192 for his highest first class score, his third century of the series and seventh of his test career. On the way he also passed hard-hitting opener David Warner as Australia's highest scorer of 2014.

Smith went on to snap up the catch of Shikhar Dhawan at third slip off Ryan Harris (1-19) for the only wicket of the third session. Vijay was 55 not out with Cheteshwar Pujara unbeaten on 25 at the end of play after the Indian batsmen made a watchful start to their chase, content to leave the ball rather than risk a wicket before stumps.

Pujara got a lucky escape while on 12 when an edge carried to Brad Haddin, who fumbled the catch.

"If you look at the overall game, the score is pretty par for this wicket," spin bowler Ravichandran Ashwin said. "It seems slow and pretty flat as well. We'll take 1-108 and we'd like to pile on the runs tomorrow."

Ashwin optimistically said India could still post a score big enough to take control of the match. "We'll make 650 and try to put them back in," he said.

Smith was earlier ably

assisted by Haddin (55) and fast bowler Harris (74), who brought up entertaining half centuries to help the Australians add 271 runs to their overnight score.

With India's field ranged against the boundary, Smith was the last Australian out, bowled middle stump playing at an Umesh Yadav (3-130) ball to usher tea. "I got out to a pretty silly shot," Smith said. "They had every man on the fence. I was just trying to get a boundary and it didn't work out so that's OK." Smith's knock came off 305 balls with 15 boundaries and two sixes.

Harris scored his third test half century in style with eight fours and a six before he was trapped lbw while attempting a big sweep off Ashwin (3-134).

Smith added another 50 runs with Mitchell Johnson, who scored 28 before being stumped off Ravichandran Ashwin (3-134) shortly before lunch. Nathan Lyon added 11 and was bowled by Shami.

Smith and Haddin turned an evenly poised match in Australia's favor with an aggressive start to the morning, sharing a 110-run, sixth-wicket partnership until Haddin (55) offered a bottom edge to India wicketkeeper M.S. Dhoni off Mohammed Shami (4-138).

After resuming the day on 72 with Australia at 2595, Smith brought up his century with a four down the leg side off Shami, raising his bat and helmet in celebration before an appreciative Melbourne Cricket Ground crowd.

KOhiMA, DECEMBER 27 (MExN): The Registration of Athlete and Team Official to the 35th National Games Kerala in the prescribed accreditation form shall be closed on December 31. In this regard, information to the Associations who have qualified to the 35th National Games Ker-

ala has been duly notified through the courtesy of the local dailies. However, till date only entries from Athletics, Wushu, Archery and Boxing without any Team official have been received, a press release informed.

The organizers have permitted two coaches and one team Manager for

each team. Teams which have already qualified for the Games but haven’t registered are informed to submit entries to the Secretary General NOA in the prescribed format on or before 2 p.m. of December 31 along with two recent colour passport-sized photos on white background.

Australia's Steve Smith, left, attempts to sweep the ball in front of India's wicketkeeper MS Dhoni, right, on the second day of their cricket test match in Melbourne, Australia on Saturday, December 27. (AP Photo)

The Australia captain's 100 came off 191 balls with nine boundaries and a six.

Smith's previous highest first-class score was 177 scored for New South

Wales against Tasmania.

He has now scored 1,132 test runs this year, eclipsing Warner's 1,096.

Haddin proved a resilient partner at the other

end, seeing off a barrage of short balls from the Indian pacemen to reach his half century off 75 balls with seven boundaries and a six.

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