3rd March 2014

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www.morungexpress.com

The Morung Express

Dimapur VOL. IX ISSUE 59

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www.morungexpress.com

Monday, March 3, 2014 12 pages Rs. 4

Angelina and Brad tease wedding details

Enhancing care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS [ PAGE 2]

Ukraine mobilizes for war, calls up reserves [ PAGE 9]

[ PAGE 11]

[ PAGE 8]

By Sandemo Ngullie

DIMAPUR, MARCH 2 (MExN): The GPRN/ NSCN has proposed that the Government of Nagaland should think of establishing a medical college in Mon or Tuensang to enable students from “so called advanced tribes” to pursue academic excellence from Mon, Tuensang or Kiphire.

This was stated in a press release from the MIP This building belongs to of the GPRN/NSCN. you? woh ! and who owns the land?

It noted that the GPRN/ NSCN is convinced that the proposed medical college The Morung Express should be shifted to one of POLL QUESTIOn the mentioned ENPO headVote on www.morungexpress.com quarters, “so that people SMS your answer to 9862574165 from ENPO areas get to benefit in the spheres of Over the last 50 years of Nagaland Statehood infrastructures, develhas corruption become opment and specialised more widespread? education.” Secondly, the GPRN/NSCN’s MIP pointed out, “it is high time that Yes no Others those people in power reIs naga society doing enough to create, develop and strengthen alises the scarcity of land in its democratic culture? and around Kohima town.

An exile Tibetan woman prays on the first day of the Tibetan New Year or Losar in New Yes 16% Delhi, India, Sunday, March 2. Tibetans all over the world will mark the arrival of the Wood Not to mention the astro77% no nomical amount likely to Horse year with prayers and festivities. (AP Photo) 07%

Details on page 7

Unidentified woman found dead DIMAPUR, MARCH 2 (MExN): The dead body of a woman was recovered on Sunday by the police in Dimapur. The body was recovered around 8:00am from the 3rd Mile bazaar area, NH 29. Non-Naga by appearance, police said that the deceased’s identity could not be ascertained. The woman was believed to be homeless and died of ill-health.

The body was taken to the district hospital morgue but post-mortem could not be conducted because of the day being a Sunday.

More evidence of water on Mars

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wAsHINgtoN, MARCH 2 (IANs): After finding clinching evidence of the presence of water on Mars last month, NASA scientists have now unearthed a Martian meteorite in the Yamato glacier in Antarctica that features curved micro-tunnels consistent with moving water.

“The Red Planet is revealing the presence of an active water reservoir that may also have a significant carbon component,” said Everett Gibson, a scientist at NASA’s Johnson Space Centre in Houston, US. According to NASA, the discovery is “reviving debate in the scientific community over life on Mars”. The meteorite itself is 1.3 billion years old and is believed to have landed in Antarctica 50,000 years ago. The meteorite also features tiny, carbon-rich ‘spherules’ squished in between the various layers of rock, a phenomenon similar to another Martian meteorite that landed in Egypt in 1911, said a NASA release.

“We can never eliminate the possibility of contamination in any meteorite.

But these features are, nonetheless, interesting and show that further studies of these meteorites should continue,” said Lauren White from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Federer wins 6th Dubai C’ships title

–Oscar Wilde

[ PAGE 10]

‘Proposed medical college should be in enPo areas’

reflections

Others

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It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it Manmohan heads for Myanmar summit on regional ties Monday

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be sought by the land owners for establishing such an institution.”

It also mentioned that water problems forever plague Kohima. “Every water hole or stream around Kohima is like a private gold mine, the congestion at Kohima town is so gross, that soon, even the air and sunlight may not come for free,” stated the GPRN/ NSCN. On the other hand, it said, the public in Mon or Tuensang “may donate land and water for free, if such institutions are established.” For this purpose, the GPRN/NSCN suggested that civil societies like ENPO and ENSF “ought to brief the public on such matters.”

GPRN/NSCN stated that under the leadership of Gen. (Retd) Khole Konyak and N. Kitovi Jimomi, it firmly believes that “the time is ripe enough for all tribal bodies to clearly understand that future Naga

generations will question the wisdoms of the tribal leaders and government of the day, should the glaring disparity amongst Nagaland tribes remain oblivious as they are now.”

“While Nagaland waits for an acceptable and honourable political solution with the Government of India, should the parents in Mon, Tuensang or Kiphire forever send their children to Kohima or Dimapur for higher education?” the GPRN/NSCN questioned.

It iterated that freedom would be nothing “if equality is denied to far flung areas of our nation.” “Proliferation of specialised institution, infrastructure, roads and communication must not be limited to few districts of Nagaland. Acceptable political solution for Nagaland is inevitable and therefore, no tribe in Nagaland must be left behind locally or globally,” the GPRN/NSCN asserted.

GPRN/NSCN opposes news item on oil exploration The GPRN/NSCN has strongly opposed “the recent news which appeared in one of the local dailies in Nagaland, on the 28th of February, 2014, which stated the Nagaland Cabinet reportedly approving issuing of licences to oil companies (Cos).”

This was mentioned in a press statement from the MIP of the GPRN/NSCN. “GPRN/NSCN is of the view that, the rich oil fields being the only lifeline for the Naga generation, even if explored, its refinery should be set up in Nagaland,” it noted. Further, it stated that it must be based on “people-centric policy and not to some few vested individuals.” Terming it as “national property,” the GPRN/NSCN said it will “go to any extent to defend and preserve it as long as it does not benefit the Naga people and also advices the allotted companies to perform the work at their own risk.”

KoHIMA, MARCH 2 (MExN): Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio will lay the foundation stone for Nagaland’s first medical college in Kohima at 12:00 noon at Phriebagei, Kohima on March 3.

The programme will be chaired by Chief Sec-

retary Nagaland, Banuo Z. Jamir, IAS while invocation prayer will pronounced by NBCC general secretary. Rev. Dr. L. Anjo Keikung.

Welcome song will be presented by Üsou Musical School, Kohima and felicitation by Chairman,

Kohima Village council.

Brief introduction of the medical college will be given by Commissioner & Secretary Health & Family Welfare, Sentiyanger Imchen, IAS. Vote of thanks will be proposed by minister for health & family welfare Imkong L. Imchen.

Mongoloid People’s Forum for Race Commission in India Rio to lay foundation stone for medical college in Kohima today

NEw DElHI, MARCH 2 (MExN): The Mongoloid People’s Forum (MPF) has expressed concern about the increasing “racial attacks” on the people from the North East region of India in its national capital, Delhi. In that, it asked the Government of India to accept the prevalence of racial discrimination in the country and constitute a statutory body like a ‘Race Commission’ such as in the United Kingdom and several other countries.

The “inability of the central government to control the increasing incidence of

racial attack on the northeast people is a reflection of the inner voice of the larger egoistic mainland people,” noted the MPF in a statement from its convenor, K. Zou. “As the waves of hatred against N.E people is already created in the public mindset, the capital city of Delhi can no longer be called a safe place for the ethnic mongoloid citizens of this country.” The MPF also pointed to the “pitiable socio-economic condition” and the lack of leaders to intervene on behalf of the people of the North East region in such times of need that escalate the problems

further. “Bashing people from the N.East,” observed the MPF, “is viewed as an act of supremacy over the mongoloid people and a display of their pride as more Indian than us.”

Further, the organization alleged that “The attitude of the Delhi police personnel amounts to abetment of the crimes.”

To the MPF, a negative attitude is visible towards the people of the North East “who are generally blamed for defiling the pristine orthodox Hindu cultures and traditions by their open mongoloid attitude.

Confronting/assaulting people from the Northeast seem to be considered an act of valour by the local residents and even some orthodox Delhi police personnel, who generally sided the culprits rather than taking prompt action.”

MPF convenor K. Zou urged his “fellow weak and helpless mongoloid community in the country” to “avoid living with your own whims and fancies in the mainland for the sake of our own safety” as the “law, the police and the leaders may not be in your favour every time.”

89% HiV transmitted through sexual route in nagaland: report Morung Express news Dimapur | March 2

In Nagaland, HIV is predominantly transmitted through the sexual route.

Statistics taken in 2012-13 showed that 89% of HIV infection in Nagaland is through sexual transmission. The statistics, which appeared in the Computerized Management Information System (CMIS) bulletin (April 2006 to March 2013) published by Nagaland State Aids Control Society (NSACS), also stated that parent to child transmission stood at 5% and transmission through infected needles and syringes at 4%. Earlier, the major route of HIV transmission was sharing infected needles and syringes.

The bulletin underlined that there is an urgent need to inform healthcare providers and the public about the presence of HIV/AIDS in Nagaland State. In 2011, Nagaland was among six highest adult (15 to 49 years) HIV prevalence states in India with 0.73 %, according to Technical Report, India Estimates 2012.

However, the NSACS report showed an increasing decline in the number of HIV+ cases in the State.

The bulletin recorded that in the year 2006-07, at Integrated Counselling and Testing Centres (ICTCs) across Nagaland, 22,121 people took HIV test and 1,027 were detected positive. Meanwhile, in 2012-13, 71,674 took the test and 1,533 of them were found to be HIV positive. According to the bulletin, rate of HIV+ declined from 4.64% to 2.35% within three years (2006 to 2008), but increased to 3.23% in 2008-2009, after which it

Source: CMIS, NSACS

declined at 2.30% in 2011-12. Meanwhile, number of AIDS related deaths in Nagaland during 2012-13 was 82 out of 423 cases reported (graph).

Among pregnant women, 151 were tested HIV positive in 2012-13 out of 19,175. Kiphire district had the highest HIV sero-positivity among pregnant women attending Ante Natal Care (ANC) clinics in 2012-13 and Wokha had the lowest with 1.59%. The figure in the bulletin showed a steady decrease in the HIV positivity rate among pregnant women from 2007 to 2013.

The data taken of general clients attending ICTCs in 2012-13 showed that Dimapur has the highest rate of HIV seropositivity with 6.33% among the 11 districts. Longleng district has the least with 0.11%.

In 2012-13, people between 25 to 49 years constituted 74% of HIV+ cases in Nagaland, followed by 15 to 24 years – 16 %; Below 14 – 6 %; and

Above 50 – 4%.

The report concluded that HIV positivity among general population as well as High Risk Groups (HRGs) has declined steadily over the past three years. The positivity rate is higher among general population than HRGs, especially in Dimapur, Kohima, Tuensang, Kiphire and Peren districts, and numbers of discordant couples are more in the priority districts of Dimapur, Kohima, and Tuensang.

It further stated that a comprehensive study is urgently required to analyze and prioritize on men having sex with men and clients visiting female sex workers and design the requisite interventions. Scaling up of linkages between ICTC counsellors, Targeted Intervention, and Anti Retroviral Therapy centres need to be prioritized as HIV+ clients referred from the former centres to the ART are low, it recommended.

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Dimapur

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Monday 3 March 2014

Living & Prevention". The resource person said first of all people living with HIV (PLHIV) need to accept oneself and understand it.

“That means one needs to change our mindset and

behaviour so that people will accept them,” he asserted. “Hence, stigma & discrimination will reduce in our society and any PLHIV can live positively and prevention will take place automatically.” He also said positive prevention is a must among PLHIV. Further, sharing that good and bad things happen in life, Rev. Fr. Chacko stressed that “if we look only at the negative side it is difficult to cope up with life’s situations.” He stated that if one has positive attitude one can win over life.

He also inspired the participants to think positively by showing examples of the lives of great people.

The release said that the participants were very happy. They acknowledged that the day was an enriching one because they could learn many things and could correct their misunderstandings. They were also encouraged to look at their lives positively, it added.

Dimapur, march 2 (mExN): Nagaland BJP unit president Dr M. Chuba Ao and all rank and file of the party have expressed grief over the demise of former national BJP president Bangaru Laxman on March 1 at the age of 74.

A condolence message issued by BJP Nagaland general secretary and spokes-

man, K James Vizo stated that Laxman, who was ailing for some time, suffered a fatal heart attack at a private hospital in Hyderabad. He is survived by his wife, Susheela Laxman, BJP MP of 14th Lok Sabha, three daughters and a son.

Bangaru Laxman was elected to the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Coun-

Rev. Fr. Chacko speaking to the participants during the training held for PLWHAs at Chavara Home on March 1.

There was a question hour about management of diseases and how to solve the problems of life, the note said. The participants also shared the problems and challenges of PLWHAs

and suggested solutions to solve their problems.

The second session was taken by Rev. Fr. Chacko, the previous director of Shalom Rehabilitation Centre, Chumukedima on "Positive

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Children participate in an indigenous game during Sekrenyi festival held at Chedema recently. (Morung Photo/Chizokho Vero)

Regional agriculture workshop to start March 6

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Dimapur, march 2 (mExN): A twoday regional workshop on ‘Review of CSS & Training Planning for EEI and SAMETI of NE States’ organized by EEI (NE Region), Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India, AAU Jorhat in collaboration with Department of Agriculture, Govt. of Nagaland will commence from March 6, 2014 at the conference hall of Theja Fort Hotel, near Public College of Commerce, Burma Camp, Dimapur.

A press release from Director of Agriculture & SNO ATMA, N Tekatushi Ao informed that Sanjeev Gupta, IAS, Jt. Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India will inaugurate the function and chair the ple-

nary session on March 6 at 10.30 am.

The Directors/HODs of Horticulture, Sericulture, Fisheries, Soil & W.C, Veterinary & Animal Husbandry, Irrigation & F.C departments, Dean, NU,SASRD, Medziphema, Director/Jt. Director, NRC Mithun/ ICAR, Jharnapani, Co-ordinator, Third party M& E, ATMA, SASRD and PCs of KVK Dimapur, Kohima, Mon, Tuensang, Zunheboto, Phek and Wokha have been requested to attend the inaugural programme.

Further, all concerned have been asked to confirm participation by email to agrilan@rediffmail.com or by SMS to PD, ATMA Dimapur @9436265988 or LTO, ATMA SNO Cell @ 9436001577.

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Nagaland additional chief secretary and development commissioner, HK Khulu (3rd right) along with other invitees and ‘Synergy Systems’ management team during the inauguration of the ‘Dell Exclusive Store’ (DES) at Hussain Building, Circular Road, Dimapur on Sunday, March 2. The one stop shop for consumers’ IT hardware and solutions is the third ‘Dell Exclusive Store’ in the North East Region after Guwahati and Agartala. DES displays its wide range of products where customers can “touch and feel” all products. (Morung Photo)

Workshop on Intellectual Property Rights today

Kohima, march 2 (mExN): A one day workshop on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) organized

by National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology (NIELIT), Kohima will take place on March 3 at NIELIT Auditorium, Kohima from 11:00 am onwards.

K. D Vizo, commissioner &

secretary, IT & C will grace the inaugural session as chief guest. Welcome address will be delivered by T P Singh, Director, NIELIT, Kohima. Introduction of IPR will be given by Surendra Nath, director, MSTECH. Vote of thanks will be proposed by Lanuwabang, Deputy Director/Scientist-

C, NIELIT Kohima.

The session II starting from 12:30 PM will witness resource person Prof.

Manas Sanyal, HOD, Dept of HRM, Bengal Eng & Science University. He will also take session III at 1:30 PM. The workshop will also have interactive session and distribution of certificate.

cil in 1985, before entering the Rajya Sabha in April 1996. In October 1999, he was inducted into the NDA government led by Atal Behari Vajpayee as Minister of State for Planning and Programme Implementation and was later appointed MoS in the Railway Ministry.

He was the first dalit leader to head BJP and was

also the president of All India BJP Scheduled Caste Morcha for seven years and also national vice president of the BJP. He was secretary of the Andhra Pradesh unit of Bharatiya Janasangh between 1973 and 1977 and Secretary of the Janata Party's Andhra Pradesh unit in 1978 before becoming convenor of

the state unit of the newlyformed BJP in 1980. He was its general secretary between 1980 and 1985 and president between 1986 and 1988.

The Party prayed that the Almighty God will give peace, comfort and solace to the family, and also lead the departed soul to rest in peace.

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Tenyiphe-I village youth rehearsing a dance for the foundation day clad in traditional attire.

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State BJP unit condoles Bangaru Laxman'a death

BLOs under 40 Bhandari A/C informed

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Enhancing care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS

Dimapur, march 2 (mExN): In order to enhance care and support for People Living with HIV/ AIDS (PLWHAs), Chavara Home, a community care centre in collaboration with Development Association of Nagaland (DAN) conducted a one day home based care training on March 1 at Chavara Home, Naharbari here. All together fifty people from in and around Dimapur attended the training.

A press release issued

by Sr. Merin stated that the main objective of the programme was to strengthen the PLWHAs and their family members in regard to care and treatment at home so as to enhance a healthy and positive living of PLWHAs. The first session on ongoing management of infection was taken by Sr. Florence & Sr. Servia. It was a participatory training, hence a lot of interaction between the participants and resource persons.

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The Morung Express

WoKha, march 2 (mExN): All the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) under 40 Bhandari A/C are informed that a meeting will be held on March 4, 11:00 am in the office of ADC Bhandari to discuss matters relating to distribution of EPIC (Electronic Photo Identity Card) to voters. Therefore, Additional Deputy Commissioner Bhandari, Orenthung Lotha has directed all BLOs concerned to attend the meeting without fail.

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Thenyiphe-I village to celebrate 46th foundation day

MCCI general meeting on March 5

moKoKchuNg, march 2 (mExN): The Mokokchung Chamber of Commerce & Industries (MCCI) will hold its annual general meeting for the year 2014 on Wednesday, March 5 from 2:00 pm onwards at MMC Complex and all the business establishments will remain closed by 1:00 pm. All the MCCI members have been informed to attend the general meeting. Absentees will be liable to a fine as per MCCI rules, a press release issued by MCCI president, Moasangba Jamir and information secretary, Limalenden Longkumer stated.

The general public and customers have been requested to bear with the inconvenience caused, if any.

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Dimapur, march 2 (mExN): Thenyiphe-I village will be celebrating its 46th foundation day (1968-2014) with Khalo Kapfo, president, Tenyimia Union Dimapur (TUD) as special guest on March 10, 2014, 11:00 am at the village local ground.

A press release informed that the villagers

will celebrate with colorful traditional attire and many traditional activities to promote the customs and cultures. The village chairman, Khriebulie Peseyie and secretary, Tosovil Rhetso further informed all the villagers and landowners to register their names on the particular day.

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Acknowledgment NRLM (OMPLIS) team visits Chukitong block, Wokha

13-01-84 to 17-02-14

Words will be inadequate for us to convey our indebtedness to all those who stood by us in the untimely demise of our beloved son Lt. Er. Khoto Yhokha, Assistant Commandant ITBP, on the 17th of Feb, 2014 while on Duty Line at the Indo China Border at Rochchan Post, Anjaw District AP. We have been showered with tremendous love and support by people from different walks of life, from the tragic moment till his mortal remain was brought home on the 20th of Feb, 2014.

WoKha, march 2 (mExN): State Project Manager- Monitoring and Evaluation, Nagaland State Rural Livelihood Mission (NSRLM), Imonenla, along with training coordinator Rajashekar, Mahesh and 7 Professional Resource Persons (PRPs) from OMPLIS, Orvakal Mandal/Block, Andhra Pradesh, a nation-

al resource organisation under National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), visited N/ Longidang and Longla Village under R.D Block Chukitong-Wokha.

A press release stated that NRLM is a rural poverty alleviation programme undertaken by the Ministry of Rural Development in the country, with a mission

to reach out to the ‘Poorest of the Poor’ and enable the poor households to access gainful self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities.

The visit is undertaken under the aegis of NSRLM, which at present has a target coverage of 11 Districts, 74 Blocks and 1151 Villages in the state. The

team interacted with the identified Community Resource Persons (CRPs) for implementing strategies in the resource Block and the team conducted socio-economic assessments of self help groups (SHGs) in the villages. The PRPs assisted

by Block Mission Management Unit (BMMU) staffs conducted household sur-

vey of the same villages.

Earlier, Rajashekar exhorted the SHGs members by highlighting the success stories of women SHGs of Orvakal Block, Andhra Pradesh. and appealed to the village council, elders and every individual in the village for their cooperation in the success of the mission.

We particularly thank;

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1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10) 11) 12) 13) 14) 15) 16) 17) 18) 19) 20) 21) 22) 23) 24) 25) 26) 27) 28) 29) 30)

Eno Neiphiu Rio Hon’ble Chief Minister Nagaland Dr Nicky Kire Hon’ble Parliamentary Secretary Nagaland Er Vikho-o Yhoshü Hon’ble Parliamentary Secretary Nagaland Eno B Kezo Director General of Police (DGP) Nagaland Shri Subash Goswami Director General Of Police ITBP Shri MS Rawat DIG ITBP Hqrs Tezpur Shri Pritam Singh Commandant 25th Battalion ITBP Tezu SP Rank & Files of Kohima Police SP Tezu & Anjaw Dist Arunachal Pradesh Shri Inaobi Singh Adjutant 25th ITBP Assistant Commandant Yanger Toshi & Sunep Toshi of ITBP Indian Air Force Authority Shillong All Rank & Files of ITBP 25th Battalion Tezu All Rank & Files of 19th AR Kohima All Rank & Files of CRPF Sechü Zubza Keneingunyü Sekhose President APO Angami Youth Organization President & Colleagues SAPO, SAWO & SAGOK Villages & Churches of Southern Angami area Mishmi Baptist Church Convention (MBCC) Arunachal Pradesh PS Forum of 12th NLA SIPMIU Staffs Kohima & Dimapur Alumni of NIT Agartala Kimipfuphe Krotho Baptist Church Sovima Dimapur Kigwema Village Council, KGOK, KYO, KSU, KWO & SSU Faculties & Students’ of GPS Kigwema JCC Kigwema Krotho Chakhro Kigwema Krotho Dimapur Media Fraternity

And to all those who were with us physically and through prayers, may the Almighty Lord bless you all abundantly.

Loving Mum, Dad, Brothers, Sisters & Family Members.

Shri.Neiphiu Rio Hon’ble Chief Minister of Nagaland Minister-in-Charge of labour & Employment dept.

Dr.Neikesalie Nicky Kire, Hon’ble Parliamentary Secretary Law & Justice, Land Revenue and Labour &Employment

THEME: - MANAGE STRESS AT WORKPLACE AND CONTROL HAZARDS Government of Nagaland is also pleased to observe the 43rd National Safety Day/week campaign along with the rest of the country with a view to generate awareness among public in general and the employees of industrial undertakings in particular, about the importance of occupational safety and health.

The weeklong programme will be inaugurated by Dr.Neikesalie Nicky Kire, Hon’ble Parliamentary Secretary for Law & Justice, Land Revenue and Labour &Employment in a function organized at M/s Amar Roller Flour Mill Dimapur, on 4th March, 2014 at 10:00 A.M. During the function, the department will distribute safety awards with cash incentive and citation certificate to the selected industrial workers who have contributed in industrial safety during the period 2013-14.

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REgional

The Morung Express

Monday

Akhil Gogoi arrested; protests erupt across Assam hours on the charges of abatement to suicide and criminal conspiracy for Pranab Boro’s self-immolation on February 24, police said. Five other KMSS members were also arrested.

Later Gogoi and five others were remanded to police custody for four days by the chief judicial magistrate here. Boro poured

Tuki allocates portfolios to newly inducted ministers ITANAGAR, MARCH 2 (PTI): Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki has allocated portfolios to the newly inducted cabinet ministers, affecting a reshuffle in his 27-month-old ministry, official sources said here today. While allocating the portfolios yesterday Tuki retained Planning and Finance while Gojen Gadi was allocated the PWD department, sources said. Three-time Finance Minister Kalikho Pul was given Health & Family Welfare, Economics & Statistics, and Legal Metrology & Consumer Affairs. Kumar Waii was allocated the Rural Works Department (RWD), sources added.

Girl killed in Tripura hostel fire

Anti-opium campaign in Arunachal district

picked up by police from various locations across the state.

Meanwhile, Gogoi’s advocate Bijon Mahajan told reporters that a complaint has been filed under the directive of the Chief Judicial Magistrate on the allegation of Gogoi’s wife that police damaged property in the house while arresting him.

HAfloNG, MARCH 2 (PTI): The 100-hour Dima Hasao bandh came to and end today after severely affecting normal life in the last four days with almost all offices and institutions remaining closed and prices of essential commodities soaring.

The bandh, that began on February 26, disrupted rail communication between Lumding and Badarpur as agitators damaged rail tracks near Bageter station halting services to neighbouring states too, police said. The supporters of NC Hills Indigenous Student Forum (NCHISF), which gave the bandh call, torched a railway bridge near Migrendisa station under Haflong police station in Dima Hasao district.

Supply of essential goods through railways to Barak Valley and neighbouring states like Tripura, Manipur and Mizoram were affected. All passenger and goods trains were cancelled following the bandh since Wednesday.

The bandh was marred by violence as at least 15 persons, including a lady police officer, were injured in a clash between the police and A child sits on a ploughing tool as a man pulls it at a paddy field in Saniadi village, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of Guwahati, Assam on Thursday, bandh supporters at Mahur Railway station on Friday.

February 27. Agriculture is the source of livelihood for a majority of India's population with a number of festivals related to it. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

UNC appeals for peaceful parting

NEw DElHI, MARCH 2 (NNN): The United Naga Council (UNC) has reiterated for the peaceful parting of the Nagas and the Meiteis in Manipur, saying that both the communities can never confine together due to several factors.

The UNC said this today in New Delhi, even as its leaders continue to hold series of meetings with the Central leaders vis-avis the top officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on the issue of 'Alternative Arrangement' since the past two weeks.

"We respect the 2000

years history of Kangleipak and the Meiteis but in that history tribals are never part of it," the UNC stated.

Elucidating on the factors that are the hurdles for living together between the Meiteis and the tribals in Manipur, according to the UNC, they are different cultural aspects, different social practices and the life-style in general. "Knowing this aspect, the British when they came to the region had formulated separate administrations for the tribals and the Meiteis," the UNC pointed out.

The Naga body also

said in the post-British India, there were several separate provisions too for the tribals in Manipur alone excluding the Meiteis. "This is an indication enough that the tribals and the Meiteis cannot live together," it stated, adding, "It is better to tread on reality than on illusion," the UNC further said. The UNC said it is better to live as two good neighbours peacefully.

Meanwhile, reacting to the recent statements of the All Manipur United Clubs Organisation (AMUCO) and United Commit-

tee, Manipur (UCM), the Naga body said the repeated reminding of the 2001 June 18 episode is immensely hurting the Naga people. "When the Nagas were happy in the extension of peace (NSCNIM ceasefire) in Manipur, the Meiteis had sternly opposed that peace," the UNC said. "If this was not anti-peace movement than what was?" the UNC questioned. The mental injury of the Nagas during the tumultous period of June 2001 in Manipur will never be forgotten by the Nagas, the UNC further said.

Sikkim eyes to double tourists flow to Kanchenjunga NEw DElHI, MARCH 2 (IANS): The Sikkim government has taken a number of steps to strengthen infrastructure and improve facilities to attract tourists to the Kanchenjunga, India's highest peak in the Himalayas, state tourism minister said.

According to Sikkim Tourism Minister Bhim Dhungel, around eight lakh tourists visit the state annually to have a glimpse of five sacred peaks of Kanchenjunga and the number is likely to go up to 15 lakh in next five years.

The minister said the gov-

ernment has taken a number of steps to improve infrastructure and ensure modern tourism facilities, with a view to attract higher number of visitors.

“The government has started 15 minutes' helicopter service from state capital Gangtok to provide visitors breathtaking views of the pristine beauty of sacred peaks, which assume different colours during different times of the day,” Dhungel said in a statement here.

The helicopter service is available round the year on demand. Last year, 400 such

mountain flights were organised and the government intends to increase the frequency of Kanchenjunga flights to 1,000 a year in next five years.

Located at 28,169 feet (8,586 metres) from sea level, the Kanchenjunga is the highest Himalayan peak in India and the third tallest in the world. It can be viewed from most part of Sikkim and attracts a large number of domestic as well as international tourists.

The Kanchenjunga is considered a sacred mountain by the natives of Sikkim and is the guard-

ian deity of the Sikkimese people.

Dhungel said Sikkim has the potential to become the Switzerland of the East and the government is taking all possible steps to capitalise on the state's natural beauty.

Tourism is a key contributor to Sikkim's economy. The government is focusing on attracting new segments of tourists and trying hard to provide more options for the adventure tourists who constitute about 70 percent of the market.

“We will strengthen the tourism infrastructure at vin-

tage points at Rabong, Kaluk, Mangan and Pelling by providing various incentives and facilities to hospitality sector for setting up new home stay units, village resorts and yatri niwas (tourist inns) to provide additional accommodation facilities for visiting tourists,” said the minister.

He said the government would also provide modern facilities at Kaluk, Tashi view point, Mangan and Pangthang base points from where clear view of all 28 snow capped peaks can be seen.

NGOs turn to Okram for better HIV care in Manipur

IMPHAl, MARCH 2 (TNN): Highlighting the plight of People Living with HIV and AIDS (PLHIVs) in the state, various NGOs submitted a joint memorandum to chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh on Saturday, after a meeting between representatives of Women Action for Development, Christian Network for Positive Women, Platform for Positive Women, Self Support Group, World Vision, CoNE and FXB was convened here.

Apart from urging the government to pass the revised Manipur State AIDS Policy, 2010, in the ongoing assembly session, the memo sought to make all entitlement schemes and benefits available to PLHIVs. The memo urged the government to ensure that laboratory testing and investigations for HIV/AIDS patients be made free of cost in all government hospitals and Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) centres. This would include treatment for opportunistic infections and related illnesses like hepatitis C. The NGOs also demanded that basic amenities such as drinking water, sanitation and seating arrangements at all ART centres should be provided to PLHIVs. Manipur is one of India's six high HIV/AIDS prevalence states. According to

the latest report prepared

by Manipur State AIDS Control Society (Macs), the state has 43,707 PLHIVs. Of this number, 11,878 are women and 2,780 are children.

As a result of the government's failure to implement such measures, PLHIVs face acute challenges in accessing basic healthcare, supportive

medicine, food, education and housing. The memo highlighted the increasing poverty levels among Manipur's HIV positive community and stated that increasing prices was a major threat to the infected population as it decreased access to basic commodities.

The NGOs demanded the

appointment of adequate doctors in government hospitals to deal with HIV cases, especially gynecologists for female PLHIVs. Increasing accessibility of ART at treatment centres and installing and improving CD4 count and viral load testing machines at such centers were some of their other demands.

The memo, a copy of which was forwarded to Manipur speaker Th Lokeshwar Singh, health minister Phungzathang Tonsing, social welfare minister A K Mirabai Devi and MLA I Ibohalbi Singh, stated that the NGOs had earlier put forward their demands to the government, but in vain.

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ITANAGAR, MARCH 2 (TNN): Members of the Chandan Women Welfare Society (CWWS), led by Najai Pansa and Jalam Wangsa, on Friday launched a massive campaign against opium cultivation in Wakka circle of Arunachal Pradesh's Longding district. Over 120 women came together and cut down opium plantations in jhum fields at Khanu and Chop villages. They now plan to visit all the other villages in the circle and destroy opium fields there with support from the administration, police, CRPF, and the Longding District Students' Union. The campaign has received wide support from elders, teachers, public and panchayat leaders and youths, official sources said here on Saturday. "Opium addiction, especially among men, is a decade-old social evil prevailing in various parts of the circle. We want to eradicate it before it spreads any further," social activist Ngamjun Gangsa said. The CWWS has, meanwhile, urged the administration to check cross-border smuggling of opium from Myanmar. Sixty to 70% of opium consumed by addicts in the circle comes from outside.

hati, some protesters blocked a few roads by burning tyres, but were cleared immediately by the police. In Rangiya, the road link between India and Bhutan was blocked by KMSS activists.

Effigies of Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and Guwahati SSP Anand Prakash Tiwari were burnt. Scores of protesters were

3

100-hr Dima Hasao bandh ends, prices of commodities soar

ce

AGARTAlA, MARCH 2 (IANS): In a tragic incident, a seven-year-old girl was burnt to death and 10 other students were injured when their school hostel caught fire in a Tripura town, police said here Sunday. "A fire, caused by electric short circuit, broke out in a private school hostel Saturday night at Damchara, 200 km from here," a police spokesman told the media. "Though 73 inmates, all girls, could manage to come out from the hostel, a girl failed to escape from the flames and was burnt alive." Ten girls were also injured in the fire. Police said the unauthorised school hostel was over-crowded and was lacking proper infrastructure.

arrest. National Highways across many districts, including Sivasagar, Golaghat, Jorhat, Kamrup Rural and Sonitpur, were blocked, although most of the agitations subsided after Gogoi asked supporters not to call for an ‘Assam Bandh’.

State roads were also blocked in many parts of Assam. In Guwa-

te

Northeast Briefs

petrol on his body and set himself afire in front of the state secretariat demanding land rights to people living in the hill areas in Guwahati.

Alleging that police had entered Gogoi’s house after breaking open the door this morning, KMSS members hit the streets across the state to protest his

soft-

GuwAHATI, MARCH 2 (PTI): RTI activist and President of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti Akhil Gogoi was today arrested in connection with the self-immolation of a KMSS activist last week, triggering widespread protest in Assam.

Gogoi was arrested from his residence here during wee

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The Morung Express

Indians lose crores in bitcoins

New Delhi, March 2 (PTi): In a rude jolt to growing virtual currency frenzy in India, bitcoins worth crores of rupees held by some Indians have vanished with collapse of Japan-based Mt Gox, which was the world’s largest bitcoin exchange so far. Having filed for bankruptcy, Mt Gox has admitted to have lost 7.5 lakh bitcoins of its customers and one lakh of its own, which together are estimated to be worth about USD 0.5 billion (over Rs 3,000 crore).

The exchange was predominantly used by foreigners, including those operating on behalf of clients from India, while some Indians were directly trading there. In its bankruptcy filing, Mt Gox has listed 1.27 lakh creditors, bulk of which are foreigners and just about 1,000 from Japan.

The debacle can also intensify calls for stricter regulatory checks on bitcoins and other

virtual currencies in India and other countries.

Most of the affected Indians refused to identify themselves, fearing probing questions from tax and other authorities in India as they had mostly used untaxed money for purchase of those bitcoins and were looking for easy returns in this so-far unregulated market. However, many bitcoin operators and traders confirmed that majority of bitcoins held by Indians were being traded on Mt Gox and the value of those lost there could be at least Rs 10-20 crore.

There are over 35,000 bitcoins (worth over Rs 100 crore) held by Indians across the country, while many NRIs are also dealing in this popular virtual currency, which currently trades at USD 550 apiece but isn’t backed by any financial authority or real asset. India, which is home to 200 million Internet users, has of late seen a tremendous rise in bitcoin

India home to 70 billionaires

enthusiasts lured by return potential, anonymous nature of transactions and pure novelty, among others.

Today, it costs about Rs 37,000 including charges and fees to buy just one bitcoin from Indian operators, many of whom have been doing business cautiously after the Reserve Bank last year issued an advisory warned the public about the potential risks associated with such currencies.

The bitcoin used to cost close to Rs one lakh a piece just a few weeks back, but price have tumbled for various reasons including for problems at Mt Gox. After three weeks of speculation about the fate of the Tokyo-based exchange, which had suspended withdrawals early last month, the bitcoin fraternity was stunned after Mt Gox claimed hackers stole a total of 850,000 coins. Cyber criminals have been sporadically stealing bitcoins and its

other siblings worldwide but this could be the biggest heist till date.

“There could be quite a few India whose bitcoins have got stuck at Mt Gox. We at least know three Indians who have got affected,” said Sathvik Vishwanath, a founding member of Bitcoin Alliance India. “The Mt Gox shutdown that happened did affect a lot of people. A few Indians we know have their BTC stuck there,” said Sylvester, who is part of a well-known group that organises Bitcoin meetups in Delhi.

While the Mt Gox debacle has hit the fledgling bitcoin community hard, the incident has also exposed the weak security of bitcoins, which exist as small software, against sophisticated hacking attacks. However, some believe blaming the entire incident on unknown hackers could be a way to hide severe accounting or process deficiencies in this case. “Because of their past

washiNgToN, March 2 (aNi): Special edition smartphones designed by Hollywood star Ashton Kutcher are reportedly set to hit stores this year. Kutcher, a noted tech enthusiast, had been brought on board as a product engineer back in October and the first devices influenced by him would be available in 2014. Lenovo executive David Roman said that Kutcher’s role in shaping the company’s hardware was very real and the company’s partnership with the actor represented far more than a publicity grab, The Verge reports. Roman further said that Kutcher not only sees himself as an engineer, but he is an engineer, adding that his primary focus has revolved around user experience on the upcoming phones .

Khekiye K Sema IAS (Rtd) Forest Colony, Kohima

F

China emerges as India’s top trading partner: study

New Delhi, March 2 (PTi): India’s eastern neighbour China has emerged as its biggest trading partner in the current fiscal replacing the UAE and pushing it to the third spot, according to a study conducted by PHD Chamber of Commerce.

India-China trade has reached $49.5 bn with 8.7% share in India’s total trade, while the US comes second at $46 bn with 8.1% share and the UAE third at $45.4 bn with 8% share during the first 9 months of the current fiscal, the study revealed.

The UAE was India’s biggest trading partner in the 2012-13 fiscal.India’s trade (exports and imports)

with China was only of $7 bn in 2004 which rose to $38 bon in 2008and to $65 bn in 2013.

“India’s direction of foreign trade has exhibited a structural shift during the last decade. Trade volume and trade share of emerging and developing economies has increased while the share of conventional trading partners has showed a declining trend,” PHD Chamber president Sharad Jaipuria said.

However, with the revival of demand in advanced economies, the US has re-emerged as India’s top exports destination. India’s exports to the US during April-Dec 2013 stood at $29.3

_

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

SUDOKU

1. MR. W. THUMAI 2. MR. V. DANIEL 1. Reading your venom without substance (Nagaland Post: Saturday, March1,2014) did not inspire anger in me one bit. It only saddened me...that muddled up people like you still exist in this planet...more specifically in the Transit Peace Camp born out of Shillong Accord 1975. As for your derogatorily implied reference...”like father like son”.... if I am even half of what my father was I would additionally be proud and would rather accept it as a compliment. Thank you. Beyond this I have no more desire to waste my time or take up unnecessary space in the print media trying to talk historical truth into that insignificant space in between your ears because it is already overloaded with ‘make believe’ Naga history. Let me therefore simply say this: Instead of adopting mudslinging as your sole patriotic National occupation, please enlighten the people of Nagaland by HONESTLY ANSEWERING ALL THE QUESTIONS THAT HAVE SO FAR BEEN RAISED CONCERNING NNC “ACCORDIST” FACTION. 2. As for Mr. V. Daniel...would you care to compare the kind of garbage thoughts you harbour in your mind with your name.... not Very Daniel-like huh? Perhaps you should find another name from the Bible that suits your kind of thoughts...I suggest you seek counsel from a Theologian/Rev/Pastor. After that help Mr W Thumai to answer all the questions on NNC Accordist group.

Ashton-designed Lenovo smartphones to debut this year

New Delhi, March 2 (PTi): India is home to the fifth largest group of billionaires in the world and Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, is the country’s richest man with a personal fortune of $18 billion, says a report. According China-based research firm Hurun’s 2014 global rich list, Mukesh Ambani was ranked 41st in the list that was topped by Bill Gates, whose personal networth stood at a whopping $68 billion.

Other noted Indians in the list include Lakshmi N Mittal ranked 49th with a personal net worth of $17 billion. Dilip Sanghvi of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries and Wipro’s Azim Premji, both ranked 77th with a personal wealth of $13.5 billion each. Tata Sons’ Pallonji Mistry ranked 93rd with a personal wealth of $12 billion. SP Hinduja and family was ranked 93rd on the list, with a net worth of $12 billion.

In the global rich list, Gates was followed by Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett (2nd) with a personal wealth of $64 billion and Amancio Ortega of Inditex was ranked 3rd with $62 billion fortune. The fourth position was claimed

by Carlos Slim Helu and family ($60 billion) while Oracle’s Larry Ellison with $60 billion was ranked fifth.

The report said that during the past year the Indian rupee weakened 12 per cent against the US dollar, making it harder for Indians to make the cut-off. Despite the currency fluctuations, India has improved its position over last year. In the 2014 Hurun global rich list, the country is ranked fifth with 70 billionaires, 17 more than 2013.

Interestingly, India has higher number of these super rich individuals than Germany, Switzerland, France and Japan. The combined wealth of the Indians billionaires comes to a staggering $390 billion.

LEISURE

delays, it was hard for Indian customers to transfer and receive fiat money from Mt Gox. But this could be a large-scale fraud as well. 8,50,000 coins globally can’t be just stolen without coming under somebody’s notice. It’s next to impossible,” said a bitcoin enthusiast, who works in a Bangalore headquartered IT firm.

The virtual currency’s industry group, the Bitcoin Foundation, has sought to assure Bitcoin users that their funds won’t disappear due to theft or mismanagement. On last count, there were 140 virtual currencies having a combined value of USD 9.3 billion. Side by side, the US and Japanese prosecutors have started investigations into events leading to the eventual shutdown of Mt Gox. The European Banking Authority is working to set up a task force soon to review options for regulating Bitcoin and such virtual currency derivatives.

public discoursE Rejoinder curtsy for

Game Number # 2808

bn followed by the UAE at $22.3 bn and China at $10.8 bn. In the 201213 fiscal, UAE was India’s top exports destination followed by the US and Singapore, the study pointed out.

Besides, UK and Germany have come down in the list of the top export destinations, while Belgium and Italy are out of the list. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia and Netherlands have made it to the list of top 10 export destinations. One significant development in India’s import scenario is the emergence of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Iraq and Switzerland amongst the country’s top 10 import sources.

‘Naga News’ - finally reaching out!

rom an almost-non-existent or unheard-of government department, the state Department of Information & Public Relations has today come a long way in living up to its duty as the voice of the state government by informing the people of the state government’s activities while also effectively playing a major role in feeding the media with valuable news inputs.

Today, the newspapers and television channels, including the Central government’s mouthpieces – Doordarshan and All India Radio – and the local newspapers and local television news channels are becoming increasingly dependent on ‘Naga News’, a daily bulletin which feeds mediapersons and other subscribers news and photos of daily events involving the government and government circulars, notifications and press communiqués, through the internet.

Understandably, while the IPR department has rarely been in the limelight, it is seen to be performing exceedingly well despite limited budget and inadequate infrastructure, for which the efforts of the officers and staff of the department need to be lauded.

At any government function or event, news staff and officials of the IPR department reach the venue with their technical team well before the local news reporters or correspondents. Also, worth mentioning is that they never fail to send (mail) their reports in time.

With regard to that ‘public relations’ thing, some of the officials in the department – particularly Lolano, Martha, Limawati, Tokishe etc – have become valuable informers and friends to each and every reporter and correspondent besides helping out with whatever information is needed. Most laudable is the fact that Naga News is today efficiently covering each and every district of the state, covering almost all the major news. In fact, IPR has also been doing exclusive and feature stories, covering human-interest stories from all angles and corners of Nagaland While it has to be admitted that ‘Naga News’ could do with a little bit of more serious editing and improvement in language, the zeal and the tireless efforts of the editor of Naga News and news staff spread throughout the state indeed need to be appreciated.

Eric Miachieo Journalist, Kohima

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.

DAILY CROSS WORD

CROSSWORD # 2819

DIMAPUR Civil Hospital:

STD CODE: 03862

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

Answer Number # 2807

KOHIMA

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

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

STD CODE: 0370

Northeast Shuttles

100/2244279 2222222 2222111 2222952 2222916 2243339 2224202

O

R

Food

BURGER

MILK

CAKE

MUFFIN

CHEESE COFFEE COLA EGGS

ORANGE PIZZA SALAD SANDWICH

FRIED CHICKEN

SOUP

FRIES

SPAGHETTI

FRUIT

STEAK

HOT DOG

TEA

ICE CREAM JUICE

TOMATO

D

O E O K E C O L A G L N C R F C

O R B A I I E N U G S T E A K H

S

Z H L U O Q U X E W P I Z Z A E

E

J T B A R J O E F R I E S A I E

K D N T N G U H O T D O G E C S

L M L S E E E I J U C O T Y E E

A

I O V P K S S R C A S V I S C D

M W E A C E E O K E A A U T R S

R

O V W G I N T E U A N E R C E M

T E T H H E E O S P D E F O A E

R E P E C E L O A I W G O F M E

C

O E A T D G N Y L E I K T F Z T

V G O T E N V R A T C Z A E D O

H

L I C I I A F W D A H R M E G W

S P F E R R D F E G G S O O Z X

ACROSS

T O W E F O M U F F I N T V J A

1. Box 5. Historical periods 9. Chore 13. Part of the outer ear 14. The general activity of selling 16. Nameless 17. All excited 18. A light informal meal 19. Minute opening 20. Synagogue scroll 22. Expose to radiation 24. Bit of gossip 26. Parisian subway 27. Tress 30. A small mug 33. Female flyer 35. Craze 37. Transgression 38. Banish 41. Dandy 42. League members 45. Robust 48. Floodgate 51. Various 52. Brown ermine 54. A period of discounted prices 55. A person who inherits some title 59. Lariat

62. Iridescent gem 63. Mortise and _____ joint 65. Chick’s sound 66. An amount of medicine 67. A person who is owned by someone 68. Dispatched 69. Picnic insects 70. Killed 71. Terminates

DOWN 1. Thin strip 2. Jump up and down 3. Native 4. Sailing competition 5. S 6. Hindu princess 7. Warning signal 8. Hush-hush 9. Soup thickener 10. Dwarf buffalo 11. Classify 12. Leg joint 15. Hockey footwear 21. Warmth 23. Apothecary’s weight 25. Bog 27. Long ago 28. Wall climbers 29. 59 in Roman numerals 31. Unanticipated 32. Devout

34. 14 in Roman numerals 36. Church alcove 39. Cover 40. Auspices 43. Makes one’s way by force 44. Location 46. Egg-shaped 47. Get worse 49. Charges 50. Artists’ workstands 53. Anagram of “Talon” 55. Fizzy drink 56. Atop 57. Actors in a show 58. Wander 60. Transmit 61. Chooses 64. Not used

Ans to CrossWord 2818

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

TUENSANG: 03861-220256/101 (O) 8974322879

08974997923

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

Toll free No. 1098 childline

W

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

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

CHILD WELFARE COMMITTEE

MOKOKCHUNG:

FIRE STATIONS

STD CODE: 0369

Police Station 1: Police Station 2 :

2226241 2226214

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

2226216 2226263 2226373/2229343

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

222246 222491

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LOCAL

The Morung Express

Monday 3 March 2014

CWA against 2-day Naga Wrestling Meet

Dimapur, march 2 (mExN): Chakhesang Wrestling Association (CWA) has in a press release stated that it had “resorted to protest and walk out” during the meeting of the Nagaland Wrestling Association (NWA) held on March 1 at Hotel Japfu Kohima “due to our differences with the President and some officials of the NWA, for prolonging the Naga Wrestling Style to that of two days.”

The press statement appended by CWA president Thepusayi Nienu and finance secretary Raruveyi Swuro asserted that “our” wrestling is always a one day packed event from the lowest level to that of the highest, adding “any deviation from the practice witnessed earlier has met unfavourable criticism and would not be taken kindly by our people irrespective of the justification offered.”

Naga Wrestling attracts crowd from “our” communities like no other event as young and old alike are passionate about

Dimapur

5

MEx FILE BAN condemns grenade attack

wrestling, CWA added. “Right from the village level to that of the area and to that of the tribe and subsequently to the Naga Wrestling Meet…our people are involved and the interest of our people along with that of the wrestlers remains paramount interest to our Association.”

CWA further said that despite narrating its views upfront in the meeting that the Naga Wrestling Meet should be a one day event, the president of NWA with exception of some colleagues had insisted that the Naga Wrestling style should be spread over two days, for which it resisted and walked out of the meeting.

“In view of the changed scenario without taking the assent of our people,” the Chakhesang Wrestling Association has called an emergency meeting on March 3, 12:00 noon at Hotel Japfu Kohima. Therefore, all the five Area Associations’ presidents and general secretaries affiliated with CWA have been Members of Peli No 12 of L. Khel, Kohima village pose for camera as they celebrate requested to attend the meeting without fail. Sekrenyi festival on March 2. (Morung Photo)

Dimapur, march 2 (mExN): Business Association of Nagas (BAN) has strongly condemned the hurling of grenade at a businessman’s house at Marwaripati, Dimapur by some miscreants. BAN, in a press release stated that such acts of crime are detrimental towards building a civilized society. Further, BAN appealed to the authorities concerned to take “severest action on these anti social elements by incarcerating all those involved in the heinous crime.”

DDCF in favor of auto drivers’ uniform

Dimapur, march 2 (mExN): The Dimapur District Citizens Forum (DDCF) has lauded Regional Transport Authority (RTO) Dimapur for its decision to enforce grey uniform for all auto drivers with name tag on it. Khehuto Zakie, vice president of DDCF in a press release has opined that wearing uniform by auto drivers would give the citizens of Dimapur a sense of confidence especially during night hours and also give a feeling of security for the auto drivers as “in the recent past, few auto drivers were harassed by antisocial elements.” The DDCF appealed to the Dimapur District Auto Drivers Union to comply with the order of RTA for the larger interest of the people of Dimapur and make “Dimapur look like a disciplined city.”

GPRN/NSCN Sumi region re-affirms allegiance NRLM assessment team visits Changtongya EDBA condemns m o K o K c h u N g , Changtongya (Old) vil- munity Resource Person

Senior members of GPRN/NSCN, Sumi region being imparted basic military refreshers course.

Dimapur, march 2 (mExN): The regional workers of GPRN/NSCN, Sumi region during their first general meeting held on February 18 re-affirmed their allegiance to work under the leadership of the President, Gen. (Retd.) Khole Konyak and Ato Kilonser, N. Kitovi Jimomi “towards the greater cause of the Nagas.”

The meeting was held under the caretaker Re-

gional Administrative Officer (RAO), Huvito Yepthomi, Deputy Kilonser. According to a press release issued

by Ministry of Information & Publicity, GPRN/ NSCN, the RAO emphasised on the party discipline and code of conducts, and encouraged the members to work handin-hand to strive for greater glories of the Nagas.

The meeting also resolved to suspend/termi-

nate any members found working against the party discipline. An oath of allegiance was taken once again to re-affirm and rededicate their commitments towards the uplift of Sumi Region and also to maintain a better relation with the general public, the release stated.

All together, around 80 regional workers attended the meeting.

Forest dept field staff attend training in Kiphire

KiphirE, march 2 (mExN): State Silviculture organized a training programme exclusively for field staff of Forest Department at the level of foresters and forest guards and JFMC members, sponsored by ICFRE, Dehradun, extended program of RFRI-Vigyan Kendra Jorhat from February 21 to 23 at Kiphire.

Scientists from RFRI Jorhat as resource persons deliberated on the easiest methodology of raising bamboo seedlings in nurseries. Dr. RK. Kalita, Scientist, ‘D’ RFRI, Jorhat presented on management of plantation, diseases, harvesting, preservation and product diversification and val-

F

or many people in this world, death is not only an inevitable natural phenomenon anticipated at the end of a long life, but a daily fear or potential occurrence. Here I refer to death as a natural phenomenon for a person who dies from illness and unidentifiable death. Unnatural death refers to people who are killed for other reasons; people who die in accidents, by suicide, violence, torture and so on. For Callum Brown, death means something that comes to an end, or stops going on. His point of reference is the so-called death of Christianity in the European world of the 1960s (Brown, 2009). Indeed Brown’s theory of death is true that when a human being faces both natural and unnatural death, everything about him/her stops going on.

Death is something that has no pleasure to proclaim because it brings unhappiness to people who are alive. However, a natural death, which every human being believes to receive from God, is exceptional to have the pleasure as a soul that goes to a peaceful world which is believed to be called the Kingdom of God. Like any human being in the world, many Nagas have been taken away by both natural and unnatural deaths from the head hunting era until the present day. There is another aspect of death from classical Islam. It says that God causes human being to die twice and

ue addition of various bamboos with PowerPoint and demonstration of the techniques. Use of GPS and its application in the survey, map plotting was deliberated and demonstrated

by Supong IFS, CF NTC DFO Wokha; medicinal herbs of Nagaland, its use and value addition was presented by Dr. TC Bhuyan, Scientist, RFRI Jorhat; biodiversity and wildlife conservation was deliberated by Hemant, IFS, Wild Warden Kiphire. Altogether 65 of frontline staff, VCMs, JFMC members, SHGs participated in the training. The next phase of training would be exposure trip to Rain Forest Research Institute, Jorhat, Assam.

march 2 (mExN): In its endeavor to efficiently implement the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) in the state of Nagaland, a team of 9 Professional Resource Persons (PRPs) from OMPLIS (Orvakal Mandal Podhupu Lakshmi Ikya Sangam) Andhra Pradesh and 2 NSRLM staff visited

lage on February 28, 2014.

A press release informed that the purpose of the visit was to assess the villages under Changtongya Block concerning the livelihoods, socio-economic conditions, and the status of Self Help Groups (SHGs) in order to formulate an effective and rationale strategy for Com-

(CRP) implementation in the state. During the course of the village visit, the assessment team interacted with the Village Councils and District Mission officials, SHG members (womenfolk) and also visited each household and took first hand information from the villagers.

Drinking water & sanitation awareness

ZuNhEboto march 2 (mExN): DWSM, PHED, Zunheboto conducted National Rural Drinking Water and Sanitation Mission awareness week in Zunheboto district from February 20 to 25. A press release from Executive Engineer Inashe Kiba, PHED Zunheboto informed that the awareness programme was launched by DC Zunheboto Akato L Sema.

Speaking at the launching programme, the DC highlighted the importance of water and sanitation, safe disposal of human excreta, liquid and solid waste management. He urged the students and NGOs to

keep the toilets neat and clean and wash hands with soap after defecation and before meal for the safety of personal health.

Meanwhile, Dr Akaho Awomi spoke on ill effects of water borne diseases and its preventive measures and Atoli, JEO, DEO, Zunheboto spoke on health education.

Resource persons for the awareness week were Er Vinili, SDO, PHED Zunheboto; Er. G Mughalu, SDO, PHED, Atoizu; Er V Mughalu, JE, PHED; Tonika, Sanitation Consultant, PHED, Zunheboto; Benathung Tsopoe, Chemist, PHED, Zunheboto, Kiyeshe Chishi, IEC Consultant, PHED, Zunheboto.

Training on rainwater harvesting

Dimapur, march 2 (mExN): ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Nagaland Centre held a three-day training on ‘rain water harvesting and its utilization’ organised under ‘National initiative for Climate Resilient Agriculture NICRA’ project from February 18 to 20 at training hall of KVK-Dimapur.

The inaugural function was graced by Dr. C. Rajkhowa, Director, NRC on Mithun as the chief guest. The chief guest briefed about the importance of collection of rainwater for using during lean period. Dr Dibyendu Chatterjee, Scien-

tist (Soil Science) conveyed the welcome address followed by the release of training manual by the chief guest.

Christy BK Sangma delivered vote of thanks. All together 20 farmers from Domokhia, Ruzaphema, Kukidilong, Maova and Dhansiripar participated in this training.

The three-day training consisted of two technical sessions and one practical session. The resource persons for the technical session were Z. James Kikon, Dr. Dibyendu Chatterjee, Christy B.K. Sangma, Dr. L.J. Bordoloi, Dr. Pulakabha Chowdhury, Dr. Sanjay

Kumar Ray, Dr. Rakesh Kumar and Rukuosietuo Kuotsu.

During the practical session, the participants visited different water harvesting structures at KVK-Dimapur Farm, ICAR Research Farm and Instructional Farm, Land Resource Department, Ruzaphema. There was also a hands on practical class on construction of Jalkund. The farmers acquired diversified knowledge on rooftop water harvesting, ferro-cement tank, micro irrigation and many more, which may open some entrepreneurship options for them in future.

Dimapur, march 2 (mExN): East Dimapur Business Association (EDBA) has condemned in “strongest possible terms” the throwing of grenade at the residence of a businessman in Marwaripati, while demanding an enquiry forthwith so “the perpetrators of this crime may be brought to justice.” EDBA further lauded the timely decision of Phek Chamber of Commerce in their declaration of one Government, one Tax and urged other districts and towns to follow suit “so as to send a strong message of unity to our brothers and sisters in different factions/groups and heed to the voices of the masses.”

PDSTGA meet

Kohima, march 2 (mExN): The Phek District Small Tea Growers’ Association (PDSTGA) will hold a meeting on March 11, 10:30 AM at PWD Rest House, Phek. Stating this in a release, PDSTGA president Veshehu Khamo and general secretary Zashenieyi Venuh have requested all the registered small tea growers to attend the said meeting positively.

BSF helps douse fire in Satakha

Dimapur, march 2 (mExN): A fire broke out in a house belonging to one Hosuvi Sema in Satakha town, hundred meters away from BN HQ 111 BN BSF Satakha on February 28 at 4:50 pm. A press release received here informed that on seeing the smoke and cries for help, troops of 111 BN BSF rushed to the spot along with water tanker and other fire fighting equipments and managed to douse off the fire. Ambulance along with medical staff also attended to the people, the note said. Cause of fire was fire woods kept above fireplace.

The prompt and swift reaction on the part of the troops in controlling the fire has been greatly appreciated by the citizens of Satakha Town, the release added.

OBA (SSI) nominates office bearers

Dimapur, march 2 (mExN): The Nomination Committee of Old Boys Association of Sainik School Imphal (OBA SSI), Nagaland Chapter has nominated the following cadets as officer bearers for the tenure 2014-2017: President - Dr. Mhabemo Ovung; Vice Presidents - Johnny Humtsoe & Dr. Mlato Shikhu; General Secretary - Limatoshi Imsong; Joint Secretary - Ar. Leyant & Er. Gwayhuno Lorin; Statistic Secretary - Er.Yhunshinlo R.Kent; Press Secretary - Zubemo Lotha and Treasurer - Hukheto Yepthomi (Ato). The Nomination Committee comprised of Er. Yambemo Lotha as convenor, Er.Yhusinlo Tep as co-convenor, Er.Thungdemo and Khekiho Shohe as members, informed a press release issued by the Committee.

PUBLIC SPACE Death reward for the truth seeker

to live twice. Regarding this aspect, many commentators have made several interpretations of these lives and deaths. The first death refers to the time before life in this world, which means human beings were dead before they were first born. The first life refers to the day the human being was born into an earthly existence. The second death refers to the end their life on earth and the second birth refers to a life of resurrection (Jane Idleman Smith, 2002). Whether the first, the second or the third death it may be, one of the deaths mentioned above becomes a reward for any Naga who stands for the truth in the society. There is a saying that truth always bring pain for those who do not want to live in truth.

In the same way, any Naga who speaks the truth in Naga society; be it about the State leaders, NGO leaders and especially any Naga factions, constantly receives a death threat.

For instance, in the past countless people who stood for the truth have been rewarded with an unnatural death at the hands of many Naga freedom fighters.

Today, it is an open book in the Naga society about the way freedom fighters act in Naga society. People such as Kaka Iralu who speaks the truth about a few wrong ideologies of NSCN I-M has been captured and kept

in the NSCN I-M’s camp several times and perhaps it must have been the alternative to a reward of unnatural death.

Another person in Naga society who speaks the truth is Mr. Thepfulhouvi Solo, who is known by many Nagas as someone who digs out dirty ideologies of the State political leaders, leaders of NSCM I-M, NSCN K, NSCNU, NNC and others. There were moments when this man, who stands for truth in Naga society, is less appreciated by the mentioned leaders. He stands for the truth to be revealed in the larger Naga society because he does not want to see the common Naga citizens die at the hands and in the minds of the leaders who act as true leaders with wrong ideologies and deeds.

In addition to Kaka Iralu and T.Solo, there is another gentleman who loves to stand for the truth for the benefit of common Naga citizens; he is Mr. Khekiye Sema. K.Sema is one among those who is good in revealing every beat of hidden agendas or untrue leadership of political leaders and any NSCNs who unabatedly kill many Naga citizens.

In a recent movement of unabated taxation, K.Sema has revealed many illegal tax collections collected by the NSCN I-M in and around Dimapur. This initiative has turned out to be a common Naga revolutionary movement

to fight against unabated taxation that sucks the life from the common Nagas every day. In a few rejoinders in the Nagaland media, NSCN I-M did not appreciate or favor the truth revealed

by K.Sema about the NSCN –I-M hidden policies in justifying the Naga freedom fighters.

The above three Naga activists and scholars have been codified by the NSCN I-M as Indian agents, but for many Nagas, these three are felt more as agents of the lost and suffering souls of the Nagas. One can easily feel that there needs to be someone who fearlessly stands up to speak the truth to redeem those suffering souls from illegal acts and discrimination imposed by both political leaders and the NSCNs in the country. Nagaland has become a deadlock for those who have no power to impose a death threat. Money, properties, lives and human bodies belong to those NSCNs and political leaders who have money and gun power. Unfortunately, these practices were still occurring even up until yesterday when no leaders such as Kaka Iralu, T.Solo and K.Sema came out to speak the truth of what needs to be told to the common Nagas who have been suffering from day to day psychological and physical violence forcefully imposed by the NSCNs and Naga

political leaders. Many Nagas are disgraceful about the India who forcefully imposed Nagas to be Indian, whereas there are NSCNs and political leaders in our own kitchen who adapted the Indian policy of forced powers and policies.

Let us see the consequence of death threats as a reward forcefully and constantly implemented by the NSCN I-M (or other factions in the State) against those who speak the truth. Constitutionally, a death reward is given to those who are involved in crime and for those who do not speak the truth. Such a constitution imposes to threaten people to avoid in indulging in any crime of abduction. A death threat is usually encountered by people when some groups of criminals’ seek a ransom from the family/ colleagues of the person who was abducted. Accidental death is inevitable to avoid and it cannot be considered as a threat.

A death threat for those who stand for the truth is avoidable, but in Naga society, it results to an inevitable intentional death imposed by NSCN I-M, K,U and others who have power and money. This death refers to what Robert Kastenbaum, an anthropologist who vividly explains that death results from some outside agents, persons, things, or circumstances that

weaken people because the agent contains a greater life force (Kastenbaum, 2002).

Similarly, death for those who speak the truth in the Naga society will remain as the effect of outside agents and the outside agents in this context are any freedom fighters who impose a threat of death upon people such as Kaka Iralu, T.Solo and K.Sema. These three figures are the greatest example for many young people in the Naga society to come up for the truth without any fear of unnatural death reward from those who do not seek the truth.

The result of the spirit “fear no death to stand for the truth”, which comes from the three mentioned Naga leaders, will be the emergence of many young Nagas coming forward to stand for truth and justice. This will lead to the revelation of many hidden untrue ideologies and agendas being kept under a table of political leaders and the Naga People’s Government in the near future which starts from now. In such a situation, the entire body of Naga citizens can hope for the new history of Nagaland with more young people to stand for the truth despite a threat of unnatural death that comes from those who do not want to stand for the truth.

At the end, there is one thing that Naga political lead-

ers who indulge in flaming any group of Naga freedom fighters to impose a reward of unnatural death to those who stand for the truth must rethink urgently: That the future Naga society will end up in the hands and minds of those who stand for the truth. The same urgent rethinking also should be promulgated by the unappreciated NSCNs who impose any unnatural death reward upon those who reveal any NSCNs untruthful policies in Naga society.

Despite the agony of such phenomenon prevalent in Naga society, there is also an urgent revolutionary thought for every young Naga to have the courage to come forward and share every single truth among the common people in both rural and urban areas in Naga society. Every young Naga needs this thought to come forward to stand beside those who unceasingly stand for the truth without any fear of an unnatural death reward. Save people who are worth saving so that anyone who stands for the truth to fight against the unhealthy and untrue ideology of any political leaders and NSCNs in the Naga society will continue to save people from generation to generation. In this way, Nagas can save a good and peaceful society for generations to come.

Saving good people is saving good society.

Lemwang Chuhwanglim Researcher & Activist

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

6

IN-FOCUS

The Power of Truth

The Morung Express MonDAy 3 MArcH 2014 voluME IX IssuE 59

Along Longkumer consulting Editor

Individual in Democracy

A

ccording to Abraham Lincoln, an individual is the, “pivot of an ideally democratic state and it is he who builds, moulds and betters the social destiny of a nation”. Many times, we often take the role of the individual for granted. We speak of the role of people, society, community or nation. They are at best very general terms.

In fact it is the individual, which makes up the society or nation. The individual is part of the sum total and without the part there will be no common identity. So in other words, if the individual fails to play his or her proper role in the state of affairs, there is bound to be many problems. As such we need to give importance towards moulding and harnessing the individual to play its part in the overall functioning and success of democracy. First and foremost, an individual must be guided by an ethical code, that which will help in making a responsible and useful citizen. To fulfill this requirement, education is very important. We must ensure that our education system works so that our young people are encouraged to stay in schools. As we all know, presently we are facing a number of challenges on the education front—poor infrastructure, abstentee and proxy teachers, controversy over bogus teachers appointment etc. When those who are supposed to run the education system or teach the children, they are caught up in such hullabaloo, one can well imagine the plight of students, who may feel hopeless to continue with school. It is well known that school dropout is a major concern here in Nagaland. Youth indiscipline in general, criminal bend of mind, extortion and easy money, substance abuse etc. has thrown our society into a moral abyss. One can well imagine our future hope, where instead of enlightened, healthy and useful citizen we churn out just the opposite—to become a liability. We need to make our education system work if we want the best.

Another important ingredient required to make our democracy work is to promote freedom of thought and discussion. An individual in a democracy must be able to ventilate his or her own views on the affairs of one’s State, society or nation. According to a recent Morung Express opinion poll on the question, “do you feel free and safe to speak out the truth in public?” an overwhelming majority of 59% responded no while only 8% stated that they felt free and safe to speak out in public. Doesn’t this reflect the sorry state of affairs of our democracy? For democracy to work the individual must have the freedom to state the truth from falsehood. Citizens cannot exercise their right to vote effectively or take part in public decision-making if they do not have free access to information and ideas and are not able to express their views freely. An individual in democracy must also think independently, otherwise as is often the case with us here in our society, we end up as mere tools for other people. A person who cannot think for him or herself will just do whatever some other person tells them to do. And this is precisely the kind of democracy we have become—where might is right or populism, money power (not issues) and promises (not performances) win you election.

Freedom of expression is therefore essential in enabling democracy to work properly—transparency, accountability and promoting checks and balances. In conclusion perhaps an apt proverb to reflect upon: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” -- Edmund Burke (Feedback can be send to consultingeditormex@gmail.com)

lEfT wiNg |

Robert Macfarlane

Source: Intelligent Life

Lit Up By The Luminaries

W

e all know the American gold rushes of the mid-19th century. Images from those years leap to mind: somewhere in the Californian desert, a prospector hammers in wooden pegs to stake his claim. Deep in the Yukon at dusk, a wolf howls in the blue distance, then one by one the rest of the pack join in. Miners huddle round the low-burnt fire, touch their rifles for reassurance. Sergio Leone and Jack London are the laureates of these landscapes.

But the New Zealand gold rush? I wasn't aware of its existence until I read Eleanor Catton's vast and intricate novel "The Luminaries", set in the township of Hokitika in 1866. Out of Catton's patient prose emerges a world so completely realised that you feel part of its population. Gold has been found in the sands and rivers of the South Island, and Hokitika teems with speculators, aggregators, bankers and outfitters. Up and down the west coast the diggers toil, delving for the sly glint of ore. Eastwards of Hokitika the land rises into totara forests, rolling hills and clear-watered rivers whose beds are cobbled with "smooth, milky-grey stones that, when split, showed a glassy-green interior, harder than steel"—the sacred Maori stone known as pounamu. And over all of this loom the Southern Alps, ice-capped and incorruptible.

The novel unfolds a mystery. A haul of gold has been discovered in a hermit's cottage: its provenance is unclear, its ownership disputed. Death stalks the land in the guise of lucre. The reader's first task is—as Lester Freamon puts it in "The Wire"—to follow the money. That pursuit takes us forwards and backwards in time, and through the varied landscapes of the South Island. As we move from place to place, expanding our imagined geography, so the plot whirs on—gorgeous and complex as an orrery.

For a novel set in such wild country, it often takes us indoors: in bar-rooms, billiard-rooms and court-rooms, in shanty-shacks and opium dens where smokers lie supine.

These interiors are evoked in exceptional detail. Catton's narrator seems to notice everything, down to the seam that runs through the centre of the billiard-table baize, from when it "had been sawn in two on the Sydney docks to better survive the crossing".

I first read "The Luminaries" as a judge of the Man Booker prize for fiction last year. Without that compulsion I might never have picked it up, put off by its cubical bulk and astrological armature. What a loss that would have been! I have now read it three times—2,496 pages in sum—and each reading has yielded new dividends. And its consequences enact its concerns, for Catton takes such pains not only for the joy of evocation, but also to carry out a huge thought-experiment into the nature of value.

Almost everyone in Hokitika is dedicated to the acquisition of wealth and the maximisation of profit. It is a community driven by capital, in which relationships are ruled by cost-benefit analysis. One of the few transactions to defeat this fierce logic is the unconditional love that develops between two characters: a young prospector and a "whore".

Their love eventually emerges as a gold standard: a touchstone with which to test the value of all things.

And so this phenomenal book, apparently about digging into the Earth's innards in search of wealth, ends up delving into the heart's interior to find true worth. All the while the landscape goes about its business: rain clatters fatly onto the roofs of Hokitika's 100 pubs, storms pummel the sandbars, the snowmelt of the high peaks swells the rivers, and the rivers crash down towards the sea, carrying gold which shines in their eddy-pools, as one early prospector put it, "like the stars of Orion on a dark, frosty night".

THE EDIT PAGE

C O M M E N T A R Y

Dusan Stojanovic & Tim Sullivan Associated Press

A TALE OF TWO COUNTRIES At the heart of Ukraine drama

I

n the afternoon, when the shift ends at the coal mine and the miners walk out into the cold and past the old concrete statue of Lenin, they often head to a tiny corner store a block away. There they'll stand in the parking lot for a while, drinking little bottles of the vodka called "Truthful."

They know what is happening in Kiev, the capital city that can seem so far away. They've seen pictures of the democracy protesters shot dead in Kiev's streets, and the TV reports on the mansions of ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, the one-time thug and pro-Russia politician who grew up in this far-eastern city. They watched from afar this week as protesters, many from western Ukraine, helped form the country's new government.

They don't like it at all.

"I have always felt that we are so different," said a miner who gave his name only as Nikolai, a thickset 35-year-old who went from high school directly into the mines. People speak Russian across most of Ukraine's east, and worship in onion-domed Orthodox churches. They were shaped by 70 years of Soviet rule and its celebration of socialist industrialization, and by the Russian empire before that. To them, the government is now being run by outsiders who care little for this side of the country. "If they try to pressure us, our region will revolt."

His words are echoed — except for a few key words — in a conversation 800 miles (1,250 kilometers) to the west, in a medieval cobblestoned city, Ukrainian-speaking residents and houses displaying the EU flag and its yellow stars.

"We are simply different people from those living in the East," said Ludmila Petrova, a university student in Lviv, a hotbed of support for Ukraine's pro-democracy forces and opposition to Yanukovych. "They don't know what the West is. We have a different history.

Maybe it is better that we separate once and for all."

If Ukraine looks neatly delineated on maps, its often-bloody history is a tangle of invasions and occupations, peoples and beliefs. It is a place that has been struggling for centuries to define itself. And now it finds itself so sharply divided — between support for Russia on one side of the country and loyalty to the West on the other — that it often seems more like two countries than one.

On opposite sides of Ukraine, two cities, each of about 1 million people, illustrate that divide.

The eastern city of Donetsk can seem like a cliche of post-Soviet grimness, a place of Stalinist-era apartment blocks, tin-roofed shacks and loyalty to Russia.

In the west, Lviv has emerged as a center for Ukrainian artists and writers, a huge draw for European tourists and a city desperate for closer ties to the West.

To the fiercest pessimists, as well as to extremists on both sides, the cities are already in different nations.

"The country is already separated," said Ivan Reyko, a 30-year-old factory worker from Donetsk who joined a recent demonstration of about 100 people in the city's main plaza, Lenin Square, where a 30-foot-tall statue of the Soviet hero gazes proudly toward the horizon.

"There is no way back to a united Ukraine."

A recent series of ominous signs has diplomats warning the region could easily stumble into widespread violence. Among them: military drills just across the border by 150,000 Russian soldiers, and the seizure of the parliament building in the Russian-speaking region of Crimea by unidentified gunmen, who flew the Russian flag and chanted "Crimea is Russia."

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been long dreaming of pulling Ukraine, a sprawling country of 46 million seen as the ancient cradle of Slavic civilization, closer to Moscow.

In Lviv, though, a bookish, soft-spoken mayor is dreaming of something else.

Andriy Sadovyi has been a powerful symbol of resistance to Yanukovych, as well as regional power-

T

en years ago, on May 18, 2004 to be precise, the Central Hall of the Indian parliament witnessed political theatrics of an exceptional variety. Two hundred Congress leaders extremely dejected, feeling almost orphaned, desperately pleading with Congress president Sonia Gandhi to reconsider her "renunciation", sat on one side of the rectangular table.

Ten years is a long time in the history of a political party. Since memories have faded, it is instructive to recall.

Mani Shankar Aiyar, on the verge of tears, said that voters had identified the party with her. "We have been saying that a vote for us is a vote for Sonia Gandhi. The inner voice of the people of India says that you have to be the prime minister of India. Can we move forward without you," he asked.

Party spokesman and newly elected MP Kapil Sibal told Sonia: "We have faith in you and no one else."

But Gandhi remained steadfast. "I have listened to your views, your pain and anguish at the decision I have taken. I am aware that I am causing anguish to you also, but I think you should trust me, allow me to take my decision," she said. Some MPs said they would rather resign than be not led by Gandhi.

"You cannot betray the people of India," said Aiyar. "The inner voice of the people of India says that you have to become the prime minister of India."

Kapil Sibal said: "Unless you are there, our inspiration will not be there."

At the height of the wail of the please-madam Soniaites, the constitution of the Congress Parliamentary

In this photo taken on Tuesday, February 25, 2014, the Russian and Ukrainians flags decorate windshield of a bus, in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine. If Ukraine looks neatly delineated on maps, its history is a tangle of invasions and occupations and peoples and religions, a place of ill-defined borders that for centuries has been struggling to define itself. The modern nation is so sharply divided by culture and loyalty, split between allegiance to Moscow and allegiance to Western Europe, that it often can appear ready to simply snap in two. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

broker who cut ties to the central government even before the president was forced from power. Sadovyi, who insists he only wants regional autonomy in Ukraine, has called repeatedly for unity.

"Ukraine is strong only if it is united," he said a couple days after Yanukovych fled the presidential compound. "Any division would destroy Ukraine."

Modern Lviv sees itself at the core of Ukrainian hopes for a more open, democratic government. But the area, once part of neighboring Poland and long a wealthy agricultural region, also saw the rise of a series of nationalist movements in the 1930s. When Germany invaded Ukraine during World War II, some residents cooperated with the Nazi occupiers, who were seen as liberators from the hated Soviets. Tens of thousands of the region's Jews disappeared into Nazi camps or were gunned down in their homes by death squads.

When the war ended, Moscow exacted its revenge: nationalist fighters who fought Red Army soldiers were purged and sent to prison gulags, along with Roman Catholic and nationalist leaders who could challenge Russian authority. The city was transformed from a cosmopolitan center into a decaying backwater. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, political groups from Lviv were key in fighting for Ukraine's independence.

For two decades, anti-Russian feelings quietly burned across the region, along with anger at Yanukovych.

Even today, thousands of people in western Ukraine, a handful even wearing Nazi-themed uniforms, hold rallies every year honoring men who fought Stalin's forces during World War II. Fierce historical loyalties helped drive the support that has poured from Lviv into Kiev and the capital's Independence Square, epicenter of the anti-Yanukovych protests, which began late last year.

For months, Lviv residents have donated food, medicine and clothing for the protesters, and many have joined them. The city's churches serve as warehouses for aid for the demonstrators, who continue to occupy the square, fearing the return of the former president or his supporters.

Over the months, western Ukraine became virtually independent as Yanukovych focused his attention

on the Kiev uprising. Then, a few days ahead of Yanukovych's disappearance, central rule all but disappeared in Lviv, when masked youths stormed the city's police headquarters, looted weapons and set fire to a number of municipal buildings. With policemen nowhere to be seen, order in the city fell to unarmed "voluntary citizen patrols" in bright yellow vests.

A handful of regional leaders also began talking about changing the country's laws, so that Russian is no longer recognized as an official language. This terrifies some in Donetsk, which is in the heart of a region where Russian has been the main language for generations.

Alexander Kravtsov, a top official in Donetsk and member of Yanukovych's political party, says he believes most people in the region still believe in a united Ukraine, but warned that the number who identify with Russia will grow significantly if they feel threatened.

"People are scared of what has happened in Kiev," he said.

Talk to the pro-Russia protesters at Donetsk's Lenin Square, and the list of those blamed for the changes in Kiev ranges from Ukrainian fascists to Jews to Masons to the U.S. government.

Out by the mines entrance, though, few have the energy to protest.

Donetsk was built directly over a maze of mines, and the city's working-class neighborhoods sit beside mountains of reddish slag that can rise 10 stories high. They are places where stray dogs are blackened by the dust that fills the air and where you can never escape the oily smell of coal. The little houses, with their leaning plaster walls and central chimneys, look like something out of the 19th century.

They are filled with people who say they can barely feed their families between paychecks, and who are far too frightened to give their names to a reporter.

They may not like what is going on in Kiev, but most are simply focused on keeping their jobs.

"I don't go to political meetings, I don't go to protests," said a somber, fifty-something miner with exhausted eyes and bad teeth. The idea of war, or of a divided country, frightens him more than anything else.

"All of us are Ukrainian. All of us," he said. "We are one people."

Does India have an elected or nominated PM? Hardeep S. Puri

IANS Party (CPP) was amended. A post of a chy, a nominated prime minister exchairperson more powerful than the pected to run the government without CPP leader was created. Gandhi was having the political authority for hard then elected to this post "ensuring that decisions or the ability to challenge Manmohan Singh would take over as the chairperson. What is even more PM essentially as the CPP chairperson's important, the person nominated unnominee". For details, Rasheed Kidwai's der the chairperson's powers after the Sonia: A Biography is recommended. amendment was selected precisely to Clause 5 of the CPP constitution serve at the pleasure of the chairperwas amended and sub-clause C added. son. Other possible candidates with The amended clause now reads: "The a much longer grounding and experichairperson shall have the author- ence in the political life of the party and ity to name the leader of the Congress the country could be and were ignored.

Parliamentary Party to The Nehru-Gandhi head the Government, family presided over if necessary." Following India's destiny for 52 this, the chairperson years, directly for 37 proposed the name of years (Jawaharlal Nehru Manmohan Singh as CPP leader, clear- - 1947-1964, Indira Gandhi 1966-77 and ing the way for his appointment as from 1980-84 and Rajiv Gandhi 1984prime minister. This amendment en- 89) and indirectly for 17 years (Shastri sured that the CPP chairperson could 1964-66, Narasimha Rao 1991-96, Mannominate the prime minister. Another mohan Singh 2004-2014). What distinsui generis situation: It is not the lack guishes the last 10 years is that this politof support from the Congress Parlia- ical experimentation has brought India's mentary Party but loss of trust of the oldest political party to the point of an chairperson of the CPP that could have unprecedented crisis. This is the second cost the incumbent prime minister his point of significance. job in the last ten years.

In an interview with Times Now, Why is this significant? Two rea- Rahul Gandhi said, ".....The issue is basons at least. First, this embodies a new sically how the prime minister in this system, a political experiment of dyar- country is chosen. The way the prime

wRiTE-wiNg

minister is chosen in this country is through the MPs. Our system chooses MPs & MPs elect the prime minister (emphasis added). I said pretty clearly in my speech in the AICC that if the Congress party so chooses and the Congress party wants me to do anything for it, I am happy to do that.

It's respect for the process. In fact announcing your PM prior to an election, announcing your PM without asking the members of parliament, is not actually written in the constitution....

There is a process in the constitution and that process says, and it is clearly written in the constitution, and it says members of parliament are to be elected by the population and members of parliament are to elect the prime minister. (emphasis added) All I am doing is respecting that process...."

Is it not disingenuous to suggest that it is the Congress Parliamentary Party that elects its leader? Till such time as the amended Clause 5 and the new sub-clause C remain, it is the chairperson who will continue to nominate the leader of the CPP. Ten years have lapsed since the CPP constitution was amended. Was it a case of fading memory, lack of homework or a combination of both that the Congress vice president claimed, both at the AICC and subsequently in a TV interview, that it is the MPs who elect the PM. Or, has the CPP constitution been amended again to restore the status quo ante, i.e. to restore the pre-May 2004 position?

In the interest of transparent and open political discourse, this would appear to call for a clarification.

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

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

7

Monday

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

3 March 2014

PERSPECTIVE NEWS ANALYSIS, FEATURE AND DISCOURSE

The Human Rights That Dictators Love Does the concept of "human rights" still have meaning in a world where everything qualifies?

Pedro Pizano

W

Kerry Brown he United Nations report on conditions in North Korea published on 18 February 2014 is a monument to frustration as well as concentration. In over 300 pages of forensic detail, the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) builds a compelling case against the rulers of the DPRK. The government in Pyongyang has signed many UN conventions and protocols in recent years, but it doesn’t even start to observe the rights enshrined in them. In Confucian philosophy, the basic responsibility of any government which can be regarded as righteous and ethical is to look after its people. This might be regarded as paternalistic, but at least it demands of those in power a sense of obligation to those they rule. Harming your own people is categorically not right: a violation of your own codes.

The UN report, chaired by the Australian judge Michael Kirby, makes this violation abundantly clear. The testimony assembled since the commission was established on 21 March 2013 shows both that the culpability of power-holders in North Korea is massive, and - crucially - that it goes right to the top of the DPRK system. The abuses reported by refugees and other witnesses are so systematic and widespread that the idea they can occur without the central government's knowledge is untenable. This report is therefore an indictment. It is not surprising that the North Korean authorities had no confidence to engage with it during its research, and condemned it out of hand once it had appeared. For the DPRK, attack is not just the best form of defence, it is the only one.

The report is shameful for the DPRK. Its accusation is that even on its own terms the regime now headed by Kim JongUn has betrayed its people. In political terms the accusation is deadly. The DPRK has no legitimacy; its sole strategy has been to blame the rest of the world, and in particular the United States, to deflect attention from its own failures. The report notes how much of the educational material available to young North Koreans portrays Japanese and Americans as enemies, liars and oppressors. This material is so virulent it constitutes race-hate material. But for the Kim regime, hatred of the outsider is one of the few cards it has.

T

Foreign Affairs

atch out. Kobe Bryant may be violating your human rights. Farida Shaheed, the U.N. special rapporteur on cultural rights, recently announced that she's launching a new study aimed at addressing "whether advertising and marketing practices affect cultural diversity and the right of people to choose their way of life." The announcement bears a photo of a larger-than-life U.S. basketball advertisement (featuring star player Kobe Bryant) looming over a Chinese playground.

This is all in a day's work for the United Nations' cultural rights office. Just last month, when Shaheed visited Vietnam, she took a break from discussing concerns about the freedom of expression to highlight another urgent crisis: the sensitive issue of the Cong drum. In case you haven't heard, the Cong drum is a unique cultural artifact used by certain indigenous tribes in Vietnam's remote highlands. Now, Shaheed notes, the Cong drum faces a new threat: it is "being played on demand for tourists in some places, thus clearly losing its original cultural significance."

She urges the government to protect drum performances against "folklorization" -- apparently a major violation of the indigenous groups' "cultural rights."

It's worth noting that Vietnam is a communist dictatorship that completely ignores the freedom of religion, routinely imprisons monks and artists for their views, and has been criticized by countless human rights organizations for its widespread use of torture and routine abuse of detainees. (In the photo, policemen prevent a photojournalist from taking pictures outside a courthouse in Ho Chi Minh City.)

"Vietnam is fast turning into one of Southeast Asia's largest prisons for human rights defenders and other activists," Robert Abbott, Amnesty International's Vietnam researcher, noted. But these violations are equal, in Shaheed's eyes, to the ghastly use of cultural artifacts in the tourism industry. The other, more serious violations merit just a one-paragraph rebuke in her report; apparently, they don't fall within the illdefined spectrum of "cultural rights." Now, Vietnam can ignore most of what Shaheed had to say, and brush off her criticisms as a side effect of tourism.

Over the years, critics have ridiculed the U.N. Human Rights Council's willingness to heed the perverse opinions of the world's worst dictators, who figure prominently among its members. (These members even tried to ban the word "authoritarian" from council proceedings.) But the farce of "cultural rights" is merely a symptom of a much deeper malaise that some call "human rights inflation." Increasingly, groups have called everything they feel entitled to -- from spare bedrooms to foreign aid -- a "right."

One special interest group is even clamoring to grant "access to the Internet" official "rights" status, as if freedom of expression weren't enough. Meanwhile, various parties have asserted their "rights" to employment counseling, paid vacation leave, free education through college, and a global financial tax to combat the economic crisis.

Today, we have a surplus of human rights -- and they're all claimed to be equally important and indivisible.

Human rights are going nowhere. They've lost their value.

When the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was signed in 1948, it restricted the world of human rights to just 30 provisions. Its drafters felt compelled to keep the list short and punchy. Out of those, 18 were considered rights, provisions that impose immediate obligations on states at the level of the individual; the 12 social, economic, and cultural provisions were considered aspirational. The

North Korea: Elite Shame, World Test

latter were controversial from the start, and this is one of the reasons that the UDHR is not binding and contains no enforcement mechanism. In 1976, to address these issues, the rights were correctly divided up into separate binding treaties that impose obligations on the state through oversight bodies: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

This was a political compromise borne out of the ideological fight between the United States and the totalitarian USSR, which advocated for social, economic, and cultural rights at the expense of civil and political ones.

To this day, the United States has not ratified the ICESCR. The consequences of this ill-fated compromise have gotten quite out of hand. By 2013, there were 676 provisions that ranged from individual rights, to collective rights, and even to environmental rights.

Some of these don't even impose immediate obligations on the state - instead they're established through "progressive realization," whereby the state, to the limit of its resources and capabilities, promises to fulfill them at some point in the future.

This bizarre proliferation of rights is caused by the fact that human rights are a valuable tool in the hands of every pressure group that stands to benefit from the expansion of rights -- and that includes illiberal states.

The right to food, for example, was made justiciable at the international level just last year with the adoption of the optional protocol to the ICESCR. The move received overwhelming support from, among others, Iran, which reiterated during the working group that "the protocol provided an opportunity to reiterate the equal status of all human rights." Meanwhile, the sane and liberal voice of the United Kingdom was all but drowned out: "The United Kingdom remained skeptical about the practical benefits of the protocol, considering that economic, social, and cultural rights did not lend themselves to adjudication in the same way as civil and political rights."

Some may argue that states do not typically want to proliferate rights because this imposes more obligations. Yet, it is precisely because of this proliferation that states can cherry-pick the rights whose obligations they promise to fulfill sometime in the future -- and thus, show off a "good" human rights record, even as they fail to uphold even the most basic civil and political rights. Desirable outcomes like housing or health care -- better understood as political goals -- were cloaked in rights language to make them seem more legitimate. From there, the right to a spare bedroom is but a stone's throw away.

Well-intentioned rights groups have broadened rights legislation to embrace women's rights and minority rights for indigenous peoples, LGBT individuals, the elderly, and the disabled. Women's groups and human rights groups in Saudi Arabia have, for example, rallied the troops to consecrate the "right to drive." Of course, these groups should be respected and their efforts celebrated -- but there is no need to draw up new treaties or craft new rights. Traditional human rights instruments are enough. The UDHR clearly states that no one should experience discrimination because of their "race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social

origin, property, birth, or other status."

You don't have special rights because you're a lesbian, elderly, disabled woman living in Saudi Arabia; you have rights because you're human.

The darker side of rights proliferation is that it allows dictators to level the playing field. The Human Rights Council is notorious for accommodating the desires of autocratic regimes eager to whitewash their reputations. In 2007, after refusing visits by U.N. special representatives for more than 18 years, Cuba welcomed Jean Ziegler, the Council's special rapporteur on the right to food. Ziegler praised the government for upholding the right to food as a "fundamental human right," and proceeded to blame the U.S. embargo for any food shortages. The policies of the 55-year-old communist dictatorship -- which disallows private property, private business, and the freedoms of movement and expression -- were apparently irrelevant to the food problem. Ziegler viewed the right to food in isolation, ignoring even relevant, non-food-related rights violations, and ultimately helped the Cuban regime get away with murder. Cuba could celebrate its success in upholding one right while tactfully glossing over all its many failures. Chronic rights abusers have an interest in diluting rights to the point where the whole concept loses its meaning.

"Sadly, this is par for the course these days," says Jacob Mchangama, co-founder and executive director of the Freedom Rights Project, a group that seeks to restore liberty back to human rights. Recently, his group held a conference at the Danish Parliament on what has gone wrong with international human rights and how to fix it.

The conference addressed, among other things, the worrying trend of rights proliferation. The speakers challenged the human rights community's dogmatic consensus on the indivisibility of rights and the doctrine of proportionality. Emilie Hafner-Burton presented research that demonstrates that there are few examples of human rights improving an illiberal state even after its leaders sign a human rights treaty. In most authoritarian states, signing the Convention Against Torture has had little if any impact on incidents of torture, and has allowed these regimes to stay in power longer.

"When everything can be defined as a human right, the premium on violating such rights is cheap," Mchangama told me in Copenhagen. "By presenting themselves as the champions of these third-generation rights, illiberal states seek to both remove the moral high ground from civil and political rights and to achieve political legitimacy. Rights proliferation is being abused by dictatorships to praise each other, and is diminishing the moral clarity that human rights once enjoyed."

We may be witnessing the slow bursting of the human rights bubble. Had I invested in the value of rights as a concept in 1966 when the ICCPR was adopted, the value of my shareholding would have peaked around 1993. This was the year that the Vienna Declaration and Program of Action of 1993 declared all rights to be equally justiciable and indivisible, rendering the distinction between civil and political rights and economic, social, and cultural "rights" meaningless.

At least I can always seek comfort in playing my Cong drum -- that is, as long as there aren't any tourists lurking nearby, right, Ms. Shaheed?

The Morung Express

China's little brother It is clear that under the new supreme leader Kim Jong-Un, North Korea has entered a period in which its behaviour is even more capricious than under Kim Jong-Il. One day, the new Kim is entertaining the troubled American basketball player Dennis Rodman; the next he is executing someone once judged to be his chief advisor and "control-tower", Jang Song Thaek. He may be filmed escorting his glamorous wife around Pyongyang, where signs of limited mobile and internet use mingle with the green shoots of a local market; but this does nothing to limit aggressive rhetoric over nuclear weapons or threats against South Korea.

It is telling that Kim has so far failed to visit China. It is also instructive that the Chinese former senior leader who seemed closest to the DPRK regime, Zhou Yongkang, is now reportedly under house-arrest, and that his networks are being targeted.

There seems little emotional bond between Pyongyang and Beijing these days. The sole unifying objective is to keep the US out, and on this matter the DPRK serves a useful purpose. Kim Jong-Il, the father of Kim Jong-Un, reputedly told his allies in Beijing that North Korea was China's own frontline, for otherwise China might find that the US's reach extended to its very border. To protect itself, Kim's logic went, China had to protect its "little brother". Such dexterous blackmail has, so far, worked well - though Xi Jinping is untested on the DPRK issue, and Kim Jong-Un lacks the authority of his father and predecessor.

Stark issues, hard answers The UN report has authority in abundance. The international panel behind it has no vested interest in attacking the DPRK regime, yet its findings remove from Pyongyang's elite every shred of moral credibility. The state as it exists in the DPRK lives on violence, oppression, and greed. It is the tool of a small group whose members are willing to see their country go up in flames rather than compromise, largely because they see compromise as the prelude to the same fate as Romania's Ceausescu or Libya's Qaddafi. Better to concentrate every effort on surviving today than contemplate a tomorrow where they could end up executed or imprisoned.

But for the world, the report offers everything needed to take a position on the DPRK regime’s internal situation. North Korea's people continue to suffer great brutality; they are the ultimate victims. The question of what to do to improve their lot is ever more vital. Yet if the country raises stark issues for the international community, it also resists easy answers.

A military intervention would be catastrophic. Political and economic engagement has been tried and proven near impossible thanks to Pyongyang's official mindset. Many forms of sanctions and pressure are already in place. Yet amid all this, the UN report is a milestone. It speaks to the world's conscience. It presents the global community with the starkest possible portrait of a people under subjugation. It cannot be ignored. The search for a humane and practical response is urgent.

pOLL rESULTS

Is Naga socIety doINg eNough to create, develop aNd streNgtheN Its democratIc culture?

Some of those who voted YES had this to say: • Yes, to some extent you can see young people trying to change our society and to introduce a democratic culture.

• Yes, only for some people. This is so evident, everywhere you go, you see the politicians, bureaucrats, contractors and socalled the elites of the society who seem to be enjoying more rights than the rest of the people. So these powers that be are creating, developing and strengthening a democratic culture in a bubble. They live in this make believe world and one day someone is going to prick and burst their bubble.

• Situation has greatly improved over the last few years. Now at least you seem some freedom of expression and other democratic values which were not even imagined when the political situation and insurgency was at its heights.

• Yes, this is the only way forward for the Nagas.

• Yes, the people want change and want democracy, but without good visionary leadership we are going now where. It is only getting worse by the day.

creating when we do not even have a woman MLA. Unless there are equal rights for Naga women also, there can be no democracy. It is utterly 77% shameful.

• No, most of the people are just trying to meet the most rudimentary needs required for their survival. They don’t have time for anything else.

The state of affairs is pitiful.

It will be wrong to expect too much from the people when they are barely just making it.

• No, not ever when we see our situation. If we do not realize that we Nagas are one and only one over Naga inhabited areas …..

• No, unity is absent among de nagas • No. how can we, when ev16% ery men is a king, every government employer can hold the public to bribe.

YES no when the police break the Some of those who voted law. no had this to say: • No way, what kind of democratic culture are we • Our Naga elders keep harping that Nagas fol-

low a democratic system. This may be true to an extent as far as participation is concerned, but we sure do not follow a democratic culture of living.

• When there is so much of tribalism, factionalism, nepotism and corruption in our society there is no room for democratic culture. Everyone is thinking only for themselves. No one seems to be interested in the common good of all the people.

We have become very selfish and self-centered.

• Naga traditional society was democratic, but now it has become autocratic, bureaucratic and theocratic.

There is no room for democratic culture.

• The present set of leaders whether overground or 7% underground are too selfish.

They don’t realize that their time is up. They were given OTHERS the chance to lead the people and the opportunity was there for them to prove themselves. Now, they should hand

over their power to the younger generation.

Only then things will begin to improve. Otherwise, we are all dying a slow death.

Some of those who voted OTHERS had this to say: • This is a very important question, but at the same time it is rather premature. We the public are not ready and prepared to answer such questions because we do not have the luxuries required to create, develop and strengthen a democratic culture in our state.

• Naga people are still in the developing stage, its too early to come to any conclusion.

• Nagaland is slowly becoming like one of those middle age kingdoms which was ruled by the royal family and the aristocracy. The politicians are behaving like royalty and acting as if the law does not apply to them.

Same goes for the bureaucrats who think that they hold the actual power of the kingdom. This kind of mentality will never allow the Nagas to become democratic.

• Democracy is still a long way to go. There is so much to do, but we just don’t know where to start. It is overwhelming. It is heartbreaking to see how society crumbling right before your eyes.

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

Monday 3 March 2014

The Morung Express

Mulayam attacks Modi on 2002 ‘carnage’

Uttar Pradesh state Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, left, party leader Mohammad Azam Khan, center, and party President Mulayam Singh Yadav, hold hands at a public rally “Desh Banao, Desh Bachao”, or “Make the Country, Save the Country”, in Allahabad, India on March 2. India’s biggest state, Uttar Pradesh, has 80 Loksabha, or lower parliamentary house, seats in the general elections later this year. Portrait of party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav is seen in the background. (AP Photo)

AllAhAbAd, MArch 2 (PTI): In a stinging attack on Narendra Modi, SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Sunday alleged that the BJP was trying to hoodwink Muslims by talking of apology after “having allowed their carnage” in 2002 and dismissed as “baseless propaganda” Gu-

jarat Chief Minister’s development claims.

Hitting back at Modi for his taunt that Mulayam could not make UP as prosperous as Gujarat as the feat required “a 56-inch-chest”, Mulayam raked the 2002 riots issue at a rally in the city where UP Minister Azam Khan asked Muslims to de-

feat “the mass murderer who had called you a puppy “, a reference to the remarks made by the BJP prime ministerial candidate in an interview last year.

“I would like to remind him that I had demonstrated my strength when I visited Gujarat in the aftermath of the brutal massacre of Mus-

lims. I went there and met and consoled victims of the horrible communal riots notwithstanding Modi’s threat that his administration would not be responsible if I was attacked by mobs,” he said as Modi addressed a parallel rally in Lucknow.

Describing Muslims as “a brave, sensible and

trustworthy community”, Yadav charged BJP with “hoodwinking” the minority community by “sounding apologetic after having allowed their carnage” – an obvious reference to the recent statement of BJP chief Rajnath Singh.

Firebrand party-leader and cabinet minister Azam Khan also came down heavily on both Congress and BJP, holding the former responsible for Partition which “drove a wedge between Hindus and Muslims”.

Khan said Muslims “ought to defeat the mass murderer who had called you a puppy and is now seeking your votes, realising that you may not be kings but without your blessings nobody could ever become a king either.”

Mulayam also termed as “baseless propaganda” the development claims of Modi during his over a decade-long tenure as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. Yadav quoted a number of sources to claim that “more than 30 per cent of women and 50 per cent of children are malnourished in Gujarat”.

“Rivers of the state are among the most polluted.

Daily wages given to those working in the unorganised sector are lower than that in UP. You (Modi) call

this good governance and development? I call it nothing but baseless propaganda,” Yadav said.

Yadav also attacked Congress for having “remained silent in the face of repeated transgression of the national boundaries by China” during the decadelong UPA rule while blaming both Congress and BJP for “recognising Tibet as a part of China despite the plateau’s strategic importance for India”.

He claimed that both the parties were “unable to find candidates of their own for the Lok Sabha elections and hence embarked upon a poaching spree” and said the return of Ram Vilas Paswan to the NDA fold, whose Lok Janshakti Party has been offered seven seats in Bihar, was “a manifestation of desperation” in the saffron party camp.

Earlier, Yadav’s son and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav claimed that his government had “accomplished in two years what previous regimes could not in full fiveyear-terms” and exhorted the people to “help the party win as many seats in the Lok Sabha elections as possible so that no government is formed in the Centre without our support”.

Modi accuses SP of misleading people lUcKNOW, MArch 2 (PTI): Narendra Modi on Sunday launched a scathing attack against SP, BSP and Congress, saying they were misleading the people under the veil of secularism to hide their failures.

“Though heat of elections is yet to be felt, there is a wave in favour of BJP due to which “sabka vinash” (rout of SP, BSP and Congress) is certain….

For them secularism is all about vote bank to mislead the people,” the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate told a massive rally here.

“They are misleading the people by wearing the veil of secularism to conceal their failures,” the Gujarat Chief Minister said.

Hitting out at the SP government on the issue of communal violence, Modi asked SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav to explain as to why so many riots had taken place in Uttar Pradesh.

“In the past one year of your son’s (Akhilesh’s) rule, more than 150 riots have taken place in UP, while there was not even a single

riot in Gujarat in the last 10 years. Not even a curfew was clamped there. Don’t compare Gujarat with UP on development,” he said.

Accusing SP, BSP and Congress was using seclarism as a poll slogan and a tool to grab power, Modi said that for BJP secularism was about uniting people and ensuring development.

“Secularism is article of faith for us. It is to unite people and do development….For them its a tool to grab power and an election slogan,” the BJP leader said. Taking on the SP supremo, Modi claimed that Mulayam Yadav in his address in Allahabad had conceded defeat.

He said instead of giving false facts about Gujarat, it would have been better if he (Mulayam) would have given an account of work done by him in UP. On the law and order front, Modi alleged that “due to hooliganism of SP leaders, 45 crimes took place right under your (Mulayam’s) nose.

Govt confirms: US snooped on India emails Manmohan heads for Myanmar India 2nd in list of countries facing cyber summit on regional ties Monday attack on mobiles NeW delhI, MArch 2 (PTI): India is the secondmost cyber attacks on mobile devices prone country with a major chunk of these intrusions designed for phishing and stealing banking details, a report by security software maker Kaspersky said. Russian cyber security solutions firm Kaspersky Lab said Russia topped the list of attacks on mobile phones, accounting for 40.34 per cent of all attacked unique users.

India, with 7.9 per cent of attacks, stood at the second spot, followed by Vietnam (3.96 per cent), Ukraine (3.84 per cent) and the UK (3.42 per cent). Other countries in the top 10 included Germany (3.2 per cent), Kazakhstan (2.88 per cent), the US (2.13 per cent), Malaysia (2.12 per cent) and Iran (2.01 per cent).

During 2013, nearly 100,000 new malicious programs for mobile devices were detected, more than double the previous year’s figure of 40,059 samples, Kaspersky said. “About 98.1 per cent of all mobile malware detected in 2013 targeted Android devices,” it added. The report also found that about four million malicious applications were used by cybercriminals to distribute mobile malware for Android-based devices.

“The majority of mobile malware in 2013 targeted users money. The number of mobile malware modifications designed for phishing, the theft of bank card information and money from bank accounts increased by a factor of almost 20,” it said. Kaspersky added that it had blocked about 2,500 attempted infections by banking Trojans.

“Banking Trojans are by far the most dangerous type of mobile malware for users. Some of those detected in 2013 were more geared towards stealing money from bank accounts rather than from a victim’s mobile account, which significantly increases the potential losses,” it said.

Vulnerabilities in the Android OS architecture and its growing popularity were important factors behind the increase in Android banking Trojans in 2013. Cybercriminals appear to have become obsessed with this method of making money. At the beginning of the year there were just 64 known banking Trojans, but by the end of 2013 Kaspersky Lab’s collection contained 1,321 unique samples.

“Today, the majority of banking Trojan attacks target users in Russia and the CIS. However, that is unlikely to last for long: given the cybercriminals’ keen interest in user bank accounts, the activity of mobile banking Trojans is expected to grow in other countries in 2014,” Kaspersky Lab Virus Analyst Victor Chebyshev said.

Political parties dividing people: Kejriwal

KANPUr, MArch 2 (IANs): Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal Sunday accused all political parties of dividing people on religious lines to seek votes.

Addressing an election rally here, the former Delhi chief minister also questioned Gujarat’s model of development and its Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate.

“We have heard a lot about the supposed development of Gujarat... We will visit Gujarat from March 5 to 8 to see the development claimed there,” he said. “I want to learn about the development. But if there is no development, then it should be exposed.” Kejriwal blamed politicians of fomenting communal violence in the country.

“All the riots are engineered by politicians but Muslims go and sit on the laps of the Samajwadi Party and hold the hands of the Congress while Hindus go to the BJP. “This time, don’t get trapped by them,” he said, looking at the crowds.

Kejriwal particularly targeted Modi, who also spoke Sunday in Lucknow. “It is said he (Modi) was a tea seller.

How come a tea seller has helicopters to travel? “Have you ever heard of Modiji speak against (Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law) Robert Vadra? Is there a setting with Vadra?” he asked, pointing out that it was he who had exposed Vadra’s dubious land dealings in Haryana.

Kejriwal said the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress joined hands to challenge a First Information Report his AAP government in Delhi filed against industrialist Mukesh Ambani. The AAP leader also listed the achievements of his 49-day-old government in Delhi that was formed Dec 28 but collapsed Feb 14.

NeW delhI, MArch 2 (AgeNcIes): Months after whistleblower Edward Snowden disclosed that snooping

by United States intelligence agencies involved internet networks in India, the government has acknowledged that only metadata or the “origin-route-destination” of emails were tracked and not their “actual content”.

In a report “Cyber Crime, Cyber Security and Right to Privacy”, tabled in Parliament in the last session by the Standing Committee on Information Technology, the Secretary of the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY) said that the government has been “assured that whatever data has been gathered by them for surveillance relates only to the metadata”. “It has been reiterated and stated at the highest level of the US President that only the metadata has been accessed, which is, the origin of the message and the receiving point, the destination and the route through which it

has gone, but not the actual content itself,” the Secretary told the committee.

He said “this has been reiterated by them, but we expressed that any incursion into the content will not be tolerated and is not tolerable from Indian stand and point of view” and “that has been mentioned very clearly and firmly by our Government”. The committee, while taking note of DEITY’s stand that “incursion into the content of the country’s data will not be tolerated”, said that the “department should have exercised enough caution so that such a situation was not allowed to occur at the first instance”.

Asking the department to be “extremely vigilant and cautious” in terms of safety and policy with different countries so as to avoid “such leakage and interception of sensitive data in the name of surveillance”, the panel has called for “remedial measures” and “a policy which should be implemented stringently so as to obviate recurrence of such instances”.

KANPUr, MArch 2 (IANs): AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal asserted Sunday that his year-old party will win around 100 seats in the Lok Sabha election and its support will be indispensable in government formation. “The AAP will win at least 100 seats. Moreover, we are going to get more seats than the Congress,” the former Delhi chief minister told an election rally here.

“At least, no government will be formed without the AAP’s support,” he said, looking confident. Kejriwal also questioned Gujarat’s model of development and its Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate. “We have heard a lot about

the supposed development of Gujarat. We will visit Gujarat from March 5 to 8 to see the development claimed there,” he said.

He accused all political parties of dividing people on religious lines to seek votes and blamed politicians for recurring communal violence in the country.

“All the riots are engineered by politicians but Muslims go and sit on the laps of the Samajwadi Party and hold the hands of the Congress while Hindus go to the BJP. “Have you ever heard of Modiji speak against (Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law) Robert Vadra? Is there a ‘setting’ with Vadra?” he asked, pointing out that it was he who had exposed Vadra’s dubious land dealings in Haryana.

NeW delhI, MArch 2 (IANs): Manmohan Singh leaves for Myanmar capital Nai Pyi Taw Monday for the six-nation BIMSTEC meet on regional ties, in what could be his last foreign visit as prime minister, and also hold bilateral talks with its leadership.

Apart from engaging with his host, Myanmar President U. Thein Sein, Manmohan Singh is also set to parley with his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the new Nepalese premier Sushil Koirala.

Besides these countries, Thailand and Bhutan are also part of BIMSTEC or the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation. The upcoming, two-day summit will be the third after those in Bangkok in 2004 and here in 2008. The regional forum focuses on 14 key sectors of common development and concern such as agriculture, trade, investment, technology, energy, tourism, transport communication, environment, disaster management, health and counter-terrorism.

The leaders are also expected to give a political push to the delivery of a free trade pact among these six nations, which account for 1.3 billion people, or 21 percent of the world population, and a combined gross domestic product of $2.5 trillion.

The focus for New Delhi will equally be on the bilateral talks Manmohan Singh holds with the leadership of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Nepal, officials said ahead of the visit.

Manmohan Singh’s meeting with Rajapaksa comes just ahead of a proposed US motion against Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva to chide Colombo for alleged war crimes against Tamils and seek a neutral international probe.

India is still firming up its stand on the issue.

“On how we are going to vote at Geneva, I would suggest you wait till the vote actually takes place.

You are aware this is a fairly complex process,” India’s Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh said, ahead of the prime ministers visit.

“We have to see the text

of the resolution, we have to take several other factors into account, and then we will finally vote. So, I would not like to venture an answer to your question till we actually come to it.”

With Hasina, it will be the first meeting after the Bangladesh general elections last month. New Delhi had backed her government’s decision to hold polls even as other countries, notably the US, wanted a postponement, so did the opposition.

Manmohan Singh’s meeting with Koirala, their first, will be held a little under a month after the 74-year-old was chosen Nepal’s prime minister. It comes in the backdrop of the new leadership’s desire to see an Indian premier visit Kathmandu soon.

Despite the close physical proximity, no Indian prime minister has officially visited Nepal since I.K. Gujaral’s tour in 1997.

Manmohan Singh had already visited Myanmar in 2012 and followed President Sein’s state visit to India a year before that, which was his first overseas visit after he was elected to the high office.

phase, polling is expected to be held in some of the naxal-hit states and in some North-East states.

For the first time in parliamentary polls, a system of paper trail for electronic voting will be introduced in some constituencies on a trial basis.

There have been demands that a paper trail should be in place so that a fool-proof record is created and controversies avoided in case of a dispute or an election petition filed in courts.

In a bid to create a level-playing field, the Model Code of Conduct bars governments in the Centre and in the states from making any kind of announcements regarding new schemes or promises so as to lure voters.

The Commission has also issued guidelines to political parties asking them to explain the rationale of financing the promises they make in their election manifestos. The guidelines that followed Supreme Court directions in this regard have now been made part of the Model Code.

An estimated 81.4 crore voters will be eligible to vote in the coming elections after 9.71 new voters

have been added to the rolls since the last elections.

From the coming elections, candidates in a Parliamentary constituency in bigger states can spend up to Rs. 70 lakh on their campaign, up from Rs. 40 lakh in 2011. In the 2009 elections it was Rs. 25 lakh.

Another first in the Lok Sabha elections will be the introduction of “None of the Above” (NOTA) option in voting, which was put in vogue in the assembly elections a few months ago.

The electoral rolls are ready after being updated with January one this year as the cut-off date.

A total of 1.1 crore poll personnel, half of them being security forces will be deployed for the smooth conduct of polls and to ensure that they are free and fair.

Poll officials said the database of the civilian staff to be deployed for conducting polls has been prepared and at least 5.5 million civilian staff would be deployed.

The list of central government employees to be deployed for poll duty as micro observers in sensitive polling stations has also been prepared.

About 8 lakh polling stations have been set up across

the country keeping in view the convenience of both the voters and the poll staff.

Preparations have been made for deployment of around 12 lakh electronic voting machines with the addition of another 2.5 lakh new EVMs which it had ordered with various publicsector companies.

During the 2009 polls, there were 714 million voters against 671 million voters in 2004 Lok Sabha polls.

The Commission favours a multi-phased election for a country of India’s size and electorate because it is better that there is “complete satisfaction” of voters. Otherwise, it can lead to “discontentment” in case of any shortcomings, they said.

Some states will be accorded special treatment due to their being affected by extremism.

The EC sources said the Commission has not conducted any election in a single go in one phase after 1971 as the size of the electorate in the world’s largest democracy has grown considerably over the years.

The officials also said that the entire poll process takes around three months time. But there is a limit of

six weeks time from the announcement of the schedule to the first date of poll in view of the Supreme Court direction that the Model Code of Conduct inhibiting government decisions cannot be an unduly long period.

They said the Commission has to give around two weeks’ time for government formation before the term of the Lok Sabha or a state assembly expires. In the states of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim, which will have assembly polls along with the Lok Sabha polls, the Commission will place two EVMs alongside for voters to vote in both the elections.

Andhra Pradesh has 42 Lok Sabha constituencies and a 294-member assembly. Out of this, 25 Lok Sabha constituencies and 175 assembly constituencies will remain with the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh, while Telangana will have 17 Lok Sabha seats and 117 assembly seats.

Odisha will also elect its 147-member assembly while Sikkim has a 32-member state assembly. The terms of Andhra Pradesh assembly is till June 2, that of Odisha is till June 7, and of Sikkim till May 21.

AAP will win 100 seats, says Kejriwal

LS polls likely in 7 phases from April 2nd week

NeW delhI, MArch 2 (PTI): Polling in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections is likely to commence in the second week of April and may be spread over seven phases, the longest so far, highly placed sources said on Sunday.

Advertisement The probable dates for the commencement of polling are between April 7 and 10, the sources in the Election Commission told PTI while emphasising that the poll schedule was still being “fine tuned”.

As of now, the plan is to have voting, involving over 81 crore voters, in seven phases but efforts are on to reduce that to six phases.

The 2009 polls were held in five phases from April 16 to May 13.

The much-expected announcement of the schedule is expected in the middle of this week. The Model Code of Conduct for governments and political parties will come into force from the date of announcement.

However, the Election Commission has ruled out advancing the schedule or compressing it to avoid the summer heat, a demand put forward at the all-party meeting convened by the

Commission last month.

The term of the current Lok Sabha expires on June 1 and the new House has to be constituted by May 31.

Along with the Lok Sabha polls, Andhra Pradesh, including the regions comprising the newly-carved out Telangana, Odisha and Sikkim will go to polls to elect new assemblies.

Highly placed sources in the Commission said finishing touches were being given to the schedule. Consultations with the Union Home Ministry, state governments, para-military forces and chief electoral officers of states have already been completed.

There was speculation that the announcement may be slightly delayed for the Centre to promulgate some of the ordinances it plans to bring out against corruption and on some other issues but there is no confirmation of it.

If a six or a sevenphased schedule is finalised, it would be the first time the country would witness elections over such a long period.

The sources said that the attempt is to “maximise” use of forces and the polling days. In the first

InternatIonal

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Ukraine mobilizes for war, calls up reserves

K i e v / B a l ac l ava , March 2 (reuters): Ukraine mobilized on Sunday for war and called up its reserves, after Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to invade in the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the Cold War. Ukraine’s security council ordered the general staff to immediately put all armed forces on highest alert, the council’s secretary Andriy Parubiy announced. The Defense Ministry was ordered to conduct the call-up, potentially of all men up to 40 in a country that still has universal male conscription.

Russian forces who have already bloodlessly seized Crimea - an isolated Black Sea peninsula where most of the population are ethnic Russian and Moscow has a naval base - tried to disarm the small Ukrainian contingents there on Sunday. Some Ukrainian commanders refused to give up weapons and bases were surrounded.

Of potentially even greater concern are eastern swathes of the country, where most of the ethnic Ukrainians speak Russian as a native language. Those areas saw violent protests on Saturday, with pro-Moscow demonstrators hoisting flags at government buildings and calling for Russia to defend them.

Putin’s declaration that he has the right to invade his neighbor - for which he quickly received the unanimous approval of his parliament - brought the prospect of war to a country of 46 million people on the ramparts of central Europe.

“President Obama expressed his deep concern over Russia’s clear violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity, which is a breach of international law,” the White House said after the leaders spoke for 90 minutes on Saturday.

Ukrainian Prime Minis-

ter Arseny Yatseniuk, leading a pro-European government that took power after Moscow ally Viktor Yanukovich fled a week ago, said Russian armed action “would be the beginning of war and the end of any relations between Ukraine and Russia”.

Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya said he sent a request to NATO to “examine all possibilities to protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine”. Ukraine also appealed for help to Britain and the United States, as co-signatories with Moscow to a 1994 accord guaranteeing Ukraine’s security after the breakup of the Soviet Union.

NATO ambassadors were due to meet in Brussels on Sunday. Washington has proposed sending monitors to Ukraine under the flags of the United Nations or Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, bodies where Moscow would have a veto.

Washington and its allies have suspended plans to attend a G8 summit in Sochi, where Putin had just finished staging his $50 billion winter Olympic games.

“This is probably the most dangerous situation in Europe since the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968,” said a Western official on condition of anonymity. “Realistically, we have to assume the Crimea is in Russian hands. The challenge now is to deter Russia from taking over the Russian-speaking east of Ukraine.”

POWERLESS In Crimea, Ukraine’s tiny military contingent was powerless to oppose Russian forces, who bore no insignia on their uniforms but drove vehicles with Russian plates and seized government buildings, airports and other locations in the past three days.

Russian news agen-

Red Cross: 51 killed in car bombs in north Nigeria

MaiDuguri, nigeria, March 2 (aP): Twin car bomb blasts at a bustling marketplace killed at least 51 people in Maiduguri, the northeast Nigerian city that is the birthplace of Nigeria’s Islamic extremist terrorist group, a Red Cross official said Sunday.

Many more people are believed buried in rubble from the Saturday night explosions that collapsed some buildings and set others aflame with smoke billowing for hours, said the official who insisted on anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press.

The victims include children who were dancing at a wedding celebration and people watching a soccer match on an outdoor TV screen, survivors told The Associated Press on Sunday. Fifty corpses were retrieved, said Hassan Ali, the leader of an anti-terror vigilanted group.

The first blast came from a passenger car and did not cause many casualties, said Ali. Most of those killed had run to the scene to help when a second explosion blasted from a pickup truck carrying firewood, he said.

Survivors said they captured a man who jumped out of the first car, grabbed a tricycle taxi and tried to make off. He was badly beaten and taken to nearby Umaru Shehu General Hospital, where a security guard said all the wounded brought in had died. Most spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

It was not known how many wounded are being treated in at least three

hospitals in the city.

The attack is a major setback to a new army and air force offensive against the Islamic uprising under new commanders since President Goodluck Jonathan fired his entire military command.

Since then, criticism and anger have grown as attacks by extremists have increased and become ever deadlier: More than 300 people were killed in February alone.

The Defense Ministry has blamed recent attacks on militants escaping from daily aerial bombardments and ground assaults aimed at flushing them out of forest hideouts and mountain caves along the border with Cameroon. The military closed hundreds of kilometers (miles) of border with Cameroon last week, saying it wanted to stop extremists escaping across the border and using the neighboring country to launch attacks.

Anger against the military will be fueled by reports that a fighter jet targeting extremist hideouts bombed a northeastern village in Yobe state on Friday, killing at least 20 civilians.

The military knew there were alleged terrorists in Maiduguri because they reported on Friday that they had arrested several suspects, including “some picked up in Maiduguri and environs.”

Maiduguri is the headquarters of the military offensive and the air force fighting to suppress the 4-year-old Islamic uprising with the backing of draconian powers under a 9-month-old state of emergency.

cies reported that Moscow’s troops had disarmed Ukrainians at several small bases. Igor Mamchev, a Ukrainian navy colonel at a small base near the regional capital Simferopol, told Ukraine’s Channel 5 television he had refused to surrender.

“A truck with troops of the Russian Federation, armed with rifles, helmets and bullet-proof vests arrived at our checkpoint and suggested we give up our weapons and accept the protection of the armed forces of the Russian Federation,” he said.

“I replied that, as I am a member of the armed forces of Ukraine, under orders of the Ukrainian navy, there could be no discussion of disarmament. In case of any attempt to enter the military base, we will use all means, up to lethal force.

“We are military people, who have given our oath to the people of Ukraine and will carry out our duty until the end.”

Ukrainian marines were barricaded into a base in Feodosia, a Crimean port. Russia appealed for them to back the “legitimate” - pro-Russian - regional leadership.

Their commander, Dmytro Delyatytskiy, told Ukraine’s Channel 5 by telephone Russian troops had demanded they give up their weapons by 10 a.m. and they refused.

“We have orders,” he said. “We are preparing our defenses.”

Elsewhere on the occupied peninsula, the Russian forces appeared to be assuming a lower profile on Sunday after the proMoscow Crimean leader announced overnight that the situation was now “normalized”. Russians had vanished from outside a small Ukrainian guard post in the port of Balaclava that they had surrounded with armored vehicles on Saturday.

The Russian forces had been greeted cheerfully by

many, with a wedding party honking its horns and people snapping photos.

But there were also some voices of worry.

“No one is attacking us, so why do we need protection - much less armed protection? They are filling up Balaclava with troops,” said Olga Karpova, 32.

A barricade in front of the Crimean regional parliament, which the Russians seized on Thursday, had been dismantled. A single armored vehicle with two soldiers drove through the main square, where people were snapping photos.

Putin asked parliament on Saturday to approve force “in connection with the extraordinary situation in Ukraine, the threat to the lives of citizens of the Russian Federation, our compatriots” and to protect the Black Sea Fleet in Crimea.

Putin said his request for authorization to use force in Ukraine would last “until the normalization of the socio-political situation in that country”.

His justification - the need to protect Russian citizens - was the same as he used to launch a 2008 invasion of Georgia, where Russian forces seized two breakaway regions. In Russia, state controlled media have portrayed Yanukovich’s removal as a coup by dangerous terrorists and extremists, funded by the West.

Russian officials have repeatedly described Ukraine’s Russian speakers - some of whom have Russian passports - as facing urgent danger. Itar-Tass quoted Russian border guards as saying 675,000 people had fled Ukraine for Russia in the past two months and there were signs of a “humanitarian catastrophe”.

In a statement posted online, the Kremlin said that Putin had told Obama “there are real threats to the life and health of Rus-

In this August 19, 2013 Oscar Pistorius, centre, arrives outside the magistrates court in Pretoria, South Africa where he was indicted on charges of murder and illegal possession of ammunition for the shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. With his athletic triumphs tarnished by the killing Pistorius, now 27, faces possibly being sent to prison until he is older than 50. Pistorius goes on trial on March 3. (AP File Photo)

sian citizens and compatriots on Ukrainian territory”. Moscow reserved the right to intervene on behalf of Russian speakers anywhere they were threatened, Putin added.

FLAGS TORN DOWN So far there has been no sign of Russian military action in Ukraine outside Crimea, the only part of the country with a majority that is ethnically Russian and which has often voiced separatist aims at times of tension between Moscow and Kiev.

A bigger risk would be conflict spreading to the rest of Ukraine, where the sides could not be easily kept apart. Demonstrations turned violent in eastern cities on Saturday.

Demonstrators flew Russian flags at government buildings in the cities of Kharkiv, Donetsk, Odessa and Dnipropetrovsk.

The worst violence took place in Kharkiv, where scores of people were wounded when thousands of pro-Russian activists, some brandishing axe handles and chains, stormed the regional government headquarters and fought pitched battles with a smaller number of supporters of Ukraine’s new authorities.

In Donetsk, Yanukovich’s home city, the local government has called for a referendum on the region’s status, a move Kiev says is illegal. A pro-Russian “self-Defense” unit, which staged a big protest on Saturday, scheduled another for Sunday.

“We do not recognize the authorities in Kiev, they are not legitimate,” protest leader Pavel Guberev thundered from a podium in Donetsk on Saturday.

Thousands of followers, holding a giant Russian flag and chanting “Russia, Russia” marched to the government headquarters and replaced the Ukrainian flag with Russia’s.

Police detain an activist protesting against recent developments in Russian-Ukrainian relations during an unsanctioned rally on the Manezh Square in Moscow, Russia on March 2. Russian President Vladimir Putin has defied calls from the West to pull back his troops, insisting that Russia has a right to protect its interests and the Russian-speaking population in Crimea and elsewhere in Ukraine. (AP Photo)

Obama voices concern to Putin over Ukrainian sovereignty violation Washington, March 2 (ians): US President Barack Obama expressed his “deep concern” over the “clear violation” of Ukranian sovereignty and territorial integrity during a 90-minute telephonic conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin Saturday.

Obama “expressed his deep concern over Russia’s clear violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity” and condemned “Russia’s military intervention into Ukrainian territory”, Xinhua quoted the White House as saying in a readout of the talks.

The US has also called for Russian forces to be withdrawn to bases in Crimea, an autonomous republic in Ukraine but a focal point now in the country’s ongoing crisis.

“The United States calls on Russia to de-escalate tensions by withdrawing its forces back to bases in Crimea and to refrain from any interference elsewhere in Ukraine,” the

White House said.

The conversation came after Russia’s parliament authorised Putin to use military forces to protect Russian interests in Ukraine earlier in the day.

Putin’s spokesperson, however, said the president has not yet decided on the use of military forces in Ukraine despite getting the green light, and he would make decisions depending on how the situation evolves.

Obama, in a hastily arranged speech Friday, had warned that “there will be costs” for any military intervention in Ukraine. Obama told Putin Saturday that his administration will suspend “upcoming participation” in preparatory meetings for the Group of Eight summit to be hosted by Russia in its Black Sea resort of Sochi.

“Going forward, Russia’s continued violation of international law will lead to greater political and economic isolation,” the White House said.

During their talks, Obama suggested send-

ing international observers to Ukraine, under the auspices of the UN Security Council or the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, to address Russia’s concern about the treatment of ethnic Russian and minority populations in Ukraine.

The American leader urged “an immediate effort” to initiate a dialogue between Russia and the Ukrainian government, saying Washington “is prepared to participate”.

Obama’s national security team met Saturday to discuss potential policy options in response to events unfolding in Ukraine, but both Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden were absent.

Tensions flared up in Crimea following the dismissal of Ukraine’s proRussian President Viktor Yanukovych a week ago by a parliament controlled by West-leaning opposition, who favour integration with the European Union instead of closer ties with Russia.

BangKoK, March 2 (BBc): Voting has ended in five provinces in Thailand that were unable to hold polls in last month’s general election because of anti-government protests.

No disturbances were reported in Sunday’s ballot, but correspondents say voter turnout was only around 10%. Polls also stayed closed in many areas affected by February’s rallies, with the election commission saying the situation there remained too tense.

Thailand has been in a political crisis since mass rallies began in November.

Protesters are calling for Prime Minister Yingluck

Shinawatra to resign, and want her government to be replaced by an unelected “people’s council” to reform the political system.

The opposition alleges that money politics have corrupted Thailand’s democracy and that Ms Yingluck is controlled by her brother, ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who lives in self-imposed exile.

Signs of flexibility Protesters marched through the capital, Bangkok, on Sunday, but there were no signs of voters being prevented from attending polling stations, as had been the case in early Feb-

ruary. The BBC’s Jonathan Head, in Bangkok, says the low voter turnout can be partially explained through poor publicity.

But there has also been little interest in these elections because people do not believe they will end the political paralysis, our correspondent reports.

The ballot will still leave too many parliamentary seats unfilled for a new government to be elected.

PM Yingluck is therefore stuck in a caretaker role, giving her cabinet very limited powers to govern, our correspondent says.

On Friday, protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban an-

nounced that demonstrators would end their occupation of central Bangkok in what was seen as a first sign of flexibility from the prime minister’s opponents. Talks are also planned next week between representatives from both sides.

Ms Yingluck leads a government that won elections in 2011 with broad support from rural areas. In response to the protests, she called snap elections on 2 February, which her government was widely expected to win.

However, the polls were boycotted by the opposition, and voting was disrupted by protesters at around 10% of polling stations

which has not had a history of such unrest.

Kunming residents expressed dismay at both the attack and the conditions within China that could have allowed it to happen.

Restaurant worker Xie Yulong said the attackers were “worse than animals.”

But he also expressed sympathy toward ethnic Uighurs, saying their region has come under severe security crackdowns in recent months under the government of President Xi Jinping.

“It’s the pressure,” Xie said. “Beijing has put too much pressure on them since Xi Jinping. They are under so much pressure they do not want to live, and they did that.”

Another Kunming resident, Jiang Hua, said the attack has made people scared to go out at night.

“I think we should chase off the Uighurs and let them be independent,” Jiang said. “And local authorities should be held accountable for providing public safety.”

Witnesses described assailants dressed in black storming the train station

late Saturday evening and slashing people indiscriminately with large knives and machetes.

Student Qiao Yunao, 16, was waiting to catch a train at the station when people started crying out and running, and then saw a man cut another man’s neck, drawing blood.

“I was freaking out, and ran to a fast food store, and many people were running in there to take refuge,” she told The Associated Press via Sina Weibo, a Chinese microblog. “I saw two attackers, both men, one with a watermelon knife and the other with a fruit knife. They were running and chopping whoever they could.”

Alarms over a possible spread of militant attacks to soft targets beyond the borders of Xinjiang were first raised in October when a suicide car attack blamed on three ethnic Uighurs killed five people, including the attackers, at Beijing’s Tiananmen Gate.

Sean Roberts, a cultural anthropologist at George Washington University who has studied Uighurs

and China for two decades, said the Kunming violence would be a new kind of attack for ethnic Uighurs — premeditated, well-organized and outside Xinjiang — but still rudimentary in weaponry.

“If it is true that it was carried out by Uighurs, it’s much different than anything we’ve seen to date,” Roberts said by phone.

But he added that it is still unclear whether there is any organized Uighur militant group, and that attacks so far do not appear linked to any “global terrorist network, because we’re not seeing things like sophisticated explosives or essentially sophisticated tactics.”

The violence in Kunming came at a sensitive time, with political leaders in Beijing preparing for Wednesday’s opening of the annual legislature, where Xi’s government will deliver its first one-year work report.

Willy Lam, a political observer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said the attack coming so close to the National

People’s Congress dented Xi’s message of a “Chinese Dream” coalescing under his rule.

“Pockets of dissatisfaction, groups of people with grievances, appear to be increasing. After 1 1/2 years of more heavy-handed control (in Xinjiang), the report card does not look good,” Lam said.

Xi called for “all-out efforts” to bring the culprits to justice. The Security Management Bureau, which is under the Ministry of Public Security, said in a statement that police would “crack down on the crimes in accordance with the law without any tolerance.”

The attack was the deadliest violence attributed to Uighur-Han conflicts since riots in the Xinjiang capital of Urumqi in 2009, in which Uighurs stormed the streets of the city, targeting Han people in seemingly random violence that included the killing of women and children. A few days later, Han vigilante mobs armed with sticks and bats attacked Uighurs in the same city. Nearly 200 people died.

Thai elections: Polls close in general poll

China blames separatists for knife attack; 33 dead

KunMing, china (aP) : Authorities blamed a slashing rampage that killed 29 people and wounded 143 at a train station in southern China on separatists from the country’s far west and vowed a harsh crackdown Sunday, while residents wondered why their laid-back city was targeted.

Police fatally shot four of the assailants — putting the overall death toll at 33 — and captured another after the attack late Saturday in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, the official Xinhua News Agency said. But authorities were searching for at least five more of the black-clad attackers.

State broadcaster CCTV said two of the assailants were women, including one of the slain and the one detained.

“All-out efforts should be made to treat the injured people, severely punish terrorists according to the law, and prevent the occurrence of similar cases,” said China’s top police official, Politburo member Meng Jianzhu, who arrived

in Kunming early Sunday, an indication of how seriously authorities viewed the attack.

The attackers’ identities have not been confirmed, but evidence at the scene showed that it was “a terrorist attack carried out by Xinjiang separatist forces,” Xinhua said. The far western region of Xinjiang is home to a simmering rebellion against Chinese rule by some members of the Muslim Uighur (pronounced WEE’-gur) population, and the government has responded there with heavy-handed security.

Police in Kunming on Sunday were rounding up members of the city’s small Uighur community, believed to number no more than several dozen, for questioning in the attack.

Most attacks blamed on Uighur separatists take place in Xinjiang, where clashes between Uighurs and members of China’s ethnic Han majority are frequent, but Saturday’s assault happened more than 1,500 kilometers (more than 900 miles) to the southeast in Yunnan,

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Monday 3 March 2014

The Morung Express

Bayern routs Schalke for 20-point lead

BERLIN, MARCH 2 (AP): Arjen Robben scored a hat trick as Bayern Munich routed Schalke 5-1 on Saturday to extend its Bundesliga lead to 20 points, a league record after 23 games.

David Alaba opened the scoring with a deflected free kick in the third minute, Robben chipped in his first in the 15th, Mario Mandzukic's header made it 3-0 in the 24th, and Robben claimed his second in the 28th, with a fine finish inside the far post.

"It was embarrassing what we delivered in the first half," Schalke captain Benedikt Hoewedes said.

"We had much too much respect." It was utter dominance from Bayern in the first half, with more than three-quarters ball possession, 409 completed passes to Schalke's 65, and a successful pass rate of 91 percent. "The first half was the worst I have ever seen from us," Schalke coach Jens Keller said.

His side improved after the break, and pulled one back through former Schalke player Rafinha's own goal off a corner in the 64th. Robben claimed his third from the penalty spot

in the 77th, after Kyriakos Papadopoulos was sent off for conceding the foul on Mandzukic. TV replays showed it was a harsh decision. "It was fun today," Robben said.

Schalke was beaten 6-1 at home by Real Madrid in the Champions League midweek, and sporting director Horst Heldt said, "Altogether it was a disastrous week."

Bayern stretched its league record unbeaten run to 48 games after its 15th win in a row — also a league record.

Earlier, Borussia Dortmund took advantage of Bayer Leverkusen's freefall by beating Nuremberg 3-0 at home to move to second. Leverkusen lost 1-0 at home to Mainz for its fifth consecutive defeat across all competitions, its eighth from 10 games. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting scored with his heel in the 37th minute for Mainz, which was simply cleverer than the home side.

"There's a big concern that we'll miss all our targets," said Leverkusen sporting director Rudi Voeller, whose side faces an uphill challenge to overturn a 4-0 loss to Par-

Bayern's Arjen Robben of the Netherlands , center, Schalke's goalkeeper Jermaine Jones of the U.S., left, and Sead Kolasinac challenge for the ball during the German first division Bundesliga soccer match between FC Bayern Munich and FC Schalke in Munich, Germany, on Saturday, March 1. (AP Photo)

wandowski and Henrikh after a difficult first half. is Saint-Germain in the German Cup. Second-half goals from Mkhitaryan gave Dort"We were often runChampions League and is already knocked out of the Mats Hummels, Robert Le- mund a comfortable win ning around after them,"

Nuremberg striker Josip Drmic said. "They showed us how to do it and used their chances."

Werder Bremen beat Hamburger SV 1-0 in the league's 100th northern derby to leave its rival mired in the relegation playoff place.

Augsburg drew with Hannover 1-1 and Eintracht Braunschweig drew with Borussia Moenchengladbach by the same score.

Nuremberg 'keeper Raphael Schaefer made a host of saves to ensure a frustrating first half for Dortmund, and Tomas Pekhart hit the post for the visitors.

The home side got off the mark in the 51st when Schaefer saved Lewandowski's header from Nuri Sahin's free kick, and Hummels followed-up on the line. TV replays showed Lewandowski was marginally offside. The Poland striker hit his league-leading 15th goal in the 64th, when Mkhitaryan played him through to pick his spot.

Mkhitaryan rounded off the scoring with seven minutes remaining to round off a successful week for Dortmund, which beat Zenit St. Petersburg 4-2 in

the Champions League on Tuesday, after losing 3-0 to Hamburg the weekend before.

"It was a tough piece of work," Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp said.

"Nuremberg will certainly get enough points (to escape relegation)."

The same cannot be said of Hamburg. After beating Dortmund in new coach Mirko Slomka's first game in charge last week, the side slumped to its ninth defeat in 10 games.

"We'll fight against relegation to the last day," Hamburg defender Marcell Jansen said.

The game was delayed for several minutes in the second half due to flares among the home fans.

Goalkeeping mistakes were responsible for both goals in Braunschweig. Moenchengladbach scored in the 25th when Braunschweig 'keeper Daniel Davari turned Raffael's corner into his own net.

The home side equalized in the 52nd when Marc-Andre ter Stegen — who is reportedly joining Barcelona at the end of the season — allowed Filip Daems' back pass slip behind and into the goal.

Federer wins 6th Dubai C'ship title Blazers complete rare season sweep of Nuggets

DUBAI, MARCH 2 (AP): Roger Federer won a record sixth Dubai Championships — and 78th career title — by beating Tomas Berdych 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the final on Saturday.

Federer, who maintains a home in Dubai, delighted a packed stadium of fans who seemed biased for the Swiss in back-to-back wins over Novak Djokovic in the semifinals and Berdych.

"Things definitely went my way out here tonight," Federer said. "I've had a lot of tough matches in the last

year and a half so it was nice to get a lucky break again."

The victory was hard fought as Federer lost the first serve and his serve in the second to trail 3-2.

Federer's win, his sixth here in the last 12 years, extends his record of winning at least one title a year to 14 consecutive years.

This is Federer's first tournament victory since winning in Halle, his only title of 2013, last spring. Federer improved his record over Berdych to 12-6 with the win. The last time they

played, however, Berdych beat Federer in the Dubai semifinals last year.

"He's the greatest player of all time and he'll never give up and give you anything for free," Berdych said. "I knew that and thought I was ready for it, but my execution wasn't good enough to hold it to the end." The loss ended Berdych's longest winning streak of his career at 11 matches. In the first set, the fourth-seeded Federer's forehand looked shaky and he appeared a step slow.

After exchanging early service breaks, the thirdseeded Berdych snared the go-ahead break in the sixth game. On a second break point at 30-40, Federer netted a backhand to lose serve.

In the second set, there was another early exchange of breaks. From 4-4, Federer won the final eight points of the set to even the set score.

"Everything happens very, very quickly and I was looking for better serving because that's what let me down the most in the beginning, getting broken three times in five, six service games," Federer said.

Both players had break opportunities in the first two games of the third set — Berdych three and Federer one — but each held.

Federer secured his way to victory when he broke Berdych on a second break point in the fourth game. The Swiss faced two break points on his serve in the seventh game but held on for 5-2.

Berdych was able to save two Federer match points on his own serve in the eighth game. But the Czech couldn't stop Federer from serving out. On Federer's third match point at 40-15 in the ninth game, Berdych netted a backhand return.

"The match started pretty well and I had many chances," Berdych said. "It's very disappointing for me the way I handled that situation."

Our Correspondent

Further, quarter finalists will get Rs. 10,000 each while group champion will be awarded with Rs. 15,000 with running trophy.

Prize for free style (both male and female in all categories) include; seniorIst Rs. 10,000 and 2nd Rs. 5,000. Junior: Ist Rs. 5,000 and 2nd Rs. 3,000.

Free style weight categories to be conducted include: Senior: Men- 55, 60, 66, 74, 84, 96 and 120 kgs.

Women- 48, 51, 55, 59, 63, 67 & 72 kgs. Junior: Men50, 55, 60, 66, 74 & 84 kgs.

Women- 44, 48, 51, 55, 59, 63, 67 and 72 kgs.

The inaugural function will start by 8:30 AM. Lighting of the tournament torch will be done by NWA former president Keku Zeliang while reigning champion Kezhalelie Keretsü will be the torch bearer.

NWA president Nikhrolo Khalo will deliver presidential address while NWA technical secretary Hukhoneyi Soho will administer oath to the wrestlers.

Refrees (Naga style) will compise of Visüto Yore, Huvesü Puro and Hangcheu. Free style referees- Chisazo Dawhuo, Kikhwesul Thokwe, Sapi Kin, Vilhou Zhasa and Vekhriyi Chuzho. Field judges include Zumolhi Mero, Datui, Neingulie Nagi, Heipetdaing, Rukhietuolie Liezietsu and Vecusuyi. Recorders - Sitso Terhüja, Zazhota Dawhuo, Keheipeu, Tsilie Zashümu, Echungbe and Küzhovesa Soho. Announcers - Thüpukrayi Nienu, Visasielie Suoho and Dirie Hemang. Time keepers - Keheizerang, Neikeselie Phunyü and Kuveo Chükamu. Runners - Vekuto Nyekha, Petevikho Miasalhou and Keyintolungbe.

Meanwhile, there will be referee and judges’ clinic at 1:00 PM on March 3 at Kohima Local Ground.

A combined meeting of all management officials, affiliated units officials and NWA officials will take place on March 3 at 3 PM

NEWCASTLE, MARCH 2 (AP): Newcastle manager Alan Pardew head-butted a player in an English Premier League game against Hull on Saturday, leading to a swift formal warning and 100,000-pound ($168,000) fine from his club, and facing the prospect of a lengthy touchline ban.

The touchline confrontation unfolded in the 72nd minute when Hull midfielder David Meyler barged into Pardew as he looked to retrieve the ball for a throw-in at KC Stadium. After squaring up to Meyler before moving his head in the direction of the player's face, Pardew was sent to the stands.

FA chairman Greg Dyke described Pardew's actions as "serious" after Newcastle's 4-1 win, and said an investigation would be opened. Pardew's employers reacted quickly, holding urgent talks with the manager and announcing his punishment hours later.

"His behavior was unacceptable and is not the

Roger Federer of Switzerland, left, and Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic display their trophies after Federer won the final match of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Saturday, March 1. (AP Photo)

NWA tournament from March 4 in Kohima Kohima | March 2

The Nagaland Wrestling Association (NWA) is all set to conduct 24th Naga style, 9 senior and 5th junior tournament 2014 from March 4 to 5 at Kohima Local Ground.

Chief minister Neiphiu Rio, who is also president of Nagaland Olympic Association (NOA) will grace the tourney as the chief guest while minister for planning & coordination, geology & mining and evaluation T.R. Zeliang will be the guest of honour. The champion in Naga style will fetch a cash prize of Rs. 2 lakh sponsored by Rokolhou Angami Ist class contractor, 2nd prize Rs. 1,50,000 sponsored by C. K. Enterprises, proprietor Küdechoyi Khamo, 3rd prize Rs. 1,00,000 sponsored by Kuchi R. Zeliang, MD Hi-Tech Construction and 4th Prize Rs. 50,000 sponsored by Vikedosie Kehie, chief engineer police project.

PORTLAND, MARCH 2 (AP): Portland completed a season sweep of Denver for the first time in 15 years by beating the Nuggets 102-96 on Saturday, moving within three games of the NBA Western Conference lead.

In the Eastern Conference, Indiana maintained its twogame lead over Miami by struggling past lowly Boston, the Los Angeles Clippers widened their lead in the Pacific Division by crushing New Orleans, and Houston held on to beat Detroit. Portland's Robin Lopez scored 18 points and LaMarcus Aldridge returned from an injury to add 16 for the Trail Blazers, who won their fifth straight.

Denver, by contrast, has lost five straight, despite Kenneth Faried, Randy Foye and Evan Fournier scoring 16 points apiece.

Indiana had difficulty in dispatching Boston, winning 102-97, with Paul George scoring 10 of the Pacers' last 12 points.

George led the Pacers with 25 points and Evan Turner added 17 as Indiana won its fourth straight game.

Jeff Green had 27 points for the Celtics, who have lost six of seven. The Clippers had the luxury of resting Chris Paul and Blake Griffin in the fourth quarter and still cruising to a 10876 win over New Orleans.

Paul had 21 points and eight assists, while Griffin added 20 points. Tyreke Evans had 22 points and nine rebounds for New Orleans.

Houston opened a big early

Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge, shoots over Denver Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Portland, Ore., Saturday, March 1, 2014. Aldridge, back on the court after sitting out several weeks with a groin injury, scored 16 points as they beat the Nuggets 102-96. (AP Photo)

lead and hung on beat Detroit 118-110, with Terrence Jones leading the way with 22 points and 10 rebounds.

Jones finished 10 of 15 from the floor as Houston shot 50 percent for the game, including 61 percent in the first half. Houston scored 41 points in the first

quarter. James Harden added 20 points and 12 assists.

Rodney Stuckey had 23 points on 10-of-17 shooting off the bench for the Pistons, who have lost seven of their past eight. Miami won its seventh-straight game, beating lowly Orlando 112-98, with LeBron James scoring

20 points, having switched to a clear face mask to protect his broken nose. Dwyane Wade scored 24 points for the Heat, who shot 58 percent. James' newer mask seemed to bother him more than the black one did, and he frequently took it off when the clock was stopped.

Alan Pardew fined for head-butt

Newcastle United's manager Alan Pardew, right, and Hull City's David Meyler, 3rd left, confront each other during the during the English Premier League match at the KC Stadium, Hull England Saturday March 1, 2014. (AP Photo)

behavior we expect from the manager of Newcastle United," the northeast club said on its website.

Pardew, whose job does not appear to be under immediate threat, accepted the formal warning and fine, Newcastle said.

"Alan unreservedly apologized immediately

following the game to the player, to Hull City Football Club and its fans, and to the fans of Newcastle United," the club statement said.

"We have held discussions this evening with Alan, who has offered his sincere apologies to the club and it is clear he deeply regrets his actions." Although

Pardew denied head-butting Meyler, he conceded the incident was "a wake-up call," coming after a recent touchline altercation with Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini. "(Meyler) was right on top of me and I wanted to just ease him away from me but obviously I put my

head in a forward motion," Pardew said after the game.

"I want to apologize to him, everyone at Hull and obviously my own fans as well.

I don't think it was a headbutt. It wasn't a motion that was quick.

"Sometimes when you're on the sideline like that you can get involved in a moment like that. It was an incident that just flared up all around me. I just wanted to get him away."

Pardew said he would "accept whatever comes my way" as a punishment, and he was likely to be prevented from sitting on the bench for several games by the FA. Newcastle's statement expressed disappointment that Pardew's behavior took the focus off such a fine attacking performance against Hull. Newcastle was already leading 3-1 at the time of the incident after Moussa Sissoko scored twice on either side of Loic Remy's goal. With Pardew in the stands, Vurnon Anita added the fourth in stoppage time.

Entertainment

The Morung Express

Angelina and Brad tease wedding details

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Monday 3 March 2014

Dimapur

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We The Giants

releases debut single

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Ahas been rife about when they will tie the

fter getting engaged in 2012, speculation sparked rumours they had secretly wed when Angelina stepped out wearing a gold band on her knot. But Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are still wedding finger late last year, but the reports were choosing to keep mum about their nuptials. never confirmed.

The superstar couple were asked by reportOn Saturday, Brad picked up a Best Picture ers at the Film Independent Spirit Awards award for 12 Years A Slave, which he co-produced. on Saturday in Los Angeles when they The couple could not stop staring at each other planned to get married, but the par- or keep their hands off each other - at the indie ents of six refilm gala in Santa Monica. mained coy.

At one point, the Girl, InterA reporter rupted star was even caught asked Ansmacking Brad’s backside. gelina, Angelina was clearly full of ‘Can you love for her husband, and tell me told E!: ‘I’m very proud of when you and Brad are get- him. I am always very proud of him.’ Angelina and ting married in Paris?’ The Brad have been together almost a decade but it 38-year-old Oscar winner seems their love is far from fading. Sitting with his laughed and said: ‘Sor- arm around his fiancee, Brad - who was there to ry I can’t,’ before waving support his film 12 Years A Slave - beamed as he politely and walking off. listened to the show. His 38-year-old wife meanWhen Brad did the rounds, while was not focusing as hard on the proceedings, the same reporter asked as she was busy stealing glances at the father of him when he planned to her children. No doubt the fact they did not have marry his longtime partner. their large brood - Maddox, 12, Pax, 10, Zahara, But instead of answering, the eight, Shiloh, seven and five-year-old twins Knox star playfully but a finger to his and Vivienne - with them made the event feel like lips as if to say, ‘It’s a secret’. The pair date night for the actors.

‘I am always very proud of him’

300: Rise of an Empire Clips

300

: Rise Of An Empire is set to kick off March off in style when it hits the big screen at the end of the week. 300: Rise Of An Empire is the long awaited sequel to 300, and is an adaptation of Frank Miller’s graphic novel Xerxes. Noam Murro has taken over the director’s chair from Zack Snyder, and this set to be one of the most visual movies that you will see this year. We have some fantastic new clips to wet your appetite ahead of the film’s release on Friday: Snyder may not be back in the director’s chair, but he has

penned the screenplay and has served as producer on the film. The cast list for 300: Rise of an Empire is a mix of familiar and new faces.

Eva Green, Sullivan Stapleton and Jack O’Connell are some of the exciting new additions: Lena Headey, Rodrigo Santoro and David Wenham are back as Queen Gorgo, Xerxes and Dilios.

This new chapter of the epic saga takes the action to a fresh battlefield - on the sea - as Greek general Themistokles attempts to unite all of Greece by leading the charge that will change the

Hners up ‘We the Giants’ from Na-

course of the war. 300: Rise of an Empire pits Themistokles against the massive invading Persian forces led

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Athe Twitterverse, tweeting follow-

ctress Amanda Bynes has rejoined her classmates,” a source said. “[She] was originally going to be a fashion designer ers her love. According to Us Weekly, the but has now decided to pursue merchan27-year-old tweeted for the first time on dise product development. She is enrolled Feb. 28, after several months of silence. “Hi part time for the winter.” Bynes has been everyone!” Bynes wrote. “I’m busy studying keeping a low profile as she spends time @FIDM but I want to say I love you to my with her family and has been spotted lookfans! Xoxo Amanda.” Along with the tweet, ing healthy coming and going from the gym.

Bynes also erased previous tweets for a The actress recently accepted a plea deal clean start. Since Bynes’ release from treat- in her DUI case where she allegedly hit a ment, the actress attended her first college police car back in April 2012. She received class at the Fashion Institute of Design and three years probation. We wish all the best Merchandising, according to E! News. “She for the Hairspray star. was very nice, friendly and chatting with

by mortal-turned-god Xerxes, and Artemisia, vengeful commander of the Persian navy. 300: Rise of an Empire

ornbill 2013 Rock Contest 1st Run- of the most talented drummers in town Yangkum Jinger. The sublime bass lines galand released their debut single ‘Young from Meyasunep defined the entire strucHeart’ worldwide. ‘We The Giants’ decided ture to give ‘We The Giants’ the sound with to give away their new song for free down- ‘Young Heart’ to sweep its way into your loads to all music lovers who have been an- heads and loop forever deep inside your ticipating this immensely creative and tal- consciousness. ented band to release their originals.

The music industry in Nagaland has We the Giants was the only band from taken a new leap forward in the past year Nagaland to be placed among the top three as new artists are releasing new originals winners at the International Hornbill 2013 and winning fans not only in Nagaland Rock Contest. Frontman Kevi Pucho’s vo- and mainland India but also abroad. In the cal prowess echoed through the rock are- recent years, Indie artists from Nagaland na as thousands of music lovers from all have started dedicating themselves to creover India and even abroad were treated ate quality original music with great marto the new age sounds of post-rock num- ketability showing immense promise and is a film that I have been bers. Guitarist Lima Mongro churned out potential to hit the international market. looking forward to for some tunes which sounded fresh yet enchanting Young Hearts is available for free downtime, as is promises to be an and avant-garde; beautifully in sync with loads on Nagaland based e-Commerce webaction packed ride. the superb drumming showcased by one site www.indihut.com and soundcloud.

Oprah Winfrey and Snoop Dogg bury the hatchet

Tfrey hit out at Snoop Dogg for being a driving force

hey fell out spectacularly in 2007 when Oprah Win- coveted Montecito Award as part of the Santa Barbara International Film behind misogyny in hip-hop. However, the duo have now Festival. Previous recipients include put their feud firmly behind them and posed for a smiling Annette Bening, Naomi Watts, Japicture at an Oscars party in Los Angeles on Friday night. vier Bardem, Kate Winslet, Julianne Proud Snoop even posted the picture, which also featured Moore, Geoffrey Rush and Daniel Oprah’s best friend Gayle King, on his Instagram page and la- Day-Lewis. Oprah said: ‘Gayle called belled it ‘Black history’. The happy snap shows how relations me this afternoon and she’s like, “I have thawed between the pair in recent years. Oprah did an heard your getting some award?” I said, episode of her chat show in 2007 about misogyny in hip-hop “yeah its a Montecito Award,” and she and labelled Snoop as one of the main offenders. However, said “for what?” ‘I said for my body of work. he was furious that the talk-show queen didn’t offer him the She said, “for the Oprah show?” I said, “no chance to come on the programme to defend himself and for my film work,” and she started howlinsisted he was no longer a fan of hers. He said: ‘I don’t like ing. ‘Not LOLing but howling. She her no more. ‘I really was offended, because I kind of like her. goes, “I think that’s a big stretch.” I Liked her. ‘I’m very articulate, very intellectual. said, “Gayle I’ve done at least five She didn’t even get a chance to even know me.’ Mean- films.”’ Multi-billionaire Oprah was while, Oprah recently revealed that her pal Gayle thought given the expensive paperweight it was hilarious that she received a lifetime achievement for a cinematic body of work that award for her film work earlier this month. The chat show includes 1985’s The Color Purple doyen admitted her journalist comrade could not stop and last year’s hit Lee Daniels’ cackling when she told her she was picking up the highly The Butler.

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Public Memorial Held for Flamenco Icon Paco De Lucia

FDE LUCIA were given the chance to

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ans of Spanish guitar master PACO ter, where mourners were invited to bid farewell. De Lucia’s remains will then be pay their final respects to the musician at a transported to his native city of Algeciras public memorial in Madrid on Friday. The for a public wake overnight before a Burial legendary flamenco artist died from a heart on Saturday (21Feb14), according to the attack on Wednesday (26Feb14) while on Associated Press. The 66 year old’s passvacation in Mexico, and his body was flown ing sent shockwaves through the music inback to his native Spain early on Friday. His dustry, with rockers Carlos Santana, Slash, casket subsequently went on display at Bryan Adams, Tom Morello and Bryan May Madrid’s National Auditorium music cen- all offering up tributes to De Lucia.

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'Did not want to miss important names'

Vasyl Lomachenko, left, is hit by Orlando Salido, right, while throwing a punch during a 12-round featherweight title bout on Saturday in San Antonio. Salido won by split decision. (AP Photo)

Pakistan beat India by one wicket in thriller nEW dELhI, MArch 2 (Tnn): Ravichandran Ashwin struck at the crucial time to dismiss Mohammad Hafeez and keep India's hopes alive in the Asia Cup match at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. Hafeez hit a gritty half-ton to revive Pakistan's innings after quick wickets in their chase of 246.

Hafeez's fifty came off 82 balls and took Pakistan total past 150-mark after they were reduced to 113/4 in the 23rd over .

Hafeez also added 50-run stand with Sohaib Maqsood for the fifth wicket to frustrate India.

Earlier, Amit Mishra justified his inclusion with double strike and led Indian fightback. Pakistan failed to capitalise the start given by their openers as they started losing wickets at regular intervals.

Mishra gave Pakistan a huge blow in the form of Umar Akmal and leave them stuttering at 113/4 in 22.2 overs. India made a brief comeback when Ravichandran Ashwin and Mishra struck in quick succession to dismiss Sharjeel Khan and Ahmed Shehzad respectively.

Pakistan suffered a massive blow soon after

when their skipper Misbah-ul-Haq got run-out in a huge mix-up with Mohammad Hafeez.

Shehzad and Sharjeel gave Pakistan brisk start as they added 71 runs in 11 overs to lay the foundation for their team Sharjeel smashed a six over mid wicket off Mohammed Shami to take Pakistan past 50 runs in the 8th over.

Earlier, Ravindra Jadeja (52) hit a timely unbeaten half-century as India recovered from a mid-innings collapse to post a modest 245 for eight in their marquee Asia Cup clash against Pakistan on Sunday.

Opener Rohit Sharma (56), who finally found his touch after a lean patch, and Ambati Rayudu (58) also did their bit but none of the batsman could make it big. However, India had at least something on board to fight for.

Rayudu scored 58 from 62 balls, while Jadeja was unbeaten on 52 from 49 balls (4x4, 2x6). Experienced spinner Saeed Ajmal (3/40) bowled nicely in the death overs to remove three batsmen while debutant pacer Mohammad Talha (2/22) and off-spinner Mohammed Hafeez (2/38) took two wickets apiece.

London, MArch 2 (rEUTErS): Brazilian Felipe Massa put Williams on top on the penultimate day of pre-season testing in Bahrain on Saturday while Red Bull`s quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel failed to complete a lap.

Massa, who moved from Ferrari at the end of last year, completed 99 laps in the Mercedes-powered FW36 car and set the fastest time yet in seven days of testing at the Sakhir desert circuit. "I`m really happy with the car and feel we found a good balance," said the 32-year-old, who carried out a full qualifying simulation on supersoft tyres towards the end of the afternoon.

"You can never be sure that you are 100 percent ready for the first race but I feel that what we have done in these days testing has been important for making sure that we have a car that can not only get to the end of the race but that will have good performance as well." Vettel`s car broke down with an electrical problem on its first lap out of the garage. He tried again later but only made it to the end of the pitlane be-

fore stopping again.

The German then helped marshals push it back to the Red Bull mechanics, who diagnosed a leak that had also damaged other parts. "It`s not the best situation to be in but we can`t change it," said the 26-year-old. "Everybody is extremely motivated to fix it but it doesn`t happen overnight. "At this stage obviously reliability is still a big question mark. It`s difficult to say how long it will take to remedy."

The season starts in Melbourne on March 16 and reliability is the key concern for teams facing the biggest technical upheaval in a generation thanks to the introduction of a new turbocharged V6 engine and energy recovery systems. Sauber also had problems with their Ferrari-powered car on Saturday, with Adrian Sutil managing only one lap before stopping with smoke coming out of the power unit. While the four Renault-powered teams have had more problems than others over the three preseason tests, those using Mercedes units have been able to put in the mileage.

Felipe Massa on top for Williams, Vettel sidelined

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Jadeja made full use of his reprieve on 12 when Hafeez dropped a sitter to post his ninth century. It was Hafeez, who trapped Dhawan to give Pakistan their first breakthrough but India had the match in control with Sharma and Kohli in the middle.

Sharma's approach was different from what he looked after a poor outing in South Africa and New Zealand. He pulled Gul over square leg to break free and he showed no mercy against pacer Junaid Khan, punching the left arm pacer for consecutive six and four.

Victim of Sharma's assault, Khan conceded 25 runs from his three overs before being taken away.

The duo mostly scored in boundaries and added a quick 38 runs from 36 balls before Gul gave Pakistan the biggest breakthrough in Kohli. It turned out to be a soft dismissal as the inform Indian skipper was done in by an away going delivery when he edged it to the wicketkeeper, looking to work it away towards the third man.

Sharma cruised to his 22nd half-century in just 44 balls with seven fours and two sixes but he could not make it big after getting

out on a rash shot.

At a time when India needed to play sensibly, Kohli, India's top batsmen did not show any patience, and Sharma was no different.

When the situation demanded him to carry his innings forward, Sharma offered a loose pull shot top-edging a short pitched ball to hand debutant Talha his first ODI wicket.

Hafeez took a running catch to dismiss Sharma and almost collided with Pakistan opener Sharjeel Khan who had to go out of the ground after hurting his knee. Talha was impressive with his pace and bowled to a steady line as he dried up the boundaries.

Looking to improvise and work the ball over midwicket, Rahane found Hafeez who took a sharp rising catch to give Talha a second wicket.

Talha had an impressive first spell of 7-1-22-2 that plummeted India's run-rate especially when Dhoni was not there to step up down the order.

With the spin duo of Hafeez and Ajmal, Pakistan gave away only 21 runs in the batting powerplay that also yielded the wicket of Karthik.

MUMBAI, MArch 2 (PTI): He delivered his farewell speech with such emotional conviction that many were left wiping tears but retired batting legend Sachin Tendulkar on Sunday said his only preparation for the stirring address was to remember the "important" names he wanted to mention.

The 20-minute speech, which Tendulkar delivered after his final Test in Mumbai last year, was lauded by one and all for its emotional clarity so much so that the spectators at the Wankhede Stadium and the millions glued to TV sets were left teary-eyed.

Reflecting on it, Tendulkar revealed that he planned on delivering a speech after his penultimate Test on a flight from Kolkata to Mumbai.

"I was flying back from Kolkata to Mumbai and then I realised that this is going to be my last match.

I was sitting alone and you know I better think of something, think of people I need to mention because before I realise, Mumbai match would also be over and all of a sudden, I would be standing in front of my peers," Tendulkar said at a promotional event hosted

by Network 18 Group here.

"Then the whole world would be waiting for me to say something. Something, which I didn't want to do was to miss out on any name, any important name that I wanted to mention.

"It was a special moment for me. I mentioned all the names and rest of the things came from my heart.

I knew I would get emotional and hence for safety, I was carrying a bottle of water as well which kept me going. But those things you cannot script. It's the Almighty's wish. Everything went off much much better than what I had expected," he added. The 40-year-old said the love and affection he received from his fans after announcing his retirement left him feeling "unreal".

"The love and affection which I received over a period when I announced my retirement was unreal.

I had never seen anything like that. The way people greeted me, it was a special moment and something which goes beyond what I couldn't express.

Coming back to my longest speech ever, it wasn't rehearsed and just came from my heart," he said.

Asked about his plans to return to the game in some capacity, Tendulkar said, "I have just retired.

I can't start thinking of coming back again."

The former India captain said he was enjoying his life post retirement and has played cricket at home with his 14-year-old son Arjun. "I am enjoying my life after retirement. I haven't played cricket...just a couple of times with my son Arjun and his school friends in the house itself.

India's cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar smiles near a large steel bat which has been unveiled as a monument in his honor, in Mumbai on March 2. The “Bat of Honor”, crafted out of stainless steel, stands more than 25 feet high and weighs over two tons, according to local reports. (AP Photo)

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