C M Y K
www.morungexpress.com
sunDAY • APRIL 10 • 2016
DIMAPUR • Vol. XI • Issue 97 • 12 PAGes • 5
T H e
ESTD. 2005
P o W e R
o F
T R u T H
Because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies — Elie Wiesel NKorea leader supervises test of new engine for missile
National Lok Adalat held in Nagaland
PAGE 09
Villa cling on, Carroll treble thwarts Arsenal
PAGE 02
Enforce ban on sand mining …
PAGE 12
Wall to Wall: Bringing Kohima alive with art Morung Express News Kohima | April 9
A photo hand out by Dhansiri River Flood Control Board (DRFCB) shows illegal soil extraction going on behind Circuit House at Dhansiri riverbed despite a ban enforced on such activities by the district administration. Pointing out that the Deputy Commissioner, Dimapur along with his Enforcement Committee on March 23 has issued an order banning extraction of soil with machinery (JCB), the DRFCB chairman Hokheto Kiba and vice chairman (PRO) Hekuto Wotsa said immediate action must be taken against the violaters. (Photo credit: DRFCB)
reflections
By Sandemo Ngullie
No. You’re coming to church with me...what..huh? Oh, so what if people stare at you like they have never seen ..ah..mm..ah..a corrupt minister before!
NPCC to rally in protest on April 14 DimApur , April 9 (mexN): Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) has informed that it will hold a protest rally against what it alleged as “undemocratic and vindictive actions of the BJP led NDA Central Government against the democratically elected Congress State governments…” Media Cell, NPCC in a press statement said the protest will be held on April 14, 2016, 11am at Congress Bhavan premises, Kohima.
Diversity is a fact, cannot be wished away: President
C M Y K
New Delhi, April 9 (iANS): President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday said diversity was a fact of life in India and cannot be wished away by any individual. Delivering the first Arjun Singh memorial lecture here, Mukherjee said the purpose of religion was unity and it cannot be used for confrontation. “Diversity is a fact in India. It cannot be turned into fiction by whims of individuals,” he said. On the occasion, Congress president Sonia Gandhi expressed concern over the “increasing threat to the secular fabric of the country”. She recalled her long association with former union minister Arjun Singh and said he was a true symbol of commitment to secularism and to the cause of the poor.
Cong against Panama Papers probe by government agencies New Delhi, April 9 (iANS): The Congress party on Saturday said that any probe conducted by government agencies into the ‘Panama Papers’ expose will have no ‘credibility’ and reiterated its demand for an apex-court monitored SIT. The party was reacting to reports that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has proposed to not refer the issue to a Special Investigation Team (SIT). Modi has ordered a multi-agency probe into the global expose by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), dubbed the “Panama Papers”, which found over 500 Indians also had alleged offshore links. The Congress has demanded a Supreme Court-monitored Special Investigation Team probe against all those whose names have cropped up in the ‘Panama Papers’ case till date. “The Indian list of tax evaders who
have invested their ill-gotten wealth in Panama are known to be friends and well-wishers of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Hence, any probe conducted by the government agencies will have no credibility. Hence, we demanded a Supreme Court-monitored Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the Panama Papers leaks,” Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said. According to media reports, Modi is said to have sought the first report on the ‘Panama Papers’ within 15 days of it having come out. He also wanted the matter to be probed ‘quickly’ and that it must not be referred to a SIT. Jaitley has said a multi-agency group was set up with officers from the Central Board of Direct Taxes’ Financial Intelligence Unit, its Tax Research Unit as also officials from the Reserve Bank of India. The group had its first meeting on April 7.
Nagaland Sate capital Kohima has plenty of blank walls– looking drab and moroseexcept for the miscellaneous pamphlets or grime stains occupying portion of the walls, empty gutka sachets littering their base. Surrounded with countless potholes, litter and the dirt, stench of corruption and unemployment among youths, as observers unreservedly say, the blank walls mirror the lackluster and disillusioned life its inhabitants lead. In such a depressing urban environment, a simple idea is trying to paint some life into the otherwise dull town. A team of local artists - Vineizotuo Tase and Vithuse Temi - has teamed up with Sievituo Solo under the banner of Project 72 Hours to render an artistic outlook to Kohima town through art impressions. Remember Project 72 Hours-a community service initiated by Solo with a committed team of six members to clean Kohima town with the primary objective of encouraging school and college students to participate in community service as part of their extra-curricular activity? The same Project 72 hours is undertaking the Urban Kohima Street Art mission, this time with contribution from local artists. It is not a sponsored mission but a free will contribution from the project team members. “We, as ordinary citizens, have no money even to fill the potholes in our roads, but time, we have to contribute to our community with what talent we possess, and this is what we are doing,” the project coordinator Solo told The Morung Express.
Two girls walk pass the art work of ‘Wall of Hope’ at PR Hill junction, below PHQ in kohima. Undertaken by Project 72 hours, local artists are undertaking street art works on walls not only to decorate the town but also to educate. (Morung Photo)
Solo said this will also be a platform to provide opportunity to local artists, to promote and showcase their works-and hopefully people will take notice of the innumerable local talents around. “If we look at the music community, they are getting enough opportunity, not that it is unfair, they deserve it… but for the artist, they have no platform and this is an opportunity,” he added. At PR Junction, just below Police Headquarters (PHQ), black and white photo murals of Argentine Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara; American media proprietor and talk show host Oprah Winfrey, theoretical physicist Albert Einstein, 16th US President Abraham Lincoln and 11th President of India APJ Abdul Kalam adorn the wall. Dedicated as the ‘Wall of Hope,’ these artistic impressions of differing personalities juxtaposed on one space have a connection. They were/are all ordinary citizens; “they all struggled and fought for their passion against all odds and
fought till the end or are still fighting,” Solo explained. The street art works also provide an insight into the pool of talented and creative Naga artists, of whom many are not even aware. Freelance artist Tase, a member of the Project 72 Hours Street Art team, considers it an honor to work towards spreading a message of hope through art that hopefully inspires the youths. The Street Art team has, so far, painted brilliant visuals at PR Hill junction with the Wall of Hope, one outside Oking Hospital on judicious use of water and at Y Junction on Sanitation- using the medium of art to educate people. All the impressions are in Black and White. “We are using black and white to make the art works appear simple, meaningful and pristine,” Tase explained. While Tase visualizes Nagaland becoming an art haven, he lamented that there is a very little platform for artists here, with no proper exhibition gallery, unavailability of art materials and art institutions.
Project 72 Hours plans to introduce Street Art and initiate groups in all the districts to begin a revolution on street art culture and transform the town into vibrant colors so that tourists not only wonder on the repository of nature of the State but also behold the artistic virtues of the place. The once big blank wall at PR Junction has found many an admirers and of course opinions- “Why don’t they paint Naga personalities,” an elderly passerby said. Though the Street Art team is at the initial phase with their Mission in turning Kohima into an artistic town, the change is evident. In the morning, as school children walk by the Wall of Hope, they reflectively pause at the murals and read the telling inscription of how a newspaper boy became a President of India or how a victim of abuse became a rescuer of the abused. Finally, they look up where another inscription reads, “You are never walking alone,” continuing the walk to their schools.
Siachen: The glacial battleground study-for-free schemes of water-deficient India & Pakistan are not advisable: intcWs New Delhi, April 9 (iANS): At an elevation of over 5,000 metres and at temperature that can dip to minus-50 degrees Celsius, Siachen, the world’s highest battlefield, is a tough terrain. It is also one of the largest fresh water reserves in the Indian subcontinent. India and Pakistan, the two sparring nucleararmed nations, have deployed their troops in large number in an area which is facing clear signs of an impact from climate change, adding to the looming threat of a water crisis. The conflict between India and Pakistan, historically, has been over land, both claiming the Kashmir valley. Water woes are a part of the picture. The Indus Water Treaty signed in 1960 by Jawaharlal Nehru and Ayub Khan had its premise in the fear that India could potentially create droughts and famines in Pakistan, especially at times of war, as the Indus, the river that brings life to most of Pakistan, flows out from India. The melt water of Saichen glacier is the main source of the Nubra river, which drains into the Shyok river. The Shyok then joins the 3,000 km-long Indus river which flows through Pakistan.
Indian troops on the Siachen. The struggle between India and Pakistan over the Siachen glacier has even spawned a new term: “oropolitics”, or mountaineering with a political goal.
Both India and Pakistan had their claims on the glacier. In 1983, Pakistan decided to deploy troops on the glacier. India acted swiftly and launched Operation Meghdoot. At present, India occupies most of the glacier, Pakistan being only on the western side of the Saltoro ridge. Both armies have been stationed here, losing more soldiers to climate than to bullets. This year alone, India has lost 12 soldiers and one porter in Siachen. In a reply in the Lok Sabha, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said India has lost 915 soldiers in Siachen in the last 33 years. The number on Pakistan’s side are similar.
While neither India nor Pakistan have admitted to the water angle of the dispute, Pakistan did accuse India of threatening the ecology of the glacier with its troop presence. In 2013, a report of the Asian Development Bank declared Pakistan as one of the most “water-stressed” countries in the world. In December that year, Sartaj Aziz, advisor to the Pakistan prime minister on foreign affairs, said Pakistan was facing a water shortage and Indian forces were damaging one of the largest sources of water to Pakistan on a regular basis. He also accused Indian forces stationed in Siachen of posing a “serious threat” to Pakistan’s environment
by damaging Siachen’s “virgin snow”. India, with its strategic concerns, amplified after the 1999 Kargil conflict, has clearly stated that troops will not be withdrawn from the glacier. Parrikar, following the death of 10 soldiers in an avalanche in Siachen earlier this year, said that he regretted the loss of life but ruled out removal of troops, stating that occupancy of the area by rival troops will lead to bigger loss of lives. As per research data, including that from the defence ministry’s Snow and Avalanche Studies Establishment, frequency of avalanches has gone up with both maximum and minimum temperatures rising. However, this, along with sudden steep falls, causes more cracks and avalanches. According a report by the World Wildlife Fund on Climate Data and Modelling Analysis of Indus Region, rising temperatures in Siachen have lead to a greater rate of thinning of ice and glacial retreat. The guns have been silent on the world’s highest battlefield since 2003 but nature is pretty active, creating a long-term threat to livelihood and well being of people in the region.
DimApur, April 9 (mexN): It is advisable not to study under free schemes— often the education institutions which offer these are not up to the mark and may jeopardize future prospects for students. This warning was issued through a press release by the India Northeast Tribal Community Welfare Society (INTCWS). Its education wing is Libra Consultancy (at Notun Bosti here). The Society has said that it inspected many universities, colleges, schools in India, based on which, it advised students and parents “not to be taken in by any such attractive advertisements /free education/ scholarships” that are offered by agencies, stated INTCWS Chairperson Atsei Sekhose. The Society has advised students and parents to “weigh the pros and cons before taking any further step, as the student’s education and career is put at stake.” After much hype around free schemes in Nagaland State, recently there was an exodus of “more than hundreds” of students returning from their respective colleges - where these students were admitted to different branch of professional study under the free education scheme/ scholarship scheme. While schemes that offer coverage of fees to undergo professional courses seem like a “onetime golden opportunity” for people, many seemed to have had a bitter experience in Nagaland, having to either return or continue their studies by paying fees, informed the INTCWS. It further explained that “good and reputed college get their seats filled up and never offer these schemes; only some new colleges or those which are on the verge of closing down without students and not upto the mark try to earn revenue somehow by admitting students through this scheme.” So, though such colleges may have big infrastructure, they have “poor
laboratories, libraries, shortage of faculties, students etc.” In some colleges, the Society alleged, “hostel students were compelled to sleep on the floors in packed rooms and do without chair and table.” Explaining the modus operandi, the INTCWS elaborated that to get students under this schemes colleges give authorization letters, false assurance and offer huge amount per student as commission to agencies. Some of the organizations and agents allegedly change colleges every admission season according to the incentives offered. In that, the Society stated that “those who deal with these schemes should take responsibility for positive or negative results about the entire admission processes instead of pinpointing each other and washing their hands off, as most of the students are innocent victims who have wasted their career, time and money etc.” According to the INTCWS, it has also been offered these free schemes by some colleges from 2010 till date with “lots of assurance” but the Society has refused. The press release stated that some colleges even remarked to them that “parents don’t inquire about the education schemes for their children as long as it is free, so earn and why bother.” Noting that last year many students in Punjab faced hardships due to college affiliation issue leading to them having to leave the colleges midway, the INTCWS also brought to attention that there are also many admission related problems like “fake universities, colleges, affiliation issue, language problems , discrimination of northeast students, manipulation etc in many colleges” as well as to beware of “dental, agri and allied colleges as many without students want to link with reputed organizations, institutes and even government departments just to get students.” In that, parents have been advised to be careful.