April 9th, 2015

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The Morung Express

Dimapur VOL. X ISSUE 95

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‘Hundreds of NKorea missiles threaten Asia’

[ PAGE 8]

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Aafreen Rachel Vaz to represent India in Miss International 2015 [ PAGE 11]

By Sandemo Ngullie

Each day there`s some incident that makes vegetables prices soar. I`m praying nothing happens today.

AR allegedly assaults ZUF cadre in front of entire village Imphal | April 8

Villagers of Noney in Tamenglong district of Manipur are outraged by Assam Rifles brutality against a ZUF cadre who was allegedly stripped naked and assaulted in front of the entire village last Monday. The Zeliangrong Baudi (Assam, Manipur, Nagaland), Zeliangrong Students’ Union, Manipur (ZSUM) and Longmai Students’ Union (LSU) have condemned the incident. The LSU demanded that the 8 AR Commanding Officer apologise over the incident. The Zeliangrong bodies have also urged the state and central governments to curb the alleged atrocities. According to sources, a captain of the Zeliangrong United Front (ZUF) identified as Joseph who is also said to be commander of Noney town, was arrested by the 8 AR led by its CO Rajiv Choudhury from a house in Noney bazaar on April 6. One 9 mm pistol with 19 live rounds and Rs 10,000 in cash was recovered from his possession.

Joseph was tied with a rope by the security personnel and subjected to degrading treatment in front of the entire village of Noney, ZSUM General Secretary, Songrei Gangmei said. A group of women tried to stop the Assam Rifles but to no avail, Gangmei said. Thereafter a public meeting was held at Noney Bazar to protest the incident. Army sources meanwhile claimed that the ZUF cadre was involved in carrying out 2 ambushes against the Army and the AR in Noney area and L Khunou of Tamnglong last month. 3 personnel of 8 Assam Rifles and 4 jawans of 2/5 Gorkha Rifles were wounded in the attacks, they said. The ZSUM has cautioned that if the 8 AR fails to apologise, they would block the Imphal-Jiribam road (National Highway-37) indefinitely.

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–Paul Greening

Atletico Madrid beats Real Sociedad [ PAGE 10]

AcAUt says stop taxation on government employees

reflections

Morung Express News

Thursday, April 9, 2015 12 pages Rs. 4

Violence within the family is a matter of power and lack of accountability

AP encounter: government justifies action

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Pakistani men bathe in a stream to beat the heat on the outskirts of Islamabad on April 8. (AP Photo)

NSCN (K) for sovereignty and pan-Naga nationhood DIMAPUR, APRIL 8 (MExN): The NSCN (K) today said that its decision to abrogate the Ceasefire with the Government of India and to expel its former Ceasefire Supervisory Board Supervisor, Wangtin Naga was done to “salvage Naga struggle from being decimated by collusion of forces from within and outside.”

A press note from the MIP of the NSCN (K) said it would continue to “assert and fight for sovereignty and Pan Naga nationhood at the cost of our lives.” The NSCN (K) alleged that Wangtin has for been “openly con-

sorting with Indian Intelligence Bureau and Home Ministry charting various plan of action to emasculate the NSCN/GPRN from within...” As such, it informed that Wangtin despite being the supervisor of CFSB, was not formally consulted on decision to abrogate ceasefire. It further stated that Wangtin had to “resort to hasty herding of few expelled and suspended NSCN members to form his own band with full stewardship and sponsorship

by Indian Army commander, Intelligence Bureau and Home Ministry.”

The NSCN (K) alleged that Wangtin

had “received Rs. 5 crore from certain candidate during the last election, Rs. 1 crore from 2 lane work project, Rs. 50 lakhs sanctioned by Government of India against destruction of Vihokhu designated camp, Rs. 20 lakh from certain directorate in Kohima etc. even though he was not the Finance Kilonser.” Asserting that it is not against reconciliation or peaceful solution, the NSCN (K) said it would not “meddle in the affairs of any other political group so long the NSCN/GPRN’s effort are not hindered or interfered.”

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DIMAPUR, APRIL 8 (MExN): The Against Corruption and Unabated Taxation (ACAUT) Nagaland today demanded that the Nagaland state government initiate measures to address taxation imposed on government employees

by Naga Political Groups (NPGs).

A press note from ACAUT Nagaland, while informing that most government servants have stopped paying tax to the NPGs, however questioned the state government for not issuing an order against deduction of 24% of its employee salaries or 5% tax on development funds. The government employees, it lamented, have been “left exposed to helplessly fend for themselves.”

ACAUT informed that there being 120,000 odd government servants in the state, a chunk of the NPGs budget comes from the government sector.

ACAUT informed that all deductions related to NPGs is “carried out by the DDOs (Drawal and Disbursing Officers).” As per the ACAUT field verifica-

tion report, it informed that many DDOs “have a vested interest in deducting the salaries of government employees- 24%- since they get to keep a share of the deducted amount.” In many cases, it said that the DDOs “simply deduct the amount even without receiving tax notice from the NPGs.” ACAUT demanded that a strict circular should be issued cautioning the DDOs against this practice.

Any DDO found deducting salaries or developmental fund, it said, should be prosecuted.

ACAUT further stated that the NPGs demand 5% development tax from the departments on their annual works programme and that “hundreds of Crores for the coffers of the NPGs is realised from the developmental departments.” Lamenting that this has serious ramification on the ability of the departments to carry out developmental works, ACAUT said that in many cases, “the NPG cadres know exactly the amount to be made as payment to the contractors/firms,

down to paisa level, even before the HoDs/Chief Engineers/Executive Engineers are aware of it.” This, it said, points to collusion between point persons in the concerned dispersing department and the cadres. “This 5% tax is more often than not paid at the HoD level, sometimes at lesser percentage through negotiation. If not paid by HoDs, it is definitely extracted from the contractors/firms. The Chief Secretary is to take serious note of this,” ACAUT urged.

It called upon the Chief Secretary to notify the HoDs or the Head of Offices to inform the DCs and SPs if such tax demands are made. ACAUT also suggested that the District Planning and Development Boards (DPDB) headed by the DCs should be directed to resolve that no tax shall be paid by any departments to any of the NPGs. It further urged the DCs to regularly interact with the Chambers of Commerce/Traders Unions of the districts in order to assess better the situation on the ground.

nagaland govt dissolves changki Village council DIMAPUR, APRIL 8 (MExN): The Nagaland State Government has ordered dissolution of Changki Village Council with immediate effect. Nagaland Chief Secretary, Pankaj Kumar and Neithu C Thur, Home Commissioner in an order dated March 31, said the Changki Village Council had repeatedly acted contrary to directives of the government, failed on assurances given by them to the district administration and proved to be a hindrance in dispensation of justice.

The order from the state government explained its decision to dissolve the village council on the following grounds: With the DC Mokokchung and District Executive Force authorized to settle the Changki inter-clan issue, a show cause notice was served to the Village Council Chairman, VCMs and GBs of Changki Village on July 24, 2014 directing them to appear in person. The village council members and GBs appeared on July 30 wherein they admitted to the restrictions imposed on the Changkiri (Emrem) Clan. In this regard, 3 days were given for their positive response, failing which the government would take appropriate actions which include dissolution of the village council.

On August 3, 2014 the village council chairman, secretary and GBs signed an undertaking for unconditional revocation of all restrictions imposed on the Changkiri (Emrem) Clan. It was also agreed that in case of violation, the village council and the GBs would take full responsibility and action initiated against them under ap-

propriate provision of law. Further, the village council assured to initiate for early and amicable reconciliation in Changki village, the government order stated.

However, when the DC passed an order on August 27 to implement the ADC (J) order of September 8, 2006 to relocate the displaced families to Changki Village, the village council failed to comply, which was termed as a clear breach of the overriding objective of the district administration. Further, on the basis of information received that restrictions imposed on the Chagkiri (Emrem) Clan was not completely lifted, the DC summoned the village council chairman and its members on February 13, 2015.

At the meeting, they admitted that the village council and CAASM in a meeting resolved to impose a fine of 100 kilo pig to the Changki citizens if they socialize with the Changkiri (Emrem) people who had returned. They also declined to append their signature on the points deliberated in the meeting objecting to the usage of the word Changkiri referring to the Changkiri (Emrem).

As corollary to the persistent dereliction of government directives by the village council, the Justice and Law Department viewed and advised for dissolution of the village council attracting section 15 of the Nagaland Village and Tribal Council Act, 1978. Its outcome, the State Government in exercise of Sections 54 of the Act, 1978 announced the dissolution of Changki Village Council.

swine flu: Preparedness levels need to be strengthened in nagaland state Morung Express News Kohima | April 8

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The Nagaland Chief Secretary convened a meeting on April 8 at the Chief Secretary’s Conference Hall to review the preparedness status of H1N1 (Swine Flu) in Nagaland state. The meeting was attended by AHOD’s & HOD’s of HFW, Vet & Animal Husbandry, IPR, Deputy Commissioners of Kohima & Dimapur, SP’s of Kohima & Dimapur, Chairpersons of KMC & DMC along with the Health Officials.

The meeting discussed preventive measures which need to be taken, what has been done and what remains to be done. The Chief Secretary stated that the main idea is to come up with the best possible action to

prevent the disease from threatening the population.

Dr. Tiasunep Pongener, State Nodal Officer of the IDSP gave a presentation on Swine flu, its history and symptoms, scenario in Nagaland and the measures which need to be taken. In Nagaland, 5 cases of H1N1 have been detected and cured from February 16 till March 3. Nagaland received 50 strips of Oseltamivir (75mg) on February 21 and 100 strips of Cap Oseltamivir and 50 bottles of Susp. Oseltamivir on March 14 from the centre.

Dr. Pongener solicited cooperation from stakeholders, commitment and political will of the government and public confidence and trust as immensely crucial at this juncture.

“Capacity building and preparedness level of the line departments need to

be strengthened. All modes of media should cooperate and play constructive role in disseminating the correct IEC messages,” said Dr. Pongener.

The meeting also discussed the need to curb wrong information from spreading. There has been an “element of unnecessary fear among the public,” stated one of the officials. The meeting further clarified that mass vaccination is only needed when the epidemic is severe, which is not the case for Nagaland at the moment. It then contemplated on vaccinating only high risk groups, which include children below 5 years, adults above 65 years, pregnant women, residents of nursing homes and other chronic-care facilities and patients on long-term immune-suppressive treatment.

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Thursday

The Morung Express LocaL Nagaland rich in variety F&ES sensitizes Kohima wards on fire & safety Dimapur

9 April 2015

of minerals: NSMDC Our Correspondent Kohima | April 8

Nagaland is richly endowed with a variety of minerals.

Coal, limestone, nickel, cobalt, chromium, magnetite, copper, zinc, and recently discovered platinum, petroleum and natural gas are the major minerals available in Nagaland.

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The main established mineral reserves comprise of the following: • Petroleum and natural gas (prognosticated reserve of 600 million tonnes) in the northwest along Nagaland-Assam border • Coal (with inferred reserve of 150 million tonnes) in Tuensang, Mon and Mokokchung district • Limestone & marble (with inferred reserve of 1000 million tonnes) • Magnetite with Nickel, Cobalt and Chromium (5 million tonnes of proved reserved) • Rich deposits of varieties of decorative and dimensional stones and other associated metals like Zinc, Molybdenum and other possible precious metals such as gold, and platinum groups of elements (with ophiolites and meta sediments) in Phek, Kiphire and Tuensang districts of south east Nagaland.

This was stated in the annual administrative report 2014-15 of the Nagaland State Mineral Development Corporation Ltd (NSMDC) tabled in the state assembly session recently.

The report stated that the government desires to exploit the rich minerals to enhance the economic status of the state with a view to uplift the living conditions of the rural people where rich minerals deposits are available.

With this objective, the report stated that the NSMDC, fully owned by the state government was set

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Dimapur, april 8 (mExN): The Sumi Baptist Convention (SBC) is holding a get-together programme for three Sumi Baptist Associations Center staff from April 16-17 at Lhomithi Baptist Church, Dimapur.

Er. Ahoto, chairman, WSBAK Council and Ghovili Achumi, president, SBC will exhort the

Kohima | April 8

The Nagaland Fire & Emergency Services today sensitized all the 19 wards under Kohima Municipal Council (KMC) on fire & safety by conducting a basic fire fighting training here at the Kohima Local Ground. This is the follow up programme of the consultative meeting on fire safety between the directorate of fire & emergency services and KMC administrator Kovi Meyase & wards incharges on March 31 last.

“Our cause is for safety and protection of the people,” said SI Kenny Khing while addressing the gathering and sought the participation of the general public to prevent fire.

The aims and objectives

of the fire & emergency services is to save life and property of the state and to conduct rescue operation as and when required.

He called upon the public to dial fire brigade at 03702222952 in the event of the outbreak of fire, adding that the fire services personnel is always there to respond to the needs.

In the event of the outbreak of fire, Khing told the wards not to delay in calling the fire brigade. He also asked them to disclose proper address, shortest route and the nature of the roads for timely intervention of the fire tender. He also requested the public to avoid unnecessary interference while fighting the fire incidents by the fire services personnel. Khing also stressed on the need to

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SI Kenny Khing addressing a basic fire fighting training programme in Kohima on April 8. (Morung Photo)

use high quality electrical appliances to prevent fire.

Today’s training programme is the third of its kind in Kohima this year.

The last two trainings touched Nagaland civil

secretariat and church bodies.

It may be recalled that during April 2014 till date, various categories of 101 fire calls have been responded by the fire &

emergency services and had saved property worth about Rs. 1803.58 lakhs of state’s wealth. The estimated property lost during the year is about Rs. 2245.72 lakhs, source said.

State BJP launches Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in Dimapur Morung Express News Dimapur | April 8

Coal Fields at Naginimora, Mon

up by the Government of Nagaland and incorporated in May 1981 under Companies Act 1956 with the main objectives of initiating commercial exploitation of limestone, coal and other mineral deposits and promoting, establishing and developing economic activities in mines and mineral based industries.

“The successive plans have been formulated with the basic aim to promote and facilitate mineral-based industries in the state for economic growth as well as for generation of employment opportunities,” the report stated.

The investments will also be justified by cost benefit analysis, the report stated.

According to the report, the planning strategies are focused to achieve the following objectives: Development of infrastructure such as construction and upgradation of mineral link roads and improvement of power in collaboration with relevant departments, initiation of mineral-based industries by facilitating and involving the people/private sector with technical guidance and assistance from the government through the Corporation so as to generate economic growth and employment with full justification in quantified terms and to enter into profit sharing ventures with private Companies in various limestone and other mineral based projects.

Sumi Baptist Associations get-together

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Our Correspondent

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gathering and Rev. Dr. Hevukhu Achumi, Executive Secretary, WSBAK, Rev. Hotokhu Zhimo, Executive Secretary, SABAK and Rev. Hukugha Zhimo, Executive Secretary, SBAK will share the gospel messages, a press release from SBC director Rev.Khehovi Shohe informed. The three Sumi Baptist Associations Center have been

requested to attend the programme.

Meanwhile, the release informed all the Sumi Baptist Convention Council members to attend the half yearly SBC Council meeting scheduled to be held at TTC Campus, Thahekhu on April 18 and Trinity Theological College (TTC) convocation programme on April 19.

After Mokokchung, the state BJP launched the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Campaign) in Dimapur on Wednesday.

Brooms in hand, BJP volunteers congregated at Clock Tower around 6 am and commenced sweeping and cleaning the street from Holy Cross School junction till Metro Hospital.

After the hour-long cleanliness drive, organized by State BJP Kisan Morcha, the stretch from Holy Cross School junction to Metro Hospital wore a cleaner look as the

gramme before the start of the cleanliness drive, State BJP general secretary and spokesman, K James Vizo, reiterated that the Swachh Bharat campaign was not a political gimmick but a sincere attempt on the part of the State BJP to inculcate to all citizens the importance of cleanliness. He reminded the party members on the “dignity of labour” and urged them to spread the message of Swachh Bharat through both words and action.

President, Kisan MorNagaland State BJP members taking part in cleanliness drive at near Clock Tower as part of cha BJP Nagaland, Lima Swachh Bharat campaign which was launched in Dimapur on Wednesday. (Morung Photo) Longchar chaired the provolunteers pick rags and pal cleaners. ed the cleanliness drive to gramme and vice president Bendang Ao proposed vote other small waste usually BJP legislator, Imtilem- show his solidarity. overlooked by the munici- ba Sangtam, also inspectEarlier in a brief pro- of thanks.

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ATMA Akuluto organise farmer’s field day

ZuNhEboto, april 8 (mExN): ATMA Akuluto block organized farmers field day on the topic ‘Soil Conservation in Jhum Field’ and demonstration on ‘Rodent Control Measures’ on March 26 and 27 at Akuluto Village, Akuluto.

The resource person on the field day was BTT convener and SDAO, Akuluto, Olem Jamir. He spoke on the importance of soil conservation practices in Jhum field since most of the fertile top soil are washed down during rainy season, thus soil erosion constitutes the most serious problem of agricultural land,. Hr gave detailed information on different soil conservation measures by adopting physical and live barriers. He also suggested inter-cropping of rice with

maize, Colocassia, soya bean that are known to increase the Nitrogen content of soil preventing soil erosion and conserve soil moistures.

Shitovi AFA was the resource person on the demonstration ‘Rodent Control Measures’ was. He gave information on facts about rodent, their life cycle and reproduction. Keeping in view the damage caused by rodents on maize and rice he advised the farmers to carry our pre-baiting method in the field. The farmers also highlighted their problems and challenges faced by them.

ATMA Zunheboto BTM Aolemla Kichu in a press release said that altogether 33 farmers were Concerned citizens of United Colony, Half Nagarjan repairing their colony road on April 7, benefited throughout the 2015. The main road has been neglected for decades by the concerned authority and so the colony residents collected money amongst themselves to repair the road. programme.

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C-Edge College first commencement day held

Dimapur, april 8 (mExN): C-Edge College Dimapur held their commencement for the first batch of graduating class on April 7 at the Manen Hall, College campus.

Joint Director of Higher Education and State IQAC Coordinator, Megono L Zetsuvi graced the event. She shared on quality education and emphasised on the students to work on the three aspects, which she said is the tripod of life- remain focused, to be prepared and to be healthy. The commencement speaker also released the College Yearbook 2015.

President of the College, Er

dents and the College. The highlight of the commencement was initiated by the Principal Dr Chubatola Aier, which was the release of the Yearbook 2015, dedicated to the graduating class and the College Awards. She announced the Star Attendance Awards for the students, which she said, is adopted as the Best Practice of the college. K. Anna, VI Semester, based on the total aggregate of the attendance from I till V semester won the award.

Megono L. Zetsuvi releasing the C-Edge College Yearbook 2015 on April 7.

Bovika K. Yeptho, IV Semester Moa Aier in his opening address is not the parting of ways nor is it a BA and Chubaakum Ao, VI Semester talked on the significance of com- farewell but that it is the start of a BA were the student representative mencement. He mentioned that it new partnership between the stu- speakers at the Commencement.

NEISSR students interact with peace activist

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Dimapur, april 8 (mExN): The students of North East Institute of Social Sciences and Research, NEISSR had an interaction with Most Rev. Thomas Manamparampil, Archbishop of Guwahati and a well known Peace Activist in the North Eastern Region on April 8 at the Institute’s Campus.

Sharing his experience on peace building, Most Rev. Thomas talked about the need of making people or communities in conflicts see the common future that they have as humans. “Conflict stems from self interest or selfishness. It is normal for human to be selfish as we are selfish beings. However, the stressed should

be on the need of cultivating ‘intelligent self interest or intelligent selfishness’ which will direct us to think about long term effects of our actions”, he added.

He cited the example of the conflict between the Adivasis and the Lothas at Ralan Area to explain the need of cultivating ‘intelligent selfishness or intelligent self interest’. “Land is always the bond of contention in the tribal areas as it is the source of sustenance. However, the north easterners are doing well ahead of others in the field of education and sharing space with the best brains in the country. We need to make the people see the picture of how conflict about land hampers education

Students of North East Institute of Social Sciences and Research with Most Rev. Thomas Manamparampil, Archbishop of Guwahati.

which is an interest of both the parties. It is at this point that the shared future comes in the picture. It is only by providing stimulus like this, that people can see the common future and come to common ground”,he added.

“In any conflict, both

the parties become victims. The perpetrators of the conflict victimized the other party. The perpetrator’s psyche and personality is also hurt becoming a victim in the process”, he explained. He reiterated that it is important to heal

the wounds and the hurt of both the parties.

Most. Thomas Manamparampil was nominated for Noble Peace Prize in 2011. He is presently a member of the Peace Mission team to bring reconciliation to the Ralan issue.

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REgional

The Morung Express

Thursday

9 April 2015

Dimapur

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Manipur Parties bat Govt to double the number of troops on Arunachal border for territorial integrity "We welcome all forms of peace talks, but Manipur's territorial integrity should not be compromised' imphal, april 8 (Tnn): Various political parties are advocating safeguarding Manipur's territorial integrity even as peace talks between NSCN (IM) and the Centre have reached the 'conclusive stage'.

Some parties even demanded the Centre to spell out the talks agenda.

During the previous

BJP-led NDA regime, Manipur had witnessed an unprecedented people's uprising in June, 2001 to denounce the extension of NSCN (IM) ceasefire beyond Nagaland.

JD(U) has demanded a white paper on the agenda of the ongoing Naga peace talks to ensure people are fully aware of it.

"We welcome all forms of peace talks, but Manipur's territorial integrity should not be compromised. As nothing has been spelt out on the talks since its beginning in 1997, there must be some hidden agenda in it," said Manipur

Northeast Briefs

ULFA, NSCN(K) militants nabbed

Tinsukia, april 8 (pTi): Two militants, an ULFA and one belonging to NSCN(K), have been apprehended by security forces during a joint operation in Assam's Tinsukia district today. Police said the joint operation was launched at Ledo along Assam-Arunachal Pradesh following a tip-off last night by police and Assam Rifles personnel and the two militants were apprehended this morning. The security forces recovered two 7.65 mm pistols and 22 rounds of live ammunitions, the police said. Operations in the area are still on, the police added.

Assam CM orders probe into labourers' death in Meghalaya

unit JD (U) president Moirangthem Tombi. "The BJP at the Centre should bring out a white paper on the topics of the talks through the governor of Manipur.

The Centre should also declare that Manipur's territorial integrity has not been compromised," Tombi added. Echoing similar sentiments, CPI has also sought the parameters of the NSCN (IM) talks. It will hold a mass agitation against the Land Acquisition Bill, 2015 on May 14.

CPI's Manipur council secretary and former minister M Nara Singh said the party stands for the protec-

tion of Manipur's integrity.

Nara Singh said the party is demanding the status reports of the talks.

BJP's Manipur unit leader and renowned historian Gangmumei Kamei, while stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a peace lover, said the talks would not compromise the state's integrity and geographical boundary and the PM is fully committed to it.

Gangmumei, who is also the national executive member of BJP ST Morcha, said igniting public unrest in Manipur for restoring peace in neighboring Nagaland would not be acceptable.

FIR against seventeen Tripura officials for siphoning NHM fund aGarTala, april 8 (ians): An FIR has been lodged against 17 Tripura government officials, including five chief medical officers (CMOs), in connection with the siphoning of National Health Mission (NHM) funds, officials said here on Wednesday. The first information report named officials, including incumbent CMO Alok Dewan, 10 medical officers (MOs) and two health department officials.

The mission director of the NHM, Sandeep Namdeo Mahatme, lodged the FIR with the police in Unokoti district in northern Tripura on Tuesday after preliminary inquiry, a police officer said. He said: "After a preliminary

inquiry, the NHM authority found embezzlements of Rs.4.47 crore sanctioned by the union health and family welfare ministry during the past three years to implement different schemes and programmes." A health department official said the mission director recently seized all relevant documents related to the NHM. Meanwhile, following media reports on "misappropriation" of Rs.30 crore, the Tripura health and family welfare department recently ordered an inquiry into the wrongdoings of the central funds. Senior Congress leader Birajit Sinha said his party would launch a state-wide movement unless proper inquiry was not done.

GuwahaTi, april 8 (ians): Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Wednesday has asked additional chief secretary S Meora to probe the death of 14 labourers from the state in Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills district. The labourers, who were working on a construction project in the remote Saipung area in Meghalaya, were found dead in their camp on Monday. All labourers hail from Golakganj area in Assam's Dhubri district. Locals claimed it was a case of food poisoning and said the labourers had collected some wild fruits from the nearby forest and ate it in the evening meal on Sunday. Meghalaya Police carried out post-mortem examinations of the labourers and the reports on what caused the deaths are awaited. Meanwhile, the bodies of the labourers have arrived in their villages on Wednesday but their family members have demanded a second autopsy as they refused to believe it to be a case of food poisoning. "The family members have alleged some foul play and they insisted for a post-mortem to be carried out here. We are looking into the matter. We would be able to get more details after Dhaka, april 8 (ians): A Bangladesh court on receiving the post-mortem report," said Dhubri Superin- Wednesday sentenced two United Liberation Front of tendent of Police (SP) Mridulananda Sarma.

Asom (ULFA) leaders, Ranjan Chowdhury and his associate Pradip Marak, to life imprisonment. The two men were arrested on July 17, 2012, from the Lakhsmipur in Kishoreganj with a number of weapons in their possession. aiZawl, april 8 (pTi): About 750 houses were damChowdhury, alias Major Ranjan, was staying in Banaged by a pre-monsoon storm in Mizoram last week, Disas- gladesh since 1997 and maintained contacts with the ter Management and Rehabilitation Department officials today said. Serchhip district is the worst hit as 270 houses northeast Indian insurgent group, the police said. A pistol, were damaged followed by 107 houses collapsed in Mamit a revolver, four rounds of ammunition and four grenades district in the storm on April 2 and 5. Other affected districts were seized from them. Four cases were filed against the included Champai and Kolasib, they said. Besides, 25 fish- duo under the Arms Act, Explosive Substances Act, illegal ing boats were swept away by a flood in the river Tlawng immigration and anti-terrorism acts. Chowdhury was found guilty on both counts, while Marak was acquitted near Aizawl during the thunderstorm, they said. in the case under the arms act.

Bangladesh court sentences 2 ULFA leaders to life terms

About 750 houses damaged in Mizoram storm

Mother Dairy targets market in North East GuwahaTi, april 8 (ET): With North East India accounting for 25% of India's whitener market, dairy brands are getting aggressive to market their products in the region.

Mother Dairy, a wholly owned subsidiary of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), on Tuesday announced foray into the whitener segment under the brand name Dailycious.

The company plans to use wide network of distribution channels of over 22,000 outlets, including retail and modern retail formats, across the North East region for this product.

Subhashis Basu, Business Head - Dairy Products, Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Pvt Ltd, who was in Guwahati, said: "The size of Northeastern whitener market is around Rs 500 Crore. Eastern India as a whole accounts for 45% of India's Rs 2,000-crore whitener market."

He added: "We are targeting Rs 160-170-crore business in this segment in Northeast India this year. We are targeting 7-8% market share. Whitener products will come from Northeast India from our Etawah plant in Uttar Pradesh. The newly built plant with Rs 150-crore investment has started functioning recently."

Mother Dairy plans to gradually launch this product across the country. The company is also doing test marketing of Misti Doi

(sweet yogurt) for North- replicate the Amul model of foray in the dairy sector to east India. Basu said: "We milk production in Assam. meet the milk requirement are doing research for this OIL has decided to make a of Northeast India. product and sending the same from Kolkata." FMCG firm Dharampal Satyapal Group (DS Group) has decided to set up a dairy unit in Assam to ramp up its I Chvulo Kent am applying for a duplicate copy of dairy business in Eastern Class XII (CBSE) Admit Card as I have lost it.

India. The group will inName : Chvulo Kent vest close to Rs 30 crore for F/Name : Hilo Kent building the unit. DS Group M/Name : KhontyĂź Kent entered the dairy business Roll No : 3638282 in 2011.

Class : XII Public sector Oil India Limited (OIL) is looking to Year : 2014-15 School : Sainik School Punglwa, Nagaland

LOST NOTICE

GOVERNMENT OF NAGALAND

DIRECTORATE OF WOMEN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT NAGALAND : : KOHIMA

NO. DWRD/ PWIEP/14 /

Dated Kohima the 8th April 2015

NOTICE The following beneficiaries under Promotion of Women in Innovative Enterprises Programme (PWIEP) of Women Resource Development are hereby directed to report to the Directorate of Women Resource Development, Meriema on 24th April, 2015 at 11:00 AM without fail. This meeting is being called specifically for beneficiaries who were absent during the 27th February, 2015 Review Meeting. All are directed to come prepared with their Progress Report along with Photographic evidences and all other relevant documents, including Pay in Slips/Bank Transaction etc without fail.

Sl No. Name Sl No. Name 1 Atoli Sema 10 S. Tialemla Jamir 2 Tongtikala 11 Lanusangla Tsudir 3 Watisangla Ao 12 Lorhenu Hibo 4 Dinah Chawang 13 V. Jane Sumi 5 Neingu-ii Angami 14 Bendangsangla Chang 6 Velutalu Khamo 15 T. Lirila Sangtam 7 Vivotsonuo Nakhro 16 Zepoke-u Mekrisuh 8 Toshisenla Ao 17 Irasile Thou 9 Vezovo Swuro N.B. No leave application will be entertained.

Sd/T. HARALU Additional Director & HoD

nEw DElhi, april 8 (ET): In another assertive step towards a routinely transgressing China on the border, the government has decided to double the number of troops guarding the Sino-Indian border in Arunachal Pradesh. In two more years, the strength of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) on Sino-Indian border in Arunachal Pradesh will be increased by close to 10,000 troops.

Home ministry is likely to sanction one more frontier (comprising of eight battalions with around 10,000 personnel) of ITBP to guard the border in Arunachal against transgressions by Chinese

troops. At present there is only one frontier guarding the border in the state.

In addition to this, the home ministry has also agreed in principle to sanction 10,000 more troops to the force to allow them rest and recuperation, effectively increasing the strength of the force by around 20,000.

This decision has been taken as ITBP is a 100% deployment force with no soft postings. It has led to higher stress levels among jawans and eventual attrition.

Home ministry sources said last week ITBP DG Krishna Chaudhary had met Home Minister Rajnath Singh to push for the twin sanctions. "The home min-

ister was very receptive to the demands of the force and said he was expediting the sanction for 10,000 more personnel to guard Arunachal border. The sanction will be granted soon. On the issue of 10,000 more troops for rest and recuperation, the home minister has agreed in principle, but it may take some time," said an official privy to the discussions.

The eight new battalions sanctioned for Arunachal Pradesh will guard 54 new border outposts to be constructed on the border, said sources. "It will take two years to raise and train the eight battalions. Meanwhile, the force will begin putting up the

infrastructure to sustain them," said the official.

At present, there are about 40 BoPs on the 1,126 km Arunachal border making patrolling and surveillance in the region extremely difficult. While on Indo-Pak border, there are BoPs every three-four km, on the Arunachal border the distance can stretch up to 50-100 km between two BoPs in certain sectors. The force, meanwhile, is happy that Singh has shown willingness for 10,000 troops for rest and recuperation. "Battalions earlier kept for rest and recuperation have now been deployed in Naxal areas. This leads to an ITBP jawan never having a soft posting," said an ITBP officer.

VIGILANCE COMMISSION

DIRECTORATE OF VIGILANCE & ANTI-CORRUPTION POLICE NAGALAND : KOHIMA

NO. RC -1/2015

Dated; Kohima the 07th April' 2015

NOTICE This is to inform that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Vigilance & Anti-Corruption Police, Nagaland will conduct physical verification of the Disabled Students, Special Education Teachers (SET), Helpers, Resource rooms & Equipments, Materials procured & disbursed to the School/beneficiary and financial aids/ stipend received under the CSS scheme "Inclusive Education for Disabled at the Secondary Stage (IEDSS)" implemented by the School Education department, Nagaland during the year 2011-12 & 2012-13 in Mon districts from 14th — 17th April' 2015 from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM in the following schools covered under the IEDSS scheme: Sl. Date 14/04/15 No 1 Angjong Mission School Mon 2 Don Bosco School Mon 3

Konjong Hr.S.S Mon

4 5

L.F.S Mon Model School Mon

6

GHSS Mon

7

GHS Mon Town 'C'

8 GHS Mon Town 'D' 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Date 15/04/15 St. John School Mon St. Mary's School Mon GHS Totokchingnyu GHSS Aboi GHS Aboi

Date 16/04/15

Date 17/04/15

GHS Chen Town

GHSS Tizit

GHS Chingkao

GHS Tizit

GHS Phomching

Unit School Tizit

GHS Naginimora UCHS Naginimora

L.F.S Tizit Eklavya School Tizit St. John School GHS Tobu Holy Angel School Aboi Tizit Wangka School Newman School M. John's School Aboi Tobu Tizit GHS Longching Beching School Tobu GHS Tizit Village GHS Angjangyang GHS Bumei GHS Jaboka Mission School St. Xavier' Bumei Angjangyang St. Paul's School Baptist High School Angjangyang Bumei GHS Wakching GHS Mopong St. John School Hongkong Christ Wakching High School Mopong Ayong Memorial St. John School School Wakching Yonghong Keangpang Wakching GHS Wanching

The Principals/Headmasters of the above mentioned schools are informed to direct the Disabled Students, SET & Helpers to be present in the school without fail.

They are directed to produce the following documents at the time of physical verification: 1. List of the Disabled Students during the year 2011-12 & 2012-13.

2. List of materials procured/received under IEDSS from the DEO/Directorate of School Education/Suppliers, etc. during the year 2011-12 & 2012-13.

3. List of the Special Education Teachers (SET) in their school during the year 201112 & 2012-13.

4. List of Helpers in their school during the year 2011-12 & 2012-13.

5. Attendance Register of the Disabled Students, SET & Helpers during the year 2011-2012 & 2012-13.

6. Cumulative Record of the Disabled student during the year 2011-12 & 2012-13.

Further, the Disabled Students, Special Education Teachers (SET) and helpers are informed to report with the following documents during the verification.

1. 2 (two) Recent Passport size photographs.

2. Medical certificate of disability from Medical Officer in the case of Disabled student only.

3. Appointment Order (original & Xerox copy) in the case of SET & Helpers only.

If no such Disabled Students, Teachers or Helpers exist in the School or no such material, financial aids/stipends were received by the School under IEDSS Scheme from the Directorate of School Education, the Principal/Headmaster of that School is requested to give such report in writing to the SIT before the physical verification.

The SIT solicits co-operation from all concerned.

Sd/(J. I YADEN) Inspector General of Police & Director Vigilance & Anti-Corruption Nagaland: Kohima

The Morung Express 4 businEss PM Modi launches Rs 20,000 cr MUDRA Bank Indian aviation regulator’s Thursday

Dimapur

9 April 2015

New Delhi, April 8 (iANS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched a bank with a corpus of Rs.20,000 crore to extend credit of up to Rs.10 lakh to small businesses and regulate micro-finance institutions, to promote their growth, add to the country’s output and create jobs.

The move is aimed at benefiting some 58 million small businesses in the country, who account for a mere four percent of institutional funding, despite employing over 120 million people, many from unprivileged strata of society, the officials said.

On the new banking scheme, Modi said he was delivering on a promise made. “After ‘banking the un-banked’ with the Jan Dhan Yojana, it’s time to ‘fund the unfunded’,” he told the event to launch what is formally called the Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency - MUDRA. “MUDRA is our innovation of funding the unfunded,” the prime minister said.

“Millions of common men and women in this country, who run small businesses, have almost

remained outside the net of formal institutional finance in spite of their large contributions to the economy,” he said at the event, attended among others by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

“Providing access to institutional finance to such micro and small business units and enterprises will not only help in improving the quality of life of these entrepreneurs, but also turn them into strong instruments of growth and employment generation,” the finance ministry said.

The initiative will also lay down the norms for responsible financing practices for micro-finance institutions so that the small businesses do not face hardship over indebtedness, while getting a fair environment for repayment.

MUDRA bank, he said, was directed at street vendors, tailors and roadside mechanics, who make up the 5.77 crore micro entrepreneurs, and that this new measure had the potential to bring about a major transformation. “In one year our established banks will also adopt the MUDRA model.”

The primary product of MU-

DRA bank will be refinance for lending to micro businesses where initial products and schemes have been divided into three categories -- “Shishu”, “Kishor” and “Tarun”.

Accordingly, loans up to Rs.50,000 will be given under the “Shishu” for units in their formative years, between Rs.50,000 to Rs.5,00,000 under “Kishor” scheme for enterpises in operation for a few years and up to Rs.10,00,000 under “Tarun” for established firms.

In his budget speech delivered on February 28, the finance minister had said that while are were 5.77 crore small businesses in India, mostly individual proprietorships, these bottom-of-the-pyramid entrepreneurs found it difficult, if not impossible, to access formal systems of credit.

“I, therefore, propose to create a Micro Units Development Refinance Agency (Mudra) Bank, with a corpus of Rs.20,000 crore and a credit guarantee corpus of Rs.3,000 crore. Mudra Bank will refinance micro-finance institutions through a Pradhan Mantri

safety ranking upgraded

Mudra Yojana,” he added.

Farmers to get subsidy for 33 percent crop damage Meanwhile, the prime minister also used the forum to announce relief for farmers after the recent rains that are feared to have damaged some standing crops. The input subsidy has not only been enhanced by 50 percent, but it will also be extended even if 33 percent crops are destroyed against 50 percent now.

This was a major departure from the incremental changes in input subsidy that had been made hitherto, he said.

Expressing concern over the problems faced by farmers due to abnormal weather conditions over the past year, the prime minister said helping farmers in such time of distress was our responsibility, and, therefore, the government has sent teams of central ministers to affected areas to assess the extent of damage.

The union and state governments, the banks and insurance companies would all do their utmost to provide relief to the farmers, he said.

Scheme for regularisation & absorption of work charged and casual employees in Nagaland KohimA, April 8 (Dipr): During the AHODs and HODs meeting on April 7 at the Secretariat Conference Hall Kohima, Chief Secretary to the Government of Nagaland Pankaj Kumar has declared the office memorandum and the scheme for regularization and absorption of work charged and casual employees and revision of pay and wages.

The Chief Secretary also said that, on due consideration of the report of Work-charged and Casual Employees Commission and in compliance with the judgment and order of High Court, the Governor of Nagaland is pleased to introduce the following schemes for regularization and absorption of work-charged and casual employees and revision of their pay and wages.

Pankaj Kumar said that the regularization in service is subject to the condition that all existing work-charged and casual employees of various departments who are enjoying scale pay and who have completed (30) thirty years and above on continuous services as on 01-01-2015 will be regularized

by conversion of their post into regular ones after being verified and found genuine by the district level verification committee constituted by the Government of Nagaland. He also said that as per availability of service records including appointment order, date and initial appointment proof of length of service and age and their suitability for continuation in service should be recommended by the Heads of Department concerned.

The Chief Secretary also mentioned that the post occupied by the work charged on regularization shall automatically stand abolished as and when they vacate the post on retirement, resignation, death etc.

The strength of the work charged and casual under various departments shall stand reduced by equal numbers concurrently with the regularization of such employees and no fresh appointment shall be made against the post on regularization the pay of the incumbent shall be fixed at the minimum of the corresponding pay band and grade pay as admissible under rule 10 of Nagaland services ROP rules 2010.

Nagaland Parliamentary Secretary for Law & Justice, Jacob Zhimomi, lighting the lamp during the inauguration of HDFC Bank Ltd. branch in Purana Bazar, Dimapur, on Wednesday. The branch is the 4th HDFC Bank branch in Nagaland and the 92nd branch in NE Region. Cluster head, HDFC Bank, Assam and Nagaland, Partha Das, announced that another HDFC Bank branch will be opened in Kohima shortly.

(Morung Photo)

Government allows pharma cos to hike prices of 509 essential drugs New Delhi, April 8 (pTi): The government has allowed pharmaceutical companies to hike rates of 509 essential medicines used for treating various ailments like diabetes, hepatitis and cancer by 3.84% with effect from April 1.

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has issued a notification for price hike of drugs in line with the wholesale price index of 2014 under Drug Price Control Order (DPCO), 2013.

_

LEISURE

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

SUDOKU Game Number # 3189

New Delhi, April 8 (iANS): The government on Wednesday said India’s civil aviation regulator’s safety ranking has been restored by the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), more than a year after it was downgraded on oversight concerns.

According to the civil aviation ministry, visiting US Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx informed Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju that the FAA has upgraded the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to category-I status.

“He (Foxx) was leading a high-level US delegation for a meeting with the civil aviation minister and key officers of the ministry here today (Wednesday),” the ministry said in a statement.

“This meeting succeeded the series of meetings held by US President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” the statement said.

According to the statement, a presentation on the growth of civil aviation sector in India was made to the visiting US delegation to identify areas in which partnership, technical cooperation and the “Make in India” initiative can be developed.

On Jan 31, 2014, the FAA downgraded the safety ranking of India’s DGCA.

“As confirmed by the economic adviser, the annual increase in the wholesale price index (WPI) works out at 3.84% during calendar year 2014 over the corresponding period in 2013,”NPPAsaidinanotification.

The 509 medicines which have become costlier include Alpha Interferon injection used to treat hepatitis B and C as well as certain types of cancer, carboplatin injection used for cancer treatment and fluconazole capsules indicated for fungal

infections, among others.

Prices of condoms, which are also part of the list of essential medicines, have also gone up due to cost revision, antibiotics which have Amoxicillin capsules have also become costlier with effect from April 1. At present, the government caps prices of a total of 348 essential medicines based on the simple average of all medicines in a particular therapeutic segment with sales of more than 1%.

The downgrade impacted the operations of Indian passenger carriers like Air India and Jet Airways which fly directly to the US. The Indian passenger carrier’s had to undergo additional safety checks and stringent scrutiny before entering US airspace.

The Indian passenger carriers were also not able to add more flights to the US or enter into any code share agreement with US-based carriers.

The downgrade also meant that the Indian aviation regulator did not meet international safety standards laid down by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in areas such as adequate manpower for inspections and safety checks of aircraft.

Before the downgrade, the FAA in its audit of the DGCA in September 2013 had pointed out 31 inadequacies.

The government and DGCA had worked on fulfilling these inadequacies like stringent checks on general aviation and manpower induction into the aviation regulator.

The FAA also conducted another review of the DGCA earlier this year. Industry experts welcomed the restoration of the DGCA’s safety ranking.

IFCI Ltd, a state owned company after govt acquires majority stake mumbAi, April 8 (iANS): With the central government increasing its holding in IFCI Ltd. to 51.04 percent from 47.93 percent after acquiring six crore preference shares, the financial firm has become a state-owned company.

“The government of India has acquired 6,00,00,000 preference shares of Rs.10 each of the company from certain scheduled commercial banks, and has consequently increased its holding from present 47.93 percent to 51.04 percent of the paid-up share capital,” the company said in a regulatory filing with the National Stock Exchange.

Set up in 1948 as the first development financial institution in India, the main objective of IFCI is to provide medium and long term financial assistance to large scale industrial undertakings, NBFCs, manufacturing and infrastructure companies.

Snapdeal acquires mobile transactions platform FreeCharge bANgAlore, April 8 (pTi): Snapdeal today announced the acquisition of mobile transactions platform, FreeCharge, in what the online marketplace calls as “one of the largest acquisitions” in the Indian digital commerce space. However, the company did not disclose the deal’s value.

“This is one of the biggest acquisitions in the history of the Internet industry in India and sets up Snapdeal to build the most impactful digital commerce ecosystem in India,” Snapdeal said in a statement.

Previously, Flipkart’s acquisition of smaller rival Myntra (for an estimated Rs 2,000 crore) was pegged as the largest ecommerce deal in the country.

FreeCharge is a mobile commerce platform, which allows users to make payments for their mobile, DTH and other utilities across most major operators.

FreeCharge will continue to function as an independent platform. It has a team of 200 professionals. The companies will collaborate to offer a seamless shopping experience to customers across both the platform’s offerings.

DAILY CROSS WORD

CROSSWORD # 3199

Answer Number # 3188

DIMAPUR Civil Hospital:

STD CODE: 03862 232224; Emergency229529, 229474

Metro Hospital:

227930, 231081

Faith Hospital:

228846

Shamrock Hospital

228254

Zion Hospital:

231864, 224117, 227337

Police Control Room

228400

Police Traffic Control

232106

East Police Station West Police Station

227607 232181

CIHSR (Referral Hospital)

242555/ 242533

Dimapur hospital

224041, 248011

Apollo Hospital Info Centre:

230695/ 9402435652

Railway:

131/228404

Indian Airlines

229366

Nagaland Multispe- 248302, cialty Health & 09856006026 Research Centre

W

O

R

TH All Positions THUMB

WIDTH

THINK

WORTH

MATH

BATH

PATH

BATHTUB

BOOTH

TOOTH-

TEETH

BRUSH

TOOTH

MARATHON

MOUTH

BOTH

THREE

WITH

THURSDAY THIRTEEN

YOUTH

D

D R G I G A C M P F B O N A A

P Y L K V W R F N A D Y W A P

S

X C P W G U O F P P P G N B Y

E

N V N O B R O V P A Q Y L Y A

O I E R O V T E E T H T O B D

H C E T O W O P N H D D P B S

A

T M T H T U O Y L R V N B U R

A O R U H N T Z J H U E A T U

R

R U I M A T H R E E W I T H H

A T H B J D B G E R J V H T T

C

M H T O O T R D H G X X O A I

Q V Y T L Z U F G V F K O B G

H

P E R K E I S C R X Z V F F O

S D W I D T H I N K L P F A L

U I Z O A H G K K T U R S J U

ACROSS

1. Central points 5. Like the flu 10. A magician 14. Press 15. Draw forth 16. District 17. Slave 18. Drowsiness 20. Truthfulness 22. Streaked 23. Ribonucleic acid 24. Fertile areas 25. The act of forming into grains 32. Wealthy man 33. Cent 34. Not high 37. How old we are 38. Large long-necked wading bird 39. Infiltrator 40. Damp 41. Ganders 42. Type of connective tissue 43. Booking 45. Mountain crest 49. Mineral rock 50. Hospital client 53. Continuing forever 57. Mixed with impurities

59. Greek letter 60. Go on horseback 61. Pertaining to the Sun 62. Affirm 63. Pigeon-___ 64. Nincompoops 65. Trips around a course

DOWN

1. Cod or halibut 2. Chocolate cookie 3. Maize 4. Conflagrations 5. Virginal 6. Lazily 7. Regret 8. Air force heroes 9. Past tense of Leap 10. Craze 11. Territories 12. “Beau ___” 13. Relieves 19. Sarcasm 21. Give the cold shoulder 25. Chew 26. Anger 27. Assist in crime 28. French for “After” 29. Make fun of 30. Not outer 31. The loneliest number 34. Hubs

35. Hodgepodge 36. Withdraw gradually 38. C 39. Cloth 41. Welcome 42. Anagram of “Fear” 44. They cast ballots 45. Not together 46. Audio communications 47. Chopin composition 48. Covered with linoleum squares 51. Where a bird lives 52. Anagram of “Wort” 53. French for “State” 54. Exploded star 55. At the peak of 56. Statutes 58. Former boxing champ Ans to CrossWord 3198

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

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

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

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

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

Toll free No. 1098 childline

Police Station 1:

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

TUENSANG: 8414853766 (O) 8414853519

CHILD WELFARE COMMITTEE

MOKOKCHUNG:

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

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

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

KOHIMA

FIRE STATIONS

STD CODE: 0369

2226241

Police Station 2 :

2226214

Civil Hospital: Woodland Nursing Home:

2226216 2226263

Hotel Metsüpen (Tourist Lodge):

2226373/2229343

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

CURRENCY NOTES

222246 222491

BUY(Rs)

SELL(Rs)

US Dollars Sterling Pound Hong Kong Dollar Australian Dollar Singapore Dollar Canadian Dollar Japanese Yen

60.87 90.77 7.6 46.88 44.82 48.79 50.46

63.62 95.17 8.46 49.20 47.01 51.20 53.72

Euro

66.12

69.32

1.81

2.02

Thai Baht Korean Won New Zealand Dollar Chinese Yuan

0.0538

0.06

45.72

47.98

9.49

10.57

LOCAL

The Morung Express

AHoDs, HoDs meeting held CS directs departments to be prepared for visits from Union Ministers Kohima, april 8 (Dipr): A meeting of all Administrative Head of Departments (AHoDs) and Head of Departments (HoDs) was held on April 7 at the Secretariat conference hall Kohima. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary, Pankaj Kumar.

Chairing the meeting for the first time after holding the office of the Chief Secretary, Pankaj Kumar appealed to AHoDs and HoDs for their support and cooperation, which they have extended to his predecessor for the smooth functioning of State affairs.

Agendas discussed during the meeting included review of the last meeting minutes, power-point presentation on regularization of work-charged employees scheme brought

by P&AR, power-point presentation on updating and maintaining department web-sites by NIC, Biometric Attendance System applies in States/UTs and other agendas.

The Chief Secretary initiated a power point presentation on due consideration of the report of work charged and casual employees commission and in compliance with the judgment and order of High Court, the Personnel & Administrative Reforms Department (Administrative Reforms Branch) vide office memorandum No. AR-3/GEN-201/2009 dated Kohima, the 17th March 2015, has set up the scheme for regularization and absorption of work-charged and casual employees and revision of pay/wages in various department.

Power point presentation by NIC of updating and maintaining department websites, the Chief Secretary told the AHoDs and HoDs to look at their interface with citizens, updating information and websites of the public domain. Also, stressing on service delivery, the Chief Secretary suggested every department work out plans and strategies so as to deliver online

Steps taken so far to tackle Swine Flu in Nagaland: • Consultative meeting and review of H1N1 outbreak held with stakeholders.

• Isolation ward in all district hospitals identified and dedicated staff designated for the job.

• Action plan prepared and submitted to Government of Nagaland.

• IEC and other mass media coverage done at regular intervals through DIPR • Viral transport Medium for sample transportation distributed to all districts where Kohima and Dimapur have sent samples so far.

• The Health and Family Welfare Department had directed M/s Medicos Dimapur to procure vaccines from Mumbai on February 28, which was procured and 10 vaccines each was distributed to all districts respectively.

• 5 strips of capsule and 2 bottles of susp. Oseltamivir dispatched to all districts.

MEx FILE Sp peren informs pErEn, april 8 (mExn): In connection with the recruitment of 308 Post in the Police Department from the 6 (Six) Tribes of Tuensang, Mon, Kiphire, Longleng, the application Form for Peren District will be available at the Office of Superintendent of Police, Peren during office Hours. Peren Superintendent of Police V. John has informed in a press release that the last date for the submission of application form is on April 15.

aNSTa Dimapur unit meeting Dimapur, april 8 (mExn): The All Nagaland School Teachers’ Association (ANSTA) Dimapur Unit has called for a general meeting on April 11 at Urban EBRC, Kuda Nagarjan, Dimapur at 10:00 am to discuss the for the coming ANSTA general conference (central) and other issues pertaining to the welfare of the Association.

ANSTA Dimapur Unit in a press release has requested all concerned to attend the meeting without fail.

KWSK informs Kohima, april 8 (mExn): The Khezhakeno Welfare Society, Kohima, will be holding its 33rd Biennial Session Cum Picnic on April 11 at Kisama. All the KWSK members are requested to compulsorily attend the session without fail. Further, the society extends a special invitation to dear sisters & in-laws of KWSK to grace the session.

Dimapur aoli Mongsen Mungdang meeting Dimapur, april 8 (mExn): The Dimapur Aoli Mongsen Mungdang has called for a meeting on April 11 at the residence of its treasurer, Er Supongtemsu Walling (Sungratsu) in Nepali Kashiram, Dimapur at 1:00 pm. Dimapur Aoli Mongsen Mungdang officers, executive members and executives from respective villages are requested to attend the meeting without fail.

Those member villages that are yet to submit the membership and ‘kilen saru’ collections are requested to submit the same during the meeting. Along with others, the Aoli Mongsen general meeting will be the main agenda of the meeting. Therefore, all concerned are requested to attend the meeting without fail. For further information contact: Bendang Imchen @ 8014483602 and Tongpang Longchar @ 9436600021.

Spiritual retreat for pwD Dimapur, april 8 (mExn): Special Olympics Nagaland is organizing a one day spiritual awakening programme for Persons with Disability and families in association with Christian Education Department (Lotha Baptist Church Dimapur) on April 11. The venue of the program will be Lotha Baptist Church, Dimapur and it will start at 9:00am which will go on till 2:00pm. Christian Education Department (LBCD) is sponsoring the program. Light refreshment and lunch will be provided. Pick and drop facility will be provided so participants are requested to contact Temsu @9862010340 for transportation and Vanjamo @9615718397 for other program related enquiry.

to the people. The Chief Secretary also suggested that the department could list out items such as outlines, expectations and others which the department would like to achieve in the current year. He also said that all departments should nominate a nodal officer for registration, renewal of department’s websites and to provide materials to NIC. In this connection, the Chief Secretary directed HoDs to provide the datas of the Nodal officer to the State NIC. The meeting also discussed about the submission of cabinet memorandum – instructions/ guidelines thereof: Office Memorandum No. CAB1/2000 dated Kohima the 27th March, 2015 by Cabinet Secretariat (Cabinet Cell).

The meeting reviewed minutes of the previous meeting and reiterated the Chief Minister’s instructions for HoDs to visit the districts and oversee the planning and implementation of projects. He said

many departments have complied with the instructions and the remaining departments yet to do so have been directed to give their report at the earliest.

The Secretary Home & Director ATI, Lithrongla G. Chishi informed the meeting that with a view to provide training information and facilitate wide circulation of the training activities of the institute the training programmes for 2015-2016 has been uploaded at the ATI institutes website http://atingl.nic.in.

She also informed that ATI has started conducting training on “The Nagaland Government Servants Conduct Rules, 1968 and The Nagaland Services (Discipline & Appeal) Rules 1967 for all departments which began with IPR department on April 7.

On issues relating to GOI directives on regular visits by the Union Ministers to the NE states, the meeting discussed that the state was earlier visited by the Union Ministers. There-

fore all the departments have been requested to gear up in the days to come.

He further stated that there would be strict vigilant on file keeping adding that the Directorates should not directly liaise with the union ministry as it is breach of protocol.

The Chief Secretary also gave instructions to all the departments to update their Annual Administrative Report which was submitted earlier.

The Chief Secretary said that the programme for the 2-day Civil Services Day to be celebrated on April 20 and 21 was finalized in which all departments have been directed to provide inputs and participate in the programme and prepare for presentation. He also said that every department should attend the programme with five (5) officers. The PHE and Transport departments have been directed to give presentations on their departmental activities in the next meeting.

Thursday 9 April 2015

Dimapur

5

Mon, Longleng holds Vigilance & Monitoring Committee meeting mon, april 8 (Dipr): The first ever District Level Vigilance & Monitoring Committee of Mon and Longleng for Monitoring of Rural Development Programmes was held at the Conference hall of the Deputy Commissioner, Mon on April 8.

Addressing the members present, Lok Sabha MP & Chairman DLV&MC, Neiphiu Rio, stated that due to lack of proper monitoring and supervision, the funds provided by the Government are not reaching the beneficiaries or the targeted people. He asserted that the main activity of the DLV&MC is to set everything in order and to ascertain whether the funds provided by the Government are properly implemented as per the needs and desire of the people. Seeking cooperation and support of its members he said with the complete coordination of the members, the aspiration of the people would be fulfilled.

Rio asserted the importance for the rural masses to know the policies and programmes of the Gov-

ernment and its implementation and stated that it is also the rights of the people to know the activities of the DLV&MC. Remarking that ENPO areas are lagging behind in education, infrastructure, economic development etc., Rio said that it is the responsibility of all concerned to contribute and work for the development of this region and improve their living standard. Rio informed of his decision to visit all districts in the near future and stated that he will also make surprise visits to project sites.

Rajya Sabha MP and Co-Chairman of DLV&MC, Khekiho Zhimomi, also speaking on the occasion expressed optimism that the renewed strength and the consolidated outlook of the committee will help in the successful implementation of Government schemes. He said that DLV&MC will serve as an open platform for the HODs of the district to share their views freely to achieve its target which will benefit the people.

The Deputy Commissioner, Mon, Honje Konyak,

welcomed the members present and apprised them on the composition of the DLV&MC. Honje suggested that Director of Hills Area Development Organization (HADO) working under the Christian Mission Centers be nominated as members representing NGOs. He also suggested nominating the President of the Apex Women organization of every district to represent women members. The DC Mon further suggested streamlining the distribution of CGI Sheet under IAY. The HODs of the DRDA, PHED, Land Resource Department, Social Welfare and Road & Bridges department of the two districts highlighted their respective developmental activities and also reported their grievance to the MPs. They also pointed out that most of the schemes and projects could not be implemented properly as targeted due to irregularity of funds from the Central Government. The HODs also highlighted their suggestions and measures for smooth implementation o f respective schemes.

Financial Markets Management training Noke disowns youth wing statement

Kohima, april 8 (mExn): The National Stock Exchange, India’s leading stock exchange, which entered into a partnership with the Nagaland Board of School Education (NBSE) last year to offer a Financial Markets Management course for students of class XI and XII, is conducting a 5 day teachers training program at Kohima, Nagaland from April 6 to 10.

A press release received here informed that the training will train teachers of schools affiliated to Nagaland Board who have opted for the Financial Markets Management (FMM) program.

Ravi Varanasi, Chief-

Business Development, NSE, said, “It is very important to understand the concept of financial planning from a young age.

This initiative will help the students to become aware about the financial markets and plan their future.”

The NBSE, set up through an Act of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly, has more than 650 affiliated schools. The Financial Markets Management course commenced from the 201415 academic session, and includes lessons on various aspects of the financial markets such as stocks, derivatives and mutual funds.

As a part of the Financial Markets Management

course, students study four Dimapur, april 8 (mExn): Noke NPF would likely be akin to ‘Waterloo’. modules from NSE’s Certi“I completely disown the statement Wangnao, President of the breakaway fication in Financial MarNPF group, has disowned a statement since it contradicts the stand of the party kets (NCFM) programme. from its youth wing where the latter had and it was released without the approval NCFM is an online testcautioned against inducting Congress and consent of the party and leader elect ing and certification proMLAs in the upcoming ministry reshuffle. G. Kaito Aye and the content should not gramme run by NSE. It tests In a clarification, Noke stated, “The be taken into consideration whatsoevthe practical knowledge statement is contrary to the stand of the er,” Noke stated. and skills required to operparty and it is not the considered view Expressing regret that such literaate in the financial markets. and opinions of the NPF Central Office.” tures should be brought to the public The release informed The Press and Media Cell, NPF domain without their approval and conthat this initiative will help (Noke) Youth Wing had on April 8 stat- sent, Noke stated, “I am extremely sorry students to become finaned that if Congress MLAs were inducted for the statement and if the sentiments of cially aware at a young age, into the Cabinet in the upcoming min- any quarters are hurt or inconveniences and give them an early unistry reshuffle, the 2018 elections for the caused, I express my extreme regret.” derstanding of the Indian financial markets. Students can also learn about financial planning and help in the growth of the local economy, driven mainly by handicrafts and tourism, Kohima, april 8 handed while stealing 3 LPG were found concealed in the the release added. (mExn): Kohima Police on cylinders from Chotobosti vehicle. The PRO informed April 7 arrested one person colony, Kohima. According- that the seized IMFL comfor stealing LPG cylinders. A ly, the accused was formally prised 128 bottles of Tupress release from SDPO & taken into police custody borg Beer and 10 bottles of PRO Atu Zumvü identified and a regular case has been Old Monk Rum. The driver of the vehicle, identified as the accused as Besüvoto registered against him. one Bosco Maram (32 yrs) Chüzo (25 yrs) of Chazouba of Maram Village under SeVillage, and presently resid- IMFL seized, one held In another incident on napati District, was arrested ing in Midland Colony, Kohima. The PRO informed Tuesday, at around 4:30 PM and the consignment along that the arrest took place Kohima police manning with the vehicle was seized. following an F.I.R. that was Phesama Check Gate in- In this connection, a suolodged at North PS, Kohima tercepted one Tata Mobile motu case under the NLTP by one Shoveta stating that without registration num- Act has been registered accused was caught red- ber and seized IMFL which against the accused.

Kohima Police arrest one for LPG theft

St Joseph’s College gets new science building

JaKhama, april 8 (mExn): St. Joseph’s College got a new science building on April 7 as the Pope Francis Science Building was solemnly blessed and dedicated by Bishop James Thoppil. The Principal, Fr. Abraham gave thanks to God for finally being able to complete the new building. The DIMapur, aprIL 8 Science stream was (MExN): The Development introduced at St. JoAssociation of Nagaland, TI seph’s College in 2012, Project has expressed deepand since then, it has est condolences on the sudslowly grown into a den demise of its staff Lt. large family, and at Thredongru Sangtam, Outpresent occupies a Bishop along with Fathers, Sisters and Student's Council reach Worker (ORW) on building on its own.

April 8 at Chare Town. A conmembers infront of the new Science building.

DAN TI Project condoles dolence message from the Project Director calling him a ‘gentleman’ stated that his valued support in forming an OST Miracle Union was a great achievement. “He also contributed more on the response against the HIV and TB causes in his community

and saved many lives from the TB,” the message stated.

“We DAN Staff from Director to all field staff sincerely pray to God that may his Soul Rest in Peace and extend our solace to the bereaved family members,” the message concluded.

Dimapur DPDB asserts on taking permission before opening schools Dimapur, april 8 al staff to be in the office within 15 permission for establishment of a (Dipr): The Dimapur days, starting from April 9 and also new private school at Yajang 'C' unDistrict Planning & Denotified that all official related work der the name of J.N. Aier Residential velopment Board (DPDB) to be done from Mangkolemba it- School, to be submitted by SDEO meeting was held at ADC’s self. The department of Irrigation Mangkolemba, to the higher authorconference hall in Niuland he monthly meeting of the & Flood Control officers and staff ity has been approved by the house. on April 7.

Mangkolemba Sub Divi- were also directed to be regular in Deliberating on the water problem The meeting was sion Planning Development attending office. ADC directed all facing by the citizen of Mangkolemba, chaired by ParliamenBoard was held on April 8 at the department officers and staff to be SDO, PHE informed that due to shorttary Secretary for Law & customary Court chaired by ADC in station during working days. age of infrastructure the main source Justice and DPDB ChairMangkolemba, Limawabang.

ADC further informed that, water tanks, pipes and distributing man Jacob Zhimomi, who Discussing on the Mangkolem- as decided during the Border dis- pipes are in deplorable conditions welcomed the new depba-Mongchen sinking road due to trict joint co-ordination meet- which needs to be replaced. He furuty commissioner of Dicoal mining, the board informed ing held between Mokokchung ther informed that the DPR and an esmapur, Kesonyu Yhome the coal miners under the affected District(Nagaland) and Jorhat Dis- timate of 4 crores has been submitted (IAS) to Dimapur. The new portion to take up and execute the trict (Assam) on April 6, at Jorhat, to the concerned Directorate 5-6 years DC meanwhile sought work for fresh road cutting within 30 ADC, Limawapang has cautioned back but have not received any posico-operation from all the days starting from April 9. The board all light vehicles (family/private tive response . In this regard, SDO PHE departmental officers agreed that the work would be car- cars) passengers plying from Mang- has been directed by the house to write concerned and to work ried out under the strict supervision kolemba via Assam to carry all nec- for an approval of the same scheme at together as a team. essary documents and in case of any the earliest. of EE PWD, R&B. The departments of Earlier, welcoming the memHighlighting on the attendance queries/complaints about MovePHE and Agriculture prereport, with prior approval of the ment Permit during frisking at any bers, ADC introduced the new SDO sented a PowerPoint at house the Mangkolemba Ao Lanur check gate, to lodge a written com- (Power), Chuba, who joined office the meeting, which was Telongjem (MALT) would visit all plain to ADC Mangkolemba along recently, to the house. The next SDfollowed by an interaction the departments located within the with time, date and place men- PDB meeting will be held on May 5. amongst the members. Jajurisdiction of ADC Mangkolemba tioned where the incident occurred, ADC informed all the Head of Ofcob Zhimomi called on the sub-division, in regard to this Block after which immediate action will fices (HoOs) to be present without departments to prepare an fail as attendance will be appended.

Development Officer (BDO) Mang- be taken up by the SP Jorhat. action plan based on the (DIPR) The board has decided to seek kolemba, notified all the ministerineeds of the district so matters would be referred to the govt. for necessary ac- or NGOs seeking registra- their residential checked ineness can be ascertained in achieving the target. tion for the benefit/ welfare tion, he stated, should be by a committee headed by by following proper proceThe board also disof the public. Any societies properly scrutinized and the DC so that their genu- dure and laid down norms cussed at length on grant-

Mangkolemba Sub Division

T

ing permission to open new schools in the district.

In this regard, the deputy commissioner stressed on the importance of criteria, such as, availability of adequate infrastructure and qualitative teacher before granting permission for opening any new school.

The board further decided that prior to starting/opening any school, permission should be first sought from the authority henceforth.

The above was decided in order to see that the future of the students is not compromised.

The members also gave approval for shifting and renaming of Sunrise School at P Vihoto Village under SDEO Dimapur to Kuhuboto town to amalgamate with the “Generia School” Kuhuboto and also renaming the school as Sunrise School.

The departments of Horticulture and Urban Development were entrusted to give a departmental activities report in the next meeting.

6

IN-FOCUS

The Power of Truth

The Morung Express

C O M M E N T A R Y

By Aheli moitra

I

t is not easy to report rape cases—here or anywhere.

Rolling Stone magazine learnt this the hard way recently. An ambitious article titled ‘A Rape on Campus’ was published in the December 2014 issue of the magazine. It described in detail the vicious gang-rape of a woman by fraternity members at a top university in the US—the piece sought to unearth the reality behind rapes in high profile universities in the United States, a phenomenon that had been recurring in the past without proper corresponding action by universities.

In this case, the journalist relied almost completely on the narrative of the victim and did not corroborate the allegation. It was only after the piece was published, when other news media began to run their own investigations, that doubts were raised over the story. The police began to investigate. Eventually, it turned out that no such rape, in the way described by the magazine, had occurred.

Humiliated, the magazine chose to set up an independent audit of the editorial process that led to the publication of the piece. ‘A Rape on Campus’ has now been termed ‘The Worst Journalism of 2014’ by the Columbia Journalism Review. It was retracted by the magazine.

The episode has not only cast doubt on an establishment as journalistically thorough as Rolling Stone, but pushed back genuine rape victims—it will become difficult for victims to report rape without their narratives doubted. As it is, rape is one of the most difficult crimes to prove.

Imagine the scenario in South Asia, or even Nagaland. The whole justice system here is bogged down by political and social pressures. Women cannot even report rape, leave alone be able to openly speak about it, repeatedly and in detail.

More than in the US, it will be a tendency of journalists here to sympathise with a victim of an alleged rape given the circumstances working against her. Rumour and gossip become the order before any truth can be dug out. These conditions, including the deficit of justice, are used to make patriarchy stronger and women, individually and collectively, weaker.

Media houses, especially in Nagaland, have no resources to investigate criminal matters. We have to rely heavily on victim narratives, and what the police gives us. In a sense, this is doing disservice to the victims, to journalism and to society. Publishing people’s narratives in an oppressed society is a fair way to go about writing in this region, but without going into the details, we fail to present the real face of problems the society is undergoing. In effect, we perpetuate self destructive notions of victimhood, which could then be used to boost an unfair position even.

No matter the sceptics, news media is not a disappearing lot. In the face of more complicated crimes, the news media in Nagaland should learn from the assessments being done of the Rolling Stone episode and begin to apply themselves in a more investigative manner. This could mean preserving funds for lesser but more rigorous articles. Most importantly, it means checking facts instead of repeating widely believed myths.

More thoughts on this may be sent to moitramail@yahoo.com

lEfT WING |

Mazie Nakhro, Ph.D

Freedom is Never Free What does God say? Read Isaiah 61:1-2 These verses can be used as a reference to spiritual freedom. But when Isaiah prophesied these words, he had in mind the deliverance of Israel from exile in Babylon and beyond at some distant future when all debts will be cancelled, all slaves freed, and all property returned to original owners in the year of Jubilee (Lev. 25). This implies that God is not against political freedom and economic blessings.

The American Experiment Prior to Revolutionary War, there were far more British loyalists in the American colonies than one might believe (some estimated somewhere around 500,000 men). These were people standing up against the American Patriots and influencing those sitting on the fence to follow them.

Then in April 1775, the Revolutionary War broke out under the command of George Washington. But in the early period of the War, many Americans were still hoping for reconciliation with Britain, and the British were preparing to take advantage of that sentiment with a generous offer in exchange for giving up their resistance. Then in 1776, Thomas Paine anonymously published a political pamphlet called Common Sense, which presented some convincing arguments for American independence. This resonated with the colonists’ aspiration and fueled the Revolutionary fire. During this period, Patrick Henry became a symbol of American struggle for liberty. In leading the civil society, he said, "Give me liberty or give me death!" He also addressed the Virginia Convention just few months before the Declaration of Independence and said: “We are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in power…. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone.

There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us.”

Around the same time, a schoolteacher by the name Nathan Hale was spying behind enemy lines and gathering intelligence information on the position of the British troops.

Unfortunately, Hale was captured and ordered to be hanged on September 22, 1776. Before his final breath, he made an inspiring short speech, ending with these words: “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.”

Okay, so now what?

If we truly love our people, we will do whatever it takes, within the bounds of Scripture, to protect the freedom of our people.

Taken from the book “Breakfast with the King: The 100-Day Devotional” by Mazie Nakhro

S O U N D BITE

"I

f the majority of the people are intent enough on bringing about change, change does come about. I would like our military to look at the welfare of the country as a whole, and not just look at what they want, and what they think the situation should be. " Aung San Suu Kyi

Bryan R. Gibson Foreign Policy

A Legacy of Failure

THursDAy 9 APrIl 2015 volumE X IssuE 95

No rape on campus

THE EDIT PAGE

T

he Obama administration has achieved the unthinkable. It has managed to cultivate a productive working relationship with one of the United States’ most dogged rivals: Iran.

Announced on Thursday (April 2), the interim deal to curtail Iran’s nuclear ambitions cuts its capacity to enrich uranium by about two-thirds for a minimum of 10 years, dramatically shrinks its stockpile of enriched uranium, and eliminates altogether its ability to produce weapons grade plutonium. In exchange, Iran will receive relief from the sanctions that have devastated its economy, so long as it continues to abide by the terms of the agreement. Should it fail to do so, the interim agreement includes “snapback” provisions that would immediately re-impose the sanctions.

What’s even more remarkable about the agreement, though, is that it leaves behind Washington’s threeand-a-half decade long record of failure with Tehran.

Every president, from Jimmy Carter to George W. Bush, sought to improve relations with Iran. But these efforts were undermined by unanticipated actions on the ground, ill-timed leaks, failure to act at pivotal moments, misperceptions, and ideological shortsightedness. In each instance, when faced with an opportunity to improve relations with Iran, the White House balked.

This is why the Obama administration’s persistence in seeking a deal with Iran that would hold its nuclear ambitions in check is so impressive.

The process of achieving this agreement was not easy. The Obama administration has faced challenges from all sides, whether it be from hard-line members of Congress, who have sought to scuttle the talks by imposing a fresh round of sanctions only to be blocked, or close American allies, like Israel, which broke diplomatic protocol to accuse the White House of selling out its allies.

Here is a look back at the presidents who — however valiant their efforts — failed to bring Iran and the United States closer together.

Jimmy Carter: After the 1979 overthrow of the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi — widely viewed as a dictator and an American puppet — the Carter administration sought to smooth over relations with the new Islamic regime in Tehran.

According to Chris Emery’s 2013 book U.S. Foreign Policy and the Iranian Revolution, in mid-1979 the Carter administration approved a joint CIA-State Department proposal to share intelligence with Iran.

The White House hoped that by sharing more sensitive intelligence — largely about Iraq’s military disposition and American concerns that the purging of Iran’s military following the revolution had disrupted the regional balance of power — with select individuals in the provisional Iranian government, it could “kick-start” high-level engagement and potentially support more moderate elements in Iran.

Unfortunately, just as this intelligence sharing effort got underway, on Nov. 4, 1979, regime hardliners sabotaged the Carter administration’s efforts by seizing the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and holding 52 American diplomats hostage for 444 days.

Ronald Reagan: During the 1980s, the Reagan administration also sought to improve relations with Iran, which had been locked in a brutal war with Iraq since September 1980. In 1985, the Reagan administration had grown concerned about two interconnected issues related to Iran: securing the release of American hostages held by Islamic militants tied to Iran in Lebanon, and the lack of American influence in Iran at a time when the health of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, was believed to be deteriorating.

In mid-1985, Israeli officials helped the Reagan administration establish a back channel to a group of so-called “moderates” inside the Iranian government, who were represented by Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, as the Tower Commission’s report on the Iran-Contra affair found. After a protracted negotiation, in May 1986, top American officials, including former National Security Advisor Robert “Bud” McFarlane, traveled to Iran to make direct contact with the Iranian regime and — potentially — deliver a shipment of weapons in exchange for the release of the American hostages held in Lebanon.

This mission was a disaster. The Reagan administration failed to secure the release of any of the hostages, largely because the Iranians did not anticipate

I

t’s a scene so commonplace that it’s hardly worth specifying the details.

But it was on Wednesday night, in a restaurant in Mousehole in Cornwall.

Next to us was a family of four, with two adult children. The daughter, in her mid20s, was gazing down beneath the table at her lap, glowing blue, periodically stabbing at it. The view, the food, the waitress setting the food down, her family – they could all go away. She was going to engage with the world that wasn’t there, condensed and switch off-able.

Simon Schama issued a heartfelt and sympathetic plea last week, which he must know sounded like Canute facing the waves with pretend dignity.

Opening the new displays at the National Portrait Gallery, he reflected on the habit of looking outwards that created art in the first place, and regretted that we now seem to be in an age that looks downwards, or inwards. The exchange of looks, he said, citing Hogarth, is the “foundation of human interaction”. To observe what is there is the only place that art, thought, literature can start from.

It’s fair to say that, now that pretty well everyone owns a mobile phone, your engagement with the world can be judged by where your phone is while you’re eating dinner. The woman in the Mousehole restaurant had yielded to a heartfelt request, I would say, in placing it in her lap under the table. More usual will be those who place it on the

Five times the United States and Iran tried to mend ties -- and failed

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who is also Iran's top nuclear negotiator, waves to his well wishers upon arrival at the Mehrabad airport in Tehran, Iran, from Lausanne, Switzerland on Friday, April 3, 2015. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

tions with Iran were touch and go. In his first term, his administration cast Iran as a menace that — much like the Soviet Union before it — needed to be “contained.” This resulted in the implementation of a controversial policy known as dual containment, which called for the United States to increase its military strength in the Gulf region in order to “contain” Iran and Iraq. The problem, however, was that this policy demonized the Iranian regime as a threat to U.S. security interests at a time when Iran was actively demobilizing its military.

In 1997, the reform-minded Mohammad Khatami soundly won the Iranian presidential elections after securing a whopping 70 percent of the vote. He immediately reached out to the Clinton administration, saying that “all doors should now be open for such dialogue and understanding and the possibility for contact between Iranian and American citizens.” Seizing this clear opportunity, the Clinton administration exchanged a series of letters with the Iranian regime. “The United States has no hostile intentions toward the Islamic Republic of Iran and seeks good relations with your government,” and it wished to “lay a sound basis for better relations between our countries,” Clinton wrote.

When the Iranians responded, it was clear that hard-liners had hijacked the diplomatic exchange, writing that Clinton’s suggestion that Iran was behind the 1996 Khobar Tower bombings, which saw the deaths of 19 Americans, was “inaccurate and unacceptable,” and based on “biased information.” The only positive element of the Iranian response was that they indicated that they had “no hostile intentions toward Americans and the Iranian people not only harbor no enmity, but indeed have respect for the great American people.” To the Clinton administration, it seemed clear that the Iranians were not interested in pursuing a rapprochement. However, what the Clinton White House failed to recognize was that while Khatami may have been Iran’s president, true power actually rested in the hands of the Supreme Leader. This was a lesson that the Obama administration would take to heart when pursuing its own rapprochement nearly a decade later.

the arrival of top U.S. officials in Tehran, and were divided over how best to respond to the American approach. As a result, the Americans left Tehran empty handed. To make matters worse, in November 1986, Iranian hard-liners opposed to rapprochement with the United States leaked details of McFarlane’s secret trip to Tehran to the press. As Congress and the media began to dig into the story, it emerged that members of the Reagan administration had illegally diverted the profits from arms sales to Iran to the George W. Bush: The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United Contras, a right-wing paramilitary group that Congress had barred the United States from supporting. States provided the Bush administration with a unique opportunity to improve relations with Iran. After the This resulted in the Iran-Contra scandal. attacks, the Iranian people poured into the streets and the Khatami government made it clear that they were George H.W. Bush: Iran’s defeat in the Iran-Iraq War in August 1988 ready to help. According to Bruce Riedel, the United was a major turning point for the regime. After eight States and Iran worked together closely after the topyears of war, in which more than 190,000 Iranians pling of the Taliban in Afghanistan in October 2001 to were killed and billions of dollars were spent, the Ira- help establish the post-war Afghan government. As nian regime became isolationist, eschewing its revo- Barbara Slavin, a leading scholar of U.S.-Iran relations lutionary zeal in favor of rebuilding its crippled econ- at the Atlantic Council, reports in her 2009 book Bitter omy and infrastructure. There were several reasons Friends, Bosom Enemies, “More than a dozen meetfor this inward turn, including the death of Ayatollah ings were held between a handful of U.S. and Iranian Khomeini in June 1989, the emergence of Ayatollah diplomats from 2001 through May 2003.” This unprecAli Khamenei as his successor, and the election of Raf- edented level of cooperation even survived George W. sanjani, a moderate, as Iran’s president. After the tran- Bush’s “Axis of Evil” speech, which lumped Iran with sition, Khamenei tasked Rafsanjani with rebuilding its archenemy Iraq.

Iran’s economy, improving its image internationally, In May 2003, Iran sought to trade western acand demobilizing its massive army, which was no lon- ceptance of its right to a peaceful nuclear program ger needed now that the fight with Iraq had conclud- in exchange for assistance in stabilizing Iraq and ed. For the United States, this inward turn meant that cooperation against al Qaeda. Unfortunately, the Iran was no longer a major concern for policymakers, Bush administration, buoyed by its apparent sucas Bruce Riedel, a CIA analyst during this period, said cess in overthrowing Saddam Hussein, rejected in James Blight’s Becoming Enemies.

Iran’s proposal, undermined the Khatami governThis did not, however, prevent the new adminis- ment, and ruined any chance of achieving a lasting tration of George H.W. Bush from seeking to engage deal. In fact, Condoleezza Rice, President Bush’s with Iran diplomatically. During his inaugural ad- national security advisor at the time, did not recall dress, Bush reached out to the Iranian regime. “There ever seeing the Iranian proposal. Both sides canare today Americans who are held against their will celed their meeting scheduled for May 25, as Slavin in foreign lands and Americans who are unaccount- writes. This marked the collapse of any efforts to ed for. Assistance can be shown here and will be long improve relations during the Bush administration. remembered. Good will begets good will. Good faith What sets the Obama administration apart from can be a spiral that endlessly moves on.” This implied previous administrations is that it has actually manthat if Tehran were to help the United States secure aged to sustain a dialogue with the Iranian regime the release of the remaining hostages in Lebanon, he for several years, which has resulted in a measurable would respond with gestures of goodwill. improvement in its relationship with Tehran, espeHowever, as Bush’s National Security Advi- cially since Hassan Rouhani’s election in 2013. While sor Brent Scowcroft pointed out in the 1999 book it is too early to tell if the final terms of an agreement A World Transformed, co-authored with George can be locked down prior to the self-imposed June H.W. Bush, when Rafsanjani personally facilitated 2015 deadline, the remarkably detailed terms set out the release of the hostages in late 1991, the Bush in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action offer quite administration “didn’t do anything.” Goodwill, as a bit of hope. Of course, there are powerful groups in it turns out, did not beget goodwill. both Iran and the United States that will seek to block a final agreement, but the momentum of history apBill Clinton: Under President Clinton, the United States’ rela- pears to be on the Obama administration’s side.

Looking at your mobile?

Philip Hensher The Guardian table beside the plate; and now, there are those who eat with one hand, the other holding the iPhone 6, rapt, quite oblivious of the poor waiter trying to pour your water.

To me, it seems fairly staggeringly rude to behave like this when you’re in company, but nobody else seems to feel that way. The truth of the matter is that if present company were instantly removed, and replaced by the people who are currently receiving messages, the phones wouldn’t be put away.

The messaging would probably continue, to another set of people. It isn’t about showing that you’d prefer to be talking to people who aren’t in the room. It’s about your preferred distance from the human race. Those who text at the dinner table would generally like their relations with humanity to be conducted at electronic speed, remotely.

Of course, none of this is going to lead to art, or literature, or intelligent observation about our fellow human

beings. Schama is right that the creative intelligence, as well as our existence as sociable beings, rests on the exchange of glances. The art of the past is the consequence of the indecently penetrating gaze. Look at Goya’s sketches of old women now on show at the Courtauld Institute, and you can see that sometimes he just stopped in the street and stared at a most interesting sight. Reports of the behaviour of great novelists often stresses their penetrating and rather disconcerting inspection – Ivy Compton-Burnett was said to look people up and down in a detail that was barely decent.

Probably, in an age where most people are withdrawn in public, gazing downwards, it is scandalous to possess the outward gaze that writers and artists must develop. It often shocks or terrifies a class of would-be writers when I give them an exercise in observation – to transcribe an overheard conversation, or to describe a complete strang-

WRITE-WING

er’s clothes, gait or resting expression.

In some ways, the practice of observation is experiencing a golden age since, like the woman in Mousehole, the targets are so absorbed that they don’t notice you staring for long minutes. But the perceived indecency of the act of staring has led to its being policed and controlled. I’m always being told to “move on” by security staff when I’m just looking at the interesting sight of a shoplifter being wrestled to the ground. Once, at Exeter University, where I was supposed to be teaching writing, I found myself being reprimanded by an angry head of faculty. I had been discovered transcribing the interesting speech patterns of a colleague in a dull faculty meeting.

It isn’t universal, and travellers often discover cultures where it’s quite normal still to gaze with civil interest at each other. And I don’t believe that it’s irreversible. In Japan, it’s universally accepted as unacceptably rude to make a phone call when on public transport.

It would be nice if people understood, not just the rudeness of preferring your phone to the physical presence of your friends, but how stupid it makes the phone-wielder look. In a room of people gazing down, or wielding their phone as an intermediary, the conspicuous intelligence, the obviously interesting presence is the face looking upwards and outwards, with curiosity; the best company is the one that meets a frank, flirtatious gaze with another one.

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.

PERSPECTIVE

7 Playing with Peace in Myanmar Thursday

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

9 April 2015

NEWS ANALYSIS, FEATURE AND DISCOURSE

Kim Jolliffe

increasingly since 2012 for airstrikes and strafing insurgent positions in Kachin and Shan states. In ceasefire Foreign policy in Focus areas in the southeast, air force capabilities have also s ceasefires in Myanmar enter their third been expanded, as have the number of infantry facilities, fragile year, international aid commitments alongside significant improvements to fortifications. geared towards “peacebuilding” have proliferated, particularly from the West and Japan. Peacebuilding in Theory In this context, donor governments hope to bring Although aid remains one of the few tools available to these governments, and there are countless imple- about peace through the highly bureaucratized practice menting agencies keen to carry out programs, little of committing funds to NGOs and intergovernmental evidence exists on how — or even if — such strategies agencies to carry out development projects, often alongcan really assist the kinds of transformations neces- side local government and non-government actors. sary for peace. Conflict-torn areas can benefit from aid Dominant in peacebuilding policy and practice globally in multiple ways, particularly to support affected pop- are the related concepts of “statebuilding” and “peace ulations. But the central proposition that it can and dividends.” In essence, the statebuilding theory goes, if should be used to achieve inherently political agendas hostilities can be reduced by bringing conflict actors to in these areas begs far greater scrutiny. A more realis- the table for talks, aid can be used to strengthen the role tic and patient approach to engagement in Myanmar’s of the state as a dominant authority, and to improve its long-standing civil wars should be sought, for as long relations with society — particularly among marginalized groups. At the same time, if aid can provide immedias a political solution remains illusive.

Since Myanmar’s quasi-civilian government came ate tangible benefits or “peace dividends” to populations to power in 2011, the country has seen its most intense and combatants in conflict-affected areas, confidence period of violence in decades, primarily in the north — can be assured that peace is in everyone’s best interests.

These approaches recognize that asymmetrical civil where the Myanmar Armed Forces have been fighting with multiple ethnic armed groups. At the same time, wars are rarely solved holistically through negotiations, however, a series of ceasefires have been achieved in since the state has the upper hand militarily and thus is other parts of the country, paving the way for multilat- unlikely to submit to demands sought by minor actors eral talks between the government and a core bloc of through violence. “Peace processes” are therefore typiethnic armed groups — including those still fighting. cally protracted undertakings that aim to keep antagoOn March 29, both sides announced that a draft nists at the table, give respite to all those affected, and document for a nationwide ceasefire accord had been provide the time and space for détente. International agreed in principle that, if signed, will commit the gov- aid, therefore, is seen as a useful tool in using this space ernment to comprehensive political dialogue. Through to restructure institutions and provide material develthe dialogue, the coalition of ethnic armed groups aims opment, in the hope of speeding up this process. to push for the establishment of a federal and democratic Union of Myanmar, and significant security sector re- Risks in Practice However, as research from the Empirical Studform. In a dramatic turn of events, the announcement came after a week of discussion in which it was agreed ies of Conflict Project of Princeton University found, that the most contentious issues could be put off until “sending aid into conflict-affected regions can actulater, for the sake of getting beyond a long-standing im- ally worsen violence in some cases.” Indeed, these passe. Despite the inherent positive signs of compro- relatively loose “peacebuilding” theories are yet to be mise, the shift confirms once again that although the will proven effective anywhere in the world. Without much exists among a large number of leaders to continue ne- clearer evidence that aid can and should be used to gotiations, key differences remain seemingly intractable manipulate what are deeply political conflicts, signifiin the near term. This accentuates fears that the military- cant risks exist. Given the complexity of the political dominated government remains unlikely to allow the landscape, it is extremely hard to predict the broad imdegree of change being called for, while there is little clar- pact that an influx of vast new resources will have on power dynamics. In areas governed and contested by ity what will happen after upcoming elections.

Meanwhile, as aid relations between the inter- a complex patchwork of armed actors, and where the national community and the Myanmar government only form of state governance has been widespread have normalized, regions ridden with conflict since stationing of infantry for counterinsurgency, very little the Second World War have overnight become the is known about the right way to implement projects.

Risks include elites from all sides capturing protheater for extensive international interventions.

Hundreds of millions of dollars have been allocated grams for individual and/or political benefits as well by donor countries for projects focused — at least in as the onset of local disputes over if and how aid part — on peacebuilding aims. In 2015, the number of should be accepted — particularly given the extreme projects implemented with these allocated funds, pri- difficulties in properly gauging the legitimacy of local power-holders in the eyes of populations. Commarily by international NGOs, will rise significantly. munities in these areas have long struggled with the overlapping and incompatible demands and expecHistory of Ethnic Armed Conflict Myanmar’s ethnic armed conflicts, which have tations of rival authorities, some they support and persisted since the country’s independence in 1948, others they mostly fear. Though some small-scale pihave been fought primarily over access to roles lot projects have been successful in identifying legitiin governance.c Myriad minority nationalist ac- mate local actors and forming partnerships between tors have contested the dominance of the majority various sides to conflict, scaling up these programs Burmans for an equal stake in national affairs and to accommodate expected large-scale funds will be greater autonomy in their own minority regions. The a much harder task. The broader danger is that given response of Burman rulers — particularly since the a long history of the government using economic inmilitary took power 1962 — has been to further re- centives to buy off revolutionaries, “peace dividend” strict access to the powers of the state, claiming that programs that imply that peace is more about matestrong centralized control is necessary to stop the rial development than holistic political change risk country from disintegrating. This has inevitably led generating skepticism in the peace process itself.

Such an approach to counterinsurgency was to a cyclical security dilemma, where attempts by either side to defend their own interests are immedi- seen most starkly in ceasefires signed in the 1990s ately experienced as an offensive action by the other. that provided economic concessions to quiet ceaseIn the most intractable regions, the state has a long fire groups alongside promises for political dialogue history of offering its rivals truces, and providing them with the long-awaited post-junta government. As with varying combinations of territory, military resourc- economic concessions systematically shrank over es, and economic concessions in return for official sub- time, the government heavily militarized the armed ordination. Though multiple designations have been groups’ areas and coerced some of the smaller facused since the 1950s, these actors now form either bor- tions into disarmament. To this day, political diader guard forces or People’s Militias. They consist of tens logue has not emerged, and the related economic of thousands of troops in total but widely vary in size projects have largely harmed local livelihoods and group-by-group. Some have affiliates who gained seats environments while empowering the armed forcin the 2010 election, mostly for the military-backed party es, local warlords, and their cronies. Thus, a popular narrative has emerged that ceasefires are mostly that currently holds office, the Union Solidarity and Deabout personal economic gain for all those holding velopment Party (USDP). There also remain dozens of arms, including the Myanmar Armed Forces. ceasefire groups who have refused to transform, generToday’s ceasefires are increasingly being seen as ploys ally foregoing official positions in the government but to reduce hostilities so that the government can extend sometimes maintaining client-like relations with the its leviathan state through military expansion, extract state. Although such efforts have reduced open hos- valuable resources, and establish its own administration tilities and consolidated the state’s military dominance and Burman-centric education system. For ethnic comacross wide swathes of the country, most rural areas in manders still holding significant territories, skepticism border states remain deeply fragile. Such areas are char- remains high, particularly among the powerful Kachin acterized by overlapping and generally hostile claims to Independence Organization, which held a ceasefire beterritory by state security forces, local state-backed mi- tween 1994-2011 and saw its popular support diminish litias, and opposition groups both actively fighting and while the Myanmar Army slowly encircled it. Conversely, holding ceasefires. Some opposition groups hold exclu- despite the disastrous impact on civilian livelihoods as a sive control over large territories on borders with China result of war, the group’s popularity has surged since conand Thailand, which the government is unable to access. flict recommenced, for it is once again seen as a legitiMeanwhile, even the most institutionally estab- mate revolutionary group rather than a business army. lished armed groups tend to suffer from internal fac- This experience is a major reason for the group’s ongotionalism, adding to the complexity of the political ing reluctance to sign another token “ceasefire” without geography. New conflicts have continued to rise and guarantees for political change that can bring the region fall periodically, the most intense of which are cur- greater autonomy and a stake in national affairs. The use rently in the north of the country between the gov- of aid to persuade groups to give up on their nationalist ernment and the Kachin Independence Army, the aims therefore risks further driving their fears that the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, and the Myanmar government still lacks the will for genuine peace.

National Democratic Alliance Army.

This is of particular risk within the Karen National Elsewhere, protracted ceasefires have become Union, which initially held the stance that developingrained as the state has not been able to achieve ment in its region should only be encouraged once decisive victories, nor has it been able to compel oth- political dialogue had been successful. Although a er actors to hand over power entirely. This is largely dominant faction of the group has invested heavbecause the original grievances persist, in that non- ily in attempts to bring about political talks and has Burman elites have been deprived of meaningful po- been entertained by negotiators in the president’s litical or administrative roles in local or national af- office, full commitment from the government and fairs. Furthermore, ceasefire economies have proven Myanmar Armed Forces has remained elusive. In the highly profitable for key power-holders, often pro- meantime, some powerful and more conservative elviding some disincentive for openly opposing the ements of the KNU have remained deeply mistruststate but also discouraging moves towards their dis- ful of the process, and of the state, which has pushed armament. Even many of the state-sanctioned mili- ahead with its own development agenda in their artias have all but given up on their political aims, but eas with international support while maintaining an aggressively forward military posture. see little benefit to relinquishing power.

Meanwhile “statebuilding” approaches run the risk Meanwhile, newer ceasefires rest on unclear terms, where some areas of operations have been permitted of directly aggravating the precise grievance that generatbut the armed forces have avoided clear demarcations ed the conflicts in the first place, by empowering the Burof territory and official codes of conduct, leaving areas man military-dominated state to push through its own deeply fragile and communities in constant uncertain- vision of nation-building at the expense of those that ty. As in previous decades, persistent insecurity contin- contest it. Although lasting peace will indeed depend ues to drive military expansion. In February, the state on the emergence of a functioning state, this cannot be announced its largest defense budget in history, with achieved without the political foundations necessary for around $2.7 billion earmarked for increases in salaries, it to gain legitimacy and to regulate political competition upgrading of infrastructure, and the procurement of new between antagonistic elites. Providing resources and “cahardware, including fighter jets. Air units have been used pacity building” to strengthen the current state, which is

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based on a constitution that centralizes power and puts military-controlled ministries in charge of subnational administration, will likely have the opposite effect.

In areas that have never been ruled by Burmans, where armed groups have operated as proto-governments, and where local social service and administrative structures have been built around community efforts and local nationalist aspirations, attempts to expand the role of the state have been seen as an intrusion on long-established political societies. Across much wider portions of the country’s north and east, although the government has secured control over towns, roads, and key economic sites it has failed to implement any kind of effective administration throughout mountainous areas in the periphery.

This failure is not for want of the resources and external capacities provided through development: Given the limited tools at the disposal of international actors, most would be wise to lessen expectations, curb their interventions in such areas, and take a more realist approach to engagements in the conflicts.

Toward a More Pragmatic Approach Ceasefires in some parts of Myanmar, alongside the implementation of a marginally less autocratic political system and notable economic improvements, have brought significant benefits to the lives of conflict-affected populations.

Changes have been rapid as people have experienced significant decreases in human rights abuses while gaining far greater mobility, citizenship rights, and access to information. Grandmothers in some areas have for the first time seen relations warming between long-antagonistic military actors. Armed groups with new ceasefires are also undergoing internal reconfigurations as they reform administration structures and build new partnerships with other groups in their areas. Additionally, the 2015 election could bring further political development to Myanmar’s center — perhaps through partial regime change or simply by building the confidence of current leaders to loosen authoritarian policies.

These multiple transitions are still in motion and, despite positive signs, could still go in numerous directions. External aid actors flocking to Myanmar should therefore take time to let the dust settle, to work on building genuine local relationships, and tread extremely carefully in conflict-affected areas. Particular care ought to be taken with agendas geared explicitly toward manipulating the political situation that few — if any — outsiders could claim to truly understand.

The outlook in new ceasefire areas compares to what happened after the 1994 agreement between the KIO and the military government. Over time, the truce allowed around 80,000 displaced people to return to their homes, others to resettle, and bamboo settlements to evolve into those of wood and brick. Roads, schools, places of worship, and restaurants were built over time, and a new generation grew up in relative stability. However, without a political solution, amid extremely hostile relations and constant militarization, conflict erupted once again in 2011, leading to some of the most destructive violence that the country has seen since the early 1990s. Most of these people are now displaced again as their settlements have been ransacked and left littered with landmines.

A lasting transformation that surpasses fragile truces will depend on political pacts that allow for the conceptualization of a joint vision of the nation and institutions that allow for the sharing of power among nationalist elites. If a broad enough coalition of actors committed to building a stable Myanmar can be created, the task will then be to build an authoritative and responsive state that can successfully counter the vast number of illegitimate forces benefiting from violence and instability. From the perspective of most opposition actors and foreign observers, a federal system of government would the best foundation for such a state.

In the meantime, attempts to merely strengthen the capacity of the current state will further undermine confidence in ceasefires and lead to the augmentation of institutions that are antithetical to lasting peace. Although international actors are currently not in a position to broker a more inclusive political environment from the outside, they must be careful to not to work against it with their own interventions.

Ceasefire areas are certainly in need of certain forms of aid to improve the lives of those who have suffered. Rehabilitation programmes for the displaced and those returning home, as well as more long-term efforts to tackle poverty and health crises, are rightly being designed and implemented even in vulnerable areas. Larger-scale developments such as roads and infrastructure are also underway and — despite carrying significant risks — have already been clearly welcomed in some areas where people have benefited greatly from improved transportation and communication. Programs founded on cooperation between antagonistic authorities, and which work with existing community-level mechanisms for social support, can do a lot to improve confidence in ceasefires and prepare the foundation for stability.

However, these crucial forms of support should not bring about rapid socio-economic changes too quickly in areas where the impact is hard to predict.

In particular, eager attempts to base programs around political objectives (i.e. peacebuilding) where so little is known about the specific power dynamics in a locality pose unnecessary risks to the stability of otherwise slowly improving environments. Given the ineptitude of modern aid instruments to properly monitor and evaluate their impact on conflict, or even politics generally, the results will be largely unpredictable. Even where clear development benefits can be achieved, this must always be balanced against the potential risks of unintended impacts on local power dynamics, or on specific grievances.

Most crucially, interventions that explicitly redefine the role of the state in a specific area should be sequenced carefully with the peace process so as to reflect agreements that have been made at the table.

Overall, foreign governments should reassess the potential for aid to create peace in such fragile regions. Instead, diplomatic engagements that enhance the government’s will for democratic, administrative, and security sector reforms, for laws and institutions that protect people’s rights, and for the evolution of a more open access state will be far more useful in building the foundations for peace, however slow. Continued attempts to commit resources and capacities to such ends without clear government will are likely to produce mixed results and have unintended political impacts. Therefore, foreign governments should take a more realistic and patient approach to engagements in conflict-affected areas, and should be careful when playing with peace.

Nagaland Needs to Have a Few Big Private Firms

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oliticians must not turn a people’s government into something like a private firm or business corporation.

A political institution exists to facilitate businesses, not to become another business enterprise per se. Even allowing bureaucrats to make key decisions in the running of a country’s economy can be counter-productive as most of them are wired to maintain the status quo or to play it safe. They are not cut out to take risk in venturing enterprises or suited enough to think like business persons. Often they don’t understand business and they may only succeed in killing them. As such, the best thing for a government to do is use legislation and infrastructure building to empower private businesses and firms so they can create jobs and fuel the economy.

Indeed, private firms have always played an important role in the economic growth of all advanced countries. For example, Wal-Mart started with a single store in 1962 and has grown to more than 3000 stores today and employs roughly 23 million people worldwide and is the largest private employer in the United States. The Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan has invested more than $10 billion in factories and research and employs millions of workers not only in Japan but also in many other countries. The Nestlé Company is headquartered in a small city of Vevey, Switzerland, but it produces and sells food products in practically every country in the world. It has more than 500 factories worldwide, employing more than 240,000 people.

Back in India, the Ambanis have made more than 2.5 million people to become shareholders of the Reliance companies’ equity and they employ approximately 36,000 people who are working at different locations in India today. The Tatas have a shareholder base of 3.5 million, having over 100 companies and employing over 581,000 workers.

The Birla companies run numerous enterprises on a daily basis around the globe and employ over 120,000 workers.

These companies have created a competitive advantage in the market, especially by adopting a superior cost strategy, that is, making their prices more affordable to customers.

Some entrepreneurs in less-developed countries have helped their countries grow by linking up with foreign firms that possess technological advantages or superior business expertise. Here’s an example next door to us. A Bangladeshi entrepreneur, Noorul Quader, entered into a business partnership with the Daewoo Corporation of South Korea in 1980. Under the partnership agreement, Quader was responsible for setting up and running the clothing factory in Bangladesh. Furthermore, he was responsible to have 128 of his countrymen to be trained with Daewoo in South Korea for six months. The business was a tremendous success for Quader, with production soaring from 43,000 shirts in 1980 to 2.3 million in 1987. It was an even greater success for Bangladesh. Almost all the 128 Bangladeshi workers trained

by Daewoo in garment-making technology in Korea eventually set up their own firms. On top of making shirts, these new firms began producing coats, pants, and other clothing.

Since then, Bangladesh has become one of the world’s largest exporters of apparel. This has created millions of jobs and helped drive down the country’s poverty rate.

In addition to getting leverage through partnership, what are some other factors that make a firm successful? The most important factors, according to economists, are the things which are under a firm’s control, such as the firm’s ability to differentiate its product and to produce its products at a lower cost than competing firms. A firm that successfully does these things creates value for its customers. Consumers will buy a product if they believe it meets a need not met by competing products or if its price is below that of competitors.

Some factors that affect a firm’s profitability are not directly under the firm’s control. Certain factors will affect all the firms in a market. For example, rising prices of fuel will reduce the profitability of all transportation businesses. Or, sometimes chance-events can play a role in determining the profitability of a firm. A struggling fast-food franchise may see profits increase dramatically after a city unexpectedly decides to build a new road nearby.

All this information may be good to know, but usually the question is: How can the activities of a firm or corporation be financed? Generally, there are three ways to do this. First, a very large portion of a firm’s activities can be financed internally out of undistributed corporate profits. Second, a firm may borrow from financial institutions. For example, a small firm planning to build a new plant may obtain the needed funds from a commercial bank, a savings and loan association, or an insurance company. Third, a firm has the distinctive advantage to finance its operations through the sale of stocks and bonds. In the case of bonds, the purchaser gets a share of ownership in the business and will have the right to vote for corporate officers as well as to share in its dividends. In contrast, a bond purchaser is simply lending money to a business corporation, whereby he or she expects to get a fixed amount (interest payments) every year up to the bond’s maturity date and also recovers the entire principal loan amount at the end of that period.

Having plenty of funds, however, doesn’t guarantee a firm’s success. The competitive forces of the market produce relentless pressures on firms to produce new and better goods and services, and to produce them at lower prices.

Firms that fail to adequately anticipate changes in consumer tastes or that fail to adopt the latest and most efficient production techniques usually do not survive in the long run. This is why almost all big firms that have been in existence for a long time invariably have separate divisions for research and development (R&D) to focus on innovation so as to keep themselves ahead in market competition.

So, what do you think of starting big firms in Nagaland?

First, we ourselves must launch business ventures that can lead to successful firms someday. For instance, eco-tourism in Nagaland has a huge potential to become a profitable industry that can easily employ several thousands. This, however, should be spearheaded by the private sector to make it globally competitive. Similarly, we could develop sports and entertainment, pharmaceutical drugs, whole food products supply, bamboo and wood products, software development, production of certain machine parts, etc. into profitable industries.

Second, we must be willing to have certain outside companies to operate in our homeland. For this to occur, we must first of all understand that outsiders having company ownership within our home turf is not something to be scared of. This is how the market system works in any country that opens itself to becoming part of the global economy. It does not really matter who owns acompany as long as jobs are created and revenue is added to our local economy. In short, private firms, whether domestic or foreign owned, have an important place to play in our economic growth.

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

Thursday 9 April 2015

The Morung Express

Push for cleaner stoves to cut pollution

new Delhi, april 8 (ap): Every evening, hundreds of millions of Indian women hover over crude stoves making dinner for their families. They feed the flames with polluting fuels like kerosene or cow dung, and breathe the acrid smoke wafting from the fires.

The smoke, containing high concentrations of tiny particles known as black carbon, is responsible for premature deaths from cancer and other diseases and is causing or exacerbating environmental problems from climate change and glacial melt to falling crop yields.

When you add up all the tiny stoves, the result comes close to catastrophic. And yet black carbon is largely unregulated and its costs unmeasured, creating a barrier to earmarking public and donor funds for underwriting the use of cleaner cookers.

That could now start to change. A team of economists, scientists and health experts working with The Gold Standard Foundation have developed a uniform way to calculate how much black carbon is released from cooking stoves that use different technologies or fuels.

It's a first and necessary step, they say, in accessing

In this Tuesday, March 31, 2015 photo, women walk carrying firewood they collected from a forest at Gobhali village on the outskirts of Gauhati. Every evening, hundreds of millions of Indian women hover over crude stoves making dinner for their families. They feed the flames with polluting fuels like kerosene or cow dung, and breathe the acrid smoke wafting from the fires. (AP File Photo)

the tens of billions of dollars it will cost to provide cleaner cookers worldwide for some 2.8 billion people still using firewood, kerosene or sundried patties made of hand-packed cow dung.

"What captures media attention is the cute animals, the crying babies

and the issues with great PR groups. Indoor air pollution isn't one of them," said author and economist Bjorn Lomborg, who founded the Copenhagen Consensus Center, an economic think tank specializing in climate issues. But when you crunch the numbers, "you see that some of

Government revises items, norms for notified disasters new Delhi, april 8 (ians): The government on Wednesday revised the items and norms in respect of the centrally notified disasters like floods, cyclones, droughts, hailstorms, tsunami and earthquakes.

The revised orders include various aspects of response and preparedness like ex-gratia to the next of kin of people who may lose their precious lives, ex-gratia in cases of people suffering severe disability, gratuitous relief for families whose livelihoods may seriously be affected due to disasters, agricultural input subsidy to farmers, replacement of different categories of

animals, procurement of search, rescue, evacuation and communication equipment, an official release said.

The government has permitted up to 10% of allocation under the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) to be spent on equipment. A maximum of 5%t of SDRF allocation can be spent on capacity building. It has simplified the procedure for adjustment of available balances under SDRF, while releasing assistance from the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) in case of severe disasters. It also enabled automatic annual upgrading of the norms by referencing with the movement of WPI.

the boring stuff really does a lot of good."

While the focus of efforts is calculating black carbon from cooking stoves, the same methods can be applied to other sources of soot including vehicles or crop burning.

Those calculations can then be used by program

directors to court funds, as they will be able to show how projects spare the environment from more pollution and save lives.

"The tools just haven't been there to help with policy, even though we've known about the dangers for a long time," said Owen Hewlett, chief technical of-

Sexual harassment comtt to be reviewed new Delhi, april 8 (pti): The working of committees to check sexual harassment at workplace will be reviewed by the Centre in order to speed up the disposal of cases received by them. The DoPT has been issuing guidelines from time to time in the aftermath of a Supreme Court judgement in the Vishakha case to ensure that all departments take prescribed steps for functioning of the complaint committees in their establishments. As per recently modified guidelines, humiliating treatment may also amount to sexual harassment. It also includes physical contact and advances, a demand or request for sexual favours, making sexually- coloured remarks, showing pornography and any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature, according to the new definition under the Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1964.

GoMs approves giving civil court powers to NCW new Delhi, april 8 (pti): The National Commission for Women (NCW) is set to get more teeth with a Group of Ministers (GoMs) headed

by Arun Jaitley approving according powers of a civil court to the body.

The seven-member group, headed by the Finance Minister, has approved several amendments to the National Commission for Women (NCW) Act, 1990 and the changes would now be put up before the cabinet for its consideration.

The GoMs, formed last month to look into the matter, reviewed and approved the amendments yesterday, said a

senior Women and Child Development Ministry official.

"This is a major development towards empowering the NCW and now the bill will be placed before the Cabinet," said the official.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari are among its other members.

The Ministry's earlier proposal to provide the Commission with punitive powers to arrest and penalise people guilty of harassing women and ignoring its summons was removed after the Law Ministry expressed disapproval to the same citing

these were the domain of the police and the judiciary.

As per the proposed amendments, NCW will have all powers of a civil court and thus would be able to summon and ask the concerned to furnish relevant information before it.

"The commission to have all powers of a civil court trying a suit while investigating any matter, and in particular in respect of matters like summoning and enforcing the attendance and examining on oath, discovery and production of any document, receiving evidence on affidavits, requisitioning any record from any court or office.

A free, responsible media required for democracy: Sumitra Mahajan on media freedom Visakhapatnam, april 8 (pti): Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan today said self-regulation was the best policy for media as any form of regulation on it whether by an imposed law or by guidelines is looked upon with apprehensive fear of censorship and state suppression.

Inaugurating the three-day Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Conference on Parliament, Media and Law here she said media was a bridge between public and parliamentary institutions and helps decision makers to understand the mood of public and hence plays a crucial role in democracy.

"Self-regulation is the best for media and it should be understood that with rights come responsibility and hence this freedom should exercised wisely and responsibly," she said, adding when we talk about media freedom, we not only think in terms of strengthening media freedom but also to regulate so that freedom is used in a constructive manner.

She said as the medium through which public is informed of public issues, government policies and programmes, freedom of media was essential.

"Freedom makes it possible for media to exercise huge influence on society

by shaping public opinion. The power that media has in a free democratic society is apparent from the status it has earned as the Fourth Estate of society.

However, it was also to be understood that with powerful right to freedom, comes great responsibility," Mahajan said.

The Speaker said there was need a for media to ensure that freedom was used wisely and responsibly, and corresponding responsibilities were consciously fulfilled.

"How to achieve this -- whether by an imposed law or by guidelines voluntarily adopted by media -- is a question.

We have distinct systems of regulation for broadcast media, print media and social media.

She said there were different views on media regulation.

"There is a strong argument, mostly held by media industry, that media accountability is better served by self-regulatory institutions.

"Any form of statutory regulation is looked upon with apprehensive fear of censorship and state suppression of media freedom. However, media insiders and people who have been associated with regulatory authorities will agree that even the agencies who are regulating the media at present are very weak in their enforcement," the Speaker said.

"Every proceeding before the commission shall be deemed to be a judicial proceeding within the meaning of Sections 193 and 228 and for the purpose of Section 196 of the IPC," according to the amendments.

The commission can also utilise services of any officer or investigation agency of the Centre or state governments for the purpose of investigation.

Its main functions will be to investigate and examine all matters relating to the safeguards provided to women under the Constitution and other laws and review the existing laws and suggest amendments or remedial legislative measures.

ficer at The Gold Standard Foundation, which released the new set of standards and calculations last week.

Indoor air pollution by black carbon is a relentless killer, causing some 4.3 million deaths worldwide every year, which is more than HIV, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Most of those deaths happen in poor countries unable to afford cleaner stoves.

Formed by incomplete combustion, black carbon is a major component in the tiny particulate matter known as PM2.5 that is now one of the most common measures for air pollution.

But it has other insidious environmental effects.

It contributes to climate change, with studies suggesting it may be responsible for nearly 20 percent of global warming; it darkens the ice of the Arctic and high-altitude glaciers so that it absorbs more sunlight and melts more quickly; it messes with the weather by interacting in complex ways with clouds; and it is blotting out the sun and hurting crop yields.

A 3-kilometer-thick (2-mile-thick) layer of black carbon pollution over parts of Asia is blocking up to 15 percent of the sunlight from reaching Earth

in a phenomenon known as "global dimming," according to research led by Veerabhadran Ramanathan, a climate scientist at the University of California, San Diego.

He and other scientists found the regional pollution contributed to a 36 percent drop in India's wheat yields in 2010.

Experts say that reducing the constant emission of black carbon offers immediate climate benefits, since it has a short lifespan in the atmosphere compared with carbon dioxide, which can linger for centuries.

"Financing less polluting cook stoves is one of the few win-win options for the planet," Ramanathan, who is also a director of a cookstove charity, said in a statement.

The U.N.-backed Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, founded by Hillary Rodham Clinton, has helped cookstove charities find some financing through grants as well as carbon credits — the socalled "currency" of the market for carbon dioxide, issued for programs that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

In total, the 227 programs in the alliance have supplied more than 5 million new stoves. But that's

still 95 million short of its 2020 goal and a tiny fraction of the total global need.

A recent study by 82 economists for Lomborg's Copenhagen Consensus estimated it would cost $137 billion to give everyone the cleanest burning gas-fueled stoves.

Every dollar of that one big investment would produce $2 in benefits such as lower medical costs, cheaper fuel and longer lives, the study shows. But that may not be the best way to spend limited resources, considering that one expense is nearly equal to the entire global development budget.

Instead, the study suggests a partial measure in spending $5 billion to provide half of those in need with more efficient stoves that still burn solid fuel, rather than gas. This would eliminate the dirtiest stoves first, and result in saving half a million lives. Overall, this approach would produce benefits of $10 for every dollar spent.

"You grab the lowhanging fruit first, such that you make a big improvement and still have funds to fix other things," Lomborg said. "If we can simply point out the small targets and show the most value for money, it's more likely they'll get funded."

AP killing: govt justifies police action hyDerabaD/Chennai, april 8 (pti): The Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday justified police firing at red sanders "smugglers" in Chittoor district, in which 20 people, mostly from Tamil Nadu, were killed, saying it was done in self-defence.

"It was an incident where the police had to open fire in self-defence because they were terribly outnumbered," Government's Communication Advisor, Parakala Prabhakar said.

20 people were gunned down on Tuesday in a police operation said to be against Red Sanders smugglers that came under severe attack from the government and political parties in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, which claimed that many victims were labourers from their state. He said a small combing party of 10-15 personnel were encircled by more than 200 smugglers who were "moving menacingly" towards them.

"In the past, police officials were axed to death, hacked to death. So, in self-defence, police had to open fire," Prabhakar said.

The state had lost six police officers (attacked by red sanders smugglers) while on duty during combing operations in the last few years, he said.

"More than 1000 (red sanders smugglers) are in jail which means wherever possible we have apprehended them and put them in jail. 4500 cases have been registered (against red sanders smugglers) and 6000 vehicles (belonging to smugglers) have

Centre seeks report on smugglers' killings new Delhi, april 8 (ians): A day after 20 alleged smugglers of rare red sanders wood were killed in an Andhra Pradesh forest, the central government on Wednesday sought a report from the state government over the killings.

A home ministry official told IANS that Home Minister Rajnath Singh has asked for a detailed report on Chittor forest killings from the state government.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu briefed the home minister after the incident on Monday night.

On Tuesday, the killings provoked protests from various quarters and a call from neighbouring Tamil Nadu for an independent inquiry since most of the victims were from that state. been seized," Prabhakar said.

"So, we are not a trigger-happy police force. It was only in selfdefence, they had to do." Asked about reports that the "smugglers" did not have fire-arms, Prabhakar said last time also they had killed police and forest officers with axes and sickles.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday announced a solatium of Rs 3 lakh each to the next of kin of those from the state gunned down.

Rights groups and political parties in Tamil Nadu had condemned the incident and demanded a full-fledged inquiry.

The National Human Rights Commission had issued a notice to the AP government after one of its members said it involved "serious violation" of human rights of the individuals and the firing could not be justified on the ground of self-defence.

"The Tamil Nadu government has ordered a solatium of

Rs 2 lakh to the families of each of those killed yesterday from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund," an official release said.

A team of revenue officials of Tiruvannamalai and Vellore led by Tiruvallur District Collector has been deputed to Tirupati to bring back the bodies. Many of those who died are from Tiruvannamalai and Vellore districts.

Also, a police team headed by IGP Manjunatha has been sent to liaison with Andhra Pradesh police to identify the bodies and conduct post-mortem, the government said. Hearse vans of the State government have also been sent to Andhra Pradesh to bring back the bodies.

AP government officials in Tirupati told reporters that all assistance would be provided to the kith and kin of those killed.

They said they were coordinating with their Tamil Nadu counterparts to ensure bodies are properly identified and taken back.

Prominent citizens honoured with Padma awards

President Pranab Mukherjee confers the Padma Vibhushan to Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, left, during a civil investiture ceremony at the presidential palace in New Delhi on Wednesday, April 8. The Padma Vibhushan is the second highest civilian award in India. (AP Photo)

new Delhi, april 8 (ians): Cinema icons Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan were conferred the Padma Vibhushan - India's second highest civilian honour - by President Pranab Mukherjee at an investiture ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan here on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several union ministers attended the function.

The awards were announced

on the eve of this year's Republic Day. Besides Padma Vibhushan, the president conferred honours in other categories of Padma awards, namely Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.

Assamese director Jahnu Barua was awarded the Padma Bhushan for his contribution to art over the years. Barua, who has made National Award-winning films "And the River Flows" and "Aparoopa" in his

mother-tongue, has been doing social work in the northeast related to art and culture for the past six years.

While Amitabh Bachchan exuded elegance and sophistication in a black bandhgala, Dilip Kumar couldn't make it to the ceremony to receive the honour in person.

Amitabh shared the news of Dilip Kumar's absence through micro-blogging website Twitter on Tuesday. He wrote: "@Amirmurt @TheDilipKumar he is unwell and shall not be there to receive his award...sad (sic)".

The 72-year-old star, who is known as the "Shahenshah" of the Hindi silver screen, has delivered some exceptional performances in his over four-decade-long film career. With movies such as "Deewar", "Agneepath", "Sholay", "Don", "Black" and "Paa", the actor has carved a special place for himself.

Amitabh's wife Jaya Bachchan, son Abhishek Bachchan and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai attended the function.

Dilip Kumar, whose real name is Yusuf Khan, became a name to reckon with in the 1950s and 1960s, thanks to his performances in "Aan", "Daag", "Devdas", "Madhumati","Paigham", "MughalE-Azam", "Ganga Jamuna", "Lead-

er" and "Ram Aur Shyam". After working for about six decades, he bid adieu to the arclights in 1998.

His last movie was "Qila".

The others who were conferred the Padma Vibhushan included Dharamsthala Veerendra Heggade (social work), Prince Karim Aga Khan (trade and industry), Malur Ramaswamy Srinivasan (science and engineering) and K. K. Venugopal (public affairs).

Those conferred the Padma Bhushan included former Lok Sabha secretary general Subash C. Kashyap (public affairs), Manjul Bhargava (science and engineering) and Ambrish Mittal (medicine).

Bibek Debroy (literature and education), Saba Anjum (sports) and Ravindra Jain (music) were among those conferred the Padma Shri.

These awards were given at the third investiture this year. The first was when former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was presented the Bharat Ratna at his residence last month.

The second investiture was held at Rashtrapati Bhavan on March 30, in which poet-lyricist Prasoon Joshi, filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali and other prominent people received the Padma awards.

InternatIonal

the Morung express

Thursday 9 April 2015

Dimapur

9

US warns against militarization in Asia TOKYO, April 8 (reuTers): U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter kicked off his first Asian tour on Wednesday with a stern warning against the militarization of territorial rows in a region where China is at odds with several nations in the East and South China Seas.

Carter’s visit to Japan coincides with growing U.S. concern over China’s land reclamation in the Spratly archipelago of the disputed South China Sea, where Beijing has rival claims with several countries including the Philippines and Vietnam.

Tokyo and Beijing have a separate row over Japanese-controlled islets in the East China Sea. U.S. and Philippine troops will take part in annual military exercises this month near the Spratlys in the largest such drills since the allies resumed joint activities in 2000..

Asked whether the beefed up U.S.-Philippine exercises were a response to China’s moves, Carter said Washington and Manila had shared interests in the region, including a desire to ensure there were no changes in the status quo by force or that territorial

South China Sea. China claims most of the potentially energy rich waterway, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year.

The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have overlapping claims.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, right, and Japan’s Defense Minister Gen Nakatani, left, inspect an honor guard at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on Wednesday, April 8. Carter visits Japan and South Korea this week amid speculation the U.S. wants to place a missile defense system in South Korea against North Korean ballistic missiles, which Seoul is reluctant about as it would alienate China. The U.S. has already deployed anti-missile radar in Japan. (AP Photo)

rows were militarized.

“We take a strong stance against the militarization of these disputes,” Carter told a news conference after talks with his Japanese counterpart, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani.

Chinese reclamation

work is well advanced on six reefs in the Spratlys, according to recently published satellite photographs and Philippine officials. In addition, Manila has said Chinese dredgers had started reclaiming a seventh.

While the new islands won’t overturn U.S. military superiority in the region, Chinese workers are building ports and fuel storage depots as well as possibly two airstrips that experts have said would allow Beijing to project power deep

into the maritime heart of Southeast Asia.

The commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Harry Harris, told an Australian think tank last week that China was using dredges and bulldozers to create a “great wall of sand” in the

Tighter Alliance Ties Carter also welcomed progress toward the first update in U.S.-Japan defense cooperation guidelines since 1997, a revision that will expand the scope for interaction between the allies in line with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push to ease the constraints of Japan’s pacifist constitution on the nation’s military.

“It’s going to give first of all Japan, but also our alliance, much greater scope to provide security in the region, and for that matter elsewhere outside of the region,” Carter said as the talks began.

Abe’s move to allow Tokyo to come to the aid of an ally under attack would pave the way for closer cooperation between U.S. and Japanese forces across Asia, Admiral Robert Thomas, commander of the U.S. Seventh Fleet, said

last month.

In January, Thomas said the United States would also welcome Japanese air patrols in the South China Sea. Nakatani told the news conference with Carter, however, that the new guidelines did not target any particular region including the South China Sea. Neither Tokyo nor Washington have territorial claims in the South China Sea, but the U.S. Seventh Fleet operates in the area and any Japanese presence would irritate Beijing.

In a written interview with Japan’s Yomiuri newspaper published on Wednesday, Carter expressed concern about China’s land reclamation in the South China Sea. “We are especially concerned at the prospect of militarization of these outposts. These activities seriously increase tensions and reduce prospects for diplomatic solutions,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.

“We urge China to limit its activities and exercise restraint to improve regional trust.”

Carter also repeated Washington’s opposition

to any “coercive unilateral” actions by China to undermine Japan’s administrative control of disputed islands in the East China Sea, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular news briefing in Beijing: “We hope the U.S. side can respect the wishes of China and relevant countries to resolve the problem via dialogue, say more responsible things and make more responsible moves, so it can genuinely play a constructive role in maintaining regional peace and stability.”

Abe’s government plans to submit bills to parliament in the coming months to ratify his cabinet’s decision last year to allow Japan to exercise its right of collective self-defense, the biggest shift in Japanese security policy in decades.

Carter, Nakatani and the two countries’ foreign ministers are expected to unveil the new defense guidelines in late April, before Abe meets U.S. President Barack Obama on April 28 for a summit in Washington.

Pakistan court suspends Musharraf arrest warrant China relations unshaken islAmAbAD, April 8 (pTi): A Pakistani court on Wednesday suspended the non-bailable arrest warrant against former military dictator Pervez Musharraf for the killing of cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi during the army siege of the Lal Masjid in 2007.

The arrest warrant was challenged in the high court here which set aside the orders of the lower court on assurance by Musharraf’s lawyer that he would attend the next hearing.

The district and sessions court in Islamabad last week issued his arrest warrant in the case

of Ghazi who was killed when the army stormed the mosque here to flush out militants.

The Islamabad High Court adjourned the hearing till April 27 and ordered 71-year-old Musharraf to appear in person. The former military ruler was booked in the murder case in 2013.

Separately, a medical report of Musharraf was presented in an anti-terrorism court in Quetta hearing a case against him for alleged involvement in the killing of Baloch tribal leader Akbar Khan Bugti in a military operation in 2006. Musharraf, who was presi-

dent at the time, had ordered the operation that killed Bugti.

The Sindh government had formed a medical team on the directives of the court after Musharraf failed to appear due to health reasons. A 9-member medical team conducted a medical check-up of Musharraf on April 1.

Balochistan’s Director General of Health, Dr Farooq Azam presented an eight-page report on the health of Musharraf before judge Aftab Ahmed Lone.

According to the report, the former president is suffering from

backache, neurological and cardiac problems.

The court accepted a day’s exemption regarding the appearance of the former military ruler. The hearing was adjourned until April 22.

The ex-army chief is facing a slew of court cases after returning from five years of self-exile in Dubai to contest the general elections in 2013 which he lost.

Musharraf is already facing murder charges in the case of former premier Benazir Bhutto who was assassinated in 2007. He is out on bail in the case.

He was also indicted in a high treason case in March last year for suspending, subverting and abrogating the Constitution and imposing an emergency in Pakistan in November 2007, the first army chief to face such a prosecution.

He has also been charged in the judges’ detention case.

Musharraf came to power in a bloodless coup in 1999, deposing then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Facing impeachment following elections in 2008, Musharraf resigned as president and went into self-imposed exile in Dubai.

Scottish nationalists raise prospect of another independence vote after 2016 lONDON, April 8 (reuTers): Just a month before the most unpredictable British election in a generation, Scottish nationalist leader Nicola Sturgeon raised the prospect of another independence referendum after 2016 that could break apart the United Kingdom.

Though Scots voted to stay part of the United Kingdom in a Sept. 18 referendum, support for the Scottish National Party (SNP) has surged before a UK-wide general election on May 7. Former Scottish nationalist leader Alex Salmond said during the referendum campaign that the September vote was a once in a generation chance to break the 307-year-old union with England.

But speaking on Tuesday in a four-way televised debate in Scotland with the leaders of the Scottish Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative parties, SNP leader Sturgeon raised the prospect of another

vote after a Scottish parliamentary election in 2016. Sturgeon said she still wanted independence, but cautioned that next month’s UK-wide election was not a re-run of the referendum and would not lead directly to independence for Scotland.

When asked whether the SNP would seek a mandate for another breakaway vote in the 2016 election, she said: “Well that is another matter. We will write that manifesto when we get there.” Her response prompted an audible groan from some in the studio audience in Edinburgh, one of whom told her that the people had spoken and said “no” to independence.

With neither Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservatives nor Ed Miliband’s Labour Party forecast to win an overall majority, opinion polls indicate nationalists will win 35-50 of the 59 Westminster seats in Scotland, up from six in

2010. The SNP aims to win a “kingmaker” position by taking many of the 41 Scottish seats that Labour won in the 2010 election.

“We will work with Labour to keep David Cameron out of Downing Street,” said Sturgeon. When asked directly by Jim Murphy, the leader of the Scottish Labour Party, if she wanted Miliband to be prime minister, Sturgeon said: “I don’t want David Cameron to be prime minister. I am offering to help make Ed Miliband prime minister.” “Nicola, we don’t need your help,” said Murphy, who warned voters that a vote for the SNP could allow Cameron to win the election by dividing the opposition vote.

In the most unpredictable British election since the 1970s, once marginal parties such as the SNP and the UK Independence Party are threatening to tear up the certainties of the post-1945 two-party system. It is

unclear whether either of Britain’s two major parties could form a durable government after May 7 to rule the $2.8 trillion economy.

The stakes are high: If Cameron wins, he has promised a referendum on European Union membership by the end of 2017.

Sturgeon, who took over from Salmond as SNP leader in November 2014, said she would push for modest state spending increases and proposed the unilateral scrapping of Britain’s submarine-based nuclear deterrent. She said that in the event of a hung parliament, SNP lawmakers in Westminster would seek to defeat a Conservative minority government in a vote of confidence even if the Conservatives were the biggest single party by seats. “This is two-for-the-price-ofone election: You can vote SNP and you get David Cameron thrown in for free or you can vote Labour and you can throw David Cameron out for good,” Labour’s Murphy said.

‘Hundreds of North Korea missiles threaten Asia’ WAsHiNGTON, April 8 (Ap): Nuclear-armed North Korea already has hundreds of ballistic missiles that can target its neighbors in Northeast Asia but will need foreign technology to upgrade its arsenal and pose a more direct threat to the United States, US researchers said.

Those are the latest findings of a research program investigating what secretive North Korea’s nuclear weapons capability will be by 2020. Unlike Iran, the current focus of international nuclear diplomacy, North Korea has conducted atomic test explosions.

Its blood-curdling rhetoric and periodic missile tests have set the region on edge and there’s no sign of negotiations restarting to coax it into disarming.

For now, the emphasis is on sanctions and military preparedness. Defense Secretary Ash Carter visits Japan and South Korea this week amid speculation the U.S. wants to place a missile defense system in South Korea against North Korean ballistic missiles, which Seoul is reluctant about as it would alienate China. The US has already deployed

anti-missile radar in Japan.

US military officials have expressed growing concern about North Korea’s capabilities. Navy Adm. William Gortney, commander of US Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, told reporters Tuesday that it is the US assessment that North Korea has the ability to miniaturize a warhead to put on an intercontinental ballistic missile.

US officials are most concerned about a longrange missile called the KN-08 that has been displayed in military parades.

It is said to be capable of being launched from a roadmobile vehicle and would therefore be difficult to monitor via satellite.

But the research published Tuesday by the North Korean Futures Project stresses that for now the principal threat from North Korean missiles is to its neighbors in Asia. The project is conducted by the U.S.-Korea Institute at John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and National Defense University’s Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass

Destruction.

Aerospace engineer John Schilling and a research associate at the institute, Henry Kan, say Pyongyang’s current inventory of about 1,000 missiles, based on old Soviet technology, can already reach most targets in South Korea and Japan.

“North Korea has already achieved a level of delivery system development that will allow it to establish itself as a small nuclear power in the coming years,” they write in a paper published on the institute’s website, 38 North.

Despite the North’s 2012 success in launching a rocket into space - the clearest sign yet it has the potential to reach the American mainland - Pyongyang faces greater technical challenges in launching an effective missile across the Pacific at the US. It may already be able to field a limited number of long-range Taepodong missiles in an emergency but they would be unreliable, vulnerable to pre-emptive strike and inaccurate, the analysis says. The KN-08 may achieve “emergency operational status” by 2020, before or with very limited

In this Oct. 10, 2010 photo, North Korea missiles on trucks make its way during a massive military parade to mark the 65th anniversary of the communist nation’s ruling Workers’ Party in Pyongyang, North Korea. Nuclear-armed North Korea has hundreds of ballistic missiles that can target its neighbors in Northeast Asia but it will need foreign technology to upgrade its arsenal and pose a more direct threat to the United States, U.S. researchers said Tuesday. (AP File Photo)

flight testing, it adds.

The analysis says foreign assistance could be critical for overcoming the technological and engineering hurdles North Korea now faces in developing better missiles, including progress on high-performance engines, heat shields, guidance electronics and rocket motors that use solid fuel instead of liquid fuel, it says.

And that’s become

tougher as North Korea’s international isolation has intensified since its first nuclear test explosion in 2006.

That hasn’t stopped its nuclear program. According to a recent estimate by the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security, the North likely has enough fissile material for at least 10 weapons, and that could increase to between 20 and 100 weapons by 2020.

But whereas the basic designs and production infrastructure are now largely in place for the nuclear program, technological progress on the missile front has been slower, the analysis says. North Korea has failed to make the kind of advances that Iran and Pakistan have made, although both countries relied on North Korean assistance for for missiles in the 1990s

by protests: Taiwan prez

Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou speaks to foreign media during a press conference in Taipei, Taiwan, Wednesday, April 8, 2015. President Ma said Wednesday that relations with political and military rival China were moving forward despite widespread public opposition that crested with a student occupation of parliament last year. (AP Photo)

TAipei, April 8 (Ap): Taiwan’s president said Wednesday that relations with political rival China were moving forward despite widespread public opposition that crested with an occupation of parliament last year, and that he hopes to cooperate with Beijing on regional economic development.

When President Ma Ying-jeou took office in 2008, his government accelerated efforts to ease icy relations with China by avoiding politics to instead discuss trade, investment and transportation links.

But Ma’s engagement with China hit its strongest wave of resistance at home last year when tens of thousands of protesters occupied parliament and surrounding streets in Taipei to demand more oversight of relations with Beijing or a cancellation of any future agreements.

Popular opposition to Ma’s China policy contributed to steep losses for his Nationalist Party in island-wide local elections in November, analysts said at the time. “The reason the Nationalists lost the local elections last year actually had no direct relation to cross-Strait policies, but was mainly about domestic issues,” Ma said at a news conference organized by the Taiwan Foreign Correspondents’ Club, referring to China-Taiwan ties.

“Last year, cross-Strait relations hit some minor setbacks, but basically they are moving ahead on a course of peaceful development,” he said. After the protests, he noted, Beijing’s top Taiwan policymaker visited the island in June and the two sides have continued to negotiate an agreement that could cut tariffs on thousands of imports, a boon to Taiwan’s pillar industries, such as high-tech and machinery.

Ma must step down next year due to term limits.

His party is expected to run a tough race for the January presidential election against the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, which advocates a more cautious approach to China relations and picked up seven seats in the local polls last year.

China and Taiwan have been separately ruled since the Chinese civil war of the 1940s, when Chiang Kaishek’s Nationalist forces lost to Mao Zedong’s Communists and set up a rival government on the island.

China still claims sovereignty over Taiwan. Before Ma took office, Beijing occasionally threatened the use of force if the island moved toward legal independence.

The two sides have signed 21 related agreements since 2008, helping to accelerate Taiwan’s half-trillion-dollar economy. China is eager to parlay the economic talks into political dialogue that it hopes will unify the two sides.

Taiwan has applied to join a regional infrastructure investment bank that Beijing plans to launch. Ma said the bank might offer contracts benefiting local builders and project managers.

Taiwan also should go “all out” in efforts to participate in regional economic integration such as the Beijingbacked Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, Ma said. The partnership would merge 3 billion-plus people into a free trade area. China was Taiwan’s top trading partner last year, with imports and exports totaling $130 billion. Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam were also among its top 10 trading partners, and Taiwan already has as a two-way trade pact with Singapore.

Joining regional trade groups may give the Nationalists a modest boost ahead of the election but will not improve Ma’s approval rating, said Nathan Liu, international affairs professor at Ming Chuan University in Taiwan. The rating has fallen as low as 9%. “I don’t want to sound pessimistic, but I think it’s going to remain (low) until the end of his term,” Liu said.

10

Dimapur

SPORTS/Public diScOuRSE

Thursday 9 April 2015

5th Peren cricket tourney from April 28

The Morung Express

Antoine Griezmann from France controls the ball during a La Liga soccer match between Atletico de Madrid and Real Sociedad at the Vicente Calderon stadium in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, April 7. (AP Photo)

DIMApuR, ApRIl 8 (MexN): The Peren District Cricket Association is organising the 5th Peren district cricket tournament from April 28 at Jalukie Town. The tournament is being sponsored by 18th Assam rifles Jalukie town. For further details contact Rajesh Mondal at 8729933646.

Juventus beats Fiorentina to reach Italian Cup final

FloReNCe, ApRIl 8 (Ap): Juventus overcame a first-leg deficit with a 3-0 win at Fiorentina on Tuesday to advance to the Italian Cup final and keep alive its hopes of a treble. Seeking its first Italian Cup trophy in 20 years, Juventus advanced on 4-2 aggregate. Filling in for the injured Carlos Tevez, Alessandro Matri put Juventus ahead from close range midway through the first half and Roberto Pereyra doubled the lead just before halftime by knocking in a rebound. Leonardo Bonucci capped the victory with a volley inside the near post following a corner in the 59th.

"We showed how strong we are today," Pereyra said. "We won a complicated match in a tough stadium... We have a solid team and we always train well."

Napoli hosts Lazio in the other semifinal Wednesday following a 1-1 opening leg. The final will be played in Rome on June 7. Juventus is cruising toward its fourth straight Serie A title and faces Monaco in the Champions League quarterfinals. "We're going step by step," Pereyra said. "Now we'll focus on Parma and then the Champions League." With nine Italian Cup titles, Juventus shares the record with Roma but has not

won the trophy since 1995.

Tevez was ruled out during the afternoon for precautionary reasons due to a right thigh muscle problem, and Matri was named as a surprise starter pairing with Alvaro Morata in attack.

Mohamed Salah, who scored both of Fiorentina's goals in the opening leg, was again dangerous early on and had a goal ruled out for a foul five minutes in.

Matri took advantage in the 21st following a cross from Claudio Marchisio, with Pereyra's initial attempt leaving his strike partner with only the goalkeeper to beat. Fiorentina came close to equalizing in the 37th when Gonzalo Rodriguez had a goal disallowed for offside following a pinpoint header from a free kick.

In the 44th, Pereyra found the target after goalkeeper Neto stretched to block a shot from Morata. Fiorentina showed some life after the break but Mario Gomez wasted an opportunity by hitting the outside of the net and Bonucci soon sealed the comeback. The only negative note for Juve came when Morata was sent off three minutes from time for a foul from behind on Alessandro Diamanti. He'll miss the final.

NSCN/GPRN will not compromise on Naga sovereignty and PAN-Naga identity

T

he issue at fore is the uncompromising stand of NSCN/GPRN on Naga sovereignty, unilateral abrogation of ceasefire with India, the betrayal of NSCN/GPRN by Wangtin and his consequent expulsion from NSCN/ GPRN. The ceasefire abrogation and expulsion of Wangtin has been invoked in order to salvage Naga struggle from being decimated by collusion of forces from within and outside.

Wangtin has for the last three to four years being openly consorting with Indian Intelligence Bureau and Home Ministry charting various plan of action to emasculate the NSCN/GPRN from within and to force political and military capitulation.

The NSCN/GPRN being fully aware of his designs and connections with external inimical forces never took Wangtin into confidence on any crucial decision making process and despite being the supervisor of CFSB he was not formally consulted on decision to abrogate ceasefire lest his master handlers attempts pre-emptive destructions.

Having kept at bay for several years without access to any confidential government proceedings the annulment of ceasefire must have been appeared abrupt and shocking considering his ever fascination for showbiz style of self characterization.

The sudden turn of events and his ignorance about the developments must have caused his credentials to be questioned within the conspiring circle and in panic to convalesce his position Wangtin have to resort to hasty herding of few expelled and suspended NSCN members to form his own band with full stewardship and sponsorship by Indian Army commander, Intel-

P

ligence Bureau and Home Ministry.

It is not without reason or evidence that Wangtin is identified popularly as hypocrite and conman, Wangtin’s claim of not having demanded or taken anything from anyone during his service in NSCN/GPRN is the biggest sycophancy of the time, of the hundreds of such corrupted benefits he harvested in capacity of NSCN worker few notable examples are provided here for Nagas to judge: Wangtin received an amount of Rs. 5 crore from certain candidate during the last election, Rs. 1 crore from two lane work project, Rs. 50 lakhs sanctioned by government of India against destruction of Vihokhu designated camp, Rs. 20 lakh from certain directorate in Kohima etc. even though he was not the finance kionser. More such cases shall be publicised if so demanded.

The NSCN/GPRN feels obligated to elucidate before the Nagas that it is neither antipeace not averse to reconciliation or peaceful solution, likewise shall not meddle in the affairs of any other political group so long the NSCN/GPRN’s effort are not hindered or interfered with however, shall continue to assert and fight for sovereignty and PAN-Naga nationhood at the cost of our lives.

Those unbelievers and unwilling Nagas refusing to share the Nagas cherished dream are asked to step aside and pave way to committed workers to carry on the struggle till the last no matter how long it takes. Every sane, able and freedom adoring Nagas are asked to come forward, join hands and fight in unity until the occupational authority is overthrown and our birthright is restored.

Issued by MIP, NSCN (K)

rime Minister Narendra Modi on Easter Sunday said: “Judges must not fear the reaction of five-star activists while discharging their “divine” duty of dispensing justice as per the Constitution and law.” “The judiciary is not as fearless as it used to be 10 years back.

Are five-star activists not driving the judiciary? Are they not attempting to do so? “Judges fear what the reaction of five-start activists would be when they render justice as per law and as per Constitution,” Modi said at a conference of judges of the Supreme Court, chief justices of high courts and state chief ministers. Inaugurating the meet, Modi said, “It is not difficult to dispense justice as per Constitution and law. But while doing so, judges must differentiate between perception and fact.”

Modi’s comments came in the wake of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court H L Dattu’s decision to take off two judges from hearing activist Teesta Setalvad’s petition seeking a directive to Gujarat police not to arrest her for alleged embezzlement of funds meant of riot victims.

Setalvad’s counsel had sought replacement of the judges by pointing out that they had invited the PM for the weddings of their children. Earlier Narendra Modi had to stand trial before the Supreme Court for the following allegations: Teesta Setalvad, Zakla Jafri, widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri who was killed by a rioting mob in 2002, had filed a petition accusing Modi, who was Gujarat CM then, of deliberately failing in his constitutional duty to protect the innocent minorities during the 2002 riots. After probing her complaint, an-SC appointed special investigating team had given Modi a clean chit.

Recently, Gujarat Police wanted to arrest Setalvad accusing her of misusing donations received by her NGO for welfare of 2002 riot victims. It had alleged that she had spent the money on purchase of luxury personal items and payment of her credit card bills. She had denied the allegations. The SC has ordered stay on her arrest and referred her anticipatory bail plea to a three judge bench.

This was preceded by Chief Justice Dattu’s decision to remove two judges—Justices S J Mukhopadhaya and N V Ramana—from hearing the 2 activist’s petition after her counsel sought replacement of the judges by pointing out that the PM for the weddings of their children.

The PM also said that “Other organs of governance – legislature and executive—had pronounced checks and balances. Such a system was not strong in the judiciary.

He said without such a system, “The DNA of the judiciary could go bad and hit the supreme faith of commoners in the courts”. Elaborating further, “We as representatives of people are subjected to intense scrutiny by media

Atletico Madrid beats Real Sociedad MADRID, ApRIl 8 (ReuteRs): Atletico Madrid made a typically aggressive start to lay the foundations for a 2-0 victory at home to mid-table Real Sociedad on Tuesday that lifted the champions to within two points of second-placed Real Madrid.

Diego Simeone's men came roaring out of the blocks at the Calderon and, after Arda Turan had thumped a volley against the post in the second minute, Koke's inswinging delivery from a corner

moments later was headed into his own net by Sociedad defender Mikel Gonzalez. Antoine Griezmann made it 2-0 in the 10th minute when he followed up Koke's saved effort and clipped the ball into the roof of the net for his 16th La Liga goal of the campaign.

The France forward's lack of celebration was a reminder that he played for Sociedad for five years before joining Atletico in the close season.

Sociedad, who have im-

proved since former Manchester United manager David Moyes took over as coach in November and are 10th, never looked like getting back into the game, substitute Esteban Granero coming closest for the Basque club with a curling free kick two minutes from time. "It was important to win here and stay strong at home so we could get the three points and stay in the battle for a Champions League place," Griezmann told Spanish television.

Atletico, whose 15 clean

sheets this season are only bettered by leaders Barcelona's 16, have 65 points in third with eight games left, with Real on 67 ahead of their match at another Madrid club, Rayo Vallecano, on Wednesday.

Real, who crushed Granada 9-1 on Sunday, are four adrift of Barca, who host Almeria earlier on Wednesday.

Sevilla, in fifth, drew level on 61 points with fourth-placed Valencia thanks to a 2-1 win at Levante on Tuesday, Kevin

Gameiro and Jose Antonio Reyes putting the Europa League champions 2-0 up and Kalu Uche replying for the home side.

Valencia hold on to fourth, which carries a place in Champions League qualifying, thanks to a better head-to-head record, which is used to separate teams with the same points rather than goal difference.

Malaga, in seventh, suffered a setback in their quest for a Europa League berth when they were beaten 1-0 at lowly Eibar.

NFA conducts AIFF ‘D’ certificate course

KohIMA, ApRIl 8 (MexN): The Nagaland Football Association (NFA) conducted the All India Football Federation (AIFF) ‘D’ Certificate Coaching Course from April 1 to 6 last.

It was organized by 442 Management Group at Indira Gandhi Stadium here.

Altogether, 19 trainees from Nagaland and Manipur joined the coaching course. They are Lepzungchiba, Diethozotuo, L. Elow, Vozovor Liezietsu, Zadutol, P. Doson, Dibam Meyase, Belie Rio, Kaisu Arche, O. Jenithung, Kandilinbo, Watimemba, Lavoriyi and NamzungZakielatuo D. Rovei, Olan- wang.

Chairing the closing do, Iresap, Povil Phinyo,

function, Roko Angami, attitude towards coachformer international ing. We need this course player and coach said to produce good players."

“We need to change our Course instructor Wil-

Star activists driving the judiciary!

Is it a perception or a reality?

Dr. John Moahn Razu, Former Professor of CTC, Mokokchung 24x7. News which once found it difficult to get into gossip columns is today’s breaking news. Apart from media scrutiny, there are institutional checks like Election Commission, RTI and soon the Lokpal. These are necessary to keep us on the right track,” Modi said. In a candid way he echoed: “Judges do not have that privilege. You don’t even hear criticism. Those who are given death sentence also come out and say they have faith in judiciary. This is because judiciary through its tradition and character has created immense faith in the common people. The faith has evolved, not injected. But how do we keep it intact and make it more impressive”? PM Modi’s comments need to be contextualized and objectively interpreted, so that the core issues he has been raising could perhaps be understood and unfolded properly and with a wholistic perspective. However, he clearly voiced out that the judiciary seem to be lacking its independence and lacks checks and balances. He was of the opinion that the judiciary should never be dictated or influenced by the fivestar activists. By that he inferred that courts should never be misled by the 5-start activists. Did PM Modi clarify in his speech giving details about these five-star activists? Did he at least name some of them? Could we take his comments as mere perceptions or based on reality?

Would the judiciary pronounce its judgements merely based on perceptions? Nevertheless, statements uttered

by PM Modi merit examination. One should get into its substance, merit and logic.

PM made this as a point of reference but not referred to cases that fall within the “five-star activists”. Certainly the judgements do not go by perceptions, but by its merits and sheer professionalism in jurisprudence. Time and time 3 again the judiciary has shown and proved its fearlessness and independency by pronouncing daring and scintillating judgments that embraces all facets of jurisprudence. The veracity of Indian Judiciary is monumental and significant that sheds light to the Indian democracy. Judges base their judgements based on the merit of each case and accordingly interpret the law and the constitution. One cannot ascribe motives and pass apprehensions on judiciary without proper scrutiny. If ju-

diciary functions on perception levels then it becomes a murder of democracy. As the Chief Justice of India pointed out judges do not have any fear in recent times while passing judgements.

Based on his perceptions and experiences PM Modi might have uttered statements that posit subjectivity and bias. Nonetheless, who was PM Modi referring to? Does PM Modi have cases that would substantiate his statements? Since he did not spell out the names one could at least bring to the fore a few real cases and place them to counter the narratives of the PM Modi. For example, Ms. Shreya Sengal fought 66A and the SC gave the verdict in favour of her that “Constitutional Rights are important than the governments that come and go”. Shubash Agarwal who has been fighting to bring RTI; how about PIL, 2G and 3 G spectrum cases! Should they be considered and classified as “five-star activists”? Are Prakash Bushan, Subramany Swami and others which includes Teesta Setalvad be classified and categorized as “five stars activists”?

There have been a number of people who fought against certain policies and moves of the government that failed propriety and thus reflected personal gains and skewed priorities. In some cases the government tried to exert its power and influence over its subjects. In most of the cases the judiciary came out with landmark judgements. Does the PM Modi’s statement “executive and legislature have checks and balances, while the judiciary does not have such strong in-built system” mean judiciary as one of the important organs of the state fail to sustain and regulate itself on its own?

Dr. Ambedkar has rightly pointed out that for any functioning democracy all the three organs of the state such as the executive, judiciary and legislature should have perfect understanding and well functioning principles. They should 4 be like well-oiled machine. If one fails to cooperate then the other two suffer and then the whole system collapses. In such a context a fascist could easily take over the reins of the state and establish a dictatorial regime. This is what happened in Germany, Italy and other parts of the world. Does PM Modi indirectly mean that even the judiciary should fall under dictates

liam Koso advised the coaches to work hard and keep themselves updated with the game.

of legislature and executive and thus fall in line? Or did he mean that judiciary should have no independent status and be considered as a subsidiary of the legislature and executive?

However, all have well-defined functions and given the autonomous status, but should not undermine or lord over the other. Therefore, all the organs of the state theoretically and practically hanging on a fine thread with a delicate balance mutually supporting and enhancing each other. At the same time we keep hearing about the big corporations, the oligopolies and supra-entities that are bigger than most of the nation-states in their economic power, technological and technical power, professional expertise and immense lobbying capacity and by virtue of these factors they keep influencing the policies and programs of the nations of the world. India is no exception.

Even during UPA rule a number of decisions and policy statements went in favour of these oligopolies.

The current BJP government is no exception. Since it tows crony capitalist order it is obvious that the big corporations have the complete sway over the legislature and the executive, while the judiciary on a number of occasions came out vociferously against the corporate houses. The executive and the legislature are now panicky because some of the enactments are under scrutiny and in other cases they are shelved. This is why even the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh warned against the judiciary and showed his irritation against judicial activism.

Be it BJP or Congress or whoever thinks that the legislature and the executive should dominate and outwit judiciary would fail miserably because for a healthy democracy independent judiciary adds to its strength.

These two organs of the state tend to push or subtly wield their power in covert and overt ways so that the judiciary would fall in line. Nonetheless, do not push the judiciary too harsh and trample the democratic rights that we enjoy in the 5 Constitution and the interpretative skills of law of the land by the judiciary. Government of India may be living on perceptions such land ordinance, Make in India and a number of things. In reality farmers are dying, resisting and struggling. Likewise, FDI inflow for “Make in India” has not been that overwhelming. So, perceptions will have to be backed with facts, otherwise they remain only as perceptions without any real value. Independent judiciary is the hallmark of democracy and this should not be scarified or usurped by other organs by force and some kind of mechanism. So, democratic functioning, thinking and acting are important dynamics of judiciary which should not be put to test.

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.

Entertainment

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Paul Walker's brother lands major agency deal

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aul Walker's brother has signed a major deal with the Paradigm Agency after picking up the acting bug while filling in for his late sibling on the set of Furious 7. Cody Walker, a licensed paramedic, stepped in to help director James Wan complete his brother's scenes in the film after Paul was killed in a car crash in 2013, while shooting the latest sequel in the action movie franchise. He signed his brother's manager, Matt Luber, for representation and has been taking meetings with top talent companies since the beginning of the month (Apr15). Paradigm's bosses were the first to pick him up.

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ilary Duff expressed her excitement after being back on TV over 10 years with her new show 'Younger' after 'Lizzie McGuire'.

The actress, who also released her new single 'Spark', said in an interview that it felt her really good being back on TV or in other way being back in home and she was loving her shooting schedule, E! Online reported.

The 27-year-old actress added that for few years she had been little sleepy by just being a mother of a 3-year-old son and a homemaker, but the reason behind this was that she was looking for a perfect project to be a part. Duff, who will soon be releasing her most anticipated album 'This Heart', said that she missed singing a lot in her sleepy years.

on stage by fan

self to n himforma h C le per Jackie s like stage. Whi d to climb e v o neck. ded m anage m on e nee ttacked hi zed fan m round his ally n i v e ho a am L ventu rms a , a cra er! Ad cited fan w im, Calif. wing her a an away, e g g a J e x s like an overe 5 in Anah nger, thro the wom your i move d , and you g n i orget ct him fromth Maroon-year-old s nd pushe r. g ing e sin prote oncert wi ind the 36 startled a emove he And you'r the next thent. "It's c r d h ? d ing a un up be st seeme s able to ya know nd then r the inci ay was r r . A d afte wa ment, nd e and judge fi ment g urity ." Mo w o The on sta e Voice" n until sec , in the m autiful mo to the cro cut my ear of NBC's " e d s e e i Th w k " er do d to be, li ave this b Levine sa d. "She lik live taping ing h r calm 's just wei and you h our face," ?" he adde egins the y t b , "It d e re he os ing in d righ are cl one's f--k t was weir form befo s e y e some ill per " "Tha know terrifying. e singer wch. h super t concert t he is a coa s h a c l i e h th w ," on Voice

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michael douglaS

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Scarlett JohanSSon

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inger-s ongwr iter Don McLean's original manuscript and notes to "American Pie" sold at auction Tuesday for $1.2 million. McLean offered his wistful anthem that asks "Do you recall what was revealed the day the music died?" at Christie's.

The auction house said two people vied for the 16-page manuscript, one in the room and one on the phone. The winning bid went to the collector in the room who wished to remain anonymous.

FILE - In this July 3, 2012 file photo provided by the Bidding started at Las Vegas News Bureau, Don McLean performs at $500,000 and rose to the Las Vegas Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. McLean’s $1.2 million in just original manuscript and notes to “American Pie” sold at four minutes. auction Tuesday, April 7, 2015, for $1.2 million at Christie’s.

Hilary Duff 'feels good' being back on TV after 10 yrs

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then six months later, he said, 'I want a Bar Mitzvah'. We were touched. I have to say, Kirk was over the moon, he couldn't believe it!

"So we did it and Dylan was extremely proud of it, and as a result, he's brought a lot of spirituality to our lives. I've gotten involved in the Genesis Foundation (which celebrates Jewish culture), was fortunate enough to win a prize (from foundation officials) this year..., and now I'm actively involved in bringing interfaith families together."

The 16 pages include the original working manuscript and typed drafts of the song. The eight-minute-long "American Pie" was released in 1971 and was a No. 1 U.S. hit for four weeks in 1972. "The day the music died" refers to the Feb. 3, 1959, deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper in a plane crash.

McLean, a longtime Maine resident, said through Christie's that writing the song was "a mystical trip into his past."

According to local lore in upstate Saratoga Springs, McLean first wrote the lyrics on paper napkins in a bar where he used to drink in between gigs at Caffe Lena, a famous coffeehouse in the

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city known for its racetrack and mineral waters.

A small plaque on the wall of the Tin & Lint bar reads: "American Pie written by Don McLean, summer 1970."

McLean has denied the popular legend, telling a local newspaper in a 2011 interview that he wrote the song with the famous line "Bye, bye Miss American Pie" in Philadelphia.

"American Pie" has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and was named a "song of the century" by the Recording Industry Association of American and the National Endowment for the Arts. His other songs include "Castles in the Air" and "And I Love You So."

'alien' voted the scariest movie monster of all time

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he iconic monster from the 1979 movie of the same name topped a list voted for by the Radio Times. Nearly forty years after it first appeared on our screens to terrify audiences, the Alienmonster from the eponymous sci-fi / horror franchise has been named as the scariest movie creature ever.

A poll of over 2,000 votes from among readers of the British TV listings magazine The Radio Times put designer H. R. Giger’s creation at the top of the list. The monster first appeared when it burst through John Hurt’s chest in the titular 1979 movie, and went on to be the star of three more Alien movies plus a handful of spin-offs, franchise crossovers and a prequel.

The Alien was named ahead of the stop-motion animated skeleton army from the classical epic Jason and the Argonauts in second place, and ‘The Thing’ from the 1982 sci-fi movie of the same name in third.

In fourth place was Freddy Krueger’s dream-penetrating psychopath from A Nightmare On Elm Street, and in fifth was Jaws from the suspenseful 1975 movie.

It was a list dominated by older names, with a lack of relatively new creations. Only ‘Pale Man’, which feeds on children and fairies in 2006’s Pan’s Labyrinth, and the Dementor monsters from the 2001-2011 Harry Potter series, are post-millennium creations in the top ten.

Perhaps this is evidence that modern movie special effects don’t leave enough to the imagination to be sufficiently scary; or, perhaps it’s simply a reflection of the average age of the Radio Times’ readership. The poll comes a few weeks after director Neil Blomkamp, who has experience with horror and sci-fi with the likes of District 9 and Elysium, was announced as the director of a fifth Alien movie, which will also be produced with the help of Ridley Scott who directed the 1979 original.

ankit tiwari to perform with

Bryan adams

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Below is the Top 10 in full: 1. Alien 2. Skeleton Army 3. The Thing 4. Freddy Kruger 5. Jaws 6. Dracula 7. Godzilla 8. Pale Man 9. Dementor 10. Chucky

- Alien - Jason And The Argonauts - The Thing - A Nightmare On Elm Street - Jaws - Dracula - Godzilla - Pan's Labyrinth - Harry Potter - Child's Play

credits young son with newfound spirituality

he Wall Street actor reveals his 14-yearold boy with wife Catherine Zeta-Jones has completely embraced the religion, much to his grandfather Kirk Douglas' delight, and his enthusiasm has rubbed off on the movie star, too. Michael tells U.S. talk show host Jimmy Fallon, "Our son, just from going to school and meeting a couple of Jewish friends (became intrigued by Judaism), and on weekends he would go to their house and have Friday night Seder, and

Dimapur

$1.2M at auction ' ie P n a ic r e ‘Am

afreen Rachel Vaz, who won the Femina Miss India 2015 runner-up title, will be representing India at the Miss International 2015 pageant at Tokyo on November 5. She was accorded a warm welcome at Mangalore International Airport where she arrived from Mumbai today. Vaz is a model and brand ambassador of Mangaluru based 'Fashion ABCD'. Speaking to reporters, she said she was excited to be back in Mangaluru and thanked the people of the city for supporting and encouraging her. Vaz, a medical student at AJ institute here, said her college also had been extremely supportive.

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9 April 2015

brings

Aafreen Rachel Vaz to represent India in Miss International 2015

adam levine attacked

Thursday

Douglas' charity work has since become all the more poignant for him after Dylan experienced his first brush with anti-Semitism while on a family vacation last year (14), when a man "hurled insults" at the boy for no apparent reason. The actor penned a candid column about the incident in the Los Angeles Times in March (15), and Douglas admits the support he received from fans online was overwhelming. He says, "I was surprised by this op-ed, which kind of went viral, it was picked up a lot, a large part just because a celebrity's writing it."

Technology in the wrong hands can overwhelm human

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he singer will also open for Green Day during his first world tour. Singer-composer Ankit Tiwari whose repertoire boasts of chart-toppers like Sun raha hai na tufrom Aashiqui 2 and Galliyan from Ek Villain, will take off for his first world tour. Titled Generation Next, it will kick start in Dallas, US, on April 8 and end on May 3. The 29 year old who will be touring with a 22-member troupe, will open for Billie Joe Arm strong's American punk rock band, Green Day, for one show.

He will also join one of the world's most successful musicians, Bryan Adams on stage."We sent out over 200 requests for collaborations with international musicians. It's my dream to work with Enrique Iglesias, Shakira and Ricky Martin," admits Ankit.

His retro act includes versions of RD Burman and Kishore Kumar and rock versions of classics like Kya hua tera wada, Chand mera dil andMehbooba mehbooba. "We will be travelling to the US, Canada, UK and Holland as these countries are very open to collaborations with Indian musicians. The audience there can enjoy a taste of Bollywood music while I dream of more collaborations," he smiles.

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carlett Johansson, who was last seen in sci-fi flick Lucy, is all too aware about the dangers of technology running amok. In a recent interview to the media, Johansson, who will next be seen in Avengers: Age of Ultron, reportedly said, "Since Captain America: The Winter Soldier, we've started to contemplate the reality of the future of technology or even just the technology that we're dealing with right now."

"The idea is that technology in the wrong hands can totally overwhelm humanity in a sense and overtake us. It's not that this film goes too far down the sci-fi realm but it definitely asks the question of whether or not the human race knows what's right for it. Do we know how to govern ourselves? Are we capable of continuing to thrive or do we need to be governed by something else? Something that sees a better way or a fairer way or a more sustainable way for us.

That's what we're looking at in this film and I don't think it's that far off. Maybe I'm just like a conspiracy theorist but I think certainly we're probably unaware of the decisions that are being made for us by greater powers that be."

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Thursday, 9th April 2015

Chennai Super Kings versus Delhi Daredevils

8:00 PM IST

Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai

Benteke hat trick keeps Villa above the drop Pelicans close on playoffs

Aston Villa 3-3 Queens Park Rangers

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BiRMiNGHAM, ApRiL 8 (Ap): Christian Benteke scored a hat trick as Aston Villa twice came from behind against Queens Park Rangers on Tuesday to draw 3-3 and stay out of the relegation zone.

Benteke's final goal came directly from a free kick in the 83rd minute of a thrilling encounter at Villa Park. Villa remains three points clear of the relegation zone where QPR sits in 18th place with six games to go, two points behind Hull.

In an action-packed opening 10 minutes, Matt Phillips' headed opener for QPR was canceled out by Benteke, who then completed a counterattack to give Villa the halftime lead.

QPR responded after the break with goals from Clint Hill and Charlie Austin and was poised to climb above Hull and send Villa into the bottom three.

But Benteke came to Villa's rescue with his seventh goal in five league games.

"The situation we know is hard now, every game is going to be crucial for us," Benteke said. "We need to keep fighting until the end."

QPR was in front in the seventh minute when Phillips met Bobby Zamora's cross. Villa levelled just 151

seconds later when Fabian Delph played in Benteke and the striker was given too much time to cut in from the left, with his shot deflecting off Steven Caulker and past goalkeeper Rob Green.

Villa recovered from the early setback and was in control when Benteke grabbed his second in the 33rd. Carlos Sanchez's tackle on the edge of his own box fell to Gabriel Agbonlahor to send Benteke clear. The Belgian still had to run the length of the half but he cut inside Hill and sent Green the wrong way with a composed finish from 16 yards (meters).

A gb o n l a h o r t h e n glanced a header inches wide as Villa looked for a killer third but it never came and the home side paid the price 10 minutes after the break.

QPR had offered little threat since going behind but Hill headed in his first Premier League goal from Phillips' corner after outmuscling Ciaran Clark.

The deflated hosts began to give QPR hope, and Austin scored in the 78th.

Phillips was involved again as he wriggled free on the right and found the forward in space to strike under Guzan from seven yards.

But Charles N'Zogbia was fouled by Hill, and Villa's Christian Benteke, left, battles for the ball with QPR's Steven Caulker during the Eng- Benteke curled in a 25-yard lish Premier League soccer match between Aston Villa and Queens Park Rangers at Villa free kick off the post and into the net.

Park, Birmingham, England, Tuesday, April 7. (AP Photo)

2nd 10th NA-I T20 Bash concludes High School Daredevils emerges champions

Roy Keane faces trial on road-rage charge MANCHESTER, ApRiL 8 (Ap): Former Manchester United captain Roy Keane will stand trial in June after denying being aggressive toward a taxi driver during an alleged road-rage incident.

The 43-year-old Irishman did not attend a brief hearing at Trafford Magistrates' Court in Manchester on Wednesday but a not guilty plea was entered on his behalf by his lawyer. Keane, who is assistant manager of the Ireland team, is accused of causing harassment, alarm or distress to taxi driver Fateh Kerar in January. Kerar says an altercation took place after he and his passenger noticed Keane, who was driving a Range Rover. Keane's trial at Manchester Magistrates' Court is due to start on June 19.

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1st Along Memorial Trophy DiMApuR, ApRiL 8 (MExN): The 1st Along Memo-

High School Daredevils- champion of 2nd 10th Northern Angami-I T20 Bash 2015 with MLA rial Cricket Running Trophy is scheduled to be held from April 16 to 21 at NCA Ground, Sovima, Dimapur. A press Khriehu Liezietsu and others during the closing function. (Morung Photo) Our Correspondent Kohima | April 8

Defending champions High School Daredevils today retained the championship title of the second edition of the 10th Northern Angami-I T20 Bash 2015 on April 8 at Kohima

Village Ground, Ziekiezou.

The Daredevils beat a tough opponent North Block Warriors by 9 wickets.

Winning the championship, High School Daredevils pocketed a cash prize of Rs. 50,000 along with trophy while the runners-up received Rs. 30,000.

Organised by the Brotherhood Group under the theme “Bat for Unity,” the tournament was held under the initiative of Khriehu Liezietsu, Parliamentary Secretary for Youth Resources & Sports, New & Renewable Energy and Music Task Force.

with win over leading Warriors

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New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis (23) shoots between Golden State Warriors center Andrew Bogut (12) and guard Andre Iguodala (9) in the second half of an NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Tuesday, April 7, 2015. (AP Photo)

NEW ORLEANS, ApRiL 8 (Ap): New Orleans moved into eighth place, and a provisional playoff berth, in the NBA Western Conference by edging league-leading Golden State 103-100 on Tuesday, led by Anthony Davis, who scored 23 of his 29 points in the second half, including two free throws with 9 seconds left.

In other key results, Atlanta crushed Phoenix to notch a franchise-record 58th win of the season, and San Antonio rolled past Oklahoma City for its eighthstraight win while hurting the Thunder's playoff hopes.

New Orleans' Quincy Pondexter had 20 points, including his fourth 3-pointer of the game to tie it 95-95, for the Pelicans, who moved half a game ahead of the Thunder for the last playoff berth and have a game in hand.

Golden State's Stephen Curry scored 25 points, hitting five 3-pointers, but his final attempt that would have tied the game rimmed out. The Warriors have al-

ready secured the No.1 seed for the West playoffs.

Atlanta has done the same in the East and showed how by routing Phoenix 96-69.

DeMarre Carroll, Jeff Teague and Mike Muscala — starting for injured All-Star forward Paul Millsap — all finished with 16 points for the Hawks, who moved above the previous franchise record of 57 games, set in 1986-87 and equaled in 1993-94.

The Suns missed 31 of 40 shots from the field in the second half to score a season low. Phoenix's Gerald Green, with 15 points, was the only player to score in double figures for the Suns, who missed 31 of 40 shots from the field in the second half to set a new season low score.

San Antonio's Kawhi Leonard matched a career high with 26 points as the Spurs rolled past Oklahoma City 113-88. The defending NBA champions have won each game during their

eight-game winning streak by double digits, and by an average of 20.9 points. Tim Duncan had 12 points, nine rebounds and four blocks for the Spurs, who still have a shot at the No. 2 seed in the West. Russell Westbrook scored 17 points for the Thunder, who lost their fourth straight.

The Los Angeles Clippers completed a 4-0 season sweep of its downtrodden Staples Center co-tenant by beating the Lakers 105-00, with 27 points apiece from Blake Griffin and J.J. Redick.

Miami boosted its playoff chances by topping Charlotte 105-100 — moving within half a game of eighth in the East — as Goran Dragic scored 28 points in his highest-scoring performance since joining the Heat in February. Sacramento overcame a sluggish start to edge Minnesota 116-111, with Omri Casspi scoring a career-high 31 points, including 16 in the third quarter.

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release received here informed. Organized by the ISAH Group and sponsored by the family members of Late Along Longkumer, the trophy will carry a cash prize of Rs. 50,000 and Rs. 25,000 for the winners and runnersup respectively along with running trophy, citations and other individual prizes. Forms for the tournament will be made available at King Sports, Nyamo Lotha Road, Dimapur. The last date of entry for submission of forms will be April 14. Registration Fee of Rs. 7000 will be levied for the participating teams. For further details, one may contact 9612757089 / 9612764274.

Mercedes looking to rebound at Chinese GP Justin Bergman Associated Press

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As the Formula One circuit heads to Shanghai for the Chinese Grand Prix, it's no longer a safe bet that Mercedes will top the podium by the end of the weekend.

After a jubilant Sebastian Vettel emerged as the surprise winner for Ferrari at the Malaysian Grand Prix two weeks ago, a season once expected to be dominated by the silver cars of Mercedes could be shaping up to be far more competitive.

Mercedes came into the 2015 season as the team to beat following a dominant campaign last year that saw Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg sweep to victory in 16 of 19 races. The only suspense was generated by the fight between the Mercedes teammates for the drivers' championship, which Hamilton eventually captured.

But Vettel showed in Malaysia that the rest of the field wasn't prepared to move aside.

The four-time world champion, in just his second race for Ferrari after leaving Red Bull, benefited from a blisteringly hot track that caused Mercedes' tires to de-

grade quickly, but Vettel's Ferrari car also showed improved pace over last year.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said after the race it was the "wake-up call that we needed."

"Malaysia was a tough weekend," Hamilton said ahead of Sunday's Chinese GP. "I think ultimately we made the best choices we could, but there is always room for improvement and we've been working hard to analyze everything for the next race."

Hamilton, who captured the season-opening race in Australia and was second in Malaysia, will be hoping for a boost on a track where he's enjoyed considerable success.

He's won the Chinese Grand Prix three times — more than any other driver — and finished on the podium six times overall.

"Shanghai is one of my favorite locations," Hamilton said. "The circuit itself is a different challenge to Albert Park (in Australia) and Sepang (Malaysia), but it's one I really enjoy and it suits my driving style quite well."

Mercedes technical chief Paddy Lowe said the team has spent the past two weeks trying to make

improvements to the car, citing its most significant weakness as tire management during long runs.

He said the team also addressed the car's aerodynamics.

"It is now clearer than ever that there is serious competition for this world championship, so we will continue to work flat out for performance gains," Lowe said.

The conditions in Shanghai should cause less tire degradation compared to Malaysia, with temperatures only expected to reach about 21 degrees Celsius (70 Fahrenheit) for the race on Sunday.

The other top teams will be looking to play catch-up after difficult starts to the year.

McLaren has struggled with a host of issues with its Honda engines and managed just one finish in the first two F1 races — Jenson Button's 11th place result in Melbourne. The team has acknowledged that the long straights in Shanghai will also make it tough to close the gap.

Still, new McLaren driver Fernando Alonso sounded upbeat about the car's progress since the start of the season. "The steps we took between Australia and Malay-

sia were extremely impressive — it was a great feeling to be able to mix it with other cars and drivers, and I hope we can do more of the same in China," he said.

Red Bull has faced even more questions as French automaker Renault, which supplies engines to the team, has threatened to pull out of the sport if it doesn't see improvements on the track.

In an interview with Formula1. com on Monday, Helmut Marko, Red Bull's senior advisor, called the start of the season "a catastrophe."

The team's best finish has been Daniel Ricciardo's sixth place in Melbourne. "We are significantly behind Mercedes. They clearly dominate," Marko said.

As for whether Renault could pull out, Marko said the carmaker is "spending a lot of money on this power unit — not as much as Mercedes but a significant amount — and (is) confronted with the same issues that we have: their F1 involvement has to pay off."

Red Bull won the drivers' and teams' championships from 201013 with Renault before the sport switched to V6 hybrid engines last year.

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