August 13th 2014

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www.morungexpress.com

Dimapur VOL. IX ISSUE 221

The Morung Express “

www.morungexpress.com

Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to cast a stone

Modi accuses Pakistan of waging proxy war [ PAGE 8]

reflections

By Sandemo Ngullie

‘Girls have the ability to grow India’s economy’

Governor Acharya assumes Chairmanship of NEZCC

[ PAGE 11]

[ PAGE 9]

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[ PAGE 2]

Gaza talks to continue in Cairo as truce holds

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Wednesday, August 13, 2014 12 pages Rs. 4 –Jesus Christ

I feel disrespected by ad-hoc body’s behaviour: Mary Kom [ PAGE 12]

students protest awful condition of nH-29 Our Correspondent Kohima | August 12

Aree… I distinctly ordered you not to accept gifts from them. How many truckload of booze did you allow to pass this time…100?

Two Murder accused apprehended

Dimapur, august 12 (mExN): In a major breakthrough, the Dimapur police have arrested two murder accused, who were wanted in connection with the murder of a driver, Vivender Rai, whose dead body was recovered from Darogapathar, 2 ½ mile near T. K. Service, Dimapur on December 9, 2013. In a press release, the Additional Superintendent of Police/PRO, Dimapur stated that the two accused were identified as Mosto Ram (30) alias Krishno Mech and Birju Rai (30). Dimapur Police informed that four other persons had also been arrested earlier, in connection with the case.

July 4 murder: Trial nearing final stage Morung Express News Dimapur | August 12

The July 4, 2013 murder trial, which is being heard in the court of the Sessions Judge, Dimapur is in its final stages.

The fate of the main accused and three others accused of complicity in the murder hangs in the balance, as the witness examination phase of the trial has been completed. The three defendants accused of complicity are out on bail. The prosecution counsel, representing the government in the trial, informed that the final argument is scheduled to begin by the end of August. A verdict is expected in September but it would depend on the judge, the counsel added. The trial is in the tenth month since it began in October 2013.

North East militants call for I-Day boycott

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guwahati, august 12 (iaNs): Militant outfits from the northeast region Tuesday called for a 12-hour boycott of the Independence Day celebrations. A statement issued by the outfits appealed to the people to keep away from the celebrations organised by the respective state governments.

The outfits are CorCom (the coordination committee of major outfits in Manipur), the Hynnewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) of Meghalaya, the Kamatapur Liberation Organisation (KLO), the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT).

“A general strike will be observed from 1 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. in the entire region,” the statement said. Essential services like emergency measures, media and religious activities are exempted from the strike.

Walking on potholes with placards demanding that the 15 Border Road Task Force (BRTF) repair the NH 29 (Tinpati junction to BSF camp), students and concerned citizens held a rally/protest from DBHSS till the BRTF station at High School Junction on August 12 in Kohima. Students as young as 11 years old also participated in the protest.

The procession depicted the irony of the 15 BRTF’s welcoming gate, on which is clearly written - ‘Welcome to the 15 BRTF in the service of Nagaland’ or the Border Roads Organization’s objective, which is ‘Create, Connects & Cares’.

“We are actually supposed to be in school taking classes but we are here protesting and requesting the concerned authorities to take care of the road immediately,” said a student from DBHSS. The protest is a public movement initiated by concerned citizens, residents in the area and students from Mt. Hermon Higher Secondary School, Don Bosco Higher Secondary School, Christ King

Students march in protest to express their discontentment over the BRTF’s inability to address the worsening conditions on NH 29 in Kohima on August 12. (Morung Photo)

Higher Secondary School, Kohima College, TM Government Higher Secondary School and Hindi Institution, Ziekezou.

The students embarked on their protest carrying placards with catchy phrases like - ‘Is the Government waiting for the Black money in Swiss Bank to repair our roads?’; ‘All Talks and no work makes you worthless!’ and ‘BRTF could introduce FISHING as a subject in our schools and colleges.’ The protes-

tors went on a silent procession, circled the BRTF area and left the placards inside the 15 BRTF compound, much to the amusement of the BRTF employees and onlookers.

“The road that leads to your school is also the road to your future. I wish some of the officials would walk with us so that they know how it feels like to walk on such roads,” said Bharat Prasad, a teacher at DBS, while addressing the students at the protest. Prasad

CM confident of 9 percent increase to state plan size KOhima, august 12 (NEps): Nagaland state Chief Minister, TR Zeliang has expressed optimism for a 9 percent increase to the state’s plan size. He disclosed that the Memorandum on the state’s finances has already been submitted to the Prime Minister, who has in turn endorsed it to the Planning Commission for scrutiny. The memo will be then sent to the Finance Ministry for further examination before “it finally goes to the PMO,” Zeliang informed.

Disclosing this during a formal meeting with members of the Kohima Press Club (KPC) here at his of-

ficial residence today, the CM expressed confidence that the Center would look into the state’s financial position from a realistic angle.

Zeliang further dismissed rumors that the Planning Commission had already moved to deduct more money from the state’s annual plan size. He said the state was yet to have a plan discussion with the Planning Commission. He informed that the discussion will be held at the end of this month or the first part of September. “Only after this discussion, I will be able to tell you the exact financial position of the state,”

he stated. The Nagaland CM further stated that the Planning Commission has already accepted the points raised by the state regarding the role of the 13th Finance Commission in putting the state in its current financial position.

“When I met Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley and explained the position, he also told me that he would look into it as and when he receives the report from the Planning Commission,” he said. “So the PMO is waiting for the report from the Finance Ministry for his final decision on the state’s finances,” he added.

stated that two incidents have occurred where students have fallen down and got injured because of the deplorable condition of the roads.

From the stretch within Tinpati and DBHSS, most students go to school on foot. During the monsoon season, students have to sit in class from 8:30 am to 2:30 pm in wet dirty uniforms. Bharat Prasad, who has been teaching in DBHSS for seventeen years, informed that the BRTF

has never done any proper work in the area except for dumping sand and mud.

“Roads are our lifeline, if the roads are completely repaired, we will feel safe,” added Medosano from CKHSS. “Getting dirty early in the morning is not very pleasant,” stated another student from Kohima College. While some students revealed that they bunk classes because of the eroding road conditions.

Sonia Dey, an English Teacher at Mt. Hermon

Higher Secondary, who has lived in the area for three years, stated that the road has always been in a bad condition and has been a major hindrance.

She added that since the road is a national highway, large vehicles pass and the poor road conditions pose the risk of smaller vehicles falling off. “Major accidents happen because of carelessness. This is not a local alley, it’s a national highway and should be a major concern for the state,” add-

ed Dey. “When it rains, it dirties our clothes. We can’t even come to school because of the roads,” says a shy 14 years old, Meshenti from Mt. Hermon School Higher Secondary. When asked whether he believes the BRTF would repair the roads after their protests, Meshenti says, “Maybe!”

An authority that has neglected its responsibility for two decades will surely take time to build the trust its future needs.

We need to understand one another: nscn (iM)

Morung Express News Dimapur | August 12

A sense of expectancy surrounded the return of the NSCN (IM) collective leadership to Nagaland, after their informal talks with central representatives under the new dispensation in Delhi.

Briefing media persons on their arrival at Dimapur Airport on Tuesday afternoon, NSCN (IM) General Secretary, Th Muivah, who was accompanied by the Chairman, Isak Swu and their wives, said there is a perceptible change to the approach of the Centre to the Naga peace talks.

• NSCN (IM) notices a ‘sense of seriousness’ in Center’s approach to talks • Says frequent changes in interlocutors have slowed down pace of peace talks “This issue (Naga issue) has been for so long remained unsolved and that is never good to the Indians too. So this time, yes we have noticed in them a sense of seriousness,” Muivah said.

The NSCN (IM) leader however hinted that the frequent changes in the Centre’s “interlocutors” have slowed down the pace of the peace talks.

Queried on the Naga

Hoho’s opposition to the appointment of former Special Director of the Intelligence Bureau, RN Ravi as the new interlocutor, Muivah said that they have not been officially intimated so far. He viewed that the appointment could be a part of the change of government at the Centre.

On their return to Nagaland, Muivah revealed that they have a lot of things to do, including meeting

civil organizations for their views and also updating them on the progress made so far on the talks.

“We need to understand together because this is a national issue”, he said.

Muivah further asserted that only when Naga people as a whole understand one other, will they be the “strongest” and negotiate to their advantage.

Asked on how long the collective leadership would stay in Nagaland before their next departure to Delhi, Muivah replied: “we will be here only for some time,” striking a note of urgency for resumption of the peace talks.

situation in ralan area tense Watchdog seeks to bar political Morung Express News Dimapur | August 12

The land dispute along the Assam-Nagaland border in Ralan, Wokha district aggravated today after a firing incident on August 12. The incident occurred at Chandalasung B (also known as Chetiagaon), under Ralan police station, bordering Golaghat district of Assam.

According to a report from Ralan, the firing was reportedly the result of a confrontation between Adivasis and Nagas disputing over land. The report from the Nagaland side of the border alleged that a group of people made an attempt to attack Chandalashung B, resulting in the exchange of gunfire.

News reports from Assam however claimed that the shooting was started from the Nagaland side of the border.

Two people from the Assam side reportedly died in the shootout but it could not be confirmed.

Nagaland Police personnel stationed in Ralan informed that the firing started at around 2:00 pm and lasted

KLH condemns KOhima, august 12 (mExN): The Kohima Lotha Hoho (KLH) has meanwhile urged the Nagaland state government to “urgently deploy sufficient state police force to the affected area before the situation goes out of hand.”

A press note from the KLH informed that “as per eye witnesses reports, unruly mob of laborers from Assam, armed with bow and arrows backed by AALNA/Maoist as well as Assam police, pulled down a residential home of a Lotha Naga which ultimately led to serious confrontation and firing.” It termed the action of the laborers as “unwarranted since genuine efforts are on to solve the border issue.” The KLH further condemned the alleged “motive of using illegal immigrants and Adivasi laborers as human shield to encroach into Naga areas by the Assam Government.” “It must be clear to every concern that in no time in the history of Nagas were we neighbors to Adivasis or any other people except the Ahoms,” it added. till 5:00 pm. The OC of Ralan police station informed that there were reports of two casualties but it was yet to be ascertained. Around fifty houses were also burned down, he added.

The OC said that the situation was tense and has called for additional police deployment. Two sections of the NAP, in addition to the existing personnel, were maintaining vigil, it was added.

The Superintendent of Police

(Border) and the Superintendent of Police, Wokha were enroute to Ralan till the time of filing this report.

Meanwhile, tension heightened in Wokha town after news spread of the violence in Ralan. According to a report from Wokha, a large crowd, mostly comprising of youth, gathered in the town centre reportedly to head to Ralan. However, the crowd dispersed after elders intervened.

parties, corporates from media

NEw DElhi, august 12 (iaNs): To ensure unbiased dissemination of news and views, the broadcast regulator sought to restrict entry of political parties and corporates in television and newspaper business. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Tuesday released the “Recommendations on the Issues relating to Media Ownership”, which propose a single independent media regulatory authority for television and print media.

“The regulatory body should consist of eminent persons from different walks of life, including the media. It should be manned predominantly by eminent non-media people,” the recommendation said. The job of the media regulatory authority will be to check and impose penalties for “paid news”, “private news” and issues related to editorial independence.

“The entities (political bodies, religious bodies, urban, local, panchayati raj, and other publicly funded bodies, and central and state government ministries, departments, companies, undertakings, joint ventures, and government-funded entities and affiliates) to be barred from entry into broadcasting and TV channel distribution sectors,” TRAI said.

It said an exit route option should be provided in case permission to any such organisation has already been granted.

With respect to the “media regulator”, the authority said: “Government should not regulate the media; there should be a single regulatory authority for TV and print mediums; the regulatory body should consist of eminent persons from different walks of life, including the media. It should be manned predominantly by eminent non-media people.”

Commenting on corporates entering media, it said: “On grounds of the inherent conflict of interest, the authority recommends that ownership restrictions on corporates entering the media should be seriously considered by the government and the regulator.”

“Rapid structural changes in the media and entertainment industry have occurred over the last few years. ... Cross-media integration provides media owners with opportunities to leverage content, advertiser relationships, build economies of scale and to enhance viability,” Jehil Thakkar, partner and head of media and entertainment, KPMG India, said in a statement.

However, he added: “Onerous integration restrictions could potentially constrain investments, economies of scale, incentives to invest in sourcing and developing better quality content, and thereby, long-term growth. Most mature markets do have some level of cross-media restrictions but India must be careful to frame its regulations in a way that encourages healthy growth rather than restrict scale.”

The recommendations said the news and current affairs genre is of utmost importance and direct relevance to the plurality and diversity of viewpoints and hence “should be considered as the relevant genre in the product market for formulating cross-media ownership rules”.

It also said the HerfindahlHirschman Index (a commonly accepted measure of market concentration) should be adopted to measure the concentration in a media segment in a relevant market.

TRAI also said: “The arm’s length relationship between Prasar Bharati and the government be further strengthened and that such measures should ensure functional independence and autonomy of Prasar Bharati.”

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Dimapur

Wednesday

LocaL

13 August 2014

Governor Acharya assumes Chairmanship of NEZCC

DImApur, August 12 (mExN): The Governor of Nagaland & Chairman, NEZCC PB Acharya has assumed the charge of the Chairmanship of the North East Zone Cultural Centre, Ministry of Culture, Government of India.

According to a press note received here North East Zone Cultural Centre is one of the seven

Governor of Nagaland & Chairman, NEZCC PB Acharya with others at the centre in Dimapur.

regional cultural centre established, defined and provided with administrative infrastructure by the Government of India for the overall development , preservation, promotion and dissemination of the traditional arts of the country. A Director to the Government of India as the CEO heads each Centre, whilst the Gover-

nor of the host state assumes the Chairmanship of the Centre.

Lipokmar Tzudir, Director, NEZCC and welcomed the Governor to the Centre and hoped that under his dynamic leadership the Centre will grow further and achieve greater heights. A brief cultural programme was organized in his honour with artistes

performing folk dances, a choral presentation by the Nagaland Singing Ambassadors and the Brass Band of ARTC. Governor of Nagaland and Chairman, NEZCC in his address expressed his happiness on the role of NEZCC in the overall cultural devolvement of North East India under the guidance of Lipokmar

Tzudir, Director, NEZCC who himself is a renowned performer. He wished the NEZCC greater success in its future endeavor.

The Governor’s wife, Commissioner & Secretary to Governor, District Administration officials, SP, Dimapur and Commandant 2Bn, Assam Riles accompanied him during the event.

The Morung Express C

Youth leaders told be inclusive in their ministry Impur, August 12 (mExN): First of its kind, the Ao Baptist Arogo Mongdang Youth Department (ABAMYD) held its training for youth directors and youth leaders on social issues from August 8 to 10 at its Mission Centre, Impur, Mokokchung. The training was held under the leadership of Bendang Imsong, youth promoter ABAM. Rev. Dr. Mar Atsongchanger exhorted the participants and encouraged the leaders to be inclusive in their ministry encompassing all the issues confronting us today.

The resource person of the training was Maong Jamir, Assistant Director, Prodigals’ Home Dimapur. Issues of Drug Abuse & alcoholism, human trafficking, Disability, School Dropouts and Environment & development were some pertinent topics discussed during the training. Jamir emphasized on problems, gaps and role of the churches. Based on Luke 4:18-19 Jamir stated, “God has a special concern for the voiceless and expects

His followers to deliver the same compassion” He further stated that God’s concern is not limited to humanity, but extends to all of creation.

Issues such as misuse of internet and mobile phones among young people, Alcoholism, parents Children relationship and school dropouts were some of the findings during a session on problem analysis exercise

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fortnight conducted at Longleng

LoNgLENg, August 12 (mExN): Intensified Diarrhea Control Fortnight (IDCF) was held in Longleng District from July 28 to August 8.

The district review meeting in relation with IDCF was held at district level CMO office Longleng. IDCF main goal is to reduce Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and to control Diarrhea. Therefore, IDCF aims at reaching out to all the children under 5years and achieving zero death.

During the fortnight, the ASHAs in the district covered 8063 household having children under 5years of age,

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Maong Jamir, Assistant Director, Prodigals’ Home Dimapur during the training for youth directors and youth leaders on social issues held at Mission Centre, Impur.

KSD conducts arts & literary competition Intensified Diarrhea control

KSD in a press note stated that the program commenced with lighting the lamp by Rev. Fr. PS Varghese, Vicar of MGOS Church Dimapur.Total 65 students took part in different competitions like dance, singing, recitation, elocution, malayalam reading, calligraphy and drawing.

In the closing ceremony, the organisers gave away the prizes and certificates to the winners.

Earlier, Reji Abraham, President Kerala SamaWinner of the Kalolsavam 2014’ arts and literary competition organised by Kerala Samajam jam Dimapur welcomed Dimapur at Rotary Club, Dimapur on August 9. the audients and Reji DImApur, August 12 savam 2014’ arts and liter- for the students of Malay- Kuriakose, General Secre(mExN): Kerala Samajam ary competition on August alam Classes run by the or- tary pronounced the vote of thanks.

Dimapur organized ‘Kalol- 9 at Rotary Club, Dimapur ganization.

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distributed prophylactic ORS, and were given demonstration on how to prepare handmade ORS. Altogether, a total number of 12 ORS and Zinc corners were set up in the district and School Health teams covered 85 numbers of schools in the district, where combo packs containing ORS and Zinc Tablets were distributed. The children and staffs were given demonstration on hand washing and personal hygiene. A total number of 94 mal nutrition children were detected during the ASHAs house-to-house visits.

by the participants. Based on the pressing issues, the youth directors suggested organizing a follow up training in the future.

ABAMYD Youth Promoter Bendang Imsong in a press release stated that the three days training was an eye opener to many leaders. Altogether 382 from 95 churches under ABAM participated in the training.

Directive on national flag code KohImA, August 12 (DIpr): The Government of Nagaland, Home Department, Political branch vide its circular No- CON-1/G/167/20047 (Pt-1) dated 5th August 2014, has directed that the National Flag of India, should be printed on bio-degradable paper materials only. And that all the National evens, sports and cultural occasions, the use of plastic and other non-biodegradable materials should not be used. The directive is in pursuance of the “Flag code of India, 2002 and prevention of insults to National honour act, 1971.

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MOCK freshers’ meet today KohImA, August 12 (mExN): The Mount Olive College, Kohima will be holding its 23rd freshers’ meet on August 13 at the State Academy Hall, Kohima at 10:00 AM. Parliamentary secretary for irrigation & flood control and election Y. Vikheho Swu will grace the function as the chief guest.

Mass social work at Sechü Zubza on Aug 14

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ZubZA, August 12 (mExN): With a view to keep the village and its surrounding areas neat and clean, Sechü Zubza Village would be carrying out a mass social work on August 14 starting from 9 am onwards.

Informing this in a release, SZVC Chairman Neikuo Sechü and SZYO Presi-

dent Megoneituo Kielienyü have requested all villagers (young and old) to participate and cooperate during the social work which would be conducted extensively with the support of trucks and JCBs. The circular has also made a fervent appeal to all the institutions, gov-

ernment offices and shopkeepers to assist in their own capacity during the social work, which it said, will mostly be carried out in public places including roads, school institutions and department offices.

Owners of mini trucks, Tata mobiles and any other vehicles that may be handy

during the social work are also requested to assist, while volunteers are asked to bring their own necessary tools and implements.

Meanwhile, the circular has also directed all the shops to remain closed during the time of mass social work in order to avoid distraction.

Minister Azo inaugurate Tabitha Academy’s building

Minister Azo and others during the dedication service of Tabitha Academy building on August 11 in Kohima. (Morung Photo)

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KohImA, August 12 (mExN): Minister for PWD (Roads & Bridges) and Parliamentary Affairs Kuzholuzo (Azo) Nienu on Monday inaugurated Tabitha Academy’s building at Sepfuzou below Alder College, Kohima. Speaking on the occasion, Azo stated that he was deeply impressed with the management of Tabitha Academy for their commitment and zeal to mould and nurture the children.

“This is something we all should encourage and support in order to enable the children to grow up in the right direction,” the minister said. The minister appreciated Kudecho Khamo for accepting this challenging task and done so much specially for the children with special needs.

“The initiative and enthu-

siasm to help the poor and needy specially the differently able children is an eye opener which all of us should come out in the like manner,” the minister said.

Azo also stated that he was really touched by the way Ati and Asanuo taking keen interest to care and sacrifice for the children with special gifts through Tabitha Enabling Resource Centre (TERC).

Further, the minister maintained that the society must show love and concern to this differently able children by way of prayer and sharing what God has given to us.

Earlier, Rev. Khrotso Mero, Sr. pastor Chakhesang Baptist Church Kohima dedicated the Academy.

Kudecho Khamo stated that a land has already

been acquired for TERC at Sepfuzou which will be managed as a Ministry by Ati and Asanuo in place of the previous nomenclature Tabitha Enabling Academy. “We are planning to start a new academic session for the students with special needs there next year,” he said. On behalf of the Academy, Khamo also requested the minister to blacktop and in some cases construct with cement concrete from its plot below Alder College.

Stating that school is one of the best platforms to initiate change both in the lives of individuals and in the society as a whole, Khamo stated that Tabitha Academy is committed to meet the demand for academic excellence and strive to provide quality ed-

ucation. He also stated that the school is also committed to motivate and train up a student to become a competent and responsible citizen of the country, to explore and develop the innate faculties and talents through various programmes and activities, to inculcate moral and ethical values for the wholesome development of a student’s personality and to create a sound Christian environment for developing them into a God – fearing people.

Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA) speaker Chotisuh Sazo, parliamentary secretary for housing & excise T. Torechu, parliamentary secretary for higher education & SCERT Deo Nukhu including several other dignitaries also graced the occasion.

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In this photo issued by CMO Media Cell, Chief Minister TR Zeliang with the Youth Net Team at his residential office on August 12. The Youth Net professional’s team comprising of MBAs, corporate trainers, social workers and experts in various domains call on the Chief Minister at his residential office. Hikani Jhakalu highlighted the CM about the activities and programmes of Youth Net. Chief Minister wished the Youth Net team well in all their activities and said that they are in the right track and doing commendable job.

Kohima Press Club call on CM

KohImA, August 12 (mExN): The Kohima Press Club (KPC) today called on Chief Minister TR Zeliang at the CMO. This was the first time a Chief Minister of the state granted official audience to members of KPC since the inception of the club in 2001.

The KPC members interacted with the Chief Minister and apprised him of the functions of the club. Members also shared some of the grievances that the press fraternity in Kohima face while carrying out their duties in the service of the people. The KPC also, on the occasion, submitted

Chief Minister TR Zeliang with members of Kohima Press Club at the CMO Kohima on Tuesday.

a general memorandum to the Chief Minister for maintenance of a good rapport between the press and the state government and its various establishments.

The Chief Minister

graciously assured to look into the points raised by the KPC for the welfare of the press fraternity.

The KPC team included president Xavier Rutsa, advisor Kopelo Krome,

general secretary Alice Yhoshü, joint secretary Solomon Sha, treasurer Rüülhoutuonuo Theünuo and senior members Oken Jeet Sandham and Kuzhovesa Soho.

Interim Body Member meets CM

KohImA, August 12 (mExN): The Interim Body Members (IBM) paid a courtesy call to the Chief Minister TR Zeliang at his Official Residence, Kohima on August 12.

During the meeting, the Interim Body Members brief the Chief Minister on important issues such as to protect the rights of the Nagas referring to article 371(A) and to recognize Chief minister TR Zeliang with the Interim Body Member at and uphold the custom- his official residence on August 12.

ary laws of the Nagas.

Before the meeting began the oldest member among the team, Lothi Rengma invoked God’s blessing and said that the main purpose of the visit was to pray and bless the new Chief Minister of Nagaland. A press note issued by the CMO media cell informed that the team members were T. Kikon Convenor & Ex IBM, Tokeho Sema Ex IBM and Lothi Rengma Ex IBM.

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REgional

The Morung Express

Wednesday

13 August 2014

Dimapur

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‘Rallying for Just Peace and Honorable Solution’ ukhrul, august 12 (MExn): Rallying for Just Peace and Honorable Solution, a rally with a difference, was organized on Monday by the Tangkhul Longnao (Tangkhul Social Organisations consisting of the Tangkhul Naga Long, Tangkhul Chiefs Association, Tangkhul Women’s League, Tangkhul Youth Council and Tangkhul Students’ Union). Nagas of Ukhrul District Headquarters were joined by the surrounding villages of Shirui, Langdang, Choithar, Huining Ato, Lamlang, Seikhor, Pharung, Ngainga and Halang Aze at the peace rally, a press release on behalf of Tangkhul Longnao from Leiyolan Vashum, General Secretary, Tangkhul Katamnao Saklong, informed.

While stating that the Government of Manipur had as usual deployed hundreds of security personnel “with full combat readiness,” the release stated that they were “no match for the high spirits of the thousands of peaceful Nagas who had come out to show their sup-

Rallying for Just Peace and Honorable Solution: (LEFT) Tangkhuls march holding banners demanding that the Government of Manipur uphold the Indo-Naga ceasfire.

(Right) Security Forces keep a watch during the protest rally. The rally organized by the Tangkhul Longnao on Monday saw thousands of Tangkhuls come out and defy Sec 144 CrPC which has been in place for a month now. (Photos: Tangkhuls on Facebook)

port to the Indo-Naga Peace Process; showing that they, no matter how small or big, weak and strong, have a part to play in the quest for Peace and an Honorable Solution.”

Making a stand on the territorial limit of the ceasefire between NSCN (IM) and Government of India, the Tangkhul Longnao “strongly put forward” that the Indo-Naga

Ceasefire encompasses all Naga inhabited areas and no less. “Nagas want an immediate and honorable solution and also would like to encourage the Government of India not to delay it any further, but expedite the process instead so as to usher in an era of peace and justice; a solution that respects and acknowledge our history and situation,” it stated.

On the 17 year old Indo-Naga Peace Process, the Tangkhul Longnao lamented that there was no sign of positivity on the part of the Government of India.

Maintaining that the ceasefire was agreed upon by the Government of India and that the talks would be conducted at the highest level without any preconditions, it stated, “The Indo-Naga Ceasefire was then signed

encompassing all Naga inhabited areas, which the Nagas have honored till this very day bearing the conviction that the solution can only be brought about through peaceful means.”

“However, the Government of Manipur led by the Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh has repeatedly and virulently pursued actions to derail the negotiations and the Ceasefire

agreement. It has time and again also demonstrated its unwillingness to allow any policies that will benefit the hill/tribal people, instead advocating laws and policies that seek to erode away their rights,” the Tankhul Longnao alleged.

Further claiming that the Government of Manipur has repeatedly denied the existence of the IndoNaga Ceasefire although

Drought turning paddy fields into football grounds: Meghalaya CM shIllong, august 12 (Ians): Meghalaya is facing a drought-like situation -- and paddy fields in the state, having no use, are fast becoming football grounds, Chief Minister Mukul Sangma said Tuesday. The state was facing a rainfall deficit between 20 and 59 percent, he said.

"The current drought-like

situation is a cause for concern.

I saw paddy fields having turned into football grounds while travelling to places like Rongjeng and Kharkutta (in the East Garo Hills)," he told journalists here.

Efforts are being made to provide interim relief to the affected families, he said. Sangma said the government has adopt-

ed several measures to tackle the situation. "The agriculture department and its allied departments have been tasked to assess the situation," he said and added that would take up the drought issue with the central government, and seek interim relief.

The Indian Council of Agriculture Research has exhorted the

farming community in Meghalaya to adopt "climate-smart" measures. "The entire northeast, barring a few districts, experienced severe water problem in June and July, because of scarce precipitation as a result of climate change, that is posing a threat to agricultural production," S.V. Ngachan, director at the ICAR Research

Centre asks Assam to check violence, seize illegal weapons nEW DElhI, august 12 (PtI): To prevent incidents of violence, Assam government has been advised to take strict security measures, including seizure of illegal weapons, Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday.

46 people lost their lives in May following violence in Baksa and Kokrajhar districts of Assam.

"The government of Assam has been advised to adopt strict security measure including seizure of illegal weapons held by different groups and also for effective functioning of anti-extortion cells set up in various districts of the states including BTAD (Bodoland Territorial Area Districts)," minister of state for home affairs Kiren Rijiju said.

To prevent recurrence of violence, 23 fixed/mobile police pickets have been established in the vulnerable areas. "...patrolling by security forces have been intensified for area domination and to instill a sense of security among people," he said during question hour while responding to queries on violence in BTAD. Central Armed Police Forces and State Armed Police are utilized extensively for taking action against the militants besides organizing peace committee, he said.

Citing reports received from the Assam government, Rijiju said incidents of violence were committed by the armed cadres of extremist group NDFB (Songbijit) on May 1 and 2 in

three villages of Baksa and one village of Kokrajhar district.

According to him, violence claimed lives of 46 civilians. "The state government has paid ex-gratia grant of Rs 8 lakh (Rs 5 lakh under the state scheme and Rs 3 lakh under the central scheme) to the next of kin of the deceased belonging to Baksa district," he said. With regard to Kokrajhar district, the state government provided funds to the district administration for disbursement of ex-gratia grant of Rs 8 lakh to each of the next of kin of the deceased "which is under process of payment".

The state government has provided rehabilitation of Rs 50,000 to each family whose houses were fully damaged.

Popular Arunachal folk tale Abotani in animation soon I ta n a g a r , august 12 (PtI): Outside Arunachal Pradesh very few people know about Abotani and his exploits, but with a London-based trust planning to make an animated movie on the mythical hero, the folk tales can now soon reach a wider audience.

Adivasi Arts Trust, a London-based organisation, works for reviving indigenous arts and culture through digital media and animation, hopes to release the movie by the year-end.

Abotani is the hero of folktales of Tani tribes of the Himalayan state comprising Apatani, Nyishi, Adi, Tagin and Hill Miri tribes. The story of the film titled ‘Abotani’ revolves around his attempt to free himself and his friends Kiipu (a dog) and Duumpoo (a deer) from the clutches of Digo Ane (Keeper of Land) and his relation with brother Yapom, a spirit.

The makers of the movie have a plan to screen it in schools, festivals and cultural events in Arunachal Pradesh as well as UK. The secretary of the trust, Tara Douglas, told PTI in an e-mail interview, "The movie, which we are planning to release by the end of this year, gives a message of mankind’s interdependence on the natural and supernatural worlds."

The pre-production work for the short film was made in an animation workshop at the Depart-

ment of Mass Communication in Rajiv Gandhi University, Doimukh in 2013 in collaboration with the Centre for Cultural Research and Documentation, Douglas said.

The animation models were made by British animation model professional Jonathan Marchant from the designs made in the workshop, she said adding they were also inspired by the traditional art exhibited in the JN State Museum in Itanagar.

Douglas said two miniature huts made of bamboos in the traditional Galo style were taken all the way to Delhi from Arunachal to be used on the set.

She said that they were at present trying to source original folk music from the Tani group of tribes to be used in the soundtrack of the film. "We are planning to dub the film into several local languages of the Tani tribes as well as in Arunachalee Hindi and English," Douglas said.

Douglas, a graduate in animation from West Surrey College of Art and Design in the UK, has been working for preservation of tribal folktales in India through animation.

‘Abotani’ will be screened as part of their Tales of the Tribes – a series of five animated folktales from indigenous communities in India. The four other films – Story of the Pea-

cock (Pardhan Gond tribe of Madhya Pradesh), Man Tiger Spirit (Angami tribe of Nagaland), Tapta (Meitei tribe of Manipur) and Nye Mayel Kyong (Lepcha tribe of Sikkim) – are in different stages of production. The series will be of 30-minute duration and each film will be of five to six minutes.

Abotani is considered the primal ancestor of the Tani tribes and the first to introduce the technique of paddy cultivation.

Douglas said that they would screen the film for the Asian communities in the UK during the annual cultural event at the Nehru Centre in London and try to broadcast it television channels in Scotland as well.

Complex in Umiam, told IANS. Ngachan suggested that farmers go for irrigation through water sources like streams, community ponds, wells or any stored water (jalkund), and conservation of soil moisture through mulching with locally available biomass, weeding in crops and planting short-duration rice varieties.

CHRISTIAN BOOK FAIR

l Retai Date: 11th -23rd August 2014 Time: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm Venue: City Tower Junction Circular Road, Dimapur

OFFICE OF THE

RENGMA OFFICERS FORUM H.Q.: Tseminyu-Dist. Kohima: Nagaland-797109

FELICITATION The Rengma Officers Forum (ROF) heartily congratulates: (1) Ar.Jwenga Seb, Principal Architect, ‘JS Architect & Associates, Dimapur’ and Ar.Logvüseng Semp, Principal Architect, 'Environ Assemblers, Dimapur' for receiving the prestigious ‘Indian Award of Excellence in Architecture’ for their achievements and outstanding contributions in the field of architecture; awarded by the Friendship Forum of India on 26th July 2014 at New Delhi.

(2) Dr.G.Kemp, for being promoted to the Principal Director of Health and Family Welfares, Govt. of Nagaland.

(3) Er.Njilo Kemp, for being promoted the Chief Engineer, Irrigation and Flood Control, Govt. of Nagaland (4) Dr.Soyhunlo Seb, s/o Thunlo Seb, who has been appointed as an Asst.Professor in Geography at RIE, Bhopal through the competitive exam conducted by the NCERT, New Delhi.

(5) Shri R.B. Thong, Principal Secretary, Irrigation and Flood Control who has been given Responsibility as the Development Commissioner of Nagaland.

The Forum wish all of them a very bright and successful career and hope that they will continue to help uplift the Rengma people in particular and the Naga people in general.

(Mr.Kenilo Apon) (Er.Chengato Kath) President, Secretary (IPR), ROF ROF

ACKNOWLEDGMENT “CATCH THEM YOUNG CRUSADE” We would like to thank everyone who has helped in making the Catch Them Young Crusade (8-10 August) a fruitful event. We want to especially thank the pastors and youth leaders of various churches, leaders and members of various committees, the volunteers and every single individual who attended the meetings. Our heartfelt gratitude also goes out to the speakers and participants of the crusade. We also acknowledge all those who prayed for the three-day event, God has honored your prayers. We also sincerely thank all the churches, individuals and families who have contributed financially towards the crusade. May God bless you all abundantly for your investment in various capacities towards building the kingdom of God. - NBCC, ABKK & KBYF

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The United Naga Tribes Association of Border Areas (UNTABA) extends our hearth felt gratitude to Mr. TN Manen, IAS, Rtd. Addl. Chief Secretary, Resource Person, Panelists Dr. PS Lorin, Mr. P.Leonard Aier and Dr. Visakhonu Hibu, Principals of Tetso College, City Law College and Japfu Christian College respectively, Mr. K. Temjen, Editor, TirYimyim, Rev. W. Lohe, President, DBPF, various Naga Tribes Leaders including Mr. Yeangpong Konyak, Mr. Hamnyei Phom, Mr. Lanu Imchen, Mr. NN Ngullie, IPS, Mr. GK Rengma and Mr. Raitu Elu, Mr. HK Zhimomi, VP, Naga Hoho and Mr. Neangba Konyak, President, ENPUD; Mr. Nzanthung K. Yanthan & Ms. Kiran Sumi, the Moderators; and all the Naga leaders of different organizations for the meaningful participation, all the volunteers and Press fraternity for news coverage in the successful conduct of ‘Peoples’ Dialogue’ on Border Issue between Assam and Nagaland and the DAN authority for allotment of Town Hall.

We shall look forward for your concern and positive contributions in the days to come.

Thank you all.

IMSUMONGBA PONGEN, Vice Chairman, UNTABA

the Peace Process is in place, the Tangkhul Longnao remarked, “This has resulted in a contradictory and paradoxical situation in which the communal Government has vocally been against any efforts for Peace; the implication being clear that the Government of Manipur wants violence and conflicts to continue.”

The Longnao further

alleged that the Manipur Government has ‘continuously and vehemently’ engineered events creating war like situations in Naga areas, and extensively militarizing Naga areas, in its attempts to illegally wrest control of the Nagas over their lands and territories, denial of the right to identity and culture of Nagas. It is a norm for the Government of Manipur now, it added.

“The constant challenges faced from the Government of Manipur calls for an urgent need for the Naga people to recommit once again to the Indo-Naga Peace Process and repose our faith in the quest for an immediate and honorable solution which is based on the unique history of the Nagas,” the Tankhul Longnao stated and added, “There is an urgent need for all Nagas to offer our all for the realization of an honorable political settlement and for the integration of all Naga areas whereby we will live as a people under one political roof, free from domination and exploitation.”

AKIU YIMCHUNGER, Joint Secretary, UNTABA

OFFICE OF THE

ORANGKONG UNION, DIMApUR DECLARATION

The Orangkong Union Dimapur has expelled Mr. K. Hamngai Phom from the Union member w.e.f. August 2014 for dishonouring the village Constitution No.17 using unrecognized “Clan” name i.e. Lakpan for a period of 3 years.

Henceforth, it is declared that the O.U.D do not hold any responsibility over the family of Mr.K.Hamngai Phom during the expelled period w.e.f. August 2014.

Sd/- C.Aleü Chairman Action Committee O.U.D

Sd/E.Longkei President O.U.D

GOVERNMENT OF NAGALAND

STATE COUNCIL OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH & TRAINING NAGALAND :: KOHIMA.

No SCERT/SBTE/PSTE/Notice /6/2010 - 11//

// Dated Kohima the 11th Aug 2014.

2 Year PSTE / Diploma in Teacher Education (D. EL Ed) Applications are invited from intending candidates for undergoing the 2 - Year Pre- Service Teacher Education (PSTE) Course Diploma in Primary Teacher Education (D.EL.Ed) under the SCERT Nagaland, Kohima for the Session 2015 -2017.

Requirements:1. Minimum Required Qualification:- P.U / 10 + 2 / Hr. Secondary Passed in any discipline with at least 45%.

2. Maximum age Limit: - 28 years.

3. Interview for selection will be conducted at SCERT, Kohima for DIET Chiechama and also at DIETs Mokokchung, Tuensang, Mon, Dimapur, Pfutsero, Wokha & Zunheboto 4. No. T.A/D.A. will be paid for attending the Interview.

5. A selected candidate may be deputed to any of the Institute mentioned above including St. Paul Institute of Teacher Education, Phesama and Salt Christian College of Teacher Education, Dimapur at the discretion of the department.

6. Admission Forms will be issued w.e.f. 13th August at SCERT and in all the DIET Institute, i.e DIETs, Chiechama, Mokokchung, Mon, Tuensang, Pfutsero, Dimapur, Wokha & Zunheboto, St. Paul Institute of Teacher Education, Phesama and Salt Christian College of Teacher Education, Dimapur.

7. Application Forms can be collected from any of the Institute mentioned above on payment of Rs. 150/-.

8. The date & time for Interview will be published in the Local Papers.

9. Last date for submission of the Application Form dully filled 30th Sept 2014.

(VIPRALHOU KESIEZIE) Director SCERT, Nagaland, Kohima

4

Dimapur

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public discoursE

Wednesday 13 August 2014

The Morung Express

What has to happen is happening!

014 August 2nd local papers carried a condemnation item given by Dimapur Longsa Youth Forum(DLYF) in connection with the purported threat on the life of its citizen Jonah Achumi by one Salehk Arkham, son of Mostin, Vice Chairman of Dimapur Muslim Public Forum. What prompted Salehk Arkham to opt for such ‘life threat’ is better known to parties involved. So far no rejoinder has come from Salehk, and perhaps he has better reasons to remain so.

Mine is a mere reaction on the face value of the news item without knowledge of the ground realities of the incident, simply using it as general clue. Of all the States in India, Nagaland is the best equipped with laws as ILP and Art 371(A) so as to protect itself from being swamped by outsiders. The developed nations are never complacent about immigration issue. Even to get a tourist Visa to visit a country is never easily given. Recently, two Nagas from Nagaland applied for visa to visit London on invitation but denied. The given reason for denial was that there was no guarantee that the two would return after the brief visit. A rich country like UK is in no mood to accommodate two Indians, of course, these

two had no intention to be British nationals. Thus, every country is strict about the issue of illegal immigrant. At the moment, Tripura is asking for repatriation of 35,000 Reangs to Mizoram.

Is Nagaland Govt. aware how many illegal immigrants are living in our State? Is there anyone serious about the presence of few lakhs of those outsiders living in Nagaland and trying to dominate and dictate the indigenous locals?

We, the indigenous Nagas of Nagaland are responsible for what mess we have in our land today.

1. Population: When Census is enumerated, each Village tries to inflate the Village population with illegal immigrants and floating population wherever they are available, mostly in Dimapur area, with motive. One of the intentions is to get more funds from RD Deptt. etc. with such inflated figure. Many Village leaders may not hesitate to issue adoption certificate or authentication certificate proving that an illegal citizen is the bona-fide citizen of the Village.

2. Electoral Roll: The worst is when Electoral revision takes place. We, the politicians mostly, become crazy and go for inclusion spree in electoral roll of all those illegal immigrants particularly in Dimapur and elsewhere as our and voters. In order to win

election by hook or by crook, some Nagaland politicians even imported voters from outside the State. Legal or illegal, when a person is enrolled as voter, he has the right to claim to be so. That becomes the basis for citizenship.

3. Indigenous Local certificate: Whenever, an opportunity of recruitment for paramilitary services is given to Nagas, people from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, etc. used to be recruited in higher percentage along with locals.

When questioned as to how and why those non-Nagas are allowed to enjoy the quota given specifically for the Nagas of Nagaland, the answer is all those possess Indigenous Naga certificates, and thus the recruiting authority cannot deny anyone the seat if not on the basis of demerit in the interview. What our Deputy Commissioners and other concerned authorities doing today? Is a Bihari or a Bengali truly an indigenous citizen of Nagaland? Are the local administrative officers doing business with the future of the Nagas? Are our Naga officers feeling too lazy to check the antecedent of any nonNaga before issuing such important certificate? Do those officers issuing certificates realize how much ruin is done to the careers of our youths? What authority

will henceforth streamline the issue of such certificate when Naga officers are crazy after business?

4. Misuse of Illegal Immigrants: The Naga Political Groups(NPGs) are reportedly using the services of legal or illegal immigrants to do their errand. In the past, the Naga movement was considered sacred and the Nagas believed it so. Having drawn those non-Nagas or particularly illegal immigrants into the service of Naga National Movement, its sacredness is contaminated.

National workers conniving with such controversial nationalities for any activity, in my opinion, duplicates the sacred movement. Those mercenaries, when engaged by any faction, can go to any extent in mistreating the Nagas. Ultimately Naga people will lose interest in the movement because of the dilution.

5. Issue of ILP: In the past, the ILP issuing authority used to be meticulous while screening the application for ILP. The students’ organization like NSF used to involve in proactive role so that our land is not flooded with illegal immigrants and outsiders.

Whereas, today only AKM and ASU have shown concern over the issue and the rest prefer to be spectator. Over and above, these days the concerned authorities

are very complacent and casual is issuing ILP making the law redundant and namesake.

6. Intermarriage: There must have been a good number of intermarriages between Nagas and illegal immigrants.

Contrary to Khasi culture of matriarchal system, the Nagas have patriarchal system. The children of those marriages are likely to face inconveniences in future.

Especially those of the backward tribes who enjoy job reservation facility tend to face disputes on legitimacy to enjoy the reserved quota. Besides, there is chance to have clash between East and West within a tribe with respect to identity crisis in near future.

All these factors are contributory to emboldening illegal immigrants and outsiders to have all kind of undue advantages on the sons of the soil. At this rate, hardly any responsible authority is sincere in underlining the impending danger of Damocles’ sword hanging above us. I believe there is an active process of assimilation as the Naga spirit is in its lowest ebb.

Exactly what has to happen is happening now. None should be surprised at more incidents between several Salehk Arkhams and many Jonah Achumis hence.

Z. Lohe

Need Of Correction Of 25 Years Of Massive Misconception Of Alcoholism As A Sin Or Weakness (Part III)

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agaland has been witnessing a massive misconception of alcoholism as a sin or weakness ever since twenty five years. The press statement of the Nagaland Baptist Church Council on the 4th August, 2014 and others have clearly proved such wrong thinking and action involving all members of the society any exception. It must however be kept in mind that an alcoholic is not a sinner. He is not having any weakness either. He is simply a chronic patient of alcoholism. The World Health Organisation has clearly categorised alcoholism as a chronic disease like diabetes, cancer, drug addiction, smoking, HIV/AIDS etcetera. Hence, Nagas must now come out of such long misconcept of treating alcoholism as a sin or weakness. They must be able to treat alcoholism as a chronic disease plus social menace as well when violence is involved, car accidents take place and street fight erupts.

For instance, to control such aforesaid similar disease, the Central Government has set up the National AIDS Control Organisation by an act followed with various activities-information, education, communication, treatment-ART, Counseling, rehabilitation, broadcasting, trainingworkshop, seminar, intervention etcetera which are undertaken with the collabora-

tion with Non Governmental Organisation. Despite such comprehensive, holistic actions ever since 1999, through the Nagaland AIDS Control Society and the Nagaland Legislative Forum on HIV/AIDS, HIV/AIDS is continuing to increase in geometrical proportion with Nagaland becoming one of the topmost vulnerable State through sexual route, use of contaminated syringes etcetera. Same is the state of affairs in the case of alcoholism even after the enforcement of the Nagaland Total Liquor Prohibition Act, 1989. These two aforesaid case studies have clearly proved that diseases cannot be controlled or regulated by strict laws however stringent they may be as the Nagas experience today. The Americans, others, Indians in various states have experienced similar experiences. Hence, Nagas, though Christians in name can never expect that they will be on different footing as if Nagaland is a paradise.

Despite the aforesaid helpless situation, neither the Central nor the State has set up any Alcoholism Control Organisation (National Alcoholism Control Organisation or Nagaland Alcoholism Control Organisation) as in the case of National AIDS Control Organisation or Nagaland AIDS Control Organisation, to control the rapid spread of alcoholism in Nagaland in particular and other states in India in gen-

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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 # 2964

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STROLLER CRIB BASSINET CHANGINGTABLE DRESSER ROCKINGCHAIR WALKER CRIBSHEETS RECEIVINGBLANKETS BABYBOTTLES BREASTPUMP DIAPERS DIAPERBAG DIAPERCREAM THERMOMETER TOWEL BATHTOYS BABYOIL BABYLOTION BABYOIL BABYSHAMPOO FORMULA BOTTLESTERILIZER HIGHCHAIR

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tion of alcoholism. The Government is you and I, as the ‘democracy is the government of the people by the people and for the people” as defined by Abraham Lincoln.

Dear Nagas, let us wake up from our long sleep of 25 years of a waiting on the Nagaland Total Liquor Prohibition Act, 1989 to perform miracle. There is no miracle, no short cut to cure a chronic disease like alcoholism. Let us not curse the law as the proverb advice us, “don’t cure the darkness but light the candle”. Let us all join hands to eradicate the disease of alcoholism, liquor, wine by not touching them. So that alcoholism does not arise at all with no more blame game.

Nagaland today has been fully engulfed by the first of alcohol leading to massive alcoholism and alcohol related death and massive social problems which are directly related to the extreme use of alcohol which is now well known to all.

Let us therefore determine to make Nagaland spirit filled land with the nine fruits of the holy spirit with the power of “unity is strength” to make Nagaland Christlike land and not Satanic land. May the Almighty God give us power to transform Nagaland into channel of blessings for India and the world in general.

Dr. E. Renphamo Lotha Research Scholar, GSM

DAILY CROSS WORD

CROSSWORD # 2971

Answer Number # 2963

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A P E G A B R E P A I D S R P Q K Z Q E

eral. Let us wish and hope that the aforesaid organizations may be set up sooner or later.

Even if the Central or the State may not be able to set up the aforesaid organizations, still the Church and other Non Governmental Organisations are there to help themselves as the saying goes, “Self help is the best help”. Despite such universal understanding of self help on alcoholism, Nagas are always talking about the duty of the State without talking about their own undertaking. Under the aforesaid facts and circumstances, it is useless and baseless to accuse one another without controlling the chronic disease of alcoholism as a chronic disease and social menace.

It is clear that Nagas are still ignoring the universal saying, “when you accuse others by one finger four fingers are pointing at you”. Taking this hard experience, if the church continues to accuse the Government by one finger, four of their fingers are pointing at them. Hence, the question is never blame game. Any blame multiply to thousand counter blame games without any solution. We are now talking about where to start with number one the starting point – that is who will start?

The crux of the questions is, “who will bell the cat?” Not only the Church, the Government but all right thinking Naga-citizens, individuals have a due share in the eradica-

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ACROSS 1. Types of an engine 5. Monetary unit of Macedonia 10. Welt 14. Atop 15. A kind of macaw 16. Ends a prayer 17. Arid 18. Coherent 20. Renters 22. Accord 23. It unlocks doors 24. Eagerness 25. Merriments 32. Concerning (archaic) 33. One after eighth 34. Mineral rock 37. Fecal matter of animals 38. Cooktop 39. Norse god 40. Eastern Standard Time 41. A type of dance 42. Got up 43. Lovers 45. Hello or goodbye 49. Snake-like fish 50. Genuine 53. Biggest 57. Enteric

59. Notion 60. Ship part 61. Give a speech 62. Biblical garden 63. Makes a mistake 64. Beeper 65. Male offspring

DOWN 1. Barely 2. Type of sword 3. Ripped 4. Creeping 5. A finger or toe 6. God of love 7. Indian bread 8. Backside 9. Shower 10. H2O 11. Alter 12. Slowly, in music 13. Go in 19. Hiding place 21. Tidy 25. Green gem 26. Burden 27. Blow off steam 28. Absurd 29. Slight color 30. Metal bar 31. French for “Summer”

34. Smell 35. Violent disturbance 36. Terminates 38. Uncooked 39. Earaches 41. Russian emperors 42. Clairvoyant 44. Doctor 45. Similar 46. A protective covering 47. Aquatic mammal 48. Scoundrels 51. At the peak of 52. Former Italian currency 53. Tardy 54. Cocoyam 55. Observed 56. Bronzes 58. Henpeck Ans to CrossWord 2970

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Is NLTP really necessary?

will start my argument with a very bold statement that the existence of the Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition Act in modern Naga society is indefensible. The various opinions published in the local dailies establish a trend- those who oppose the Act have valid, logical reasons, their counterparts on the other side have lame excuses and often heard clichés to mask their total ignorance of the ground reality.

I am not an alcoholic, to clarify your suspicion. However, the NLTP has nothing to do with it. My body just detests liquor. I have tried many a times in vain to have a glass or two just to be among peers. How I sometimes faked drunkenness on occasions is another story. The point I want to start with is, how many people actually stops and weighs his mind before deciding to go in and buy liquor? Does the act have any impact on the decision making process of the alcohol consumers? Does it deter the youngsters from purchasing alcohol? Not at all. When it is available so freely in every nook and corner of the state, I do not think it matters to any potential buyer. Most youngsters do not even know alcohol is banned through this Act. They have just accustomed themselves to it as a way of life everywhere. The only sad effect the act has on everyone is, no matter how often you drink it, it will be the coolest, special ‘treat’ every time because of its prohibited status.

The question of the streets becoming unsafe if the act is lifted is another irrelevant fear. It is worth remembering here that anyone who wants to drink is already drinking, with or without the Act. If there are less drunkards on the streets today, it is because today’s generation are more aware of what is socially acceptable behaviour and wants to maintain their status, and not because of the act.

I bought the first alcohol bottle when I was 14 for a neighbour. That is the ground reality here. When your trade is illegal, you have too low self-esteem to question the legality of selling liquor to minors.

Next comes the church. I think the church must have really slow headed people to come to the conclusion that the NLTP is not implemented properly only after more than two decades. What was it doing before now? Speak up if there is any church member who does not know even a single liquor shop in the whole state. Moreover, what makes you think this time it will be implemented properly? I have a feeling once this furor is over, both the Government and the Church will go back to their old arrogant ways: cold and uncaring. If the Act is not lifted this time, nothing will change on the ground. The church will think it has done enough for ‘its people’ and pride itself withdrawing to the self-important cocoon it has woven around itself, oblivious of anything more until someone rakes up the issue again.

If the church really cares and wants something to do with alcoholics, do it through love and acceptance. Do not make alcoholics feel left out or inferior before your presence. Laws and prejudices only hardens the human mind. I have seen people give up alcohol just because he felt society needs him and counts on him. In the end, the only duty of the church is to spread the love of Jesus, providing longing respite for souls tortured by this harsh world filled with hatred. We want nothing more.

For this one time, let us pull ourselves out from our hypocrisy and narrow headed denial of the truth. Let the better sense prevail. Amen.

A. Moalong Kichu Dept. Of Geology Nagaland University

Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition Act

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here is so much of debate going on today on the NLTP Act because Government is interested for a debate whether to lift the act or to continue with the act. I have also expressed in the local news papers my opinion that I stand for the lifting of the Act. I have also closely read others opinions and arguments particularly the NBCC stand on the issue.

Here I would like to further give some thoughts that I believe.

To begin with I would like to state that life is a process of growth till death.

And each day we grow we always change and this change is influenced by learning, experimenting, acting, thinking etc.

My contention is to lift the NLTP Act. But it is for sure that in the process many people will become drunkards, some will try to manage the drinking behaviour, some will think whether it is good to drink or bad to drink so on and so forth. And as some writers have already said that the first decade of lifting the NLTP Act will bring chaos in the state. But the second decade will see improvement as moderating will slowly set in. And in the third decade, we would have learned a lot about drinking alcohol and alcohol may not become a problem in the society like today.

This I think is the natural process of growth for everything. The state government is trying to promote entrepreneurs and business in the state since last 10 years or so. Many people started doing business but most of them failed or have fallen into eating up the subsidy component given by the government. It is only now that very few people have started making pickles, banana chips, handicrafts etc out of their own ideas and thinking. This does not mean we lack en-

trepreneurship or business capability but those qualities have to be acquired vigorously through learning, experimenting, practicing, applying once own thinking etc. It takes years and years to learn and put into profitable activities. There is no shortcut to this; one has to go through the process. So also to live with alcohol, we have to face it and live with it and the earlier we go through the process the earlier we will be able to stop abusing it.

In any case one day or the other, NLTP Act will be lifted. Some argue that our people are not ready to accept alcohol in the society because we do not know how to manage it. This is totally wrong because our forefathers were drinking locally brewed rice beer since time immemorial and children also drink with their parents during the day time and before dinner. I do not mean that they have no problem with rice beer drinking; they must have had their own share of abusing rice beer but much less than today. But with the coming of Christianity particularly the American Baptist, drinking rice beer was considered a bad habit.

But slowly wine and foreign made Indian liquor came into the state and people from towns in particular found more convenient to drink this than rice beer. We lost our culture.

In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with the church saying that they do not support the lifting of the NLTP Act. But the church will be wrong if they oppose lifting of the NLTP Act because we have voted the MLAs to power to legislate for a better society/state.

We have to give free hand to them to give their best for the betterment of our people.

Dili Solomon River Belt Colony Dimapur

LOCAL

The Morung Express

Wednesday 13 August 2014

Govt. all out to address shortfall of teachers: Yitachu Our Correspondent

Pughoboto | August 12

Parliamentary secretary for school education Yitachu today announced that the department is all out to address the shortfall of teachers in the State within this year.

Stating that education department having around 27,000 employees is the highest manpower department in the State with highest expenditure, he however, lamented that the production and return were not up to mark. In this, he stressed on the need to streamline the department, and also to adopt various measures to transform education system in the State.

Inaugurating Sub Divisional Education Office (SDEO) here this morning, Yitachu also came down heavily on the practice of proxy teachers in the State

yitachu and y. Vikheho swu with others during the inauguration of sdEO at Pughoboto on august 12. (Morung Photo/Chizokho Vero)

and called upon the public to come forward and speak out the truth on such matter so the government can act upon and take necessary action. Yitachu said it is also the responsibility of Village Education Committee (VEC) to check such practices. He suggested that students,

public and VECs should come forward in complaining about such errant teachers. He informed Complaint Box will be put up by the education department for any complaint of proxy teachers and those serving in multiple departments.

Further, lamenting that

even the employees of the school education department and government teachers are of the view that children do not have future in government schools, he asserted such mindset has to change. He stated that the department conducts all forms of interviews and only

the best ones are selected as government teachers, and said government teachers should give their best to educate the children. He asserted if the government teachers are insincere towards their assigned duties, they are committing crime of illtreating and hampering the future of the children.

On most of the schools running without maths and science teachers in the State, he regretted that there is lack of qualified persons to fill up the vacancy. Pointing out that study of mathematics and science is a job guaranteed one, he stated that maths and science degree holders will get direct job. He also added that many students are not confident enough to study the subjects. Thus, he encouraged the Naga youth and students to pursue maths and science.

Yitachu also wanted to

see that the newly constructed building of SDEO Pughoboto brings justice and a good educational system.

He further urged upon the people to protect public property as the way the church buildings are protected, adding proper maintenance of public property would reflect a civilized and disciplined society.

Earlier, in a public representation, parliamentary secretary was urged to upgrade GHS Pughoboto to GHSS and also to consider HSLC examination centre at Pughoboto as Pughoboto sub division has 5 GHS including 3 private high schools with a total enrollment of 1500 students.

Parliamentary secretary for irrigation & flood control and election Y. Vikheho Swu and school education director Zaveyi Nyekha also spoke on the occasion.

Indigenous Beau Monde: Govt. State Governor urges DCCI to polytechnic graduation show deliver citizen centric services Our Correspondent Kohima | August 12

The 7th annual graduation show 2014 of the fashion technology of Government Polytechnic Kohima took place here this evening at Multi-Purpose Hall, GHSS Kohima under the theme “Indigenous Beau Monde” Gracing the show as the chief guest, Dr. Rosemary Dzüvichü, director, Women’s Studies Centre, Nagaland University said the fashion technology in Nagaland is emerging very fast and it is encouraging to see many young talented Nagas advancing towards creating new modern colorful Naga designs. She

Models display during the graduation show of Govt Polytechnic Kohima.

said Government is also serious to see the welfares of emerging fashion technology and trying hard to promote women and young

girl in creativity.

Meanwhile, Vebülü and Selavolü won best creativity and best design of the show respectively.

Dimapur, august 12 (Dipr): Governor of Nagaland PB Acharya today stated that in India, there are very few philanthropists and “our” society is much in need of more, and urged DCCI, as an influential trade and commerce organization, to pay back to the society by delivering citizen centric services.

“The business people have to build the Naga society; be the trend setters and we cannot afford to remain complacent,” the Governor stated during a meeting with Dimapur Chamber of Commerce and Industries (DCCI) members at Hotel Saramati, Dimapur.

Acharya also urged

upon the DCCI to set up a corpus fund in order to provide more facilities and help to the public. He expressed satisfaction at the yeomen services and contribution of DCCI to the society and called on the members to work more for the uplift of the downtrodden.

Speaking on the State Hornbill Festival, the Governor said that in order to accommodate more tourists, both foreign and from mainland India, accommodation facilities should be created specially during the festival. “Nagaland is very rich in natural resources, however Nagas are poor, but with the abundance of varieties of minerals in Na-

Dimapur

5

MEx FILE DNSU joint meeting today Dimapur, august 12 (mExN): The tribunal of Dimapur Naga Students’ Union (DNSU) has informed that there will be a joint meeting on August 13, 2:00 pm at Bookmarc conference hall, Dimapur. Therefore all concerned have been requested to attend the meeting without fail. Further, all constituent units have been asked to send two official representatives each to the meeting.

HODs/awardees asked to collect I-day invitation & car pass Kohima, august 12 (Dipr): All Heads of Departments/ awardees and NGOs have been asked to collect the Independence Day Invitation Cards and Car Pass from the Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Kohima from August 13 onwards during office hours.

Vaccination for dogs on I-Day in Dimapur Dimapur, august 12 (mExN): Free anti-rabies vaccination along with vaccination card for dogs will be carried out by KVK Dimapur, ICAR-RC for NEH Region, Nagaland Centre, Jharnapani on August 15 at DTSC, Golaghat road, as part of Independence Day celebration. Therefore, dog owners have been advised to bring their “healthy and disease free dogs” that are above 3 months old and are yet to get anti-rabies vaccine.

ZSU seminar on Right to Education

Kohima, aug 12 (mExN): The Zhavame Students’ Union is organizing a seminar on Right to Education (its concept and implementation) at VDB Hall, Zhavame village on August 18 at 10:30 AM. Zavise Rume, associate professor, Guidance & Counseling Cell, SCERT Nagaland will be the resource person. All the degree and above stugaland it can become the dents have been requested to attend the programme. To richest state in the coun- and fro transportation service will be provided. Departry,” he also said. In order ture from Kohima on August 17 will be at 1:30 PM. to realize that dream, he added, “every sector of the NNP+ to hold advocacy meeting society has an important role to play and we cannot on HIV/AIDS with KPC run away from our respon- Kohima, august 12 (mExN): The Network of sibilities.”

Naga People Living with HIV and AIDS (NNP+) will be Further, he stated that organizing an advocacy meeting with the Kohima Press religion should not be tak- Club (KPC) on August 13, 11:00 am at LCS Building, Koen for creating divisions and hima. In this regard, all the members of KPC have been discord. However, religion requested to attend the programme positively. Memshould be to make a man bers have also been informed to treat this press release better. “As a responsible cit- as official invitation. izen, the democratic spirit and integrity of India should MCCI lauds nabbing be upheld by the citizens.” of habitual thieves The DCCI members assured to set up a corpus moKoKchuNg, august 12 (mExN): Mokokcfund and also requested hung Chamber of Commerce and Industries (MCCI) has the Governor to assist them lauded the Mokokchung police department for nabbing two habitual thieves, Shangying Khiamniungan and Suin future endeavors. pongzulu, both presently residing at Salangtem Ward, Mokokchung town. A press release from MCCI President Moasangba Jamir informed that the duo has been burgling several shops at night causing huge losses to the business owners. Further, it informed that the stolen goods recovered from the duo by the police have been returned to their rightful owners in the presence of MCCI officials. However, it requested the public to inform the authority concerned if they come across any dubious people selling the unrecovered stolen goods as “it is morally reprehensible to buy stolen goods.”

WYH expresses dismay over Aug 7 incident KPC members meet chief minister tuENsaNg, august 12 (mExN): The Western Yimchungru Hoho (WYH) has expressed dismay at the action of Chendang villagers (Chang) on August 7, where the standing crops of Saddle ‘C’ villagers under Tuensang district were destroyed. The Hoho in a press statement expressed that such action by certain group of people has hurt the sentiments

of Yimchungru public, as Yimchungrus celebrate Medumneo festival during this month. The hoho termed the incident “murder” according to the Naga customary law. It further advised all not to repeat the past practices as “we all are same coins as there’s nothing differences between the ancestral histories of two communities.”

Further, it stated that if

there is any land dispute or boundary issue within the community, the matter should be settled through dialogue, and not as August 7 incident inviting disunity among the two communities.

The hoho has urged the law enforcing agency to immediately arrest the persons involved and award befitting punishment as per the law of the land.

BJP Kohima Dist warns workers against carrying out propaganda Kohima, august 12 (mExN): The BJP Kohima District at its emergency meeting held on August 11 announced that the district cell has “recommended and forwarded a prospective, acceptable and winnable intending candidate to the state level” for the by-election to 11th North Angami II A/C. But, the final decision will be taken by the party as and when the Election Commission of India announces the election date. The meeting also discussed the organi-

zational “expansion and revamping” of the party at all mandal level under Kohima district.

In a press communiqué forwarded through its President and General Secretary, BJP Kohima District also urged all the ranks and files of the party and the general public to be aware about any propaganda regarding the by-election and cooperate fully and work together to uphold party’s programme and policies.

It also informed that, the district party office bearers

Peace Channel organises leadership training Dimapur, august 12 (mExN): Peace Channel under the banner, ‘Passion for Excellence’ organized one-day leadership training on August 9 at its office. A press release issued by the Peace Channel news desk informed that all together 48 students from seven different schools participated.

Speaking on the different kinds of leaders, Joshua Sumi, Project Coordinator, Peace Channel focused on ‘heart of leadership’. He encouraged the students to be a leader with caliber of a person like Jesus Christ. He said that, Jesus’ model of leadership does not stress on

seniority, prestige or status, but is characterized by service and giving. He urged the students to unravel the leaders in them and strive for the good of the society.

Jenpu Rongmei, President, Young’s Club also spoke on the need of being a leader in the present.

“Leadership is not about tomorrow, it is about the present and what you contribute today,” he said.

Any person can start becoming a leader by helping and respecting others, being responsible and bringing people together, he added. Group activities and exercises on leadership comprised the major part of the training.

along with Mandal office bearers of 11th Northern Angami II A/C toured the entire constituency, covering all the villages and received a positive response from the people to support BJP candidature.

Cautioning all party workers to refrain from acting or carrying out any “propaganda against any programme or decision of the Party,” the release further warned that, such activities will invite action from the party office as per its constitution.

Kohima, august 12 (mExN): Kohima Press Club (KPC) today submitted a general memorandum to the State Chief Minister for maintenance of a good rapport between the press and the State government and its various establishments.

Several members of KPC called on Chief Minister TR Zeliang at his office on August 12. This was the first time a chief minister of the State granted official audience to members of KPC since the inception of the club in 2001, stated a press release issued by KPC general secretary Alice Yhoshü.

Chief Minister tr Zeliang poses for a photograph with members of Kohima Press Club at the CMO, Kohima on tuesday.

The KPC members interacted with the Chief Minister and apprised him of the functions of the club. They also shared some of the grievances that the press fraternity in Kohima face while carrying out their duties in the service of the people.

According to the note, the Chief Minister assured to look into the points raised

by the KPC for the welfare of the press fraternity.

The KPC team included President Xavier Rutsa, Advisor Kopelo Krome, General Secretary Alice Yhoshü, Joint Secretary Solomon Sha, Treasurer Rüülhoutuonuo Theünuo and senior members Oken Jeet Sandham and Kuzhovesa Soho.

dimapur police arrests three

Dimapur, august 12 (mExN): Dimapur police arrested two DMC lessee tax collectors on August 12 for collecting “illegal parking tax beyond the actual rate.” Addl. Superintendent of Police/PRO, Dimapur in a press release informed that the two accused, identified as Kamal Hussain @ Avi (26) and Akahoto Sumi (19) were found demanding and collecting Rs.550/-

each from trucks at G.S Road while the actual rate notified and printed in the coupon was Rs.20/-. A total of Rs.7250/- and 11 parking tax receipts were recovered from their possession, the release said. A case has been registered at SBN PS in this connection.

Meanwhile, Dimapur police also recovered a stolen motorcycle (Bajaj Pulsar 180CC) from the

possession of one accused identified as Kheboto Swu (19) in Nagarjan on August 12. The owner of the bike had lodged a complaint on August 12 stating that his motorcycle was stolen from near Spills Restaurant (Medical Colony), the release informed. In this connection, a case was registered at East P.S against the arrested person and further investigation was on.

Kohima police seize vehicle carrying ganja Kohima, august 12 (mExN): Kohima Police personnel recovered 15 packets of contraband ganja, weighing approximately 100 Kgs from a seized vehicle, Alto Std (silver colour) bearing number plate NL 074490 on August 9 around 8:00 pm. A press release from Sub-Divisional Police Officer Kohima, Shouka Kakheto informed that the vehicle rammed into an army truck on Kidima road, between Kezoma and Kezo Basa. The two occupants of the vehicle fled the scene after the mishap leaving behind the vehicle. The release further informed that the original registration number of the vehicle is NL 01 H 0276. A case has been registered at Khuzama PS for investigation, it added.

Durbar for office peons on Aug 14 Kohima, august 12 (Dipr): The Home department will be conducting a Durbar for all the Office Peons (Regular/Fixed pay), Jamadar and Duftry of the Nagaland Civil Secretariat on 14th August 2014 at the Secretariat plaza at 10 am. Only those on medical leave approved by the Department will be exempted. All have been directed to submit two recent passport size photographs during the Durbar. Chief Secretary Nagaland and Principal Secretary and Home Commissioner will address during the Durbar. The absentees during the durbar will be strictly penalized. This notice was issued by Principal Secretary & Home Commissioner, Temjen Toy IAS.

PBCA Longleng reiterates to uphold NLTP Act LoNgLENg, august 12 (mExN): Phom Baptist Christian Association (PBCA) Nyengching, Longleng has reiterated that it will continue to stand firm and strongly voice against the flow of liquor and other intoxicating substances, while reaffirming its commitment to uphold Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition (NLTP) Act. A press release issued by PBCA executive secretary stated there has been a lot of deliberation on lifting of the NLTP Act. “Proponents of the Act cradle their argument on two issues: One, adulterated/contaminated/diluted drinks, and Two, State Revenue.” However, PBCA asserted the issue has never been on “using adulterated or contaminated or diluted drinks,” but the issue

has been on drinking, while citing that over the decades, hundreds of people, who have been deeply engaged in the habit of drinking have come seeking help from the Church for counselling and prayers in order to restrain or get rid of the drinking habit having realized how one had wasted time, resources, family and life.

“Proponents need to look through how much has Liquor done to the individual, family and society.

One who drinks loses time, wealth, children’s happiness, comfort, including the soul, and thus, drinking has produced evils more deadly,” it added.

On the issue of revenue, PBCA stated the church/ association in the last 3-4 decades has been “engaged in liberating the people

from economic impoverishment not to mention the spiritual concerns.”

The release asserted that PBCA, besides its spiritual endeavours since its inception, has been deeply engaged in the economic elevation of the people through agriculture, horticulture and allied sector development programs, water resources development, terrace farming, non-farm livelihood activities and sustainability, introduction of Self Help Groups (SHGs), promoting different vocational trainings and other self reliance and income generating projects, different development activities for women and children, low cost technology, community health, establishing schools, establishing hos-

tels for orphans, advocacy campaign on AIDS & HIV, micro Finance/Financial Inclusion Program, peace initiatives, economic sustainability, and climate change and related issues.

Citing these, the release said the church could elevate the economy of the people without grants and support from the Government.

“Overemphasis on ‘Loss of Revenue’ just because liquor prohibition is not lifted, is a very short outlook. Proponents do not seem to have broader vision and aren’t able to explore more or better funds than sale of Liquor.”

Further, PBCA stated that one should realize that drinking has lots of domestic evils and health has become a major issue. Asserting that liquor produces a great negative impact

for individual, family and the society involved in the circle, it questioned, “Who is taking the burden to eradicate these issues and how far is the responsibility been taken up by the proponents in the district and the state in general?”

It also questioned how “we” can even deliberate lifting the Liquor Prohibition Act when people who have been engaged in drinking are recovering from addiction. “Many have just started to adjust life without Liquor having experience the truth of its ill effect? And wine sellers are trying to find other means of sustainability?

How could one see Lifting of the Liquor Act as Revenue generating at the expense of the alcoholic’s health, life and the family involved in this trauma?”

BIrthday GrEEtInGs Happy 70th Birthday!

Dearest Mom,

Thank you for all that you have given us. We wish you all happiness and blessings in the years ahead. May the good Lord continue to be your guiding star as you venture into a new chapter in your life.

- Children, grandchildren and all loved ones.

6

IN-FOCUS

The Power of Truth

The Morung Express WEDnEsDAy 13 AuGusT 2014 volumE IX IssuE 221

Unlocking Deadlocks

I

n the present context there is an imperative for the Nagas to retrieve their self-image, and possibly even create a new one if necessary for their empowerment to define their existence from within, and not permit it to be imposed from without. The Naga must be its own, distinct and identifiable, existing through self-definition with the ability to re-invent and re-create their struggle for humanization through nonviolent peaceful means.

The Naga historical experience reminds States of the limitations of a territorial and military approach to State-building.

The tension between State territorial sovereignty and Peoples’ self-determination calls for an imagination that allows a new language to transform this tension into a creative energy for peacebuilding. A peoples’ destiny should not be confined to a nationality which they do not wish to have nor pushed into a situation of potential oppression of living together in a political system to which they did not consent.

Negotiations in the context of struggling peoples have failed to engage in a process that upholds genuine dialogue. One that mutually defines; addresses and removes the root causes of conflict and the factors that have sustained it. In limiting the negotiating space only to the parties directly involved, the State side-steps the democratic characteristics of a peace process and increases the already existing asymmetrical power. In this manner the State restricts the scope of negotiations to questions of legality and modalities concerning state formation.

Under these conditions the State’s rule continues as the people’s political issues of rights, interests, needs, and aspirations remain suppressed and ignored. When these central elements of a peoples’ struggle are kept away from the negotiation table, then the negotiations cannot enable a genuine and just solution to emerge. Ultimately, the final outcome is defined and determined by the State at the people’s expense to freely decide their own future.

The protracted and complex nature of the unresolved political issue between the Indian State and the Nagas therefore requires a process that will not only end the confrontation, but will also lead to dismantling the structures of violence. This involves sincerely and honestly addressing the power-relations between the Indian government and the Nagas so that an ensuring JustPeace is made possible.

It is in imagining a new path that leads to the conception of a self-directed alternative system of human interaction and human organization. This self-directed alternative will naturally lead to a federation because Naga ethos is one; and the Naga peoples shared future lies in the praxis of evolving just relations. Ultimately, “self-determination becomes the means to unlock deadlocked situations” that makes possible creating a “democratic and peaceful mechanism” based on the people’s mandates.

lEfT WING |

Amit Kapoor IANS

Created prosperity as the real goal of development

C

ompetitiveness is defined as the productivity with which a country’s uses its resources like land (natural resources), labor (human beings) and capital. Productivity is just not about efficiency and yield, it is about how much of the resources a nation/region is endowed with that the production process in able to cater to, in a given period of time. The productivity with which a nation utilizes its natural resources determines its standard of living, which gets reflected in the per capita income of the population.

Central to the idea of productivity of utilization of resources is the concept of firms/companies, which form the bedrock of prosperity for people. Firms may have different shareholding patterns, but ultimately their organizational ability to create value for a society is immense.

Also, productivity is not just defined by which industries a country competes in, but by how these companies choose to compete within those specific industries. A nation’s productivity is a reflection of the choices made by its companies with respect to the sectors they want to operate in, the value-addition that they do in these sectors and the efficiency with which they produce.

To understand these concepts in practice let us take the example of the two industries, pharmaceuticals and IT, in India and compare them to a different context - the US. An average software engineer or a pharmaceutical executive in US is at least 10 times more productive than his counterpart in India.

It shows what people are expected to do and what they actually do in companies varies enormously across countries. In the US, the value-addition done by industry is immense, the engineers focus on innovation that help in extracting better value. On the other hand, most engineers in the Indian context are engaged in support functions that give them limited scope for valueaddition, and their work in itself is very monotonous and simplistic. Also, with respect to the pharmaceutical industry, we rarely tend to focus on having patents and doing R&D for future competitiveness. Companies tend to look at the short term and tend to focus on contract manufacturing for their European or US counterparts. This happens not because the potential of our engineers/executives is limited but because our companies are focusing on the low end of the value creation process.

In India, where the wages are low, the companies typically focus on cost competitiveness by hiring cheap labor and make them do mundane jobs. Very few companies are bold enough to take up the challenge and work towards path breaking innovations. This is true across industries. In the case of IT, we do outsourcing work while in the case of the pharmaceutical industry we focus on contract manufacturing and generic sales.

Rarely can we find examples of truly innovative enterprises.

This is in contrast to companies like Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook, Tesla Motors and the like which have all emerged outside India, and that too in a country that does not really boast of indigenous talent that is readily and freely available in India. The challenge before India is really in finding winners in industries where value-addition is high and gets reflected in higher labor productivity. For this the institutions of education as well as the companies will have to alter their thinking for creation of societal value.

The view of creating prosperity by having innovative enterprises is in contrast to the view of creating value by exploiting natural resources and natural endowments a country has. Thus, there is a critical distinction between ‘created prosperity’ and ‘inherited prosperity’. The fundamental difference between these two paradigms is how companies approach the idea of competition. In ‘created prosperity’ view competition is welcomed as it forces companies to produce more innovative products and services, while in ‘inherited prosperity’ view, competition is limited resulting in monopolization or at best oligopolization.

India’s future in a large measure will depend on how the government frees up the sectors to release the gales of creative destruction within various industries. The companies in turn will have to embrace competition going ahead. Innovation should form the basis of long-term prosperity rather than government monopolization and control. If these choices are made by the government and companies, a large number of India’s young population will take their destinies in their own hands. That truly should be the real goal of development: Not to develop people just materially, but also in empowering them and providing them the means to live a more meaningful and fulfilling life.

THE EDIT PAGE

C O M M E N T A R Y

David Bornstein

The Questions We Share

H

ow can we repair our public discourse?

Imagine that you’re among a group of college students who want to discuss the big issues of the day. What can be done to bring peace to the Middle East? How can we reduce sexual assaults on campuses? What should be done about immigration?

These questions have the potential to produce rich explorations. But they’re equally likely to devolve into shouting matches that increase anger and mistrust. Is there a way to frame conversations so that people actually listen to one another?

Watching cable TV, reading the comments on news sites, or following social media threads may not be terribly encouraging. But the answer is yes. Better conversations are possible — in fact, they can be facilitated by almost anyone who cares to learn how — but it means giving considerably more thought than we normally do to the kinds of questions we ask and the context in which we ask them.

That’s the lesson to be drawn from an initiative called Ask Big Questions, which has fostered thousands of conversations on college campuses that students say have deepened their understanding of themselves and other students and improved their ability to engage with people who have different perspectives.

Ask Big Questions was co-founded by Rabbi Josh Feigelson, along with two students, Lexie Komisar and Allison Gross, while they were at Northwestern University. Feigelson was working as a campus rabbi with the organization Hillel and was moved to start the initiative because he observed that Northwestern and other universities weren’t creating spaces that helped students come together and reflect on their learning and their lives in meaningful ways.

Too often opportunities were missed, he saw.

In 2010, Feigelson recalled, two white Northwestern students dressed up in blackface and put photos of themselves on Facebook. “There was a huge uproar on campus,” he said. “University administrators called an open town meeting in the student center and had speakers talk about the history of blackface and the symbolism of it.”

Hundreds attended. Organizers asked for comments from the audience. “It was raucous and angry, people were shouting at one another,” said Feigelson. “It may have let off some steam but it probably contributed as much as it let off.”

Feigelson contrasted that event with a conversation he led with students in June 2010, shortly after a Turkish-based flotilla had attempted to run Israel’s blockade of Gaza. Israeli commandos had landed by helicopter to stop the flotilla. It was widely reported that they had killed nine unarmed protesters. (In 2011, a United Nations report concluded that the Israelis had, in fact, encountered “organized and violent resistance” but had responded with “excessive and unreasonable” force.)

After the initial news accounts, numerous Jewish students approached Feigelson because they were distressed or angered by the raid. Although the students were Jewish, there remained significant differences of opinion about the conduct of the Israeli military and strong emotions in the room. Feigelson established guidelines for the discussion: Everyone was to speak only in the first person; listen to understand, not to judge; keep things confidential; and avoid rushing in to fill the silence. The question was straightforward: “How are you feeling?”

It led to a genuine exchange, rather than a debate about what had happened and who was to blame.

Students actually listened to one another. “And they were able to register their complex emotions about

L

aments about corruption, physical insecurity and unresponsive bureaucrats are a staple of life in many countries in East and Central Africa, with one notable exception: Rwanda.

The streets of its capital, Kigali, are impeccable, the roads are good, lights work and, unlike the traffic cops in Nairobi, Kampala or Dar es Salaam, police officers do not stop drivers simply to coerce bribes. Yet the architect of this miracle, President Paul Kagame, is in danger of reversing the gains that have made Rwanda a beacon of progress on the continent.

For the most part, Mr. Kagame gets laudatory media coverage, especially in Africa, and it’s easy to see why. Sustained economic growth of around 8 percent over the last decade has brought real benefits to the Rwandan people — a strikingly impressive turnaround in the years since the 1994 genocide, when more than 800,000 people, the overwhelming majority of them members of the Tutsi minority, were killed in a 100day rampage incited and organized by members of the previous, Hutudominated government.

Today the word Rwanda is no longer synonymous with misery and death. The average life expectancy is 65 years, up from 48 in 1990, according to the World Health Organization. The percentage of children dying before their fifth birthday has fallen markedly, from 253 per 1,000 in 1995 to 55 per 1,000 in 2012. Most Rwandans have health insurance. There is almost universal access to basic education.

But how sustainable is this success? Mr. Kagame has guided the country since 1994, when the Rwandan Patriotic Front he led took action

the situation,” said Feigelson.

A big part of the problem with public discourse, contends Feigelson, is that we often begin by asking hard questions before we have explored big questions. A “hard question,” he says, is one that requires special knowledge to answer — so only some people feel they can answer it — and it bears fruit only if the participants in the discussion already share a degree of trust or rapport.

A “big question,” by contrast, is one that matters to everyone and that everyone can answer. Big questions have the potential to tap people’s sense of curiosity and to draw out wisdom from the heart.

Examples include: For whom are we responsible? What do we choose to ignore? Where do you feel at home? How does technology change us? When do you conform? When do you take a stand?

“If you start a student discussion with a hard question, like ‘How can we bring peace to the Middle East?,’” Feigelson says, “the two students who think they know the most are going to debate and protest, while everyone else watches and thinks they have nothing to contribute. It doesn’t build trust or capacity for solving problems. It creates an adversarial environment.”

By contrast, a big question can open a space in which each individual can contribute, speaking from experience, without feeling pressured to win a debate or demonstrate loyalty to a position. Big questions can help build the trust that’s necessary to grapple effectively with hard questions. For instance, one way to build toward a discussion of campus sexual assault is to frame a conversation around the question: “When have you been a witness?”

“When we start with a big question, we’re building empathy among the students,” says Sheila Katz, vice president for social entrepreneurship at Hillel International, who was the director of Ask Big Questions for four years. “The hope is that the students will look at the world differently, in a way that allows them to receive each person as they are, and engage in conversation, instead of just argument, debate or even violence.”

Over the past four years, Ask Big Questions, which remains an initiative of Hillel International, has taken its model to 47 college campuses and trained hundreds of fellows — students, faculty members or staff members — who have, in turn, facilitated over 2,000 conversations involving tens of thousands of students spanning religious, racial and ethnic groups, and sexual orientations.

One of its main insights is simply that facilitating a meaningful conversation takes both intention and skills — skills that are not taught in schools or acquired at the dinner table. There is, of course, no right way to structure a conversation. But some principles are elaborated in the group’s conversation guides (which have been downloaded 9,000 times).

They draw on teachings from the Center for Civic Reflection and other sources.

Ask Big Questions helps students discover how to establish a foundation of trust and confidentiality in a group, invite contributions from everyone, and guide others into deeper learning by interpreting the meaning of poems, texts or images, reflecting on their lives and the implications for action.

The interpretive part of the discussion is essential, says Feigelson: “If you don’t have some sort of a text or interpretive object, the conversation can easily veer off into bad group therapy.” Sophie Haroutunian-Gordon, director of the master of science in education program at Northwestern University, who is a leading scholar of interpretive discussion, says that the key is to work with an object that “has enough ambiguity that you can raise questions about its meaning and pursue resolution.”

That takes listening. In an independent evaluation of Ask Big Questions, close to 80 percent of fellows reported that the experience transformed the way they listen to others. That was the experience of Rachel Adell, who served as a fellow during her junior and senior years at Virginia Tech, facilitating numerous conversations with individuals, and small and large groups.

“Listening was hard for me,” said Adell. “I have so much going on in my head all the time — and to be truly present to what another person is saying, not just waiting for my turn to speak, that was a skill that I had to hone.”

She also learned how to get a conversation going and keep it going, how to manage conflicts so they don’t lead to a break down, how to gently bring in quiet people and redirect when others dominate — and how to do it all without becoming the focal point of the conversation herself.

Despite the diversity on a college campus, many students end up hanging out with people who are just like them, said Adell. They don’t take advantage of the precious opportunity that college affords to get to know people from widely different backgrounds.

“Many students don’t have very meaningful conversations with one another,” she added. “Those conversations became the richest moments I had in college: when I was living what I was learning.”

Ask Big Questions’ guides can be particularly useful on campuses in the wake of conflict. At Penn State, for instance, after the child sexual abuse scandal involving the football coach Jerry Sandusky, students initiated conversations around the question: “What will your legacy be?”

Last year, Amherst College, which has drawn harsh scrutiny for reports that the school mishandled sexual assaults on campus, reached out to Ask Big Questions to train 50 people (35 students, 10 staff members and 5 faculty members) who led conversations involving 600 students, focusing on the questions: “For whom are we responsible?” And: “What do we need to learn?”

“It was a powerful experience,” said Peter Uvin, Amherst’s provost. “As on many campuses, there is a lack of conversation about the bigger and deeper issues in life.” What impressed Uvin most was that the program got students into discussions that had completely different goals and tones. “At a place like Amherst, every student knows how to debate, critique, demolish an argument,” he said. What was “marvelous” about the methodology was the commitment students made “not to contradict each other and look for weaknesses in each other’s arguments, but to carefully listen, and if one doesn’t understand — to ask for more information.”

Uvin plans to have more such conversations on campus in the coming year — and to get students selecting the questions and taking ownership of the process.

Big questions are not just for public consumption. At a time of intense political polarization — when news sites observe Thanksgiving by offering readers talking points to win family arguments — they can help us rediscover those closest to us.

“As a result of the conversations I’ve had with my family, I’ve learned to appreciate and love the differences in opinion we have in the world,” said Katz. “For the first time, I can understand why certain family members vote a different way than I do, and I can respect that. Having a deeper understanding of the stories of my family members has helped me to get excited again to be at the dinner table.”

David Bornstein is the author of “How to Change the World,” which has been published in 20 languages, and “The Price of a Dream: The Story of the Grameen Bank,” and is co-author of “Social Entrepreneurship: What Everyone Needs to Know.” He is a co-founder of the Solutions Journalism Network, which supports rigorous reporting about responses to social problems.

Rwanda’s Unfinished Miracle murithi mutiga Source: IHT

as the United Nations, the United States and other leading world powers did little to stop Rwanda’s genocide. As the world stood aside, R.P.F. forces, composed mainly of rebels who had been in exile in neighboring Uganda, marched into Kigali and toppled the murderous regime. From that year on Mr. Kagame exercised effective power, initially as vice president and minister of defense. He was named president after Pasteur Bizimungu resigned in 2000, and won the first election held under a new Constitution in 2003.

After easily securing a second term in 2010 elections, many people had hoped that the president would use his last constitutionally mandated term, which ends in 2017, to craft a succession plan and set the country on a path that is not dependent solely on his strong hand. Unfortunately, Mr. Kagame seems not to be planning any such transition.

During an appearance at Tufts University in Boston in April, Mr. Kagame was unwilling to offer a direct answer when asked whether he would push for changes to the Constitution to extend his rule. “I have been asked when or whether I am going to leave office right from the time when I started,” he said. “It is as if I am here just to leave.

I’m here to do business on behalf of Rwandans.” Moreover, a drumbeat of commentary in Rwanda’s state-controlled media demanding changes to

the Constitution reinforces speculation that he prefers to stay on.

There is little doubt that the achievements of his administration over the last two decades have been impressive. But history has shown that when leaders hang on for too long, their focus turns from improving the lives of their citizens to maintaining their own power. The example of Yoweri Museveni, president of Uganda, is a case in point. He came to power in 1986 as a revolutionary leader pledging to end despotic rule. During his early years as a reformer, he offered a signature piece of advice to fellow leaders: “The problem of Africa in general and Uganda in particular is not the people but leaders who want to overstay in power.” But Mr. Museveni, now in his 29th year in office, has not heeded his own advice. He is effectively president for life, presiding over an exhausted, graft-ridden regime.

In 2006, the Sudan-born cellphone entrepreneur Mo Ibrahim established a foundation devoted to improving African governance that offers an annual $5 million award to a freely elected head of state who governs according to his or her nation’s constitution and complies with its term limits.

On a continent of some 55 nations, the prize has been awarded three times: Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique received it in 2007, Festus G. Mogae of Botswana in 2008, and Pedro Pires of Cape Verde in 2011. No

WRITE-WING

one qualified in 2009 or 2010, and the prize has gone unclaimed since 2011, apparently due to a dearth of qualified candidates.

Sadly, Mr. Kagame may disqualify himself. Rwanda has earned headlines not only for offering one of Africa’s best business environments, but also for an increasingly violent power struggle between the president and his rivals.

A prominent Kagame critic, the former intelligence chief Patrick Karegeya, was murdered in exile in Johannesburg in January. The South African government, which had been protecting Mr. Karegeya, blamed Rwanda for the killing and expelled three diplomats who justice officials said had direct links to murder plots.

In another case, a former chief of staff of the Rwandan military, Kayumba Nyamwasa — once viewed as a possible successor to Mr. Kagame due to his prominent role in the R.P.F. forces that ended the genocide — has escaped several assassination attempts since he received political asylum in South Africa in 2010.

Such incidents do not bode well for Rwanda’s future. Mr. Kagame could avoid squandering the good will he has earned over two decades by yielding power gracefully and arranging an orderly transition that would help establish a sustainable democratic tradition for Rwanda. Endorsing a reformist minister within his cabinet, for example, and allowing his country to openly confront the twin challenges of maintaining progress while seeking a durable compact between the Hutus and Tutsis would secure him a place in history as one of the region’s — and Africa’s — greatest leaders.

Murithi Mutiga is an editor at the Nation Media Group in Kenya.

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

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

7

WEDNEsDAy

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

13 August 2014

PERSPECTIVE NEWS ANALYSIS, FEATURE AND DISCOURSE

The Newspaper with an Opinion The Morung Express

Life under the Khmer Rouge Todd Pitman

I

Associated Press

t was an extraordinary act of defiance, and it was extraordinarily risky. But all he did was take out a pen, and write.

Nearly 40 years ago, hunched on the floor of the wood-and-leaf hut he was forced to live in away from his children, Cambodian school inspector Poch Younly kept a secret diary vividly recounting the horrors of life under the Khmer Rouge, the radical communist regime whose extreme experiment in social engineering took the lives of 1.7 million Cambodians from overwork, medical neglect, starvation and execution.

Acutely aware that he could be killed if discovered, Younly hid the diary inside a clay vase. In those dark days, when religion and schools were banned and anyone deemed educated was a threat, he had no right to own so much as a pen and paper.

"Why is it that I have to die here like a cat or a dog ... without any reason, without any meaning?" he wrote in the spiral-bound notebook's last pages. Four decades later, that question still haunts Cambodia.

Younly did not survive that era. But his diary did. It was part of the vast case file which this week helped convict the only two surviving Khmer Rouge leaders still facing justice — 83-year-old former president Khieu Samphan and 88-yearold Nuon Chea, right-hand man of the group's infamous late leader, Pol Pot. On Thursday, a U.N.backed tribunal sentenced both men to life in prison for crimes against humanity — a verdict that many believe was too little, and far too late.

Made public for the first time last year, the diary is astonishingly rare — one of just four known firsthand accounts penned by victims and survivors while the Khmer Rouge were in power, compared to 453 such documents written by communist cadres at the time.

It is "the story of all of us who survived," said Youk Chhang, who runs the Documentation Center of Cambodia, which has amassed millions of documents, photographs, films and verbal testimonies from the Khmer Rouge era.

When the Khmer Rouge were in charge, everything belonged to the revolution, he said. "You owned nothing. Not even your life story."

Younly's account is vital because people like Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea have tried to cast doubt over atrocities committed during their rule.

The majority of Cambodians living today were born after the Khmer Rouge were ousted in 1979, and even those who survived can forget how bad it was.

"People forget how hungry we were," said Youk Chhang, who still has dark scars on his legs from shackles he was held in by Khmer Rouge soldiers for two months. "It's hard to describe to young people what starvation felt like. But the whole nation was starved ... and this story is rarely told."

Written in Khmer, the diary fills about 100 pages and is divided into two sections. The first summarizes Younly's family history, an era spanning French colonial rule, the Japanese occupation during World War II, and his arranged marriage to his then 15-year-old wife. The rest, written as a letter addressed to his children, describes life under the Khmer Rouge and is dated only at the start and the end — Feb. 9 and July 29, 1976, with a final post-script entered a few days later.

When Khmer Rouge forces seized Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975, the couple was living with eight of their children in a rural town called Kampong Chhnang. Three days later, the guerrillas arrived and residents — including Younly — cheered, relieved the war was finally over, his 86-year-old widow Som Seng Eath recalled.

But within hours, everything changed. Every soul was ordered to leave on foot. The Khmer Rouge were emptying Cambodia's cities, marching millions of people into the countryside to work as manual laborers. Their aim was to create an agrarian communist utopia, but they were turning the Southeast Asian nation into a slave state.

Younly "didn't believe what was happening.

He kept saying, 'Don't worry, we'll be back soon, don't pack much,'" his widow said. She ignored his advice, and took as much as she could — including five of her husband's school notebooks, and several blue ink pens. As gunshots rang, they joined the departing hordes, cradling their young children and whatever they could carry. As they walked into the night, people wept.

Younly recounts marching through forests and mountains for nearly two weeks. Along the way, most of their possessions were confiscated, including four of the notebooks and a prized camera Younly had bought during a government visit to inspect schools in the United States in 1961. Ominously, they began hearing talk of execution sites ahead — what would later become known as Cambodia's "killing fields."

J

une-July 2010 was the last time that the issue of Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition Act 1989 was widely discussed in the state with the government holding consultative meeting with civil societies sans the Church and mothers’ organizations. Despite the civil societies’ views in favour of lifting or partial lifting of Prohibition, the government did not have the political courage to make a decision on it owing to the moral hand of the Church. The Church had cautioned the state government against lifting the ban or making any changes to relax the NLTP Act. After four years, the issue is again at the fore with an overwhelming section of the people in favour of lifting the Act. The arguments provided by both sides for and against lifting the Act remains more or less the same as before. However, this time even some Church workers have aired their personal views on why Prohibition should be lifted.

Since the enactment of the Act, the government has been hearing the people’s views on the issue and it knows that Prohibition should be lifted.

There are more reasons to lift Prohibition than to keep enforcing it but the political will has been found lacking. During the last Assembly session, the government expressed readiness to hold fullfledged discussion on the issue. It appears that the readiness to discuss the issue was expressed just to

'Everyone works like animals'

F

Associated Press

rom 1975 to 1979, when the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia, an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians died through overwork, medical neglect, starvation and execution. One of them was Poch Younly, a school inspector who kept a rare diary made public last year. The following are selected excerpts from the second half of the diary, written between Feb. 9 and Aug. 1, 1976: FORCED EXODUS: Three days after Khmer Rouge forces seized the capital, Phnom Penh, advancing fighters captured Younly's town, Kampong Chhnang, to the northwest. Later that night, soldiers ordered everyone to leave, part of a mass forced exodus of millions of people who were put to work in rural Cambodia.

• "Your mother and I left Kampong Chhnang with the rest of our family on April 20, 1975 at 10 p.m. on the orders of the Revolutionary Army. Your mother had just recovered from a serious illness three days earlier."

• "Our family traveled by road through Phum Trok and crossed a mountain forest. What we heard was the sound of crying birds and the sound of leaves in the wind. It was pitiful and miserable. We were very scared."

• "When we arrived at Rolong, a group of men stopped us and confiscated any property we all had. They confiscated a camera from our family. For other families, they confiscated clothes, medicine and other items."

• "We traveled for 11 days and nights with great suffering because we did not have food to eat, we were sick and the weather was very hot."

RUMORS OF DEATH: As Younly's family traveled through the countryside to Chumteav Chreng, where they would settle for the duration of the crisis, they began hearing rumors of execution sites up ahead - what would later become known as Cambodia's "killing fields."

• "Our family reached Chumteav Chreng village around 9 a.m. on May 1, 1975."

• "As we slept at night at that village, your mother and I heard lots of rumors about how people were brought to be killed in groups. Your mother and I were very concerned about our safety.

We intended to travel farther, but we were worried that we would be killed."

• "Our family moved into a wooden house with a brick shingle roof with six other evacuee families. Together we were a total of 40 people. It was very crowded and, because of our living conditions, there was a complete lack of basic hygiene. We lived there for three months before the Khmer Rouge authority moved our family to a separate place of our own."

• "At first, we were given eight cans of rice per day and then it decreased to seven cans. From September to December 1975, we received only four cans of rice per day. Our life was getting worse because we ate less and less. I was sick; all of us worked hard; and we all needed more food. While we did not have enough food, our health was getting worse day by day."

• "In July 1975, I became seriously ill."

• "Your mother took some of our clothing and the family locket to trade for food and medicine for me. I had so little medicine for my stomach pain that sometimes I could not even eat porridge or rice for up to five days. The work was also very hard so I became increasingly ill and grew very thin. I could not walk or go up and down the stairs."

CONFRONTING DEATH: As the months passed, Younly's condition worsened. He could only write in his diary when he felt well enough. Meanwhile, the Khmer Rouge experiment in social engineering turned disastrous. Because of medicine and food shortages, illness and starvation became rampant.

• "Communal eating began on December 25, 1975. Eating rice for a month, Angkar forced us to eat porridge in the morning and rice in the evening. We did this for five and a half months.

Starting June 5, 1976, Angkar told us to eat porridge both morning and evening."

• "By now, my body resembles a corpse, thin with only skin and bones. I have no energy and my hands and legs tremble. No power, no strength.

I cannot walk far or do heavy work. Everyone works like animals, like machines, without any value, without hope for the future."

• "How sad I am to die in a place that does not belong to us. Let my destiny take me wherever it goes. Let destiny judge my life. My children, I miss you; I love you; I want to live near you and help advise you so that you can lead a nice life with honesty and generosity."

• "To die without dignity, without honor, after serving my country for 31 years; why is it that I have to die here like a cat or dog without any kin knowing of my death; to die without any reason, without any meaning?"

FINAL WORDS: Poch Younly completed the diary in July 1976, but a few days later he added one final entry, dated Aug. 1, 1976. Later that day, he was summoned to help lift a palm tree that had fallen in a paddy field.

In fact, authorities had come to arrest him because he had been hiding a wristwatch. Younly was never seen again.

• "Please edit and publish it so that my relatives, your mother's relatives, my nephews and nieces, my children, you, your children and your grandchildren can read it and you can introduce me to them all."

ILLNESS AND HARDSHIP: • "What I have written, please take good care of The Khmer Rouge forced people to work as it. Do not be afraid to do whatever you think manual laborers as part of a bizarre experiment it is useful for your beloved father and our bethey claimed was aimed at establishing an agrarloved family in any circumstance." ian utopia, but the experiment devastated the NOTE ON TRANSLATIONS: The above translations were economy. Younly describes how most of his chil- derived from open source material published by the Documentation Center of Cambodia and made available to The Associdren were separated from the family and assigned Press. They were originally made by Khatharya Um, an asto work. The authorities were known as "Angkar," ated sociate professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and verified by the AP, which compared them to the originals. or "The Organization."

On May 1, they reached the village of Chumteav Chreng and settled. The new authorities, known as "Angkar" — "The Organization" — soon "ordered all of our clothes to be dyed black," Younly wrote. The evacuees were organized into work units. Children were separated from their parents, and put to work in special units of their own.

"We worked day and night clearing wood to make arable land, uprooting the trees, digging canals, building roads and dikes, planting vegetables and digging ponds," Younly wrote. "We worked 10 to 13 hours a day." Food supplies dwindled, and Younly and his wife grew so desperate they traded clothes and a treasured family locket for salt, sugar and medicine.

The following month, Younly fell ill. He could not work, but he had the privacy to write. Months later, he began sensing his end was near. "By now, my body resembles a corpse, thin with only skin and bones," he wrote. "I have no energy, and my hands and legs tremble. No power, no strength. I cannot walk far or do heavy work. Everyone works like animals, like machines, without any value, without hope for the future."

At one point, Younly writes of his regret at not being able to see all of his children. His two oldest sons were elsewhere in the country. The rest were forced to live in other parts of the village, working

Lifting Prohibition News Review K. Filip sumi

silence the voices of the Opposition in the Assembly because the ruling party cannot deny that the Act is a failure. The government is aware that the discussion on the issue at any point of time would result in favour of doing away with the Act if individual opinions are to be taken into account without the ruling party issuing a whip otherwise. Except for the sake of formality in the Assembly, the government need not hold any more discussion on the issue since it has heard enough overwhelming views for many years in favour of bidding adieu to the failed Act. If the government says it is ready to discuss the issue, then it is also out of fear of the Church which it knows would be against scrapping the Act. If the Church does not have the courage to condemn the government for making liquor available in various state after-functions, then it also does not have the right to say that the government should keep enforcing the ban knowing very well that is a dismal failure.

in mobile children's work units. "Let me die," he continued. "Let my destiny take me wherever it goes ... My children, I miss you; I love you."

Younly wrote until there were no pages left to write on, his wife said. On Aug. 1, 1976, he wrote a postscript on the final page, asking his family to take care of the diary. Hours later, he was taken away by the regime to help lift a palm tree that had fallen in a paddy field. In fact, authorities had come to arrest him because one of his sons had attempted to exchange an Omega watch Younly had bought in America 15 years earlier for fermented fish.

Private property was illegal; hiding it was worse.

"I never saw him again," Som Seng Eath said, tears streaming down her wrinkled cheeks 38 years later.

Younly died several weeks later, in a nearby prison where he was kept chained to the ground.

Som Seng Eath says the diary is too painful to read now. She says she didn't understand its importance at the time. But she can never forget what he said about it. "He once looked up at me and said, 'Protect this no matter what, even if I die.'"

His widow kept the diary safe for two decades, then passed it on to one of her daughters. It was the daughter's husband who suggested giving the notebook to the documentation center to protect the fragile, yellowed pages of history.

Last week, the Excise Department furnished facts through the media that 6020 cases under NLTP Act were registered between 2010 to 2014 as against 5400 cases from 1989 to 2009. Registering such a huge number of cases within a span of only four years stands itself to show that the Act is increasingly becoming a failure. If the Act is to be called a success then the cases registered should show a decreasing trend but it instead showed an awful increase. The revealed facts may also be interpreted that the Act showed some success during the first 20 years when only 5400 cases were registered.

Seizure of liquor and registering huge number of cases only shows the efficiency of the enforcement personnel and not the effectiveness of the Act. The larger the cases registered the bigger the failure of the Act. Framing stricter rules and penalties on Prohibition will not have the desired success on the Act. Lifting the ban with regulations to make it an offence on drunk driving, selling liquor to minors, open drinking and creating ruckus, limited time for opening and closing wine shops, bars etc would be rational from the governing point of view and not spiritual point of view. Political parties are installed to govern the state and not to become a toothless government resembling a rubber stamp of the Church.

Nagas and Music Jiyoung Oh Grace, Music Instructor am a Korean, and I have been staying in Nagaland for about five years. I found that the Nagas are very fond of music, and Nagaland is probably the only State in India to have a Music Task Force to promote musicians.

However, we still have a lot to do to cultivate musical interest in our children.

In Korea, music is a compulsory subject for elementary, middle and high school syllabus. They focus not only on western classical music but on traditional music too. So when Korean kids start learning music theory at a very young age, they learn to play the recorder, melodeon or accordion which we also call mouth organ. These kinds of musical instruments are found in almost every stationery shop in Korea and they are very affordable. As such, Korean kids can buy the musical instruments and go to school as part of their learning activity. Korea has a lot of places where one can learn how to play musical instruments such as violin, viola, cello, piano, drums etc. Every holiday, Korean parents go to musical concerts or orchestra with their children where they avail opportunities to learn and hear different kinds of music.

The Korean Government also encourages its citizens to listen to music, especially when mothers are pregnant, and to play music when the kids are studying in order to help the children to concentrate on their studies.

Why then do many Koreans send their children to music institutions when they learn the basics from school?

1. Those who learn music are good in studies and sports: We can see that medical doctors and some mathematicians are good in music. This is because the way one learns about music and the pattern of music arrangements and the way mathematical solutions are placed or arranged are very similar. Thus, the music knowledge helps the students in solving mathematical problem or solutions, because music stimulates the brain and helps the mind to concentrate. A lot of scientists and doctors by profession are good musicians. For example, Dr. Limawati of Naga Chamber Choir is a doctor by profession but he is also a very good musician. In Korea, most medical doctors turn on classical music during surgeries.

2. Music builds patience: In order to learn music, we need a lot of patience and time, so when children start to learn music, they have to understand that learning processes take time. As a result, they learn that practice is a way to perfection. Through this, they learn the value of time and practice; and in course of learning they also develop patience in them.

3. Music controls emotions: When children are growing up, they go through different phases or stages of life. As they approach the age of 17-18, they become fearless. They think they are the best! They want to try out everything and think they can do anything. As such, we see a lot of unguided or misguided children becoming rebellious in society, and they go against the rules, their parents, teachers etc, but when children learn music, they also learn how to control and be intact with their emotions.

4. Music provides social exposure: When children learn music, they also get the opportunity to participate in musical activities. They get to interact with other musicians, as such they develop social skills and also learn to co-operate with other musicians.

How About Our Naga Kids?

I find that Naga children are very curious, inquisitive, receptive in mind, and very eager to learn new things, especially music. But many children at the grassroot level do not get opportunities to expose themselves to the various opportunities the society offers. As such, it is pitiful to see that many children live in pathetic conditions without availing exposure opportunities. At the same time, many parents are handicapped, without proper knowledge of their environment for obvious simple reasons. I found that Nagas have great musical talents and they do have many traditional musical instruments, but they are not making much headway due to some very simple reasons.

1. Less access to musical instruments: After I came to Nagaland, especially beyond Kohima and Dimapur, I visited some villages. When I went to these places, I showed my mouth organ to the kids and they were so surprised to see it because they saw it for the first time. Nagaland has a lot of good musicians and singers but it is sad to say they have very less access to various kinds of music. When children in Kohima and Dimapur do not have much opportunity to access music, those who are in the villages definitely have no access or very little access to music.

2. Ignorance of parents about the importance of music: Most parents do not think of sending their children to learn music because they have no knowledge or little knowledge about the importance of music.

3. Lack of orchestra and musical concerts suitable for families: Sometime back, I happened to witness an interesting Handel Messiah's Concert at Ao Baptist Church in Dimapur. They did an amazing performance. I think we should encourage more of such concerts to open the minds of the people to have a broader view of music. This can also help children to appreciate music, and parents too can help their children in developing their potential.

These days, there are a lot of popular musicians such as the Chinese musician Lang Lang or Korean composer Yiruma, the composer of "Autumn in My Heart" which many young people are crazy about. These great personalities have not made their achievements overnight. They started when they were still young. While some Naga musicians have made it to the top, and taken up music as a profession, there are still a lot of people and especially children who have no idea about who Beethoven or Mozart or Handel are. When I asked some of our Naga kids who these people were, they were clueless. The world is not so much concerned about who Mr. Narendra Modi is or who Mr. Neiphiu Rio is! But the world knows who Mozart is, who Beethoven is, and who Handel is; and even after several decades people will continue to play their pieces and talk about them.

Music has a wide scope and we need to discover and unveil it. Some parents may say, "Oh, my child is too busy with academics and has no time."

While academics is important, it is neither the only thing nor the most important thing. What is important is the all round development of the child. Nagas are gifted with musical talents which need to be developed at a young age to build the interest of the learner. I wish and hope that the Government and different institutions and organisations of Nagaland will see the importance of music and encourage music as part of a learning activity and incorporate it in teaching and learning, not just in the towns and affluent places but also in the villages as well. I am sure we can see great wonders once music is incorporated in the school syllabus in Nagaland. It will not only be a big step, but certainly it will be a big leap. And within the span of a decade, we shall see a big change in Nagaland; Change in knowledge, change in mindset, change in attitude, and change in outlook. The Nagas should also organise more orchestras and musical concerts, give opportunities to schools and churches and also provide aspiring musicians a platform to unveil their talents and abilities.

In Korea, we use upright or grand piano to learn. We do not use much of keyboard even though we do not have electricity problem. Even if there is a problem with the piano we can avail servicing easily but it is not the same here in Nagaland. It is very difficult to get pianos repaired, for instance, if my upright piano string is broken, then I have to call up the company in Kolkata or get it from Korea which causes a lot of inconvenience. Musical books are available in some music stores but if they have no stock, then we have to order from Bangalore or other places. In Korea, music is part and parcel of the school curriculum and also of the society, and we have easy access to music instruments and music books.

Moreover, the pianos are very risky and costly but I think we should develop our facilities and not just use the piano alone to teach but also provide accordion, or melodeon and different musical instruments. I would also like to encourage the interested people to take up Music Technician Courses. Surely something must be done in Nagaland too in order to equip our people and institutions with proper facilities for learning.

I

“Degree of Thought is a weekly community column initiated by Tetso College in partnership with The Morung Express. Degree of Thought will delve into the social, cultural, political and educational issues around us. The views expressed here do not reflect the opinion of the institution. Tetso College is a NAAC Accredited UGC recognised Commerce and Arts College. For feedback or comments please email: admin@tetsocollege.org”. www.fnewsreview.wordpress.com

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

Wednesday 13 August 2014

The Morung Express

Modi attacks Pak, says it’s waging proxy war

LeH, AuguSt 12 (IAnS): In his first attack on Islamabad after taking office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday accused Pakistan of waging a proxy war against India, saying this had killed more soldiers than the numbers killed in all wars since 1947.

Making his second visit to Jammu and Kashmir in less than two months, Modi also vowed to take the country’s war against terrorism to “a logical conclusion”.

Hopping from one venue to another before returning to the national capital, the prime minister announced Rs.8,000 crore to build four major road projects in Jammu and Kashmir.

Modi, who became prime minister in May, said Pakistan was sponsoring a proxy war against India as it had lost the capacity to fight a conventional war.

“We have lost more soldiers during the proxy war than the country has during the conventional wars fought with Pakistan,” he said, referring to Islamabad-backed terrorism in Kashmir and other parts of India.

Modi was addressing officers and soldiers posted at Siachen, the world’s highest battlefield, at Leh, the capital of mountainous Ladakh. He later interacted with the soldiers.

He said his government was committed to making India self-reliant in defence manufacturing, building a strong armed forces, and equipping them with modern arms and technology.

Terrorism, he said, was a global problem and “all humanitarian forces of the world should unite to fight it. India is committed to strengthening and uniting these humanitarian forces”.

A national war memorial would come up at Leh, Modi announced.

Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval accompanied the prime minister.

Modi addressed a public rally at Polo Ground in Leh town, where he inaugurated a 45 MW Nimoo-Bazgo hydro electric power project built on the Indus river in Alchi village, 70 km from here, through remote control.

Dressed in traditional Ladakhi gown and headgear, the prime minister also laid the foundation of a Rs.1,700 crore, 330-km Leh-Srinagar transmission line to be built by the National Grid Corp of India.

He said corruption and not shortage of developmental funds was destroying the edifice of the country.

“Corruption is troubling us. People are angry. I promise we will fight corruption...

“There are also honest officers. We will work with them too. If we win the fight against corruption, we will win battle against poverty.

“From the mountain peaks of Ladakh I announce today that we will eradicate corruption from the country taking along all political parties ready to work with us against corruption,” he added.

Addressing about 6,000 people at Kargil, Modi paid compliments to the region, the site of a India-Pakistan conflict in 1999. “Today I am hearing the sound of claps. When I came earlier, we heard the sound of guns.”

He inaugurated a 44 MW Chutak hydro electric project in Kargil, built on the Suru river as a run-of-the-river project by the NHPC. Modi told the Leh rally that after getting connected with the northern power grid, Ladakh would use electricity produced in the region.

Ladakh has “Prakash, Paryavaran and Paryatan” (Power, Environment and Tourism), the prime minister said.

“If these three are utilised properly, then the country will benefit... Development must be such that it transforms the lives of the common man.”

‘Ending corruption only way to remove poverty’

LeH, AuguSt 12 (IAnS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday said his government would carry the war against corruption to its logical conclusion, which was the only way to eradicate poverty in the country.

Addressing a public rally at the Polo Grounds here, Modi said corruption was destroying the edifice of the country and shortage of funds was not a hurdle in removing poverty.

“From the peaks of Ladakh today, I announce that we will eradicate corruption from the country, working together with those political parties who are ready to fight corruption,” he said.

Modi announced a loan interest waiver of Rs.60 crore for Jammu and Kashmir and also said that the union cabinet would soon grant Rs.8,000 crore for four major road building projects in the state. This, he said, would be in addition to the funds already allotted to the state for road building projects.

Modi said some of the funds out of the Rs.8,000 crore would be spent on the Zojila tunnel which would make possible allweather connectivity between Ladakh and the rest of India.

Modi vows to work for Kashmiri Pandits, victims of terror

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi walks upon his arrival in Kargil on Tuesday, August 12. Modi on Tuesday accused Pakistan of waging a proxy, terrorist war because it was too weak to fight a conventional one, a day after India accused its traditional rival of violating cease-fire agreements in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. (AP Photo)

KArgIL, AuguSt 12 (PtI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday pledged to work for the welfare of displaced Kashmiri Pandits, refugees from West Pakistan and kin of those killed in terrorist violence, saying the days of their neglect are over.

“See the condition of Jammu and Kashmir where 20 per cent of the population is displaced. We want to settle these displaced people and give them opportunity of their livelihood,” he said while inaugurating the 44 MW Chutak hydro-power project here.The Prime Minister said his government was committed to ensure that this 20 per cent population contributes in changing the destiny of the state.

“More than two lakh displaced are refugees from West Pakistan, over one lakh displaced are…more than 4 lakh are Kashmiri Pandits over eight to ten lakh are those who lost their families in terrorist attacks. These are also our brothers and sisters and we have to think about them,” he said.

He said the governments in the past have shown apathy towards ensuring that these 20 lakh displaced people live a life of dignity and self-respect.

Sonia Gandhi attacks government over Govt issues precautionary guidelines to international airlines The airlines have been diDeLHI, AuguSt operating on international for self-reporting by travellers communal violence, centre denies charges new 12(PtI): With airports across routes and asked them to take who have any signs or symp- rected to keep a record of all

t H I r u VA n A n t H APurAm, AuguSt 12 (IAnS): Congress chief Sonia Gandhi Tuesday attacked the Narendra Modi government, saying the communal violence in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra were “created deliberately to divide our society”. The government rubbished the charges, and called them “baseless”.

Speaking at the party headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, she said: “Incidents of communal violence, especially in some states of the north like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and some other states have increased in the 11 weeks since the new government came to power. “And it is something which is of great concern and worry to all of us.

“During the UPA government, UPA I and UPA II, there were hardly any such incidents.

But in a very short span, we have had nothing less than 600 communal violence incidents in UP and perhaps as many in Maharashtra. This of course makes us wonder and makes us think why suddenly after the BJP has come to power all these communal incidents...,” she said. “...and what we believe and what is pretty clear in many instances is that these incidents are deliberately created to divide our society along religious

lines,” Gandhi added. Her attack on the Modi government came after her son and party vice president Rahul Gandhi slammed the Centre on the issue.

He held an unprecedented noisy protest and also trooped to the Lok Sabha Speaker’s podium Aug 6, demanding a debate on rising communal violence in Uttar Pradesh. Modi took a dig at Rahul Gandhi in his speech at the party national council meet, saying “those who have suffered a massive defeat in the elections are still not able to desist from engaging in old vote bank politics”.

He had also said: “The BJP never accepts incidents (of violence) which are taking place in the country. Peace, unity and harmony are the pre-requisites for progress and there will be no compromise on this.” Rahul Gandhi had said the violence in Uttar Pradesh was “artificially and deliberately engineered”.

InNewDelhi,MinisterofState inPrimeMinister’sOfficeJitendra Singh told reporters outside parliament house: “I do not think it is necessary for us to comment on these off-the-cuff remarks made by anybody. What is happening is known to everybody, it is very evident. “We live in an evidencebased era of arguments. So, I do not think we should attach much importance to what somebody is

saying,” he said.

He said the prime minister and his government’s stand on all these issues was more than clear. Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut said: “The Modi government is not responsible for whatever is happening in Uttar Pradesh... Sonia Gandhi should understand as to who is ruling there and what is the situation there.”

However, Sitaram Yechury of the Communist Party of India-Marxist endorsed Sonia Gandhi’s views. “That is what the home ministry statistics indicate (that incidents of communal tension had increased) in 2013 and now in the second quarter they are much more.

“They are rising in direct proportion to the by-elections that are happening. And in the 12 constituencies where the by-elections are due, you find communal tensions rising very sharply,” he said. Sonia Gandhi further criticised the Modi government for its attitude towards the happenings at Gaza.

“In the Lok Sabha, we were unable to initiate a discussion, but in the Rajya Sabha we were able to take up the issue for discussion. We have always expressed our solidarity with the Palestinians. At the moment, the guns there have fallen silent,” she said.

the country already on alert to screen passengers coming in from Ebola-hit countries, the government on Tuesday directed all airlines to follow precautionary guidelines to help isolate travellers who may have been affected by the virus.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued directives to all airlines

a series of precautionary measures with immediate effect to prevent the entry and spread of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in India. The airlines have been asked to keep first aid and universal precaution kits, including masks, sanitizers and disposal gloves and bags.

They would also have to make in-flight announcements

toms of EVD, ask passengers to fill up special health forms for submitting information regarding visit to any affected country in the last 21 days, among other things. The details of passengers boarding from affected countries should be sent in advance to the station of arrival in India by all Indian and foreign airlines, says the directive.

passengers returning to India after staying or visiting West African countries and inform the details to health officials at the concerned airports. The EVD epidemic has affected four countries in West Africa, with the World Health Organisation declaring the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.

Govt bats for supremacy of parliament Woman hurls slipper

new DeLHI, AuguSt 12 (IAnS): The government Tuesday said it favoured an independent judiciary but also wanted the sanctity of parliament to be maintained. “We all want an independent judiciary, but the sanctity of parliament is equally important, which we all appreciate,” Law and Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said while moving for consideration of the Lok Sabha two bills which seek to replace the collegium system of appointment of judges.

The National Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2014 and the Constitution (121st Amendment) Bill seek to regulate the procedure to be followed for recommending people for appointment as chief justice and other judges of the Supreme Court and the high courts and their transfer. The two bills were introduced in the lower house Monday by the minister who earlier in the day withdrew the UPA government’s Judicial Appointments Commission Bill, 2013, in the Rajya Sabha.

Prasad said in the Lok Sabha Tuesday that separation of powers was important and a part of the constitution.

“The government doesn’t have any intention whatsoever to have any confrontation with the judiciary. We respect the judiciary as an article of faith.”

The minister appealed to all Lok Sabha members to rise above all considerations and ensure that the judiciary’s dignity was maintained. The Constitution (121st Amendment) Bill seeks to put the proposed judicial commission and its entire composition in the constitution.

According to the proposal, the chief justice of India will head the commission. Besides the chief justice, the judiciary would be represented by two senior judges of the Supreme Court. Two eminent personalities and the law minister will be the other members of the proposed panel. A constitution amendment bill needs to be passed by twothirds majority in parliament.

at Ajit Pawar, misses

gADcHIroLI, AuguSt 12 (IAnS): A woman hurled a slipper at Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in Chamorshi village of the state Tuesday, but missed, the politician’s aide said. The woman - identified as Shobha Mhaske - raised proVidarbha slogans and hurled her slipper at Pawar.

However, as she was at quite some distance from the dais, she missed the target and the slipper landed in the crowd. Security personnel immediately detained her even as she continued to shout slogans in support of a separate state of Vidarbha - comprising 11 districts of eastern Maharashtra.

The incident happened after Pawar, Home Minister R.R. Patil and Nationalist Congress Party state president Sunil Tatkare and others addressed a rally as a warm-up to the ensuing assembly elections. Pawar did not react to the incident. Later, he commented that the demand for a separate Vidarbha state is not being raised by people of the region, for which the state government had allocated huge developmental funds. This is the second instance of public showing their ire on a minister in the past one week in the state.

Banned in much of the developed world, asbestos going strong in India

In this Nov. 22, 2013 photo, a woman stands near her home at Vaishali village in Bihar. Villagers of Vaishali, mostly dependent on farming, pulled down a new asbestos factory being built in their village fearing asbestos fibers could blow across their wheat, rice and potato fields and into their tiny mud-and-thatch homes, causing life threatening diseases. (AP File Photo)

VAISHALI, AuguSt 12 (AP): The executives mingled over tea and sugar cookies, and the chatter was upbeat. Their industry, they said at a conference in the Indian capital, saves lives and brings roofs, walls and pipes to some of the world’s poorest people. Their product?

Asbestos. Outlawed in much of the developed world, it is still going strong in the developing

one. In India alone, the world’s biggest asbestos importer, it’s a $2 billion industry providing 300,000 jobs.

The International Labor Organization, World Health Organization, medical researchers and more than 50 countries say the mineral should be banned; asbestos fibers lodge in the lungs and cause disease. The ILO estimates 100,000 people

die from workplace exposure every year. But the industry executives at the asbestos conference, held in a luxury New Delhi hotel, said the risks are overblown.

Instead, they described their business as a form of social welfare for hundreds of thousands of impoverished Indians still living in flimsy, mudand-thatch huts. “We’re here

not only to run our businesses, but to also serve the nation,” said Abhaya Shankar, a director of India’s Asbestos Cement Products Manufacturers Association.

Yet there are some poor Indians trying to keep asbestos out of their communities. In the farming village of Vaishali, in the eastern state of Bihar, residents became outraged by the construction of an asbestos factory in their backyard.

They had learned about the dangers of asbestos from a school boy’s science textbooks, and worried asbestos fibers would blow into their tiny thatch homes. Their children, they said, could contract lung diseases most Indian doctors would never test for, let alone treat.

They petitioned for the factory to be halted. But in December 2012, its permit was renewed, inciting thousands to rally on a main road for 11 hours. Amid the chaos, a few dozen villagers demolished the partially built factory.

The company later filed lawsuits, still pending, accusing several villagers of vandal-

ism and theft. Medical experts say inhaling any form of asbestos can lead to deadly diseases 20-40 years later including lung cancer, mesothelioma and asbestosis, or the scarring of the lungs.

The asbestos lobby says the mineral has been unfairly maligned by Western nations that used it irresponsibly. It also says one of the six forms of asbestos is safe: chrysotile, or white asbestos, which accounts for more than 95 percent of all asbestos used since 1900.

Medical experts reject this.

“All types of asbestos fiber are causally implicated in the development of various diseases and premature death,” the Societies of Epidemiology said in a 2012 position statement.

Russia now provides most asbestos on the world market.

Meanwhile, rich nations are suffering health and economic consequences from past use.

Umesh Kumar, a roadside vendor in Bihar’s capital, has long known there are health hazards to the 3-by-1 meter (10-by-3 foot) asbestos cement sheets he sells for 600 rupees ($10) each. But he doesn’t

guide customers to the 800 rupee tin or fiberglass alternatives. “This is a country of poor people, and for less money they can have a roof over their heads,” he said.

The two-day asbestos conference in December was billed as scientific, though organizers admitted they had no new research.

One could say they’ve gone back in time to defend asbestos.

Many of the speakers are regulars at asbestos conferences in the developing world.

Toxicologist David Bernstein said that while chrysotile could cause disease if inhaled in large quantities or for prolonged periods, so could any tiny particle. He presented an animated video showing a type of white blood cell called a macrophage breaking down a chrysotile fiber and carrying it out of the lungs.

“We have defense mechanisms. Our lungs are remarkable,” Bernstein said.

Other studies indicate, however, that chrysotile collects in the membrane lining the lungs, where the rare malignancy mesothelioma develops and chews

through the chest wall, leading to excruciating death.

Research such as Bernstein’s frustrates retired U.S. Assistant Surgeon General Dr. Richard Lemen, who first advocated a chrysotile ban in 1976.

“His presentation is pretty slick, and when he puts it on animation mode, people think: Wow, he must know what he’s talking about,” Lemen said by telephone from Atlanta.

In Vaishali, the permit for the asbestos plant was canceled by Bihar’s chief minister last year. But Indian officials remain divided and confused about the risks.

India placed a moratorium on new asbestos mining in 1986, but never banned use of the mineral despite two Supreme Court orders. The position of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new government is unclear.

“Many people are not aware of the effects, especially the illiterate,” said Madan Prasad Gupta, a village leader in Bhojpur, sipping tea at the roadside tea shop he built decades ago when he had no idea what asbestos was.

InternatIonal

the Morung express

Gaza talks to continue in Cairo as truce holds

Back dropped by the damaged minaret of the Al-Azba mosque, Palestinians sit under a tent they erected by the rubble of houses, destroyed by Israeli strikes during the war, in the town of Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, August 12. (AP Photo)

CAIRO, August 12 (AP): A temporary IsraelHamas truce was holding for a second day Tuesday as marathon, indirect negotiations on a lasting ceasefire and a long-term solution for the battered Gaza Strip were set to resume in Cairo.

A similar, three-day truce collapsed on Friday when militants resumed rocket fire on Israel after the sides were unable to make any headway in the Egypt-hosted talks. Hamas is seeking an end to an Israeli-Egyptian border blockade of the Gaza Strip

while Israel wants Hamas to disarm.

The Israeli military said no incidents between the two sides were registered overnight - neither Hamas rocket fire at Israel nor Israeli strikes in Gaza.

It said that early Tuesday a small Gazan fishing boat had violated an Israeli-imposed prohibition on going out to sea, but had turned around after an Israeli naval vessel fired several warning shots in its direction.

The monthlong Gaza war has killed more than 1,900 Palestinians, the ma-

jority of them civilians, Palestinian and U.N. officials say. In Israel, 67 people have been killed, all but three of them soldiers, officials there say.

The Israeli delegation returned to the Egyptian capital on Tuesday after a trip back to Israel.

A senior Israeli official suggested that the first day of talks had not gone well.

“The gaps between the sides are big and there is no progress in the negotiations,” he said.

A member of the Palestinian delegation said that in Monday’s talks, Israel

had offered a number of concrete measures aimed at improving life for Gaza’s 1.8 million residents, including an increase in the number of daily goods trucks crossing into the territory from Israel, and the free transfer of funds by the Palestinian Authority to Hamas-affiliated government employees in Gaza.

Also included in the purported Israeli package, the official said, was an easing in transit conditions between Gaza and the West Bank and an eventual quadrupling - to 12 miles (19 kilometers) - of the sea area

in which Gaza fishing vessels are permitted to operate.

The official said that Israel was tying continuing Palestinian demands for the opening of a Gaza sea and airport to a verified cessation of smuggling, development and manufacture of weapons in the territory.

Last week’s talks failed in part because Israel rejected Hamas’ demand for a complete end to the blockade of the Gaza Strip, enforced by Egypt and Israel.

Israel says the closure is necessary to prevent arms smuggling, and officials do not want to make any concessions that would allow Hamas to declare victory.

The blockade has greatly limited the movement of Palestinians in and out of the impoverished territory. It has also limited the flow of goods into Gaza and blocked virtually all exports. Unemployment in the coastal territory is more than 50 percent.

Hamas officials have since signaled that they will have more modest goals in the current round of talks.

Another member of the Palestinian delegation said that Egyptian officials told the delegation to expect “an extremely long negotiating session” on Tuesday - an indication that the talks may be about to enter a sensitive phase.

The Israeli official and the two members of the Palestinian delegation spoke on condition of anonymity because they were

not authorized to discuss the talks with the media.

This round of Gaza fighting - the third, and bloodiest, in six years - escalated from the abduction and killing of three Israeli teens in the West Bank in June. Israel blamed the killings on Hamas and launched a massive arrest campaign, rounding up hundreds of its members in the West Bank.

Hamas and other militants then unleashed rocket fire from Gaza and Israel launched its air campaign on July 8. Nine days later, Israel sent in ground troops to target rocket launchers and cross-border tunnels built by Hamas for attacks inside Israel.

In a related development, a Turkish-organized group of human rights organizations said Tuesday they are organizing a flotilla of vessels that will attempt to breach Israel’s blockade of Gaza later this year.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition said it plans to sail to Gaza “during 2014.”

It did not specify how many vessels would participate, but said the flotilla was “a reflection of the growing worldwide solidarity with the Palestinian people; from the U.S. to Malaysia, from Scandinavia to South Africa.”

The group organized two previous flotillas, in 2010 and in 2011. During the first, Israeli forces stormed the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, killing nine people on board. The incident led to a breakdown in Turkish-Israeli relations.

Ebola: Questions, answers about an ‘unproven’ drug WAsHINgtON, August 12 (AP): An experimental Ebola drug has been used to treat two American aid workers and a Spanish missionary priest. Could Liberian doctors be next?

The Liberian government said Monday that it will receive doses of the drug to treat two doctors in the country. They would be the first Africans to receive it. The manufacturer, Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc., said in a statement posted Monday afternoon on its website that the supply of the drug is now exhausted.

The announcement came as the World Health Organization considered ethical questions about who should get access to an experimental drug in an emergency.

Some questions and answers about the Ebola drug: Q: What is this drug?

A: Called ZMapp, it is a cocktail of specially engineered antibodies designed to target and inactivate the Ebola virus.

Q: What do we know about whether it works?

A: Very little. Various antibodies have been tested in small numbers of monkeys, but not people. In one study, 43 percent of treated monkeys survived when the drug was given after the animals showed symptoms.

Mapp Biopharmaceutical now is developing a combination of three antibod-

ies that seemed most promising in those animal studies.

Q: Why isn’t ZMapp being tested more widely to find out if it works in people?

A: There’s not enough available. The antibodies are grown inside tobacco plants, and then extracted and purified, a slow process. U.S. officials have estimated that only a modest amount could be produced in two or three months, unless some way to speed production is found.

Q: What does it mean that the two American aid workers who received the drug are reported to be slowly improving?

A: Top U.S. health officials stress that there’s no way to know if the drug really helped, or if those two patients would have been among the 40% of people who are surviving this outbreak anyway. Without human studies, there also isn’t any way to know if the drug might harm instead of help.

There is no proven treatment for Ebola. But basic supportive care — things like keeping patients hydrated, maintaining their blood pressure and treating any complicating infections — can make a difference in survival, says Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The two U.S. patients, both infected in Liberia, are being treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.

U.S., appropriate export procedures had to Q: How were the Americans and Span- be followed,” the statement said. ish priest chosen to get some of those limited doses, rather than Africans?

Q: Are any other drugs in the pipeA: The international relief organization line?

Samaritan’s Purse and Emory University A: Canada’s Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Hospital requested that the manufactur- Corp. is developing a drug that targets Eber provide some of the drug for the two ola’s genetic material. The FDA had halted Americans, and the manufacturer agreed. a small safety study with questions about a As for the Spanish missionary priest, it reaction in healthy volunteers. Last week, wasn’t clear exactly how Spanish officials Tekmira announced that FDA had modiobtained a dose that apparently was in Ge- fied its restriction, clearing a roadblock to neva. The priest also was infected in Libe- possible experimental use in infected paria and is in isolation at a Madrid hospital. tients; the company said at the time that it Typically, the Food and Drug Admin- was “carefully evaluating options.” istration doesn’t regulate shipments of A handful of other companies are in unapproved drugs for emergency use in earlier stages of drug development; a posindividual patients outside the U.S. sible vaccine to prevent the disease is exThe World Health Organization is de- pected to begin first-stage safety studies bating if any further limited supplies of ex- sometime in the fall. perimental drugs should be used during the outbreak, and under what conditions.

Q: If experimental drugs won’t stop But the agency cannot force a manufac- the outbreak, what will? turer to go along. Indeed, using an experiA: Frieden and other experts say oldmental drug outside of a research study fashioned public health measures: rapidly isn’t just a gamble for patient safety. What finding and isolating the sick, quarantinif a drug might benefit patients early in the ing those exposed and educating the pubdisease, but doctors can’t tell because it lic on how to avoid the risk of infection. Ebwas given only to the most gravely ill? ola is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids of sick patients. Frieden said Q: How is Liberia getting the drug? the two main drivers of the outbreak are A: The U.S. Department of Health and improper infection control during patient Human Services said it had helped con- care and traditional but risky burial pracnect Liberia with the manufacturer. “Since tices that have mourners handling bodies the drug was shipped for use outside the that are still infectious.

Wednesday 13 August 2014

Dimapur

9

Clinton contrasts foreign policy vision from Obama

EDgARtOWN, August 12 (AP): After working to carry out President Barack Obama’s foreign policy mission for four years as secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton is contrasting her vision for America’s role in the world ahead of a possible 2016 White House bid.

Clinton drew the sharpest distinctions yet from her former boss in a rebuke of his cautious approach to global crises. “Great nations need organizing principles, and ‘don’t do stupid stuff’ is not an organizing principle,” Clinton said in a weekend magazine interview, referring to a version of the phrase Obama and his advisers have used privately to describe his approach to foreign policy.

Asked for her organizing principle, she replied: “Peace, progress, and prosperity. This worked for a very long time.” Clinton wrapped her critiques in expressions of respect for the president and sympathy for the tough global decisions he grapples with from the Oval Office.

On Monday, a vacation day for Obama, he dealt with issues involving Iraq, Ukraine, Gaza, Syria, as well as terrorism and Ebola in Africa.

“He’s thoughtful, he’s incredibly smart, and able to analyze a lot of different factors that are all moving at the same time,” she said. “I think he is cautious because he knows what he inherited, both the two wars and the economic front, and he has expended a lot of capital and energy trying to pull us out of the hole we’re in.”

Coincidentally, Clinton plans to be on Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday for a book signing of her memoir at the Bunch of Grapes book store, which Obama often visits while he’s in town. The White House said before the interview was published that Obama would not attend and has no plans to see Clinton while they are both on the island.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Atlantic published on its website, Clinton offered an uncompromising defense of Israel’s battle against Hamas in Gaza and argued against Obama’s decision not to build up a rebel fighting force to confront Syrian President Bashar Assad. Clinton previously described her advocacy for the Syrian rebellion in “Hard Choices,” her memoir about her time leading the State Department. Obama has said supporting the rebels would not have stopped al-Qaida-inspired groups from rampaging across Syria and inside Iraq today.

Clinton and then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta reportedly argued for arming the rebels who first stood up to Assad three years ago. Since then, the question of “arming the rebels” has become more complicated, as fighters linked to al-Qaida and other fundamentalist Islamist groups have joined the rebellion.

She told The Atlantic she can’t say definitively that her recommendations as secretary of state would have made a difference, but “the failure to do that left a big vacuum, which the jihadists have now filled.” The White House declined to respond to Clinton’s comments, but said her team gave them a heads up before the interview was published.

Aussie upset by photo of grandson with head CANBERRA, August 12 (AP): The Sydney grandfather of a 7-year-old boy pictured clutching the severed head of a Syrian soldier has urged the Australian government to bring the boy home, newspapers reported Tuesday.

Truck driver Peter Nettleton told The Australian newspaper that he was “gutted” to see on its front page on Monday a photograph of his grandson lifting the head with both hands by the hair. The newspaper reported that the image was taken in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa and posted on Twitter by the boy’s convicted terrorist father, Khaled Sharrouf.

Nettleton, father of Sharrouf’s Anglo-Australian wife Tara Nettleton, told The Daily Telegraph newspaper he had thought his five grandchildren had been living in Malaysia while Sharrouf fought with the Islamic State army in Syria and Iraq.

Sharrouf, 33, also posted a photograph of his three sons posing with him in matching camouflage fatigues and armed with assault rifles and a pistol with an Islamic State flag as their backdrop. He also has two daughters, The Daily Telegraph reported. Nettleton said he became estranged from his daughter nine years ago after she converted to Islam and married her teenage sweetheart, an Australian born to Lebanese immigrants.

Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told Australian Broadcasting Corp. that the family could face legal action if they returned to Australia. She did not say whether her government would make an effort to secure the children’s return.

“This imagery, it’s shocking and it underlines what we’ve been saying about this threat to Australia and Australians from violent extremism,” she told ABC.

ASEAN remains divided with no solution in sight on sea row

MANILA, August 12 (AP): Despite U.S. and Asian calls for self-restraint and new impetus for the resolution of territorial disputes involving China, a high-profile Asian security summit ended over the weekend where it began, with no solution of the rifts in sight.

China dismissed a new U.S. proposal for a freeze on hostile actions that could heighten tensions in the disputed South China Sea, leaving Washington unable to overturn an impression that it can do little to back up allies at odds with Beijing over the contested waters and islands. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, remains divided and is similarly unable to pressure China to back down.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was overseeing multiple crises unraveling in Iraq, Gaza and Ukraine as he flew to Myanmar’s capital of Naypyitaw to attend the annual ASEAN Regional Forum, Asia’s premier security gathering of 27 Asian and Western countries, including China.

Under Kerry’s proposal, China and the four ASEAN members that have long disputed strategic South China Sea territories — Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam — should voluntarily halt provocative actions, including occupying new islands or reclaiming land to enlarge naturally submerged reefs. Taiwan, which is not an ASEAN member, also

contests the territories.

The Philippines, a U.S. treaty ally, backed Kerry’s proposal and also urged the full enforcement of a 2002 accord that also called for an end to tensionproducing actions as well as long-term arbitration that could eventually resolve the claims under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. ASEAN, a key battleground for influence between the U.S. and China, generally has backed American calls for an easing of tensions, including the start of negotiations for a binding regional “code of conduct” to govern activities involving conflicting claims. But China has resisted, and progress on the code has been slow.

“The United States and ASEAN have a common responsibility to ensure the maritime safety of critical global sea lanes and ports,” Kerry told foreign ministers at the meeting. “We need to work together to manage tensions in the South China Sea and manage them peacefully and also to manage them on a basis of international law.”

As expected, China reacted coldly, saying that the tensions were being overblown.

“Someone has been exaggerating or even playing up the so-called tension in the South China Sea,” Kerry’s Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, told reporters. “We do not agree with such a practice, and we call for vigilance in the motives behind them.”

ASEAN foreign ministers later

issued a joint statement saying they would ask lower-level diplomats to intensify consultations with China on ways to enforce the 2002 agreement in its entirety, including two provisions that embody the U.S. and Philippine calls for self-restraint and a halt to hostile actions, and an early start of the negotiations on a legally binding code.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario expressed frustration over the non-enforcement of the 2002 accord.The accord “has been there since 2002. We keep talking about it but nobody follows it,” he told reporters in Manila on Monday.

The meetings in Myanmar were the first chance for top diplomats from countries involved in the territorial disputes to gather after China deployed a deep-sea oil rig in May near islands claimed by Vietnam.

China’s withdrawal of the rig in mid-July removed an irritant but left a legacy of anger and strained relations with Vietnam and questions among China’s other neighbors about its long-term strategy.

China’s decision to withdraw the rig helped lower temperatures ahead of the ASEAN gathering, where China highlighted major economic plans, including a proposal to set up an Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to provide financial support for regional infrastructure projects.

Without an effective U.S. deter-

In this March 29, 2014 file photo, a China Coast Guard vessel attempts to block a Philippine government vessel as the latter tries to enter the China Second Thomas Disputed Shoals (local name Ayungin Shoal) to replace Philippine troops and resupply provisions off the South China Sea. Despite U.S. and Asian calls for self-restraint and new impetus for the resolution of territorial disputes involving China, a high-profile Asian security summit ended Sunday, August 10, where it began, with no solution of the rifts in sight. (AP Photo)

rence or a united ASEAN, China will continue to confront rival claimants, said Carl Thayer, an expert on South China Sea territorial issues and an emeritus professor at the Australian Defence Force Academy.

“The bottom line is that the United States has not yet articulated an effective strategy for itself to deter China

and impose a cost on China’s actions,” Thayer said. “In sum, China will continue to build up, expand and consolidate its presence.” It wasn’t clear who left the Myanmar meetings with an upper hand because of the lack of a clear consensus on the disputes.

Kerry brushed aside the Chinese resistance to his proposal, saying the

U.S. was “very pleased” that ASEAN foreign ministers had included positive language about it in their statement.“I think we made the point that we came to make,” Kerry said.

Several U.S. officials said the ASEAN statement was a setback for China because Beijing would have preferred that the subject not be addressed at all.However, political scientist Zhu Feng, a regional security expert at the School of International Studies at China’s Peking University, said the Southeast Asian nations showed they had no appetite to collectively go against China.

“The reason why the ASEAN countries did not follow America’s call is that they do not wish to drive China into a corner or to put it on trial,” Feng said. “Those are not among the solutions to the problem. Nor do they reflect the complexity of the objective reality. The outcome of the ASEAN meetings is such that it tells the United States it is unnecessary to get involved in the South China Sea issue with such a high profile.”

In a commentary Monday, China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency warned against too much involvement by Washington.

“It is a painful reality that Uncle Sam has left too many places in chaos after it stepped in, as what people are witnessing now in Iraq, Syria and Libya. The South China Sea should not be the next one,” Xinhua said.

10

Dimapur

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Wednesday 13 August 2014

The Morung Express

Jayawardene, the elegant run-machine, bids adieu

COLOmbO, AUGUST 12 (AFP): Test cricket will bid farewell to one of its most elegant strokemakers when Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene quits the longer format after the second Test against Pakistan, starting in Colombo Thursday.

Few cricketers have exemplified the spirit of the game better than the gentlemanly 37-year-old, even though his pleasant demeanour hides nerves of steel, a calculating streetsmart mind and an obsessive drive for perfection.

The elegant right-hander retired from Twenty20 internationals after Sri Lanka's title-winning campaign in the World T20 in April, but still hopes to compete in next year's one-day World Cup Down Under. Jayawardene is one of only five bats-

men to score more than 11,000 runs in both Test and one-day cricket -- the others being Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis and team-mate Kumar Sangakkara.

An average of 50.02 over 148 Tests with 34 centuries illustrates his hunger for runs through a 17-yearcareer. Although his form outside Asia has been inconsistent, he has set a deluge of records at home.

He scored a monumental 374 during a world record partnership of 624 with Sangakkara (287) against a South African attack that included Dale Steyn and Makhya Ntini on his home ground at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) in Colombo in 2006.

Jayawardene looked set to surpass Brian Lara's

Lucky Gavaskar escapes unhurt in car crash LONDON, AUGUST 12 (PTi): Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar was lucky to escape unhurt in a car crash while travelling from Manchester to London on Sunday after the completion of the third Test between India and England. According to media reports, Gavaskar, who is part of the Sky Sports commentary team, was seated in a Jaguar with fellow-commentator Marc Nicholas and his close friend Chandresh Patel when he met with the accident.

It is learnt that the legendary opener was sitting on the left side of the rear while Nicholas was sitting beside the driver when a car coming from the opposite end collided with their Jaguar.

Gavaskar's driver, who had reportedly dozed off, was slow to react on a wet road and a late manoevre did avoid a head-on clash but the speeding vehicle slammed onto the other car. It was Gavaskar, who had to shout to get the drowsy driver back in his senses as the others were also fast asleep. Though the Jaguar was badly damaged, all the passengers left unscathed and the visibly shaken trio soon took a train from East Midland Park for London. It was reported that Gavaskar, who had warned the driver of rash driving in soggy and skiddy conditions, was reading a newspaper when the accident happened while the other two passengers were comfortably sleeping.

"God has saved us. There was torrential rain and our car was being driven very fast. Thankfully, no one was hurt although the accident was very, very scary," Gavaskar was quoted in media reports. "I was visibly shaken after the accident," Gavaskar said.

Gavaskar reached his London flat in two hours time after the crash and having left the incident behind is gearing up to take the mike for the fifth and final Test starting August 15.

record of 400 when he was bowled against the run of play. Ever the team-mate, he preferred to rejoice in his team's huge win by an innings and 153 runs.

He got a taste of big scores on his Test debut itself as a 20-year-old in 1997, when Sri Lanka piled up a world record total of 952-6 declared against India at the Premadasa stadium in Colombo.

Slated to bat at number six, the young Jayawardene saw Sanath Jayasuriya make 340, supported by Roshan Mahanama (225), before himself scoring 66.

Jayawardene's farewell Test was originally scheduled to be played at the P. Sara Oval in Colombo before thoughtful officials accepted a request to move it to the SSC.

Mahela Jayawardene (AP Photo)

WAYO, WASA, WASU 3rd consultative meet KOhimA, AUGUST 12 (mExN): The 3rd joint consultative meet of Western Angami Youth Organization (WAYO), Western Angami Sports Association (WASA) and Western Angami Students Union (WASU) is scheduled on September 13 at 10 am at WAPO Hall, Sechü Zubza. The one-day event would be hosted by WASU. The resource speakers for the consultative meet are Mhiesizokho Zinyü, former president Angami Public Organisation, Nibu Nagi, Class-I contractor & entrepreneur and Dr Kethoser Aniu Kevichüsa, ministry associate, Ravi Zacharia International Ministries. Informing this in a release, WASU President Kedoroko Casavi has requested all concerned members from the respective Western Angami villages to attend the programme.

CSU soccer tournament

DimAPUR, AUGUST 12 (mExN): The Chenloisho Students’ Union (CSU) has informed that it will be organizing a soccer tournament on the occasion of its golden jubilee celebration to be held from November 20 to December 10 at Chenloisho village. A press note informed that the winner of the tournament will receive a cash prize of Rs 1,00,000 and the runners up will receive Rs 70,000 with trophies. Individual prizes will also be awarded for various disciplines. Interested clubs/unions/village teams within Mon district have been informed that registration forms will be available at Naginimora and Chen Sumo Counter, Mon district from October 5 to 15. Registration fee for each team is set at Rs 5000, to be deposited in World Cup/World Champion- at the time of registration. Interested parties can contact NEw DELhi, AUGUST 12 be given to former sportspersons in the country.

The ministry is also plan- ships in the Olympic and Asian 8414871956 and 9862145164. (iANS): The sports ministry who have fallen on bad times.

In a written reply, Sonowal ning to give monthly pensions to Games disciplines and gold medis planning to start a welfare scheme for national sportsper- said: "The ministry is implement- Olympians and national players, allists of the Asian and Commonsons who have brought laurels ing a scheme named 'National who won medals at the interna- wealth Games will get Rs.7,000.

Silver and bronze medal winfor the country in the past but are Welfare Fund for Sportspersons' tional level. Under the scheme, under which there is a provision Olympic medallists would be ners in the Asian Games and now living in penury.

Sports minister Sarbanan- for ex-gratia financial assistance given a pension of Rs.10,000 per Commonwealth Games will CiNCiNNATi, AUGUST 12 (AP): A weekend title deda Sonowal informed the Lok to outstanding sportspersons of month, while the gold medal- get Rs.6,000 while gold medal- feat in Canada did not dent the hopes of a resurgent Roger Sabha Tuesday that the minis- yesteryears, now living in indig- lists at the World Cup/World lists of Paralympic Games will Federer as the world number three keeps to a steady pace try is implementing a scheme nant circumstances whose annu- Championships in Olympic and get Rs.5,000. Silver and bronze in his buildup to the US Open. The Swiss, who turned 33 named 'National Welfare Fund al income is less than Rs.2 lakh." Asian Games disciplines will get medallists of Paralympic Games last week, said that his 7-5 7-6 (7/2) finals loss in Toronto Sonowal said the government Rs.8,000. will get a monthly pension of to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was a disappointment but also a for Sportspersons' under which Silver and bronze medallists Rs.3,000. ex-gratia financial assistance will was keen on encouraging sports huge chance to gather more information on the current state of his game, which is bolstered by a new racquet.

While the Swiss missed out on his third title of the season after playing in seven finals, he did start putting the pieces in place as he begins as second seed at this week`s final US Open tune-up, the Cincinnati Masters. fly and 200m individual medley at the chamNEw JERSY, AUGUST 12 (REUTERS): "I`m overall pretty happy that I made the finals in my pionships.

Michael Phelps overcame the first hurdle to first tournament back on hard courts," Federer said after Ledecky, who qualified in the 200m, 400m going down to Tsonga. "I had a few tough matches which a potential return to Olympic competition in and 800m freestyle, set a world record in the clearly gave me a lot of information. "I know what I need 2016 when he was named along with exciting 400m in Irvine, her third record swim inside to work on the next few days and next few weeks, which teenagers Katie Ledecky and Missy Franklin six weeks. She broke the 800m and 1500m is good to know what I need to do other than feeling lost. on the U.S. team for the Pan Pacific Champifreestyle records at a meeting in Texas in June. I wish I could have played a bit better in the final, but the onships on Sunday.

Franklin, who won four golds at the Lon- facts were that it was tough for me. "There were things I Phelps' qualification for the Aug. 21-24 don Olympics, qualified for four individual could have done better, but overall it was a positive week. I championships on Australia's Gold Coast has events in the 100m and 200m freestyle and go away from this feeling good about my chances and also also earned the winner of 18 Olympic gold 100m and 200m backstroke. at the US Open and for the rest of the season. "It`s another medals a ticket to next year's world champiThe men's team will also include Olympic good tournament for me, which I`m happy about." onships in Kazan, Russia. His fellow Olympic gold medalists Nathan Adrian, Tyler Clary, Federer will be bidding to win his sixth trophy in Cinchampions Allison Schmitt, Natalie CoughMatt Grevers and 2000 Olympic champion cinnati -- where the women are also competing. After a lin and Katie Hoff, however, failed to make Anthony Ervin. first-round bye he starts in the second round with the the team for the Pan Pacific championships The women's group will feature up-and- winner from Canadian Vasek Pospisil and Czech veteran in Australia. The trio failed to make the top comers like Simone Manuel in the absence Radek Stepanek. Toronto protagonists made their way three in any of their individual events at the quickly to Cincinnati for the week of polish on the hardof the missing Olympic trio.

U.S. National Championships in Irvine, CaliCoughlin won the 2004 and 2008 Olympic court, with Tsonga flying out of Canada on Sunday night fornia and were not included in the 60-strong squad that also earned selection for next 2012 London Olympics with 22 medals in to- 100m backstroke, Schmitt won five medals in with his team to be ready for yesterday`s practice in Ohio.

Federer also had a late afternoon session in the tal, was using the national championships to London, including three gold, while Hoff won year's world championships.

Phelps, who came out of retirement in determine whether he would push through three medals at 400m freestyle and medley steamy heat which always characterizes the week in the midwest. In first round action yesterday, American John May after quitting the sport following the to Rio. He qualified for the 100 meters butter- and a 200m relay in Beijing in 2008.

Isner redeemed himself after his early exit in Toronto a week ago, with the 11th seed beating Canadian quarterfinalist Kevin Anderson 6-3 6-4. Isner fired 15 aces in his 55-minute win only a few hours after a rainstorm caused flash flooding at the tournament site and left unpaved NEw DELhi, AUGUST 12 quarters. But union Home Min- for India between 1928 and 1936. ter him. Every year on his birth- car parks sinking in mud and grass. Spanish 16th seed Dhyan Chand retired from day Aug 29, the sports awards Tommy Robredo advanced over American Jack Sock 7-6 (iANS): The home ministry ister Rajnath Singh, Minister of Tuesday recommended the State in Prime Minister's Office the game in 1948. Eight years namely Rajiv Gandhi Khel Rat- (7/5) 6-3. Philipp Kohlschreiber beat Jeremy Chardy of name of legendary hockey player (PMO) Jitendra Singh and Parlia- later, he was awarded the Padma na, Arjuna, Dronacharya and France 6-3 4-6 6-4 and Benjamin Becker surprised Ivo late Dhyan Chand for the Bharat mentary Affairs Minister M. Ven- Bhushan. He retired from the In- the Dhyan Chand Awards are Karlovic 7-6 (7/5) 6-4 to end a six-match losing streak against the giant Croat.

Ratna, the highest civilian award kaiah Naidu denied having any dian Army with the rank of Major. given away.

Australians split the difference with French oppodiscussion on the matter.

He passed away in New Delhi in The sports ministry last in the country.

Born in 1905, Dhyan Chand 1979 at the age of 79. year had recommended Dhyan nents as Marinko Matosevic exploded in anger during Minister of State for Home AfThe sports ministry has also Chand's name for the Bharat a win over Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 6-4 7-6 (7/4). The fairs Kiren Rijiju informed the Lok was nick-named the 'Hockey Sabha Tuesday that his ministry Wizard' for his superb ball con- constituted a Dhyan Chand life- Ratna but the Prime Minister's Aussie thought he had won on an ace but the point was had forwarded Dhyan Chand's trol and is considered the greatest time award for sportspersons in Office (PMO) gave the award to over-ruled, prompting the outburst which included cursname to the PMO after receiving field hockey player of all time. He his honour. The National Stadi- Sachin Tendulkar, who became ing and a kick towards a television camera after finally advancing moments after his ace-gone-wrong. recommendations from various won three Olympic gold medals um here has also been named af- the youngest recipient.

Sports ministry to implement welfare scheme for sportspersons

Federer aiming for more hardcourt success

Phelps makes US squad as Olympic hopes gather steam

Home ministry recommends Dhyan Chand for Bharat Ratna

Premier League returns with a stronger Man United

LONDON, AUGUST 12 (AP): The return of the Premier League this weekend cannot come quickly enough for English fans still lamenting their national team's worst-ever World Cup showing.

With the league's riches, global reach and non-stop drama, it remains England's projection of footballing power.

But as the waning impact of English sides in Europe last season demonstrated, the Premier League's allure remains under threat from Spain. Gareth Bale left Tottenham for Real Madrid last year, and the new season begins with Luis Suarez at Barcelona rather than Liverpool.

Liverpool cashed in around $130 million for the Uruguay striker, who is banned from football until the end of October for biting an opponent at the World Cup in Brazil. But Liverpool is now without the player who led the club to a rapid return to the elite, and the Premier League marketing machine is without one of its most recognizable names.

Replenishing the Liverpool squad with a trio of players from eighth-place Southampton at a cost of $80 million doesn't seem the obvious way of turning last season's second-place finish behind Manchester City into a first championship since 1990. The 27-yearold Suarez, whose 31 goals earned him the player of the year titles, has been replaced by 32-year-old Southampton striker Rickie Lam-

bert, who played just three minutes for England at the World Cup. "(Suarez) left Liverpool after his time as a world-class talent," Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said. "But we will move forward."

Manchester United seems more likely to make a big jump forward than Liverpool. Louis van Gaal has replaced David Moyes, who took over from Alex Ferguson as manager last season but wilted in the Old Trafford spotlight as the team fell from champions to seventh place. Moyes arrived a year ago without a trophy to his name, but Van Gaal already has an aura of authority gained from years at Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern Munich. He also led the Netherlands to a third-place finish at the World Cup last month. With United out of the Champions League for the first time since 1995 — and out of Europe completely — the 63-year-old Dutchman can focus on returning United to the top four.

"He'll find the competition in this league will be different to any other league that he's worked in," Rodgers said. "This is a league where the top team plays the bottom team and on any given day you can lose." Van Gaal has set about repairing a squad he described as imbalanced and "broken" in a summer that has seen veteran defenders Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic leave and Ryan Giggs retire.

United spent about $90 million on signing Spanish midfielder An-

der Herrera from Athletic Bilbao and teenager defender Luke Shaw from Southampton, which has seen an exodus of players to rival clubs and manager Mauricio Pochettino leave to take over at Tottenham.

Dithering in last summer's transfer window contributed to United's unexpected fall. The unwillingness of Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger to spend early in previous off-seasons has contributed to title challenges collapsing since 2004. Jolted by the failure to claim the trophy last season — finishing fourth after spending more time at the top than any rivals — Wenger seized the chance in July to take Chile striker Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona for $60 million.

Wenger opens the season without the burden of failure, having ended a nine-year trophy drought in May by winning the FA Cup. Mesut Ozil, Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski went on to become World Cup winners with Germany, but must now swiftly return to the Arsenal fold. "It always makes it difficult mentally to be sharp and hungry straightaway again," Wenger said.

It is a challenge Manchester City must also confront in trying to defend its second title in three years. By winning the Premier League and League Cup, City enjoyed its most successful season since 1970, but only sustained success will confirm the Abu Dhabibankrolled team as England's new force. While City hasn't made any

headline-grabbing additions, goalkeeper Willy Caballero, midfielder Fernando and defender Bacary Sagna should add depth to make a greater impact in the Champions League. Few managers have been as shrewd as Jose Mourinho over the summer. He has generated $115 million for Chelsea by offloading out-of favor defender David Luiz to Paris Saint-Germain and striker Romelu Lukaku to Everton. Raising cash to reinvest in the squad was vital after Mourinho ended his first season back at Stamford Bridge empty-handed, unable to replicate the glory years of 2004-07.

Midfielder Cesc Fabregas was enticed to join Chelsea from Barcelona rather than returning to Arsenal, striker Diego Costa and defender Filipe Luis were bought from Atletico Madrid, and 36-yearold Champions League winner Didier Drogba is making a crowdpleasing return to the Blues.

"Why I like the Premier League so much is that at this moment, nobody knows who is going to win the title," Mourinho said.

The favorites to be relegated are the newly-promoted trio. Leicester is back after a decade away, Burnley returns after a five-year absence and Queens Park Rangers won promotion after one season out of the top flight. The three will earn $100 million-plus from the league even for finishing at the bottom, a windfall that highlights the Premier League's status as the world's richest football competition.

FILE - This is a Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013 file photo of Manchester United's Wayne Rooney as he celebrates his penalty goal against Tottenham Hotspur during their English Premier League soccer match at White Hart Lane. The new English Premier League season starts on Saturday Aug. 16. (AP Photo)

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Oscar winner Robin Williams found dead R

obin Williams, a brilliant shapeshifter who could channel his frenetic energy into delightful comic characters like "Mrs. Doubtfire" or harness it into richly nuanced work like his Oscar-winning turn in "Good Will Hunting," died Monday in an apparent suicide. He was 63.

Williams was pronounced dead at his San Francisco Bay Area home Monday, according to the sheriff's office in Marin County, north of San Francisco. The sheriff's office said the preliminary investigation shows the cause of death to be a suicide due to asphyxia.

The Marin County coroner's office said Williams was last seen alive at home at about 10 p.m. Sunday.

are asking for privacy during our time of profound grief. As he is remembered, it is our hope the focus will not be on Robin's death, but on the countless moments of joy and laughter he gave to millions."

Williams had been battling severe depression recently, said Mara Buxbaum, his press representative. Just last month, he announced he was returning to a 12-step treatment program he said he needed after 18 months of nonstop work. He had sought treatment in 2006 after a relapse following 20 years of sobriety.

From his breakthrough in the late 1970s as the alien in the hit TV comedy"Mork & Mindy," through his Flowers are placed in memory of actor/comedian Robin Williams' Walk of Fame standup comedy act and star in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles Monday, Aug. 11. Williams, the

Academy Award winner and comic supernova whose explosions of pop culture riffs and impressions dazzled audiences for decades and made him a gleamyeyed laureate for the Information Age, died Monday in an apparent suicide at his San Francisco Bay area home. He was 63. (AP Photo)

Robin Williams An emergency call from his house in Tiburon was placed to the Sheriff's Department shortly before noon Monday.

"This morning, I lost my husband and my best friend, while the world lost one of its most beloved artists and beautiful human beings. I am utterly heartbroken," said Williams' wife, Susan Schneider. "On behalf of Robin's family, we

such films as "Good Morning, Vietnam," the short, barrel-chested Williams ranted and shouted as if just sprung from solitary confinement. Loud, fast and manic, he parodied everyone from John Wayne to Keith Richards, impersonating a Russian immigrant as easily as a pack of Nazi attack dogs.

He was a riot in drag in "Mrs. Doubtfire," or as

S Club 7

a cartoon genie in "Aladdin." He won his Academy Award in a rare dramatic role, as an empathetic therapist in the 1997 film "Good Will Hunting." He was no less on fire in interviews. During a 1989 chat with The Associated Press, he could barely stay seated in his hotel room, or even mention the film he was supposed to promote, as he free-associated about comedy and the cosmos.

"There's an Ice Age coming," he said. "But the good news is there'll be daiquiris for everyone and the Ice Capades will be everywhere. The lobster will keep for at least 100 years, that's the good news. The Swanson dinners will last a whole millennium. The bad news is the house will basically be in Arkansas."

As word of his death spread, tributes from inside and outside the enter-

tainment industry poured in. "Robin Williams was an airman, a doctor, a genie, a nanny, a president, a professor, a bangarang Peter Pan, and everything in between. But he was one of a kind. He arrived in our lives as an alien - but he ended up touching every element of the human spirit. He made us laugh.

He made us cry. He gave his immeasurable talent freely and generously to those who needed it most - from our troops stationed abroad to the marginalized on our own streets," President Barack Obama said in a statement.

Following Williams on stage, Billy Crystal once observed, was like trying to top the Civil War. In a 1993 interview with the AP, Williams recalled an appearance early in his career on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson." Bob

to reform

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he 90s pop group made up of Rachel Stevens, Hannah Spearritt, Jo O'Meara, Tina Barrett, Jon Lee, Bradley

McIntosh and Paul Cattermole - are officially reuniting with the backing of billionaire entrepreneur and artist manager Simon

Fuller following their split 11 years ago.

A source told The Sun newspaper ''The seven have had a lot of big-mon-

ey offers over the years but they only feel the time is right now. ''Simon wants this comeback to be even bigger than Take That or

Hope was also there. "It was interesting," Williams said. "He was supposed to go on before me and I was supposed to follow him, and I had to go on before him because he was late. I don't think that made him happy. I don't think he was angry, but I don't think he was pleased.

"I had been on the road and I came out, you know, gassed, and I killed and had a great time. Hope comes out and Johnny leans over and says, 'Robin Williams, isn't he funny?' Hope says, 'Yeah, he's wild. But you know, Johnny, it's great to be back here with you.'"

"Robin was a lightning storm of comic genius and our laughter was the thunder that sustained him. He was a pal and I can't believe he's gone," Spielberg said.

"I dread the word 'art,'" Williams said in 1989 when discussing his craft with the

Steps.''

The relaunch will be overseen by Simon's 'XIX Entertainment' the company which also oversees Victoria and David Beckham, Lewis Hamilton and Will Young - and the 'Bring It All Back' singers are hoping to be more successful than recently reformed 90s pop groups 5ive and Blue following their stint on the ITV2 reality show 'The Big Reunion'.

The source explained ''This isn't going to be the sort of comeback that BLUE or 5IVE made on The Big Reunion. ''Anything Simon is involved in will be different and big.''

The group - who split in 2002 after Paul decided to go solo - have all agreed in principle to the relaunch. Jo, Bradley, Tina and Paul currently remain part of the band and have continued to tour pubs and clubs under the name S Club 4.

Prince Harry Avoids Cressida Bonas

B

alia bhatt

goes gaga over ‘Shandaar’ director Vikas Bahl

A C M Y K

Wednesday

Entertainment

The Morung Express

ctress Alia Bhatt, who is gearing up to work with Vikas Bahl in “Shandaar”, says he is a very talented director.

“I am going to start shooting for Vikas Bahl’s next film with Shahid. I’m very excited to work with Vikas.

He is a great person to work with and I have admired his

work. I have loved his ‘Chillar Party’ and ‘Queen’. He’s a very talented director,” Alia told IANS. While there have been rumours that filmmaker Karan Johar will be part of “Shandaar”, Alia Bhatt said: “I am not part of the committee to confirm or deny that.

Karan is a fantastic actor and that’s all I can say.”

ritain's Prince Harry almost ran into Cressida Bonas at the weekend as they parties at the Wilderness Festival just a short distance from one another. The 29-year-old prince and his ex-girlfriend - who he split from in April - were both among the revellers at the Wilderness Festival in Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire over the weekend but didn't speak, despite standing close to one another. According to one insider, Harry - who arrived on site late at night wearing a cap and hoody - stood around the Pandemonium Stage drinking with pals, while Cressida danced with her friends just a short distance away. One festivalgoer told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: "So close and yet so far apart. "They didn't say a word, but they may not

have seen each other." It was recently claimed Cressida, 25, ended her relationship with the prince because she feared her acting ambitions would be "trampled" by royal life. A source said: "She sees her future as an actress and she felt her ambitions

would have been trampled by the royal machine. The decision not to continue the relationship came from her, not Harry. "The time had come for someone to make the break, and she could not see a long-term future with him."

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Stars Campaign for Mental Health Awareness after Robin Williams' Death tars including Lady Gaga and Lena the seriousness of depression. You S Dunham are leading calls to raise made us all so so happy... Please reach awareness of mental health issues fol- out to Bornthiswayfoundation.org if you lowing the death of Hollywood legend Robin Williams. The Mrs. Doubtfire star was found dead at his home in California on Monday (11Aug14) at the age of 63, and initial reports suggest he committed suicide.

His publicist confirmed the actor had been suffering from depression in the months before his death, and he also spent years battling addiction issues. He had checked into rehab over the summer (14) to maintain his sobriety.

The news of his death has sent shockwaves around the Hollywood community, and a number of stars have now reached out to fans to campaign on behalf of others struggling with mental illness.

Lady Gaga, who runs the Born This Way Foundation to help young fans, writes in a series of posts on Twitter.com, Rest in Peace+Laughter Robin Williams.

Perhaps this tragedy will shed light on

AP. "That's what we used to do every night before we'd go on with 'Waiting for Godot.' We'd go, 'No art. Art dies tonight.' We'd try to give it a life, instead of making "Godot" so serious. It's cosmic vaudeville staged by the Marquis de Sade."

His personal life was often short on laughter. He had acknowledged drug and alcohol problems in the 1970s and '80s and was among the last to see John Belushi before the "Saturday Night Live" star died of a drug overdose in 1982.

Williams announced in 2006 that he was drinking again but rebounded well enough to joke about it during his recent tour.

"I went to rehab in wine country," he said, "to keep my options open." The fol-

are struggling with depression, mental illness or addiction. You are not alone.

Rock legend Alice Cooper also asked any fans suffering from depression to see a doctor, adding, #RobinWilliams gone. If you struggle with #depression See a doc! (sic) Actress Dunham held a minute's silence on the set of her Tv show Girls after hearing of Williams' passing, and she has also joined calls to raise awareness of mental illness, writing, A tragic reminder that the conversation about mental health Cannot stop.

Money, fame, artistic freedom - none of it is a barrier.

Tom Hanks' actress wife Rita Wilson, who was a friend of Williams, adds, I will remember your warmth, kindness, unparalleled talent, generosity, beautiful children, Robin Williams... To anyone struggling with this issue, Us suicide Prevention Hotline 800-273-8255.

lowing year, he told the AP that people were surprised he was no longer clean. "I fell off the wagon after 20 years and people are like, 'Really?' Well, yeah. It only kicks in when you really want to change," he said.

Born in Chicago in 1951, Williams would remember himself as a shy kid who got some early laughs from his mother — by mimicking his grandmother. He opened up more in high school when he joined the drama club, and he was accepted into the Juilliard Academy, where he had several classes in which he and Christopher Reeve were the only students and John Houseman was the teacher.

Winner of a Grammy in 2003 for best spoken

comedy album, "Robin Williams — Live 2002," he once likened his act to the daily jogs he took across the Golden Gate Bridge. There were times he would look over the edge, one side of him pulling back in fear, the other insisting he could fly.

"You have an internal critic, an internal drive that says, 'OK, you can do more.'

Maybe that's what keeps you going," Williams said.

"Maybe that's a demon. ... Some people say, 'It's a muse.' No, it's not a muse!

It's a demon! DO IT YOU BASTARD!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! THE LITTLE DEMON!!"

In addition to his wife, Williams is survived by his three children: daughter Zelda, 25; and sons Zachary, 31, and Cody, 19.

‘Girls have the ability to grow India's economy’ P

riyanka says girls should be given more opportunities to make a mark for themselves Actress Priyanka Chopra says that "girls have the ability to transform their own lives and help India's economy to grow".

She feels that they should be given more opportunities to make a mark.

"Girls have the ability to transform their own lives, develop their own enterprises and help grow India's economy," said Priyanka, the UNICEF India goodwill ambassador.

Building Young Futures aims to unlock the potential of young people from disadvantaged communities.

The 32-year-old, who has been supporting UNICEF's adolescent work in the country for eight years, met young women on Sunday in Chandrapur, over 900 km from here, to mark International Youth Day August 12 - and to witness how their lives are being transformed through the Building Young Futures programme, which is run in partnership with Barclays, said a statement.

The actress-singer feels that it is giving the girls vital skills and support they need to shape up their future.

"I met girls who have experienced incredible hardship in their lives. Building Young Futures has given them a voice and confidence, or 'daring' as they call it. These girls are working together, setting up businesses, planning their futures; they are empowered to handle the challenges life throws at them," said Priyanka.

"I strongly advocate that parents, care-givers and educators must give the girls more and more opportunities to grow in their lives," she added.

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Isner reaches 2nd round at Western & Southern Mason, august 12 (aP): Eleventh-seeded John Isner reached the second round of the Western & Southern Open with a relatively easy 6-3, 6-4 win over Kevin Anderson on Monday night. The match was just the second in their 10 meetings in which at least one set didn't go a tiebreaker.

"That one's not the norm for us," said Isner, the runner-up to Rafael Nadal in last year's tournament. "I thought I played well from the very beginning. I was seeing the ball well. From the first warmup ball, I felt like it was going to be a good night. It helped that Kevin didn't play as well as he normally plays. A lot of things went well."

Fifteenth-seeded Fabio Fognini avoided an upset, pulling out a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (5) win over Edouard RogerVasselin. Also, Gilles Simon earned a second-round match against top-seeded Novak Djokovic with a 6-3, 6-2 win over qualifier BerJohn Isner, from the United States, returns a volley to Kevin nard Tomic.

Eleventh-seeded Anderson, from South Africa, in a first round match at the Western & Southern Open tennis tournament, Monday, Aug. Dominika Cibulkova be11, 2014, in Mason, Ohio. Isner won 6-3, 6-4. (AP Photo) came the first seeded

woman to be ousted, losing to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-3, 6-3. Three other seeded women who played on Monday advanced to the second round. Ninthseeded Ana Ivanovic came from behind in the second set to beat Sorana Cirstea, 6-1, 7-5, while 12th-seeded Caroline Wozniacki dispatched Magdalena Rybarikova, 6-2, 6-3, in a match that was interrupted by a late-afternoon storm and 13th-seeded Flavia Pennetta prevailed over qualifer Chanelle Scheepers, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-2.

Ivanovic prevailed despited dealing with lingering back problems, she said. "I was happy," she said. "I was a little bit doubtful going on the court considering last few weeks. I had a little bit struggle with my back, but I was able to move free, especially in the first set, and I played well.

Also, it was tough playing a good friend of mine. It's never easy. You have to put it aside and try to do the best you can on court."

Samantha Stosur will meet top-seeded Serena

Johannesburg, august 12 (reuters): Eighteen months ago when he granted Oscar Pistorius bail after the killing of his girlfriend, South African magistrate Desmond Nair noted a number of "improbabilities" in the Olympic and Paralympic star's account of the shooting.

After 41 days of testimony and drama in the Pretoria High Court, Pistorius's freedom hangs on whether the prosecution has made its case well enough to convince judge Thokozile Masipa that such improbabilities cannot be "reasonably possibly true".

Pistorius, a double-amputee who made it to the semi-final of the 400 metres at the London 2012 Olympics, says he fired through the door into the toilet cubicle in the mistaken belief he was defending himself from a burglar.

Why, Nair had asked,

ful and combative, at one point Pistorius appeared to confuse the central pillar of his legal defence under questioning from Nel. Having argued that the killing was a deliberate but mistaken act of self-preservation, he then said he pulled the trigger without thinking - an assertion that would match a so-called automaton defence but not selfdefence. Three times when under pressure during cross-examination, Pistorius blamed his legal team for differences between or omissions from the sworn affidavit prepared for his bail deposition and his evidence in court.

There were other inconsistencies in his evidence, including an admission that he had not after all left the bedroom to get a fan from the balcony - contradicting his bail deposition, in which he said it was during this absence from the bedroom

Williams after defeating Varvara Lepchenko, 6-2, 7-5.

In women's play earlier in the day, Madison Keys accomplished something Serena Williams couldn't — beating Alize Cornet. Keys pulled off a 6-2, 6-4 win over Cornet to advance.

"I don't have many complaints about today," the 19-year-old American said. "I definitely played pretty well and stayed in my game for the most part.

There's obviously a couple of things that I still want to work on and have better for next round, but I'm pretty happy with today."

Cornet, who upset the top-ranked Williams in the third round at Wimbledon six weeks ago, was playing with an injured left leg that she said started bothering her during her secondround loss to Victoria Azarenka last Tuesday at the Rogers Cup in Montreal.

"That's not the reason I lost, but it didn't help," said the Frenchwoman, who lost to Keys earlier this year. "She was very aggressive, hitting all winners."

A proud angler displaying his catch on the second day of the ongoing Süngkotenem Angling Festival at Mopungchuket Village, Mokokchung. The fish, a silver carp weighing at 5.20 kgs was the biggest catch of the angling fest so far. The organizers are awarding a complimentary prize of Rs.500/- to the angler making the biggest catch on each day of the fest. The angling festival is being organized by the Mopungchuket Community Tourism Society that began of August 11 and will go on till August 23.

Pistorius verdict hangs on 'possible improbabilities' I feel disrespected by ad-hoc did Pistorius not find out who was in the toilet before firing four 9mm hollowpoint rounds? And why did Reeva Steenkamp not let him know she was there?

With Pistorius the only direct witness, much of the state's case rests on forensics, including evidence that the sequence of Steenkamp's injuries would have allowed her to cry out, and on the testimony of neighbours who say they heard the terrified screams of a woman immediately before and during a volley of shots.

The defence says the screams came from Pistorius, at an unusually high pitch for a man because of the distress of discovering that he had unwittingly shot Steenkamp.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel, known as "The Pitbull", painted a picture of Pistorius, 27, as a gun-obsessed hot-head who killed Steen-

kamp, 29, in a fit of rage after a row in the early hours of Valentine's Day last year.

South Africa's apartheid government scrapped trial by jury in the late 1960s, meaning that 66-year-old Masipa, only the second black woman to rise to the bench, will ultimately decide Pistorius's fate when she delivers her verdict on Sept. 11. Possible verdicts range from convictions for premeditated murder - and a minimum 25-year sentence - or a lesser count of murder, to culpable homicide - with a maximum 15year sentence - if Masipa believes he did not intend to kill Steenkamp but did so by firing negligently or recklessly. She could acquit if she accepts that Pistorius believed he was acting in self-defence - known formally as 'putative private defence' - when he pulled the trigger.

By turns calm, tear-

that Steenkamp must have gone to the toilet.

If the judge accepts his testimony and agrees that the shooting was selfdefence, she must still decide whether shooting four times at an unidentified target on the other side of a closed door is legally "reasonable".

After the end of apartheid in 1994, South Africa tightened its gun laws, such that a person can shoot only if there is an imminent and direct threat - a principle Pistorius said he had read and understood as part of his firearms licence test.

"He knew there was a human being in the toilet.

That's his evidence," prosecutor Nel said in closing remarks.

"His intention was to kill a human being. He has fired indiscriminately into that toilet. Then, M'lady, he is guilty of murder. There must be consequences."

Last chance for MSD & Co. to prove a point

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new Delhi, august 12 (agencies): Last Test of the five-match series between India and England is scheduled to start from August 15, at The Oval. This would certainly be the last chance for MS Dhoni & Co. to level the series and go back home with their chin up. After the humiliating defeat in the fourth Test at Manchester, where the tourists lost the plot within three days, England took the unassailable lead of 2-1 in the series. On each day, each session, the hosts dominated India in every department to win the crucial fourth Test by an innings and 54 runs.

Indian team looked toothless and were listless throughout the match.

Dhoni`s ineffective captaincy and lacklustre performance by the Indian batsmen helped England to maintain the momentum they gained after winning the third Test at Rose Bowl.

Now struggling India have perform in all the departments to outclass England at The Oval to save their face before the series comes to an end. Indian batsmen need to show some application against

one of the best swing bowling attacks and should stop throwing away their wickets to the part time spinner Moeen Ali. If Ishant Sharma declared match-fit before the fifth Test, India would get a bowler they desperately need in the English conditions. And after the speedsters heroics in the Lord`s Test, which gave India their first win at the historic ground after 28-long years, he would be high on confidence and raring to go.

From pace battery of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma and Varun Aaron, one can expect a good show, which can give India some thing to cheer for.

Along with that, India need their batsmen to stand and deliver. They are getting starts but are failing to convert them into big knocks. It means they have to show some Test match temperament and stick to the basics.

After losing two consecutive matches in the series, it would be a herculean task for Team India to level the series by winning the final Test. But a draw in London will provide some solace to the Indian supporters.

body's behaviour: Mary Kom

new Delhi, august 12 (Pti): Olympic bronze medallist M C Mary Kom is still smarting about the last-minute postponement of the Asian Games trials, alleging that the ad-hoc body members have "disrespected her achievements" by not bothering to inform her about their decision.

"I was very hurt when I came to know that the trials have been postponed. What surprised me was that they didn`t even bother to inform me till the last minute.

Is that what I deserve having brought so many laurels for the country at international competitions? I feel the organisers (ad-hoc) didn`t support me and also feel disrespected," Mary Kom told mediapersons at a promotional event of the CRPF here today.

Mary Kom feels that this precedent is not very good for aspiring boxers who are toiling to bring glory to the nation. "Just imagine, if they are doing this

to me, what will happen to the talented juniors who are coming through the system. Well, it did disturb my training for the Asian Games trials. But now I am focussed and raring to go. I am ever-ready for the trials.

Today, tomorrow or whenever, my job is to compete," said `Magnificent Mary`.

However, one question she didn`t like was about new sensation Pinky Jangra.

When a scribe was about to

question the five-time world champion about "CWG silver medallist Pinky", she cut him short and said, "It was a bronze1." And does she feel that finally she has some competition in India, Mary Kom replied, "I will not answer this question now. I would certainly like to give an answer to this question but it will only be after the Asian Games trials. About competition, it`s a healthy thing and should always be there."

Dipika hopes to emulate WCup success at Incheon

new Delhi, august 12 (aP): For ace archer Dipika Kumari “old is always gold”, as the 20-year-old Ranchi girl came out with flying colours in the just-concluded World Cup Stage IV in Wroclaw, Poland after a stretch of poor form that forced her to change her bow and re-unite with former coach.

Dipika’s decision to move under the tutelage of her childhood coach Dharmender Tiwari and shun the new bow not only helped her regain the lost touch but win three medals in the World Cup, including a gold in the women’s recurve team event.

Apart from the gold,

Dipika also bagged a bronze each in recurve women’s individual event and recurve mixed team pair event along with her partner Jayanta Talukdar.

“Of late I was really struggling with my form. I was World No.1 in 2012 but then moved out of the top10 rankings. The frequent change of coaches did not help either. I decided to return to my old coach Dharmender sir, who knows everything about my game. I also started to use my old bow instead of a new one,” Dipika told PTI. “Dharmender sir was the chief coach of Tata Academy so he was hardly

associated with the national teams on abroad tours. He got chance to be with the national team in the World Cup and he will also be with us in the Asian Games.” In the World Cup Stage IV in Wroclaw, Indian men’s recurve team had to settle for a silver after losing to Mexico 3-5 in the final. Besides, the Indian compound mixed pair of Abhishek Verma and Puvasha Shende also clinched a silver medal.

Dipika definitely wants to rule the world once again but the present focus for the Indian is the Incheon Asian Games, starting next month. “I am presently ranked at 14 and obviously want to be the number 1 again. But all my focus now is on the Asian Games,” she said. She, however, said the competition at the Asiad will be much tougher than the World Cup events. “I am really working hard for the Asian Games but the competition in the Asian Games will be different from the World Cup. It is going to be very tough and we need to put in a lot of hard work,” Dipika said.

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