August 6th 2014

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The Morung Express

Dimapur VOL. IX ISSUE 214

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Kohima Science College achieves Autonomous status

Sia marries documentary maker Erik Anders Lang

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In Gaza war, violent death part of daily life

[ PAGE 11]

[ PAGE 9]

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reflections

By Sandemo Ngullie

Pfutsero | August 5

The Morung Express POLL QUESTIOn

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Surge of foreign tourists in NE New Delhi, August 5 (iANs): India’s northeastern states saw a surge of foreign tourists in 2013 registering a growth of 27.9 percent over 2012, an official statement said Tuesday. The states had seen 12.5 percent growth in Foreign Tourist Visits (FTVs) in 2012 over 2011.

The growth of FTVs in 2013 over 2012 was the maximum in Manipur (154.7 percent), followed by Arunachal Pradesh (111.2 percent), Tripura (51.2 percent), Nagaland (32.7 percent), Meghalaya (27.5 percent), Sikkim (19.7 percent) and Mizoram (7.5 percent). Assam witnessed the least growth in FTVs at just 0.5 percent.

July to August in Nagaland is the season of plenty: rural markets and fields in villages overflow with excess of local produce – squash, plum, tomato, spring onions, cabbage, chilies in mountainous regions, and fruit such as mangoes and star fruit in warmer areas, and uncountable varieties of herbs and vegetables all over the state. Local farmers struggle to sell their surplus produce; more than half the produce rot as heavy rains and excess moisture destroy the harvest.

The moment this season is over, by end of August, essential items such as chili – one of the basic Naga cuisine ingredients— that could not even sell for Rs 20 a plate in rural marketing sheds, costs over Rs 90 a kg imported from elsewhere. Even local farmers who have been selling chili at the rate of twenty rupees a week ago are compelled to buy imported chili paying 4 times more, since lo-

cals cannot cook any curry without this ingredient.

Why is this so?

Our present situation is a depressing landscape with the state undergoing a deficit budget. Any government running at deficit has no money for development works such as education and healthcare. It is not surprising that at present rural school teachers and employees of rural health programs have not been paid for over 4 months.

The Paradox of Plenty theory also termed as ‘Resource Curse’, has been applied mostly to resourcerich countries with rich natural resources such as petroleum and minerals; how countries despite abundance of natural resources cannot use the wealth to advance economic growth while majority of their citizens struggle for basic necessities living in abject poverty. Poor governance, mismanagement of resources, governments amassing wealth for personal luxuries, corrupt and ineffective bureaucratic

In this Morung File photo, naga women are seen selling vegetables. While living in a bio-resource-rich region with enough local resources, the rural majority in nagaland still remain economically stunted.

systems have been attributed to this dismal condition. Nagaland’s situation is a Paradox of Plenty, living in a bio-resource-rich region with enough local resources yet the rural majority remaining economically stunted and unable to maximize on the ‘diamonds’ growing in our backyards.

Take the case of Pfutsero, the highest altitude town in Nagaland standing at 2134 meters surrounded by spectacularly beautiful mist-enveloped mountains with its climatic conditions and soil type supporting abundant production of a variety of crops, it can be easily called the ‘Vegetable Garden’ of

Nagaland. The area can produce enough cabbages, tomatoes and potatoes this season to feed the entire State; yet thousands of local farmers are still under the mercy of infrastructural poverty and an unorganized market system controlled by a privileged few wholesalers with buying power, that there is not

‘Sachin didn’t face a ball in nets in 2003 WCup’ [ PAGE 12]

enough incentive to produce and sell more. With one hospital and one college, the town bazaar overflows with cabbages and potatoes this season – but how much the small town consume, and what should be done for the surplus?

In an interaction with young, aspiring entrepreneurs of the region during YouthNet’s Impact 5000 by 18 Entrepreneurship Workshop, participants commented, “Sometimes our farmers cannot sell their cabbages for 50 paise a kg and the produce is wasted; many farmers cannot afford to hire vehicles to take their vegetables to Dimapur and Kohima and even if they do manage to transport, powerful non-local wholesalers set the price with a “take it or leave” policy and our farmers have no option but to comply, since they can’t bring this short self-life produce back home; policy-makers should impose import barriers this season.” The same situation applies with the rest of rural

Nagaland.

Responding to if there are cold storage facilities and other agricultural produce storage infrastructures in the area built by the Government, Housa Kaphe, a young businessman interested in marketing the over-production of different variety of Squash from the region said, “We don’t know of any such facility except for one APMC Godown which is empty; there used to be a truck, but we don’t know what is used for.”

It is a paradox that while there is over-production of crops around this season and potential for sufficient harvest of grains and cereals the subsequent season, no functioning storage and processing facilities are available nor organized marketing linkages established for farmers in the last 50 years of development and progress work.

We continue depending on outside resources for our daily needs despite agriculture being the only major industry we have.

restrictions on the emrem changkiri revoked: Mkg Dc nnc/fGn “appalled”

by AcAUt statement

MOKOKChuNg, August 5 (MexN): Deputy Commissioner for Mokokchung, Murohu Chotso has informed that all prohibition/restriction imposed on the Emrem Changkiri by the Changki Village Council “regarding the case on clan issue” has been revoked.

A press note from the Mokokchung DC informed that village council members and GBs of Changki village appeared before the DC in person on July 30 and “agreed to revoke all the restrictions imposed on the excommunicated families/clans without conditions with imme-

diate effect i.e. 02/08/2014.”

A statement, signed by members of the Changki Village Council and GBs to this end, was also made available

general.” The statement further said that “in case of any violation on our part, we the undersigned representatives of the GBs and Changki Village Coun-

Changki Village Council to work for early and amicable reconciliation in Changki village to the media. It declared the “unconditional revocation imposed on members of the Emrem Changki Clan and all citizens of Changki village in

cil do hereby take responsibility on behalf of the Changki Village Council and GBs and appropriate action may be initiated against us under appropriate

provision of law.” The Changki Village Council further assured to “initiate and work for early and amicable reconciliation in Changki village for peaceful coexistence in the days to come.”

The statement was signed by members of the Changki Village Council and GB’s, which included Lendimenba, GB; Imchameren, GB; Tekamongba, GB; Limatemsu and Wangshimere. It was also appended by the Mokokchung Deputy Commissioner, Murohu Chotso and two witnesses, which included Temsumeren and Zulunungsang, both PAs to the DC.

AcAUt secy was treated with respect: GPrn/nscn DiMAPuR, August 5 (MexN): The GPRN/NSCN today clarified that Solomon L Awomi, Secretary of Against Corruption and Unabated Taxation (ACAUT) Nagaland was treated with “respect and understanding” during his “detention” at Khehoi Designated Camp.

The GPRN/NSCN, through a press note from its MIP, stated that “it is a universal practice that detainees, irrespective of their status and positions, experience untold physical and mental agony during interrogations and questioning; yet there was not even a nudge or

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”

–Jay Griffiths

nagaland state’s Paradox of Plenty Abokali Jimomi

There goes my August salary. Funny, I am headmaster of a government school and my children study in private school.

Wednesday, August 6, 2014 12 pages Rs. 4

If people can’t acknowledge the wisdom of indigenous cultures, then that’s their loss In Modi era, little place for BJP seniors

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a push on Solomon L Awomi and so the question of GPRN/ NSCN inflicting physical harm does not arise.”

It informed that “in the course of interaction, GPRN/ NSCN has learnt that ACAUT’s leaders have used Solomon L Awomi for their own benefit.” It alleged that in the ACAUT Secretary’s absence, “they met, drafted a historic anti-naga document, forged his signature and distributed.” This activity of the ACAUT, the GPRN/ NSCN stated, was the reason for de-recognition of the organization. “They intended to crucify Solomon for their own

cowardice but GPRN/NSCN does not act in haste because it values human life,” it asserted.

It further stated that a “derecognized committee cannot declare any statement null and void” and asserted that the statement jointly issued by the GPRN/NSCN Kilo Secretary and the ACAUT Secretary on August 1 “stands firm.” It added that the “bond agreement” signed by the two parties, in presence of Village elders of Purana Bazar, Padumpukhri and Naharbari and the media, prior to the ACAUT Secretary’s release, “is a reminder that GPRN/NSCN strongly believes

in traditional institutions protected by elderly wisdom.”

Terming ACAUT as a “discarded committee,” it stated that the former has “absolutely no right to question or protest what GPRN/NSCN, and Solomon agreed and signed…” The GPRN/NSCN further termed it “most un-intellectual and unfortunate” that “learned and experienced Nagas have chosen to invest their time and energy in believing a two year old committee called ACAUT, consisting mostly of business members eager to monopolize trade and commerce in Dimapur…”

It reminded the Naga peo-

ple that ACAUT was “promptly de-recognized on August 30, 2014 because the history of the Naga people, their political struggle and hope for common future was interpreted through the whims and fancies of ACAUT leaders, which was to stop the Naga people from contributing towards the National movement.” It further lamented that “ACAUT leaders continue to mock and insult Naga political movement, which the patriotic blood and tears of the Nagas, past and present had protected and defended.”

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DiMAPuR, August 5 (MexN): The NNC/FGN today condemned a statement made by the Against Corruption and Unabated Taxation (ACAUT) Nagaland on August 4. A press note from KL Kronu, Kilonser, Rali Wali, FGN said it was ‘surprised and appalled’ by ACAUT’s statement, which had stated that “it’s a matter of concern for every Naga that such arbitrary and barbaric action of the NPGs as has been practiced by the NPGs against the Naga people for over sixty years in the name of national movement is anti-people to say the least...”

It termed the statement as “an insult to the pains and suffering borne by our people and the thousands of lives sacrificed in pursuit of the noble cause.” It further asserted that the Naga National Movement “is not anti-people but a pro Naga people movement aimed at freeing the Nagas from the yoke of foreign domination particularly that of India and Burma (Myanmar) and not targeted at or practiced against the Nagas as alleged.”

The NNC/FGN stated that the “sixteen ACAUT signatories are either totally unaware of the history of Naga National movement or are agents acting at the behest India and Myanmar because no right thinking true Naga would even dream of coming out with such an unacceptable statement

against the NPGs…” It affirmed that the Naga National Movement is a “Naga people’s movement which arose out of the desire and aspiration of the Nagas to live as a free and independent nation, free from foreign domination and the freedom to determine our own destiny.”

The NNC/FGN further felt that the ACAUT “seem unaware of the many sacrifice made by the National workers and the Naga people who have borne untold sufferings and thousands of lives sacrificed for the Naga Cause.”

Despite many hardships, it stated that Naga National workers “have been continuing to work for Naga interests, bound by duty to be torch bearers of the Naga aspirations and desires and to continue the struggle till our long cherished dream is fulfilled.”

While appreciating the ACAUT in its role as an agent of social change and in fighting against corruption and “unjustifiable taxation,” the NNC/FGN however stated that “it is another matter if ACAUT has some hidden agenda to demean the Naga National movement and act as a divisive force to weaken the National Movement.” “ACAUT Nagaland at least owes the Naga people an apology for the misleading, irresponsible and antinational statement,” it added.

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Dimapur

Wednesday

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6 August 2014

The Morung Express C

Kohima Science College achieves Autonomous status

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Our Correspondent Kohima | August 5

A boy walks through a hallway browsing his mobile phone at Supermarket, Dimapur, where, both local and spurious Indian Made Foreign Liquor is sold freely and abundantly. 25 years under the Act, both the Government and the Church have not been able to control the flow and consumption of liquor in the state. The Act has led to the rise of liquor barons that seek the continuation of the Act in unison with the Church organizations and a few other NGOs. Photo by Imojen I Jamir

AHODs and HODs meeting today

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Kohima, august 5 (DiPR): The meeting of Administrative Heads of Departments (AHODs) and Heads of Departments (HODs) has been convened on August 6 at 1 p.m. in the Secretariat Conference Hall. All AHODs and HODs are requested to attend the meeting without fail as per an official circular NO. SAB (A)-12/26/06 (Pt) dated the 4th August, 2014.

BJP Wokha unit informs WoKha, august 5 (mExN): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Wokha Unit informs any individual and groups willing to join the party can do through the District officials as per the Party norms. All party officials are also requested to acknowledge. Further, any person(s), group(s) willing to join the party contact the following persons: President Wokha District Unit @ 9402935844/8729997481 or General Secretary (Adm.) @ 9862601489/9089446424.

PNM Raising Day on Aug 9 Kohima, august 5 (mExN): The Poumai Naotumai Me (PNM) Kohima, the apex Poumai women organization of Kohima will hold its Raising Day on August 9 at 10:00 AM at Angami Public Organization (APO) Hall, Kohima.

Vechisalu Nukhu, deputy secretary, department of horticulture and Adule will grace the occasion as chief guest and guest of honour respectively. In this regard, PNM president S.P. Rocinah has directed all the Poumai women residing in Kohima to attend the programme compulsorily with traditional attire.

RSUK general meeting on Aug 9 Kohima, august 5 (mExN): The Rengma Students' Union Kohima has informed all that a general meeting will be held at R. B. C.K Bayavü Sector, fellowship Hall on August 9 at 10 am to discuss various issues pertaining to the union. A press note issued by the President and General Secretary has requested all the executive and tribunal members, advisors, seniors and well-wishers to kindly attend the meeting without fail.

Zbto DPDB meeting postponed

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ZuNhEboto, august 5 (DiPR): Deputy Commissioner Zunheboto L. Akato Sema informed that the monthly District Planning & Development Board (DPDB) meeting scheduled to be held on 8th August 2014 has been postponed to 20th August 2014, time and place remains the same. All the board members are therefore requested to take note of the change of date and attend the meeting positively.

“The autonomous status of Kohima Science College is a befitting tribute to the founders of the college and of the 50 years of existence of the college,” said FP Solo, Commissioner and Secretary, Higher and Technical Education during the launching of the autonomous status of Kohima Science College at the college auditorium on August 5.

Deo Nukhu, Parliamentary Secretary, Higher Education & SCERT, who graced the occasion as the chief guest, declared that the PG courses would start from the next session onwards. Nukhu also stated that the founders of the college were also pioneers of the state who, because of their vision and concern for higher for Nagas, the foundation of Kohima Science College was laid.

(Left) Deo Nukhu, Parliamentary Secretary addressing the launching of the autonomous status of Kohima Science College at the college auditorium on August 5. (Right) Students present a song. (Morung Photos)

“It is the beginning of a long journey of hope and sweat,” said F. P Solo who added that with the academic autonomy the college could no longer afford to commit blunders with but work towards the introduction of vocational and job-oriented skills and

innovation. Solo further hoped that the college will come up with new scientific findings and patents in the years to come.

The program was chaired by Dr. Seyiekhrielie Whiso, Assistant Professor, KSCJ while the welcome address was pro-

claimed by Dr. Vituo Belho, Principal, KSCJ. A prayer was invoked by Megono, Joint Director, Higher Education while the word of gratitude was expressed

by Dr. Vizovol Mekro, Associate Professor, KSCJ. While stating that the KSCJ holds the distinction of be-

ing accredited an ‘A’ grade, Alumni Renthungo Jungio look forward to the introduction of PG courses in the now autonomous college which would also require development in infrastructure, expansion of the college and more manpower. D Peseyie, Advisor.

Jotsoma Village Council stated that the achievement was a long felt desire which has come to reality.

Nukhu further hoped that the college will become a deemed university and a great science and technology centre in the country.

‘Catch Them Young’ crusade from Aug 8 to 10 Thongwang inaugurates GPS Building Mon Town ‘D’ Our Correspondent Kohima | August 5

With the main aim to bring back young people to God, the ‘Catch Them Young’ crusade will be held at the Kohima local ground, the heart of Kohima from August 8 to 10 and is open to all denominations. The core team of the crusade is lead by Vicavor Krose, Youth Director ABKK, Khrievino Sahu, Youth Coordinator, NBCC, Visato Yhoshü, Convenor and Lipokzulu Lemtor, President, KBYF. Convenor Visato Yhoshü stated that the crusade is a spiritual awakening to help young people find and know God and give their best years of their lives to God. Basing its theme on the verse of Ecclesiastes 12: 1, “Honor and enjoy your creator while you’re still young.” the team further stated that the age between 17-25 years is the most sensitive years, and whatever they decide at this age are

The core team of the ‘Catch Them Young’ crusade that is scheduled to be held at the Kohima local ground from August 8 to 10. (Morung Photo)

critical for their entire lives.

“Many of the young people are not in churches today, most of them have gone astray from the church.

The crusade wants to bring young people back to God. Those are the best years of their lives and they need to give it to God.” The crusade will also have a counseling team of 40 people, where small counseling booths will

be set up in the venue for young people to walk in any time and receive counseling. The crusade will be expecting 5000-6000. It will further have follow-up program which will focus on mobilizing youth leaders to help young people connect to the local churches.

The speakers for the crusade are Rev. Samuel T. Koshy who will be speaking based on the theme,

‘Catch them Young’, Rev. Killang Jamir who will focus on victorious Christian living, reality of God’s existence and meaning of life, while Rev. Moa Longchari and Khrienuo Longchari will speak on relationships and marriage. An initiative of NBCC which felt the need to organize a crusade in Nagaland for the young people, the crusade is organized by ABKK and KBYF.

m o N, au g u st 5 (DiPR): Advisor DUDA & Chairman DPDB, Mon, N. Thongwang Konyak formally inaugurated the GPS Building Mon Town ‘D’ on August 2.

Speaking at the inauguration programme Thongwang Konyak urged upon the school authority and the ward leaders to have sense of ownership of the School, and at the same time he also appealed to Teachers and Students to work together to ensure that quality education is imparted to the students.

Asserting that the future of the students depends upon the teachings of the teacher, he specifically urged the teacher to work very hard in moulding the lives of the students so that they become a responsible citizen of the society.

Emphasizing on education he said he is planning to renovate the road leading to Wangkhao Col-

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N. Thongwang Konyak speaks during the inauguration of GPS Building Mon Town ‘D’ held on August 2. (DIPR Photo)

lege and also informed that Mon District will soon be getting a Modern School.

He also requested the people to have faith in the present government and work together for all round development. He also seeks the cooperation of the people to enable him to deliver development in the district and asserted to fulfill the aspiration of the people.

He further informed to provide fuel for vehicle to carry waste during social work

which will be held on 9th August 2014 in Mon Town.

The Deputy Commissioner, Mon and DEO (Education), Mon also delivered short speeches.

Earlier, Invocation prayer was pronounce by Chongwang while welcome speech was delivered

by Jamjai President Techahan Ward Mon Town. Vote of thanks was proposed

by Nokho, WEC Chairman. The programme was chaired by P.Ngapwang.

MCCI issue directives for business Wokha District Entrepreneur Association formed establishments in Mon town

m o N, au g u s t 5 (mExN): The Mon Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI) has informed all business establishments in Mon headquarter not to pay any illegal taxes or donation. The MCCI has asked the business establishments that if any person forces donation and taxes, it should be reported immediately to the Field Assistant, Temai Konyak and Honman or Mon Chamber of Commerce & Industry office HQ Mon. All the shops in Mon town HQ are asked to keep open up to till 5:00 pm as per the notification No.CON/L&O/2014/338/ dated Mon, 26th June 2014, and Law & Order Joint meeting with District Administration, Police, all the Ward President, DBs,

all ward GBs and Mon Chamber of Commerce & Industry. The Chamber of Commerce will also take against any shop owners who allows selling liquor and opium. Digital weighing machine should be available in all the shops including butcher. If anybody is found without digital weighing scale/machine, then chamber of commerce will take action. All the businessmen in Mon HQ are also requested not to sell expired goods and butcher are also directed to sell only fresh meats in the market.

Rice has to be weighed by the shopkeeper in front of the customer. If anybody is found selling BPL, AAY, APL and Anna Purna rice in the market, then action will be taken by chamber of

commerce. The Additional District Supply Officer, Block SK, VDBs and Fair Price Shop Mon District are informed not to entertain supply rice in the market. The MCCI will take action against the concerned if supply rice is found in the market from their account.

There will be a mass social work in Mon HQ on August 9, and all the shop are close down from 6:00 am up to 12:00 noon without fail if anybody fail then action will be taken seriously. The general meeting will be on September 13 and request all the business establishments from Mon District to attend the meeting without fail.

This was stated in a press release issued by MCCI General Secretary & Admi SN Anok Prince.

The Wokha District Entrepreneur Association team, which will be headed by Noyingbemo Murry as president.

WoKha, august 5 (mExN): The Wokha district has formed an entrepreneur association under the name ‘Wokha District Entrepreneur Association’ (WDEA) with likeminded local entrepreneur after hectic deliberation on June 15 last at tourist lodge, Wokha.

The main aim and objective of WDEA is to uplift, protect and avail the rights and benefits of the local business enterprises of the district by sharing ideas, thoughts and impart knowledge through entrepreneur skills and self-dependence.

The WDEA also aims and

to expose them to the outer world to know more about the avenues and progress taken place in this present world in the field of entrepreneur set-ups.

WDEA President, Noyingbemo Murry and Vice President (Press) Thunglamo Odyuo in a press

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release said that the Association keeps a target upon the upcoming young trade interested persons to fully concentrate on self-earning and self-employment and to learn more on selfsupport keeping its motto “self help is the best help.”

The Association further invites the educated unemployed youth to come forward in setting up-own project/units instead of hunting white-collar job alone, by envisaging the lines, “be a provider not a Job seeker.” After through scrutiny, the Search Committee has submitted the list of office bearers on July 3 at Hotel Hornbill and the same was approved by the members present with Noyingbemo Murry - president, James Tungoe - general secretary, Aben Ngullie - finance secretary, Rentsamo Jami vice president (Adm) and Thunglamo as vice president (press).

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Feast of John Mary Vianney celebrated in Kohima SBI imposes restriction on

Kohima, august 5 (mExN): The Diocesan Fraternity of the Diocese of Kohima celebrated the feast of John Mary Vianney, the patron saint of the Parish Priests on August 4 and 5 at St. Xavier’s Parish, Jalukie.

The highlights of the programme included Holy Eucharist with Local community of St. Xavier’s Parish, Felicitation programme, DF Meeting, basketball Match and get-together.

The Solemn Eucharist was presided over by Most Rev. Dr. James Thoppil, the bishop of Kohima. Rev. Fr. Mathew Keemattam, one of the senior most priests of the diocese, preached the homily. In his homily, highlighting the qualities of St. John Vianney, exhorted the priests and community gathered, to be lovers like their patron saint and to root their life on prayer, and invited the community to pray for their priests.

The community of St.

extending personal loan

Diocesan Fraternity of the Diocese of Kohima during the celebration of feast of John Mary Vianney, the patron saint of the Parish Priests at St. Xavier’s Parish, Jalukie.

Xavier’s Parish, along with students of St. Xavier’s Higher Secondary School felicitated the priests with a well-organized cultural programme.

The Community and Nagaland Catholic Youth Movement also honored the priests with gifts.

Bishop James Thoppil exhorted the community to love and care for their priests who toil hard and labour in different parts of the diocese.

Earlier Fr. Antonysamy, the president of Diocesan Fraternity, who is also the host of this year’s Feast extended warm welcome to the priests. The celebration began on August 4 with a basketball match between Bishop’s Team and the St. Xavierians.

Fr. Augstine Kerketta, on behalf of the Diocesan Fraternity expressed vote of thanks to the host parish. Over 60 diocesan priests took part in this

yearly event and the catholic community and the students of the St. Xavier’s Hr. School and College witnessed the felicitation programme.

It may be mentioned that St. John Mary Vianney was a saint from France, who spent most of his life in Ars, a remote town, as a parish priest and spent most of his life hearing confessions of thousands of people who flocked to him.

moKoKchuNg, august 5 (DiPR): State Bank of India (SBI) Branches in Nagaland state imposed restriction on sanction and disburse of personal loan to serving employee due to high level of Non-performing assets on account of ‘non-payment (NPA) of due installment’ by many employees on availing loan from SBI. According to SBI sources in Mokokchung, the cut of level fixed internally by the bank expected very marginal NPA or zero NPA in personal loan segment as per all India statistics because of regular salary credit to specified savings Bank A/C. SBI official attributed non-payment of installment above the cut of level fixed by the bank to ‘Drawing and Disbursing Officers not properly recording the details of loan and allowing to pay salary in other savings Bank A/C or in cash’.

“Thus, some employees are given scope to discontinue the payment

of installment or the bank unable to recover dues”. The SBI official however said restriction imposes on sanction and disburses of loan to employees is not only happening in Nagaland state but it does in other states due to same reason.

However, the official said the SBI has come out with a unique scheme for amicable settlement of old NPA A/C through one time settlement on case to case basis by ‘waiver of part interest.

SBI made an appeal to DDOs to properly record details of loan availed by employees under their respective offices to ensure that regular payment of installment are properly maintain. The SBI official hope that with the cooperation of the DDos, the restriction imposed on personal loan to serving employees would be withdrawn at the earliest. He said many genuine employees who want to avail personal loan are deprived of loan facility due to some defaulters.

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REgional

The Morung Express

‘India's Look East Policy Needs Concrete Action’

NEW DELHI, August 5 (IANs): India's Look East Policy, in which Myanmar plays a key role as the route for major connectivity between India's landlocked northeast and Southeast Asia, needs to rise above "mere academic talk" to show "more concrete action", experts said.

According to experts, the connectivity corridors like the Trilateral Highway and the Kaladan Multimodal Project need to be fast turned into development corridors and stakeholders in the region involved in it.

Rajiv K. Bhatia, director general of the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) and former envoy to Myanmar, said mere "academic talk is no substitute for concrete action" in the development of the connectivity corridors. "Other stakeholders need to be motivated, and not just the ministry of ex-

ternal affairs," he said at a talk on 'Look East Policy: India and Myanmar Pitching for Greater Connectivity" Monday.

Bhatia said more funding is needed for the projects and better high-level management and visible and sustained action. He suggested that the authorities should issue "authoritative notes on when the projects, like Trilateral Highway and the Kaladan Multimodal Project, will be completed - or the deadlines will keep lengthening".

Speaking at the event organised by the Institute of Social Sciences here, senior journalist and author B.G. Varghese said the government has "structurally not got its act together" on the connectivity projects that are meant to link the landlocked northeast with the Southeast Asian region.

He said the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DONER),

which is meant for the northeast region, should be having its office in the northeast and not in New Delhi. "Why should'nt the ministry for the northeast be in the northeast? Why should northeast people or issues related to the northeast have to be dealt with in New Delhi," asked the veteran journalist.

"Structural changes are needed in India's Look East Policy, or no Look East can happen... It can't be run from New Delhi," he said, adding that the Look East Policy has "huge potential" and the constant delay in implementation of crucial connectivity projects is hampering forward movement.

Ajay Gondane, joint secretary, border connectivity in the ministry of external affairs, said the government has launched the division of border connectivity with a new emphasis of taking ties with

neighbours beyond the borders. He said the connectivity projects in order to become connectivity corridors need to involve the people of the region in a major way.

Ash Narain Roy, Director, Institute of Social Sciences, said India's ties with Myanmar are getting new emphasis. In May this year, the two countries inked an MoU on border cooperation to provide a framework for security cooperation and intelligence exchange between the security agencies of the two countries.

In the last week of July, the Fifth India-Myanmar Regional Border Committee meeting was held in Imphal for boosting bilateral ties. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is also set to travel to Myanmar to attend the ministerial meeting of the East Asia Summit and ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Nay Pyi Taw next week.

Wednesday

6 August 2014

NHCCL to start NHs improvement works on war footing from October

IMPHAL, August 5 (NNN): The Government of India has set up an agency called National Highways Connectivity Company Ltd (NHCCL) for North East and this company will be tasked with the Border Roads Organsation (BRO) undertaking improvement works on National Highway-2 (Imphal-Dimapur road) and National Highway-37 (Imphal-JIribam road) on war footing from October onwards.

State BJP general secretary Ashnikumar told Newmai News Network on Tuesday the National Highways development works will be shifted to the NHCCL from BRO. NHCCL will dedicate exclusively to the task of structuring/up-grading and widening of NHs in identified states to promote regional connectivity.

Ashnikumar informed that Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has promised to visit Manipur

in the first week of October this year. Gadkari has assured the state BJP leaders that the development works of the NH-2 and NH-37 connecting Manipur will be taken up on war footing from October this year, he added.

Manipur unit of BJP has also shot off a letter to Union Railway Minister DV Sadananda Gowda drawing his attention to look into the under-construction broad gauge JiribamTupul-Imphal railway line, Ashinikumar said.

In the letter jointly signed by Manipur Pradesh BJP Th Chaoba, M Ashnikumar Singh, general secretary and Dr RK Ranjan Singh, co-chairman, Vision Document, Manipur BJP contended that the target date for completion of Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal railway line, which has been declared as a National Project, has been frequently postponed due to certain anomalies in the construc-

tion process.

It said Manipur Government has blamed the local law and order situation such as frequent blockade along National Highways connecting the state for repeated postponement of the 84.021 km-long rail line construction.

The target date for completion of Jiribam-Tupul section of the railway line was earlier set for March 2014, but it was put off to 2016 and later postponed again to 2010-25, the letter said. The railway project was approved with a budgetary provision of Rs 3056.85 crore which was sanctioned in the 2003/4.

The rail line includes eight major bridges, 89 minor bridges of 25 tonne loading capacity and eight railway stations, and 34 tunnels.

Former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh laid the foundation stone of the project at Imphal East’s Jiribam subdivision on November 17, 2004.

Meghalaya sounds alert for JE Gross misuse of IAY funds in Arunachal: CAG

sHILLoNg, August 5 (IANs): Meghalaya has sounded an alert for Japanese encephalitis after seven people tested positive for the virus and 23 others are suspected to be suffering from acute encephalitis syndrome, an official said Tuesday.

"We have sounded a health alert in the state after seven people were tested for Japanese encephalitis," Chief Secretary P.B.O. Warjri told IANS. Warjri, who held a meeting with medical officials, said the government has taken steps to contain the spread of the virus.

Meghalaya has procured four MAC ELISA kits from the Pune-based National Institute of Virology.

Health officials will also undertake fogging in various localities to tackle culex mosquitoes, which are responsible for the outbreak of Japanese en-

cephalitis, and their breeding grounds.

Health and Family Welfare Minister A.L. Hek said he has directed hospital authorities to provide adequate treatment and medicines to those suffering from the disease.

Encephalitis results in inflammation of the brain, affecting the patient's central nervous system. It is caused by bacterial or viral infections of the brain, injection of toxic substances or increased complications of an infectious disease.

While the lesser symptoms include headache and fever, the more severe ones cause seizures, confusion, disorientation, tremors and hallucinations.

Japanese encephalitis Syndrome is caused by a mosquito-borne virus.

While humans are the dead-end hosts of the virus, pigs acts as amplifying hosts that aid in spread of the disease.

ItANAgAr, August 5 (PtI): Faulty list of beneficiaries left many families deprived of the Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) benefits while there were instances that non-BPL households gained from the scheme, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) said in a report.

"IAY waitlist was faulty as a many eligible beneficiaries were left out as highlighted in the National level monitor's report. There were also instances of non-BPL households being extended benefits as noticed during joint field verification," the

CAG said.

Among the non-eligible beneficiaries were "government employees like teachers and peons and others having annual income above the Below Poverty Line (BPL) list," said the report tabled in the just concluded budget session of the Assembly.

The report covering IAY accounts from April 2008 to March 2013 said the state's BPL census was conducted in 2002 and it was not updated in the past 11 years.

It revealed that due to short release of the state's share, the Union Rural De-

velopment ministry had deducted central assistance to the tune of 40.98 lakh.

"An amount of Rs 56.25 lakh received from the Centre as natural calamity fund under the scheme was neither allotted to the districts by the government nor utilisation of the amount was shown at the state level, but the fund balance was shown as 'Nil'. The actual utilisation of fund for the purpose for which it was allotted remained doubtful," the report said.

It pointed out that an inadmissible payment of Rs 113.50 lakh was made by

District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) of Anjaw district while an unauthorised expenditure of Rs 5.52 lakh was incurred by DRDA, Papum Pare district.

The report also highlighted that a total of 3,032 beneficiaries were deprived of the full benefit of the scheme in West Siang district as the DRDA distributed lesser quantity of CGI sheets to them amounting to Rs 1.63 crore.

If the assistance had been limited to IAY guidelines, at least 3,344 more beneficiaries could have been covered under the scheme, it said.

Villagers hail order banning coal mining in Meghalaya Many crimes against women are

KArKHANA, August 5 (PtI): Villagers living downstream of Myntdu river along the India-Bangladesh border in Meghalaya's Jaintia Hills district have welcomed the National Green Tribunal order banning coal mining in the entire state.

These villagers, whose primary source of livelihood is fishing in the rivers, had to abandon their centuries-old practice 30 years ago when river water became too polluted to support life forms due to rampant unscientific rathole coal mining upstream of the river.

The National Green Tribunal on August 2, 2014 upheld its April 17, 2013 interim order banning coal mining in the state after observing that the right to life was far more significant than economic interest of a state or an individual.

"Article 21 of the Constitution of India gives prominence to the right to life than any other interest including economic interest of the State or the individuals," a bench headed

by Justice Swatanter Kumar had said.

The Myntdu river and other rivers became too polluted for fish to survive because of the "mine run-off" and acid effluents flowing down from the rathole coal pits upstream, the Meghalaya Pollution Control Board had said in a report compiled after conducting extensive tests in 2008. The board had conducted the tests in two rivers – Lukha and Lunar.

Soon after, the Delhibased Central Laboratory of Central Pollution Control Board also endorsed the acidic nature of the river water which was unsuitable for life forms to survive

and unfit for human consumption.

Fishing in the river had provided the villagers their primarily means of income, farming being an alternative source, from time immemorial. The other villages downstream of coal mining areas - Borkhat, Natbor, Kwator, Dem Lakang, Pdengwah khynriam, Pasadwar, Lumpyngngad, Kamsing, Jalia Khala and Sangkhat – also shared the same situation.

When this journalist visited the villages to hear the reaction to the NGT order, everybody welcomed the verdict. "Give us back our rivers in their pristine glory. We want a river where we can bathe and wash our linen, we want it to be filled with fish so that we may live peacefully," the headman of Kharkhana village, Pyrman Shylla, said.

Earlier, fish of every

shape and size ranging from fingerlings to cat fish as big as a boat were caught everyday, Kip Amtra, a former headman, said. The elders of the village said that it all started in the summer of 1984 when the brown water laced with poison killed thousands of fishes big and small along the whole stretch of the river and the village stank as tens of thousands of abandoned corpses were left to decay.

"Pollution of the water is proved by the colour of the water which in most of the rivers and streams in the mining area varies from brownish to reddish orange," a study by Sumarlin Swer and O P Singh of the Centre for Environmental Studies, North-Eastern Hill University here said.

uNiVErSitY

(A Central University Established by an Act of Parliament 1989)

School of Engineering &Technology And School of Management Studies

D.C. COURT JUNCTION: DIMAPUR-797112, NAGALAND NO.NU/SETAM/ADMN-83/2011- 487

Phone: 03862-234555 Fax: 03862-234561 Dates: 05.08.14

SHORT TENDER NOTICE INVITING QUOTATIONS

Rate quotations are hereby invited from the authorised Dealers/ Firms for the following items mention below: 1. Installation of FIREWALL in NU-SET & SMS SYSTEMS as per the following specification mentioned below: Sl.No Recommended Brand FIREWALL Required Specification 1 i) Sonic wall Application maintenance for a period of 1 (One) year ii) Cyberoam ICSA Certification, Bandwidth management; Configuiii) Cisco rable ports (Internal, WAN, DMZ); Console and USB ports; Complete UTM & VPN Unlimited authenticated users; Upgradable: 24x7 support

2. Supply and installation of 32 Nos of Exide Batteries: 100 Ah with racks.

3. Supply and installation of 3 Nos of Air conditioners (ACs).

4. Supply of electrical items for UPS installation.

5. Supply of Toner cartridges for office printers.

Sealed Envelope containing the rate quotation for supply of the above mentioned items must be submitted to the Dean, Nagaland University (SET & SMS), Residential Campus & Administrative Office Building, Landmark Colony, Dimapur during office hours on or before 14th August'2014.

N.B: 1. An authorization Certificate from the Manufacturer to participate in the tender for item Sl.No. 1 above must be enclosed along with the quotation.

2. Information related to detail list of requirements, quantities, model numbers and other specifications for Sl.No. 3, 4 & 5 above may be collected from the Dean's Office during office working hours.

SD/(D.P.CHATURVEDI) Dean

guWAHAtI, August 5 (tHE HINDu): Assam government on Monday informed the Assembly that a large number of cases of crime against women in the State were related to “love affairs” in which complainants were found to have compromised with the accused instead of pursuing the complaints with the police.

Replying on behalf of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, Environment and Forest Minister Rockybul Hussain informed the House, in reply to a question raised by Asom Gana Parishad member Keshav Mahanta, that the State recorded total 54,660 cases of crime against women over the past three years and seven months. Year-wise break of these cases was:

1, Shri Vikash Kumar presently serving at 3 CISU C/O 99 APO,Rangapahar, Dimapur, Nagaland, do hereby solemnly declare that the correct name of my legal son is Shri Kundan Kumar but while entering his name in my service record his name was wrongly recorded as Chandan Kumar. That this affidavit is sworn to declare the corrected name of my said son as Shri Kundan Kumar.

Deponent Sworn before me on this 31st July 2014.

Notary Public Dimapur, Nagaland

2011 - 11503, 2012 - 13544, 2013 - 17449 and 2014 (up to July) - 12164.

During this period the State recorded 6,585 incidents of rape with 1,202 incidents taking place between January 1 and July 31 as against 1,960 incidents recorded in 2013, 1,716 incidents in 2012 and 1,707 incidents in 2011. Incidents of witch-hunting claimed 58 lives during the period. Besides, the state recorded 4,948 murders, 15,689 abductions, 3,960 incidents of extortion, 35,565 theft, 983 incidents of dacoity and 96 incidents of bomb or grenade blasts.

Mahanta alleged that the figures reflected the failure on the part of the present government to prevent crimes, more particularly

Regd.No: 1728

(DECLARATION)

Seven youths rape minor girl in Mizoram

AIzAWL, August 5 (IANs): Mizoram police arrested seven youths, including four minors, for gang raping a minor girl, police said here Tuesday.

"The accused youths gang raped a 14-year-old girl at Leite village (in Lunglei district) in southern Mizoram Sunday night," a police official said. He said the victim had eloped with her lover, who was accompanied by his seven friends. "When the girl's friend returned home to get his wallet which he had forgotten while leaving his house in a hurry, his friends gang raped the girl," the official added. The boy later informed the police who arrested the youths Monday. The victim has been admitted to a hospital.

Of the arrested youths, four are aged 14-16 years while the remaining are in the age group of 19 to 21 years.

ILP protests continues in Mnp

IMPHAL, Aug 5 (NNN): The ongoing demand for implementation of Inner Line Permit System (ILPS) in the state saw massive rallies and sit-in-protests being carried out at various places throughout the state capital today. Thousands of students participated in the rallies taken out at various places in the state. Students of Model Higher Secondary School, Xtra Edge School and Millenium Institute of Sciences took on a rally at Sagolband road while students of Shishu Nishtha Niketan, Zenith Academy and St. Mark marched along Tiddim road. The student protestors marching towards chief minister's bungalow were blocked by police from marching further but no incidence of violence was reported during the rallies. Extensive sit-inprotests were also carried out at Thanga bazaar, Lahupat Tera, Wangoi bazaar, Laxmi Thongkhong bazaar, Leishangkhong Thoubal Okram and Charangpat Kongba Kshetri leikai.

LOST NOTICE Hero Honda Bike (Black) Regd.No: NL-07J-9207 Chassis No: MBLJAO5EKD9B11790 Engine No: JAO5ECD9B11971 Model: Super Splendor Colour: Black/Red Stolen from Durga Mandir N.K.Jain on 26th July.

Contact No: 9089888171

Dated: 5/8/14

I, Shri. Lumchithung, Age about 28 years, Son of P.Nchumbemo Kikon, resident of Longsa Village and presently residing at D. Block, House No :-in 163. Kohima, Nagaland do hereby solemnly affirm and declare as follows:1. That Lumchithung/N.Lumchithung Kikon and Nchumbemo Lumchithung Kikon is one and the same.

2. That my father's name, N.Kikon/P.Nchumbemo Kikon and Phyokhamo Nchumbemo Kikon is one and the same.

3. This is for all official/ legal purpose and hereby undertake to give wide publicity through newspaper to let everyone know.

4. That the statement made in the affidavit and those statement made in the Para 1, 2&3 are true to the best of my knowledge and these statement made in the paragraphs are facts derived from the record which are true.

Deponent Solemnly sworn before me by the deponent on this the 5th August 2014 at Kohima Magistrate Kohima, Nagaland

NagalaNd Board of School EducatioN Kohima NOTIFICATION

Dated Kohima, the 2nd August, 2014

NO.NBE-35/Ex-PMT/2014-15 :: It is hereby notified for information of all concerned that the Nagaland State Pre Medical Test 2014 is fixed to be held on 9th August, 2014. The detailed programme is given below: Date 9th August 2014

crime against women. The Minister, however, said that while the State Government had constituted committees to go into the causes behind various crimes against women and suggest remedial measures, the increase in number of cases was also attributable to enactment of some legislations enacted by the UPA government to prevent crime against women and children, which he said, encouraged women to report such crimes.

3

AFFIDAVIT

AFFIDAVIT Regd.No: 3036/14 Date: 31/7/14

NagalaNd

due to love affairs: Assam govt

Dimapur

Day Saturday

Time 9:30 a.m – 12:30 p.m

Note: i. Admit cards shall be issued on 7th & 8th August 2014 in the Office of the NBSE. ii. Candidates are informed to collect the admit cards personally. iii. The signature in all the required places i.e. forms, counterfoil of the admit card, attendance register, etc. must tally. iv. The examination fee of Rs.500/- (Rupees five hundred only) is to be paid during collection of admit card. v. As proof of identity, the candidate must produce the original admit card of the HSSLC or HSLC Examination while collecting the Nagaland State PMT Admit card and also have it in their possession in the examination hall. vi. No admit cards shall be issued on the day of examination.

Centre: Mezhür Higher Secondary School, Kohima Sd/- Asano Sekhose Chairman

DECLARATION The Toulazouma Village Council hereby resolves not to support ACAUT. ACAUT and its objectives are directly against the Naga Nation and aspirations of the Nagas.

In 1951, the Naga People by way of Plebiscite gave the mandate to support the Naga Nation and stand by it.

Hence, we resolved not to support ACAUT and continue to pledge full support to the cause of the Naga Nation.

Nietseizo Venuh

Chousezosuokhrie Chairman Toulazouma Village Council Dimapur: Nagaland

CONDOLENCE We are deeply saddened by the news of the passing away of Mr. Unüto Venyo. He was a sincere student of Alder College. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this time of loss and bereavement.

May God give you the comfort and peace that you seek and may the soul of your loved one rest in peace.

Principal, Staff & Students Alder College, Kohima

The Morung Express 4 public discoursE NNC/FGN appalled by ACAUT statement Solomon L Awomi was treated Dimapur

Wednesday 6 August 2014

T

he NNC/FGN under President, Brig. (Retd.)

S. Singnya is issuing this press statement to condemn the press statement issued by the ACAUT Nagaland which was widely published in the local dailies on 4th August, 2014. Our attention has been drawn towards the last paragraph and the NNC/FGN is surprised and appalled to read the statement wherein it is stated, “The ACAUT further stated that it’s a matter of concern for every Naga that such arbitrary and barbaric action of the NPGs as has been practiced by the NPGs against the Naga people for over sixty years in the name of national movement is anti-people to say the least...”

It appears that the 16 (sixteen) ACAUT signatories are either totally unaware of the history of Naga National movement or are agents acting at the behest India and Myanmar because no right thinking true Naga would even dream of coming out with such an unacceptable statement against the NPGs which not even the

GOI or Burma (Myanmar) has made till date. We are all aware that the Naga National Movement is a Naga people’s movement which arose out of the desire and aspiration of the Nagas to live as a free and independent nation, free from foreign domination and the freedom to determine our own destiny. Right from the letter to the Simon Commission in 1929, to the Declaration of Naga Independence on 14th August, 1947 which were affirmed by the Plebiscite of 16th May, 1951 which voted 99.9% in favour of Naga independence. They seem unaware of the many sacrifice made by the National workers and the Naga people who have borne untold sufferings and thousands of lives sacrificed for the Naga Cause.

Many villages have been razed, our men tortured and our women raped and traumatized just because of our dream and desire to live as a nation, distinct and free.

The NNC/FGN believes that every right thinking true blooded Naga cherish the fond desire to live as a free people, free from

any foreign domination/ occupation and equal to citizens of the free nations of the world with the freedom to determine our own destiny. Inspite of many hardships and difficulties the Naga National workers of the Naga Political Groups have been continuing to work for Naga interests, bound by duty to be torch bearers of the Naga aspirations and desires and to continue the struggle till our long cherished dream is fulfilled.

To term the more than sixty years of the Naga Political movement as arbitrary and barbaric action of the Naga Political Groups practiced against the Naga people is an insult to the pains and suffering borne by our people and the thousands of lives sacrificed in pursuit of the noble cause. It should be noted that the Naga National Movement is not only in name but it is a real national movement; it is not anti-people but a pro Naga people movement aimed at freeing the Nagas from the yoke of foreign domination particularly that of India and Burma (Myanmar) and not tar-

geted at or practiced against the Nagas as alleged.

History has many tales about patriots and traitors.

Traitors betray national interests for selfish vested interests but traitors have seldom prospered. Patriotism is a heroic virtue whereas an act of treason/treachery against the nation is considered as the lowest of the low acts which cannot be condoned, erased or pardoned.

The NNC/FGN appreciates the activities of the ACAUT in so far as the ACAUT acts as an agent of social change, fighting against social evils like corruption and unjustifiable taxation.

However, it is another matter if ACAUT has some hidden agenda to demean the Naga National movement and act as a divisive force to weaken the National Movement. ACAUT Nagaland at least owes the Naga people an apology for the misleading, irresponsible and anti-national statement.

K.L. Kronu Kilonser, Rali Wali, Federal Government of Nagaland

I

humanely, says GPRN/NSCN

t is most un-intellectual and unfortunate that some learned and experienced Nagas have chosen to invest their time and energy in believing a two year old committee called ACAUT, consisting mostly of business members eager to monopolize trade and commerce in Dimapur, could force the Naga political groups down to their knees and finish the Naga National Movement.

This statement is not a response to a de-recognised committee but to reaffirm the truth with honesty and integrity. The GPRN/NSCN under the leadership of Gen. (Retd) Kholi Konyak and N. Kitovi Zhimomi, informs the Naga people that ACAUT was promptly derecognised on 30th August 2014 because the history of the Naga people, their political struggle and hope for common future was interpreted through the whims and fancies of ACAUT leaders, which was to stop the Naga people from contributing towards the National movement. ACAUT leaders continue to mock and insult Naga political movement which the

patriotic blood and tears of the Nagas, past and present had protected and defended. Any activity that do not conform with history and reasoning will fail.

Despite the vitriolic accusation that the GPRN/NSCN treated Mr. Solomon L Awomi inhumanly violating basic human rights, the truth is that members of the Naga Army threatened him with respect and understanding during his detention despite the seriousness of the allegations against him. It is a universal practice that detainees, irrespective of their status and positions, experience untold physical and mental agony during interrogations and questioning yet there was not even a nudge or a push on Solomon L Awomi and so the question of GPRN/NSCN inflicting physical harm does not arise. In the course of interaction, GPRN/NSCN has learnt that ACAUT’s leaders have used Mr. Solomon L Awomi for their own benefit. It is a fact that in Mr. Solomon’s absence, they met, drafted a historic anti-naga document, forged his signa-

ture and distributed. This was so-called ACAUT Nagaland’s activity which GPRN/NSCN de-recognised. They intended to crucify Mr. Solomon for their own cowardice but GPRN/ NSCN do not act in haste because it values human life.

A de-recognised committee cannot declare any statement ‘null and void’. The statement jointly issued by GPRN/ NSCN Kilo Secretary and Mr. Solomon on the evening of 1st Aug. 2014 stands firm. The bond agreement signed by Mr. Solomon and GPRN/NSCN in presence of Village elders of Purana Bazar, Padumpukhri and Naharbari and press media prior to his release on 2nd Aug. 2014 is a reminder that GPRN/NSCN strongly believes in traditional institutions protected by elderly wisdom. ACAUT is a discarded committee and has absolutely no right to question or protest what GPRN/NSCN, and Mr. Solomon agreed and signed witnessed by Village councils of Purana Bazar, Naharbari and Padumpukhri and Naga women Hoho Dimapur.

One Government, One Tax ACAUT and GPRN/NSCN’s recent embroilment

A

CAUT’s sincere and sacrificial labour to alleviate the sufferings of the public is highly appreciated and the general publics have sense of relief for them. When there was the FGN alone, there was no complaint for taxation except killing of domestic animals by force. But now there are several Governments and all of the Governments depend on taxation for their survival. So we all wish that they could get together to form a single National Government but failed. So the crux of the factional problem is the inability to form one Government. So how to bring about an early settlement is more important than how to avoid taxation.

In the initial stage of ACAUT’s movement I have stated that as long as different groups are existing they cannot avoid taxation to meet their maintenance every day. So solution to taxation is to help bring about an early settlement.

Many people say that settlement is impossible without unity.

Nothing is like unity, but they cannot get united. Is settlement impossible without unity? If so, should we wait till the different groups get united? I believe that settlement may be possible whether they are united or not. Because when they started the peace talk both sides have committed that a settlement honourable and acceptable to both sides will be made. When an agreement is arrived at, it will be on behalf of all of the Nagas. Shillong Accord was past and gone when it was superseded by NSCN (IM). Unless a political power which is strong enough to supersede the NSCN (I-M), a settlement made with the Government of India by NSCN (I-M) will stand. So settlement is possible and all of the Nagas should support the talk to make it a success for the good of all.

There should be free and frank sharing of opinions for enlightenment to the public instead of harsh treatment meted out to one another which will serve no purpose.

Rev. L. Suohie Mhasi

I

have only heard of a GPRN/ NSCN Invitation to ACAUT for a Meeting; however after the meeting, the ACAUT claimed one of its Members was detained in the Camp from 31 July to 2 August.

There are two questions on the matter: i. Was the Invitation a case of Abduction by Deception? ii. Was there an AGREEMENT made under DURESS? In the first case; If the meeting was held on a normal business-like atmosphere and the CAUT Members leave the armed Camp on their own volition, then the peaceful invitation Claim would have been strengthened. In that case, even if the exchanges in the Meeting were in a flayed manner or in acrimony, in all likelihood; it would still have been a peaceable one rather than a violent one.

And had the ACAUT Party left the Camp in One Piece, then, to all intents and purposes, the Meeting would have been regarded a constructive one. But when a peaceably unarmed Delegate was singled out, isolated and detained inside the armed Camp, then all claims of a peaceful Invitation is all sham.

The ACAUT complaint is that their detained Member was blind folded, his hands bound like a criminal in Jail and interrogated from 31st July to 2nd August. The evidential circumstances suggest a premeditated deception for abduction. The Oxford Dictionary describes DECEPTION ‘a process of Deceiving’.

In a declared War, deception is used on the Enemy, but do the GPRN/NSCN regard the ACAUT its Enemy? The GPRN/ NSCN has publicly in the New Media daubed ACAUT as Anti-Naga. If the (GPRN/NSCN) has used their wisdom, they would not have said so in the Media openly because the overwhelming majority of the Naga Public takes ACAUT as doing something of a great job for the Public and nobody believes what the GPRN had said. By making such an Audaciously Unwise Utterance, the GPRN/NSCN has thrown mud on it Face itself. The ACAUT is no perfect but No Naga Public would ever take the GPRN allegation the ACAUT is Anti-Naga; as of today, the Naga Public has great goodwill and total support for the ACAUT. On the Second question:

Of an Agreement: the ACAUT has totally rejected the GPRN claim. The Signature may not have been forged, but if a signature is forced or made under threat, not even a Kangaroo Court would accept such a Paper! ACAUT is right in totally rejecting a so called Agreement forced on the Member under Duress.

The Indian Army may, in similar manner, even obtain the Signature of a GPRN high Official surrendering the entire Freedom Movement: But the GPRN is quite unlikely to accept such a Document. What one cannot accept as genuine, one can not be expected of others to accept.

Things done under ‘DURESS means Compulsion with ‘illegal Threat or Violence’.

The Bone of Contention between ACAUT and the GPRN/NSCN is Taxation. The Universal Principle for Taxation is only: “FOR SERVICES RENDERED”, not on the basis of Number of Governments.

A Citizen pays Tax to the Municipal, to the State and to the Central Governments; all for SERVICES RENDERED by the Municipal, the State and by the Union Governments. The Citi-

zens of a State pay tax to the Authorities for the Services they receive from the Authorities.

To the best of my knowledge, the GPRN/NSCN does not render any Service to the Public: they have no right to exact Taxes from the Public. ‘No Services: No Taxation’, is the universal principle of Taxation in any Nation.

The maxim: ‘One Government: One Tax’ in the Nagaland was evolved out of late Mr. Mozolie’s prolific personal Mind, when he was the General Secretary of the APO nearly two decades ago and personally advised some people in some Villages to reply the demands of the several factions of the NNC in the Angami Region, that Demand for Fund will not be acceded till the NNC Factions become United together into One Unit. Some Angami Villages expanded Mr. Mozolie’s advice to include the NSCN who belatedly entered the detested Fund collection Drive.

A very high NSCN Functionary, still alive today wrote a very stiff worded warning to the APO to immediately rescind the Advice to its Angami Villages otherwise the NSCN will view the Organization as Anti-

National and that they (NSCN) will be forced to collect Tax by its armed personnels.

The APO replied that Angamis have never been Anti-National in the 160 year history of the Naga Endeavor and asked the NSCN VIP not to collect Tax with its Army as no civilized Nation in the World collects its Revenue by its Armed Forces.

The GPRN/NSCN today claims they fight for the Sovereignty of the People but it is not known who entrusted them for that. If they actually stand for the Sovereignty of the people, what a great sacrifice it is, but genuine sacrifice never demands any repayment.

What is the State Government and the Governor doing when peaceful conscientious Public Figures are abducted with impunity from under the very nose of the Government

by Organization with whom the Government is engaged in Peace negotiation? Is not Security of a helpless Widow or an Orphan the prime Constitutional duty to the Government? Why is the Government so silent when there is so much turmoil in the Society?

Thepfulhouvi Solo

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

_

LEISURE

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

SUDOKU Game Number # 2957

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S D N U O M V F R G T Q J Y J N B F O D

P T A K T I K H C N U R C U E U F A L L

CROSSWORD # 2963

Answer Number # 2956

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DAILY CROSS WORD

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ACROSS 1. Container weight 5. Marine ___ 10. Taxis 14. Winglike 15. Birdlike 16. Ends a prayer 17. Solitary 18. Paltry 20. Hosiery 22. Germless 23. Possessed 24. Go in 25. Cherished desires 32. Bobbins 33. Follow as a result 34. Child 37. A period of discounted prices 38. Eskimo 39. Adriatic resort 40. Eastern Standard Time 41. A loud sleeping sound 42. Of lesser importance 43. Disconcertingly 45. Communion table 49. Former boxing champ 50. Profitable 53. Vibrating effect 57. Enteric

59. Distinctive flair 60. Loyal (archaic) 61. All excited 62. Agreeable 63. Feudal worker 64. Serf 65. Playthings

DOWN 1. Gangly 2. Agave 3. Telephoned 4. Some time ago 5. 2nd largest country 6. Not under 7. 18-wheeler 8. Friends 9. Hissy fit 10. A marker of stones 11. Extent 12. Young woman 13. Contemptuous look 19. Ganders 21. Hearing organs 25. Backside 26. Oceans 27. Fur 28. Mortise and _____ joint 29. Accustom 30. Willow 31. Cashew or almond

34. Monarch 35. False god 36. Small boat 38. Hotel 39. Pain lotion 41. Rides the waves 42. 5280 feet 44. Rapscallion 45. Nimble 46. Paths 47. Moon of Saturn 48. Anoint (archaic) 51. Salt Lake state 52. Vitality 53. Tropical tuber 54. Hodgepodge 55. Delicate 56. 1 1 1 1 58. Zero Ans to CrossWord 2962

businEss Home, auto EMIs to remain intact, as RBI retains interest rates MuMbai, august 5 (iaNs): Equated monthly installments (EMIs) paid on home, automobile and other loans would remain unchanged, as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) left key interest rates unchanged in its third bi-monthly monetary policy review Tuesday.

The status quo in key policy rates would mean that the sectors like realty, automobile and other capital intensive industries will not get any relief from the high interest cost prevailing in the country to contain inflation.

Several sectors - like automobiles - have been struggling to keep up sales due to high interest and fuel costs which has dampened consumer sentiments in Asia’s third largest economy.

Governor Raghuram Rajan said in his policy statement that RBI will continue to closely monitor inflation developments, and remains committed to the disinflationary path of taking Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation to 8 percent by January 2015 and 6 percent by January 2016.

“While inflation at around 8 per cent in early 2015 seems likely, it is critical that the disinflationary process is sustained over the medium-term,” the governor said.

The repo rate, or the interest that banks pay when they borrow money from the RBI to meet their short-term fund requirements, has been left unchanged at 8 percent.

The reverse repo rate, or the interest that the RBI pays to commercial banks when they park their surplus shortterm funds with the central bank, has been adjusted to 7 percent. The Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) is left unchanged at 4 percent. The marginal standing facility rate and the Bank Rate is also kept unchanged at 9 percent.

The statutory liquidity ratio (SLR), the mandatory amount of bonds lenders must keep with the RBI, was cut by 0.5 percent to 22.0 percent of their net demand and time liabilities (NDTL) with effect from August 9, 2014.

The central bank’s action is on the expected lines as most analysts predicted a status quo, considering the macro-economic situation and current data.

“There are upside risks in the form of the pass-through of administered price increases, continuing uncertainty over monsoon conditions and their impact on food production, possibly higher oil prices stemming from geopolitical concerns and exchange rate movement, and strengthening growth in the face of continuing supply constraint,” the policy statement said.

Data released earlier by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), showed that retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) declined to 7.31 percent in June from 8.28 percent in the previous month.

local/Public SPace

The Morung Express

Ksu BanDh: LLRPO opposes while LYH & KLH support WoKha, august 5 (mExN): The Lotha Lower Range Public Organization (LLRPO) today resolved to oppose the bandh called by the Kyong Students’ Union (KSU) on August 7. This was resolved in an emergency joint meeting held with the Champang Land Owners Union and Tssori Land Owners Union on August 5, informed a press note from the LLRPO. Terming the proposed KSU bandh as “against the interest of people in the area,” the LLRPO informed that the meeting “resolved to further stand by the decision of the Nagaland state government on exploration of oil and natural gas in our area.” It stated that sufficient time was given for raising any objection before allocating the license for exploration.

It further reiterated the organization’s commitment that oil exploration should commence immediately without any hindrance.

“Within LLRPO jurisdiction, as the apex organization of the area, decision taken without consulting the organization will neither be binding nor entertained,” it added. The LLRPO cautioned that it would not be responsible for any untoward incident resulting out of the matter.

LYH urges to organize youth volunteers The Lotha Youth Hoho (LYH) has informed all Lotha youth in different villages, ranges and colonies that it will be “totally supporting the district wide bandh called by the Kyong

Students’ Union in regard to the indifferent attitude of the State government concerning the oil issue.”

A press note from the LYH President, Phyochamo Ngullie and General Secretary, Likhao Humtsoe appealed for all Lotha youth organizations in different places to organize youth volunteers so as to support the bandh.

Championship in September

Kohima, august 5 (mExN): The 3rd edition of Nagaland Spelling Bee Championship is slated to be held on September 25 and 26, 2014 at Capital Convention Centre, Kohima. A press release from Organizing Committee secretary Metsi Zhasa and convenor Neizokhotuo Belho informed that students studying between KLH appeals public Class 8 and 12 in Nagaland to cooperate are eligible to take part in the The Kohima Lotha Championship.

Hoho (KLH) has stated Only two participants that the proposed total from each recognized instibandh of Wokha district scheduled for August 7 is “inevitable”. In a press statement, the Hoho chairman Nchumbemo Tungoe and general sec- Kohima, august 5 retary Thunglamo Ovung (mExN): Chief Minister of alleged the State Govern- Nagaland TR Zeliang has exment is responsible for pressed pain at the demise the drastic action of the of Jamvu Magh, mother of students’ community. Er. Levi Rengma, Deputy It asserted that the State Speaker, Nagaland LegislaGovernment instead of tive Assembly. She died on reasoning with the KSU’s August 5 at her native vil“legitimate demand” lage Ziphenyu. In a condochose to “blatantly ignore lence message to the deputy them and even went to the extent of launching the oil exploration at Changpang with a questionable Company unceremoniously Kohima, august 5 and undemocratically by (mExN): Department of imposing CRPC 144.” The Agriculture, Kohima orHoho further assured to ganized a farewell prostand firmly by the KSU’s gramme in honour of retiragitation till justice is met. ing officials, Joint Director It has appealed to the gen- Ahovi Sumi, Superinteneral public of Wokha dis- dent Lhouvio Angami, and trict to fully co-operate Assistant Superintendent with KSU since they are Takanungla at Directorate fighting for a just cause. conference hall on July 31.

“And let this event bring A press note from the us together ever stronger department said Tekatushi in our strife for a just and Ao, Director of Agriculture, democratic living.” expressed happiness and congratulated the outgoing officials for successfully completing 35 years of continuous service in the received information re- department. He lauded the garding extortion by NSCN officials for their valuable (IM) cadres in Namsa and contribution towards the launched an operation and department at every level apprehended the cadres in their entire career.

Meanwhile, Additional who were in possession of arms and ammunition. The Director of the department release stated that Namsa is acknowledged that comtargeted for “extortion ac- pleting 35 years in service tivities” by various factions and having served in varibecause of commercial ac- ous capacities for the State reaching the pinnacle in tivities in the area.

Cash awards for Spelling Bee Championship 2014, besides trophies and citations: First Prize - Rs. 60,000/Second Prize - Rs. 40,000/Third Prize - Rs. 20,000/Fourth Prize - Rs. 15,000/Each quarter finalists (four) - Rs. 5000/tution within Nagaland duly endorsed by their respective institutional authority can participate in the competition. The Championship will be conducted in two phases - Preliminary round on September 25 and Finals

on September 26. Interested students can obtain the application forms from designated outlets and send their entries in the prescribed format, details of which will be intimated soon through the local dailies and other

Dimapur

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MEx FILE Technical education director informs Kohima, august 5 (mExN): Regional Institute of Paramedical and Nursing Sciences (RIPANS), Aizawl, Mizoram, has offered three seats each in Bachelor's Degree in Radiography & Imaging Technology (B.Sc. RIT) and Bachelor's Degree in Optometry and Ophthalmic Technology (B.Sc. OOT) for the session 2014-15. Therefore, Director of Technical Education A Kathipri in a release has informed All Nagaland AIPMT 2014 appeared candidates desirous of pursuing any of the two courses to submit fresh application on plain paper to the Directorate of Technical Education on or before August 10, 2014. In case of many candidates, selection will be done on the basis of AIPMT 2014 merit, the release added.

media, said the note.

The annual event is jointly organized by Fountain Club, Kohima and State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), Nagaland with The Morung Express and NM Cables, Kohima as media partners, besides support and facilitation from other well wishers, it added.

For any information or PMEGP Scheme applicants query, interested candidates under Longleng informed can contact the following LoNgLENg, august 5 (mExN): All the applinumbers: 9402453002/9436 cants of PMEGP Scheme (2014-15) under Longleng dis609258/9856071055. trict have been informed that interview for selection of beneficiaries of DIC/ KVIB/ KVIC will be held on August 11 and 12 from 9:00 AM onwards in the conference hall of DC Longleng. Therefore, Deputy Commissioner and Chairman DLTFC Longleng has asked all the applicants to Er. Levi Rengma and his to bring their original documents without fail. No sepafamily. In a message, Sazo rate calling letter will be issued on this matter, he stated. expressed shock at the sudden demise of Er. Levi’s Pastors in Wokha visit hospitals mother, while inform- WoKha, august 5 (mExN): The Wokha Town ing she was 88 years old. Pastor’s Fellowship (WTPF) visited Dr. Motsuo MemoShe left behind three sons rial District Hospital and Mhondamo Memorial Hosand grandchildren. Sazo pital "expressing their concern, reaching out to the sick prayed to God to grant sol- and lonely with the message and love of the Lord Jesus ace and courage to the be- Christ" on August 1, stated a press release received here. reaved family.

The visiting pastors contributed cash, prayed for the patients and the staff in the hospitals. The WTPF comprises pastors from various denominations and meets once every three months. With the motto ‘Oneness in Christ’, the release said, they are doing their best to work together to great happiness and exhibit unity in the body of Christ. WTPF Chairman Kesthanked almighty God and hwega Seb, Pastor of Rengma Baptist Church Wokha and the department for giving Secretary Zubethung Ngullie, Associate Pastor of Police fullest support and cooper- Baptist Church Wokha have expressed gratitude to all the ation which enabled them pastors for extending cooperation. to move ahead throughout 35 years without any ECHS Polyclinic, Kohima hindrance and difficulties. temporarily relocated They also encouraged the department officers and Kohima, august 5 (mExN): Director, Directorstaff to work hard continu- ate of Sainik Welfare & Resettlement, Nagaland has ously for the benefit of the informed that ECHS Polyclinic in Kohima has been farming community and shifted temporarily to Old Secretariat Complex (RCC) the society in general, the Kohima, opposite Congress Bhavan in the erstwhile Rajya Sainik Board Office (Room numbers 86, 87 and 88). release added.

Bendangyanger, JDA; All ex-servicemen, widows and dependents have been Howoto, JDA; Helie, JDA; requested to avail the facility accordingly.

Ikuto Zhimomi, DDA; Engg ANCSU emergency Ajakbo and others also depresidential meeting livered short speeches.

Kohima, august 5 (mExN): The All Nagaland College Students’ Union (ANCSU) will hold its first emergency presidential meeting on August 7 at NSF conference hall at 2:00 pm. Therefore, all unit presiSHG expressed she wit- dents/ general secretaries and representatives have nessed such type of develop- been informed to attend the meeting. mental activities for the first time which could be useful AWHO to build dwelling for the poor farmers of the units in Dimapur district. She stressed that KVK Longleng should con- Dimapur, august 5 (mExN): Director, Directortinue such activities in future ate of Sainik Welfare & Resettlement, Nagaland has inalso. Bangnyie Phom, Sec- formed that Army HQ, Army Welfare Housing Organretary of Farmers’ Organizer isation (AWHO) is exploring possibility of acquiring Group stated that the Jalkund land for a housing project in Dimapur (Sukhuvi) for the created by KVK will be used benefit of serving soldiers, ex-servicemen and widows. for their vegetable cultivation Therefore, those interested in possessing a dwelling during lean period. Shamjok unit in Dimapur (Sukuvi) have been requested to inPhom, Head GB of Orang- dicate their expression of interest by sending an e-mail kong village expressed that along with details of Personal No, Rank, Name, Unit and only KVK is extending the Serving or Retired to awho@awhosena.in. Willingness modern technology to the may also be confirmed by letter to - Army Welfare Housfarmer’s field and it should ing Organization, South Hutments, Kashmir House, be followed by other agencies Rajaji Marg, New Delhi – 110011. Contact number of Customer Relation Management Cell of AWHO is as untoo, the release said.

Altogether 60 partici- der: DD (Loan and Liaison) - 011 – 23014039; Exchange pants (20 each from the - 011 23012619, 23013163, 23010825, 2301772 (Extn) three organizations) at- 243/245); FAX No. - 011 – 23010599; E-mail: awho@vsnl. com, awhosena@gmail.com and awho@awhosena.in. tended the training.

Condolences offered to Er. Levi Rengma speaker, TR Zeliang stated, “She had been a source of strength to you in your service career as well as your political career. She was known for her kind heartedness and was a much loved mother to you and your younger brothers who had taken herself the onerous responsibility of bringing up

her children, who today, are in service of the people.” The chief minister and his wife further conveyed condolences to Er. Levi and other members of the family and prayed for their strength to tide over the loss.

Me a n w h i l e, N L A Speaker Chotisuh Sazo has also offered condolences

Agriculture department bids farewell to retiring officers

Science & Technology dept launches website Kohima, august 5 (mExN): Department of Science & Technology launched its official website on July 31 at the S&T complex, Kohima. The website was launched by the outgoing Secretary of the department and Chairman, Nagaland Science & Technology Council (NASTEC), Nihekhu Sema speaks during CK Nihekhu Sema, during the launch of Science & Techthe farewell programme or- nology department’s website.

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6 August 2014

3rd Nagaland Spelling Bee

33 AR apprehends two cadres moN, august 5 (mExN): 33 Assam Rifles apprehended two NSCN (IM) cadres from Namsa, Mon district on August 2.

Assam Rifles in a press release informed that the cadres have been identified as Private Angming Konyak and Private Longtah Konyak. According to the note, 33 Assam Rifles

Wednesday

ganized by the department in honor of his services and accomplishment. The website is an exclusive media home of the departmental activities and services available to the public. For more information about the departmental services or to get a glimpse of the activities, one can access the official website – dst.nagaland.gov.in

Director Tekatushi Ao speaks during the farewell programme of Department of Agriculture, Kohima.

good and sound health is a big achievement. Their service rendered as an expert in different lines will always be remembered which will

surely leave bright legacy, he added.

Outgoing officers Ahovi Sumi and Takanungla Ao in their speeches expressed

Rainwater harvesting structure for farmers tuENsaNg, august 5 (mExN): Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Longleng recently conducted three hands-on training cum demonstration on construction of Jalkund under Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) Project 2013-14 at Pongo, Dungkhao and Orangkong village of Longleng district.

The main objective of TSP project is to create/ generate community resources with modern technology for sustainable productivity and livelihood development of the poor farmers of the district, informed a press release. The main focus of the project is to construct rainwater harvesting structure, Jalkund in Jhum areas for recycling and multiple use of rainwater. The release added

that the harvested water will be used for round the year vegetable cultivation.

The input materials like PVC Silpoulin Plastic (200 and 90 GSM) sheet of 9m x 8m size, PVC gutter pipe, PVC down pipe and aluminium phosphate were provided by Dr. B.C. Deka, Joint Director, ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Jharnapani (Medziphema).

Farmers of Sunila SHG of Orangkong, Muli Denthim SHG of Dungkhao, and Farmers’ Organizer Group of Pongo village participated in the trainings separately organized at three different villages.

According to the release, in a feedback session and discussion, Wanting Phom, President of Muli Denthim

GrowinG pains of Dimapur City

hile acknowledging that urbanisation is a natural outcome of population growth and changing lifestyles, the manner in which Dimapur is developing is something to worry about- Severe traffic jams in all the arterial routes, the pile of Garbage dumps in the city, the pot holed roads, waterlogging during heavy rains. Let’s face it- Dimapur is definitely no more a people friendly City. The City has marched ahead with time, but were we prepared for the onslaught of `development’ and `modernity’ achieved or imposed on this historic city in such a short time? The answer is a big `No’. The time has come for the inhabitants, particularly the younger generation to ask how the city could be rebuilt to make it livable.

On June 27, 2014, after a heavy shower of rain, half of Guwahati was under water. Maniknagar in Guwahati where, I am temporarily residing, was under 2 feet of water. Schools were closed, offices were empty, hospital patients were stranded and generally the whole city came to standstill for two days. The main cause of flooding in Guwahati is due to encroachments and illegal constructions near water bodies,

clogging up of the rivers flowing through the city. I think we can foresee such a situation in Dimapur in the near future, unless those in power take pre emptive measures early. Thankfully, authorities in Assam have woken up and demolition of illegal construction are going on in full swing in the capital and elsewhere.

Most of Dimapur’s main roads are now incapable of bearing the traffic load. On a normal working day, a round trip from 3rd mile to Church road in the town and back, even without stopping anywhere takes a good 3 hours. In that time one could have travelled from Dimapur to Kohima and finished one’s work at Kohima. I remember, as children we used to cycle from Burma camp to the town then move on to Nagarjan to meet up with friends. These rides used to be such a pleasure then. It would be a nightmare to perform the same feat today. Damage of NH 29 in Purana bazaar and several other places is because of waterlogging in absence of a proper drainage system. All the wetlands on either side of the Highway, which at one time served as reservoirs for runoff water from the road have now been filled up for construction.

I think Engineers and plan-

ners have failed as much as politicians and Administrators while dealing with Dimapur city development. Building byelaws were not in place for too long and though the Act has now been passed, it is still not enforced thereby leading to illegal construction and unabated encroachments. This is the time to think afresh for Dimapur and go for a `major surgical operation’ rather than for a first aid `bandaging’ of wounds. The first issue is- an integrated drainage system for the city.

A city requires an integrated chain of drainage system and not just individual drains at various points. For the purpose of designing a drainage network for the city, we have to underline and earmark the `discharge points’, whether they are water bodies or streams. May be through natural slopes or pumping, surface water from any point in the city will flow down the drains along the designed network. For this, a detailed Engineering plan has to be worked out, keeping in mind the contours at different levels and capacity of available reservoirs and flowing streams including Dhansiri. A detailed exercise needs to be done to study the profile of the City along with its

contour levels and come up with a plan to drain out artificial floods using the designed network.

As far as traffic congestion is concerned, a proper transportation analysis needs to be done

by Transportation/Traffic Engineers. Wherever feasible, multilevel Parking lots can be developed, perhaps on PPP mode, City roads can be widened, Parking of vehicles needs to be strictly regulated, introduce `Tow away zones’ in the most congested areas and penalise those violating traffic rules.

All Municipal bodies today are required to dispose off their solid waste as per Municipal Solid Waste Rules 2000. Dimapur today is in dire need of an integrated Solid Waste Management (SWM) project. It is essential to first make proper survey of the quantum and characteristic of waste generated in the city and plan for a scientific SWM plant where biodegradables are separated to be composted and after recyclables are separated, the inerts are buried in landfills which will ultimately be capped.

The ideal situation would be segregation at source. Each household should have 2 Bins, one for biodegradables and the other for plastics, glass and other non

degradable materials. Regarding collection of waste, It may be mentioned that wherever a study on `willingness to pay’ has been carried out, people have expressed their willingness to pay provided proper service is rendered. The important thing is - having implemented a collection plan, to start collecting any small amount to let people get into the habit of paying for service and cleanliness. You can have a successful waste collection system only with participation of the community and not through `Govt orders’ alone.

Residents should be consulted on the most effective method for collection and also see how they can participate. After all, everybody wants a clean neighbourhood. It is also of paramount importance that children are taught about proper method of waste disposal at school level. In fact a chapter could be included in the curriculum on solid waste management, segregation at source etc. This way we can expect to have a cleaner environment, at least by the next decade. I think children can be the best teachers and conscience keepers.

There is a small success story in waste collection at Kohima town. The Govt. has provided

vehicles to the community in all the 19 Municipal wards. On appointed days, the vehicles do their rounds and each household bring their waste and loads it in the vehicle at designated locations. An amount of Re.1 per day or Rs 30 per month is collected from each household. This revenue is used for fuel and Driver’s salary. Garbage Bins have been done away with in residential areas, since the Municipal is unable to clear these bins every day and they become feeding/breeding ground for animals and insects.

Garbage collection in residential areas has greatly improved at Kohima through this practice. Unfortunately in the commercial areas of Kohima, the system is not effective and are therefore still littered with waste. It may not be possible to replicate the Kohima model in Toto. However it may be worthwhile for DMC to study it and improve upon it.

While it may not be possible to implement all the reforms agenda as spelt out under the 74th Constitutional amendment for Municipal bodies, these should be used as guidelines and sincere efforts must be made to achieve them over a period of time. The Municipal body should at least start implementing the

`doable ones’ like accounting reforms, implementation of Building byelaws, good governance etc. These are already covered by relevant acts and orders and do not need any further Govt intervention. Transfer of functions and powers are more complex issues and cannot take place unless Town planners, Engineers and other professionals are in place. In any case we have to stop viewing the Municipal as a body for clearing the Garbage only. It is in fact, the Urban local Body or the Local Government for any township. An expert study should be made on the role and functions of DMC to diagnose why it is not able to function as it should and recommend a major revamping program and the Govt. must provide a generous one-time funding to support this program.

Unless serious efforts are made now, the City will choke to death and we cannot allow this to happen to Dimapur, the Commercial capital of the State. For this, Politicians, Administrators, Technocrats and the citizens must work together with the sole aim of preserving Dimapur and turning it into a livable city.

The Morung Express is introducing “Public Space” as part of our intention to provide deliberate space for the opinions of the people to be expressed and heard through this newspaper.

Nonetheless, The Morung Express points out that the opinions expressed in the contents published in the “Public Space” do not reflect the views and position of the newspaper or the editor.

K. Haralu Daragapathar, Dimapur

6

IN-FOCUS

The Power of Truth

The Morung Express WEDnEsDAy 6 AuGusT 2014 volumE IX IssuE 214

L

Reclaiming

ike many indigenous peoples around the world the Naga peoples’ rights continue to be relegated to the past, where the State system “constrains the development of indigenous societies by allowing only those activities that supports its own necessary illusion.” James Anaya points out that “historical violations of self-determination do not necessarily entail a reversion of the status quo ante, but rather are to be developed in accordance with the presentday aspirations of the aggrieved groups, whose character may be substantially altered with the passage of time.” The Naga peoples’ recovery of their right, therefore, needs to be in accordance with present aspirations so that the exercise of their right responds to the people’s needs.

Naga life today is framed by two value systems that are fundamentally opposed: one that is rooted in traditional teachings, social structures and cultural relations and practices; while the other is defined by State structures, culture, education and electoral politics. This makes the Naga people’s recovery of their values, spirituality, stories and traditional wisdom all the more relevant. The emphasis and focus may change and its understanding may alter, but the purpose remains the same – to secure the Naga peoples’ destiny.

The danger lies in self-doubt and the crisis of confidence.

Robert W. July points out that African nationalist leaders realized that “self-respect was companion to self-determination, while economic growth and technological advance might falter among a people who lacked confidence in their destiny.”

The process of rediscovering self-respect and self-confidence with self-determination should lead to a consciousness that translates into the dignity that comes with self-governance and collective contentment that are inherent in the expression of Naga culture and values.

The protracted nature of the political issue and consequences on the Naga mind and spirit at both the individual and collective level has presented a number of dilemmas.

For instance, while the Naga struggle focuses on addressing the injustices from without, there is a parallel truth, that injustice is also being perpetuated from within. This dilemma is captured by a Naga academician who notes: the “recognition of the Naga peoples right to self-determination may lead to resolution” of the political conflict but “not necessarily mean it will bring about peace.” This elevates the imperative for Nagas to go beyond traditional political rights which are rooted in the state system, and to recover the values and praxis of Naga rights.

From the Naga worldview, the concepts of right are seen to be emerging from within the people and constantly evolving where processes of consensus decision-making and restorative justice are critical for maintaining harmony and sustaining balance among all relations. By implication, since self-determination is rooted in the people’s will, sufficient “means should be provided for their expressed will to ensure that the Naga alternative is not in conflict with the people.” At its core, the idea of Naga historical and political rights without a shared humanity is exclusivism, and the manifestation of this shared humanity will depend upon a people’s understanding and political will.

lEfT wiNg |

Leanne Italie Associated Press

Scrabblers rejoice: 5,000 new words are on the way

T

o Scrabble fanatics, big gifts sometimes come in small packages. The word "te" as a variant of "ti," the seventh tone on the musical scale, is a hardworking little gem among 5,000 words added to "The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary," out Aug. 11 from Merriam-Webster.

The dictionary's last freshening up was a decade ago. Entries in the forthcoming book that include texter, vlog, bromance, hashtag, dubstep and selfie were mere twinkles on the racks of recreational players.

But it's the addition of te and three other two-letter words — da, gi and po — that has Robin Pollock Daniel excited.

Daniel, a clinical psychologist in Toronto, is a champion of the North American Scrabble Players Association, which has a committee that helps Merriam-Webster track down new, playable words of two to eight letters.

"Being able to hook an 'e' underneath 't' means that I can play far more words," explained Daniel, who practices Scrabble two to four hours a day. "Sometimes you play parallel to a word and you're making two-letter words along the way. I call those the amino acids of Scrabble. The more two-letter words we have, the more possibilities a word will fit."

One woman's te is another man's "qajaq," one of Peter Sokolowski's favorites among the new words. He's a lexicographer and editor at large for the Springfield, Massachusettsbased Merriam-Webster.

Qajaq, he said in a recent interview with Daniel, reflects the Inuit roots of kayak and would require a blank tile since Scrabble sets include just one Q. But it's a rare word starting with "q'' that doesn't require a "u."

A bonus, to a word nerd like Sokolowski: qajaq is a palindrome, though that's inconsequential in Scrabble. The new words add about 40 pages to the Scrabble-sanctioned dictionary, which already lists more than 100,000 playable words.

Definitions are kept to a minimum but parts of speech and whether a plural is available are noted.

To be included in the 36-year-old book — this is the fifth edition — a word must be found in a standard dictionary, can't require capitalization, can't have hyphens or apostrophes and can't be an abbreviation, in addition to being two to eight letters, reflecting the seven tiles players draw plus an eighth already on the board they can attach a long word to for bonus points.

Among the highest potential scorers among the new additions is "quinzhee," a shelter made by hollowing out a pile of snow. Played on the board's top row, ending at the top right through an existing "u," and a player can score 401 points, including the 50-point "bingo" bonus for using all seven tiles.

Merriam-Webster didn't identify all 5,000 new words but released a list of about 30 that also include: Beatbox, buzzkill, chillax, coqui, frenemy, funplex, jockdom, joypad, mixtape, mojito, ponzu, qigong, schmutz, sudoku and yuzu. Geocache was also added, voted into the dictionary by the public during a Facebook contest in May. "It makes the game more accessible to younger people, which we're always looking for," Daniel said of the update.

"All the technology words make it more attractive to them."

Sokolowski anticipates a transitional period for some players who may need time getting used to the idea that so many new words will soon be in play.

"It is going to be a big step for a lot of people to switch to this," he said, "but at the same time if you're sitting at a Scrabble game after dinner and somebody plays the word selfie and somebody challenges that as not a real word, well guess what? It is."

THE EDIT PAGE

C O M M E N T A R Y

I Bendangangshi | Ex. MLA

Leadership And The Naga Destiny

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nation’s destiny is shaped by its ruler(s). Leaders make or unmake a people. A nation of civilized and peace loving people can suddenly turn aggressive, brutal and rapacious if its ruler or policy makers wish it to be so. India, that gave to the world the ‘Mahatma’ whose dogged non-violent movement led to the emancipation of the Indian nation from the yoke of the British imperialism became no better than its former ruler when it came to dealing with the small Naga nation, because its rulers chose so to do, and, ironically, the rulers happened to be the very followers of the Mahatma and upholders of the principle of non-violence. Within a decade of attaining independence, to be precise, beginning from 1953, the Congress, i.e., the political party formed from the congress that attained independence on the blank of non-violence, began systematically enforcing its polity of brutal suppression of the Naga aspiration for a sovereign independent nation. The nation conceived and born from peaceful non-violence suddenly became a nation of uncontrolled brutality, raping, pillaging and killing indiscriminately. All the despicable policies of its erstwhile colonial rulers were adopted and the nascent nation even went further by enforcing the grouping of villages and containment of villages within stockades virtually imprisoning the entire Naga population. All these brutal acts of suppression were perpetrated behind an iron curtain with the international community and even the people of mainland India unaware of the happenings in Nagaland.

From the very outset of the Naga political movement for sovereignty, the Naga National Council (NNC) adopted the policy of non-violence and made only peaceful overtures to bring about amicable solution to the Naga issue. Unfortunately, in its reciprocal act, India employed only brutal means to bring the unarmed NNC to its knees.

Only after lives, both males and females, in the thousands were lost and countless women and girls raped and violated at the hands of the Assam Police and the Indian Army, the need for self preservation led to the formation of the Federal Government of Nagaland (FGN) on 30th June 1956 and the Nagas began to fight back. In the same year, at the Sanis meeting of the NNC, the issue of need to defend with arms was discussed for the first time. When the question of how or with what the Nagas should fight back was raised, A.Z. Phizo’s reply that we may start

with stones and sticks and whatever available as the Indian Army would bring sufficient arms for us, was met with laughter. But that was how the defensive struggle initially began, and as Phizo had said, the guns of the Assam Police and the Indian Army became our guns. The hidden war that ensued led to needless bloodshed and casualties on both sides, while the uncaring policy makers ate and slept peacefully in Delhi.

So long as we stood as one, things progressed and it may be ascertained that at one point of time, even Jawaharlal Nehru was on the verge of relenting, but clever manoeuvrings by the Central Intelligence with active participation of few Naga leaders led instead to the formation of the Naga People’s Convention (NPC) in 1957 and the signing of the 16 Points Agreement in 1960, followed by the declaration of Nagaland as the 16th State of the Indian Union.

It may have been the hope of the Government at the Centre that the Government set up in the State and run by its indigenous people would effectively snuff out the freedom movement, but this was not to be. However, to a very great extent, the objective of the Government of India was attained, for the formation of the NPC was the starting point of cracks appearing in the unity of the Nagas; cracks that only multiplied and widened with the passage of time. It was also the point of time that the element of mistrust entered the Naga family and, sadly, thenceforth, the war fought with the Indian Military forces encompassed fratricidal killings.

With the situation seeing no improvement, on the initiative of the NBCC backed by the Democratic Party of Nagaland, the then opposition party in the State Legislature, the Nagaland State Legislative Assembly at its first Session in 1964 passed a unanimous resolution setting up the three members ‘Peace Mission’, with Shri. Chaliha, the then Chief Minister of Assam, Shri.

J.P. Narayan and Rev. Michael Scott as the members. Through the sincere and dedicated effort of the Peace Mission, cease fire was brought about on 6th September, 1964 and formal talks at the political level was started with the Government of India with Shri.

Gondavia, Secretary Ministry External Affairs, and Mr. Zashie Horray, Angh of Japfu State, FGN, as the two chief negotiators for the two sides. Unfortunately, the Prime Minister of India, Smti. Indira Gandhi, unilaterally revoked the ceasefire without any notice.

The Peace Mission was disbanded immediately and Rev. Michael Scott was shipped out unceremoniously after

seizing all important record connected with the peace talks, and the hard work and progress made by the Peace Mission went down the drain. Overnight, without any warning 48 camps of the Federal Government of Nagaland were overrun by the Indian Army. What followed thereafter was the sweeping and intensive combing operation that culminated in the signing of the infamous Shillong Accord. Considering the circumstances under which the Accord was signed, there is no room to blame or fault the signatories, but to this day when it has become an irrelevant issue, it remains a bone contention among various groups, which only sows further discord rather than bring about any fruitful solutions.

One must also not forget the fact that many reasonable people of mainland India sympathised with the Naga cause though their voices were ignored by the Government. In his book “Israel in India,” Dissan Tagore, the author, has written that during the turbulent years of the Naga struggle, he had appealed to the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi not to mishandle the Nagas but give them the freedom they desired, lest she should fall at the hands of her enemies, but his advice went unheeded and, ultimately, in 1984, she was assassinated by her own bodyguards. The author also served a similar warning to her son Rajiv Gandhi advising him to treat the Nagas as Israel in India and to set them free, lest he should meet a similar fate as his mother. The son also failed to heed the warning and, as foretold, met with the unfortunate ending at the hands of the Tamil Tigers.

As history is witness, the path of our march has been laden with treachery.

We also have much to blame ourselves, for instead of putting our heads together and work out a reasoned solution in times of adversity, we allowed ourselves to be overcome by our emotions, which has only led us into a fragmented society with irreconcilable petty differences, and this has further given ample opportunity to our adversaries to take advantage of us. But if we consider things from a proper perspective, we shall see that a firm hand of destiny has been leading us onward despite our failings. In 1997, the much desired ceasefire agreement was signed between the NSCN (IM) and the Government of India, the historic decision then was the Government of India agreeing to a ceasefire without territorial boundary and to have the political negotiation with the NSCN (IM) at the Prime Ministerial level in a third country. This was the moment of recogni-

tion of the legitimacy of the Naga demand by the Government of India and is a landmark in our history. Another landmark was the recognition accorded the Government of India under the Prime Ministership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee of the BJP to the “Uniqueness of Naga History,” in 2003. A further historic step, which is also a landmark in our history, was taken in 2004 at the meeting held at the Hebron Camp, when more than 10,000 (ten thousand) delegates representing all the Naga Tribes from within and outside Nagaland unanimously gave mandate to Isaac Chishi Swu and T.H. Muivah to bring the political negotiation with the Government of India to fruition. The mandate of the people so given cannot be treated lightly or revoked by any group of people except by the people who have given the mandate.

Sixteen long years have passed us by since the peace talks began and but for the ten years of Congress rule in India, there was the possibility of final solution earlier had the NDA returned to power and I say this because it was the NDA that gave recognition of the uniqueness of Naga history and showed earnestness and sincerity in the process of negotiation. But perhaps it is the will of God that the talk should stretch for long until the Nagas come to value the virtues of patience and understanding. Now, with the NDA having again returned to power at the Centre, the hope of an early solution has returned, but to achieve that which we desire, we must stand together leaving aside all differences. The entire Naga family, i.e., the Nagas within and without Nagaland, started the journey together and the destination must be reached together. This was the resolve made by our founding fathers and it is our duty to respect and uphold that very resolve.

The essence of true leadership is selflessness. The first and highest concern of a true leader is the welfare of his people; his welfare comes last. A true leader will eat only after his people have had their fill. A true leader will sacrifice his life so that his people may live. This noble quality houses neither pride nor prejudice and harbours no ill will. It allows the person to realise his own shortcomings and admit his mistakes, and to understand and be tolerant of the failings of others and, above all, forgive. I believe, this noble essence is inherent in all the Naga leaders and the present is the right moment in time to let show this attribute so that we may attain our long cherished goal and also leave a lasting legacy for future generations to emulate.

Some are more equal than others: Responses to Political Violence

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naomi Head

n September 2013 in a blog post written for the Institute for Conflict, Cooperation and Security at the University of Birmingham, I posed the following question: ‘Why is it that the policy of sanctions which is considered appropriate for Iran is not appropriate for Israel?’

The focus of this question derived from the controversy that emerged following the imposition of restrictions by the European Union on financial assistance to Israeli institutions. The EU adopted guidelines in June 2013 to prevent financing and cooperating with institutions and organisations in the territories occupied by Israel in 1967.

Intended to apply pressure on Israel with regards to its settlement policy in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and to encourage movement towards a peace agreement with the Palestinians, these relatively minor sanctions were met with anger in Israel and by requests for their relief by the US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Kerry’s reasoning at the time was that a suspension of these restrictions would demonstrate to the Israeli public the benefit of pursuing a peace agreement with the Palestinians. Secretary Kerry is reported as saying,“I think it’s important that the Israeli people and the government see that coming to the talks, taking the risk of moving toward peace is worthwhile”.

Needless to say, given the massive and asymmetrical escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip between Hamas and Israel in recent weeks, the peace process that Kerry worked hard to revive failed absolutely as the peace talks collapsed

by May 2014.

Last time the contrast I was seeking to expose referred to the very different logic then being applied to Iran over its nuclear programme. Iran,

While it is true that the US has, for once, signed up to a UN Security Council statement which calls for an "immediate and unconditional humanitarian cease-fire”, this might still be considered a tactical step to prevent more strongly worded resolutions against Israel being proposed in the Security Council

who has been in negotiations intermittently since 2003, prior to the referral of the Iranian nuclear file to the Security Council in 2006, has been subject to some of the harshest multilateral and bilateral sanctions ever imposed. In 2013, following the election of President Rohani which was widely recognised as promising renewed diplomacy with a very different mandate for negotiating than had been the case under former President Ahmadinejad, the United States still refused to put significant sanctions relief on the table as a reward for re-starting negotiations.

The Iranian case has, since then, made considerable progress although it remains very much an unfinished story.

My current concern returns to the discrepancy between actions applied to Israel in its fourth week of an escalating military campaign against Hamas in Gaza which is responsible for taking over 1000 Palestinian lives (to date) and injuring over 6000 more, and actions taken against Russia who is suspected of arming the pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine responsible for

the downing of the Malaysian passenger airliner MH17 on 17 July. President Obama, along with the EU, has just announced the application of tougher targeted sanctions against Russia in a bid to condemn its role in the Ukrainian conflict.

The BBC’s Gavin Hewitt has written that,“Europe's leaders did not want to move to economic sanctions but they were moved by two considerations: the outrage at the way investigators have been blocked from access to the crash site of the downed plane and, secondly, the fact that Russia, since the incident, has been allowing heavy weapons across the border into Ukraine”. The argument is that although European countries have been reluctant to take such measures which may harm their own economic interests and will target Russia’s finance, energy, and defence sectors, they are doing so to ensure that the message that actions have consequences is made clear to President Putin.

The reverse side of this politically violent coin is that the United States

wRiTE-wiNg

voted against and a number of EU countries abstained from the resolution passed in the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on 23 July to investigate Israel for potential war crimes.

Despite the documented breaches of international law and international humanitarian law by Israel dating back many years, these countries sought to err on the side of restraint.

While it is true that the US has, for once, signed up to a UN Security Council statement which calls for an "immediate and unconditional humanitarian cease-fire”, this might still be considered a tactical step to prevent more strongly worded resolutions against Israel being proposed in the Security Council. As the US and the EU moved to sanction Russia one week after the tragic attack on the Malaysian airliner, they have failed to take the lead on the international stage to remove the umbrella of impunity under which Israel’s leaders continue to shelter as it relentlessly and disproportionately carries out attacks on Gaza which cannot, given the urban density of the Strip, avoid knowingly targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure such as homes, hospitals, Gaza’s only power plant, and UN-run schools where much of Gaza’s population have sought refuge.

There are many perspectives on the current violence taking place in Gaza and I am not seeking to address all of the arguments and rebuttals which might be made of this brief summary. Without condoning the actions of Hamas, what I am seeking to do is cast some light on the hypocrisy of states and their leaders as they fail to take actions which would bring an end to the utter devastation of Palestinian lives.

While all states may be equal under the eyes of international law, this unequal application of sanctions serves to remind us once more that some may be more equal than others.

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.

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wEdnEsday

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

6 August 2014

PERSPECTIVE NEWS ANALYSIS, FEATURE AND DISCOURSE

Why The NLTP AcT & hoW is iT A fAiLure

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e love Nagaland and its people, and therefore even in the case of liquor prohibition issue whoever raises his or her voice either for or against the Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition Act, 1989 (NLTP Act) does it with love and concern. They are therefore to be appreciated. I write this with the sole purpose of bringing to our attention why and how the NLTP Act came to pass. Over the years there have been numerous debates on this issue which have been largely generated by modern problems and unfortunately such an approach at times does not do justice to Acts such as this which was adopted twenty five years ago. I believe some of the main arguments why it must be lifted are: 1. In spite of the Act liquor is sold 2. Liquor is more expensive and poor in quality 3. The Act is redundant as those who want to drink will continue do so 4. Lifting the act will make liquor easily accessible hence less expensive 5. We can never keep up with this Act in the present generation as it is ‘OK’ to drink.

The above highlighted arguments are certainly valid in nature. However, a major problem here is the failure in realizing that they are issues concentrated more on its acquirement which indirectly points towards an acceptance of a certain life-style rather than an attempt on understanding the actual situation that eventually led to the adoption of this very Act. As an older generation I can without any hesitation say that the situation then and now cannot be compared. Similarly the problems faced then and now are different in various aspects, hence cannot be compared. As such the arguments raised today do not necessarily justify an Act adopted decades ago. In simple words, Nagaland was in a very different state unlike today. Thus the need to a better insight into the Act. The NLTP Act is a result of tireless efforts of individuals, groups, organizations and churches who worked together with one goal to achieveA better Nagaland. After elaborate and careful research conducted it showed that alcohol was one among the major causes responsible for

a number of social problems and menace. The problems it generated was a vicious circle. For example, it affected the nucleus of healthy family life such as broken homes which in turn not only impacted children education but the children themselves. Twenty five years ago, if only we had a footage to show, for many of us, the future of our children was too bleak. The intention behind such an Act was thus purely generated out of love. There was a great need for Nagaland to take a stand. Even greater was to move towards achieving it in spite of numerous life threats we received during the initiation of this Act. No society can move forward without constant critical reflection on how it has progressed, but even so crucially important is that it is done contextually. What we consider today as the failures of NLTP is strongly guided by ‘how’ we analyse it. Just as the way in which we consider today as ‘valid reasons’ for reconsiderations of this act, there were also certainly important ‘valid reasons’ that propelled the government and the churches towards the adoption of this very Act. As we move forward let us keep in mind why and how the Act came to being.

As sensible individuals we all know the evil effects of alcoholism such as health problems & death, broken homes, children education affected by alcoholism, the most serious effect of alcoholism for the Christians is the spiritual side of it. There are 75 bible verses that condemn alcoholism (This can be mentioned in the next publication). According to the news article on “Prohibition Act” published in the local dailies, the problem is not with the “Act” but with the “implementation,” if my analysis is correct. As far as the enactment of the prohibition act is concerned, the Government has done great job based on the request of the churches and the NGOs. But now coming to the implementation of it, everyone, as Christians, have to play our own roles to effectively implement the “Act.” Why is the Government of Nagaland blamed, and why is the Church in Nagaland blamed for

the failure of the NLTP Act? Abraham Lincoln, the former President of the United States of America has defined the Government as “of the people, for the people and by the people”.

And so the Government means You and I. Further, as Christians living in a Christian land, are we living out our lives as we should? Majority of the bureaucrats in Nagaland are Christians, all the public leaders in Nagaland are Christians, most of the business people who are making money out of liquors are Christians, law makers, keepers and breakers are Christians, the one who is caught with bottles of liquor is a Christian.

And therefore who is to be blamed?

Whether we like it or not you and I are to be blamed for the failure of the “Act”. While talking about our failures, let us also look at some of the impact of NLTP Act with specific reference to the educational aspect.

In 1986 and 1987, as the youth secretary of the Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC), seeing naga youths highly affected by alcohol a survey was carried out. Our visit to a number of high schools and colleges in almost all the districts in Nagaland proved that many of the students rarely completed their education due to alcohol.

In fact every institute we visited there was either a case of drunkard fighting’s among students or with the administrators or the overwhelming sight of rows of empty bottles laying around the premises or the unpleasant experience of seeing young kids carrying bottles of liquor in their pockets and bags. Such was the state of our youths in the 80’s. The pass percentage of HSLC exam in 1986 was 31.32%, in 1987 only 19.48% and in 1988 it was 37.52%. If this had continued I doubt we won’t be where we are today. With high rate of dropouts comes lesser rate of individuals becoming an asset to the society. As ineffective as it may seem to many today, were it not for this life changing Act we would have very few naga leaders leading us today. In this context, for those of us who have witnessed and experienced the pathetic and seemingly hopeless state of our youths then it is

nothing but a success. After the adoption of the Act we saw a steady increase in the pass percentage of our youths.

To highlight a few, in 1989, the pass percentage of HSLC exam was 45.70%, in 1990 it was 43.53% and in 1991 it was 40.44%. This year the pass percentage is 65.19%.

Presenting the above does not in any way mean that the Act was the only factor, but one cannot overlook the role it has played in impacting the lives of many. Thus as we consider either in lifting the Act or not it is my sincere appeal to all to make carefully analyses as we did in the past before its adoption and accordingly move forward. To undertake an effective and reasonable decision demands a critical research. For instance, analyzing the no. of broken homes affected by alcoholism, no. deaths caused by alcoholism, no. of road accidents caused by alcoholism, no. of street fights caused by alcoholism before and after the Act etc. Even though the above will still continue irrespective of whether or not Nagaland is a dry state, it is best to conduct a comparative study to enter into any logical conclusion. Further it must also be contextualized to both the rural and urban scenario, as majority of the people of Nagaland are living in the villages, and therefore their voices should be heard.

After necessary survey and research if we know that lifting the Act will surely bear positive outcome then move forward. However on the other hand if we do not then let us not act at the cost of the younger generations to come. What we decided today will eventually show its result either negatively or positively only in the years to come and never immediately. Finally, for those who were alcoholics but are not anymore today and living responsible lives, know that my generation have witnessed the power of love!. For those of you who have not witnessed what we did two or three decades ago, it is my desire and hope that you or the future generation do not undergo what we experienced. As we strive towards a brighter future let our acts portray who we are as Christians living in a Christian land.

God bless Nagaland!

Rev. J. Thungjamo Lotha

Wine in/and the Bible

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feel it worthy citing some Bible verses for public consumption that wine or alcohol in itself is not considered detestable even in the Bible.

Psalms 104:15: "And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart."

Genesis 27:28: "May God give you of heaven's dew and of earth's richness-- an abundance of grain and new wine."

Genesis 27:37: "And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him: and what shall I do now unto thee, my son?"

Deuteronomy 7:13: "And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee."

Deuteronomy 33:28: " Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew."

Chronicles 32:28: "Storehouses also for the increase of corn, and wine, and oil; and stalls for all manner of beasts, and cotes for flocks."

Psalms 4:7: "Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased."

Proverbs 3:10: "then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine."

Ecclesiastes 10:19: "A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes life merry, but money is the answer for everything."

Isaiah 25:6: "On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine-- the best of meats and the finest of wines."

Isaiah 55:1: "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost."

Hosea 2:22: "And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel."

Joel 2:19: "Yea, the Lord will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen:" Joel 2:24: "The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil."

Zechariah 9:17: "How attractive and beautiful they will be! Grain will make the young men thrive, and new wine the young women."

Mervyn Jamir, Kohima

christians condemn Alcohol

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ome of the Nagaland Christians lifestyle is worst than pagans. The reason is that, example like Hindus, they fear that their gods or goddesses will kill them so in order to appease their gods they give sacrifice at the same time live a good life and do good works. But the extreme contrast is: Christian’s God is full of love and gave free choice to everyone but the Christians are misusing this precious freedom.

Digging the reality and exposing the fact of the Christian life in the Legislatures, the Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition Act was passed in 1989 and after 25 years Government of Nagaland is going to convene a special session on NLTP Act in the Nagaland Legislative Assembly. The Legislatures who are all Christians trying to revoke the Act is simply inviting the wrath of God upon them and to their generation.

If Nagaland lifts the NLTP Act then remove the slogan Nagaland for Christ (NFC) as well and declare to the world that Nagaland has become modern Sodom. It is very unfortunate that when the Watchman, Naga Council, Naga Women Hoho, Churches, Bible Colleges, Christian Organizations and civil societies are working so hard to shun social evils in our Naga society because the root cause of all these social unrest is due to Alcohol which makes many fatherless, widows, the Nagaland Legislatures instead of strengthening the Act are going to debate whether to lift or enforce the Act. As a clergyman

our prayer is that Chief Minister of Nagaland must be the first person to acknowledge God and voice out boldly to enforce the NLTP Act 1989 and then follows by all the Legislatures and Bureaucrats. Nagaland will become worst if our leaders are not prepared to fear God and lead their people to a right direction.

May the Almighty God intervene in such a time when Nagaland are known throughout the world as a Christian state and my worry is that if our leaders rule under the power of Satan then their subjects will truly live in great confusion and in frustration.

Because of the upheaval prevailing scenario public demanded to create more police personnel in the Excise Department but the Chief Minister of Nagaland who is also the Finance Minister says, there is no fund to create 100 posts police personnel in the Excise Department. But learn from others: North Korea spent more on Military and currently there are one million soldiers well equipped and ready for war, so in terms of security and protection the citizen of North Korea are living in quiet safety. Indian Government spent more Money on Military and citizens are living in safety. If the Nagaland Government has a concern and burden for the citizens especially the young boys and girls who are the most victims it is the bound duty of the Government to protect them from deadly Alcohol by creating more Police battalion and enforcing the prohibition Act strongly in Nagaland and

give the solid safety to the citizen of Nagaland. The Government should put this fund in the budget not only to create 100 posts but rather create more battalions of police personnel and sufficiently guard and control with modern equipments to enforce the NLTP Act of 1989 so that the public witness the safety in this Christian land.

However, both the ruling party leader and the Opposition Leader are in a view to lift the prohibition.

The CLP Leader who should speak in favor of the public spoke in contradiction saying, “Why was the Government scared to lift prohibition when the Congress was prepared to shoulder the problem.”

The Chief Minister of Nagaland’s responds too was the indirect refusal to enforce NLTP Act of 1989 and pave the way to revoke this Act and make Nagaland modern Sodom. Hence, all the Christians in Nagaland must watch the NLA session which is going to be held shortly within a month where godly and ungodly Legislatures are going to debate on NLTP Act 1989 whether to lift or to enforce. Christians has to pray fervently that God fearing decision shall prevail and all the ungodly motives shall be put to shame whereby with their wise decision the banner of the Nagaland for Christ (NFC) would once again lift up so high that the world would see and give all glory to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Rev. Dr. Vikheshe Chishi, Founder and Principal, Withee Bible College, Dimapur.

The Newspaper with an Opinion The Morung Express

You might be a housewife, a driver, a civil servant or a business man. The common thing among all of them is that they are doing some work. A busy life makes the holidays more enjoyable and the vacations that much more valuable. While there might be many who only view work as a pay cheque, work is also a pathway to happiness and feeling useful in today’s world.

Love Thy Job! Loina shohe

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Asst Professor | Department of sociology

id you ever notice how one’s profession seems to be a part of one’s entire lifetime? When we were born, people wondered what we would turn out to be. When we were young they asked us what we wanted to be when we grow up. When we grow up they want to know what we are doing, and when we die they would be talking about what we were doing. The role of our profession in our life seems to be right there from the beginning till the end. “We spent most of our lives working .So why do so few people have a good time doing it”.Isn’t ittoo sad for someone to be doing a job one dislikes? Imagine, one spends so much time and effort in it- it would just be plain torture to not find happiness in one’s ownwork.

The surest way to be happy in our job is to be in love with it.

But falling in love with our job like most good things in life is not easy to come by. One has to work for it. In order for us to find happiness in our profession (whatever it may be), I feel there are some common factors,after excluding certain peculiar circumstances and situations, applicable to all, towards which we can all work to help us find happiness in our profession. Before hand let us keep in mind that whether we work for someone else or we are our own boss every work is in fact directly or indirectly related to providing service to others and hence happiness with our work significantly depends on our ability to please others. So the factors can be: #Working in areas of one’s interest– For one to be happy with one’s job, one has to enjoy the work and one can enjoy the work only when one has a deep interest in it. Personal interest in many fieldshas been responsible for producing genius work, exhibiting intense devotion and the like. Likewise, one should identify the area of one’s interest and pursue a profession in it.

Because when we occupy a position or get involved in a profession where we have no interest, our creativity would be subdued, our commitment won’t be strong, and every working hour would be painfully boring. # Exercising Freedom of choice – In Walt Whitman’s poem, “I hear America singing” we will come across mention of “mechanics, carpenter, mason, boatman, shoemaker, wood cutter…each singing what belongs to him…and to none else”. “The poem presents the picture of a happy and strong America. The individuals are all happy and proud of their various occupations”. I have never been to America but what I can make of it through what I see in movies and books I read is that Americans seem to have the freedom to take up any job they want or can without having to worry about who is looking down on them. Probably “this freedom gives them reason to be happy and proud of their occupation.”

It is good to seek counsel from seniors and kinsmen but the final decision should rest with the person who is going to be doing the job.

There have been instances in our Naga society where parents have forced their children to take up theological studies and this has done more harm than good, when the children themselves were not so committed to taking up such a course. We will also find a lot of our youths under pressure by expectations of family, kin and society itself to achieve certain positions which sometimes we will find are beyond their interest and even their abilities. #Making others believe in us through our qualityworkmanship- In using services or buying products, have you ever noticed that consciously we all prefer the best. Usually, I like to use our local people’s services or buy their products but the other day I wanted to refit one of my favorite pants and I went to the tailors for that, I made my way towards a local lady tailor whose service I normally use, but after nearly reaching her shop I made a full turn and went to a non-local tailor instead. My thought wasthat since it’s my favorite pant I cannot afford to have something go wrong with it. The quality of work we do actually determines the degree of happiness we will have with our work, and vice versa.

Whether we work for others or for ourselves, bad workmanship will never satisfy. #Making our work indispensable to others- This is I feel closely connected with the quality of our work. One of my inspiring quotes is “ If a man writes a better book, preach a better sermon or make a better mousetrap than his neighbor though he builds his house in the woods , the world will make a beaten path to his door”. The highest degree of honor we can achieve in our work is when our work is indispensable to others. #Specialization is crucial. Whereas having a natural knack of doing some thing is a big pay off, ultimately it is consistently working on a thing throughwhichone becomes a master.And to consistently work on a thing one has to focus on one trade. # Know how to market– There was this uncle of mine who, back in the days, had a brainwave to sell pears. So he loaded a truckload of pears and made his way down to Dimapur from Zunheboto district passing through Assam. After taxes and days of looking for buyers to buy his pears which were starting to rot then, he managed to sell some at a meager amount. He went back home wiser but poorer and with a strong dislike of pears. Even after many years had passed by, it seemed he could not stand to even hear the word ‘pear’, his daughter told me. Doing work we are interested in is good, doing it exceptionally well is better but being able to identify people’s need and then finding the best ways to meet them is the best pay off. #Practice Professionalism–Sometimes in our line of work we may come across people with whom we are acquainted with.

When such happens,as a professional,it is best that one impresses the other withone’s professionalism.

When we make it lenient, because we are familiar with them, sometimes they may end up shirking their work or even feel comfortable with not paying the dues. Still more they may feel hurt, if we don’t keep up with such treatment.

Another instance maybe when we feel we know each other and hence can make some adjustment like turning up late when they need our service,they may not put their trust in our ability and opt for other’s services instead.

If we are to retain people’s trust in us then it is only fair we exhibit professionalism when it comes to providing our services, that way there would be no unnecessary expectations or disappointments and of course awkward situations and we can happily look forward to catering them way into the future.

Of course there are still more areas one can explore but we will leave that perhaps for another time. As for now I wish to conclude but not before wishing you all happiness with your work -as you stay in love with your job! “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”.

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 6 August 2014

The Morung Express

UPSC row: Protests continue in parliament, Delhi streets

New Delhi, August 5 (iANs): Protests over the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) continued to rage in parliament as well as on the streets Tuesday, a day after the government assurance that the marks for English language comprehension skills will not be included in preparing the merit list.

While the protesting aspirants said they will settle for nothing less than the scrapping of the “discriminatory” CSAT and will continue their agitation, the issue once again rocked both houses of parliament, leading to disruptions and several adjournments.

Briefing BJP members at a parliamentary party, union Urban Development Minister and Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said the government’s move to not include English marks in the merit list was the “best and quick” solution. Opposition members in the Rajya Sabha disrupted the house while seeking a debate over the issue.

As members continued agitating, an angry Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari said he would not allow a debate without proper notice. When AIADMK members trooped near the chairman’s podium, Ansari told them to go back to their seats. But the members refused to relent, forc-

Police holding students hostage, allege protesters New Delhi, August 5 (Pti): Scores of UPSC aspirants, who are staging protest at Jantar Mantar against CSAT, today alleged that police have held most of the students “hostage” in Mukherjee Nagar area and are not allowing them to participate in the demonstrations here.

“We are planning to widen our protest against the current CSAT format but the government has deployed heavy security in Mukherjee Nagar and nearby areas like Nehru Vihar, Gandhi Vihar, Indra Vihar and Outram Lines. This has restricted around 20,000 UPSC aspi-

rants from joining the protest,” Pawan an aspirant leading the protest said.

The protest was earlier shifted to Jantar Mantar from Mukherjee Nagar area in North Delhi. “A large number of enforcement including paramilitary forces has been deployed and every movement in these areas is being closely monitored. Police stop and start questioning even if two or more people are seen together, which has now restricted the aspirants to join the protests at Jantar Mantar,” Pawan further added.

On the other hand, police have refuted all these allegations terming them as ‘baseless’.

“These are all false allegations and totally baseless and there have been no gatherings in these areas for which we would deploy forces”, DCP (North) Madhur Verma said.

Most of the UPSC aspirants stay in the areas in North Delhi like Mukherjee Nagar, Nehru Vihar, Gandhi Vihar, Indra Vihar and Outram Lines. The UPSC aspirants have been for the past 26 days demanding scrapping of the CSAT format from the examination.

ing the chairman to adjourn the house till noon.

When the house reassembled, opposition members were once again on their feet demanding a debate on the issue. “The government has given a kneejerk reaction to agitating students. It is a counter-reaction,” Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien said.

“The announcement has made the matter more complex,” he said. DMK member Kanimozhi said regional languages have been “discriminated against”. The government had

earlier also said that those who gave the UPSC exam in 2011, will be given another chance in 2015.

Communist Party of IndiaMarxist member P. Rajeeve asked: “What about those who gave exam in 2012, and 2013... and what about the age limit.”

Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien asked the members to give a proper notice, to which the members later agreed.

Similar scenes were witnessed in the Lok Sabha too.

Samajwadi Party led by MP Dharmendra Yadav raised slogans against CSAT. He pressed for sus-

pension of the question hour. But Speaker Sumitra Mahajan disallowed suspension of the question hour and said she would allow the issue to be discussed during zero hour.

But when the zero hour started, Yadav and other Samajwadi Party members as also Pappu Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal stood near the speaker’s podium and started raising slogans, demanding scrapping of the CSAT exam. There was an uproar on other issues as well, and the house was adjourned till 12.30 p.m.

When the house met at 12.30 p.m., similar scenes were witnessed. Members from the Samajwadi Party and the Congress marched to the speaker’s podium again and started shouting slogans of “We want justice” after which the house was again adjourned till 2 p.m.

The CSAT-II paper carries questions on comprehension, interpersonal skills including communication skills, logical reasoning and analytical ability, decision-making and problemsolving, general mental ability, basic numeracy and English language comprehension skills (of Class 10 level).

Meanwhile, the students continued their demonstration in two places in the capital.

Scores of them staged a sit-in at Jantar Mantar, demanding CSAT be completely done away with.

Most of them had pitched their camps since Monday night. They refused to budge when a posse of policemen asked them to vacate the spot, leading to skirmishes.

“We want the examination date to be postponed and CSAT to be scrapped. The protest may intensify if the government does not meet our demands,” Ajit Chakarvarty said. In north Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar, the second spot where the demonstration is on since 10 days, students raised noisy slogans.

Rahul refutes double standards on insurance bill

New Delhi, August 5 (iANs): Congress VicePresident Rahul Gandhi Tuesday said the Congress party does not have “double standards” on the insurance bill.

“I think, Congress does not have double standards on the insurance bill,” Rahul Gandhi told reporters in parliament complex. He also denied any u-turn on the proposed legislation. The insurance bill, which will raise the ceiling on foreign direct investment (FDI) in insurance sector to 49 percent from the current 26 percent, has to be passed by the Rajya Sabha.

Main opposition Congress has, however, not yet made its stand clear on the bill, and a meeting called by the government Monday remained inconclusive. The government does not enjoy a majority in the Rajya Sabha, unlike in the lower house, and has only 59 members in the 243-member upper house.

Congress leader Anand Sharma, meanwhile, said his party is not being obstructionist on the insurance bill, and added that a select committee of parliament should first discuss the measure.

“All the opposition parties were together yesterday (Monday) when the government called for an informal meeting. We (Congress party} are not being obstructionist and opposing (the bill) for the sake of it,” Sharma, former commerce minister, said Tuesday. “In a democracy the government must listen to opposition, the combined opposition. Almost all opposition parties have raised some issue. The best way for the government is to discuss it. And the forum for discussion should be a committee of the house,” he added.

Sharma pointed out that it was the Congress that introduced the bill in 2008, and charged the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with opposing it for six years. “For six years they (BJP) were serving public interest and now we are doing disservice by asking for more clarity on some substantive issues of the bill. Government should not mislead the public,” he said.

The Congress is backing the Trinamool Congress and Left parties’ proposal to send the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill to a select committee, as it would scuttle any government move to get the legislation passed by convening a joint session of the two houses of parliament.

The proposed amendment will pave the way for infusion of the much-needed additional equity to the tune of Rs.25,000 crore into the insurance sector.

There was an ‘LTTE mole’ in Rajiv Gandhi’s home: Book

New Delhi, August 5 (tNN): Did an LTTE mole find its way to 10 Janpath and pass on crucial information before Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination? In a book, a former aide of the Gandhis points in that direction.

He also claims that even Sonia Gandhi feels the same way. “There is yet another angle that emerged as the enquiries of the two commissions (Verma and Jain) progressed. There is no doubt in my mind that a ‘mole’ from the LTTE had found refuge in 10 Janpath,” writes R D Pradhan in his book, “My years with Rajiv and Sonia”.

“Although many suspects were arrested and some convicted, I think it is ordained that the truth shall not

come out. It seems to me to be part of conspiracy hatched by several influential persons in faraway places.

Someone inside 10 Janpath provided crucial information to the mole.

I know for sure that Sonia Gandhi, who was away in Amethi virtually throughout the 1991 Lok Sabha election campaign, feels the same way,” he further writes.

The Justice Verma Commission looked into the security lapses leading to Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination while the Jain commission looked into the security lapses.

“In my view, only the Tamil Nadu administration could have had some inkling of the LTTE’s evil

A woman collects drinking water after digging a hole on the banks of the River Heran near Sajanpura village in Chhota Udepur district, Gujarat state on Tuesday August 5.

Dozens of women from the Sajanpura village cross the river every day to collect drinking water from the other side since the water in their village is saline and muddy.

(AP Photo)

intentions. The LTTE had lulled everyone into complacency while undertaking preparations to assassinate RG (Rajiv Gandhi). The LTTE had succeeded. But both the IB and the Tamil Nadu governor (Bhishma Narain Singh) had failed in my view,” he writes in the chapter, ‘Could Rajiv Gandhi’s life have been saved’?

Pradhan worked as Union home secretary for one-and-a-half years with Rajiv Gandhi when the latter was Prime Minister. He was also in charge of Sonia Gandhi’s office in the AICC between the years 1998-2003. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by an LTTE woman suicide bomber in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu on May 21, 1991.

44 Kerala nurses back home, from Libya nightmare

kochi, August 5 (iANs): Kerala nurses evacuated from Libya, who arrived here Tuesday, are so traumatised by their experience in the violencehit country that as one of them said “words cannot describe our pain”. Tears rolled down the cheeks of the nurses who met their relatives on arriving here at 8.50 a.m. The nurses, 44 of them, were first taken from Libya’s capital city Tripoli to the Tunisian border and then to Dubai Monday evening.

“Words cannot describe the nightmare that I underwent there and I don’t have words also to describe my happiness when I met my husband and daughter,” Nancy Elizabeth, a nurse, told IANS,

breathing freedom at last.

Libya has of late been seeing a violent power struggle among rival groups - the worst since after the fall of its leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Rival militias have been fighting around Tripoli international airport, attempting to take control of the airport.

Another group of 43 Kerala nurses is now at the Tunisian border but the date for their return home has not yet been finalised.

Ten nurses would take a flight from there Tuesday evening. Elizabeth said: “I was in Libya for almost one year. All of us paid around Rs.1.50 lakh as recruitment fees to go there.”

“I managed to get all my money, except last month’s

salary. The nurses working there are yet to get the gratuity and other benefits that come to around Rs.2 lakh,” said Elizabeth, who now plans to go to Delhi and find a job.

P. Sudeep, chief executive officer of Roots-Norka, the state agency that looks after the welfare of nonresident Keralites, told IANS that “each of them have been given Rs.2,000 as travel allowance for their journey to their homes”.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and state Minister for Diaspora K.C. Joseph spoke to the nurses over phone as soon as they reached here.

A nurse said: “The journey to the Tunisian border by bus was a nightmarish one. It took about five hours

to reach there. All of us were praying as we could hear gunshots. At one point, we saw two people being killed.” Another nurse said the sounds of bombs and gunshots rattled them.

“Since the Tripoli airport has been destroyed, we never believed that we could return to our home.

Special thanks to God... We will never forget the terrifying bus journey to the Tunisian border,” she said.

Yet another nurse said that “since we returned under emergency situation, we did not get certificates for our work experience there”. “Some of us have not been paid our last four months’ salary. But we have returned safely. Don’t know what to do next, but I am happy.”

Prezt tells forest officers to keep abreast of issues New Delhi, August 5 (iANs): President Pranab Mukherjee Tuesday asked probationary officers of the Indian Forest Service to keep themselves abreast of the changing international and domestic forest management issues and adopt the best practices.

He said the management of forests and its governance is a challenging task.

“The probationers must keep abreast of the changing international and domestic forest management issues and adopt the best practices in their profession,” he

when a boat carrying them capsized in the Ganga river in Uttar Pradesh’s Mirzapur district, police said.

Around 40 to 50 people, all from Bitawar district, were on board the boat when the accident took place. While nine people were saved by divers in neighbouring Varanasi, 22 swam to safety in Mirzapur.

Police divers and a team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have also been pressed into service to locate and rescue any survivors, an official told IANS. He, however, said the possibility of any survivors was very little because night had set in.

The Ganga is in spate these days and the water level in the region is rising menacingly every day. Officials said they feared that the luckNow, August 5 (iANs): number of missing people could At least 18 people were missing be more.

told the Indian Forest Service probationers who called on him.

“The world has woken up to the threats to the very survival of mankind due to environmental degradation, depletion in forest cover and above all, global warming leading to climate change.”

“That is why environment has emerged as the prime agenda for the 21st century, of which forests are an integral part,” he added.

18 missing as boat capsizes in Uttar Pradesh

Modi era offers little place for BJP seniors

New Delhi, August 5 (iANs): They anchored the rise of the BJP in the 1990s and guided it through the tumultuous years in the opposition but do not appear to have a role in the party’s first full-majority government.

L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, both past presidents of the party, now appear to have a largely ceremonial role in the Narendra Modi dispensation though they continue to command the respect of party workers.

Both Advani and Joshi are founding members of the BJP and were functionaries of its predecessor, the Jana Sangh. Advani and Joshi played a central role in the party’s sharp rise in the 1990s.

Advani was deputy prime minister during the first NDA government but could not deliver victory when the BJP projected him as its prime ministerial candidate in the 2009 general elections.

Advani, a perpetual “yatri” who nursed prime ministerial ambitions till last year, is now a “guardian”, “patriarch” and “guide” to the BJP rank and file.

Joshi, whose reports as chairman

of the Public Affairs Committee kept the UPA-II government on the edge, is also seen to have an “advisory” role for the present.

A major reason for Advani and Joshi’s apparent isolation from governance in the second National Democratic Alliance government is the nature of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s victory in the April-May Lok Sabha elections under Modi’s stewardship.

With the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological patron of the BJP, also keen to herald and sustain a generational change in the party, there appear to be limited options for the “seniors” in the party, including Advani, Joshi, Shanta Kumar and others.

At 86, Advani can still give a run for their money to leaders younger than him in terms of his alertness and fitness. Joshi, 80, too is alert and quick-witted. Both are regulars in parliament during its sessions and sit in the front rows of the treasury benches.

Advani and Joshi continue to be members of the BJP’s par-

liamentary board, the apex decision-making body. Advani is also on the dais at all important party meetings, including that of the parliamentary party. But there appears little scope of his playing a larger role in the NDA as Modi is the prime minister and, effectively, the leader of the alliance.

As the 2014 election came, Modi’s rising graph and popularity among the grassroots workers eclipsed any chance of the party again putting Advani at the forefront. He displayed strong reservations in the beginning but eventually reconciled to Modi’s elevation.

BJP MP from Bijnor Bhartendra Singh said that Advani’s role was that of “a guardian, rolemodel and patriarch.”

“As a founding member of the BJP, former deputy prime minister, former party president and one of the seniormost parliamentarians, he dwarfs others.

His natural role is of a guardian. He certainly is the most influential member of the BJP in parliament.”

Advani’s accessibility, his

stellar contribution to the party’s growth and humility are some of the reasons cited for the respect he commands from party MPs. “If a minister does not address grievances related to my constituency, I can go and tell Advaniji and his word will have an impact,” a party MP who did not want to be identified told IANS. The MP conceded that he can approach Advani more freely than Modi on any issue.

Joshi, too, enjoys respect of the party MPs. Poltical analyst and senior journalist S. Nihal Singh said that Advani now has a titular role in the party structure. “He has a titular role, an honorary role not amounting to much. He has had his innings and later conceded Modi’s supremacy. As far as leadership stakes are concerned, they are over,” Nihal Singh told IANS. According to Subrata Mukherjee, a political analyst who taught at Delhi University, Advani’s role at the peak of the BJP largely ended with that of former prime minister Atal Bihari

Vajpayee after the party’s defeat in the 2004 general elections.

He said political leaders should hand over the reigns to the second generation with a certain amount of grace. “In our political culture, we have not imbibed that. Political parties have not created procedures where leaders get elevated and retire.

Politics is also played within a time limit,” he maintained.

Congress MP Saifuddin Soz said that Advani and Joshi had been the pillars of the party and they appear to be sidelined. “It appears there are fissures in the party and there will be a reaction though it may come late,” Soz told IANS. Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar said that Advani was not in the BJP mainstream. “From his body language and his failure to comment on certain things I think that he is very disapproving of Modi and his cohorts,” Aiyar told IANS. “Modi does not want to bring Advani into the mainstream and Advani is too dignified a person to push himself,” he added.

Over 200 IAS officers fail to submit property returns New Delhi, August 5 (Pti): Over 200 IAS officers have failed to submit their immovable property returns (IPRs) to the government within the stipulated time frame this year. Of the 205 officers who did not submit their IPRs for 2013, 58 are from Uttar Pradesh cadre, 28 from Madhya Pradesh and 26 from Andhra Pradesh cadre, according to Department of Personnel and Training data.

Besides, 13 each such officials are from Odisha and West Bengal, 10 from Jammu and Kashmir, and seven each from Manipur, Tripura and from Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre, it said. There are five IAS officers from Sikkim, four each from Assam-Meghalaya, Haryana, Jharkhand, Nagaland, and Rajasthan, and three each such personnel from Bihar, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand cadres who have not submitted their IPRs for 2013.

Two officers each from Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Maharashtra cadres have also not submitted their IPRs for the last year. As many as 4,619 IAS officers are working across the country against the total authorised strength of 6,270. There are also 152 IAS officers who have not submitted their IPRs for 2012 and 49 others who have failed to give their property details for 2011. There are also 38 IAS officers who have not submitted their IPRs for 2010, the DoPT data said.

An Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer is bound to file property returns of a year by January-end of the following year, failing which promotion and empanelment to senior-level postings may be denied.

InternatIonal

the Morung express

Wednesday 6 August 2014

Dimapur

9

In Gaza war, violent death part of daily life JEBALIYA CAMP, August 5 (AP): The airstrike that crushed the Najam family home in this refugee camp set in motion a grim but increasingly familiar process as the Gaza war claims victim after victim. A search through the rubble for bodies and body parts. Relatives claiming the dead from the morgue.

Then a swift burial in a hastily dug grave with a cardboard name tag instead of a tombstone.

With such tragedies becoming routine, most Palestinians are responding with a measure of sobriety to the violent deaths that are now part of daily life in Gaza. Some suppress their grief behind a faith that the dead are martyrs in the fight against Israel and destined to go to heaven. Others are just too preoccupied with their own survival to mourn.

“What happened to them could happen to us,” Youssef al-Doqs, a 22-yearold neighbor of the Najams, said Monday as he watched six stone-faced men silently searching through a mound of debris that was their two-story home in the Jebaliya refugee camp. “As for me, Youssef, I am not afraid of death,” he said, sucking on a cigarette.

Late Monday morning in Shati, a different refugee camp in Gaza City, an Israeli warplane struck a house that stood on a narrow lane. Children, some as young as 8 or 9, helped rescue workers searching the rubble for bodies and survivors by forming a human chain between the targeted house and a main street. They passed to one another bits of debris, which the last member of

the chain on the street end dropped onto a growing heap.

Nearly 1,900 Palestinians have died since Israel launched a campaign of airstrikes against Hamas-ruled Gaza on July 8 in response to weeks of rocket attacks into Israel

by Hamas and other Gaza militants. More than 60 Israelis, mostly soldiers, have been killed in the war.

While the Palestinian militant groups openly aim their rockets and mortar shells at Israeli cities hoping to harm civilians, Israel says it is strictly targeting launch sites as well as militants who often embed themselves among Palestinian civilians. Israel also has said it is doing its utmost to avoid harm to civilians, urging them in phone calls, leaflets and text messages to leave areas about to be attacked.

Nevertheless, most of the Palestinians killed have been civilians — and they include some 400 children.

Israel has not explained the airstrike Sunday night that killed seven members of the Najam family, including a 90-year-old man and at least two children. It was the latest in what the U.N. says have been dozens of Israeli attacks that killed three or more members of one family in a single strike, with several cases of more than a dozen members wiped out.

On Sunday night, ambulances brought the bodies of the seven dead Najams to the morgue of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya near the Jebaliya camp. The next morning, surviving family members, relatives and friends sat

patiently alongside others waiting to claim the bodies for burial.

A health ministry official kept them waiting while he showed the bodies to journalists, part of Hamas’ propaganda war with Israel. For the cameramen, he removed the part of the white shroud covering the faces of the bodies and rearranged the severed limbs of one victim. Angry and impatient, the waiting family and friends began to bang on the metal door separating them from the courtyard leading to the morgue. The official tried to calm them, saying that it was important for the world to see what Israel is doing to the Palestinians.

The first four bodies out of the morgue were not those of the Najams, but of two cousins and two children killed Sunday by a rocket fired from a drone.

They were unceremoniously loaded into the back of an ambulance that sped away. The main cemetery for Gaza City and northern Gaza is located east of Jebaliya, which has taken heavy Israeli shelling. And because that cemetery is running out of room, authorities will now allow burials in spaces between existing graves as well as similar burials in smaller, older cemeteries elsewhere.

Minutes later, the bodies of the Najams were brought out, wrapped in blood-stained white shrouds and carried on metal sheets with puddles of blood on both ends. With chants ringing out of “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great,” the bodies were loaded onto the back of a truck.

Mourners and onlookers jumped onto the truck next to them. More passengers joined as the truck slowly made its way to a mosque, where a special prayer for the dead was recited, and later to the cemetery at Beit Lahiya.

Throughout the journey, families emerged from homes along the road to look at the procession, many with blank faces.

Inside the mosque, children used a ladder to reach and rip off green flags bearing the declaration of the Muslim faith — There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet — that hung from a rope strung across the length of the roof. They used those flags to wrap the seven bodies.

Later, young men laid the bodies down in hurriedly dug graves in a sandy extension of the cemetery.

They covered the graves with slabs of concrete bearing the fading blue emblem of the U.N. agency that looks after Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. And with sand heaped with shovels on top of the concrete slabs, the seven Najams became a memory to family and friends, just like others whose fresh graves dot the new cemetery extension, with mortar bricks used as markers and their names written on pieces of cardboard inserted inside them.

“What can we do if that is what is written for us?”

Oday Mohammed Salman solemnly said while squatting on one of the mortar bricks and looking at three graves — not of the Najams — with fresh flowers strewn over their wet sandy surface.

Palestinians inspect the damage to the Nada Towers residential neighborhood in the town of Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, August 5. Israel and Hamas began observing a temporary cease-fire on Tuesday that sets the stage for talks in Egypt on a broader deal on the Gaza Strip, including a sustainable truce and the rebuilding of the battered, blockaded coastal territory. (AP Photo)

Israel-Hamas truce sets stage for talks on Gaza gAZA CItY, August 5 (AP): Israel and Hamas began observing a temporary cease-fire on Tuesday that sets the stage for talks in Egypt on a broader deal on the Gaza Strip, including a sustainable truce and the rebuilding of the battered, blockaded coastal territory.

Israel withdrew its ground forces from Gaza’s border areas, and both sides halted cross-border attacks as the three-day truce took effect at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) Tuesday. The shelling stopped and in Gaza City, where streets had been deserted during the war, traffic picked up and shops started opening doors.

If the calm holds, it would be the longest lull in almost a month of fighting that has killed nearly 1,900 Palestinians and 67 Israelis. In coming days, Egyptian mediators plan to shuttle between Israeli and Palestinian delegations in Cairo to try to work out new ar-

rangements for Gaza. As details of the Palestinian demands emerged, there were some signs that Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for seven years, is willing to let its former rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, take a lead in rebuilding the territory.

The Palestinian delegation in Cairo is led by one of Abbas’ confidants, but also includes members of Hamas and other factions. On Monday, the delegation presented a joint list of demands to Egypt, said Hana Amireh, a West Bank-based PLO official who is in touch with the delegation. The demands include a call for internationally funded reconstruction that would be overseen by an Abbas-led government that was formed in a unity deal with Hamas before the war.

Mohammed Mustafa, the West Bank-based deputy prime minister of the technocrat government, told The Associated Press that efforts are under

way to arrange a pledging conference of donor countries in Norway at the beginning of September. International Mideast envoy Tony Blair is part of efforts to arrange that gathering in Norway, Blair’s office said. Israeli government officials were not available for comment. Israel TV’s Channel 10 said the Israeli delegation had not yet left for Cairo. The report said Israel wanted to make sure the cease-fire held before sending negotiators to Egypt.

Gaps between the Israeli and Palestinian positions are wide, and it’s not clear how much can be achieved once talks get under way. The situation on the ground remains volatile, and any cease-fire violation could quickly derail the Cairo talks. Any reconstruction plan would require a lifting of the Israeli-Egyptian border closure of Gaza, imposed after the violent Hamas takeover of the territory in 2007.

China to ban all coal Egypt plans to dig new Suez Canal costing $4 billion Video games cause deviant CAIRO, August (RE- 2011 uprising that preceded hoped it would be finished concern about the security of behaviour in teens: Study use in Beijing by 2020 utERs): within a more ambitious one- the nearby Suez Canal. The Egypt said on Mursi’s presidency.

BEIJINg, August 5 (AP): China’s smogplagued capital has announced plans to ban the use of coal by the end of 2020 as the country fights deadly levels of pollution, especially in major cities. Beijing’s Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau posted the plan on its website Monday, saying the city would instead prioritize electricity and natural gas for heating.

The official Xinhua News Agency said coal accounted for a quarter of Beijing’s energy consumption in 2012 and 22 percent of the fine particles floating in the city’s air. Motor vehicles, industrial production and general dust also contributed to pollution in the 21 million-person city.

Even with the Beijing ban, coal use is expected to soar in China. Coal-fired power and heating is a major generator of greenhouse gases and has helped turn China into the world’s largest emitter of carbon and other heat-trapping gases.

Pressure is growing on China’s central government to clean up the country’s polluted environment, as discontent over smog and water and soil contamination increases among China’s expanding middle class.

The central government recently listed environmental protection as one of the top criteria by which leaders will be judged. In September, the government announced a prohibition on new coal-fired power plants around Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Tuesday it plans to build a new Suez Canal alongside the existing 145-year-old historic waterway in a multi-billion dollar project to expand trade along the fastest shipping route between Europe and Asia.

The project, to be run by the army, is a major step by new President Abdel Fattah alSisi to stimulate Egypt’s struggling economy and recalled some of the grand national programmes of one of Sisi’s predecessors, army strongman Gamal Abdel Nasser.

Sisi, a former army chief, took power last year after ousting elected Islamist President Mohamed Mursi and has since overseen a massive crackdown on Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood.

The Suez Canal earns Egypt about $5 billion a year, a vital source of hard currency for a country that has suffered a slump in tourism and foreign investment since the

An official in the Suez Canal Authority told Reuters the new canal was set to boost annual revenues to $13.5 billion by 2023.

The new channel, part of a larger project to expand port and shipping facilities around the canal, aims to raise Egypt’s international profile and es-

year deadline.

The original canal, linking the Mediterranean and Red Seas, took 10 years of brutal, poorly paid work by Egyptians, drafted at the rate of 20,000 every 10 months from “the peasantry”.

It slashed weeks if not months off journeys between

Part of Al-Sisi’s efforts to stimulate Egypt’s struggling economy tablish it as a major trade hub.

“This giant project will be the creation of a new Suez Canal parallel to the current channel of a total length of 72 kilometres (44.74 miles),” Mohab Mamish, authority chairman, told a conference in Ismailia, a port city on the canal.

He said the total estimated cost of drilling the new channel would be about $4 billion and be completed in five years, though Sisi said he

Europe and Asia that otherwise necessitated a trip round Africa.

Sisi said the armed forces would be in charge of the new project for security reasons.

Up to 20 Egyptian firms could be involved but would work under military supervision, he said.

Last year’s overthrow of Mursi was followed by a rise in violence from Islamist militants based in the Sinai peninsula, which has stoked

government has been fighting militants in an ongoing campaign in the area.

“Sinai to a large degree has a sensitive status. The army is responsible to Egypt for this,” said Sisi.

Egypt has planned for years to develop 76,000 sq km (29,000 sq miles) around the canal into an international industrial and logistics hub to attract more ships and generate income.

Neil Davidson, senior adviser for ports and terminals at London-based Drewry Maritime Research, said the new canal would not necessarily generate greater trade but the development of a hub around it could prove lucrative.

“The strategic location of Egypt and the canal is a key advantage... being a key point where cargo can be distributed or worked on. This hubbing concept is extremely valuable,” he said.

Former enemies unite for WW I commemoration

sAINt-sYMPHORIEN, August 5 (AP): Separated by only a small patch of yellow daisies at the Saint-Symphorien military cemetery lie two former enemies: British Captain Kenneth James Roy and German Gefreiter Reinhold Dietrich. Also between the two are some 9 million dead soldiers over four years. Roy died in the first month of World War I, trying to stop the early German onslaught through Belgium. Dietrich died two weeks before the war ended with a German defeat.

On Monday, from Glasgow, Scotland to Liege and the small Saint-Symphorien in southern Belgium, leaders of the former enemies Belgium, France, Britain and Germany stood together in a spirit of reconciliation to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the start of conflict that became known as The Great War. On Aug. 4, 1914 Germany invaded neutral Belgium as part of a planned attack on France, forcing Britain to declare war by nightfall and unleash the biggest conflagration the world had known. “It opened Pandora’s Box,” said German President Joachim Gauck, who acknowledged that it “is anything but self-evident to stand

and talk to you on this day” and be warmly welcomed by the nation Germany overran.

Gauck openly spoke of “the great injustice” of invading Belgium and the wanton destruction of the university library in Leuven and other civilian brutalities during the first weeks of the war. British Prime Minister David Cameron hailed the spirit to heal such deep wounds and such deep-rooted enmity. “We should never fail to cherish the peace between these nations and never underestimate the patient work it has taken to build that peace,” he said at dusk, a few hours before the moment Britain declared war on Germany a century ago.

During the morning ceremonies at the allied memorial in Liege many leaders, including French President Francois Hollande, insisted that European nations have to act more forceful in conflicts from Ukraine to Iraq and Gaza. “We cannot remain neutral,” Hollande said. “We have an obligation to react and it is Europe which must take on these responsibilities.” He called on the same nations who were enemies then to stand together now. Over four years which ended with the Nov.

11, 1918 armistice, the German and Austro-Hungarian empires faced Britain, France, Russia and, later, the United States.

At the intimate Saint-Symphorien cemetery in southern Belgium a balmy sun kissed the daisies standing in between Roy and Dietrich. Even in defeat, the allied effort that claimed Roy’s life on Aug. 23, 1914, helped slow the German advance toward France that eventually bogged down as it was closing in on Paris. Gauck said the German plan that was supposed to secure early victory was “hapless” and deplored German actions against civilians and cities its forces passed through during the early weeks of the war.

By the end of autumn 1914, both sides dug in, and from the early battles, the war quickly changed into trench warfare on the Western Front, with hundreds of thousands of casualties in a barren landscape where poison gas often wafted through the air.

The war wasn’t expected to last long. The battlefront scars would slowly and agonizingly rip across Europe, ravage whole communities and millions of families. It produced a moral wasteland in Germany that would become fer-

tile ground for the rise of Nazism.

Four empires would disappear.

When Dietrich died, on Oct. 28, 1918, it was the Germans’ time to withdraw in defeat. WWI is now often depicted as senseless slaughter without a big moral cause that claimed an estimated 14 million lives, including 5 million civilians, sailors and airmen from 28 countries.

British Prime Minister David Cameron sought to debunk that notion. “That is wrong. These men signed up to prevent the domination of a continent, to preserve the principles of freedom and sovereignty that we cherish today,” he said, only dozens of footsteps away from the headstones of Roy and Dietrich and 241 other Commonwealth and 288 German casualties.

UN envoys record WWI poems for 100th anniversary U.N. ambassadors from 14 countries whose soldiers fought in World War I have recorded poems about the conflict written by their best-known poets.

Britain’s U.N. Mission opened the exhibition Monday at U.N. headquarters to coincide with the commemoration of the 100th anniversa-

ry of the start of World War I, Britain’s entry into the war, and its presidency of the U.N. Security Council this month. It includes posters of the poets and their poems, and a code that can be scanned with smart phones to hear the ambassadors from the onetime warring countries reading their works.

British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, who reads Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce Et Decorum Est,” told reporters the theme of the exhibition is “conflict prevention and commemoration.” He said the ambassadors chose the poems.

U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power read Alan Seeger’s “I Have a Rendezvous With Death.” German Ambassador Harald Braun read George Trakl’s “Grodele” and Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, whose grandfather was an artilleryman in the war, read Nikolay Gumilev’s “Assault.”

Other poems included former Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit’s “Gallipoli — A Postwar Epic,” Canadian poet John McCrae’s “In Flanders Field” and French poet Louis Aragon’s “War and What Follows.” New Zealand, Australia, Belgium, Austria, South Africa, India and Serbia are also represented in the exhibition.

NEw YORk, August 5 (IANs): Teenagers who play mature-rated, risk-glorifying video games are more likely to engage in alcohol use, smoking cigarettes, delinquency and risky sex, says a study.

Such games - especially character-based games with anti-social protagonists - appear to affect how adolescents think of themselves, with potential consequences for their alter ego in the real world, the findings showed.

“Up to now, studies of video games have focused primarily on their effects on aggression and violent behaviours,” said James Sargent, professor at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth in the US. “This study is important because it is the first to suggest that possible effects of violent video games go well beyond violence and apply to substance abuse, risky driving and risk-taking sexual behaviour,” Sargent added.

In the new study, researchers conducted a longitudinal nationwide study involving more than 5,000 randomly sampled US teenagers who answered a series of questions over four years in telephone interviews. They looked at a number of factors, including the playing of three violent risk-glorifying video games (Grand Theft Auto, Manhunt, Spiderman) and other mature-rated video games.

They found that such games are associated with subsequent changes in a wide range of high-risk behaviours and suggest this is due, in part, to changes in the users’ personality, attitudes and values, specifically making them more rebellious and thrill seeking. The study appeared in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Why thinking skills go down with age LONdON, August 5 (IANs): If your grandparents take a long to recognise known faces from a fleeting glance, that may well signal their declining intelligence. The slowing of simple, visual decisionmaking processes might be part of what underlies decline in the complex decision making that we recognise as general intelligence, says a study.

As the basic ability to make correct decisions based on brief visual impressions declines with age, so does intelligence, said Stuart Ritchie from University of Edinburgh in Britain. “The typical person who has better-preserved complex thinking skills in older age tends to be someone who can accumulate information quickly from a fleeting glance,” Ritchie added.

The evidence comes from experiments in which researchers showed 600 healthy older people very brief flashes of one of two shapes on a screen and measured the time it took each of them to reliably tell one from the other.

Participants repeated the test at ages 70, 73, and 76. The longitudinal study is among the first to test the hypothesis that the changes they observed in the measure known as “inspection time” might be related to changes in intelligence in old age.

“Since the declines are so strongly related, it might be easier under some circumstances to use inspection time to chart a participant’s cognitive decline than it would be to sit them down and give them a full, complicated battery of IQ tests,” Ritchie noted.

The study appeared in the journal Current Biology.

10

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SPORTS

Wednesday 6 August 2014

ICC to consider Anderson verdict after India protest

NEW dELHI, AUgUSt 5 (REUtERS): The International Cricket Council will consider a judicial commissioner's verdict clearing England fast bowler James Anderson of a code of conduct breach after the Indian cricket board expressed its disappointment with the decision.

"The International Cricket Council (ICC) today confirmed that it has received and is considering the written decision of His Honour Gordon Lewis AM, the Judicial Commissioner, in respect of his findings..." the governing body said in a statement. ICC chief executive Dave Richardson has until Sunday to decide whether to lodge an appeal against the decision.

Anderson and India's Ravindra Jadeja were involved in a verbal altercation during the first test at Trent Bridge last month and media reports said the heated dispute con-

tinued after they left the field. Both players were found not guilty after a six-hour video-conference hearing on Friday and, under the rules, only Richardson can appeal against the commissioner's verdict.

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Sanjay Patel denied the game's most powerful board had requested Richardson to appeal the verdict. "What we have done is we've written a letter to the ICC saying we are not happy with the verdict," Patel told Reuters. "We don't have a right to appeal in this case," he added.

The spat could have resulted in a fourtest ban for Anderson, England's secondhighest ever wicket taker, if a guilty verdict had been returned. The fourth test of the five-match series starts at Old Trafford, Manchester on Thursday with the teams level at 1-1.

UEFA punishes 3 European clubs for fan racism

NYON, AUgUSt 5 (AP): UEFA has punished three Champions League clubs, including former winner Steaua Bucharest, for racist behavior by fans at matches last month.

Steaua, the 1986 European Cup champion, Debrecen and Maribor must close stadium sections at the next Champions League or Europa League match they host, UEFA said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Romanian champion's sanction takes effect Wednesday. Two sections of the National Arena will shut against Kazakhstan champion Aktobe in a third qualifying round, secondleg match. UEFA operates an escalating scale of sanctions with further racism incidents provoking full

stadium closures, leading to possible disqualification from competitions.

"All forms of racist behavior are considered serious offences against the disciplinary regulations and are punished with the most severe sanctions," UEFA said. UEFA's disciplinary panel acted on reports of racist incidents when Steaua beat Norway's Stromsgodset 2-0 in a second qualifying round match on July 23.

Debrecen of Hungary must shut sector B of its ground after fans showed an "illicit banner" during a 2-0 win against Northern Ireland's Cliftonville on July 22. Slovenia's Maribor must close sector 'Jug' of its stadium after racist behavior when beating Zrinjski

24th August Gold Cup Trophy Tobu

MON, AUgUSt 5 (dIPR): The 24th August Gold Cup Trophy Tobu was inaugurated on August 5, 2014 at Tobu

by BDO Tobu, W. Noba Konyak. Addressing the inaugural programme as the chief guest he stated that games and sports is an essential component of education and one needs to contribute in any field of games and sports for both mental and physical wealth being. The chief guest also urged the participants to maintain peace and discipline and play in the true sportsmanship. Earlier the programme was chaired by Esang A Konyak while invocation prayer by K. Chingkak Pastor TTBC and welcome address was proposed by Y.C. Langsao Konyak Chairman Seyong Club Tobu. Special number was presented by E. Nyakhu Konyak and Band display by New Life Banb Tobu village.

of Bosnia-Herzegovina 2-0 on July 22. Debrecen and Maribor play away in second-leg matches Tuesday.

In a fourth case from the Europa league, UEFA ordered Chikhura Sachkhere of Georgia to close the section of its stadium used by 'ultras' fans on Thursday when Neftchi Baku of Azerbaijan visits. It followed incidents during a goalless draw with Bursaspor of Turkey on July 24.

UEFA is in the second season of a stricter regime of sanctions for racism incidents involving players, officials and fans.

Evidence is typically provided by monitors from the Fare network of fan groups, formerly known as Football Against Racism in Europe.

German court ends Bernie ecclestone BriBery trial MUNICH, AUgUSt 5 (AP): A German court on Tuesday dropped the bribery case against Bernie Ecclestone after the Formula One chief agreed to make a $100 million payment, ending a trial that lasted more than three months.

The Munich state court announced its decision to drop proceedings against the 83-year-old Ecclestone hours after prosecutors said they had agreed to the move. Ecclestone is now free to concentrate on running the global racing series. Ecclestone went on trial in late April on charges of bribery and incitement to breach of trust, which can carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

After hearing the evidence so far, "the court did not consider a conviction overwhelmingly likely from the present point of view," court spokeswoman Andrea Titz said. With Tuesday's decision, "there was no conclusion on guilt or innocence of the defendant," she said. "He is leaving this courtroom a free man." "Bye-bye," Ecclestone said to reporters as he left the court, adding that he was off "to take care of Formula One." The charges involved a $44 million payment to German banker Gerhard Gribkowsky, who is serving an 8 1/2-year sentence for taking the money.

Gribkowsky was convicted of corruption, tax evasion

Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone, center, arrives besides his wife Fabiana Flosi for his trial in the regional court in Munich, southern Germany on August 5. (AP Photo)

and breach of trust in a trial led by the same judge who heard Ecclestone's case, Peter Noll.

Ecclestone denied wrongdoing and contends that Gribkowsky, who was in charge of selling German bank BayernLB's 47 percent stake in F1 in 2005, blackmailed him. The court said it seriously doubted that bribery could be proven.

Prosecutors alleged that the payment was meant to facilitate the sale of Munich-based bank Bayern LB's stake in Formula One to a buyer of

Ecclestone's liking. Still, the court noted in Tuesday's decision that witness testimony suggested that the sale of the stake to CVC Capital Partners was "an unexpectedly profitable deal" for the bank.

Defense lawyer Sven Thomas welcomed the court's decision and said it showed that there would have been a "clear option of acquittal" had the trial continued, news agency dpa reported. "I have the feeling he is relieved," Thomas said of Ecclestone.

German law allows for

prosecutors to agree to drop a case in exchange for conditions such as a fine or community work, so long as "the gravity of guilt" does not stand in the way. Such deals, which have to be approved by the court hearing the case, are common in Germany though they rarely involve anything close to the amount of money Ecclestone will pay. The $100 million is believed to be a record for such a payment.

Noll, the judge, stressed that the size of the payment took into account the assets of the defendant, and

said Ecclestone had given assurances that the $100 million represented "an appreciable portion" of his wealth without overburdening him. According to Forbes magazine, Ecclestone and his family are worth $4.2 billion.

Most of the payment, $99 million, will go to the German state. The remaining $1 million will go to a German organization that helps terminally ill children. Ecclestone has a week to pay up.

The court noted that Ecclestone faced the charges "despite his advanced age, despite his poor health" and despite the fact that the lengthy, high-profile proceedings in a foreign language were "a significant strain for him," Titz said.

Ecclestone's defense team called last week for the proceedings to be dropped, citing a lack of evidence that the Englishman was criminally responsible and asserting that the proceedings were a strain for their client. He has been running F1 while attending twiceweekly court sessions in Munich. Ecclestone's lawyers agreed on the $100 million payment in talks with prosecutors over recent days. Prosecutor Christian Weiss said Tuesday that ending the trial would be justified in view of the long proceedings, Ecclestone's age and other extenuating circumstances.

Hewitt loses to Benneteau in Rogers Cup Xavi retires from

Former European boxing champion shot twice LONdON, AUgUSt 5 (BBC): Ex-European light-middleweight boxing champion Jamie Moore has been shot twice, the fighter he is training said.irmingham middleweight Matthew Macklin tweeted that his trainer, Moore, of Salford, was attacked in Marbella, Spain and was "still in hospital". Moore, 35, has also tweeted: "Overwhelmed.

Gutted and confused about what happened, but thank God I'm OK." The Foreign Office confirmed a British national had been shot in Marbella and was "providing consular assistance".

Moore thanked people for their support following the shooting. He said: "It's at times like this that you realise how well your thought of. "I've had unbelievable support.

Means a lot it really does." Moore won the European title in 2009 but his career was hampered by a persistent shoulder injury. He was on the verge of a world title challenge before retiring in 2010 on doctors' advice. He moved into television punditry before trying his hand at training fighters, coaching Hull lightweight Tommy Coyle as well as world title challenger Macklin, who appointed him as his trainer at his gym in Marbella. Moore and Macklin are former opponents, with their most memorable battle in 2006 that Moore won by a knockout.

The Morung Express

Lleyton Hewitt, of Australia, reaches for the ball during a game against Milos Raonic, of Canada, at the Citi Open tennis tournament, Thursday, July 31, in Washington. (AP Photo)

tORONtO, AUgUSt 5 (AP): Lleyton Hewitt and Julien Benneteau had to deal with two rain delays during their Rogers Cup match on Monday before the Frenchman finally advanced to the second round. Benneteau, 32, advanced with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over the former topranked Hewitt. He had to adjust on the fly after the second rain delay, which lasted two hours.

"I tried to keep the same momentum and the same rhythm of the match," Benneteau said. "I just tried to stay focused to be able to

play the same way."

Benneteau was leading 4-1 in the first set when the first brief rain delay occurred. He was up 4-2 in the second when storms moving through the Toronto area halted action across the tournament.

"The rain delay, it's never easy but it's for both players," he said. "I had two break points before, 15-40 and then a deuce. So it's never easy." Benneteau also said it's never easy facing Hewitt, even though the Aussie is 42nd now and 11 years removed from being atop the world rankings.

"He's a great fighter and to beat him you have to play solid," Benneteau said. "You have to do a good match. It's the kind of player that if your level is not good enough, you don't win." The 10th-seeded John Isner was eliminated in his first match for the second straight tournament, losing to Croatia's Ivan Dodig 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-3.

American served 13 aces to Dodig in the Croatian's first singles match in more than two months because of a broken rib. Isner managed to win a secondset tiebreak to stay alive,

but Dodig earned a big break in the third set to grab control again. Isner lost 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (6) to countryman Steve Johnson at the Citi Open in Washington on Wednesday The match was originally scheduled for the afternoon in the stadium, but rain wreaked havoc on the day's schedule. "Obviously it was not easy," Dodig said. "It was long day for us, and of course changing the court it's also a little bit like making you to think about it." Isner was not made available to reporters.

In other night matches, 13th-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat fellow Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin 7-6 (3), 6-1, American qualifier Michael Russell eliminated France's Nicholas Mahut 6-3, 6-3 and Feliciano Lopez beat fellow Spainard Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6 (7), 3-6.

Earlier, No. 15 seed Marin Cilic also moved on with a 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 win against Denis Istomin. The Croatian said Istomin was dealing with a shoulder injury that led to some unpredictability. "He had some shots were coming off good, some not, and it was difficult to know what was going to come," Cilic said.

"It got a bit complicated."

international football

CAtALONIA, AUgUSt 5 (AgENCIES): Spain midfielder Xavi has announced his retirement from international football. The Barcelona player, 34, was part of the teams that won successive major tournaments at Euro 2008, the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and Euro 2012.

“I have decided to retire from international football,” Xavi told a press conference on Tuesday. “I’m grateful for all those years.

It has been a fantastic time.”

“From now on I’m another fan of the Spain team.

I’m grateful to everybody at the Federation (RFEF), it’s been a marvellous time for me to be there for so many

years and have so much success. I’m leaving very proud and I wish them all the best.”

Xavi made his international debut in 2000, the same year as he helped Spain win an Olympic silver medal in Australia. Further success came in 2008 when he was named player of the tournament as Spain won the European Championship in Austria and Switzerland - the country’s first international success since 1964.

Two years later Xavi was a key part of the Spain squad that won the World Cup for the first time in their history, and then in 2012 he helped his country retain their Euro crown in Poland and Ukraine.

The Tiger Woods watch is on for final major of the year

LOUISVILLE, AUgUSt 5 (AP): Joe LaCava walked nearly every blade of grass on the 18th green at Valhalla Golf Club, jotting notes in his yardage book after stepping off the distances from every edge of the green to every possible pin position.

It was just like any other Monday at a major.

The caddie just didn't know whether any of this information would be useful in the PGA Championship. LaCava was awaiting word on whether his boss - Tiger Woods - would be healthy enough to play the final major of the year.

"I'm optimistic," LaCava said after he finished charting the entire golf course. "I'm hoping he plays. So I'm just doing whatever work I would normally do." The caddie was at Valhalla. So was his car, a silver SUV parked in the spot assigned to the fourtime champion.

As for Woods?

Tiger Woods of the US prepares to play off the 15th tee with his caddie Joe Lacava during the Stay tuned. His agent, final round of the British Open Golf championship at the Royal Liverpool golf club, Hoylake, Mark Steinberg at Excel England, Sunday July 20. (AP Photo)

Sports Management, said in an email that Monday would be too early for doctors to decide whether Woods could or even should try to play this week after another back injury.

The PGA of America said that Woods would not have his previously scheduled news conference Tuesday morning. It did not provide additional details.

Woods took another turn toward an uncertain future when he withdrew after eight holes and one final shot Sunday at the Bridgestone Invitational. Before leaving Firestone, he said he jarred his back when he hopped into a deep bunker after playing a shot on the par-5 second hole from an awkward lie off the slope above the sand.

"It's just the whole lower back," Woods said. "I don't know what happened."

Making the picture look even bleaker was the timing. Woods had back surgery March 31 to alleviate the pain from a pinched

nerve. The Bridgestone Invitational was only his third tournament since returning from a three-month absence. And there he went again, riding off the golf course in a cart, struggling to even remove his shoes before LaCava drove him to the airport for a flight back to Florida for evaluation.

"Obviously, I feel bad for him," Rory McIlroy told the BBC on Monday. "The game of golf really needs Tiger. He's had a few withdrawals the past couple of years. I think the first thing is just to get fit and 100 percent healthy, even if that means taking the year off and coming back next year ready to play golf."

If he doesn't play the PGA Championship, his season indeed would be over. Woods has to win the final major of the year to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs. He would have to win to make the Ryder Cup team. And by the sound of U.S. captain Tom Watson, he would have to play at

Valhalla to even merit consideration as a wild-card selection. "Tiger would be a great addition to tour team," Watson told SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio on Monday.

"I've said all along, I would pick Tiger Woods if he's healthy and playing well.

This doesn't bode well right now. I just hope that maybe it's just an isolated problem that he can turn around and possibly play this week at the PGA." Wa t s o n s a i d h e watched the entire front nine and knew something was wrong with Woods after his tee shot on the par-3 fifth hole came up 65 yards short. "You don't hit that terrible a shot ever - ever," Watson said. "And I said, 'Something is wrong.'"

Lavaca noticed it much earlier, when Woods hit a shot so heavy that it came up 30 yards short of the flag and into the water on the third hole. "I knew he was hurting when he fatted the one on 3, which he never does," LaCava said. "He

never fats them like that."

Woods kept playing, though, until grimacing on a tee shot at the ninth, slowly bending to remove his tee and calling for a cart to take him in. Why not stop sooner? "He's tough," LaCava said. "Tough and stubborn would be two good words."

Woods has not been back to Valhalla in 14 years, not since that high-charged playoff victory over Bob May that gave Woods his third straight major on his way to an unprecedented sweep of the majors at the height of his game. Woods was recovering from season-ending knee surgery in 2008 and did not play in the Ryder Cup. The course has changed since, with Jack Nicklaus making various tweaks, especially around the green.

The par is now 71 with the second hole changed to a par 4. Otherwise, it looked to be in immaculate conditions on the first day of practice.

C M Y K

Sony plan Female Spider-Man

T

Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach will produce, though it is unclear as yet which characters from the superhero stories will feature in the movie.

A source said ''What other movies we could do was something everyone started talking about when shooting the last movie. ''With [female-driven] 'Salt', 'Wanted' and 'Lucy',

there is a huge appetite for this right now.'' Though it is too early for any casting to be taken place, 'Guardians of the Galaxy' actress Karen Gillan recently admitted she would love to play Spider-Girl in a film.

The former 'Doctor Who' actress expressed an interest in portraying a ''lady version'' of SpiderMan and after learning

about both May 'Mayday' Parker aka Spider-Girl, and Julia Carpenter, the alter ego of Spider-Woman she made a quick decision over the role she'd prefer.

Asked which superhero she'd like to play, she said ''Yeah, who is there... I want to play a version of SpiderMan that's a lady. SpiderWoman - does she exist I want to play Spider-Girl!''

to Feature on Lost Dylan Lyrics Album

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A

the recording session for producer T Bone Burnett's Lost On The River The New Basement Tapes, but ended up filling in for Elvis Costello on the guitar for the song Kansas City.

Lost On The River The

New Basement Tapes, which also features Marcus Mumford of Mumford & Sons and Jim James of My Morning Jacket, is set for release this autumn (14) to coincide with a new documentary called

Sia marries documentary maker Erik Anders Lang

Dimapur

11

Mhonyamo Kikon, 9, 6:00 pm at JBC. ACE on November st gu Au ing rm rfo med VIV ll be pe from Nagaland wi oter of the band for y of bigger VIVACE girls band School of Music and Art, also prom of music, giving them opportunit gh music ld , Managing Director ncept of uplifting female in the fie It aims to build up their career throu co 25, 2013 with the g them self reliant and independent. ted female musicians. en platform thus makin oting the upcoming and present tal and eventually prom

Ricky maRtin

Johnny Depp

ctor Johnny Depp is set to show off his musical talents on a new record based on unfinished Bob Dylan songs.

The Alice in Wonderland star visited the Los Angeles' Capitol Studios to watch

6 August 2014

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Sony Pictures are reportedly planning to release a femaledriven spin-off from the 'Spider-Man' franchise. he studio have pushed back the next installment in the franchise - which stars Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker and his titular alter ego - to 2018 and before that movie comes out, they want to release a womendriven film, Deadline reports. According to the website, Lisa Joy has been hired to write the script and

Wednesday

Entertainment

The Morung Express

Lost Songs The Basement Tapes Continued, directed

by Sam Jones.

The lyrics come from Dylan's 1967 Basement Tapes sessions. This isn't the first musical venture for the Depp - the actor is currently working with The Beatles legend Paul MCCartney on a secret project with Alice Cooper and Joe Perry, while he has also become a familiar sight at Aerosmith and Willie Nelson concerts after joining them onstage on various occasions.

Sued Over World Cup Song Vida

L

atin pop star Ricky Martin is facing a $10 million (£5.88 million) plagiarism lawsuit over his 2014 soccer World Cup song Vida. Aspiring artist Luis Adrian Cortes Ramos, a former finalist on Tv talent show Idol Puerto Rico, claims he submitted his version of the track as part of SuperSong, a contest Martin and Sony Music executives launched late last year (13) to find a new tune for the FIFA World Cup championships in Brazil.

According to court documents, filed in Puerto Rico last week (ends01Aug14), the competition organisers promised the winning composer would be recognized and he would be given credit for his work - but Ramos insists that never happened. He alleges his single failed to make the official cut for the final five in the SuperSong contest in January (14), but was then released by Martin just months later, without his knowledge or permission.

Lawyers for the plaintiff write, Ramos was surprised, disillusioned and suffered mental anguish because the song was almost identical to the one he composed. Until that moment, Martin was an idol for Ramos.

A representative for Martin has declined to comment directly on the lawsuit, revealing Sony bosses are currently looking into the dispute. Vida is credited as being written

by Martin, Salaam Remi and Elijah King and produced by Remi. It appeared on the One Love, One Rhythm The 2014 FIFA World Cup Official Album in May (14).

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Sylvester Stallone Opens Up On Arnold Rivalry

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ylvester Stallone wanted to "strangle" Arnold Schwarzenegger during their 1980s heyday as they battled it out for the unofficial title of Hollywood's toughest man. The musclebound Rocky actor and ripped Terminator star, who have since buried the hatchet and appear together new action sequel The Expendables 3, were deadly enemies at the height of their careers, and Stallone has now opened up about their intense rivalry.

He says, "There were

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hey made their engagement public in June. And, just eight weeks later, Sia Furler has tied the knot with her documentary film maker beau, Erik Anders Lang, Radar reports. The 38-year-old singer wed in a ceremony held at her Palm Springs, California home on Saturday.

MailOnline has reached out to representatives for the singer/songwriter who have so far been unavailable for comment. Radar also reports that celebrity fashion photographer Terry Richardson shot the Aus-

sie darling's big day. 'Omg omg I'm so excited,' the star wrote on her official Twitter page on the big day.

Normally adverse to having her picture taken (she even used Lena Dunham as her stand in during a performance on Late Night With Seth Meyers), Sia was spotted kissing Erik on the red carpet at an event in June.

Wearing a thin gold band on her ring finger, she reportedly told a photographer she was engaged, according to Adelaide Now. The rumour was confirmed by her mother,

artist Loene Furler, on June 6. Sia has previously stated she's bisexual and has previously dated Jocelyn 'JD' Sampson, a DJ and member of the band Le Tigre, though the couple broke up in 2011.

The musician has worked lent her vocals to a number of hits, including David Guetta's Titanium and Florida's Wild Ones.

She is currently enjoying massive success with her single Chandelier, which reached the number nine spot on the US Billboard Hot 100, which was her first Top Ten hit as a lead artist.

times when we could not even be in the same room. I was always like 'Oh it's him'.

"Arnold was like someone you wanted to strangle every day, like in the morning and at night. We were so competitive. He was Mr. Olympia. We came along at the same time, of course I was first but he was bigger."

Stallone and Schwarzenegger star in the third instalment of The Expendables alongside Mel Gibson, Wesley Snipes, Jason Statham, Harrison Ford and Antonio Banderas.

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ManU lifts Int'l Champions Cup

Manchester United players Darren Fletcher and Wayne Rooney holds the championship trophy after after the finals of the Guinness International Championship Cup soccer match in Miami, Gardens, Fla., Monday, July 4. (AP Photo)

MIAMI, August 5 (AFP): Manchester United ended their US pre-season tour on a high note on Monday, rallying for a 3-1 triumph over English Premier League rivals Liverpool.

In the final of the International Champions Cup friendly tournament, Louis van Gaal's men overturned an early Steven Gerrard penalty -- the third spotkick United have conceded on tour -- to claim victory through second-half goals from Wayne Rooney, Juan Mata and Jesse Lingard.

Brendan Rodgers' Liverpool, at the end of their own pre-season tour of the United States, provided easily the biggest test of United's pre-season so far as the old foes clashed before 51,104 fans at Sun Life Stadium, home of the NFL's Miami Dolphins.

United were perhaps less sharp than in their

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previous matches on the tour, but improved in the second half and head home with five victories from five matches under new manager van Gaal.

Van Gaal, tapped more than two months ago to replace the sacked David Moyes at Manchester United, took the reins only after guiding the Netherlands to a third-place finish at the World Cup. Although the gruff Dutchman was pleased with Monday's victory, he was already focused firmly on August 16 and Swansea's visit to Old Trafford in their Premier League opener. "It's nice for the fans in the USA and also at home that we beat Liverpool," he said. "I think we gave a lot of pleasure to the fans and that's very important. "Of course, it's better to win than to lose in pre-season, but the most

important game is against Swansea City. That's the one we have to win."

Rooney captained Manchester United for the first time on the tour. And after Gerrard beat David De Gea from the penalty spot in the 14th minute-after Raheem Sterling drew a challenge from Phil Jones, it was Rooney who grabbed the equalizer in the 55th.

Javier Hernandez flew down the right and sent in a cross that Rooney fired past Simon Mignolet. Two minutes later, Luke Shaw's pass found Mata, who beat Mignolet with a low shot to put United up 2-1. Rooney was also involved in a brief controversy that flared in the 65th minute.

A long range shot from United's Ashley Young bounced back into play off the goal frame and Rooney poked the ball home, only for officials to belatedly disallow the goal when they realized the ball had been out of play on the net behind the goal. Lingard completed the scoring in the 88th, blasting Young's pass past Mignolet. "It's obviously great to win the game and win the tournament," Rooney said. "We've worked hard in the pre-season. Today in the first half Liverpool were the better team. We were poor, we didn't move the ball quick enough. We knew we had to put that right. The second half we came out and played very well and deserved the win."

While Liverpool were unable to put a final gloss to their campaign in the International Champions Cup, which featured eight top European clubs preparing for their domestic campaigns, Rodgers was pleased overall with his side's North American tour. "I thought it was an excellent run-out for us," he said. "Obviously we're disappointed to lose the game, but it's been a great trip for us. "We did have a spell where we gave away two quick goals, but up until that point I thought we were very good. "Overall, it's been an excellent tour for us in our quest to get fit."

Costa Rica's international goal keeper Keylor Navas, centre right, his wife, Andrea Salas, centre, Real Madrid President Florentino Perez, left, and daughter Daniela, pose during his official presentation at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain on Aug. 5, after signing for Spanish soccer giants Real Madrid. (AP Photo)

'Sachin didn't face a ball in nets in 2003 WCup'

New DelhI, August 5 (PtI): Sachin Tendulkar produced a fairytale run in the 2003 World Cup, which, in his own words, included the biggest match of his career, without facing a single ball in the nets, according to former team-mate Rahul Dravid, who says the iconic cricketer "defied imagination".

No cricketer ever has scored more runs than the 673 recorded then by the Indian legend in a single edition of a World Cup. The highlight was the 98-run knock that saw him take on the likes of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar with aplomb.

"It (his preparation) changes from time to time. In the 2003 World Cup, Sachin Tendulkar didn't bat a single ball in the nets, right through the tournament. He only got throw-downs. He just received hundreds of throw-downs through the whole tournament," Dravid said. "All of us were wondering 'Why is he doing that?'

When I asked him, he said, 'I'm feeling good. I don't want to go

into the nets and waste the touch.

I want to feel good about my batting. If I have that sort of feeling, I will score runs when I go in.' And

landscape of Indian cricket. "He's changed the landscape, both on and off the field, for Indian cricket over the last two decades. It's almost mindboggling. A whole generation has grown up with Tendulkar.

They've seen his ups and downs and lived their lives and dreams through his feats. So many people in India want to be a cricketer," Dravid said while speaking on ESPNcricinfo's 'Modern Masters'. "For the last twenty four years, there's been a whole generation of people who've had this privilege and opportunity of claiming to say 'We were there when Tendulkar was the best batsman in the world.'"

The former India captain said Tendulkar defied imagination. "A legend. The greatest player that I've played with as a batsman. He's been a huge inspiration. To see a 16-year old boy do what he did was unbelievable. It defied imaginathat's what happened!" tion and was a huge inspiration for Calling the Mumbaikar the me. I felt like if he could do it then greatest player he has played with, I should also try to be a Test crickDravid said Tendulkar changed the eter," Dravid said.

38th Nagaland Inter-District & State Open Badminton Championship Morung Express News Mokokchung | August 5

The 38th Nagaland InterDistrict and State Open Badminton Championship got underway today here at Imkongmeren Sports Complex with the chief minister of Nagaland, TR Zeliang gracing the occasion as the chief guest. The championship is scheduled to be held from August 5 to August 8, hosted by the Mokokchung District Badminton Association. All of the eleven districts of the state along with a Nagaland Police team are participating in the championship.

Hosts Mokokchung and Zunheboto are the two districts with the highest number of players with 40 each while Kiphire has the least number of players with 7. A total of 261 players will be playing in the championship. Dimapur district is represented by 23 players, Kohima by 24 players, Longleng by 11 players, Mon by 17 players, Peren by 23 players, Phek by 17 players, Tuensang by 26 players and Wokha by 22 players while the Nagaland Police team is comprised of 11 members.

The Chief Minister of Nagaland while addressing the inaugural function said that badminton is one of the “10 prioritized sport disciplines” in the state as per the Nagaland Sports Policy.

Saying that Nagas were endowed with the “right physique and agility which is suited for this discipline,” he claimed Nagaland has produced a number of players who have done well in the North East region as well

(L-R) R.Tohanba, Parliamentary Secretary for Civil Administrative Works; Vikheho Swu NBA president and Parliamentary Secretary for Irrigation and Flood Control; NBA Chief Referee, C Tinu Pongen, Nagaland Chief Minister, TR Zeliang and Shetoyi Sumi, Parliamentary Secretary, Soil & Water Conservation and Fisheries before the exhibition match.

as at the national level. He, however, lamented that the number of quality players coming out of Nagaland was not encouraging despite the facilities and coaching opportunities available to the people.

“We have the potential to do much better. What we lack is the discipline and the perseverance which is so much required in order to excel,” he added. He also said that badminton is not new to Nagaland and that indoor badminton stadiums have come up in almost all the districts, some even at the sub-division levels, through the patronage of the state government.

He was also all praises for the Mokochung District Badminton Association for hosting the tournament.

“I know that organizing a tournament of this scale at the district level is not

easy. But people of Mokokchung have proven time and again of their organizing skills and this time is no exception,” he said. He also acknowledged the effort made by the Nagaland Badminton Association, formally formed and affiliated to the Badminton Association of India in 1976, who have been regularly conducting inter-district and open championships since then.

The president of Nagaland Badminton Association and Parliamentary Secretary for Irrigation and Flood Control, Vikheho Swu said that the main objective of conducting these annual inter-district tournaments is to promote the sport of badminton in the state, discover hidden talents among the players from various participating districts, to open new win-

dow of opportunity, and to bring about changes in the quality and level of professionalism in the sport.

He also added that the NBA is trying its best to gather resources to assist promising players of the state to undergo training in academies outside the state. He further added that promoting badminton in the state is primarily the responsibility of the NBA and in consonance and with the support of the Department of Youth Resources and Sports.

Saying that the state government has provided indoor stadiums to almost all the districts, he further informed that the NBA has put forth a proposal conveying its interest to enter into a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) mode with the Department of YRS. He also mentioned that the NBA has proposal for con-

struction of a National Level Badminton stadium at 7th Mile Sovima, Dimapur.

The inaugural function also involved the Nagaland Badminton Association felicitating some of the state’s most successful shuttlers. The chief guest awarded C Tajenkaba with a certificate and cash prize of rupees fifty thousand for winning silver medal at the 38th Indian Masters National Badminton Championship held earlier this year at Bhopal. He is the first ever Naga shuttler to win a medal at the Indian Masters. NBA also felicitated 2013 Nagaland Junior Boys Singles champion and runner-up, Taliakum and Moamongba, and 2013 Nagaland Under 17 Girls champion and runner-up, Yashikala and Mepulila.

They were presented gift hampers worth rupees fifteen thousand each sponsored by the event sponsors, Yonex-Sunrise.

The inaugural function was followed by a doubles exhibition match where the chief minister teamed up with Shetoyi Sumi, Parliamentary Secretary, Soil & Water Conservation and Fisheries against NBA president and Parliamentary Secretary for Irrigation and Flood Control, Vikheho Swu alongside R.Tohanba, Parliamentary Secretary for Civil Administrative Works. TR Zeliang and Shetoyi Sumi won the match 21-19, 22-20.

This is the eighth time that Mokokchung is hosting the state’s top badminton championship. The last time that Mokokchung hosted the event was in 2008.

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