August 9th, 2016

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TuesDAY • AuGusT 09 • 2016

DIMAPUR • Vol. XI • Issue 218 • 12 PAGes • 5

T H e

ESTD. 2005

P o W e R

A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit GST will end tax terrorism, corruption and help states: Modi

Patton calls for unity to settle Naga political issue

PAGe 08

Mixture of paint thinner, turpentine and spirit? You mean, there’s no alcohol in Giorgio Avola of Italy celebrates winning his foil match on Monday in the ongoing Rio this liquor? Olympics. (REUTERS)

Policeman held for attempted murder moN, August 8 (mExN): A policeman from Mon has been held for allegedly trying to murder his two children, a 6 year old boy and a 3 year old girl. A press note from the Mon police informed that the accused “tried to murder his two children” during the wee hours of August 7. “The father initially tried to strangulate his children but he was not successful. Later, the boy was grievously injured on the neck with a machete (dao) but the girl was unharmed,” the Mon Police in its statement said. It was added that the timely intervention of the neighbours prevented the accused from causing further harm and has been taken into police custody. The boy is at present receiving medical care and his condition is stable. A regular case has been registered at Mon PS and investigation has been initiated to ascertain the circumstances leading to the incident.

Youth drowns at Chathe Morung Express News Dimapur | August 8

A 28 year-old man drowned at the Chathe River, Dimapur on August 8. The deceased youth, indentified as Avungthung Odyuo, who was a resident of setheikeima C, reportedly drowned at around 2:00-3:00 am at a spot near Naga United village. According to the police, the body was recovered down river at Samaguri in the evening today.

Dipa creates history by entering Olympic final PAGe 12

Unique database of parasitic worms to help combat disease in north east

By Sandemo Ngullie

DImAPuR, August 8 (mExN): A Naga man, Khoyeih Konyak, who went missing from Brahmaputra Mail Express bound from Dibrugarh to Delhi since August 2 was found at Sonari, Assam on August 7. A press note from the Mon Police informed that he was taken into custody by Mon Police and is currently receiving medical treatment at District Hospital Mon. The other missing person Konwang Konyak who was earlier found at Alipurduar Railway Station, West Bengal also reached Mon safely on August 7. Mon Police has expressed appreciation to Dimapur Police, Assam Police, West Bengal Police, Alipurduar Railway Police, Nagas based in Alipurduar, all NGO’s, media and individuals who had extended their efforts and assistance in locating the missing persons.

T R u T H

— Arnold H. Glasow

PAGe 02

reflections

Missing person found

o F

Revoke termination order: SETAN

DImAPuR, August 8 (mExN): The Special Education Teachers Association Nagaland (SETAN) today submitted a representation to the Mission Director, Nagaland Education Mission Society, RMSA urging for recall/revocation of the order dated June 24, 2016 terminating the services of the Special Education Teachers (SET) with retrospective effect. The SETAN representation said that “there are no trained teachers available in Nagaland, and because of it, we have been appointed with the knowledge of the MHRD on the condition that we would undergo training subsequent to our appointment.” It stated that upon their appointment, the teachers have attended the training on Inclusive Education for Teachers under IEDSS conducted by the Department and have now “gained good measure of experience in teaching the Special Students.”

“Further, as per the requirement of our services, we are in the process of undergoing the requisite training. Under such circumstances, it is not only illegal but also malafide on the part of the State to decide to do away with our services with a view to bring in new untrained teachers,” the SETAN said. “Such action is also against the interest of the Special Students, whose right to education is being arbitrarily deprived by the State action of terminating the SETs en masse,” it added. It further informed that the appointments were “made on the condition that it shall be co-terminus with the IEDSS programme, so long as the programme continues, our services cannot be validly terminated.” As such, the SETAN said that “in any view of the matter, the order terminating our services cannot be sustained,” and urged that the order be recalled and cancelled.

KolKAtA, August 8 (IANs): A unique database of parasitic worms could become the key to helping doctors identify and diagnose food-borne infections in northeast India, besides aiding in drug formulation, its designers say. Rather cumbersomely called the Northeast India Helminth Parasite Information Database, or NEIHPID, it has exhaustive information on worm parasites of the northeast that are also widely found in South and Southeast Asia, regions with similar dietary habits. Developed at the Bioinformatics Centre of the North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU) in Shillong, the Meghalaya capital, the project is headed by veteran parasitologist Veena Tandon, who was earlier with NEHU and is currently associated with Biotech Park, Lucknow. The database uses bioinformatics -- application of computer technology to the management of biological information -- tools to list neglected helminthic infections. It also provides genetic sequence data in addition to geographically specific information on the parasites from each of the eight north-

east Indian states. “It is a complete documentation of worm parasites from fish to frogs to reptiles to birds to mammals, including humans. Some of the worm parasites which are found in these animals can establish themselves in human beings after being transmitted from animals to human hosts,” Tandon told IANS. Given the meat-rich diet in the region, Tandon said it also sheds light on food-borne worm infections that have the potential to become zoonotic. Zoonoses are diseases that can be spread between animals and humans. The documentation effort has been published in the June edition of Plos One journal. Devendra Kumar Biswal, Manish Debnath, Graciously Kharumnuid and Welfrank Thongnibah helped develop the database. Apart from serving as a record, the database paves the way for practical applications of molecular diagnostics in the region by pinpointing the exact infection and preventing misdiagnosis, said Biswal, who contributed to the bioinformatics part of the database.

As an example, the researchers cite lung flukes of the genus Paragonimus which cause paragonimiasis, or lung fluke disease, with symptoms that mimic tuberculosis. There are around 50 different species of Paragonimus across the globe, predominantly in east and Southeast Asia, including in China, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Korea and Japan. Humans may be infected when they eat raw, salted, pickled, smoked, marinated, dried, partially cooked or poorly processed crustaceans like crabs and prawns. It is estimated that more than 20 million people are infected worldwide due to several species of Paragonimus, said Biswal. The database comes in handy with its listing of the specific molecular markers (a DNA fragment) for the causative organism to bridge or explain the faunal overlap in Southeast Asia -these countries might have groups of one particular organism in similar or various different forms. “Molecular marker data serve as diagnostic features for identifying organisms that mimic symptoms with some

other causative agents or geographical isolate discrimination of faunal overalapping forms. Molecular markers can be further harnessed in designing barcodes for biological specimens,” explained Biswal. Currently, information on 121 types of helminths (including platyhelminth, nematode and acanthocephalan parasites) that are known to occur in vertebrate hosts with food value (fish, amphibians, poultry, ruminants and pigs) in northeastern India has been formatted and fed into the platform. Adding further insights to the narrative of the portal from the Indian perspective, Tandon said it also opens up avenues for practical applications of molecular diagnostics. “Molecular-based diagnostics of worm infections in India is mainly of academic interest so far. We wanted to provide that data so that it becomes practicable to design drugs based on drug target molecules and frame effective disease control strategies,” added Tandon, NASI Senior Scientist Platinum Jubilee Fellow and Editor-inChief, Journal of Parasitic Diseases (Springer).

Fuel adulteration investigation Pharmacy owner and SSU serves 7 day ultimatum One key person absconding family assaulted to Nagaland School Edu Dept Morung Express News Dimapur | August 8

A key person in the fuel adulteration chain continues to evade capture. As per the police, finding the person will be crucial to the ongoing probe to clear up the fuel adulteration exposé. IGP (Range) Wabang Jamir, head of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) told The Morung Express on August 8 that they are on the lookout for a man, whose arrest will be a key link to the investigation. The unnamed man is suspected to have specialised in chemically transforming the density and appearance of kerosene for eventual blending with petrol or diesel. Updating the status of the investigation, the IGP informed that the SIT is waiting for forensic reports to arrive. Samples of the chemicals recovered from fuel adulteration units exposed by the ACAUT on

June 27 have been sent for forensic analysis. The SIT is in the midst of verifying the credentials of the trucks and are trying to establish the source of the huge quantity of kerosene found at the sites, added the IGP. In this regard, he said that it has collected information from the Food & Civil Supplies department. Among the chemicals sent for analysis included ‘zero solvent’, a liquid industrial chemical product, besides others in powder form. The quantity of the seized kerosene is estimated to be well over a lakh in litres with the police seizing 81,000 litres from one unit alone. Asked on the number of arrests made thus far, the IGP said that those who were arrested have obtained bailed, while adding that it has written to the court to cancel the bails. As per the last count, the Dimapur police had arrested 12 persons in relation to the case.

NMDA requests administration to provide security to its members, officials

DImAPuR, August 8 (mExN): The Nagaland Medicine Dealer’s Association (NMDA) has informed that one of its members, owner of M/s Nonee Pharmacy along with his wife and son was “severely beaten” by one person on the night of August 7 “just because the medicine he demanded was not available in the pharmacy.” A complaint regarding the same was lodged at Sub Urban Police Station the same night through NMDA, informed a press release from Ato Yepthomi, President, NMDA. The accused was arrested by the police on August 8 morning and forwarded to judicial custody. While appreciating the prompt action of the po-

lice in apprehending the accused, the NMDA has urged the competent court not to grant him bail without complete verification of the case. The Association also urged all the right thinking citizens of Dimapur to condemn such act. It was also pointed out that the pharmacy owner (the victim) has been “threatened” to withdraw the case and compromise out of the court or face dire consequences in future. Asserting that the NMDA cannot tolerate such lawlessness in a civilized society, the release warned of stern legal action against such attempt by any miscreant on its members. The Association also requested the administration to provide adequate security to its members and officials involved in the case. In case of any eventuality against its members, NMDA cautioned that it may even resort to closure of all medicine shops in and around Dimapur for want of justice.

it opening exciting possibilities for North East: Nagaland official

KohImA, August 8 (IANs): Nagaland is keen to become the information technology (IT) hub of northeast India, and the digital revolution is opening up exciting possibilities for the entire region, a top state official said on Monday. Nagaland Telecom secretary and Commissioner K.D. Vizo said that there is urgent need to set up IT infrastructure in the northeast region to help create opportunities for the people. “One can use technology to serve as a digital bridge, an enabler that will help to reduce many of other disparities in so-

ciety,” said Vizo, speaking at the training programme named “Champion Skill Enhancement Program” for the North Eastern States. The training session was conducted by National Institute for Smart Government (NISG). Stating that digital technology projects linked to financial inclusion, e-governance and citizen services can transform North Eastern Region, Vizo said: “Broadband connectivity can carry vital content like education, health services, market intelligence, agricultural information, which can play a bigger role in transforming communi-

ties.” India has an objective of achieving 175 million broadband connections by the year 2017 and 600 million broadband connections by the year 2020. Mentioning the delay in the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project, due to various constraints including landslides in the northeast, Vizo said there was need to pay more attention to aerial, wireless and satellite technologies which would provide better connectivity at a cheaper cost. Earlier in an interview Vizo had said that the Modi government is set to spend

Rs 7,000 crore (nearly $1 billion) on laying a fibre optic network in the northeastern states to improve internet connectivity. However, Vizo, who has served the North East region for most of his career suggested an alternative technology - a High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) - that can be operated from an unmanned airship or a balloon, with a better connectivity. This alternative comes at an estimated cost of Rs 1,750 crore, about 25 percent of the Rs 7,000 crore budget earmarked for the northeast out of the Rs.72,778 crore project.

DImAPuR, August 8 (mExN): The Sakshi Students’ Union (SSU) today served a final 7 day ultimatum to the Department of School Education, reiterating its demand for the posting of maths and science teacher at Government High School Sakshi, under the DEO Longleng. In the ultimatum addressed to the Commissioner and Secretary, School Education, the SSU reminded that they had approached the former personally on May 31, 2016 listing all difficulties faced by the school and the many memorandums submitted to the concerned authority and assurances given thereof.

The SSU recalled that the Commissioner and Secretary had given verbal assurance that maths and science teacher will be posted or reshuffled on the reopening day of the school after summer break which lapsed on June 30, 2016. It informed that in another meeting on July 18, the Commissioner and Secretary requested the union to wait till July 25 to address the issue. It however lamented that till date there has been no positive response or any action. Therefore, the SSU served its seven day ultimatum beginning August 9 to fulfil the assurances given. “Otherwise we will take our own course of action,” it cautioned.

constitute lokayukta

New political party Nagaland Congress urges State Government to address rampant corruption

DImAPuR, August 8 (mExN): The new political party Nagaland Congress today urged the Nagaland State Government to constitute a Lokayukta without any further delay. A press note from the Nagaland Congress General Secretary, Vaprumo Demo asked the state government to admit that Nagaland “is Problem State, weighed down with political indecisiveness, misgovernance, economic logjam, development breakdown etc on one side and rampant corruption, scam after scam and social uprising on the other side... It lamented that problems are “escalating day by day due to absence of government’s accountability and critical mass of people side by side.” “These are problems also found elsewhere but enormity of the problem in Nagaland has surpassed that of other states and not without reason Nagaland is listed most corrupted state in India,” it added. The Nagaland Congress lamented that “from top to bottom, from government to village level whether in public, private or administrative sectors the powers that be are deeply involved in the mesh of corruption and the scope of accountability almost down to zero.” It reasoned that despite the size of funds allotted by the Government of India, most of it is “gobbled down” by people in power, leaving “only leftover crumb for the common people.” “Yet the little that common people earned is again directly or indirectly collected by series of NPGs,” it added. The Nagaland Congress said that the

recent appeal of the Governor of Nagaland, P B Acharya to the State Government to immediately enact the Lokayukta Bill is apparently a reaction to the government’s dilly dally over the pending Bill already tabled in the 12th Nagaland Legislative Assembly Session a year ago on July 21, 2015. “Meantime multiple scams like fuel adulteration, pension, scholarship and others burst out and he was forced to make the appeal. But as Governor of the State he is constitutionally bound to give advice and not appeal to the State Government to fulfil a constitutional obligation as important as Lokayukta,” the Nagaland Congress pointed out. It further viewed the state government’s “unwillingness” to constitute the anti-corruption body as a sign that “erring elective public functionaries and bureaucrats will become the first casualty.” “Whatever it maybe unless Lokayukta is instituted corruption is bound to destroy the very basis of the welfare state,” it added. Considering the “frightening nature of corruption and irregularity in the state,” the Nagaland Congress urged the State Government to immediately constitute a Lokayukta without dragging further the matter “on some nonsensical pretext.” “There is no justifiable reason- political, legal or moral to rationalise continued corruption and irregularity or because some states also have not yet constituted Lokayukta there is no reason for the state to sleep over the imperative demand of aggrieved public as represented by few sensitized pressure groups and individuals,” it added. Calling for a joint effort to uproot corruption, the Nagaland Congress urged upon every likeminded pressure group and individual to pool in their potential strength and put coordinated pressure on the reluctant state government to constitute Lokayukta with immediate effect.