December 28th, 2015

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DIMAPUR • Vol. X • Issue 351 • 12 PAGes • 4

www.morungexpress.com

MonDAY • DeceMber 28 • 2015

T H e

ESTD. 2005

The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice ‘Nawaz-Modi meeting to have far-reaching impact on peace’ PAGE 08

reflections

By Sandemo Ngullie

Party, party, Party!! Has it occurred to you that you’re one year closer to death?

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Editor, The Morung Express

The Morung Express Poll QuEsTion Vote on www.morungexpress.com sMs your answer to 9862574165 Can Nagas overcome our current victimmentality and bring about positive change in 2016? Why?

Yes

no

others

This Christmas, should the Church be doing more to uplift the underprivileged and living in poverty? Why? Yes

61% 10%

no others

29%

Details on page 7

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T R u T H

— George Eliot

Nagaland Disaster Management gives effective responses

Boxing Day blues for Leicester, United, Arsenal

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‘ne should not miss ACCORD to invest in Nagaland out on it revolution’ Nagaland Govt officer has cheaper connectivity solution for North East New Delhi, December 27 (iANS): The Modi government is set to spend Rs 7,000 crore (nearly $1 billion) on laying a fibre optic network in the NE states to improve internet connectivity, but a senior government official from Nagaland has devised a solution that may not only cut costs by 75% but also be more effective.

The official, KD Vizo, Nagaland's commissioner and IT secretary, has suggested an alternative technology - a High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) - that can be operated from an unmanned airship or a balloon. This alternative comes at an estimated cost of Rs 1,750 crore, about 25% of the Rs 7,000 crore budget earmarked for the NE out of the Rs.72,778 crore project under the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN).

NOFN aims to provide 200,000 gram panchayats with internet connectivity, and intended to enable the government provide e-services and e-applications nationally. A special purpose vehicle Bharat Broadband Network Limited - has been created under the Companies Act for executing the project.

"Underground optical fibre, laid in the hilly terrain of the NE, with time has become defunct following landslides and soil erosion, a common phenomenon in the area because of the loose mountainous soil," Vizo told IANS. Vizo was recently in Delhi to participate in a conclave themed "Connectivity Challenges in Northeast - Way Forward'. He emphasised

that the region has already missed the first industrial revolution, but should not miss the second one, which is all about IT. The NE is entitled to a 90:10 share under the NOFN project, which is being funded by the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF). "The operating altitude of this system is normally between 17 km and 22 km from the ground because in most regions of the world this represents a layer of relatively mild wind and less turbulence. It can function as an unmanned airship or balloon and it requires only electrical power to keep it and its payload functional," Vizo explained.

Since HAPS operates at much lower altitudes than satellites, it is possible to cover a small region like the NE much more effectively than with a satellite. Lower altitude also means much lower link budget (hence lower power consumption) and smaller round trip delays compared to satellites. "It is a common phenomenon to see underground optical fibre hanging on trees along national and state highways in the region. In such a situation only a mixture of wireless, satellite and OFC Network can be effective," Vizo said.

Vizo said: "Unlike a satellite, which once launched, does not allow for full maintenance, in case of HAPS, it can undergo full maintenance. The cost of HAPS is only about a fourth of a normal geosynchronous Equatorial orbit (GEO) satellite." Vizo also urged the government to earmark a small budget under the USOF for installing of at least two such systems to cover the NE with wireless broadband.

"If the NE is to be developed in terms of IT, then greater focus should be on wireless and satellite technologies," Vizo said.

New Delhi, December 27 (mexN): The Afro Asian American Chamber of Commerce, Occupational Research and Development (ACCORD) is set to help create skill based training facilities in the North East, particularly Nagaland and Tripura.

ACCORD Patron, Prof Priya Ranjan Trivedi, Patron at a summit held recently announced that investments would be made in Tripura and Nagaland on skill based education as well as ‘drugless therapies.’

The vision document envisages a master plan for establishment of Regional Resource Centers for Skill Development in Nagaland and Tripura. It was also announced that the Ministries of Minority Affairs/Tribal Development/Skill Development will be approached for sanctioning training schedule for 25,000 young boys and girls in each state.

Speaking as Special Guest of Honour, Ambassador of Bolivia, Jorge Cardenas Robles said Bolivia has special interest in the overall development of the North-East in general and Tripura in particular. He cited the examples of the practice of cleanliness, greening, applied agriculture and skill development in his country which could be replicated for the NE. Meanwhile, the Ambassador of Mongolia Gonchig Ganbold traced the similarity between the people of the NE and Mongolia. He announced programmes to visit Tripura for collecting information regarding the ancient culture of the NE region for the benefit of the historians and archaeologists of Mongolia.

Presenting the keynote address, the President of the ‘World Parliament’ Dr. Glen T. Martin stressed the need for uniting all the countries for

ensuring peace on earth in the third millennium by proposing a world constitution with no boundaries among the 200 member countries of the United Nations.

CEO of ‘The Planet Earth,’ Dr. Gregory Berglund meanwhile said that there is an urgent need to reduce the process of global warming with attitudinal and behavioural change.

Earlier, the Director and Member Secretary of ACCORD, Utkarsh Sharma assured member countries under ACCORD of all possible cooperation for solving problems relating to lack of peace, insurgency, war, crime, unemployment, pollution and population explosion. “Special package will be provided for the States like Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim, and Mizoram,” he further revealed. This was informed in a press note from ACCORD Chief of Public Relations, Kaustubh Sourabh.

NSCN cadre arrested in Bengaluru

beNgAluru, December 27 (DhNS): In a joint operation, the National Investigative Agency (NIA) and the Bengaluru Police on Friday (December 25) arrested a cadre of the banned National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang), the prime suspect in the attack that took place on Assam Rifles personnel at Kohima’s Indira Gandhi Stadium on March 26.

Based on a tip-off, the sleuths raided a hotel on M G Road here and arrested Atoshe Chopey (27), a resi-

dent of Akuluto town, Zunheboto district, Nagaland.

He came to Bengaluru about six months ago as his sisters work here. He managed to get a job in a posh hotel on St Marks Road, said the police.

During preliminary interrogation, Chopey confessed to his involvement in the attack. He will be produced before the local magistrate here and the NIA will secure transit remand for producing him before the NIA Special Judge in Dimapur in the coming days, said

the police.

He was a part of fourmember team which carried out the attack with AK-47s and pistols on an unarmed group of Assam Rifles personnel at a bus stop in Kohima. The Centre had entrusted the investigation of the case to the NIA on May 18, 2015. Subsequently, the NIA had arrested two hard core NSCN (K) cadres Khekaho Rochill (self- styled finance secretary) and Kisheto Ayem (self styled major, Town Commander of Kohima)

and they have been charge sheeted by the NIA on November 23, 2015 in the case along with Ranjit Thapa, who was the driver of the car, used in the attack.

NIA investigators have been closely tracking the group of four absconding accused involved in the shootout and based on specific inputs, Atoshe was tracked to a location near MG Road in Bangalore where he had been hiding using a false identity and working at local lodge with the assistance of his relatives.

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MonDAY 28•12•2015

NAGALAND

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Nagaland Disaster Management gives Majakong Ward wins Christmas Cake Race Rusoma Church celebrates Golden Jubilee effective responses to various mishaps

Kohima, December 27 (UNi): The Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority (NSDMA), Home Department has effective responded to many incidents of disaster in the state under State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) with active participation from the district administrations.

According to official reports under the NDRF civil works were taken up to repair damages caused by natural calamities, according to the annual administrative report of the Home Department 2014-15. Some major works undertaken included; construction of damaged retaining wall caused by landslide at D Block colony, Kohima 2013, construction of retaining wall caused by landslides at Officers Colony, Wokha, 2014 and construction of Longleng-Aboi road via Yongnyah EAC HQ Road

up to Alanglep bridge under Longleng district. The NSDMA was institutionalized as per the Central Disaster Management Act 2005.

The State Government of Nagaland recognized the need to adopt a pro-active sustainable approach to disasters management.

Hence, the NSDMA came into being in the year 2011.

The initial institutional building of NSDMA was supported by Union MHA and UNDP under DRR project. The state Government notified the NSDMA Rules in the year 2008 and partial notification was made in the year 2011.

The report stated that disaster management involves a holistic approach to address any kind of disaster irrespective of its magnitude. Though the NSDMA was activated only in the recent past, the authority has accomplished many activities in different sector such as capac-

ity building programmes, conducting mock exercise, awareness campaign with other stake holders and training officials from different departments within and outside the state.

One of the major achievements of the NSDMA is rising of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) from amongst the A Company of the Indian Reserve Battalion, District Executive Force and Village Guards. These trainings are an initiative undertaken by the NSDMA to be prepared for response in any disaster in the state. The subject of disaster management embraces different scopes of developmental issues. The NSDMA plans to undertake many activities in terms of capacity building, research and vulnerable risk assessment and also to respond to any event of disaster in the days to come with the motto Be aware and Be prepared, the report added.

Winner of 2015 Christmas Cake Race Mokokchung, Majakong ward team celebrates their victory.

Morung Express News Mokokchung | December 27

Christmas celebration, as usual in Mokokchung is by no means, a small feat. After week of the ongoing 125th anniversary celebration of Mokokchung town, the town was much alighted with the annual cake race where the whole 18 ward par-

took under the patronage of their respective ward council.

The annual Mokokchung Christmas Cake Race is an inter-ward relay race competition held on the Christmas Eve day, the 24th of December. This year, the cake race was organiesd by the Mokokchung Municipal council under the aegis of the Mokokchung district

Art & culture council.

The cake race, which is an annual event, drew thousands of citizens from all walks of life. The race started from the Imkongmeren Sports Complex. At the end, Majakong Ward won the rally race while, Lijabalejen Ward and Tongdentsuyong Ward won the second and third price resistively

DimaPUr, December 27 (mexN): The Catholic community of St. Stephen’s Church, Rusoma celebrated its Golden Jubilee with Most Rev. Dr. James Thoppil, Bishop of Kohima as the main celebrant on December 26. Twelve Priests concelebrated for the Mass.

The Jubilee theme was “..and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. Mt. 10:22.

Rev. Fr. Peter Salew, SDB, Parish Priest, Christ King, Kohima blessed and unveiled the Jubilee Monolith. The Eucharist began with the lighting of 50 lambs by 50 Catholics representatives signifying fifty years of Christian lives. The Apostolic blessing and message from Pope Francis was read out prior to the Eucharistic celebration. Neituozo Dominic, Convenor of the Jubilee committee delivered the Jubilee Message.

A press release issued by

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Fr. Thomas Toretkiu, Bishop’s Secretary stated that a total of 34 faithful received the sacrament of Confirmation and 55 received the first Holy Communion.

Thekrunei Edward, Touring Catechist, Christ King Parish translated the Bishop’s homily. The Jubilee Choir of Catholic Youth Association, Rosuma sang during the Holy Mass, Songs, skits, Tati (Naga traditional musical instrument), Choreography, Dance, were the special items displayed during the felicitation programme.

Neituo Kevin, Ruokuotuolie Robert union president proposed vote of thanks. Neisiezolie Cyril and Ruokuotuolie Robert said the invocation and benedictory prayer respectively. Neituo Kevin, Zeneizolie Zacharia, Selie Kevin, Ruokuosietuo Martin anchored the different programmes. The Golden evening was also marked with the talent show and common meal.

Chakhesang Chokri Bible released ‘Christmas with Patients’ at IMDH

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PfUtsero, December 27 (mexN): The Chakhesang Chokri Bible (New Testament) was released by Rev. Dr. Z. K Rochill, Senior Auxiliary Secretary, Bible Society of India Dimapur on December 27 at Chakhesang Mission Centre Church.

The Reverend stated that in 1970s, the Chokrimi and Kuzhami attempted to translate the Bible.

However, for the sake of unity of the different dialect groups they could not translate it. Yet the believers felt that it is important to have Bible in one’s own dialect.

Hence, on June 27, 2014 the Chakhesang Public Organization and Chakhesang Baptist Church Council gave an endorsement that any dialectical group under Chakhesang can translate Bible into their own dialects. Since then the process began to translate the Bible into Chokri dialect. “It is a historic moment that we are releasing Chakhesang Chokri Bible (New Testament) today,” stated Rev Dr. Z. K Rochill.

The Chakhesang Kuzha Bible should also be brought out at the earliest. Rev. Dr. Rochill also thanks Rev. Zupelhi Mero, ex-Pastor of Pfutsero Town Baptist church, who is now 92 years has contributed Rs. 1 Lakh to the Bible Society of India. Rev. Dr. Rochill shared that the Bible is written with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (2 Tim. 3:16). The heavens and earth may pass away, but the word of God shall never pass away. He stated that the Word of God transformed the life of people. Therefore, it must richly dwells in the hearts of people.

God speaks to us through His word.

The service was chaired by Kuzhopoyo Tunyi, Pastor CMCC. Rev. Dr. Vezopa Tetseo, Executive Secretary, CBCC welcomed members and introduced Rev. Dr. Rochill.

He mentioned that we released Chokri Bible today and Kuzha Bible translation will begin from February 2016 by Rev. Kedoungulo Mero. Rev. Khrotso Mero, Convener, CBCC Gospel Literature Board, expressed gratitude to

God, the BSI and Chokri Gospel Literature Committee for bringing out the Bible into our own dialect.

It is still in the initial stage. Hence, with the continuous support of BSI we will be able to bring out both Chokri and Kuzha Bible. He thanked Rev. Vepocu Epao, Translator, Ngotso Dasai,assistant and all the co-translators and committee members for rendering their best service to bring out the Bible into Chokri dialect. Very soon Kuzha Bible will also be brought out in consultation of the Kuzha Bible which is already in used. Bible is for all the denominations and people.

Rev. Thikhuo Pheaso, Chairman, Chokri Gospel Literature stated that in early 1980’s Chokri Hymnal and New Testament Bible were brought out. However, for the sake of unity of Chakhesang community, the Chakhesang Public Organization and Chakhesang Baptist Church Council did not allow it to be used. However, with the changing of situation, it is im-

portant to translate Bible into our own dialects in order to properly understand the word of God and to help people to grow in their faith.

Rev. Vevozo Khamo, Executive Secretary, Council of Chakhesang Revival Churches congratulated translator and co-translators. It has been along desire to have the Bible in our own dialect and God has made it possible for us. We praise God and all the people who made it possible.

Rev. Vepocu Epao, Translator expressed that he sacrificed his own village dialects and use common and more appropriate words in order to make readers easily understand the word of God. He expressed gratitude to Rev. Dr. Rochill, Senior Auxiliary Secretary, BSI for his love and concern and to Rev. Dr. W. Along Jamir, Associate Director, BSI for all the possible help extended in bringing out Chakhesang Chokri Bible.

This was stated in a press release issued by Rev. Yiepetso Wezah, Recording Secretary, CBCC Gospel Literature Board.

St Francis Xavier's Church Kidima celebrates Christmas C M Y K

KiDima, December 27 (mexN): St Francis Xavier's Church Kidima, Diocese of Kohima celebrated Christmas the birthday of Jesus Christ the Saviour with rest of the world with Reverend Father Thomas Muttathil, Parish Priest of Kidima as Main Celebrant at church premises.

Reverend Father Thomas Muttathil asked the faithful people to receive Jesus Christ was born be true peace to us in family and society. Father Muttathil urged in the large gathering people to glorify God in heart, thought and action.

The natural powers were lost because of Christ born on earth, Father said. Love, extending fraternity service to one another, equality for women and men and get respect and honour from

Christ, Parish Priest added.

The Priest was lamented for reverse practices for Christmas preparation in expensive manner.

Further, explaining the purpose of Christmas santacos means for free gift to others, Christmas carol is for announcement of Jesus Christ birth with to serve, to love and to care turns to collection vice versa, Father Thomas Muttathil added.

The Parish Priest prayed to Almighty God for grace, joy and peace for His children.

P. Tepekrovi Kiso in a press release stated that confession, ratification of marriage, baptism, sprinkle of holy water to faithful people, blessing of crib and Eucharist followed by fellowship meal were highlights began Novena from December 16.

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Wabang Kichu, family, friends and well wishers at IMDH Mokokchung after ‘Christmas with Patients’ on December 24.

Morung Express News Mokokchung | December 27

Wabang Kichu has been organizing this every Christmas since 2000. This year, too, on December 24 the patients admitted at Imkongliba Memorial District Hospital Mokokchung were treated with a special

Christmas ‘gift’ by Wabang Kichu supported by his family, friends and well wishers.

The Christmas message was delivered by Narosenla, Children Christian Education Superintendent of Mokokchung Town Baptist Church while reigning Miss Mokokchung, Ayusangla

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Jamir presented a special Christmas number.

Volunteers from MTBA Medical Youth Fellowship and Mokokchung Town Lanur Telongjem also assisted Wabang Kichu and family in celebrating the 16th Christmas with Patients. The patients were also served coffee and snacks.

Christmas Fiesta held at Dimapur and Kohima

(Left) Home Minister of India Rajnath Singh with others during the celebration of Christmas on December 25 at his official residence where a Christmas cake was presented by T Khongwang Konyak, ST Morcha, President and Methna Konyak, State Council Member, Nagaland State BJP. The Home Minister enjoyed a piece of Christmas cake and heartily distributed the entire cake to all the visitors at his residence.

DimaPUr, December 27 (mexN): Most Rev. Dr. James Thoppil, the bishop of Kohima was the main celebrant for the vigil mass on December 24 at Holy Cross Church, Dimapur and at the day mass at the Cathedral Church, Kohima on December 25.

Bishop in his homily stressed that God is a God of surprises. All the events narrated in the story of incarnation are stories of surprises. “Christmas is a celebration of God's surprises,” the Bishop stated.

“The mistake which the Jewish leaders and their scholars committed was that they failed to recognize Jesus, the Messiah, when he came because he came in ways different from their expectations,” said the Bishop while adding that today the same mistake is committed by the followers of Jesus when they look for a God, a powerful hero, who works many miracles according to their expectation.

“Every day and every mo-

ment God comes to human beings in various ways. He comes in the form of children who are hungry, who are helpless, the sick who need care and compassion, women who are oppressed and exploited, strangers who come for help, the enemies who block our way of progress, etc. He comes also in the form of an honest government officer, a sincere friend who never betrays generous people who gladly spend their wealth for a noble cause, etc,” said the Bishop. He also added that Christmas asks us a tough question, “Do we close the doors of our hearts to Jesus, who is looking for a place to be born in our lives, because he does not come according to our wish, plan and time?”

Bishop urged the faithful to examine themselves daily on the many ways we close the door to Jesus. The real meaning of Christmas actually is Emmanuel, God-with-us – God coming down to us; God seeking us out;

God revealing Himself to us; God bringing us forgiveness, healing, comfort, moral strength, guidance; God dwelling within us.

Each one of us has, deep down in our souls, an incredible hunger: a hunger for purpose and meaning; a hunger to feel and celebrate the redeeming, forgiving, sustaining love of God; a hunger to be in the presence of God. Christmas is special because it reminds us concretely that God is indeed with us.

The midnight celebration at Holy Cross ended with placing the Child Jesus in the crib with a solemn procession and prayer.

Snacks and tea accompanied by fire work gave the final touch to the celebration. At the Cathedral Church, the celebration of the mass was followed by the group games, including tug of war, participated by the whole community and common meal. This was stated in a press release issued by Fr. Thomas Toretkiu, Bishop’s Secretary.

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MonDAY 28•12•2015

NORTH-EAST

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

After 13 years, Tripura power project finally illuminates AgArtAlA, December 27 (IANS): Triumphing over 13 years of hurdles, northeast India's third biggest gas basedpower project in Tripura has begun generating 101 MW electricity, ensuring the region's selfreliance in energy.

"We have finally started producing 101 MW electricity from our Monarchak combined cycle power plant. First we switched on the gas turbine (62 MW) then the steam turbine (39 MW)," NEEPCO General Manager (Electrical) Samar Ranjan Biswas proudly told IANS. "After test generation and completing necessary formalities, commercial production of electricity from this power plant would start within a month," Biswas said of the Rs.1,000 crore ($151 million) project of the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO), located 70 km south of Tripura capital Agartala and 10 km from the Bangladesh border.

"The entire 101 MW would be given to Tripura State Electricity Corporation Limited (TSECL) and would otherwise resolve the electricity crisis of the northeastern region," Biswas added.

The project's foundation stone was laid in March 2002 by Suresh Prabhu, the then power minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government at the centre.

The environment-friendly project was originally slated to be commissioned in 2005. In 2007, the union power ministry abandoned it for a variety of reasons but work resumed in 2010 thanks to the Tripura government's pressure.

"Conceived in 2000 with an initial installed capacity of 500 MW, the power plant's capacity was reduced to 280 MW in 200304 after ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation) reduced its gas allocation by half," Biswas said.

"The ONGC further slashed the gas allocation in 2008, forcing NEEPCO to further scale down the plant's installed capacity to

101 MW. ONGC's dilly-dallying in supplying gas on a regular basis caused the abnormal delay in commissioning the project," said Biswas of the project he heads.

The Monarchak project is the third biggest gas-based power plant in the northeast region after the ONGC's 726 MW plant at Palatana in southern Tripura, the company's first in the commercial sector, and the 291 MW Kathalguri in eastern Assam's Dibrugarh district.

An ONGC official said technical problems and NEEPCO's interruptions in taking gas were to blame for the delay.

Biswas said the ONGC, after a series of parleys, recently began supplying gas to the NEEPCO power plant.

ONGC Executive Director and Tripura asset manager S.C. Soni said the corporation was ready to provide 0.4 million standard cubic metre per day (MSCMPD) gas to NEEPCO "but they did not assure us the gas would

be taken uninterruptedly".

Soni pointed out there would be a technical glitch in the supply and the ONGC would suffer losses if the NEEPCO project intermittently consumes gas.

Designed by the US General Electric Company, the plant's turbines have been supplied by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited.

NEEPCO has also installed a five-MW capacity solar power plant at a cost of Rs 50 crore within the Monarchak power plant complex. This is the biggest solar power unit in the northeastern region, comprising eight states including Sikkim.

Credited with installation of several power projects in the northeast, NEEPCO, headquartered in Meghalaya capital Shillong, also plans to generate at least 1,500 MW from solar and wind energy in the next five years.

According to union power ministry documents, the hydropower potential of the northeastern region is estimated at 58,971

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Chetia apologizes for Dhemaji bomb blast DIbrUgArH, December 27 (tNN): The founding general secretary of ULFA, Anup Chetia, apologized for the Dhemaji bomb blast on August 15, 2004, which left 13 people, including 10 schoolchildren, dead during an Independence Day function. He issued the apology in his native village of Jeraigaon on Saturday.

"The children and women were not the target. The CRPF and other central forces were the intended target of the bomb, but, unfortunately, innocent lives were lost on the parade-ground that day. Our chairman has already tendered an apology. We don't believe in killing innocent people. Even innocent family members and relatives of ULFA members have been killed," Chetia said.

For the ULFA leader, Saturday marked an emotional homecoming as he set foot in Jeraigaon after 23 years.

Since morning, people lined up along the road to the village, 40 km from here, to catch a glimpse of Chetia. No sooner did his cavalcade reach the gateway of the village, located off NH-37, at 2.45 pm than a loud cheer went up from the waiting crowd. A traditional troupe of 'gayan-bayan' (singer-musician) welcomed him to the loud beating of drums and cymbals. Shouts of 'Anup Chetia zindabad', 'Jai Aai Asom', 'ULFA zindabad' rendered the air. Chetia, misty-eyed and speechless, obliged people by hugging them even as old friends, classmates, relatives and family members waited in attendance.

MW, which is almost 40 percent of the country's potential. However, only about 2.1 percent (1,242 MW) had been harnessed till last May. The northeast is going to be power surplus and it was an enormous problem to transmit the excess power from the region to the country's power-starved regions.

The eight northeastern states' off-peak and peak demand on an average is 1,500 MW to 2,500 MW against the current installed capacity of 4,730 MW. This means that most of the plants are working under-capacity.

Meanwhile, Tripura will soon begin supplying 100 MW of power to Bangladesh. The transmission lines have been commissioned on both sides of the border and supplies will begin after a power purchase agreement has been signed.

With the commissioning of the Monarchak plant, NEEPCO's share of installed capacity in the region would be more than 42 SIlcHAr, December 27 (PtI): External Affairs percent.

Minister Sushma Swaraj today said that voiced confidence that her party will emerge victorious in the Assam assembly polls. She stated this in a party workers meeting here today. On the vexed illegal foreigners' problem in Assam, the Minister said, "The Centre is seized of the matter." The issue will be solved keeping the interest of to be counselled by fellow north-east all sections of people".

On the demand in the Barak valley for a Passport ofsisters," the official added. In February fice in Cachar district, she said the Central government 2014, a committee headed by retired bureaucrat M P Bezbaruah was set up, was examining the demand and the Passport office may which submitted a report in connec- be set up in Silchar. The Passport Office, Guwahati cation with incidents of crime against ters to six of the North Eastern States of Assam, Arunachal people from the region in different Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland.

Coming back to the development plank, Swaraj said, cities and recommended a list of mea"When BJP wins here all round development will come to sures to tackle the problem.

Assam as BJP does not indulge in partisan politics based The committee cited a 2009-10 on religion and caste". study according to which 86 per cent of people from the NE living in metros have faced racial discrimination.

Over two lakh people from NE live in Delhi. According to police records, cases of molestation of women from the NE in Delhi went up by 177 per cent between 2011 and 2013. While one NE woman was reported to have been raped in 2011, 17 such cases were reported in 2013.

Sushma confident of BJP win in Assam

Delhi police to have crime victim counsellors from NE

NEFR GM meets Manipur CM Ibobi mAlIgAoN, December 27 (mexN): HK Jaggi, Genaral Manager, Northeast Frontier Railway, called on the Chief Minister of Manipur, Okram Ibobi Singh at Imphal on December 25. Jaggi had been on a three days visit to Manipur to review and inspect the ongoing Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal new rail line project. During the meeting, he apprised the Chief Minister about the progress of the project and confirmed that Jiribam to Dholakhal (12 Km) will be commissioned by March 31, 2016 and Dholakhal to Tupul (72 Km) by March 31, 2017.

He further apprised the CM that construction work has already started between Tupul to Imphal (27 Km).

While Jaggi thanked the Chief Minister for the continuous support rendered by the State Govt. to the Railway for this national project, Teh Manipur CM assured the General Manager of his Government’s continued help and cooperation for smooth progress of the project.

The Chief Minister also requested for further extension of the rail network in Manipur from Imphal to Senapati and Churachandpur.

New DelHI, December 27 (PtI): Delhi Police will soon have women from the North-Eastern states as "Crime Victim counsellors", following spurt in cases of crime against people from these regions living in the national capital.

"Delhi Police have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with National Commission for Women (NCW) and Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, on Wednesday for the purpose," said a senior police official, adding that initially 23 counsellors will be appointed through a merit-based selection process.

NCW is the body which funds the bench of counsellors for Delhi Police for women and children who are victims of sexual offences and TISS will be heading the recruitment process on

behalf of Delhi Police, he said.

TISS has already started the selection process and candidates can send applications till January 7. While one volunteer is required for full-time work at the Special Police Unit for Women & Children (SPUWAC) in south Delhi's Nanakpura, 22 (in teams of two volunteers each) are required for the Children and Women welfare cells proposed to be expanded to all 11 police districts early next year, the official said.

The candidate is required to be a post-graduate in social work and 2 years' work experience in social development sector. Women from NorthEastern region who live or have lived in Delhi-NCR shall be given preference. "Nothing can be more reassuring for north-east women, who are victims of crime in the national capital,

Christmas celebrated with fervour in North East States AIzAwl/KoHImA/AgArtAlA, December 27 (IANS): Christmas was celebrated on Friday across India's northeast region with special prayers, hymns, and masses in churches, besides the traditional spread of delicious food.

Over 5.3 million Christians live in Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Manipur while there are a significant number of Christians in the other northeastern states - Tripura, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh. The celebrations began from Thursday night with church services and fellowships where the congregation sang Christmas carols - both western and local songs, com-

Poachers kill male rhino in Kaziranga KAzIrANgA, December 27 (PtI): An adult male rhino was killed and its horn taken away by poachers in Kaziranga National Park in Assam, taking the number of pachyderm deaths to 16 this year, a senior Forest Department official said today.

The rhino was killed near Kothalchang Forest Camp in Burapahar range of the 'World Heritage Site' around midnight, the official said. During routine patrolling in the wee hours, the Assam Forest Security Force personnel found its carcass, he said.

Stating the poachers were suspected to be from the neighbouring Karbi Anglong district hills, the official said seven empty cartridge shells of .303 rifle were found near the carcass.

Earlier, on November 22 a female rhino was killed by poachers in the national park near its Borghup Forest Camp in Burapahar range.

In October, a rhino that had strayed out of the Park was killed by animal thieves in Majuli island in midst of river Brahmaputra in Jorhat district, and its horn, nails and parts of skin peeled off.

posed by the local spiritualists and composers.

Police officials Mizoram capital Aizawl said the Christmas eve celebrations on Thursday night were completely peaceful and incident free.

"Adequate security arrangements have been made in Aizawl, its outskirts and other parts of the state to hold the festivity peacefully," a senior police official said. The traditional festive spirit was evident everywhere at the capital town and other places of Mizoram as the colourful decorations and illuminations were made by the revellers.

Praise and worship services marked the Christmas and com-

munity feasts would be held Friday and Saturday in most of the villages and localities of the urban areas. The festive spirit has also gripped the plains, hills and valleys of Christians dominated state Nagaland as Christmas celebrations started with the stroke of midnight when church bells rang, signalling the birth of Jesus Christ.

Churches, private and government buildings, schools, markets and homes have been decked up and illuminated in Kohima, Dimapur, Mokokchung and several other towns and villages of predominantly Christian state. Nagaland Chief Minister T.R. Zeliang appealed the peo-

ple to forgive and learn from the wrongs of the past, and to steer the destiny of the Naga people to a better future Shoppers have been thronging markets for the last few days, while people staying elsewhere and students pursuing academic careers in other states have returned their hearths and homes join the festivities. In Meghalaya, besides decoration of churches, homes and streets putting up Christmas trees with beautiful bells and lights while lighting the streets are the major parts of celebration.

Various state governments in the region have announced holidays for several days to enable

the people to join Christmas celebrations.

Governors and chief ministers of the northeastern states have wished the people on the occasion. Churches in Mizoram, Nagaland and Meghalaya play a very significant role in the life and culture of the northeastern states.

"Christianity is the harbinger of modernity as well as women's liberation in Mizoram. The Christian missionaries, therefore, are regarded as a symbol of modernisation, leading to gradual changes in the conservative attitude of men towards women," a Church head Zosangliana Colney told reporters in Aizawl.

ADMISSION TO MANAGEMENT PROGRAMMES (MP) OPENMAT-XXXIX PROGRAMME - July 2016

The University will be admitting students for the following Programmes starting from July, 2016 through an Entrance Test, to be held on Sunday, the 28th February 2016 all over the country

MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME (MP)

PolAris ExPEriENcE ZoNE Nagaland’s 1st All-Terrain-Vehicle (ATV) Track New Winter Timings!

IGNOU invites applications for the following Degree/Diploma programmes in Management: * Master of Business Administration (MBA) * Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management (PGDHRM) * Diploma in Management (DIM) * Post Graduate Diploma in Operations Management (PGDOM) * Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDIM) * Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing Management (PGDMM) * Post Graduate Diploma in Financial Management (PGDFM) * Post Graduate Diploma in Financial Markets Practice (PGDFMP)

All the above programmes have multi-media design, and technology aided delivery systems. These are offered through countrywide network of study centres. The University will be admitting the students for the above Degree/Diplomas in Management starting from July, 2016 through an Entrance Test ‘OPENMAT-XXXIX’ to be held on Sunday, 28th February, 2016 all over the country.

Eligibility for Admission

1. Graduation in any discipline with 50% marks for General Category and 45% for Reserved Category, with 3 years managerial / supervisory / professional experience.

OR Professional Degree with 50% marks in: Engineering/Medicine/Chartered Accountancy (ICAI)/Cost and Work Accountancy (ICWAI) Company Secretary-ship (ICSI)/Law. 2. Clearance of OPENMAT conducted by IGNOU. LAST DATE: Filled in form for Entrance Test ‘OPENMAT-XXXIX’ must reach the Registrar (SED), IGNOU, Maidan Garhi, New Delhi - 110 068, by Registered Post/Speed Post on or before 20th January, 2016.

Walk in Admission

Candidates who qualify Entrance Test can submit the registration form (Form-2), available in the ‘Student Handbook & Prospectus’ along with the hall ticket of the Entrance Test, to the respective Regional Centres along with the required fee on any day after the receipt of result card, but not later than 31st May, 2016 for admission cycles starting from July, 2016.

NOTE: There is no age bar for admission to the above Programme. The University reserves the right to grant/deny admission to the candidates.

Provision for online registration for admission to the successful candidates for Management Programme will be made available on the University website (www.ignou.ac.in) after the declaration of the entrance test result.

Availability of Student Handbook & Prospectus

‘Student Handbook & Prospectus for Management Programme-2016’, can be obtained from the Director, (SSC), IGNOU, Maidan Garhi, New Delhi- 110 068 and from any Regional Centre of IGNOU by sending a sum of ` 1050/- each through a Demand Draft/IPO in favour of IGNOU payable at New Delhi/city of Regional Centre concerned or by paying ` 1000/in cash at the respective sales counter. Please write your name and address on the back of the DD/IPO. Last date for receipt of request for ‘PROSPECTUS’ by post is 15th January, 2016.

Application form and prospectus can also be downloaded from the website: www.ignou.ac.in and sent along with a DD for ` 1050/- in favour of IGNOU payable

at New Delhi by Registered/Speed Post to Registrar (SED) IGNOU Block-12, Maidan Garhi, New Delhi- 110 068.

Prospectus will be sent to such applicants after receipt of ` 1050/- as written above.

FILLED IN FORM MUST REACH, THE TH REGISTRAR (SED), IGNOU, MAIDAN GARHI, NEW DELHI- 110 068, BY REGISTERED POST/SPEED POST ON OR BEFORE 20 JANUARY, 2016.

Walk-in-Admission for January 2016 session is also on for different Certificate, Diploma, PG Diploma, Degree and Post Graduate Programmes. st th Last date for submission of Application Form is 31 December 2015 (without late fee) and with late fee of ` 300/- till 15 January 2016.

Prospectus available at IGNOU Regional Centre Kohima and IGNOU Study Centre(s) at the cost of ` 200/-. Last date for receipt of Re-Registration (RR) Forms is also extended till 31st December 2015 (with late fee of ` 500/-) and till 15th January 2016 with late fee of ` 1000/-.

Follow us on Facebook group @ignou rckohima

Regional Director, IGNOU Regional Centre Near Mt. Hermon School, Kenuozou, Kohima; Nagaland

Looking for something fun and exciting to do this festive season? Come and experience the power performance of Polaris off-road vehicles in the pay-and ride ATV tracks at Polaris Experience Zone, Dimapur. Perfect for those seeking a rush of adrenalin and outdoors fun. Kid’s ATV is also available but must be accompanied by an adult. Join us where the road ends and the off-road adventure begins.

Located at Bamunpukhuri, 4 kms from Zion Hospital – look out for “Polaris Experience Zone” way signs on the road leading to track.

For Dec and Jan, we are open Tuesday to Sunday from 12:00 till 5:00 pm. Closed on following dates: 24th to 27th Dec and 31st Dec to 3rd Jan 2016.

Ph: 897-419-2695, e-mail: polaris.northeast@gmail.com

4

MonDAY 28 •12•2015

Business

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Trai to resolve some neutrality issues by early 2016 New Delhi, December 27 (Pti): As the debate over the net neutrality resurfaces, telecom regulator Trai has said it is looking to solve the issues “part-by-part” and also aiming to come up with the final guidelines based on the views received from different stakeholders, by early 2016.

“We expect to resolve some of the (issues pertaining to) the basic principles of net neutrality next year,” Trai Chairman R S Sharma told PTI in an interview.

As per SavetheInternet forum, the net neutrality principle says that internet service providers should not block or discriminate against any applications

‘Start-up India, Stand-up India action plan from January 16’

ture campaign. “We have received large number of comments on that paper.

We are working on the comments and hope to finalise approach of Trai in comings months,” Sharma said. He said that telecom networks are gradually moving towards internetbased technology specially with modern services like 4G coming in place.

“We have floated paper on IP based interconnection. We are working on it. We will have to see how calls provided through traditional network and internet work in coming days.

This would also lead us to understand cost arbitrage around services,” Sharma said.

New Delhi, December 27 (iANS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday announced that the action plan of ‘Start-up India, Stand-up India’ will be launched on January 16. During his monthly radio address ‘Mann Ki Baat’, Modi said in every sphere “we need to have new ideas and focus on innovation”. “Startup India, Stand-up India has brought new opportunity for the youth of our country. Be it manufacturing, service sector or agriculture, this new initiative will bring in new ideas, new ways, and new innovations,” the prime minister said. “The action plan of ‘Start-up India, Standup India’ will be launched on January 16. A blueprint will be presented on that day,” he announced.

Stating that every youth associated with IITs, IIMs, Central UniversItIes and NITs in the country will be linked to this programme through live-connectivity, Modi said the talent of our youth is not restricted to a few cities. “All across India youngsters have talent and they need opportunities.” Stating that start-ups are meant not only for IT professionals or for the digital world, the prime minister said: “If through innovation a youth conceives a new idea that can give employment to poor, even that can be called a start-up. I would also request the banks to help these youth and encourage them to move ahead.”

Direct Benefit Transfer India may be 3rd largest economy after 2030: Study The UK meanwhile is set to become loNDoN, December 27 (Pti): largest economy in the Commonwealth Scheme gets into India could become the world’s third in 2019 when its economy overtakes the the best performing economy in the western world over the next 15 years, economy after 2030 and its as- British economy.

Guinness Records largest The study also says that India is fi- boosted by its leading position in global cension could see France and Italy

Petroleum products to be out of GST for now: CEA

Trai chairman rS Sharma says issues being dealt part-by-part; to come up with approach of regulator in coming months or content that ride over those networks.

A debate on net neutrality stirred across the country after Airtel decided to charge separately for internet-based calls but withdrew it later after people protested. Internet activists and experts flayed the operator for ‘Airtel Zero’ service along with Facebook’s internet. org service, currently renamed ‘Free Basics’.

“Just as your phone company shouldn’t decide who you can call and what you say on that call,

New Delhi, December 27 (iANS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the government’s “Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme” has received a place in the Guinness World Records as the largest direct benefit transfer scheme.

“It gives me immense pleasure to announce that the Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme has recently found a place in the Guinness Book of World Records and it has been implemented successfully,” he said during his monthly radio address ‘Mann Ki Baat’.

As of now, already Rs.40,000 crore has been transferred to the accounts of the beneficiaries through different schemes, the prime minister said.

“I believe about 35-40 schemes are being integrated with the direct benefit transfer scheme,” he said. “With the help of Jan Dhan Yojana and Aadhaar card, through the largest direct benefit transfer scheme, the subsidies are directly getting deposited in the bank accounts of the beneficiaries,” Modi said. “Till November, at least 15 crore LPG users have benefited from ‘Pahal’ scheme. We used to get a lot of complaints with regard to NREGA wages. In a few places, now the money is getting deposited in the accounts of the beneficiary. We have started direct benefit transfer scheme in providing students’ scholarships as well,” he added.

Pahal or Pratyaksha Hastantarit Laabh, formerly the Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme for LPG subsidy, is a scheme for direct transfer of subsidy to consumers for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). “The schemes should not be made to look like half-dead in the files. It should reach out to the last person in the country. The schemes are made for the poorest of the poor,” Modi added.

your ISP (internet service provider) shouldn’t be concerned with the content you view or post online,” says the forum.

However, there are issues between telecom operators, internet-based companies and consumer interest which has to be balanced by the regulator.

Amid debate over zerorating plans and telecom firms offering discounted tariffs for accessing certain websites, Trai issued a consultation paper seeking comments on whether such differential pricing

should be allowed.

Facebook’s Internet. org had partnered with Reliance Communications in February this year to provide free internet access to many websites as part of the initiative.

“When some issues are big, you need to resolve them part-by-part. We are currently dealing with the issues as they arrive,” Sharma said.

The regulator till December 23 had received close to 5.7 lakh comments out of which over 5.5 lakh comments are

kicked out of the exclusive G8 group or its membership increased to 10 to accommodate India and Brazil, according to a new study.

According to a report by the UK think tank Centre for Economics Business and Research (CEBR), China will overtake the US as the largest economy in the world in 2029 with the US slipping to second place and India close behind at third.

India’s projected GDP in 2030 was USD 10,133 billion, behind America’s USD 32,996 billion and China at the top with a projected GDP of USD 34,338 billion.

However, India will become the

through Facebook’s campaign. The paper is open for public comments till December 30 and counter comments till January 7. The social media giant is campaigning aggressively to defend it free internet platform Free Basics.

Trai in March floated a consultation paper on regulation for over-thetop applications like Skype, Viber, WhatsApp and net neutrality in March.

The paper received over 10 lakh comments which included most of the messages from a digital signa-

nally starting to catch up with China and will eventually overtake the Communist-giant in the second half of the century.

Britain will move up to take fourth spot and Brazil will complete the top five. Europe’s third and fourth largest economies will be replaced by India and Brazil in the G8 over the next 15 years, the report says.

As Brazil and India meet the political criteria for membership of the exclusive G8 club of developed democracies, their ascension could see France and Italy kicked out of the group, or the club expanded to a G10 as more economies join, the report says.

software and IT sectors.

The CEBR said France’s “dire” economic prospects will see it fall from the world’s 5th to 9th largest economy by 2030. Italy - currently 8th in the global league table - is also going through tough times.

Since joining the euro in 2000, GDP growth has remained flat, making it the slowest growing economy of any major developed nation.

Europe’s largest economy, Germany, will maintain its position in the world’s leading economies as its declining population receives a welcome boost of a 1.5 million refugees and migrants, according to the analysis.

KolKAtA, December 27 (Pti): Petrol and other petroleum products would not be brought under the GST regime for some time after its roll out, Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramaniam said today. “Constitutionally petrol and other petroleum products will be within the GST system. But it would be out of the GST dispensation after its implementation for some time”, Subramaniam told reporters on the sidelines of an event organised by ISI here. He said that the GST council would decide for how long these products would be out of the new taxation regime. “Even after GST, petrol and other petroleum products would continue to be taxed the way now both by the Centre and states”, he said. Asked about the roll-out of GST, he said that Union Finance minister Arun Jaitley had said that the government was hoping that the GST Bill would be passed soon.”All depends on when the Constitution amendment bill gets cleared”, Subramaniam said. Outlining the benefits of GST, he said that it would give the country a wider tax base and `Make in India’ drive would get an impetus. “However, no single reform could determine the long-term growth of the country”, he said.

From integrating peoples to Internet.org: Facebook’s 2015 Soon, pay bills through Twitter!

New YorK, December 27 (iANS): During 2015, social networking giant Facebook was truly a uniting force through both good times and tragedies and focused its efforts on boosting internet connectivity in India, says its COO in a blog post looking back at the year ready to pass by.

At the same time, its Internet.org programme created deep divides among the intelligentsia, the activists and even within the policymakers. “People found connections in the hardest moments,” Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg observed.

They “came together in ways we had never seen before, sharing news about refugees, raising money for those in need, and marking themselves safe during times of crisis. It was a year for activism and hope”, Sandberg added. The company pivoted Internet.org to make it more of a developer platform, re-branding the main app as Free Basics. The ambition of the programme (launched in 2013) has been to connect the “next five billion” people to the internet.

Facebook has collaborated with Indian telecommunication company Reliance

_

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 # 3445

Communications in its campaign to make Free Basics available to everyone in India.

But the company has also faced criticism that it violated net neutrality principles, prompting India’s Telecom Regulatory Authority to asking Reliance to cease providing Free Basics in the country. Besides Internet.org, the company’s efforts to connect people included plans to utilize massive Internet-beaming drones to provide internet access at refugee centres.

Facebook also rolled out a few updates aimed at helping small businesses connect to

the mobile generation.

This year also saw the release of 360-degree videos, new advertising tools, and native news products that offer brands and publishers new ways to engage with audiences in both connected and emerging markets.

The next year will continue to see Facebook improve on how brands and developers can advertise to users, something that has been a cash cow for the company, according to a Venturebeat.com analysis.

And of course, there is going to be continued emphasis on Internet.org.

DAILY CROSS WORD

CROSSWORD # 3457

Answer Number # 3444

New YorK, December 27 (iANS): Twitter users in India may soon be able to pay their bills though the micro-blogging site, the media reported. The company has announced a partnership with India-based startup Lookup to enable users send a direct message to @ lookuplite in order to book appointments, inquire about services and make transactions with businesses, Techcrunch reported. Lookup lets retailers and consumers chat with each other through direct messaging. It boasts of 1.2 million registered users despite listing merchants from Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. Currently, users can buy directly within the social network thorough Twitter’s ‘Buy’ button. In the new arrangement, orders and payments would be fulfilled separately and offline with Twitter simply facilitating the conversation. Lookup will use Twitter’s API, as well as its monitoring capabilities, to handle connecting the customer to the prospective merchant. Instead of connecting users through phone numbers, Lookup instead uses Google Maps to give users a view of all the retailers in their area.

DIMAPUR Civil Hospital:

STD CODE: 03862 232224; Emergency229529, 229474

Metro Hospital: Faith Hospital:

227930, 231081 228846

Shamrock Hospital

228254

Zion Hospital:

231864, 224117, 227337

Police Control Room

228400

Police Traffic Control

232106

East Police Station West Police Station

227607 232181

CIHSR (Referral Hospital)

242555/ 242533

Dimapur hospital

224041, 248011

Apollo Hospital Info Centre:

230695/ 9402435652

Railway:

131/228404

Indian Airlines

229366

Nagaland Multispe- 248302, cialty Health & 09856006026 Research Centre

W

O MeDiCAl

MEDICATION SUTURE STAPLE SCISSORS NEEDLE SYRINGE GUAZE BANDAGE STERISTRIP EXAM PHARMACY DIABETES HYPERTENSION ASTHMA SEIZURE COPD CARDIAC PULMONARY VENIPUNCTURE NURSE DOCTOR PHYSICANASSISTANT MEDTECH ALLERGY SURGERY EYE HEART BRAIN

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I O A H P P K D J P O A L P Q Z N A E R

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G G P C Z N F P X R F B U Z N J G P Q X

A M H T S A M Q D P O C S D B K A E I P

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B V A R A L E N F U E S R U N O B Y S H

A N R O L J D O Z L R Y G S U R G E R Y

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N O M O L E T I L M U F S H K J I H X S

D I A B E T E S U O T A D A G N L A J I

A T C G R P C N O N C J B C A I D R A C

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G A Y S G I H E Y A N A I D I W H Z T A

E C W U Y R A T G R U P V I D J Q S F N

L I U T G T R R Y Y P I P Y J R O O U A

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R M W E C R G Y E S E I Z U R E B G N I

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S T A P L E V H V N V N I J L I Z K I S

Z G D O C T O R T R A E H I E A E R A T

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

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K L D F P H X D X L F D A J Z O A Q B N

T E Z F N G T V K P S L U Z P Q M A W T

K A I V P R B U V O A E X Q N K U Y I I

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

1. Grain to be ground 6. Gusted 10. Information 14. Juliet’s love 15. Magma 16. Holly 17. Type of poplar tree 18. Send forth 19. “Your majesty” 20. Vile 22. Care for 23. Snagged 24. Restricts 26. Zero 30. Din 32. Disturb 33. Dissenting 37. Avid 38. Filled to excess 39. Region 40. Vital 42. A simple seat 43. Anagram of “Arson” 44. Reddish brown 45. Flash 47. An unskilled actor 48. Soil 49. Avatar 56. Decorative case

57. Anagram of “Silo” 58. Unsuccessful person 59. Gambling game 60. Module 61. Breathing problem 62. Biblical garden 63. Rewards for waiting 64. Slender

DOWN

1. Alumnus 2. Thorny flower 3. Rapscallions 4. Dribble 5. This evening 6. Sheep sound 7. Young sheep 8. Wicked 9. A different kind of mattress 10. A purified liquid 11. Extraterrestrial 12. Small slender gulls 13. Cut down 21. Small portable bed 25. Snake-like fish 26. Microwave (slang) 27. Mimics 28. Applications 29. A coming into being 30. Test versions

31. Cain’s brother 33. Shower 34. Press 35. A noble gas 36. Big party 38. Surveillance 41. Neither ___ 42. Alike 44. Unhappy 45. Located 46. Wrinkled fruit 47. Legions 48. Apollo astronaut Slayton 50. Short skirt 51. Radar signal 52. Brood 53. Feudal worker 54. Require 55. Found in a cafeteria Ans to CrossWord 3456

WE4WOMEN HELPLINE 08822911011

Police Station 1:

DIMAPUR: 03862-232201/ 101 (O) 9856156876 (OC) CHUMUKEDIMA: 7085982102 (O) 8732810051 (OC)

MOKOKCHUNG: 0369-2226225/ 101 (O) 8415830232 (OC) PHEK: 8414853765 (O) 8413822476(OC) ZUNHEBOTO: 03867-280304/ 101 (O) 9436422730 (OC) TUENSANG: 8414853766 (O) 9856163601 (OC)

KIPHIRE: 8414853767 (O) 9436261577 (OC) PEREN: 7085189932 (O) 9856311205 (OC) LONGLENG: 7085924113 (O) 9862414264 (OC)

Toll free No. 1098 childline

MOKOKCHUNG:

KOHIMA NORTH: 7085924114 (O)

MON: 03869-251222/ 101 (O) 9862130954 (OC)

CHILD WELFARE COMMITTEE

ACROSS

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

WOKHA: 03860242215/101 (O) 8974322879 (OC)

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

KOHIMA

FIRE STATIONS

STD CODE: 0369

2226241

Police Station 2 :

2226214

Civil Hospital: Woodland Nursing Home:

2226216 2226263

Hotel Metsüpen (Tourist Lodge):

2226373/2229343

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

CURRENCY NOTES

222246 222491

BUY(Rs)

SELL(Rs)

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

64.77 96.29 8.09 46.64 45.99 46.39 53.17

67.74 101.02 9.01 48.97 48.27 48.68 56.19

Euro

70.64

74.11

Thai Baht Korean Won New Zealand Dollar Chinese Yuan

1.74

1.94

0.0533

0.0594

44.00

46.19

9.58

10.68

MondAY 28•12•2015

MTlT presents Squadron’s 25th anniversary concert Morung Express News

Longchar, Tube Screeamer and 2015 Inter-School Beat Contest Winner. The show Touted as one of the biggest would not only be confined free concerts in Mokokcto Mokokchung town as arthung town, the Squadron ists and music lovers from Silver Jubilee Celebration Wokha District will be join2015 at Imkongmeren Sports ing in the grand occasion.

Complex on December 29 is Besides, a musician couple the talk of the town. based in Germany – Mr & Organized by the MoMrs Aren – will be entertainkokchung Town Lanur to make the concert for the ing the audience along with Telongjem (MTLT), the music lovers of Nagaland a the array of performers.

Squadron Silver Jubilee night to be remembered.

With the countdown for Celebration free concert, Meanwhile, keeping the concert already started, which will feature well their roots and love for muthe bands and musicians are known bands and singers sic alive, Minister for NH, busy practicing with the aim from all over the state to present their best, keepand even from abroad, in mind that this conBiggest free concert in Mokokchung ing is being celebrated as cert is being organized as a recognition of the con- 18 bands from Nagaland to take stage special treat to the people tributions of Squadron of Mokokchung. The stage band in the field of muMechanical Engineering & to be set on fire by Squad- is being completed, the sic, and also as a tribute to Election, Nuklutoshi Long- ron’s contemporary band MTLT’s different sub-comall the rock bands and the kumer, has consented to like Vanadium, which is a mittees are burning midmusicians, past and pres- be the chief guest. Other household name for those night-oil so that this concert ent, from Mokokchung. prominent dignitaries in- who grew up in the nineties. will be memorable in many With Mokokchung town clude NLA Deputy SpeakThe young upcoming ways. If you happen to be in all radiating with festivities er, Imtikumzuk Longkum- bands like Tune Up Chan- Mokokchung on December and because of the con- er; Principal Secretary to nel, Infuse, Rapture, Dice, 29, be there at the Imkongcert being organized by the CM & Finance Commis- Ember, Funk Fuzz, Soul And meren Sports Complex, afMTLT, an influential youth sioner – Temjen Toy; for- Blues, 75 Giants, Aces, Scan ter all, it’s not every day that organization in the town, no mer Nagaland Chief Sec- Wheels, Jonathan And Band, you get to enjoy a great constone has been left unturned retary – Alemtemshi Jamir Matang, Chubanungla cert for free.

Mokokchung | December 27

(IAS); NEZCC Director - Lipokmar Tzudir; Addl Director of IPR - Limawati Longchar; and Class-1 contractor NPWD Jemti Ao. Besides the dignitaries and thousands of music lovers witnessing the concert, well-known musicians will be sharing the stage with the Squadron band. Altogether eighteen bands and singers have already confirmed participation in this biggest free concert in Mokokchung town.

The stage is surely going

SASU general session from Jan 5 Dimapur, December 27 (mexN): The 19th General Session of the Singti Area Students’ Union (SASU) will be held from January 5 to 7, 2016 at Langzanger Village. Additional Commissioner Excise, Pitongse Sangtam, will grace the occasion as chief guest while Finance Secretary, USLP, Lipio Sangtam, will be the Cultural Chief Guest.

ADC, DMA (SSA) Kiphire, Sethricho Sangtam, and Honorary Secretary,

Red Cross Society Kiphire, Tsointhe Sangtam, will be the Speakers during the Session while Proprietor, Agape School, Kiphire, P. Lipichem Sangtam, will be the resource person during the Career Guidance programme.

On the sidelines, Games and Sports, Cultural programmes and literary events would also be conducted during the Session. Chairman SASU has informed all officials of SASU to reach the host village on January 4.

ETKK golden jubilee from today Dimapur, December 27 (mexN): The Emlo-To Kiphimi Kuqhakulu will be celebrating its Golden Jubilee from December 28 to 30. Parliamentary Secretary Justice & Law and SIRD, Er. Picto Shohe, will grace the jubilee as chief guest while Dr. I. Pihoto Khala, Addl. Director Vety & A.H and Managing Director, NLDB, will be the guest of honour. Dr. Daniel Chishi, Pastor, Zunheboto Town, Sumi Baptist Church, and Dr. Phitoli L. Khala, Youth Pastor Thilixu Baptist Church, will be speaking on the occasion.

DRFCB general meeting Dimapur, December 27 (mexN): The Dhansiri River Flood Control Board (DRFCB) has convened a general meeting on December 28, 11 a.m. at its office, Marketing Complex, Purana Bazaar, East Dimapur. A press release in this regard has requested all Office bearers, Executive members and landowners residing near the Dhansiri River Bank and its tributaries to attend the meeting without fail.

42nd Rutsa Annual Day Kohima, December 27 (mexN): The 42nd Rutsa Annual Day will be held on December 28 at Zieke, P. Khel Kohima Village. All the members and well wishers have been invited to grace the annual day.

41st Kiruphema Wrestling Meet The 25 Mongoya AC NPF party workers on December 26 repaired the road stretch from Police point to Imkongliba Memorial District Hospital considering the deplorable road conditions for the commuters especially the sick.

The repair work was carried out under the sponsorship of Merentoshi, Advisor to Chief Minister, who is the sitting MLA of the 25 Mongoya AC. The President 25 Mongoya AC expressed gratitude to the MLA and has urged the people to co-operate and contribute towards the development and progress of the society.

Kohima, December 27 (mexN): The 41st Kiruphema wrestling meet will take place at Kiruphema Bawe on December 29. Prizes for the event are sponsored by Akho Neikha, proprietor, Theja Service station NH 29. Savilie Kruneilie, Chairman, Kiruphema General Council, and Kedovitha Hesielie, Retired Head Teacher, Peducha GPS, will be the chief guest and guest of honour respectively.

Public SPace Soft Skills Training, a Necessity for students VISION MOKOKCHUNG 2040 – FREEDOM!

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future and, immediate for Job seekers

ndia is one among the fastest developing countries having a lot of manpower resources but it is not being properly utilized. The young generation, including the Naga youngster, has enough qualification, and an appreciable percentage of youth are getting good job opportunities through NPSC and UPSC, thumps up to them, but another kind of appointment is also going on simultaneously, which is called as BDA (back door appointment) in Govt. sector. It has deprived and depriving and destroying many youngsters Future. But the category of youngster which is on the average level is just having the dream of getting an employment. Being graduated and remaining idle, you are a liability to your parents, which is embarrassing in today’s world. Start thinking, all of us are not meant to be a Govt. servant. If you think “I am not getting any kind of Govt. job, so am useless”, then it’s a foolish and childish remark. I am not making it up, I have heard it and seen those youngsters, they are still unemployed, but the rest, who were wise are working not only in Nagaland but outside of Nagaland in the metropolitan cities of India in the corporate sector.

Scarcity of job is in Nagaland only, but there is no treat of Job in all the big cities of India. For those who are graduate, and brave and confident enough to work in any of the metropolitan cities of India. However, the Employers (Manager and HR, Human Resource) prefer to hire and promote those persons who are expandable, resourceful, ethical and self directed with good Soft skills and Hard skills. Unlike in the past, in our present time even work experiences are not enough, for the access and escalation in the corporate world. In spite of such great significance of soft skills many institutions (schools and colleges) are reluctant to include soft skills in their curriculum. The issue of employability of graduates has become very serious and critical. Every year in Nagaland, the number of graduates are much more than the number of jobs generated in the govt. sector, the private sectors, (mostly in schools, HSS, colleges,) NGOs and some other job, which are not worth mentioning. All over India the last resort for those graduates, mostly from the “have not families”, the primary option is to jump into the corporate world. But without the basic knowledge on Soft skills, and good communication skill, (without training on spoken English pronunciation), I doubt it will be like searching for a needle in a huge pile of hay. Understand this, you will help get yourself a good Job in the corporate world, because of your Soft skills, and your Communication skills only.

This article is an attempt to emphasize the necessity of incorporating soft skills training programs in curriculum, highlighting the objectives of soft skills and good communication skill.

In today's world, where the survival of the fittest is the norm, it has become imperative to sharpen one's technical skills, and more importantly, one's soft skills. Technical skills can be learnt, applied and measured to an established degree. But the same cannot be said of soft skills.

Soft skill is a sociological term for an individual's Emotional Intelligence (EQ). It can be broadly defined as personal attributes that enhance an individual's interactions, job and career prospects. Whether it involves face to face customer interaction or even indirect correspondence over telephone or e-mail, employees adept at soft skills will achieve both individual as well as organizational success. Hence, soft skills is critical to showcasing one's hard skills; both can be considered to be two sides of the same coin one without the other has no impact. According to Serb Richard (2003) modern corporate requirements are such that they look specifically for those candidates who can add value to their organization with their soft skills and the ability to develop and use soft skills which can make the difference between a job offer and enjoyment of new employ-

ment. This requirement of soft skills in a job has made the competition for job acquisition and job sustainability tougher. All those candidates who wish to get an edge over their competitor are expected to refine their soft skills This view point is authenticated by Hewitt Sean (2008) that employers value soft skills because they are just as good as indicator of job performance as traditional job qualifications. So today's professionals need to cover a high soft skills quotient, apart from the domain knowledge in order to succeed in this competitive era. For inculcating soft skills in them they have to be provided with trainings as a part of their curriculum. This in turn will help them to improve their complete personality, compatibility and help the employees explore their own potential to its zenith, enabling them to secure a respectable position in the corporate world. Irrespective of the professional, qualification and apart from the domain knowledge, today's professionals need to possess a high Soft Skills quotient in order to succeed in this competitive era.

Hard skills contribute to only 15% of one’s success while remaining 85% is made by soft skill (Watts M and Watts R. K, 2008). In spite of such great relevance of soft skills in the present corporate world almost all of the institutions are yet to introduce soft skills in their curriculum. There is a dire need of incorporating soft skills trainings in their curriculum, to ensure commendable placements after their graduation. Soft skills are essentially “people's skills” or personality specific skills. Soft skills are "non-technical, intangible, personality specific skills" which determines an individual’s strength as "a leader, listener and negotiator, or as a conflict mediator". Soft skills are the traits and abilities of attitude and behavior rather than of knowledge or technical skill. Technical and job-related skills are a must, but they are not sufficient when it comes to progressing up the ladder. Soft skills play a very important role in this competitive commercial era. Today there is a huge mass of qualified job seekers existing in the society and the competition within them for job acquisition and job sustainability is becoming tougher. To get an edge over the competitors they are left with no other choice but to add worth to their hard skills with soft skills to exhibit their true potential. If one has got advanced soft skills then definitely he will be able to establish himself as distinct amongst other job seekers and will get access in the Cooperate world, and that is the beginning of a bright future.

As of now in Nagaland soft skills training is provided in some private coaching center only. good communication skill both Cross Cultural Communication and Domestic plays a vital part in soft skill, therefore, if your English in terms pronunciation is week then training on both Voice and Accent (spoken English) and Soft Skills have to be taken. If you excel in both, then I assure you, you can a job, out of Nagaland in the cooperate world, the most envious job in the world.

Because the packaged is extremely satisfactory plus many benefits are there, once you are inside, the Cooperate world your future is more or less secured. Here you can explore your own potential and promotion comes quite easily, depending on your performance, not under seniority bases. So, it is my appeal to the entire youngster to take the training on spoken English and also on the soft skill simultaneously. The training on both is not just confine to the youngsters only but to all who has the desire to learn. Our entire life depends on our Soft skill. Are you civilized or uncivilized is best judge by our Soft Skill, not by our qualifications.

Remember it is your Soft Skill, which will help you get a job and is your Soft Skill that will help retain your job, and again it is your Soft Skill, which if neglected you will lost your job, in the private sector. Be smart and make smart choice, in life just plan A is not adequate; you need a plan B, as a standby for your plan A. Toshi Jamir

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s the formal part of the Mokokchung 125 Years celebrations come to an end, this probably will be our last Position Paper on the theme. We shall now be trying to piece together the voices and thoughts of the people for a final document of Vision Mokokchung 2040.

As the last paper, we wish to cover another important issue which we feel cannot be left unsaid. During the process so far, the one thing that the youth of Mokokchung, the clear clarion voice that has come out is – they want Justice, Peace and Freedom! This we believe, without a debate, is what all the youth of not only Mokokchung but the people of Nagaland desire today.

But “Justice and Freedom” could mean different things to different people. To the man in jail and to the man living in a luxurious house, it could mean entirely different things. Yet what we believe the youth are saying is, they want justice in the system, they want peace in the land, and they want freedom from all forms of injustice, violence, underdevelopment, suppression and the freedom to achieve their full potential, goals and destiny. Only with such Freedom, a Vision for the future has substance.

Clearly implicit in the burning desire and cry of the youth for Justice, Peace and Freedom is that, these are missing in today’s Nagaland. Our Vision for 2040 is that our youth, our people and our future must have the justice, the peace and the freedom that we all feel in common is missing.

Not having Freedom would mean that we are not liberated.

We are enslaved. It is not necessarily a form of physical enslavement, but it could be of the mind too. There is actually very little difference in either of the enslavement. In this 21st century enslavement in the traditional definition may not be much visible, but enslavement of the mind certainly exists. We contend that our minds are enslaved. How is this so?

• If what conditions that binds you to the extent that you cannot do or speak even the thing which suits you best and that instead or releasing you, the conditions control you.

• If you are not doubting or questioning anything to find its implications and end result and rather you are swallowing it straight.

• If you are blinded by certain perceptions that blocks you from identifying your strengths and weaknesses.

• If your culture, language and history is belittled, not respected or unacknowledged.

• If you are owing allegiance to a system which does not provide you higher human values.

• If your behaviours are with reference to other only and not to yourself.

• If you are depending on oth-

ers and have inferiority complex with a loss of self-confidence.

• If you cannot voice our your feelings against things that affects your peace and comfort.

If the answers are ‘Yes’, then you are enslaved. The worst situation is where the slave does not realize that he is enslaved. This form of enslavement could be either individual or corporate. The root causes could be many and complex. Some causes could be quite apparent and obvious, such as the threat to life and liberty, militarization and extra-constitutional tools such as AFSPA with all its connected Indo-Naga political and historical conflict. Some could be in the form of economic situation, where due to, we being economically or financially dependent our freedom of thought and faculty of decision-making are suppressed or robbed. It could also be in the form of rigid traditional dogmas, which refuses to accommodate new ideas and thoughts, upto the extent of suppressing such initiatives. During the Panel Discussion on 14th15th December 2015, one such issue that came out strongly from amongst the participants is that of Longtrok issue. To even have a research exercise that Ao migration could have a timeline beyond Longtrok, has become a divisive issue today, where writers and research scholars have even been fined and penalized. This is traumatizing the academia, and frustrates every spirit of search and research in this area, thereby imprisoning our minds. This we feel is a great loss for our society.

Most parents in today’s Naga context too restricts the minds of their children, particularly with reference to gainful work and employment. A situation, where the definition of “work and employment” has been narrowed down to a government job only. The educational system too has not helped to re-define and enable the flowering of the potential of students.

Our minds remain enslaved with such archaic understanding of work and employment, thereby foregoing other great opportunities offered by a competitive and globalising world.

Corporate state of enslavement could also be apparent when they remain silent in spite of situations which call for speaking out the truth. Even governments are not immune to such conditions. Otherwise if true, what could explain that when the Jeevan Reddy Committee which was set up by the Govt of India to review the AFSPA, the Committee asked all the affected States to give their views but “the State governments of Manipur, Tripura and Nagaland did not send an official response” (Sudeep Chakravarti, Highway 39, 2012, p.256).

Even in the most recent case when the Assam Rifles issued a gag order to the local press, and even directed the state govt for

certain actions, crossing all lines of jurisprudence, the state govt strangely chose to remain silent.

A condition of enslavement.

A liberated mind can be one of the most potent force for facing the challenges of changes, dispensation of justice, peace, progress and development. But it is first necessary to become aware that one is indeed an enslaved person. Otherwise, if he/ she thinks that he is already a ‘free man’, then nothing else can be, nor need be done. But it is our contention that today, either individually or collectively, we are an enslaved people. And that if we are to truly march forward to achieve our true potential, the chains need to be broken.

The Queen Victoria Memorial Hall at Kolkata is a beautiful and impressive structure built by the British Imperial power.

There is an inscription in this Hall which has the message of the Queen Empress Victoria on assuming the title “Empress of India” at the proclamation Durbar Delhi 1st January 1877.

It reads;“We trust that the present occasion may tend to unite in bonds of yet closer affection ourselves and our subjects; that from the highest to the humblest all may feel that under our rule the great principles of liberty, equity and justice are secured to them and that to promote their happiness to add to their prosperity and advance their welfare are the ever present aims and objects of our empire”.

Such seductive works from an occupying power at a time when posh clubs in Kolkata had signs, “Dogs and Indians not allowed”! Yes, even sweet sounding words can be tools for enslavement. So, today, why are the youth crying out – we want “peace and freedom?”Shall we given them “peace and freedom” by saying that “tomorrow is yours”, “friends of the hill people”, “you are the leaders of the future” etc? Without the context of justice and true freedom, and without laying down a solid foundation today for their tomorrow, we fear that these are simply words of enslavement and of mockery.

Can we individually and collectively go through a journey of self-discovery, awareness and of sensitization on the true meaning of freedom? We don’t think that the people desire the peace and freedom of the grave, but of the living.

At times when rationality fails, our people take refuge in the comfort zone of “tradition states that” or “traditional states this”. There is nothing wrong in this, and at times, such ‘traditions’ should be respected and upheld as these practises also makes for a better society. Yet, these are words that at times, binds us to take bold forward looking steps. Often times, it prevents a scientific temper and encourages superstitious con-

duct and beliefs, including mixing up between myth and reality.

For instance, in one Ao folklore to explain some birth, a bird was supposed to have dropped the child from the sky as it flew high!

The Chinese and the Koreans have more than 3,000 years of written recorded history, and more than 4,000 years if oral history is also taken into account.

For the Aos, the origin of Longtrok and Chungliyimti as per archeological findings and carbon dating is roughly only about a 1,000 years old. Whenever there is an attempt to bring the few hundred years old oral history of the Aos to a written form, there are threats of fines and penalties from the “traditionalist”. This is not the way forward to try and expand the knowledge base of our rich tradition, history and culture. We fear that the future may blame this generation if this is allowed to be continued. This is where tradition and rationality backed by sound academic research and a scientific temper ought to take more bold and courageous steps for our society to liberate and to expand our mind.

The Naga culture or Ao culture in the present situation juxtaposed along with the many traditions or traditional practices, is greatly influenced by Christian teachings. This has resulted in creating confusion on many occasions. For instance, the practise of forgiving or compromising in many occasions in the name of being Christians does not conform to the acceptable norms of modernity, where rule of the law should be the criteria. This does not mean that one should not forgive. But it means that rule of the law cannot be simply thrown out in the name of being Christians – this only encourages injustice which is actually one of the core tenets of Christianity. Thus, do some of our traditions promote society or hinder the growth of new thoughts and ideas? Should we totally abandon our traditional practises along with their values systems to embrace modernity?

At a time when India was under complete British domination, Rabindranath Tagore famously wrote, “where the mind is without fear”, and inspired a generation of young Indians to fight for their freedom. The Naga youth of today, too needs to identify the chains of bondage and unshackle them, be inspired and fight for peace and freedom.

For the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. May God grant us the wisdom and the courage to be eternally vigilant.

Please give us your views and feedback at www.facebook. com/groups/ilovemokokchung.

Blog at visionmokokchung2040.wordpress.com email atmoaaier@gmail. com or akok_n@yahoo.co.intext whatsapp us at 8794158145 Mayangnokcha Award Trust

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.

MonDAY 28•12•2015

IN FOCUS

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THE MORUNG EXPRESS

The Power of Truth

The Morung Express X issue 351X issue 185 Thursday 9volume July 2015 volume By moa Jamir

Taking the traditional ethos beyond villages

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very Nagas who went or are spending the ongoing festive holidays in their native village might have encountered the elated experience of shaking hands with at least two dozen individuals apart from their immediate families and friends. A recognizable tradition for a frequent visitor, for a first timer, it can come across as a peculiar but a jubilant experience nonetheless.

Old familiar faces and stranger greet along the way and shower blessing with earnest prayer or two as one completes their homeward journey. Despite the rapid social change in recent times, such gestures and seamless conviviality makes one’s sojourn in village almost eye-opening and enriching experience.

True, in the midst of contemporary social re-construction, several time-honoured tradition and social interaction has lost its strong influences and relevance, but remnants of traditional values remains in the villages’ polity, albeit in bit and pieces.

Thus, in the Naga villages, the cultural values handed down from ancestors to posterity by oral tradition are revealed by lived reality. In bits, these traditional ethoses, despite the changes in recent times, remains more or less ingrained in which enable such with effortless interaction.

The cultural ethos of every society is unique and its form and essence are guided by various values and principle of life that transcend every human value. Visitors from town and cities, for starters, witness such values in lived-reality and may find the interfaces, a quite departure from their typical existence.

For instance, the villages, even small things from the farms or gardens are shared with neighbours and other acquaintances. Food and fruits seems to taste better if the same, however small, is shared with others.

If one casually drops in to a house in the village, you can be assured of instant hospitality and be guaranteed at least a cup of red-tea and a warm chat without any inhibition.

Another unusual feature in the Naga villages is the absence of locks and other apparatus to safeguard their home. Most of the household will have an open compound, offering glimpses of the secured living and trust within their surroundings.

Despite everything, at least in Christmas day and other festivities, every household in the village – from the richest to poorest – partakes a sumptuous meal shared amongst each other.

Yes, beneath the layer, several discordance and individual skirmishes exist, but in general, there is perceptible bonhomie in human interaction and their remnant continues.

Witnessing such reality, one is bound to ask whether the reliving of Nagas’ indigenous ethos and practices provide an answer to cure our present social ills.

At the same time, one wonders, whether the Nagas can transcend such values and ethos beyond the villages to the cities and town across the state? Does the cohesive geniality and solidarity go beyond the villages? Is this hospitality and congeniality restricted by our myopic view of villages, clans, tribe and community?

An honest retrospection in these queries may provide some way forward in identifying and diagnosing some social ills that plague the society in general.

For any comment, drop a line to moajamir@live.com.

lEfT wiNg |

Vishal Gulati | IANS

Running shoes out of her reach, but not the feat!

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ery little could have gone right for 15-year-old Baksho Devi, poor and fatherless, and with a stone in her gall bladder.

And very little has, actually, but for her courage and determination that have made her a hero on the social media, and in sports arena.

This Class 9 girl from Ispur village in Una district of Himachal Pradesh won a 5,000-metre race on December 22 to bag a gold medal in the district-level school athletics organised last week by the government, her coach Bagirath Chaudhry told IANS. Baksho Devi won the race despite running barefoot - for her family couldn't afford to buy her running shoes.

The youngest among the four sisters, Baksho participated in the race for the first time and won it despite a severe gallstone pain at the last minute, Chaudhry said.

She has now been shortlisted by the youth and sports department to participate in the state-level athletics meet.

"For me, P.T. Usha is a role model and her passion for athletics is an inspiration for me like others," said Baksho Devi.

"I want to be P.T. Usha."

Baksho, whose two elder sisters are married and the third one studies in Class 12, lost her father nine years ago. She juggles classes with domestic work along with her mother to earn a living for the family.

Her home is a little more than a shack and her diet bears no resemblance to what an athlete of her age should ideally get. One thing she does not lack is resolve.

"I am determined to pursue studies and succeed in athletics," she said.

Her widowed mother Bimla Devi said she could afford neither the proper outfit nor running shoes for the budding athlete. The girl ran in her school uniform.

"Now the help is coming from various people and organisations. She is now participating in the state-level event with proper dress and shoes," Bimla Devi said.

"The girls are not less than boys," the woman added, whose youngest child is a boy.

She said a doctor based in Solan town has offered to pay for the treatment of Baksho's gallstone after her plight went viral on the social media.

State Congress chief Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has announced a cash prize of Rs.11,000 to the brave girl.

"She has presented an example that anything can be achieved in life with strong determination and constant efforts," he said.

Sukhu has assured Baksho of all possible help if she wishes to become sportsperson in her life.

He also called on the state government to extend all possible help to her.

C O M M E N T A R Y

Fabiana Frayssinet Inter Press Service

Indigenous Villagers Fight the “Evil Spirit” of Hydropower Dam in Brazil

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t dusk on the Tapajós River, one of the main tributaries of the Amazon River in northern Brazil, the Mundurukú indigenous people gather to bathe and wash clothes in these waters rich in fish, the staple of their diet. But the “evil spirit”, as they refer in their language to the Sao Luiz Tapajós dam, threatens to leave most of their territory – and their way of life – under water.

“The river is like our mother. She feeds us with her fish. Just as our mothers fed us with their milk, the river also feeds us,” said Delsiano Saw, the teacher in the village of Sawré Muybu, between the municipalities of Itaituba and Trairao in the northern Brazilian state of Pará.

“It will fill up the river, and the animals and the fish will disappear. The plants that the fish eat, the turtles, will also be gone. Everything will vanish when they flood this area because of the hydroelectric dam,” he told IPS. The dam will flood 330 sq km of land – including the area around this village of 178 people.

According to the government’s plans, the Sao Luiz Tapajós dam will have a potential of 8,040 MW and will be the main dam in a complex of hydropower plants to be built along the Tapajós River and its tributaries by 2024.

But the 7.7 billion-dollar project has been delayed once again because of challenges to the environmental permitting process.

“The accumulative effect is immeasurable. Environmental experts have demonstrated that it will kill the river. No river can survive a complex of seven dams,” Mauricio Torres, a sociologist at the Federal University of Western Pará (UFOPA), told IPS. The Tapajós River, which flows into the Amazon River, runs 871 km through one of the best-preserved areas in the subtropical rainforest, where the government whittled away at protected areas in order to build the hydroelectric dams, which are prohibited in wildlife reserves.

The area is home to 12,000 members of the Mundurukú indigenous community and 2,500 riverbank dwellers who are opposed to the “megaproject” – a Portuguese term that the native people have incorporated in their language, to use in their frequent protests.

The Mundurukú have historically been a warlike people, and although they have adopted many Brazilian customs in their way of life, they still wear traditional face paint when they go to the big cities to demonstrate against the dam.

Village chief Juarez Saw complains that they were not consulted, as required by International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 169 concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries, which has been ratified by Brazil.

The process of legalisation of their indigenous territory has been interrupted by the hydropower project.

“We aren’t leaving this land,” he told IPS. “There is a law that says we can’t be moved unless an illness is killing indigenous people.”

The village is located in a spot that is sacred to the Mundurukú people. And they point out that their ancestors were born here and are buried here.

“This is going to hurt, us, not only the Mundurukú people who have lived along the Tapajós River for so many years, but the jungle, the river. It hurts in our hearts,” said the village’s shaman or traditional healer, Fabiano Karo.

The interview is taking place in the ceremonial hut where the shaman heals “ailments of the body and spirit.” He fears being left without his traditional medicines when the water covers the land around the village – and his healing plants.

Academics warn that the flooding will cause significant losses in plant cover, while generating greenhouse gas emissions due to the decomposition of the

“A

nd so this is Christmas, and what have you done?” That’s the question which John Lennon puts to us in his famous Christmas song. In the chorus, he gets right to the point, to the heart of Christmas: “War is over, if you want it.”

For some, that might seem like a leap of faith, but I think John Lennon’s theology was better than most. If you want to celebrate Christmas, he says, work for the end of war and the culture of war. Spend your life pursuing a new culture of peace for everyone.

Christmas celebrates the birth of the most active person of nonviolence in the history of the world, as Gandhi once described Jesus. In the Gospel account of Jesus’ birth to homeless refugees, angels announce to poor shepherds the coming of peace on earth.

He grew up to become a great peacemaker, a nonviolent activist who denounced war and systemic injustice and offered the gift of peace to everyone near and far.

The life of Jesus is a record of pure, radical nonviolence, like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught the methodology and vision of nonviolence--“Offer no violent resistance to one who does evil,” “Love your enemies,” “Hunger and thirst for justice,” “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

He formed a community of nonviolent resisters and organized a grassroots movement of nonviolence to disarm everyone. He led his campaign of nonviolence from the countryside to Jerusalem where he engaged in dramatic

A little girl in Sawré Muybu, an indigenous village on the Tapajós River between the municipalities of Itaituba and Trairao in the northern Brazilian state of Pará. (Photo: Fabiana Frayssinet/IPS)

trees and plants that are killed.

This biodiversity-rich river basin is home to unique species of plants, birds, fish and mammals, many of which are threatened or endangered.

“The impact will be great, especially on the aquatic fauna, because many Amazon River basin fish migrate from the lower to the upper stretches of the rivers to spawn,” ecologist Ricardo Scuole, at the UFOPA university, explained to IPS. “Large structures like dikes, dams and artificial barriers generally hinder or entirely block the spawning migration of these species,” he said.

The village of Sawré Muybu currently covers 300 hectares, and the flooding for the hydroelectric dam will reduce it to an island.

María Parawá doesn’t know how old she is, but she does know she has always lived on the river.

“I’m afraid of the flood because I don’t know where I’ll go. I have a lot of sons, daughters and grandchildren to raise and I don’t know how I’ll support them,” Parawá told IPS through an interpreter, because like many women in the village, she does not speak Portuguese.

A few hours from Sawré Muybu is Pimental, a town of around 800 inhabitants on the banks of the Tapajós River, where people depend on agriculture and small-scale fishing for a living.

This region was populated by migrants from the country’s impoverished semiarid Northeast in the late 19th century, at the height of the Amazon rubber boom.

Pimental, many of whose inhabitants were originally from the Northeast, could literally vanish from the map when the reservoir is created.

“With the impact of the dam, our entire history could disappear underwater,” lamented Ailton Nogueira, president of the association of local resi-

dents of Pimental.

The consortium that will build the hydroelectric dam, led by the Eletrobrás company, has proposed resettling the local inhabitants 20 km away.

But for people who live along the riverbanks, like the Mundurukú, the river and fishing are their way of life, sociologist Mauricio Torres explained.

“Their traditional knowledge has been built over millennia, passing from generation to generation,” he told IPS. “It is at least 10,000 years old. When a river is dammed and turned into a lake, it is transformed overnight and this traditional knowledge, which was how that region survived, is wiped away.”

The Tapajós River dams are seen by the government as strategic because they will provide energy to west-central Brazil and to the southeast – the richest and most industrialised part of the country.

“The country needs them. Otherwise we are going to have blackouts,” said José de Lima, director de of planning in the municipality of Santarém, Pará.

But the Tapajós Alive Movement (MTV), presided over by Catholic priest Edilberto Sena, questions the need for the dams.

“Why do they need so many hydropower dams on the Tapajós River? That’s the big question, because we don’t need them. It’s the large mining companies that need this energy, it’s the São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro markets that need it,” he told IPS. It’s evening in Sawré Muybu and the families gather at the “igarapé”, as they call the river. While people bathe, the women wash clothes and household utensils.

From childhood, boys learn to fish, hunt and provide the village with water. For the community, the river is the source of life.

“And no one has the right to change the course of life,” says Karo, the local shaman.

War is Over! - If You Want It: Christmas Celebrates Nonviolence Rev. John Dear CommonDreams nonviolent civil disobedience and was immediately arrested and killed. But he lived on in the community and the movement, and that creative nonviolence continues today.

To claim the name of Christian is to be a practitioner of Gospel nonviolence. To celebrate the birth of the nonviolent Jesus is to do our part in his ongoing grassroots movement of nonviolence to welcome the gift of peace on earth. “War is over,” Jesus announced. “Peace is yours, if you want it. Get involved and join the movement of nonviolence.”

To be a Christian is to renounce every trace of violence and carry on Jesus’ grassroots movement of Gospel nonviolence. It is to see life through the eyes of peace, and the nonviolent struggle for peace on earth. It means renouncing our own violence and our complicity in the culture of violence. We get rid of our guns, stop supporting the military, serve the poor, welcome the refugee, advocate for justice, and work for disarmament.

It means upholding a whole new vi-

sion of shared humanity, a whole new world of nonviolence.

What’s so interesting is that more than a hundred years ago, Gandhi discovered that every religion is rooted in nonviolence. He realized that nonviolence lay at the heart of Hinduism.

With his friend Abdul Gaffer Khan, he learned that nonviolence was central to Islam. His Jewish friends taught him that shalom/nonviolence was key to Judaism. Buddhism, he saw, places nonviolence in the air we breathe. And he began reading the Sermon on the Mount every day and found there what he considered the best blueprint of nonviolence ever written.

We all need to rediscover the nonviolence at the heart of every spiritual tradition. That will help us discern the prejudice and false claims we hear these days. It will also help us pursue a new culture of interfaith nonviolence.

But Christians first and foremost need to rediscover their nonviolence.

We have not just ignored the nonviolence of Jesus; we have outright re-

wRiTE-wiNg

jected it and mocked it. In its place, we have created cults of violence that have nothing to do with the nonviolent Jesus. In the name of the false gods of war, we justify violence, hatred, corporate greed, racism, guns, warfare and environmental destruction.

Each year, Christmas invites Christians to reject violence and war, to break with the betrayal of past Christian history, and to start over again on the journey of nonviolence in the footsteps of the nonviolent Jesus.

Christmas is a celebration of nonviolence, pure and simple. It invites us to repent of violence and choose once again Jesus’ way of nonviolence. It summons us to name warfare as obsolete and get on with the work of practicing nonviolence in our personal lives; joining the global grassroots movement of nonviolence for disarmament and justice; and institutionalizing nonviolent conflict resolution.

Christmas calls us to a high ideal: the abolition of war itself, and along with it, the abolition of poverty, corporate greed, racism, executions, empire, fascism, nuclear weapons, and environmental destruction. This goal is achievable, if we want it.

That’s the message of Christmas.

Peace is ours, if we want it. John Lennon was right. So were Gandhi and Dr. King. We, too, can side with the voices and visionaries of peace and do our part to hasten the abolition of war and injustice and the coming of a new world of nonviolence.

That’s a goal, a vision, a way of life worth celebrating.

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.

MonDAY 28•12•2015

PERSPECTIVE

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Long Live the WTO - Doha Development Agenda is dead

I

t took the environs of a developing country in an economically depressed continent to drive the final nails into the Doha Development coffin.When WTO’s tenth ministerial was held in Nairobi between 15 and 19th December the expectations from the Doha Round were at an all-time low.It was 14 years since the launch of the Doha Development Agenda and there was scarcely anything apart from the Bali package on trade facilitation (2013) to show as results for the nine rounds of tortuous negotiations. Commentators were predicting the death of the development round which was launched with great ambition in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and a general apathy towards world trade among developing countries. 2015 is a different world from 2001 when the development agenda was launched.

The main reason for the snail’s progress of the Doha round was the stricture that decision-making bebased on consensus. Even as multilateral trade negotiations under the WTO and the Doha round was getting stuck the regional treaties like the Trans Pacific Partnership(TPP) involving 12-Pacific rim countries that included the US and Japan were finalised. Substantial progresswas seen with the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the Pacific Alliance in Latin America and a host of other regional trade agreements. The number of Regional Trade Agreements which stood at roughly 80 in 2001 at the beginning of the round ballooned to more than 619 being notified by the WTO as of Dec 2015 (and more than 400 active agreements).

Background This coincidence was attributed to the slow progress made by the WTO forcing member nations to look for other alternatives on the trade front. It was in the back drop of such frustrations that trade representatives from 162 trading areas met at Nairobi to discuss the future of the multilateral trading forum. This apart the world has also seen a reduction in average tariffs by half from 15% in 1995 to 8% in 2014. China entered the WTO in 2001 and has since emerged as the largest exporter of goods in the world.

Roberto Azevedo, the Director General of the WTO was tasked with ensuring the continued relevance of the multilateral trade body. His focus has largely been on do-ability and progress. This set agenda for the ministerial in Kenya which the Nairobi ministerial ended with 6 different decisions spread over the 3 broad areas of agriculture, cotton and Least Developed Country (LDC) issues. A decision was taken at the ministerial to continue negotiations to arrive at a mutually agreeable and permanent solution to the issue of public stock holding of food grains and keeping alive a special safeguard mechanism for developing countries under which developing countries are allowed to impose tariffs to prevent import surges.The agreements on agricultural export subsidies included

policy

papers

The Morung Express POLL rESuLTS

This Christmas, should the Church be doing more to uplift the underprivileged and living in poverty? Why? 61%

By Vyasan R

immediate abolishing of all forms of agricultural export subsidies by developed countries and a scheduled abolition by 2018 for all developing countries was also agreed to in the ministerial. With regard to cotton the declaration mentions duty free and quota free access to cotton and cotton-related products originating from LDCs. Of the 48 countries who have been designated as LDCs, 34 are members of the WTO and two more are on the verge of joining the WTO. Preferential treatment provisions were made simpler for goods originating from LDCs. The simplification provisions to implement the decisions reached in Bali in 2013 were also agreed to at Nairobi. These latter are expected to help improve the access of LDC goods in world markets and hence improve the economic condition of 12% of the world’s population.

Though the main decisions mentioned above were arrived at in Nairobi some differences regarding the continuation of the Doha Development Round seemed to have surfaced and found its way into the Ministerial declaration. Thus it was clearly mentioned in the declaration that some of the countries reaffirmed the commitment to the Doha Development Agenda whereas others do not subscribe to the commitments of the Doha agenda. In other words the grandiose ambitions of the Doha round have been belied and the DDA has fallen under its own weight. The Doha development agenda seemed to be on its way out.

The reasons are not far to seek. As mentioned earlier, the lack of substantial progress with successive negotiations being stalled by different countries added to the burden of expectations generated by the multilateral body. If we read the lack of progress (only one agreement in 14 years the Trade Facilitation Agreement reached in 2013 in Bali. Though anticipated to increase the world merchandise exports by $1 trillion it has been ratified only by 56 member countries). The pragmatic approach of the Director General who insisted on focusing on do-ability and movement in trade agreements already anticipated the demise of the DDA. The declaration confirmed the same.

WTO and India The gains to India from the Nairobi ministerial have been minimal. By neither blocking nor amending the text of the Doha Ministerial declaration, India has effectively endorsed the burial of the development agenda. India has however, shared its disappointment with the Nairobi declaration and has nothing to showcase by way of forward movement in its core concerns of public procurement and storage of food grains special safeguard mechanisms for developing countries. It seems that at the end of the day the developed countries used the shield of Least Developed Countries to fight the developing countries in the trade game. The developed countries have given substantial concessions to LDCs in the declaration but have not reaffirmed the Doha mandate.The negotiation strategy for the developed countries is quite clear ex-post.

The developed countries used the Nairobi negotiations deftly, pitting the economic livelihoods of the poorest people represented by the LDCs against the increasingly dominant emerging economies. They managed to puncture holes in the arguments for high growth economies like China, India, South Africa, South Korea and Indonesia against the plight of farmers and the poorest in LDCs like Cambodia, Bangladesh, Angola and others. The discrepancy between the claims of the developing countries and the ‘real poor’ represented by the LDCs were highlighted.The unjust nature of concessions being demanded by developing countries then became obvious. There was also the need to keep the WTO alive as an institution of relevance in an era of increasingly high regional and bilateral trade agreements. This meant that WTO continues to live, albeit without its development baggage. It does not however mean that the rights of the developing countries have been protected. When the real interests of the developed countries is impacted, like in the case of cotton in the early years of the WTO, the day of reckoning for the multilateral body will soon be upon it.

(The author is an IAS officer of Nagaland cadre. The views expressed in his column, featured every Monday, are personal.

Feedback can be emailed to vyasan_r@yahoo.com)

The world's girls: no voice, no rights 2 Lyric Thompson

015 is a milestone year that stands at the intersection of several major anniversaries for human rights and development. Perhaps most visibly, this is the 15th anniversary of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and therefore the year world leaders will formally close out the Millennium Charter and adopt a new global development framework.

For women and girls, it’s the 20th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and its crucial policy framework, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

One would think, therefore, that 2015 would be a year in which the global community would come together and imagine new rights standards that will set lofty goals for the next generation. Yet so far, this does not seem to be the case. Rather, global leaders are taking a more cautious - or even overtly conservative - approach to negotiations on women’s and girls’ rights.

Advocates must not only push governments to set new standards, but must ensure they simply affirm, or worse still, not lose ground on, old ones.

Deniz Kandiyoti wrote recently on openDemocracy 50.50 about the transnational alliances that are working to take “all matters relating to sexuality, to the control of female bodies, and to reproductive choice” out of the realm of civic deliberation.

“Such is the momentum,” said Kandiyoti “…that the UN failed to pass a resolution for a Fifth World Conference on Women from fear of the consequences of re-opening international agreements on women’s rights.”

Indeed, thanks to the growing trend Kandiyoti describes, this inauspicious Beijing anniversary year finds advocates headed to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) next month with a tepid draft outcome document - and one that will have been pre-negotiated, signed, sealed and delivered before they have even set foot in the UN complex.

A small point on process, perhaps, but one worth exploring further: Typically, the CSW outcome document the Agreed Conclusion - are negotiated during the course of the two weeks of Commission meetings. Thousands of feminist activists attend the CSW, host side events and lobby governments for their particular advocacy objectives.

This year, there are no Agreed Conclusions, and the outcome document - a

7

“political declaration,” - is being negotiated as we speak, a month in advance of the meetings. According to some, the decision to pre-negotiate a political declaration marking the 20th anniversary of Beijing was an effort to avoid the inevitable conservative backlash against affirmations of gender equality and female empowerment, an evasive maneuver to avoid reversing progress.

Sound familiar? It should. Ann Marie Goetz and Joanne Sandler similarly point out in their article, Women's rights have no country, that the same line of thinking led to the ultimate decision not to mark the 20th anniversary of the ICPD with an international conference last year, and indeed that many women’s rights advocates “breathed a sigh of relief when UN Member States failed to pass a resolution in favour of holding a Fifth World Conference” for fear of losing momentum on women’s rights.

This is an impossible position for an activist, particularly a young activist: to have the fire in one’s belly of wanting to push for newer, better rights standards that build upon those important platforms of Beijing and Cairo you’ve inherited, yet “knowing better”… knowing, or very strongly suspecting, that to do so might actually roll back those very rights standards the community holds dear.

Certainly, it can be conceded, that a pre-negotiated document might be preferable if it were allowed to not only reaffirm existing standards, but also imagine new ones. Rights through the back door are still rights, one could suppose.

But instead, the draft Declaration is a bland document lacking strong commitments to human rights, to adolescent girls, and to sexual and reproductive rights, among others. The prenegotiated nature means the whole affair will be settled well before the thousands of activists who go to great trouble and expense to travel to New York from all over the world have arrived. It is then left to only those groups with permanent representation in New York - many of which, thank goodness, are strong and inclusive coalition leaders who funnel information and engagement opportunities back and forth to the global sisterhood with incredible speed and efficiency - to represent our global interests, in the ever-winnowing space that they have to do so.

For no population is there a greater risk of being left off the agenda entirely, even after a year when global attention to them has arguably been at its highest (see Malala’s Peace Prize), than adolescent girls. At the first reading of the draft Declaration, which took place at the UN on 29 January, one govern-

ment representative stated that Beijing did not address girls and therefore neither should the CSW review. The official had clearly overlooked the final critical area, part L, on “The Girl Child,” where governments explicitly asserted girls’ human rights to live free of abuse, discrimination, forced marriage and other harmful traditional practices, the current draft is noticeably deficient in attention to the specific rights, needs and assets of girls.

This comes on the heels of similar developments in the post-2015 process. Late last year, the Secretary General released a much-anticipated report outlining his proposed framework for the post-2015, sustainable development agenda. It left much to be desired. Absent was a call for a standalone gender goal (though he did endorse the Open Working Group’s draft framework as a starting-point for negotiations). His report, too, lacked any reference to adolescent girls, who decades of research shows, are an important element of any effort to alleviate poverty. ICRW’s research has shown that when girls are treated equally at home and in public, they feel safer in school and are more likely to continue their education, which leads to more informed citizens, workers, souses and parents who can contribute to sustainable development. In Bangladesh, Egypt, Ethiopia and India has further demonstrated the importance of empowering girls to change discriminatory knowledge, attitudes and practices - all of which was called for in Beijing, and that girl-focused programs expand girls’ ability to make strategic life choices by providing them with access to critical resources. It was as true in Beijing in 1995 as it is now: the global community must invest in girls themselves, in proven approaches that empower them to be agents of change.

Yet instead, in this important anniversary year, the community of feminist and girl advocates finds the global debate at the intersection of fundamentally important rights and development policy processes that make no room for their participation and hence, unsurprisingly, make no mention of their rights and needs. How will we build on Beijing with no space for girls’ - or even women’s - voices at the UN? How will we design a post-2015 framework that responds to our needs without articulating goals and targets designed to advance the most marginalized?

How indeed?

29% 10%

YES

NO

OTHER

Some of those who voted YES had this to say • Yes, this goes without saying. I wish the churches instead of spending so much money on the decorations and printing of programs would utilize the same amount of money to do something for the under-privileged.

• Yes, because good news for the poor is a huge part of Christmas. Good news that does not include physical deliverance is short of the true meaning of the gospel.

• The Church is to serve the poor, the weak and the helpless just like Jesus was on the side of those who were persecuted. This is not even a question that should be raised. It is understood.

• The Church should be doing much more than just uplift the under privileged and not just during Christmas. It is very sad that during Christmas time, everyone is only engrossed in their own busy schedule that we forget that Christmas is a time of sharing. Our Churches are the same, they are indulging only in themselves.

• Yes because every living counts and should be valued.

No matter if some ended up or grew up in poverty deserved or by too much bad luck/unfairness or any other problems.. uplifting from the inside by others could also be a first good step to help these people to change their own life, get up again or stay stronger inside to live happier on, or just to keep on having the WILL to live on at all..

Every Living "should" count! Besides does a state of less poverty look better to the world, it could even improve the economic situation.. there are actually many reasons why "not giving them totally up or ignore", why we "should" uplift them.. and as i experienced helping others could also give urself as human being a better feel, too..it connects us. Take & Give.. And especially when itz Christmas Time- The Fiest of "Love" • Yes, the Church needs to do more for the public. But does the Church realize that this is their responsibility and duty? It like trying to wake up a bear during the time of hibernation.

• Yes, because money is going to wrong persons, who are spoiling their sons by giving easy money. life is only to work for own and others, help the poor to eat, but not for your son,, who will get easy money and nothing work, will get intoxicated and ultimately die, here the father will be responsible for son's death. so give the4 money to poor and let your son to work for his own bread and excess money to the poor to eat food to be strong to serve the other people. Keep money only for treatment at your old age, but not for children.

• They should..the amount of money they receive..its in crores of rupees..they definitely should..

• Yes, the churches need to reach out instead of trying to compete with each other in constructing building. Pastors and deacons, please try to understand the basic principles of Christianity first. Practice what you preach.

• Yes, the Naga Baptist church is like out state government it only exit for it self. not for the down and out. shame on the naga churches • Yes, Jesus was the son of a carpenter and he was born in a manger. Naga churches have forgotten that Jesus was born into a poor working class family and he lived among the under-privileged people. The churches need to do much much more to uplift the people. The front rows of our churches should be reserved not for the rich politicians, but for the poor people.

Some of those who voted NO had this to say • No, the Churches are not doing anything at all. They are only busy decorating their own Churches and trying to out do one another with who has the best decoration.

They have no time to think about the poor and hungry.

• No. Instead of opening the doors of the church to the poor, hungry and underprivileged, the church leaders are busy with their own programs. They actually do not have any time for the people who are most in need. The spirit of Christmas in giving is not there.

Some of those who voted OTHERS had this to say • We need to understand that the Church in Nagaland is slowly beginning to mature. In the past, it was mostly lay pastors, who never went to seminaries, they were self-taught theologians who were touched by the Holy Spirit to serve God and so in the process, many things were also very narrowly interpreted from the Bible. But today, the young theologians who are educated and taught in the seminaries do not have that excuse anymore. They need to get their acts together.

• This is an important theological question for our Church.

Our Churches need to start serving the people.

• Our beloved Nagaland is now becoming a state where the gap between rich and poor is becoming much more.

Our politicians are spending crores of money for this children wedding while our teachers are not getting paid. So where is our Church? Why is our Church remaining silent while the public are suffering? Is the Church not supposed to speak out for the voiceless? Is our Church supporting the politicians, or are they supposed to be with the weak and the helpless? Our Church is in confusion and this confusion is destroying our society.

• Our Church leaders must wake up from their deep slumber and start doing what they gospel demands of them.

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

MonDAY 28•12•2015

INDIA

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Behind the scenes, Pak military helped revive talks with India

ISLAMABAD, DeceMBer 27 (reuterS): The quiet involvement of Pakistan's powerful military in its foreign policy this year paved the way for reviving a stalled dialogue with India, officials said, a thaw leading to the first visit to Pakistan by an Indian premier in almost 12 years.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surprise trip to meet Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif on Friday raised hopes that stop-andstart negotiations between the nuclear-armed neighbours might finally mean progress after more than 65 years of hostility.

Aides say the meeting was arranged directly between the two prime ministers on just a few hours' notice when Modi called to wish 66-year-old Sharif a happy birthday.

But even before Modi arrived in Lahore, relations between the nuclear-armed rivals had begun to thaw, with a resumption of dialogue already in the offing.

On Friday, Modi and Sharif agreed that their foreign secretaries would meet in mid-January to restart talks.

Pakistani officials say "ownership" of peace talks by the military and the appointment of a recently retired general as the national security adviser have given Pakistan renewed confidence to restart dialogue with India, including speaking about the thorny issue of terrorism.

"This round is different because there is backing from the top where it matters ... the army chief

is himself on board," a top diplomat said before the visit.

Army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif is said to be close to the new national security adviser, recently retired general Naseer Khan Janjua, who in October replaced civilian Sartaj Aziz, an ally of the prime minister.

Many saw the move as strengthening the army's hand in talks with India, with the military remaining wary of a civilian government giving too much away.

"General Janjua has immense experience in these matters. He's the best man for the job and he has already proven to be an asset to this (peace) process," one member of Nawaz Sharif’s cabinet said earlier in December.

"It's only an added benefit that he has a direct line to the (army) chief," he added.

A senior Indian official in New Delhi also said military backing for peace talks marked a major change, with Janjua's involvement as national security advisor a key sign that Gen. Sharif supports resuming the dialogue.

Direct contact between the two prime ministers is a major factor in thawing relations - they met on the sidelines of the Paris climate change summit last month. However Pakistani officials said that true change only became possible after Janjua's appointment.

Earlier this month, the national security advisers of both countries met in Bangkok, paving the way

'Nawaz-Modi meeting to have far-reaching impact on peace'

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (L) walks with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi after Modi's arrival in Lahore on December 25. (REUTERS Photo)

for Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj's visit to Pakistan for the Heart of Asia summit where she agreed to reopen dialogue with Pakistan, thereby resuming a process broken off since 2012.

Previous attempts to resume talks have been postponed time after time, mostly due to the Indian government's insistence that the focus of discussion must be, first and foremost, about terrorism. India accuses Pakistan-based militants for masterminding the 2008 Mumbai attacks that left 166 dead.

By contrast, Pakistan says the disputed territory of Kashmir is the paramount topic.

With a military man having a greater say in the

process, there is more confidence about discussing such sensitive topics, several officials said.

"I think in the past there was a hesitation from Pakistan, understandably, to talk about terrorism [with India] but that may have changed," the diplomat told Reuters.

"There is better division of labour. The real decisionmaking is happening behind the scenes. The rest is just optics."

AMERICAN PRESSURE Pakistani officials and western diplomats in Islamabad said U.S. officials also worked hard to convince army chief Sharif during his visit to Washington last month to support going back to the ne-

gotiating table.

"India came up a lot during the army chief's visit to Washington, definitely with the Secretary of State [John Kerry] and also others," a western diplomat said.

A second member of Sharif’s cabinet said the same of Modi.

"Our understanding is that when Modi was in the United States, he was encouraged very strongly by Obama to rethink his approach toward Pakistan," the minister said.

A close aide to Modi in India said U.S. officials always push for reviving India-Pakistan talks and external pressure was not a factor.

"Modi-ji's visit to Pakistan was not dictat-

ed by America but it was planned to keep the national and regional interest in mind," the aide said, using a Hindi term of respect for the premier.

While Pakistan's army may have changed its thinking on talks, even the landmark Modi visit or support from influential facilitators does not guarantee success in a fraught peace process where all sides remain deeply suspicious.

A senior security official close to the talks process was wary when responding to the Modi visit.

"It is a positive step that he came ... definitely ... but we still have to move with caution," he said. "It's a new Modi in an old bottle; Nawaz Sharif should take it one sip at a time."

ISLAMABAD, DeceMBer 27 (IANS): The meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan Premier Nawaz Sharif will definitely augur well for the foreign secretaries' level talks scheduled in January in Islamabad, according to media here.

The meeting between the two prime ministers was welcomed by politicians in both India and Pakistan while the UN, the US, China and other countries have termed it a positive development which would leave a far-reaching impact on the regional peace, The Nation reported.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said: "Pakistan and India are important countries in South Asia."

He said the improvement in relations between the two countries was significant to regional peace, stability and development.

The US State Department said Modi's overture towards Pakistan would "benefit the entire region". "We welcome the December 25 talks between PM Modi and PM Sharif in Lahore. As we have long said, improved relations among neighbours will benefit the entire region," spokesperson John Kirby said on Saturday.

Adviser to prime minister on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz said it was unplanned brief stopover of Modi in Lahore on his way back to New Delhi.

Aziz, special assistant on foreign affairs Tariq Fatemi and National Security Adviser Lieutenant General Nasir Khan Janjua could not join Sharif in the meeting at his Jati Umra residence.

However, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry, Pakistan's Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif attended the meeting, Aziz said.

The news of the stopover was announced by Modi on Twitter: "Looking forward to meeting PM Nawaz Sharif in Lahore today afternoon, where I will drop by on my way back to Delhi." Within minutes, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted: "That's like a statesman. Padosi se aise hi rishte hone chahiyen (One should have such relations with neighbours)." Pakistan's other political parties such as Pakistan Peoples Party, Pakistan Tehriki-Insaf, Awami National Party and Qaumi Watan Party welcomed the move and hoped it would go well in normalising the relations between the two countries.

After seeing off Modi at the Lahore airport, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry said Nawaz and Modi met in cordial atmosphere, and it was agreed upon in the meeting that people-to-people contact should be enhanced and other confidence-building measures should be taken to improve the relations between the two sides.

Akali Dal, Congress & AAP target Uproot BJP, Trinamool for ruining India, Bengal: CPI-M one another at religious gathering FAtehgArh SAhIB (PuNjAB), DeceMBer 27 (IANS): With state assembly polls on the mind, major political parties attacked one another on Sunday over the state of affairs of Punjab at political conferences organised during the "Shaheedi Jor Mela" in this holy Sikh town.

Be it the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal, the opposition Congress, new entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or the radical-minded Shiromani Akali DalAmritsar, the political conferences they organised during the religious congregation here were a clear indicator that all parties were gearing up for the 2017 assembly polls.

The Akali Dal accused the Congress and other parties of conspiracies to create unrest in Punjab.

"I must warn you that there are many conspiracies against the Akali Dal and Sikhs. The Congress is the biggest enemy of Sikhs," Akali Dal president and Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said in his address.

Terming the SAD a "unique party", he said: "The Akali Dal represents

Sikhs' community. It has always stood for interests of Sikhs."

Launching a frontal attack on the ruling party, Congress state chief Amarinder Singh said that the Akali Dal government, which has been in power in the state since 2007, has ruined Punjab.

"Punjab is in a complete mess and only the Akali Dal and Badals are responsible for this. The law and order situation is deteriorating and the state is in a financial mess. The Congress is ready to make them bite the dust," he said.

Taking both of them on, the AAP leadership, led by Lok Sabha member Bhagwant Mann and Punjab unit leader S.S. Chhotepur, said that the Akali Dal and Congress were involved in friendly political fights and had encouraged corruption in the state.

The Shiromani Akali Dal-Amritsar leadership, including president Simranjit Singh Mann, blamed the Akali Dal government for not being able to control recent incidents of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib and firing on those protesting against these incidents.

President Pranab stresses on imparting of quality education hyDerABAD, DeceMBer 27 (PtI): President Pranab Mukherjee today stressed on imparting of quality education and promotion of skill development as he called for drawing inspiration from the ancient era when India was home to renowned higherlearning institutes that attracted foreign scholars.

He rued that despite having a vast higher education system, only a couple of Indian institutes figured in the global top 200 and that too recently.

"When we talk of quality education, skill development is an inherent part of it. Given our population structure, its diversity and vastness, a degree catering to a 'one size fits all' prescription no longer works.

"Skill development is directly related to the employment prospects of our youth and, therefore, the focus has to be on providing quality education with skill development," he said. Addressing the 98th annual conference of Indian Economic Association here, the President said, "When one talks about education and skill development, we feel a sense of pride when we look back at India's history."

India, in the ancient past, had been the front-runner in education and universities like Takshila (now in Pakistan) and Nalanda had been centres of higher learning for students from India and neighbouring countries, Mukherjee

said. With over 700 universities, including 44 central ones, and around 36,000 colleges, India has one of the largest higher education systems anywhere in the world, he said. "It is equally a matter of concern that till very recently we did not have a single university figuring in the global top 200."

He said it is only now, after concerted efforts and policy interventions, that two of our institutions -- IISC Bangalore and IIT-Delhi -- broke into the top 200 globally. The need of the hour, therefore, is to focus not only on education per se, but more importantly on quality, he said. The debate becomes even more pertinent when one talks of it in terms of accessibility on the one hand and privatisation and globalisation of higher education, on the other, he noted.

"While these measures aim at increasing employability, the emphasis also has to be on providing adequate employment opportunities. Growth would be meaningful and inclusive only if it results in improving the standards of the last man, as welfare economists are fond of saying."

India is a young nation and hence it becomes imperative for government and policy makers to come up with policies for achieving growth with job creation, he said. The Indian economy has proved its resilience -- it has withstood the US financial and eurozone crises, he said.

KoLKAtA, DeceMBer 27 (IANS): The CPI-M on Sunday went all guns blazing against the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and the Mamata Banerjee regime in West Bengal, and called for uprooting both the BJP and the Trinamool Congress, saying one was spreading poison while the other has taken the state on the road to destruction.

Addressing a rally at the Brigade Parade Grounds kick-starting the Communist Party of India-Marxist's five-day plenum here, Marxists leaders called for strengthening the Left parties, asserting that they alone had viable alternative policies.

Expressing alarm over the Centre "spreading communalism across the country" and the Banerjee government taking Bengal on the brink of disaster, former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, presiding over the rally, gave a call for the removal of the BJP and the Trinamool to save the country and the state.

"The BJP is spreading poison, spreading fire, and the country will be ruined. We have to remove the BJP. "The Mamata government has taken Bengal to the verge of de-

struction. This state is bankrupt, people here don't have a future...

This can't be allowed," said Bhattacharjee giving the call of "BJP hatao, desh bachao" (remove BJP, save the country) and 'Trinamool hatao, Bengal bachao" (Remove Trinamool, save Bengal).

Exhorting party activists to prepare for the 2016 assembly polls, Bhattacharjee said: "There is a big battle ahead, and we have to be prepared. We will fight it to win it. We have to win it."

Ridiculing Modi over his frequent foreign visits, CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury said superficial talks between leaders will not succeed in strengthening IndiaPakistan relations.

"Modi had said 'we won't talk to Pakistan unless they stop terrorism'.

Now talks have started.

"Talks are needed. Talks should take place. Relations between the two countries need to be strengthened. For this, we are with you.

"But you cannot hear (Pakistani) ghazal singer Ghulam Ali in Mumbai. You won't allow the Pakistan cricket team to play here. This sort of superficial talks will yield no result," he said.

Continuing the attack, politburo member Brinda Karat asserted that the Marxists will not yield a "single inch" in Bengal to the divisive forces of the BJP and the RSS and ridiculed the Trinamool for not standing up against the BJP's spread of communal intolerance.

"When the whole country was protesting, people were returning their awards, the Trinamool MPs were nowhere to be seen.

"Well, they were either in jail or on bail for Saradha," said the Marxist leader referring to the multi-crore-rupee chit fund scam in which many Trinamool leaders have been indicted.

Flaying Banerjee for Bengal topping the country in crimes against women, Brinda Karat said the Trinamool and the BJP had a "tacit understanding".

Stressing the need to reach out to people disillusioned by the Trinamool, politburo member and Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said Bengal will play a leading role in developing a strong Left democratic alternative that was the need for the country.

"The alternative of the Left forces will show a new path. This Left

democratic alternate is not possible sans Bengal. We need to unite and strengthen the Left forces," said Sarkar.

Even as he stressed on rebuilding the party and bringing back people to the party fold, CPI-M state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra said there were certain "unwanted elements" within the party.

CPI-M Kerala secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan dubbed the Modi regime a "government by, of and for the corporates, which was pursuing pro-rich policies. He also charged the Trinamool with unleashing ajungleraj' in Bengal.

Marxist leader and Left Front chairman Biman Bose lambasted the Banerjee regime over a host of issues and asserted "reinstating the non-existent democracy in Bengal".

The Trinamool in turn ridiculed the CPI-M's assertion of making a comeback in the state.

"Their mass rally lacked the masses. Not a single speaker could put forward anything that might make the people forget about the 34 years of misrule and start thinking about bringing a change," Trinamool secretary general Partha Chatterjee said.

Experts hail Modi's surprise visit to Pakistan

Touted as major step in rebuilding derailed ties

New DeLhI, DeceMBer 27 (IANS): Strategic experts on Saturday welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's historic, surprise visit to Pakistan as a major step aimed at rebuilding the derailed bilateral peace process.

Former diplomats and retired generals who have dealt with Pakistan said Modi's dramatic gesture of flying to Lahore from Afghanistan on Friday and meeting his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif was a good beginning.

"The visit was a necessary step and a goodwill gesture," Panak Ranjan Chakravarty, a former secretary in the external affairs ministry, told IANS. General Ved Prakash Malik, a former Indian Army chief, agreed.

"It is an engagement strategy which will help to reach the end of our na-

tional interest. To that extent, it is a good move," the general said.

"I think it has created a conducive atmosphere for both India and Pakistan to move towards resolution of substantial issues."

Barring the Congress which questioned the suddenness of Modi's move, the Indian leader's two-hour halt in Lahore on his way home from Kabul has been widely welcomed.

Modi broke the ice by telephoning Sharif from Kabul on Friday to extend him birthday greetings.

Indian officials let it be known that Sharif had asked him to break his Kabul-Delhi journey in Lahore. Pakistani officials said Modi sought an invite -- and Sharif gave him one and proved a gracious host.

Modi then flew into Lahore, hugged Sharif, and the two leaders took a helicopter to Sharif's ancestral residence at Raiwind where they sipped Kashmiri tea and discussed confidence

building issues.

A Pakistani report on Saturday said they discussed Kashmir too.

Gen. Malik said crossborder terrorism, border tensions and Jammu and Kashmir were the main issues plaguing India-Pakistan ties, which have seen ups and downs in recent years.

"Modi's visit to Lahore has created hope and it indicates his style of diplomacy," Malik told IANS. Modi became the fourth Indian prime minister to visit Pakistan -- and the first in 11 years. Sharif came to New Delhi when Modi took oath last year.

Diplomatic expert C. Raja Mohan felt that after creating a diplomatic opening with Pakistan in recent weeks, Modi had decided to accelerate the pace of the engagement with Islamabad.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has not reacted to Modi's initiative but its leader Subramanian Swamy said Modi should have a free

hand on Pakistan.

"Namo (Narendra Modi) be given a free hand since he is working to a strategy," he tweeted. "As PM, he must (be) allowed risky decisions since buck stops with him."

The greatest bouquets for Modi came from Jammu and Kashmir, which is at the heart of India-Pakistan tensions. India accuses Pakistan of supporting an ongoing separatist insurgency in the state.

"It is the right step in the right direction," Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed said from his hospital bed in Delhi where he is admitted. "It will definitely break the ice."

Former chief minister Omar Abdullah called it "a good step and a very welcome development" but said India and Pakistan must maintain consistency when they deal with one another.

Separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani said he had always favoured good relations between the two countries but insisted that

the Kashmir dispute must be first resolved.

Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, Kashmir's chief cleric who heads the moderate separatist Hurriyat group, added: "It is a positive move, a good step and we should welcome easing of tensions between the two countries. But the basic issue of Kashmir will have to be resolved."

Kashmiris also saw a ray of hope in the Modi-Sharif embrace.

"We always believed Modi was a right wing politician. He has done something no other Indian prime minister ever did," Srinagar resident Abid Wani said.

Modi himself said after returning to New Delhi that he was touched by Sharif's decision to personally welcome him at Lahore airport -- and see him off.

Modi said Sharif touchingly recalled his interactions with former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the last Indian prime minister to go to Pakistan and who is now bed-ridden.

MondaY 28•12•2015

WORLD

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

9

Islamic State conflict voted top news story of 2015 NEW YORK, DEcEmbER 27 (AP): The far-flung attacks claimed by Islamic State militants and the intensifying global effort to crush them added up to a grim, gripping yearlong saga that was voted the top news story of 2015, according to The Associated Press’ annual poll of U.S. editors and news directors.

The No. 2 story was the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that led to legalization of same-sex marriage in all 50 states. But several of the other stories among the Top 10 reflected the impact of the Islamic State, while another group of major stories related to the series of mass shootings in the United States.

Among the 100 voters casting ballots, first-place votes were spread among 17 different stories. The Islamic State entry received 37 first-place votes and same-sex marriage 13. The No. 3 story — the deadly attacks in Paris in January and November — received 14 first-place votes.

A year ago, the top story in AP’s poll was the police killings of unarmed blacks in Ferguson, Missouri, and elsewhere — and the investigations and protests that ensued. In this year’s poll, a similar entry, with more instances of blacks dying in encounters with police, placed fifth.

The first AP top-stories poll was conducted in 1936, when editors chose the ab-

IS “gets tougher” in the face of air strikes

A man purported to be the reclusive leader of the militant Islamic State Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has made what would be his first public appearance at a mosque in the centre of Iraq’s second city, Mosul, according to a video recording posted on the Internet on July 5, 2014. (File Photo)

dication of Britain’s King Bernardino, California.

Edward VIII. Here are 2015’s top 10 2: GAY MARRIAGE: Fifstories, in order: teen years after Vermont pioneered civil unions for 1: ISLAMIC STATE: A same-sex couples, the Sumultinational coalition preme Court issued a ruling intensified ground and in June enabling them to air attacks against Islamic marry in all 50 states. GayState militants in Iraq and rights activists heralded it Syria, including expanded as their movement’s biggest roles for Western Euro- breakthrough, but there pean countries worried were flashes of disapproval. about IS-backed terror- A county clerk in Kentucky, ism. For its part, IS sought Kim Davis, spent a few days to demonstrate an expan- in jail after refusing to issue sive reach by its operatives marriage licenses to gay and supporters, claiming couples in her jurisdiction. to have carried out or inspired the bombing of a 3: PARIS ATTACKS: The Russian airliner, attacks first attack came just a week in Beirut and Paris, and into the new year. Two the deadly shooting in San brothers who called them-

Bangladesh police raid militant hideout DHAKA, DEcEmbER 27 (REutERs): Police said on Sunday they had detained three suspected members of a banned militant group and found a sniper rifle, ammunition, explosives and military suits in a hideout in southeastern Bangladesh.

The raid came days after police busted a militant hideout in the capital Dhaka as security forces stepped up a hunt for Islamist militants behind a spate of recent attacks in the Muslim-majority nation.

Police searched an apartment in the port city of Chittagong based on information from the three members of the banned Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen organisation who were caught in an earlier raid, Chittagong city police commissioner Mohammad Abdul Jalil Mondal said.

“A sniper rifle, ammunition, explosives, detonators, army uniforms and bomb-making materials were found in the apartment,” he told a news conference.

The group was believed to be behind a series of recent attacks, including bombings of a Shi’ite shrine and the shooting of three foreigners, two of whom have died.

Bangladesh has suffered a wave of Islamist militant violence in recent months, including a series of attacks on mosques, Christian priests and Hindu temples.

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for some of the attacks, including a bomb attack at a mosque of the minority Ahmmadiya Muslim community during prayers on Friday. Police have confirmed the person killed was the bomber himself.

The government has denied that Islamic State has a presence in the country of 160 million people. It blames Islamist political opponents for instigating the violence.

China’s first law against domestic violence approved bEijiNG, DEcEmbER 27 (iANs): china’s top legislature on Sunday adopted the country’s first bill against domestic violence in a landmark move to bring silent abuse victims under legal protection.

The legislation was approved by a landslide majority at the end of a week-long bimonthly session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, Xinhua news agency reported.

“The country prohibits any form of domestic violence,” said the new law, which formally defines domestic violence and streamlines the process for obtaining restraining orders -- measures long advocated by antidomestic abuse groups.

Domestic violence is defined as physical, psychological and other harm inflicted by family members with beatings, restraint or forcible limits on physical liberty, recurring invectives and verbal threats listed as examples.

An earlier draft, submitted in August this year, included only physical abuse, but many lawmakers have since argued that the definition was too narrow.

According to the new bill, victims and those in immediate danger can file for a personal protection order that the court must grant or deny within 72 hours. In urgent cases, decisions must be made within 24 hours.

Police, women’s federations and social service organs, in addition to close relatives, would all be able to apply for orders for those with no or limited civil capacity or those who cannot do so themselves as a result of physical force or threats.

Once the order is granted, courts may prohibit the abuser from harassing, stalking or contacting the applicant and his or her close relatives, order the abuser to move out of the home, or adopt various other measures to protect the applicant.

Should the abuser violate the protection order, they may be fined up to 1,000 yuan, detained for up to 15 days or face criminal charges in serious offences.

selves members of al-Qaida barged into the offices of the satiric newspaper Charlie Hebdo, and later attacked a Jewish market, gunning down 17 people in all. Nov. 13 brought a far deadlier onslaught: Eight Islamic State militants killed 130 people in coordinated assaults around Paris. Targets included restaurants, bars and an indoor rock concert.

4: MASS SHOOTINGS: Throughout the year, mass shootings brought grief to communities across the U.S. and deepened frustration over the failure to curtail them. There were 14 victims in San Bernardino.

Nine blacks were killed

bAGHDAD, DEcEmbER 27 (REutERs): A new message purporting to come from the leader of Islamic State said air strikes by Russia and a U.S.-led coalition had failed to weaken the group. “Be confident that God will grant victory to those who worship him, and hear the good news that our state is doing well. The more intense the war against it, the purer it becomes and the tougher it gets,” said the audio recording, described as

by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The authenticity of the message, posted on Saturday on Twitter accounts that have published Islamic State statements in the past, could not be verified.

It slammed Saudi Arabia’s efforts to set up a coalition of Muslim nations to fight his group.”If it was an Islamic coalition, it would have declared itself free from its Jewish and Crusader lords and made the killing the Jews and the liberation of Palestine its goal,” the message said. The militant Sunni Islamist group controls swathes of Iraq and Syria but has come under intensifying military pressure in recent weeks.

A U.S.-backed alliance of Syrian Kurds and Arab rebel groups, backed by U.S. coalition planes, said it captured a Syrian dam on Saturday from Islamic State, cutting a main supply route of the militants across the Euphrates. In Iraq, government troops were pushing deeper into the heart of the last remaining district held by Islamic State in the city of Ramadi. The last such online public message said to be by Baghdadi was posted in May. He has been reported injured or killed several times in fighting, apparently incorrectly.

by a white gunman at a Charleston, South Carolina, church; a professor and eight students died at an Oregon community college. In Chattanooga, four Marines and a sailor were killed by a Kuwaiti-born engineer; three people, including a policeman, were shot dead at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado.

5: BLACK DEATHS IN ENCOUNTERS WITH POLICE: In Baltimore, riots broke out after the death of Freddie Gray, a black man loaded into a van by police officers. In Chicago, Tulsa and North Charleston, South Carolina, fatal police shootings of black men

prompted resignations and criminal charges. The incidents gave fuel to the Black Lives Matter campaign, and prompted several investigations of policing practices.

coming to the U.S. 7: US ELECTION CAMPAIGN: A large and varied field of Republicans launched bids for the presidency, with billionaire Donald Trump moving out to an early lead in the polls and remaining there despite a series of polarizing statements. He helped attract record audiences for the GOP’s televised debates. In the Democratic race, Bernie Sanders surprised many with a strong challenge of Hillary Clinton, but she remained the solid front-runner.

6: TERRORISM WORRIES: Fears about terrorism in the U.S. surged after a married couple in California — described by investigators as radicalized Muslims — carried out the attack in San Bernardino that killed 14 people. The rampage inflamed an already intense debate over whether to accommodate refugees from Syria, and prompted Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump to 8: CLIMATE CHANGE: call for a ban on Muslims Negotiators from nearly

200 countries reached a first-of-its kind agreement in Paris on curbing greenhouse gas emissions. Many questions remain over enforcement and implementation of the accord. But elated supporters hailed it as a critical step toward averting the grim scenario of unchecked global warming.

9:CHARLESTONCHURCH SHOOTING: A Bible study session at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, suddenly turned into carnage when a white gunman opened fire, killing nine blacks, including the pastor. The alleged killer’s affinity for the Confederate flag sparked debate over the role of Civil War symbols in today’s South. In less than a month, the flag was removed from the South Carolina State House grounds.

10: EUROPE’S MIGRANT CRISIS: Fleeing war and hardship, more than 1 million migrants and refugees flooded into Europe during the year, overwhelming national border guards and reception facilities. Hundreds are believed to have drowned; 71 others were found dead in an abandoned truck in Austria. The 28-nation European Union struggled to come up with an effective, unified response.

Chicago cop shoots, and kills 2, one by mistake Japan and S Korea diplomats cHicAGO, DEcEmbER 27 (REutERs): In a city troubled by allegations of police misuse of force, a Chicago officer early on Saturday shot and killed a male college student and a mother of five, both black, and the police department later said the woman's death was both accidental and tragic.

Hours later police shot another person at a separate location.

"Officers were confronted by a combative subject resulting in the discharging of the officer's weapon which fatally wounded two individuals," the police department said in a statement.

A woman, 55, "was accidentally struck and tragically killed," it said, adding "the department extends its deepest condolences to the victim's family and friends."

It said the shootings were being investigated by the Independent Police Review Authority.

The police department of the nation's third-largest city is under a federal civil rights investigation for its use of deadly force and officer discipline.

A recently released video of the shooting death of a black teenager by a white officer in 2014 has sparked protests, with activists

calling for Mayor Rahm Emanuel's resignation.

The fatal shootings happened in the West Garfield Park neighborhood on the city's west side.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's office identified the dead as Bettie Jones and Quintonio Legrier, 19.

Family members of Jones said that Legrier, a sophomore at Northern Illinois University, was home for Christmas and visiting his father, landlord of the two-story wooden frame building where the shooting occurred.

Family members said police were called after Legrier threatened his father with a metal baseball bat. Jones, who lived in the first-floor apartment, was shot through the door, according to her cousin, Evelyn Glover.

There was a single bullet hole in the wooden door. Blood stained the walls and carpet of the tidy apartment, which was decorated for Christmas. Relatives, including children of Bettie Jones, who was a grandmother of 10, were at the building crying and embracing each other.

"This is a wrongful death. How are you just going to fire through the door?" asked Glover, who added that Jones was recovering from

ovarian cancer.

Janet Cooksey, Legrier's mother, told local news channel CLTV her son had recently been suffering from mental illness.

"You call for help and you lose someone," she said. "That has to stop."

In a separate shooting, police responded to an assault in the city's Washington Heights neighborhood, in the far south side, around 1:30 p.m. (1930 GMT).

The department provided scant information, saying only that no officers were injured and a weapon of some type was recovered. The Chicago Tribune reported that the person was taken to the hospital in serious to critical condition.

The Independent Police Review Authority, which reviews police conduct, is also investigating that shooting. Emanuel recently replaced the authority's chief official in response to complaints about the agency's effectiveness.

High-profile killings of black men by police officers since mid2014 have triggered waves of angry protest across the country and fueled a renewed civil rights movement under the name Black Lives Matter.

meet ahead of ministerial talks

sEOuL, DEcEmbER 27 (REutERs): Senior diplomats of South Korea and Japan met on Sunday ahead of talks by their foreign ministers over the issue of ‘comfort women’, a legacy of Japan’s wartime past that has long plagued ties between the 2 countries. The row over the Korean women forced into prostitution for Japan’s military brothels during World War Two remains the last major obstacle to better ties between the East Asian neighbours.

The two countries have been pushing to improve relations since Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met President Park Geun-hye last month. Kimihiro Ishikane, director-general of the Japanese foreign ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, met with his South Korean counterpart Lee Sang-deok.

The two officials have held more than 10 rounds of meetings since April last year to find a common ground on resolving the issue.

The meeting is seen as preparation for Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida’s visit and meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se on Monday. Yun said on Sunday

Kishida’s visit was very important in its timing coming after more than a year and a half of high-level talks aimed at resolving the comfort women issue.

Park and Abe pledged in November to seek “the earliest possible resolution” to the issue, noting that this was the 50th year of their diplomatic relations.

Japan has said there was no change to its stance that the matter of compensation was settled by a 1965 bilateral treaty.

However, the Nikkei business daily reported that Japan would propose creating a governmentbacked fund to help the former comfort women as part of a possible agreement.

Abe, like many conservative Japanese politicians, had in the past criticised a 1993 apology acknowledging the role of Japanese authorities in coercing the women. South Korea has demanded fresh steps by the Japanese government that it said should be acceptable by the surviving former comfort women and the public in general, without specifying what was needed. Helping to set the stage for Kishida’s visit, a South Korean court last week cleared a Japanese journalist of defaming Park.

Korean ‘superdads’ break with tradition to take paternity leave sEOuL, DEcEmbER 27 (REutERs): It’s a weekday morning and Chung Sang-hoon, 34, is at home with his two small children, classical music playing in the background.

Fathers like Chung, who has taken a year of paternity leave from his job in sales with a big foreign company, were once so rare in male-dominated South Korea that they are called “superdads”. But their ranks are growing.

“Everything is definitely worth it, from preparing breakfast for the kids to doing the dishes, because I can live for the sake of values I find important,” said Chung, whose wife is a teacher.

South Korean women have long believed employers punish them with lower wages and by passing over them for promotions because they’re likely to take time off to have children.

That concern among women has contributed to the lowest birth rate among countries in the OECD group of rich nations.

South Korea also ranks

Chung Sang-hoon adjusts the clothes of his son, December 14, 2015. “The reason I took childcare leave is I want to be different from my father’s generation,” Chung said.

(REUTERS Photo)

115th of 145 in the World Economic Forum’s gender equality index.

President Park Geunhye has made paternity leave a priority to address the declining birth rate and give a boost to women’s careers, and this month she unveiled a multi-billion plan to combat the grim

demographic outlook.

Even though mothers and fathers are entitled to equal amounts of childcare leave, just 3,421 men took advantage of the right in 2014. Still, that was double the 1,790 in 2012 who put down the laptops to pick up the children on a fulltime basis, according to the

labour ministry.

“The entire economy is out of balance,” Na Yeongdon, a senior labour ministry official, told Reuters.

“Women are highly educated and work efficiently but take the whole burden of household chores and childcare while men work very long hours.”

LONG HOURS In the first half of this year, the number of paternity leave-takers surged 40 percent to 2,212, but men still made up just 5 percent of the parents taking leave in conservative South Korea.

The government has set a goal of increasing the ratio of men taking leave to 30 percent by 2030, changing a culture in a country where men are notoriously aloof from child-rearing and housework.

Reality television shows such as “Return of Superman” featuring male celebrities taking care of their children are credited with helping lure fathers into being more hands-on.

The government plan includes expanding incentives for stay-at-home dads and strengthening financial support for small- and medium-sized enterprises in exchange for letting men take parental leave.

But it remains to be see how much such incentives will help change thinking in a demanding, top-down, male-driven workplace culture that includes after-

work drinking sessions.

“The culture of long work hours needs to be improved so as to allow more time for men to get involved with childcare and family,” said Hong Seung-ah, a fellow at the Korean Women’s Development Institute in Seoul.

The Korean Women’s Development Institute found that 64 percent of men were willing to take paternity leave but only 2 percent had done so.

Chung said his manager needed convincing as he did not have a sick child or other emergency at home. His paternity leave was the first in his 100-person office.

At home in Seoul, Chung helps his kids put on their socks before heading to a day-care centre, and comforts his crying twoyear old after his big sister refuses to share a toy.

Chung appreciates how different this is to the home he grew up in.

“The reason I took childcare leave is I want to be different from my father’s generation,” he said.

10

MonDAY 28•12•2015

sports

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Boxing Day blues for Leicester, United, Arsenal

LONDON, December 27 (reuters): Leicester City were given a reality check when the unlikely leaders lost 1-0 at Liverpool on Saturday while Manchester United slumped to a third straight Premier League defeat to pile the pressure on Louis van Gaal.

Arsenal wasted a Boxing Day opportunity to knock Leicester off the top of the table when they were out-thought, outmuscled and outplayed as Shane Long scored twice in a shock 4-0 romp for mid-table Southampton.

Christian Benteke's secondhalf goal sealed the points at Anfield as Leicester were handed their first league defeat since September, and only their second of the season.

Manchester City, in third place, crushed lowly Sunderland 4-1 but suffered a blow when captain Vincent Kompany limped off with a calf injury, having come on as a substitute following an eightmatch absence.

Tottenham Hotspur consolidated fourth spot as Harry Kane netted twice in a 3-0 home victory over Norwich City to take his league tally for the calendar year to 27, a club record.

Leicester, who failed to score for the first time this season, have 38 points from 18 matches with Arsenal on 36, Manchester City 35 and Tottenham 32.

All eyes were on United manager Van Gaal in the first game of

Marko Arnautovic scores the second goal for Stoke. (Reuters Photo)

a hectic holiday period and midtable Stoke won 2-0 at the Britannia Stadium.

Goals from forwards Bojan Krkic and Marko Arnautovic left United in sixth place as they lost four consecutive matches in all competitions in a single season for the first time since 1961.

Van Gaal left out captain Wayne Rooney for tactical reasons and by the time the England striker was introduced as a second-half substitute, United were already in deep trouble.

The frosty Dutchman hinted later his days in the Old Trafford

hot seat might be numbered and said his players had "not dared to play" in the first half.

"The club doesn't have to fire or sack me, sometimes I do it by myself," he told reporters.

Asked whether he would be in charge of United's home match with Chelsea on Monday, he said: "We will have to wait and see".

TOO LATE Leicester topped the table at Christmas, a year after being rooted to the bottom, but they were not at their best against eighth-placed Liverpool who had

gone four matches without a win.

Benteke struck in the 63rd minute, steering in Roberto Firmino's pull-back.

"We started too late to play our football," said Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri. "Now we have to restart."

Southampton took a 19thminute lead against Arsenal when Curacao defender Cuco Martina delivered a majestic strike from 25 metres, the ball starting well outside the right post and curving perfectly before nestling in the bottom corner of the net.

Long then beat keeper Petr Cech from eight metres in the 55th minute. Captain Jose Fonte added the third goal with a towering closerange header from Ryan Bertrand's right-wing corner before Long made it 4-0 in stoppage time.

Guus Hiddink's second spell as Chelsea's interim manager began with a 2-2 draw at home to Watford. Brazilian Oscar spurned the chance to secure victory when he missed a late penalty as the champions remained sixth from bottom.

Spain striker Diego Costa scored twice but Watford had led 2-1 through Troy Deeney's firsthalf penalty and Odion Ighalo's deflected shot in the 56th minute.

Oscar's 80th-minute blunder means Chelsea are two points above the relegation zone.

Crystal Palace drew 0-0 at Bournemouth, moving above Manchester United into fifth spot.

Bottom club Aston Villa drew 1-1 at home to West Ham United thanks to Jordan Ayew's penalty, leaving manager Remi Garde still awaiting a first win since taking over from Tim Sherwood.

Managerless Swansea City won for the first time since October, Ki Sung-yeung scoring the only goal against visiting West Bromwich Albion.

Newcastle dropped into the bottom three, behind Norwich on goal difference, after losing 1-0 to Everton following a last-gasp Tom Cleverley winner.

Australia tighten grip over hapless Windies in second Test meLbOurNe, December 27 (aFP): Skipper Steve Smith and Adam Voges reached more career milestones Sunday as Australia tightened their grip over the hapless West Indies in the second Test in Melbourne.

Smith reached his sixth Test century of the year and 13th overall with 134 and Voges remained unbeaten on 106 when the skipper declared Australia's first innings on 551 for three.

In reply the Caribbean tourists unravelled again and were 91 for six and trailing by 460 runs with three days left.

Hobart Test centurion Darren Bravo was on 13 with debutant Carlos Brathwaite three not out.

Smith called a halt to Australia's run plunder midway through the second day, while he was at the crease with Voges in an unbroken 223-run stand.

In the process Smith, recently named the ICC cricketer of the year, took over as the current leading run-scorer in Test cricket for 2015.

At the declaration he had scored 1,404 runs, ahead of Alastair Cook's 1,357 with England currently playing South Africa in Durban.

Australia batsman Adam Voges slams a delivery to the boundary against the West Indies on the second day of the second Test in Melbourne on December 27. (AFP Photo)

Voges also moved past 1,000 Test runs in his debut year with a total of 1,028 runs in his 18th Test innings.

Only two other batsmen have scored 1,000 or more Test runs in their debut year: Australia's Mark Taylor with 1,219 (1989) and Cook with 1,013 (2006).

Voges, who has yet to be dismissed in the series after scoring an unbeaten 269 in Hobart, lifted his average to an astonishing 542 in four Tests against the West Indies this year alone.

Afghanistan break into top 10 of ICC ODI rankings NeW DeLHi, December 27 (ageNcies): Wartorn Afghanistan has reached the top-10 of the ICC ODI Rankings for the first time following their recent win against Zimbabwe. Afghanistan were placed 10th in the latest ODI rankings released by the International Cricket Council on Saturday.

Australia, India and South Africa are the three top teams in the rankings. Fourth-placed New Zealand stand a chance of leapfrogging South Africa into 3rd place in the rankings if they manage to win their series against 5th placed, Sri Lanka, by a margin of at least 4-1. If fifth-ranked Sri Lanka win the series by the same margin, they will swap places with New Zealand. Bangladesh is currently 7th in the standings ahead of West Indies, and Pakistan. Ireland and Zimbabwe are in 11th and 12th position in the rankings. icc Odi rankings:

rAnk

TEAm

rATing

1

Australia

127

2

India

114

3

South Africa

112

4

New Zealand

110

5

Sri Lanka

104

6

England

101

7

Bangladesh

97

8

Pakistan

87

9

West Indies

86

10

Afghanistan

48

11

Ireland

46

12

Zimbabwe

45

"It's been an amazing six months, really. I am obviously enjoying my cricket a lot at the moment and just trying to cash in as much as possible," Voges said.

"I am just out there playing Test cricket for Australia and trying to be as ruthless as I can. If I get an opportunity to get in and score runs, then I am trying to go as big as possible and stay hungry."

The Australians had four centur y-makers among their top five batsmen following Usman Kha-

waja's 144 and Joe Burns' 128 on Saturday's opening day. Only David Warner missed out with 23.

Khawaja and Burns posted a second-wicket stand of 258 on Saturday.

It was the first time that four Australian batsmen had scored tons in a single Test innings in Australia.

The last time Australia had four centurions in an innings overseas was against England in Cardiff in 2009.

So far in the series, Australia have amassed 1,134 runs for the loss of just seven wickets against the wretched Caribbean tourists.

Australia's batting average in the one-sided series is 162, easily the highest for any team in a series. The next best is Pakistan's 125 average in two Tests against Sri Lanka in 2009.

The Australians, who overpowered the Windies by an innings and 212 runs in the first Hobart Test, wasted no time slicing through the tourists' batting.

Kraigg Brathwaite was first to go, popping a catch to Burns at short leg off spinner Nathan Lyon for 17. His opening partner Rajendra Chandrika was leg before wicket without playing a shot to paceman

James Pattinson for 25.

Senior batsman Marlon Samuels went lbw to Pattinson for a three-ball duck to continue his miserable series.

Jermaine Blackwood had a successful review for a disputed low catch by Burns off paceman Peter Siddle when he was on 18.

But Blackwood was out 10 balls later for 28, offering Lyon a return catch.

Denesh Ramdin swiftly followed, caught by Burns off Siddle for a duck, and skipper Jason Holder followed him the next ball -- bowled off-stump for a duck.

Carlos Brathwaite saw off the Siddle hat-trick attempt with a three down the ground.

"It's about doing the things but not just for an hour, it's about doing it for two hours, come in, rest, then do it for another two hours, that's where we've fallen down," said Windies coach Phil Simmons.

"The frustration is it's not consistent enough for the two hours of the session."

Australia will retain the Frank Worrell trophy with victory against the struggling tourists, who last won a Test in Australia almost 18 years ago.

Pak spinner Yasir Shah suspended for doping Dubai, December 27 (aFP): Pakistan leg-spinner Yasir Shah was on Sunday provisionally suspended for failing a dope test by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

"Shah has been charged with an anti-doping rule violation on a sample he provided in an in-competition test," an ICC statement announced.

"The test, conducted on 13 November 2015, was found to contain the presence of chlortalidone, a Prohibited Substance which appears in Section 5 of the World Anti-Doping Agency list (in the category of Specified Substances)."

"In accordance with the ICC Anti-Doping Code, pending the outcome of the disciplinary process, Yasir has been provisionally suspended," said the ICC. The 29-year-old has emerged as a match-winner for Pakistan since ace spinner Saeed Ajmal's action was reported and subsequently lost his wicket-taking ability with a remodelled action.

Shah took 12 wickets in Pakistan's 2-0 win against Australia last year before playing a key role in this year's 2-1 Test series win in Sri Lanka with 24 wickets.

A day before he was tested (November 12) Shah had fallen down while bowling in the nets in his follow through and had to miss the first Test against England in Abu Dhabi with a back problem.

He returned for the second and third Tests, taking 15 wickets to help Pakistan beat England 2-0 Shah has so far taken 76 wickets in 12 Tests and became the fastest to complete 50 wickets in nine Tests -- a record for Pakistan.

He has also played 15 one-day internationals and two Twenty20s after making his debut in 2011.

Pakistan has a history of doping related offences as in 2006 pace duo of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif tested positive for banned substances and had to be pulled out of that year's Champions Trophy in India.

End of BCCI as we know it?

Lodha panel has suggested so NeW DeLHi, December 27 (tNN): The New Year is expected to ring in sweeping changes in the structure, management and functioning of the world's richest cricket body — Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) — as the committee headed by former CJI R M Lodha is set to give its report to the Supreme Court on January 4.

The committee's recommendations being readied are exhaustive and touch upon almost every aspect of BCCI's functioning. They are bound to create "ripples" in the cricketing circles, especially in the management of the Board, sources in know of the finalizing of the report told TOI. The very basis of BCCI's existence — it's registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975 — could be under test. The SC-appointed panel is likely to recommend changing the Board's character from a society to a public trust or a company to allow more transparency in its functioning through public scrutiny.

The BCCI came into existence in 1928 as an unregistered association of persons.

The committee interacted extensively with cricketers, former captains, advocates and eminent persons on a whole range of issues, including BCCI's organizational structure and relationship of the parent body with its affiliate bodies in states. Sources said during the interaction, majority favoured entrusting core management of the BCCI to professionals, mostly cricketers.

"The recommendation of the committee will reflect the majority view. The recommendation on this score could spell doom for most non-cricketers, especially politicians, who routinely get themselves

elected as heads of the state affiliates and have a say in the allotment of matches to venues. If the politician is powerful, his state affiliate invariably got prime matches in a tournament conducted by the BCCI," a source quoted them as having said.

The structural revamp of the BCCI recommended by Justice Lodha Committee, also comprising former SC Judges R V Raveendran and Ashok Bhan and assisted by advocate Gopal Shankarnarayanan, could bar the entry of industrialists and politicians into the management of the Board unless they have had a career in cricket prior to entering politics and business, sources said.

At present, most of the affiliate members are headed by non-cricketers and politicians and the committee's recommendations, if carried to its logical conclusion by the Supreme Court as it had done by disqualifying N Srinivasan from contesting this year's election because of conflict of interest, would end the long reign of politicians and businessmen in the affairs of cricket in India.

BCCI's money-spinning and glamour event - Indian Premier League - too underwent the legal scanner of the Justice Lodha Committee, which has examined the basis of selection of IPL franchises. The committee also examined the Board's revenue-sharing mechanism with the affiliate associations.

The recommendations may change the present revenue-sharing model of rich state affiliates getting better payments from the BCCI and warrant more grants to smaller cricket affiliates to help them nurture talent in the hinterland by taking cricket in a big way to smaller cities.

Trail Blazers humble Cavs, 76ers nab rare win LOs aNgeLes, December 27 (aFP): The Portland Trail Blazers crushed LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers 105-76 on a topsy-turvy day in the NBA that saw the Philadelphia 76ers notch their second win of the season.

In Portland, Allen Crabbe scored 21 of his career-high 26 points in the first half to put the Trail Blazers on the road to ending a five-game losing streak.

"Anybody see that coming?" asked Portland coach Terry Stotts.

"That's one of the things I love about the NBA. Anything can happen."

Guard CJ McCollum had 16 points and six assists for Portland, who held Cleveland's "King" James to just 12 points -- which matched his season low. James missed his first four shots and had just six points by halftime.

Kevin Love had 13 points for the Cavaliers, with Australia's Matthew Dellavedova and Richard Jefferson contributing 10 points apiece. The Cleveland team was coming off an 89-83 loss to Golden State in Oakland, in a Christmas rematch of the NBA Finals won by the Warriors.

Portland never trailed after the opening minute and led by 29 at halftime. Shortly after a McCollum free throw midway through third put Portland up 78-46, Cavs coach David Blatt pulled his starters for the remainder of the game.

"Throw it in the trash," James said

of the evening's work. "Nothing good scored 20 points and the Spurs imwe did tonight." proved to 17-0 at home with a 101-86 victory over the Denver Nuggets.

SixErS OuT-ShinE SunS The Spurs are off to the best home New arrival Ish Smith, playing his start for a Western Conference team first game with the Philadelphia 76ers, since the 1988-89 Lakers won their had 14 points and five assists while di- first 17. Their club record home winrecting the league's stragglers to their ning streak is now at 26 games dating first road win of the season -- a 111-104 back to last season. triumph over the Suns in Phoenix that put Philadelphia's record at 2-30. hOwArd miLESTOnE in dEfEAT "I think everybody can see how dyIn New Orleans, Pelicans guard namic a player Ish is," 76ers coach Brett Eric Gordon's 26 points included six Brown said of the point guard acquired three-pointers, and Anthony Davis from New Orleans on Thursday. "Giv- added 24 points and 13 rebounds in ing a player of that caliber the ball at the a 110-108 victory over Houston that end of the game was great for us." spoiled a milestone night for Rockets Smith's finger roll gave the 76ers big man Dwight Howard. a 108-100 lead with 1:52 remaining, With 7 points, all in the first half, and the Suns never got the deficit be- Howard moved to 15,001 for his career. low six points from there. Guard Isaiah The 30-year-old is the fourth-youngCanaan scored 22 points and reserve est player to reach 15,000 points and guard Nik Stauskas had 17 for Phila- 10,000 rebounds in an NBA career. delphia, whose only other win was a 103-91 victory against the visiting Los EddiE mAkES An EnTrAncE Angeles Lakers on December 1.

Washington Wizards rookie guard Brandon Knight scored 21 points Jarell Eddie, signed on Wednesday, for the Suns, who lost point guard drained four three-pointers as he deand leading scorer Eric Bledsoe to a livered 12 points off the bench in his left knee sprain in the second quar- NBA debut to help his new team to a ter. The Suns have now lost 4 straight 111-96 victory over the Brooklyn Nets. and 6 of their last 7. "It's pretty embar"It's just an amazing feeling," said rassing, point blank, period," Suns Eddie, who spent the last two seasons forward PJ Tucker said. with the Austin Spurs of the NBA Development League. "You prepare so SpurS STiLL pErfEcT AT hOmE much and to go out there and be able There were no surprises in San to knock down shots when you're open Antonio, where Kawhi Leonard and teammates find you, it's a blessing."

Allen Crabbe #23 of the Portland Trail Blazers shoots the ball against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Decmeber 26 at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Cameron Browne/ NBAE via Getty Images)

Monday 28•12•2015

The Journey of a Musician One of the most well recognized musician in

Nagaland. He is also one of the highest earning artistes in Nagaland today. He is living proof that one can make a music career through talent, sheer determination and entrepreneurial drive.

Front man of Alobo Naga and The Band (ANTB), Alobo Naga has made his mark.

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ike it or not, one singular name synonymous to the current music scene in Nagaland is the one and only Alobo Naga. Music is all he ever wanted in his life. Now, music is his life. In 2015 alone, he has performed in 140 shows, solo and with his band.

Singer and songwriter, he also plays the Guitar, Keys and Ukulele. Besides being a performer, he also teaches music and composes music for movies. He holds Licentiate in music and performance from RockSchool.Uk, in 2012 (the first from India in-Contemporary vocals).

What most of you don’t know is that Alobo Naga holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science from Delhi University and PG degree in Tourism Management from IITTM. Right after his studies, he started working in a construction firm. This was where he experienced the defining moment in his life. One day he came home after work and started to think about what he really wanted to do with his life. He started to pray and by nighttime, he was convinced that he wanted to pursue music professionally.

Alobo had a very early introduction to music. By the time he was five years old, he was performing in Churches, Crusades, Schools, Variety Shows and Talent Nights.

He also started writing songs by the age of 11. When he was 14, he played his first full concert at Town Hall, Dimapur with his band “Nice & Ugly” (formerly known as “Flying Machine”).

But it was in the year 2008, when he found the courage to follow his dream. He says he was never strong enough to take the risk and pursue music full-time. Four years later, it was winning the MTV EMA

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ustralian band 5 Seconds of Summer (5SOS) and One Direction fans have united to fight back after the hashtag #5SOSisDeadParty started trending online.

The hashtag is believed to have been started by girl band Fifth Harmony fans, some of who are reportedly enjoying the backlash 5SOS have received for their Rolling Stone interview, reports mirror.co.uk.

Extracts from a recent chat with the 5SOS - Luke Hemmings, Calum Hood, Ashton Irwin, and Michael Clifford - were released online and fans were left shocked by some of the comments, in particular those about sleeping with fans.

The fans seem to have taken particular offence to some Fifth Harmony fans - known as harmonisers - who have brought up Irwin's self-harming history and his father leaving.

One supporter wrote: “#5SOSIsDeadParty Harmonizers bringing up Ashton's past but can they bring up 5harmony's future?”

The 5SOS fans also took to Twitter to thank One Direction's fans for their help.

“When u know Directioners and 5sosfam

Akangchila Longchar

in 2012 which really started opening doors for his band “Alobo Naga & The Band”.

Alobo grew up listening and wanting to be artistes like Eric Martin (Mr. Big), Kurt Cobain, Eminem, Danny Boy, Petra, Bob Smith. Closer home, he admired Methanile, and Sashi from Suffering Souls.

Along with the fame, he faces countless criticisms. But he does not blame anybody. Because he feels that it’s all about maturity. Now, no matter what people say, it does not affect him anymore. He has learnt to take the criticisms to become a better and stronger person.

He justifies this by stating, “In fact, I thank these people, they help me know my flaws and become a better person. They don't know what they are doing and they don't know me well. And I also know that criticism and praises are part of the package of this profession that I’m into, so I am cool with it. If I can take praises and kind

words why can't I also take criticisms?”

A lot of people have parodied and trolled Alobo Naga. He simply reacts: “I love it and laugh along.” He also states that people do not realise that they are the one making him more famous and letting him reach out to more people.

Alobo also shares that the most difficult challenge of being a musician in Nagaland is the lack of appreciation and support. He also asserts that Naga people are so ignorant and cater to rumours easily, adding, “There are 90 people ready to talk behind your back and 10 people to talk straight to you.” Speaking from his personal experience, he also states that whether we like it or not, there is no denial that Tribalism and favouritism plays big spoil sports.

He says that the present music scenario is much better than before no doubt, however it is very stagnant. He also notes that there are hardly any good bands and only few artistes who are into full time music. He feels that there are so many talented musicians, but what they all need is to take risks and get out of their comfort zone.

In between performing onstage and travelling, Alobo works as a music teacher.

He is known to mentor young, upcoming musicians. “I teach music because I love to help the upcoming singers achieve greater heights which I could not reach too.

Watching them grow gives me the greatest joy,” he explains.

To aspiring young Naga musicians, he advises that there is no short cut to success. One needs to really study the market and work harder. And because the compe-

tition is very big, he advises to plan properly and make use of the Internet and social media.

Soon, he plans on starting a music school to mentor and manage young upcoming artistes. Alobo Naga and The Band (ANTB) have many music videos in the pipeline and will be releasing their album, while Alobo also plans to release his solo album.

“I have a feeling 2016 is going to be very hectic too with more shows and traveling,” says the music man happily.

Kay Studio Mumbai presented Vilhousa Movi Naga-Western Collection on December 15 evening at Niathu Resort Dimapur. Show-stopper was Opang Jamir Mumbai based Model and Actor (former Mister India International 2012).

The show was hosted by Keren Sumi Director of Kay Studio Mumbai, Keren Sumi is former Miss Dimapur and Gladrags model 2011. Desinger Vilhousa Movi was the winner of NE India Fashion & Music 2014. Best Creativity in graduation of Diploma in Fashion and designing Govt. Polytechnic Nagaland.

5SOS, One Direction fans unite

will always support each other,” a delighted Twitter user wrote while someone else wrote: “When 5H tries to bring 5sos down. But they forgot that fandoms that sticks together, SLAY together! #5SOSIsDeadParty.”

‘Star Wars’ breaks Christmas day box office record!

‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens' continues to add feats to its list of box office records and now has the biggest Christmas Eve domestic gross with USD 27.5 million, defeating previous record holder 'Avatar' which took in USD 11.2 million in 2009.

The seventh installment of the 'Star Wars' saga also broke the opening week domestic box office record, earning USD 391.1 million after seven days in theatres, reported Ace Showbiz. The film beat out previous record holder 'Jurassic World', which took in USD 296.2 million during its first week at North America box office in May.

In the interview, which saw the band posing naked on the cover, Hemmings talks about having sex with lots of girls while on tour - something which has caused upset.

The excerpt reads: “Hemming says they took

full advantage of the attention. They were wildest on their easy tours, when they’d go to bars to mingle with fans after shows." "‘When you put four young dudes on a tour bus, playing theaters, then arenas, you’re going to

have sex with a lot of girls, I guess, says Hemmings.

‘We had a good time.’ Multiple girls in one night?

‘Feel like I shouldn’t say’ he says with a smirk. ‘You could say the possibility of this is high… the possibilities are endless.'”

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MonDAY 28•12•2015

SPORTS

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Double Dutch for United, India beat Nepal, enters SAFF semis Chelsea in eerie showdown LONDON, December 27 (reuters): Manchester United against Chelsea has often been a seminal fixture in deciding the destiny of the Premier League title in recent years but Monday's clash at Old Trafford has a very different backdrop.

United have slipped to sixth in the standings following three successive defeats while champions Chelsea languish in 15th place after a dismal start to the campaign that brought about the dismissal of their manager Jose Mourinho last week.

Louis van Gaal hinted after United's feeble 2-0 loss at Stoke City on Saturday that he could quit before being forced to relinquish the hot seat and the game against Chelsea, managed by his Dutch compatriot Guus Hiddink, could well be his last.

That Mourinho has been strongly linked with a move to Old Trafford adds another intriguing sub-plot to the game and the United players know they must step up.

"It's Manchester United we are playing for, it's a special club and it's a privilege to play. We need to do better, it's as simple as that," midfielder Michael Carrick said after the Stoke game.

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and we have got to stand up and be ready for that."

Hiddink led Chelsea to an unconvincing 2-2 home draw with Watford in his first game in charge.

"Every Chelsea versus Manchester United game is big but this one is especially of course," he said.

"I hope we can show the same ambition there that we showed in a big part of this game."

Chelsea did fight back from 2-1 down against Watford thanks to two goals from striker Diego Costa who will miss the United game due to suspension.

Van Gaal left his captain Wayne Rooney on the substitutes' bench against Stoke and his introduction prompted an improved performance after a shambolic first half in which the hosts scored twice.

The England striker has endured a frustrating season in a team that has failed to play with any of the attacking brio that brought United 13 Premier League titles under manager Alex Ferguson.

That conservative style has turned the United fans against Van Gaal more than the disappointing results and if they fail to beat Chelsea it is highly likely that the club will be taking a third shot at finding a worthy successor to Ferguson.

Sunil Chhetri and Lallianzuala Chhangte celebrate India's win over Nepal.

trivaNDrum, December 27 (aGeNcies): 18-year-old Mizo sensation Lallianzuala Chhangte struck a brace as India romped into the semi-finals of the SAFF Championships defeating neighbours Nepal 4-1 in their final Group A clash on Sunday.

It was Nepal who took the lead minutes into the must-win game but India came up with all the answers as Rowlin Borges, Sunil Chhetri and Chhangte powered India to a big win. Chhangte, in the process, became the youngest ever goalscorer for India, beating the record held by Baichung Bhutia.

Nepal shocked the hosts early on when they took the lead through Bimal Magar in the 3rd minute. It took India another 23 minutes to level the score through Borges.

Both teams created chances throughout the first half, but the scoreline remained unchanged. Chhetri then broke the deadline and scored in the 68th minute to make it 2-1.

The remaining twenty minutes of the game proved to be a great platform for Liverpool academy product Chhangte Lallianzuala. The eighteen-year-old scored a brace within the twenty minutes and completed the Indian dominance. In turn, he also became the youngest Indian scorer.

Winless Nepal finished at the bottom of the three-team pool, while India qualified as group winners with six points from two matches. Sri Lanka followed the hosts as runners-up. Afghanistan and Maldives have already qualified from Group 'B'.

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Prince Ali seeks immediate release of Garcia report

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Dubai, December 27 (aFP): FIFA presidential hopeful Prince Ali bin Al Hussein on Sunday called for the immediate publication of Michael Garcia's report on alleged bribery and corruption during bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

The Jordanian prince made the remarks at a conference in Dubai alongside UEFA generalsecretary Gianni Infantino, another candidate in the race to be elected the head of world football's governing body on February 26.

Prince Ali urged FIFA to have "some basic norms, like publishing the Garcia report immediately, because even those who are running for the position of FIFA president... need to know what has been going on in this organisation, and the public needs to know as well."

Former US prosecutor Garcia resigned as FIFA's chief corruption investigator last year in protest at the body's handling of his report on the decisions to award the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.

Garcia said he had found "serious and wideranging issues" in the bidding process for both of the World Cups.

He had complained that a summary of his report released by FIFA's top judge, Hans-Joachim Eckert, was "incomplete and erroneous".

Eckert had insisted there was no evidence of corruption and that there should be no new vote on the venue for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

FIFA has defended its refusal to publish Garcia's report on the grounds it would undermine a promise to all those who gave evidence on condi-

tion of anonymity.

"There have been a lot of proposals for reform within FIFA, but the main issue is not the proposals themselves, but the implementation of these proposals," said Prince Ali. - 'Transparency in money flows' UEFA president Michel Platini and FIFA chief Sepp Blatter were suspended by FIFA's ethics committee over a 2 million Swiss franc ($2 million/1.8 million euro) payment made to Platini in 2011 for work carried out between 1999 and 2002.

Corruption charges against the two men were dropped by the FIFA court, but they were found guilty of "abusive execution" of their powers and a conflict of interests.

At the Dubai conference, Infantino called for "transparency in the money flows" which is "the single most important reform decision from FIFA." "Once you know how the money comes in and how the money goes out, and this is transparent, this is documented, this is clear, you have solved 95 percent of the real or perceived problems of FIFA. "So the transparency of the money flow is key."

The Swiss candidate said the world should "work together" to bring football to centre stage.

"How do we develop football? By investing, of course. The money is there... but by investing it in a proper way," he said.

Prince Ali reiterated his calls for a maximum of two terms for future FIFA presidents.

However, "I think there a lot of good suggestions in the latest reform proposals, but again I don’t think that they go far enough," he said.

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