February 15th, 2016

C M Y K

DIMAPUR • Vol. XI • Issue 43 • 12 PAGes • 5

www.morungexpress.com

monDAY • februArY 15 • 2016

T H e

ESTD. 2005

P o W e R

o F

It’s not the will to win that matters...everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters ‘Act East Policy indication of India’s renewed concern for NER’

Rajnath kicks up political storm with claim Afzal event at JNU had Hafiz support PAGE 08

reflections

By Sandemo Ngullie

longrangty longchar

The Morung Express Poll QuEsTioN

Vote on www.morungexpress.com sMs your answer to 9862574165 Are discussions and decisions in Nagaland influenced more by personal opinions and views than by facts and figures?

Yes

No

others

Are religious crusades and revivals having any significant effect in Naga society?

Yes

42%

No

45%

others

13%

Details on page 7

NSVDBA asks govt to release funds meant for poor villages

C M Y K

DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 14 (MExN): The Nagaland State VDB Association (NSVDBA) has appealed to the Nagaland State Chief Minister, TR Zeliang to release the Indra Awas Yojina (IAY) 2015-2016 and the Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF) 2014-2015, which are meant for the development of poor villages at the earliest. A press note from the NSVDBA President, Tohoshe Awomi and General Secretary, Manthungo Kikon asserted that villages cannot be deprived of their legitimate shares.

The association stated that in spite of repeated appeal, the “indifferent attitude on the part of the competent authority in depriving the wellbeing of the poor villagers in Nagaland shows that the government of the day has the least concern for the development of the rural people.” Therefore it NSVDBA appealed to the competent authority to release the funds so as to enable the villagers to proceed with various developmental projects which are already earmarked without any delay.

It further appealed for immediate release of National Social Assistance Programs (NSAP) 20152016 such as IGOPS, IGNWPS, NFBS etc under the department of Social Security &Welfare, to the beneficiaries by March 2016.

The NSVDBA meanwhile acknowledged the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, for the declaration made on February 2, 2016 during the 10th anniversary of MGNREGA, that the Ministry will implement Direct Benefit Transfer to the beneficiaries of MGNREGA job card holders from April 2016. In this connection, the association requested the Nagaland State Government to open nationalised bank branches in 72 RD blocks of the state for successful implementation of the program, as there are no such facilities in the entire state except for a few blocks.

— Paul “Bear” Bryant

WIndies stun India to win U-19 WCup

PAGE 02

PAGE 12

nsf team roughed up by sweeping the hillside Manipur Police commandos Mokokchung | February 14

Take you to the hospital? sure but you won’t get any traffic lessons there.

T R u T H

Nagaland is known for its abundance of flora and fauna, which remain mostly untapped. At Dibuia village and her neighboring villages like Waromung and others under Changkikong range, the villagers are doing brisk business by harvesting and exporting the abundant broom grass or Tiger grass (scientific name Thysolonea Maxima) which are exported to other states, especially Assam.

Broom grass is harvested only once a year, during the months of February and March. After the harvest, they are sun dried, bundled and sold to agents from Mariani in the truckloads.

Khaba Longchar of Dibui village, who is a broom grass merchant states that he buys the broom grass from the villagers, processes them and contacts the agents from Assam for the sale. He usually sells about two pick-up truckloads of broom grass every year and earns a substantial amount for them. The adjoining village of Waromung has a similar story to tell.

It is learnt that these broom sticks which are exported to Assam find their way to other states like Gujarat, Rajasthan and even abroad, where broom grass does not grow in abundance. Longchar disclosed that he started the business since there was a lot of demand from Assam.

It may be noted that

Farmers in Changkikong range under Mokokchung have ANSAM demands apology taken to broom cultivation to increase their income Morung Express News Dimapur | February 14

A man carries bundles or broom grass/tiger grass (scientific name Thsolonea Maxima) at Dibuia village, some 55 kilometers away from Mokokchung town to be dried. The naturally grown broomsticks are harvested during the month of February-March every year and are exported to other states. (Morung Photo)

gathering the broom grass is not an easy task, as villagers have to enter the deep forests to collect them. Harvesting the broom grass is a once in a year affair and so the villagers cannot invest much on this viable cash crop, until nature regenerates them over the months.

Increasing deforestation and the unscientific plucking of broom grass has also adversely impacted in its regeneration.

There are reports that this year’s quantity of broom grass harvested is lesser than last year’s by a few thousand kilograms.

In Nagaland, trade of this economically viable grass remains in a stage of infancy. However, stories from other states regarding the trade of broom sticks are a sign of encouragement for the Nagaland State Government to facilitate cultivators here.

Take for instance the case of Tripura, where broom grass occupies an important place in the state’s rural economy.

The Pecharthal Broom Makers Society of Dephacherral Hamlet in the remote Kanchanpur sub-division of North Tripura, launched

a pilot project of collecting broom rhizomes from the wild and planting it in an abandoned Jhum plot with the assistance of Jhumias (Jhumia is a person who practises shifting cultivation or “Jhuming”, the slash and burn cultivation common among the Nagas).

The broom grass cultivators were provided technical and marketing support by the Centre for Forest-Based Livelihood and Extension. Financial help came from an external funding agency, enabling cultivators to earn money in terms of Lakhs.

Even as Imphal-based civil bodies rallied around a “common future” and “unity” earlier this month, Manipur Police Commandos in Imphal have shown a complete departure from the stand.

A team of Manipur Police Commandos roughed up Naga students’ activists on the morning of February 14, intimidating them, threatening them with physical assault and verbally abusing them for travelling through Imphal.

At 6:30am on Sunday, executive members of the Naga Students’ Federation (NSF), Boveio Poukai Duo, General Secretary, Imtiyapang, Secretary for Education and Lerimo Kikon, Secretary for Games & Sports, reached Imphal. They were travelling to Ukhrul from Kohima via Senapati for the Lui-Ngai-Ni festival being held at Ukhrul when 5-6 Manipur Police Commandos (MPCs) stopped them at Mantripukhri. It was informed that the MPCs was led by an SI in a white gypsy bearing registration MN 01K 0350.

“There were few vehicles so early in the morning but they probably stopped our car as we had an NL registration number plate,” said Poukai speaking to The Morung Express.

In the last one year, harassment of vehicles or people travelling on Nagaland (NL) registered vehicles by the security forces in Imphal have increased considerably.

The MPCs insisted on speaking to them in Manipuri/Meiteilon. “They began to yell orders at us in Manipuri, which most of us don’t even speak or understand. Pointing guns at us, they asked us to freeze with our hands up and get off for a security check,” informed the NSF General Secretary, who has partial knowledge of Manipuri. The students’ activists requested them to speak in English but to no avail.

“You Naga people.. you create problems. This is Imphal, not the hills..,” the officer in charge began to bark at the team.

When the NSF team clarified that they were on an official visit to Manipur, they began to be physically handled. “This is Manipur and no one knows you are here, the officer told me. He began to drag me towards their vehicle, said he’ll show me what physical violence means and that we will be taught a lesson,” said Poukai.

“Why are you going through Imphal, is what the officer wanted to know. How am I supposed to take the downtrodden roads through the hills in my small car?” he wondered.

This is when a reinforcement truck of the MPCs also arrived on the spot, forcing the NSF team to get into the vehicle again.

“They stopped only when we said that there are people in both Senapati and Ukhrul who are waiting for us, including UNC and ANSAM, and disappearing us would only create bigger problems. Besides, it had been an hour and a half since we were detained and a civilian crowd had gathered in the area,” the General Secretary described.

It later turned out that the officer spoke and understood English clearly.

Meanwhile, the All Naga Students’ Association, Manipur (ANSAM) has demanded an apology from the authorities responsible for the harassment and an assurance that “they will discipline their personnel to respect citizen and Human Rights.”

“Not only were they checked, frisked and their mobile phones seized but they were abused and provoked in a very communal tone,” noted the ANSAM in a press release from its Information & Publicity Secretary, James Inka.

“The Tribals have been experiencing such violence and brutalities regularly and ANSAM is not surprised but we would like to question as to why civil police commit and perpetrates such violent and communal harassment against civilians,” it noted.

naga integration should FIR lodged against Neiphiu Rio for alleged fake certificate FEBRUARY 14 tion certificate at the time of filing of 5.12.15 and from the Principal Ko- Course.” be kept alive: nagaland cM KoHIMA, The HRLN’s note alleged that (MExN): After Chief Minister Nomination Papers for the election hima College dated 18.12.15 “re-

UKHRUL, FEBRUARY 14 (MExN): Nagaland State Chief Minister, TR Zeliang today stated that the press for Naga integration “should never give up and should be kept alive as matter of faith and principle.”

He said this while addressing the inaugural function of the Naga LuiNgai-Ni festival as Chief Guest at Ukhrul today. A press note from the Media Officer to the CM, Kariabo Chawang quoted the CM as having said that it is the expressed desire of the Nagas to have integration of all Nagas inhabited areas and live under one administrative dispensation, and in support of which the Nagaland Legislative Assembly had passed resolutions to this effect on four different occasions. He also said that although territorial integration of all contiguous Nagas areas is not in the hand of Nagas, the integration issue should not be given up on.

The Chief Minister also said that while the Nagas are asserting for territorial integration, a way should be worked out for emotional and cultural integration of the Nagas living under various administrations. Once there is an emotional and cultural integration Nagas can do lots of things together, and help each other for cultural and socio-economic advancement even without territorial or political integration, he stated.

On political the political issue, the CM hoped that a new era will soon dawn in the history of the Naga political struggle with the signing of the Frame Work Agreement between the GOI and NSCN (IM).

He said that after signing

the Frame Work Agreement, the GOI and NSCN (IM) have taken up several activities with a view to arrive at a comprehensive and broad based agreement, involving all Naga nationalist groups and civil societies. “I think it is the duty of all Nagas to give out active cooperation and help to this process, so that a dawn of permanent peace may come to the Nagas homelands”, he urged.

He further suggested that the apex Naga tribal bodies of Nagaland, Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh meet and plan out a common Naga festival with appropriate name to showcase oneness of the Nagas to the world.

The CM further criticised the passing of three bills by the Ibobi Singh government much against the wishes of the tribal people and termed it as just a means to consolidate the support of the valley people in the coming election. “As a political strategy, Manipur Chief Minister Ibobi Singh may be right in his own thinking but the three bills are detrimental to the tribal rights,” he said and queried as to how some Naga legislators of Manipur could continue to support “such anti-tribal government.” The 4 NPF legislators who have tender their resignation in protest against the three bills had taken the right decision, he added.

Zeliang then stated that the Nagas have entered a very crucial period in their struggle and therefore need to unite. “It is unfortunate that some of our Naga leaders still prefer the chair at the cost of Naga unity.

But I am afraid history may not forgive them”, he said.

TR Zeliang, now Lok Sabha MP, Neiphiu Rio is facing allegation of producing fake educational qualification certificate. The allegation was based on RTI replies from the Chief Electoral Officer, Kohima and the Principal, Kohima College.

According to a note from Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) Nagaland Unit, an FIR was lodged at South Police Station, Kohima in this regard on February 11. The note stated that the FIR was filed by two persons “against Mr. Neiphiu Rio for submitting a false/Fake Gradua-

to lone Lok Sabha Seat in March, 2014.” The nomination papers filed

by Rio stated that his educational qualification is BA Honours in Pol. Science and that he passed out from Kohima Arts College under NEHU, the note added.

The Kohima police when contacted confirmed receipt of the FIR. The Superintendent of Police, Kohima said that police are inquiring into the said FIR received at South PS. The RTI replies from Chief Electoral Officer, Kohima dated

veals that on 19.10.15 Mr. Neiphiu Rio had submitted an application to the Chief Election Officer regarding his educational qualification as entered in the Nomination papers aforementioned. The said application enclosed an affidavit executed on 9.10.15 and Corrigendum issued by the Principal of Kohima College bearing NO. KCK/ CERT/2012/235 dated 9.10.15 and another Pass Certificate issued by the Principal of the said College dated 9.10.15 stating that Mr. Neiphiu Rio graduated in the Pass

the Lok Sabha MP has “wilfully and deliberately indulged in procuring false/fake documents and sworn a false affidavit” with the objective of “holding himself out to be a person having a higher educational qualification.” The complainants submitted that the MP has allegedly committed offences under the IPC and the Representation of the Peoples Act and that appropriate action be initiated against him.

Repeated attempts to reach Rio’s press secretary as well as his office were unsuccessful.

A ‘Dukh’ Story: Nagamese movie industry struggling due to the lack of support Morung Express News Dimapur | February 14

“Since the movie was made with huge struggle, we also named the movie Dukh II (Struggle),” the producer of the movie Neangbah Konyak stated during its premiere today, while reflecting on the sorry state of film making in Nagaland.

The premiere was held today at Bookmarc Conference Hall, Supermarket Dimapur for a select audience, with the Advisor to NBDA & NEPED Naiba Konyak as the Chief Guest and Saku Longchar of the Ao Band ‘Samaro’ as the guest of honour.

Assessing the Nagamese movie industry scenario in the State, the Director of the movie, Meren Ozüküm said, everyone is struggling. Apart from the finances, we have neither facility nor equipment to meet the technical aspect of it, he said.

Ozüküm said Nagamese movies are made through the pure dedication of the artists, who for their love of the craft, work and struggle, often without any monetary benefits.

This lack of support, he stated, has resulted in many movies not being made despite earnest intention and utmost dedication. We cannot afford even stuntman (or body double), so they have to do all the stunts themselves, he revealed.

He further informed that most

The cast and production team of the Nagamese movie, Dukh 2, which premiered in Dimapur today.

current artists are products of Gospel Studio and Nagamese Film Industry. He viewed that if the Government could provide even a little support to the industry, something in the line of Music Task Force constituted by the State Government, they could improve considerably.

“We are trying our best to improve,” he said earnestly urging the general public to support them.

This was reflected at the screening of the movie, which is set to be available all over the State shortly.

However, regular followers will notice that though technically there are considerable improvements in sound editing and cinematography, many areas could have been better.

Flashes of brilliance in both artistic rendition and plot development while getting interested reaction from the audience could not be sustained.

People in celluloid are adventurists with grand vision, Naiba Konyak stated in his address, however implying that these dreams are limited by lack of resources.

“You face too many problems.

It’s a hand to mouth existence,” he said adding that it is only through sheer dedication that they are able to produce whatever limited product is made.

He also congratulated the producer, Neangbah Konyak with whom he shared the same constituency, who with a grand vision, ven-

tured into the filmmaking with determination despite coming from a modest background. Youngsters should have a determination, but we should also try until we succeed, he encouraged.

He further expressed hope that the venture will pay off. “Today, it seems like a small venture, but it will prove to be a good industry in days to come,” he said. Naiba revealed that the Government may come up with a policy, while asking filmmakers here to hold on to their vision.

Exhorting the audience, Saku Longchar, part of the Ao Trio band ‘Samaro,’ a pioneer in the local gospel music scene said that compared to the early years; things have improved considerably.

“We never had such privilege enabled by technological progress.

We have talent and potential but no platform,” he noted. ‘Samaro,’ which has recorded 12 albums, will be celebrating their silver jubilee next year, he informed.

Reflecting on their experience, he noted that professionalism and teamwork are keys to success in any venture. Unity, punctuality, dedication and trust among the artists will go a long way in taking the industry along a successful path. “Let’s get together and make the industry successful earnestly, even at national and international arena. Let’s inspire each other,” he urged.

2

monDAY 15•02•2016

NAGALAND

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Shamator-Kiphire incident

StSU questions security forces’ action

Shamator, February 14 (mexN): The Shamator Town Students’ Union (STSU) has condemned the firing on public by security forces in Shamator Town on February 9. STSU in a press statement alleged that number of civilians, including a woman, sustained bullet injury. The public were also “beaten up black and blue and hospitalized in critical conditions,” it added.

The statement from STSU President, K. Thsantong and General Secretary, T. Dopong further informed that Richard (Rikhum) Yimchunger, a student who was supposed to appear his HSLC exam from Govt. Higher Secondary School Shamator sustained bullet injury on his abdomen. Owing to his critical condition, he was immediately taken to Naga Hospital Authority Kohima from PHC Shamator, it said.

STSU maintained that there was lack of “judicious minds” among the security forces which had jeopardized the lives of public in general and the students’ community in particular. The students’ union also questioned the authority whether “firing directly on hands, heads, abdomen, and so on were the only means to bring to a state of peace or disperse the crowd.” It urged the authority concerned to immediately book the erring officers/personnel and award befitting punishment.

The STSU also supported the sevenday ultimatum served by Yimchungrü Tribal Council (YTC) to the State Home Commissioner to use the political and moral authority in shedding light on the criminal investigation of the people involved in the killing of a couple in Shamator to promote peace and just solution.

YBa pungro unit expresses anguish at mothers’ sufferings PuNgro, February 14 (mexN): The Yimchung Berü Arihako (YBA), Pungro unit today bewailed the killing of a mother, Narola and her husband Alemba on February 6 in Shamator.

The women organization equally condemned the “thoughtless actions” of the irate mob in Kiphire.

“The brutal murder has left their innocent children to suffer the most, leaving them orphans so early,” lamented YBA Pungro unit in a press release.

YBA further expressed anguish at the “untold sufferings beyond human toler-

ance borne by the mothers particularly those nursing mothers and pregnant women. No one knows the mental trauma and pain inflicted upon them except a mother.” The release issued by President, Susanna Resangla and Executive Secretary, Kihola YBA also expressed pain to see helpless mothers running from pillar to post to comfort their children.

“The colossal loss of Yimchungrü properties and houses amounting to crores of rupees in Kiphire have deeply traumatized and put extra burden upon every housewife and a mother,” it added.

YUK condemns; supports Ytc’s demand Kohima, February 14 (mexN): The Yimchungrü Union Kohima (YUK) has condemned the killing of husbandwife couple Alemba and Naro on February 6 in Shamator by unidentified persons and subsequent retaliation in Kiphire Town.

In a press release, YUK alleged that “almost all the Yimchungrü properties/ houses were vandalized/ burnt during the entire curfew period making the imposition of Sec-144 CrPC a mockery.”

The statement issued by YUK Presi-

dent, Kejingkhum and General Secretary, Kiutsuthong Yim further extended support to the February 9 Yimchungrü Tribal Council’s (YTC) demand to the Government to nab the killers of the couple at the earliest and the persons involved in the ransacking and burning of Yimchungrü properties/ houses, which has resulted in loss of crores of rupees and displacement of more than 1000 people.

Meanwhile, the union extended condolences to the bereaved family members of the couple.

'act east policy indication of india's renewed concern for ner’ Our Correspondent

Kohima | February 14

Prof. Naushad Ali Azad from Jamia Millia Islamia University and Association of Environment & Development Research (AEDR), New Delhi has said that Act East Policy (earlier Look East Policy) is an indication of India’s renewed and larger concerns about north eastern region as well as India outward-looking orientation in foreign trade policy with respect to countries of East and Southeast Asia.

Besides trade, the policy also gives emphasis to engage culturally and strategically, he said, adding with Act East Policy in place, development of north eastern region is also expected to play the important role of a gateway or at least a window to the East and Southeast Asia.

Speaking at the twoday national conference on “Mainstreaming the North East Region” here Friday at de Oriental Grand, he said, “Evidence by now suggests that the region is still missing out the economic

growth drive required to make it a good partner of the Act East Policy.”

He also stated that before north eastern region can become the gateway of East and Southeast Asia, it needs to be pulled upward towards the national levels in terms of various indicators of development so as to bring it into the economic mainstream. “For this, it is necessary that the region first undergoes a rigorous process of structural transformation by programs of industrialization and infrastructure development.”

He added that the trading capacity of the region largely depends on the state of its internal and external connectivity in terms of various modes of transportation and communication.

Talking on “Infrastructure and SME promotion for regional development,” Prof. Naoyuki Yoshino, Dean, ADBI, KEIO University Professor Emeritus said cross border infrastructure will be needed for Nagaland region. Infrastructure finance is proposed to con-

struct good infrastructure in the region, he said, adding that not only infrastructure but also SME promotion will enhance regional development.

Manoj Pant, Prof. JNU & Secretary AEDR stated that with its limited labour force and limited arable land due to terrain or natural causes, the north eastern region needs to move out of its present dependence on subsistence agricultural production if it wants to increase the per capita of the population which is largely dependent on agriculture.

“This indicates that it must move into higher valued added production of processed horticulture and floriculture products,” he said.

PKH Singh, advisor (Transport), NEC, DONER, GOI said connectivity became an issue for the north eastern region after the partition of the country and East Pakistan was carved out of India. He said the GDP also fell down over the period as a result of the same. It was only after the 10th Plan that concerted effort was put in place by

hindi debut album released

ments and cash; YBBK women office cum women pastor’s quarter and properties, Office documents and cash; YBBK Child and Sunday School documents and cash; Original personal documents of youth pastor and women pastor.

The church lamented the loss of the mentioned properties and expressed disappointment that the mob did not spare even the properties of the church or God’s servants. YBBK further expressed shock that despite being termed “Nagaland for Christ”, these kind of unfortunate incidents keep happening in the State in broad daylight.

now only 15 GI’s (of which 10 are agricultural products) have been registered from this region.

Touching on trade corridors, Alokesh Barua, Prof.

JNU and AEDR, said that importance of trade route from the development perspective of the North East should not be over emphasized since there is hardly anything that the North East presently exports to the East and Southeast Asian region.

He said the North East has a locational advantage in terms of its proximity to the region; but such an advantage cannot be easily transformed into trade advantage without prior development of the North East into a production hub for industrial products based on its comparative advantage.

“This would require an expansion of the internal size of the market to realize economies of scale. Herein lies the role of improving and expanding at a rapid pace the scope for inner connectivity within the North East,” he said.

6th foundation day of Unison Society

Kohima, February 14 (mexN): The 6th foundation day of Unison Society will be held on February 21 at Viirie. Elections for tenure 2016-2019 will also take place on the day. All the members of the Society have been requested to contribute Rs.500 and above for the foundation day to Neiphre (Treasurer) and Menuo Solo (Chairman) at the earliest. The Society has also invited all the members and their family and well-wishers to attend the foundation day programme.

Training on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle held

YBBK laments loss of properties, cash

KiPhire, February 14 (mexN): While expressing sorrow at the killing of a husband-wife couple in Shamator on February 6, Yimchungrü Baptist Borü Kiphire (YBBK) has alleged that several of its offices, properties, documents, and cash have been destroyed, demolished, and missing in the violence which took place in Kiphire following the killing.

According to a press release from YBBK Church Secretary, Lohomong T. Whourr, the following are destroyed/ missing: YBBK youth office cum youth pastor and church chowkidar’s quarters and properties; YBBK youth office docu-

the central government and special schemes were formulated - SARDP-NE, Arunachal package, National Projects for Railways, NE funding for airport development, declaration of National waterway-2 for Brahmapura and various other schemes for the Hills states. Although the programmes were well conceived, due to lack of knowledge of the hill region by the consultants who framed the DPR, land rules of the area, environmental and forest issues, adverse weather conditions, security scenario in the region and logistics constraints, the programs have been lagging behind considerably and also leading to the cost overruns.

“The connectivity of the state capitals by air, rail and four lane roads as also the district headquarters by two lane is a distant dream,” he said.

Prof. Chandni Raina, IES, CWTOS, Ministry of Commerce, GoI, Delhi said the north eastern region is rich in agricultural products but despite this, till

Parliamentary Secretary YM Yollow Konyak releasing Hindi debut album, “Main Ayaa Hoon” in Dimapur on Sunday. (Morung Photo) Morung Express News Dimapur | February 14

Under the name, “The EaStory Project,” a group of musical artists from Nagaland led by Bangshing S. Konyak has launched its first Hindi debut album, “Main Ayaa Hoon.”

The album was released by Parliamentary Secretary for CAWD, YM Yollow Konyak in Dimapur on Sunday. In his speech, Yollow said music has been inherent in human life since time immemorial having the capacity to touch and inspire people

from all walks of life. He expressed pleasant surprise that young people from Konyak community were venturing into Hindi music. He was optimistic that the debut album would be a stepping stone for the artists to achieve greater heights.

Kohima, February 14 (DiPr): A training on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) was held at Nagaland GIS and Remote Sensing Centre (NGISRSC), Planning and Coordination Department, New Capital Complex, Kohima from February 1-12. Trainee officers and scientists from North Eastern Space Applications Centre (NESAC), Umiam, Meghalaya, and Indian Institute of Remote Sensing Centre (IIRS) participated in the training. UAV assembly, flight simulations, flight exercises, data acquisition and processing were main components of the training. Taking on UAV as one of the emerging technologies in recent times, the first of its kind training has been organized by NGISRSC in collaboration with NESAC to explore possibilities and reinforce decision support through UAV applications for disaster management, resource management, geospatial survey and mapping.

Disability certification camp held in Changtongya

ChaNgtoNgya, February 14 (mexN): Grace Society CBRF (Community Based Rehabilitation Forum) organized a disability certification camp for people with intellectual impairment under upper Langpangkong Range at its office in Changtongya Town on February 14.

The certification camp was conducted by Dr. A. Temsuyanger Ao, UIP and RCH Nodal Officer, District Mental Health Programme, Doctor examines during the disability certification camp held in Changtongya Town on February 14. Mokokchung.

A press release from Chubawati, Coordinator, Grace Society CBRF informed that people with intellectual impairment were examined and issued Disability Certificate according to the severity of their disability.

The certification camp was carried out so that the People with Disabilities (PWDs) in the project area Choral Music & Christian Leadership seminar started at Dimapur Ao Baptist Church on Febunder Grace Society CBRF ruary 14. The programme will continue till February 17. The February 15 programme will start will be able to avail their en- at 10:00 am. There is no registration required for the seminar. titlements under the various government schemes, the release added.

Lotha Youth hoho decides ‘Sanitation is foundation of to work for uplift of society

health, dignity, development’

Customers are seen buying roses in assorted colours near the City Tower Junction in Dimapur on Sunday, February 14. Valentine's Day, also known as Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is observed on February 14 each year as a day of romance where people exchange cards, candy, gifts or flowers with their special “valentine” to show their love. Taking advantage of the day, some enterprising individuals have opened different stalls across the city selling roses and chocolates. As the evening set in, most of them said the sales were good though not spectacular. (Morung Photo)

moN, February 14 (mexN): Directorate of Field Publicity, Government of India, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting conducted one day Special Outreach Programme at St. John School, Mon on February 12 with Toshi, SDO (PHED), Tobu as the resource person.

Speaking on the topic “Sanitation and Hygiene,” Toshi asserted that sanitation is a foundation of health, dignity and development, which everyone should be aware of. He said sanitation and hygiene provide good health and development to one’s lives and community. He emphasized on seven components of sanitation - Safe handling of drinking water, Safe disposal of liquid waste, Safe disposal of solid waste, Disposal of human waste, Personal hygiene, Proper home hygiene, and Community hygiene. He exhorted the students to disseminate the information to their family, friends and neighbours. Toshi also administered pledge to the students to maintain sanitation and live hygienic life.

In his address, Field Publicity Officer (FPO/DFP) Mathew SK Bengam said that the Directorate of Field Publicity is the mediator and communicator between the Central government and the public.

He said the main objectives of the Field Publicity is to go to the grassroots levels

and make publicity campaign on various centrally sponsored schemes and programmes, which are for the welfare of the people. He pointed out that the Special Outreach Programme is being organized in the schools keeping in mind that the students are the young builders and leaders of tomorrow who have the ability to disseminate the information on awareness campaign back to their family, friends, and neighbours. Students, he said, are targeted to communicate the message to their community.

Citing that health is wealth, he maintained that without good health one cannot do or achieve anything in live because everything depends on healthy body and sound mind. He also stressed on the bad effects of tobacco and alcohol. Mathew also briefed on various centrally sponsored schemes for the welfare of the people.

The Special Outreach Programme (SOP) campaign is for a period of three months. The themes identified for the programme are: Awatchh Bharat Abhiyan, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Beti Bachao/Beti Padao, Pradhan Mantri Surakhsa Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, Atal Pension Yojana, and Skill India Mission.

Office bearers, senior executives, and advisors of Lotha Youth Hoho.

WoKha, February 14 (mexN): Lotha Youth Hoho has unanimously decided to work with utmost sincerity and dedication for the uplift of the society. The decision was made during the executive body meeting of the Hoho on January 13 at The Hammock Resort, New Wokha.

A press release from Advisor & Media Incharge, Thungdemo Kyong informed that the members also made a strong

decision to fight against every means of corruption (in government, semi government, and private sectors) “as it is the core of all problems that has been and is devouring our society.”

The Youth Hoho also resolved to once again seek cooperation from all stakeholders stating without cooperation from the public it cannot work for the welfare of the same.

With regard to the ongoing

Nagamese issue, the body opined that it cannot accept Nagamese to be made the official language of Nagaland as “it threatens directly the very identity of the Nagas”, the release added. It also unanimously agreed to give total support to the Team Metamorphosis in its upcoming project ‘Operation Clean Wokha’.

The meeting was attended by senior executives and advisors besides the office bearers.

MonDAY 15•02•2016

NORTH-EAST

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

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govt siphons off Rs 3 cr Centre conspiring to install 'khichdi' government 'Assam from dairy development funds' in arunachal Pradesh: Chief Minister Nabam tuki NeW Delhi, February 14 (pTi): Nabam Tuki, ousted Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, today accused the Centre of conspiring to install a government comprising dissident Congress MLAs and BJP by revoking President's Rule in the state and said any such move will be "completely unconstitutional".

It will be in violation of law as the matter is already before the Supreme Court, he contended and warned of political instability and law and order problems in Arunachal Pradesh if a "khichdi" government is formed in the state.

"I have come to know that all dissident MLAs and BJP MLAs were taken to Arunachal Pradesh through a chartered plane first to Assam and then in helicopters to Itanagar.

"The MLAs are lodged

in two hotels in Itanagar and they are waiting to meet the Governor to stake claim to form the government under the leadership of Kalikho Pul," Tuki told PTI. Tuki, the leader of the Congress Legislature Party, said if the dissidents and BJP MLAs form a government it would be completely unconstitutional and against the law as the Supreme Court is still hearing a case regarding the imposition of President's rule in the state and dismissal of his government.

The revolt by Congress dissidents led by Kalikho Pul led to a political crisis in the state that finally led to imposition of President's rule on January 26.

All 21 dissident MLAs had been camping in New Delhi for a long time after revolting against the Tuki

North east Briefs

Gaidinliu’s death anniversary on Feb 17

Dimapur, February 14 (mexN): The 23rd death anniversary of Rani Gaidinliu will be observed on February 17, 10:00 am at Luangkao village under Tamenglong district under the theme ‘Freedom Envisioned’.

The programme is being organized by Rongmei Naga People’s Organisation (Nagaland, Manipur, Assam) with Johny Ruangmei, OSD, NDM as the chief host.

RNPO President G. Namgai will be presenting the presidential note. A press release from the Organising Committee informing this requested all concerned state unit councils, executive members, public leaders and wellwishers to attend the programme positively.

AR recovers contraband drugs ChaNDel, February 14 (mexN): Troops of 12 Assam Rifles conducted frisking and checking at Khudengthabi check post in Chandel district and apprehended an individual for possession of contraband drugs on February 13. According to an AR release, the individual, identified as Md Abdul Sukur, was travelling in a van bearing Registration Number AS-16B 0783 and heading towards Imphal. 789 WY tablets costing approximately Rs 3,94,500 was recovered from his possession. The apprehended individual along with the recovered item has been handed over to the Moreh Police Station.

Assam Regiment judged best marching contingent Dimapur, February 14 (mexN): The Assam Regiment has been adjudged the Best Marching Contingent amongst the three services at the Republic Day Parade held on January 26. The contingent comprising of 148 soldiers from the seven states of Northeast India was led by Lieutenant Aditya Bisht. The impressive accolade comes in the beginning of the Platinum Jubilee year of the Assam Regiment. Since its raising on June 15, 1941, the Regiment has been awarded seven Battle Honours, three Theatre Honours, nine Chief of the Army Staff Unit Citations, twenty three Army Commanders Unit Citations, two United Nations Citations besides numerous other gallantry awards.

Rajkhowa takes exception to handling of refugee issue iTaNagar, February 14 (pTi): Arunachal Pradesh Governor JP Rajkhowa has taken strong exception to the poor performance of the state's legal team on the Chakma-Hajong refugee issue and directed that the matter be reviewed and represented once again.

Rajkhowa yesterday asked the Chief Secretary and the Principal Secretary (Home) to immediately hire the best lawyers to take up the matter in Supreme Court, Raj Bhawan said in a communiqu today. The governor also expressed shock as to why the previous state government had not hired a battery of eminent lawyers in the Chakma-Hajong case.

The state lost the case in SC because it did not earnestly pursue it, he said, adding that the rights of the indigenous tribes of Arunachal Pradesh has to be protected as enshrined in the Constitution.

Rajkhowa directed the Chief Secretary to pay personal attention to the Chakma-Hajong imbroglio, the communiqu added. In September last year, SC had passed an order asking the state government and the Centre to give permanent settlement to the ChakmaHajong refugees in Arunachal Paradesh. The state goverment is opposing this order.

government. They were joined by 11 BJP MLAs and two independents.

Tuki reportedly has the support of 26 MLAs in the 60-member Assembly.

The former Chief Minister accused Union Minister Kiren Rijiju, who hails from Arunachal Pradesh, of conspiring with the dissident Congress MLAs. "He (Rijiju) is the person doing everything. He has sponsored the MLAs, providing security to them and destabilising my government. He had succeeded in it. "Now the central government is conspiring to form a government," he said.

Tuki said if a "Khichdi (potpourri) government is formed, it will not last long as there would be law and order problems and political instability".

"Such a government

will not last. I have come to know that after forming the government, they would recommend mid-term poll," he said.

Assembly election in Arunachal Pradesh was held along with the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Congress party, which had 47 MLAs in the 60-member assembly, suffered a jolt when 21 of its lawmakers rebelled.

Eleven BJP MLAs and two independents backed the rebels in the bid to upstage the government.

Later, 14 rebel Congress MLAs were disqualified by the Speaker.

The Supreme Court, which is considering pleas against imposition of President's rule in Arunachal Pradesh, is hearing petitions seeking examination of constitutional schemes on the scope of discretionary powers of the Governor.

The Minister was speaking at the Assam Krishi Unnayan Mela in the state.

The Centre wants to establish research institute IARI in Assam and a letter has already been written to the state government in this regard, he said.

The state government has shown four places and the officials of the institute have selected one place and for that the state government is demanding money, he added.

Feeling surprised over the state government's demand for money, Singh said, "Normally, the state government provides the land free of cost, don't know, the state government is strengthening the farmers or own family."

He retreated that the Modi government is committed to bring the second green revolution in the North East.

Manipur people protest 'outsiders' seeking state jobs imphal, February 14 (iaNS): Students have threatened to boycott a selection test and force the Manipur Public Service Commission to shut office to protest the way candidates from other states were allowed to register for 82 government jobs. "In practical terms it means that the candidates from the educationally advanced states can grab all the 82 vacancies in Manipur," Jayanta Khuman, the convener of the Joint Students' Coordination Committee (JSCC), said.

The Manipur Public Service Commission had invited online applications for 82 state government posts for which the written test is to be held on February 28. On Saturday, the students met Education Minister Moirangthem Okendra to seek his intervention. The minister assured them that he will look into the matter and take up remedial measures.

Khuman said, "Over 17,000 candidates out of 35,000 applications are from other states. There is no safeguard for the local candidates, unlike those in other northeastern states."

In Nagaland, 80 percent of the jobs are reserved for the local candidates. In Mizoram, an eligible candidate must have a working knowledge of the Mizo language.

There is no such precondition in case of Manipur, Khuman said. Since the candidates from out-

side Manipur do not speak or write the local language, there will be a gap in communication in the administration, he argued.

The situation in Manipur reflected "the state government's tendency to appease the central leaders", Ramananda, a candidate, said. "In Mizoram, nonlocal candidates can apply, provided they are residents whose names appear on the voters' lists. Their birth certificates should support it," Khuman said.

Why has the Manipur Public Service Commission adopted a "loose policy" at a time most of the northeastern states prefer local candidates, he wondered.

In Manipur, there are more than 750,000 educated unemployed people who have been registered with the employment exchanges.

The population of the state is less than 27 lakh. The local candidates, who believe they are at a disadvantage competing with people from the larger states, have formed a 'joint action committee' to protest the commission's norms. "If the stand of the commission is not made public by February 18, there will be direct action, including boycott of the written test," said one of the protesting students. Meanwhile, opposition legislator I. Ibohanbi said on Sunday that the commission must modify its norms to restrict people from other states applying for jobs in Manipur.

A cultural troupe performs at the Lui Ngai Ni Festival at Ukhrul on February 14. Hosted by the Tangkhul Naga Long (TNL) and organised by the UNC, the festival is being jointly celebrated by all Naga tribes in Manipur.

Tacit AIUDF-BJP deal to split Cong vote in Assam: Gogoi guWahaTi, February 14 (iaNS): The AIUDF of Badruddin Ajmal was hand-in-glove with the BJP in its bid to engineer a split in Congress votes through polarisation and thus ensure a victory for the BJP in the upcoming assembly polls in Assam, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said on Sunday.

Gogoi made the remark a day after the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) said it will contest 60 seats of the total 126 in the polls, and leave the rest for "secular and other like-minded" parties

to stop the BJP from coming to power in Assam.

Gogoi accused Ajmal of being hand-in-glove with the BJP by deciding to field candidates in constituencies where the party has no chances of winning.

"The AIUDF by deciding to contest in 60 seats has entered into a tacit understanding with the BJP to defeat the Congress candidates by engineering a split in votes and ensuring the victory of the saffron party.

"By deciding to field candidates in 60 constit-

Northeast's first 'Smart Village' along Indo-Bhutan border Two wanted Bodo barSimaluguri, February 14 (pTi): Smart cities may be Prime Minister Narendra Modi's latest mantra but a remote non-decrepit, insurgency-ravaged village in Assam along Indo-Bhutan border has earned the distinction of being northeast's first smart village.

Barsimaluguri, about 11 km from the Indo-Bhutan border, in Baksa district has been turned into a model smart village with hundred per cent toilets, solar power and pure drinking water, following an initiative taken by a few individuals under the aegis of Nanda Talukdar Foundation (NTF).

"There are more than 20,000 villages in Assam with numerous government schemes being implemented but none has been transformed into a smart village. We decided to concentrate on one village and turn it into a model village, independent of government schemes," NTF Secretary Mrinal Talukdar told PTI. The idea of turning a village into a smart one germinated in 2014 when "I along with a consultant friend, both spurred by the zeal to do something positive in rural Assam, dared to dream to turn a village ravaged by NDFB insurgents into a model village," he says. "We have worked along four main verticals -- alternative energy, drinking water, sanitation and skill development and also initiated several other intervention works ranging from development of educational facilities, playgrounds, health and legal camps along with the establishment of a yarn bank," he says.

Talukdar and his consultant friend Aniruddh Goswami had the Detailed Project Report (DPR) ready

guWahaTi, February 14 (pTi): Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh today accused the Congress government in Assam of having "siphoned off" Rs 3 crore from the funds allocated by the Centre for development of dairy sector in the state.

Singh said that the state government has not given any details where these funds have been utilised adding "the loss is obviously to the people of Assam. There is no dairy development in the state".

"In the year 1994-95, the Centre sanctioned Rs 1,300 lakh for the dairy development project in the 10 districts of Assam.

In 2004-05, again Rs 910 lakh had been issued by the Central Government, but from that Rs 300 lakh has been siphoned off," Singh was quoted as saying in an official press statement.

by 2014 but the task of finding a sponsor was not easy with many organisations approached being sceptical of the project. "Some were not sure whether we could successfully implement the project while many others rued why just one village? We were, however, not disheartened and our struggle to find a sponsor continued. Finally, the India Infrastructure Finance Corporation Limited (IIFCL) stepped in to finance our dream project," he adds. The work to turn Barsimaluguri, a hamlet of 234 households of farmers, small traders and daily wage earners, into a smart village began on January 15, 2015 and the first step in this direction was to set up a model village working committee led by villagers Dinesh Bhuyan and Dipu Choudhury.

The first work initiated by the committee was setting up the water purification plant and now this village is perhaps the only one in the region to have a reverse osmosis plant.

The plant is maintained by the village development committee and villagers pay a nominal amount of Rs 120 per month for maintenance, Talukdar says. "Earlier, we were spending more than Rs 300 on medicines due to illness caused by water-borne diseases and so making a payment of only Rs 120 to lead a disease-free life was more than welcome," says Choudhury.

Following the establishment of the water treatment plant, the next step was to set up toilets as most households practised open defecation. "The target was to set up hundred toilets within a year and the task was not easy, particularly during the monsoon

but we did manage to complete it at a cost of Rs 16,000 each," Project Coordinator Surajit Dutta says.

The highlight of the project was, however, providing solar power to homes as well as for street lightning, literally bringing a ray of light for the villagers, he says. Solar Home kits were provided to hundred households and the Rajasthan Electronics and Instruments Limited helped with technical assistance is setting up these panels. The Solar Home kits consist of a battery, solar panel, transformer, three LED lights and one fan.

Another key area which the project has emphasised on is skill development with several training programmes conducted for weaving, cutting and tailoring along with basic computer courses where ideas were discussed with trainees to maximise their skills and turn it into revenue streams, Dutta says.

A yarn bank has also been set up in the village which will be managed by the Village Women Committee with an initial deposit of 40 kg of yarn made

by NTF while subsequently the Committee will run the bank on a sustainable model. A warping drum has also been provided to the committee as the weavers had to travel earlier to distance places to get their yarn warped.

Several health camps were conducted during the year with free cataract operations being also carried out along with legal and financial awareness camps. "We have completed within a year what we had dreamt of and turned Barsimaluguri into a smart village with its residents committed to bring in more improvement in the future," Talukdar adds.

militants shot dead

guWahaTi, February 14 (iaNS): Two Bodo militants - wanted for the killing of Adivasis and abduction of Hindispeaking people in Assam - were on Sunday gunned down by security forces in Kokrajhar district, police said.

Security forces operating in the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) killed the two cadres of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) faction opposed to peace talks at Auzarguri in Kokrajhar.

One of them was identified as Sanjib Basumatary alias Khardes, while the second was identified as Jangswrang Basumatary alias Ladai, police said.

Ladai was wanted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for the massacre of Adivasis in December 2014 and for kidnapping Hindi-speaking people in January that year.

Khardes was also wanted for many subversive acts, police said.

A joint team of the Indian Army and Assam Police came face to face with a group of militants early

on Sunday.

The militants fired at the security personnel, who retaliated, and in the exchange of fire two militants were injured.

Both the injured were rushed to a hospital in Dotma but doctors declared them dead.

Two 7.65 mm pistols, some ammunition and grenades were recovered from the slain cadres.

Recently, a joint team of police and army killed another NDFB cadre who was also wanted by the NIA for his involvement in the December 2014 massacre in Chirang district.

uencies where they have no chances of winning, AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal has entered into a political game plan with the BJP, like they did in the last parliamentary elections to defeat the Congress candidates," he said.

Gogoi said people would see through their game plan to grab power by relegating their ideological differences to the backburner.

"If the AIUDF is for uniting Muslims to consolidate minority votes, the BJP is also propagating the Hindutva agenda

of the RSS and uniting Hindus.

"Both the parties have the same kind of strategy to polarise the electorate on religious lines. The AIUDF and the BJP are two sides of the same coin," Gogoi said. He reiterated that the Congress was well poised to fight the polls alone.

AIUDF organisational secretary Aminul Islam on Saturday said the party was going to contest 60 seats, and "the rest 66 seats, we are leaving to secular and other likeminded parties to stop the BJP in Assam".

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MonDAY 15•02•2016

Business

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Modi urged to make reality match ‘Make in India’ hype MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 14 (REUTERS): Thousands of people and mascots of lions swarmed the weekend opening of a “Make in India” drive to attract foreign direct investment, pitched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “the biggest brand that India has ever created”.

The week-long event, the boldest since Modi launched the initiative to emulate China’s export miracle back in 2014, seeks to “spark a renewed sense of pride in India’s manufacturing”, its marketing blurb says.

But even as the Make in India hype scales new heights, some bosses question Modi’s delivery on promises to make it easier to do business, while marketing experts caution against creating unrealistic expectations.

“When you over-communicate and you under-

Prime minister Narendra modi speaks during the inauguration ceremony of the ‘make In India’ week in mumbai, February 13, 2016. REUTERS

deliver, the biggest risk is that you begin to lose trust,” said Chandramouli Nilakantan, CEO of Blue Lotus Communications, a branding and public rela-

tions consultancy.

On buzz alone the effort got off to a great start, with the prime ministers of Sweden and Finland attending Saturday’s gala

opening hosted by Modi.

On Sunday, delegates thronged the 10 pavilions erected for the event in Mumbai, India’s financial capital. Around 2,500 for-

Govt may soon approve first ever capital goods policy NEw DElhI, FEBRUARY 14 (PTI): The country’s first-ever policy for the capital goods sector will be placed before the Cabinet for approval this month, a senior official told PTI. The draft policy envisions increasing the share of capital goods in total manufacturing activity to 20% by 2025 from 12% at present.

It aims to increase domestic employment from the current 15 lakh to at least 50 lakh by 2025 thus providing additional employment to over 35 lakh people in the sector.

“We will place the (capital goods) policy before Cabinet this month,” a senior Heavy Industry Ministry official said.

The Ministry had set up a task force to make a road map for the country’s capital goods sector and sought suggestions on a draft paper to frame policy on the industry.

The draft policy proposes a long term, stable and rationalised tax and duty structure to promote the

capital goods sector, one of the most critical segments for achieving the vision of Make in India.

Stressing on creation of an ecosystem for globally competitive capital goods sector, it proposes uniform customs duty on imports of all capital goods related products.

It also proposes allowing up to 50% CENVAT credit to manufacturers using such products as raw material or intermediates for further processing or using such goods in the manufacturing of finished goods.

It pitches for adoption of uniform Goods and Services Tax regime ensuring effective GST rate across all capital goods sub-sectors competitive with import duty after set-off with a view to ensure level playing field. The draft makes a case for providing incentives for domestic and global mergers and acquisitions.

It also pitches for providing incentives for venture-funding and

Apple to replace faulty USB-C cables NEw YoRk, FEBRUARY 14 (IANS): US tech giant Apple has announced a worldwide replacement programme for the USB-C cable that it shipped between April and June, 2015.

The cable was released with the 12-inch Retina Macbook last year, and according to Apple, it is possible for the cable to fail without warning due to flaw in the design.

“As a result, your MacBook may not charge or only charge intermittently when it’s connected to a power adapter with an affected cable,” iClarified quoted Apple’s statement as saying on Saturday.

The buyers of these cables may get a new cable if they gave Apple their mailing address when registering for MacBook.

Others can contact authorised Apple service provider, or contact Apple customer support.

If any user has bought a new one, he/she is eligible for a refund.

eign companies and 8,000 domestic companies were expected to attend, organisers said.

Yet on the ground, the experience of businesses is more prosaic: Twenty months after Modi swept to power with a promise of growth and jobs for India’s 1.3 billion people, executives say more needs to be done, including improving infrastructure.

More pressingly, key legislation such as a goods and services tax and land acquisition bill are stuck in parliament, just as global competitors such as Vietnam step up their own reform efforts. “Make in India is a great initiative and has created a lot of positive sentiments,” Vikas Agarwal, general manager of mobile phone maker OnePlus in India, told Reuters.

“Now the government needs to follow up with policies. That includes providing custom duty and export incentives, tax rationalisation and removal of ambiguous land acquisition policies.”

MAJOR WINS Make In India has scored major wins, including a pledge by Taiwan’s Foxconn to invest $5 billion in a new electronics manufacturing facility.

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risk capital to start-up. The policy is aimed at creating an ecosystem for a globally competitive capital goods sector to achieve total production in excess of Rs 5 lakh crore by 2025 from the current Rs 2.2 lakh crore.

On availability of industrial financing, the draft pitches for subvention fund for setting up capital goods units and to allow External Commercial Borrowings under automatic route for all capital goods.

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More banking reforms coming soon: Jaitley MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 14 (IANS): The government will unveil a series of banking reforms in the coming days but it has no intention to exit from the sector, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Sunday.

“There are a series of banking reforms which I am likely to announce in the days to come... you may find something on that,” Jaitley said at a forum here during the government’s Make In India Week event here.

“I don’t think India has reached a stage where the state can pull out of banking altogether,” he said.

Declaring state-run banks to be a necessity because of their major role in financial inclusion, he said the government was already committed to bring down its holding in these to up to 51 percent.

The finance minister’s comments come after public sector banks posted poor earnings for the third quarter and an asset quality review by the Reserve Bank of India showed a major rise in bad assets and provisioning.

Regarding the government’s commitment not to interfere in the running of banks, Jaitley said: “We have erred in the past on this.”

Jaitley also said the government is committed to provide a predictable and stable tax regime, adding that tax demands raised in the past have given the country a “bad reputation”.

He said the government has embarked on a path to make India’s tax regime globally competitive and the move to bring down the corporate tax gradually to 25 percent is a part of the strategy.

MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 14 (ANI): American publishing company, Time Inc on Sunday announced the winners of the inaugural TIME India awards, honouring leaders for manufacturing excellence in India, at the Make in India week here. McKinsey & Company is the knowledge partner for the awards. The awards encompassed three categories: Best in class manufacturing, manufacturing innovator of the year and young maker of the year.

Tata Steel won the award for best in class for manufacturing, while Hero MotoCorp was named the manufacturing innovator of the year and Yogesh and Rajesh Agrawal of Ajanta Pharma Limited were declared winners of the TIME India Young Maker of the Year.

Norman Pearlstine, the chief content officer for Time Inc. announced the winners at a ceremony here, at which Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the guest of honour.

The awards launched a weeklong series of events to mark the Indian Government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative to boost the country’s manufacturing sector.

“The recipients of the first TIME India awards are world-class companies that are making a real impact on the rapidly growing Indian economy. We are pleased to recognise them for their efforts during ‘Make in India’ Week ,” said Pearlstine.

“In the coming years many Indian companies may take the big leap to become global multinationals. Winners of the future will be companies that not only ‘Make in India’ but ‘Make Better and More Efficiently in India,” said Rajat Dhawan, director, McKinsey & Company.

The winners were selected among nine finalists, who were determined from a pool of approximately 3,000 manufacturing companies after extensive evaluation of qualitative and quantitative parameters. The finalists were announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January.

A jury of leading international business figures led

by Norman Pearlstine selected the winners of the TIME India Awards in each category.

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eign direct investment to nearly double to $59 billion last year, the seventh most in the world, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Yet in critical aspects, India remains far behind its goals. The proportion of manufacturing to gross domestic product has been stuck at around 17 percent for five years, below the government’s goal to ramp it up to 25 percent, according to the Boston Consulting Group.

India has only created 4 million manufacturing jobs since 2010, according to Boston Consulting.

At the current rate, India may only create 8 million jobs by 2022, well below the government’s goal of 100 million.

Professor Ravi Aron, a U.S.-based expert in manufacturing, said India was ill-suited for a Chinese-style export boom, because it lacked the infrastructure and the skills for its exports to compete internationally.

“It should not be called ‘Make in India’ but ‘Make In Spite of India’,” said Aron, of Johns Hopkins University, advising the Indian government to scale back its ambitions and focus on its growing domestic market.

Tata Steel wins TIME’s best in class for manufacturing award

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Police Control Room Police Traffic Control East Police Station West Police Station

228400

CIHSR (Referral Hospital) Dimapur hospital

242555/ 242533

Apollo Hospital Info Centre:

230695/ 9402435652

Railway:

131/228404

Indian Airlines

229366

232106 227607 232181

224041, 248011

Nagaland Multispe- 248302, cialty Health & 09856006026 Research Centre

kOhImA

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

STd COdE: 0370 100/2244279 2222222 2222111 2222952 2222916 2243339 2224202 08974997923

WE4WOmEN hELPLINE 08822911011

W I N F A Z R E d d I W m A L L E T U h

C h A m P I O N I I d J L C h A Z A R d

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k V E S R L N F V J k F Q R X k g E Y g

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KoHIMA NoRTH: 7085924114 (o)

CHUMUKEDIMA: 7085982102 (o) 8732810051 (oC) WOkhA: 03860242215/101 (o) 8974322879 (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

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KoHIMA SoUTH: 0370-2222952/ 101 (o) 9402003086 (oC)

MoN: 03869-251222/ 101 (o) 9862130954 (oC)

ChILd WELFARE COmmITTEE

mOkOkChUNg:

FIRE STATIONS

DIMAPUR: 03862-232201/ 101 (o) 9856156876 (oC)

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

ANS TO CROSSWORd 3502

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Z F U N k X N R d h k Y E k W R N m Q Z

*Violin *Drums

STd COdE: 0369

Police Station 1:

2226241

Police Station 2 :

2226214

Civil Hospital: Woodland Nursing Home:

2226216 2226263

Hotel Metsüpen (Tourist Lodge):

2226373/2229343

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0.06

17.56

19.57

9.86

10.99

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MondAY 15•02•2016

NAGALAND

Nbcc’s 79 annual council concludes th

Dimapur, February 14 (mexN): The 79th Annual Council of the Nagaland Baptist Church Council which started on February 12 under the theme “Abundant life” at the Nagaland Police Baptist Churches Association Mission Centre, Chumukedima concluded on February 14.

The highlights of the program included bible study for focus groups where Shelly Swu, Lecturer, TTC, led the youth group on the topic “Abundant life in relationship: Youth.” Anshely Sumi, Director, Aloino Centre, Dimapur, led the women group on the topic “Abundant life in relationship: Women,” and Vemuriyi Vadeo, Assistant Professor, OTS, led the men group on the topic “ Abundant life in relationship: Leadership.”

There was also work-

shops on the topics like “Youth and the church”, “Women in ministry: Challenges and prospects” and “Men in ministry: Witness in the market place.” The workshop speakers were Rev. Dr. Don Ng, Gregory Ng, Joy Ng, Rev. Lauren, Rev. Dr. Ross Clifford and

All Nagaland art & exhibition Kohima, Feb 14 (mexN): The Incessant Welfare Society Nagaland (IWSN) is organising All Nagaland Art & Exhibition from February 16 to 18 at State Academy Hall, Kohima. The three day event seeks to promote young artists of Nagaland in various fields.

BJYM to protest “anti-India slogan” Dimapur, February 14 (mexN): The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha will be organising a protest against the “anti India slogan” that were raised in the campus of Jawaharlal Nehru University on February 15 at City Tower Junction Dimapur at 3 p.m. Students from the reputed institution indulging in such “Shameful Act” has “shocked the whole nation,”a press release from the Morcha stated. The BJYM Nagaland has appealed to all to join the protest.

Rev. Bonny Resu. There was also a panel discussion on “Homosexuality and Gay” with Dr. Sedevi Angami as the resource person.

Plays on clean election and on women empowerment were staged by ABAM and WSBAK respectively.

There was a special presen-

tation of various items by the NPBCA on the third day.

Executive meetings and business session of the Council were an integral part of the Annual session.

Khalenmew, Youth Secretary, YBBA, and Neingupeü Rhakho, Women Secretary, CBCC, were the record-

ings on Sunday devotional worship while Rev. Dr. Ross Clifford spoke on the topic “Abundant life: ministry”.

On the closing worship, Talijungla Longkumer brought the message on “Abundant Life: Family.”

She stated that family is a divine institution and that we are co-creators with God to care and nurture our family. She also said that it is the integrity of each family that is the beginning of the growth of the church.

She also encouraged the congregation to move from church to home-centred ministry.

Final words were conveyed by K. Martin Pienyü IPS, Convnor, COLA and Rev. Hotokhu P. Zhimomi, Vice president, NBCC. A flag down ceremony and lighting of candles and lantern were held to mark the closing.

Dimapur, February 14 (mexN): The Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) has demanded that the Nagaland State Government “should now decide to take serious austerity measures if there is no better option with their hopeful BJP.” A press note from the NPCC President, K Therie said that the state is “paralysed and frustrated as it cannot do anything even to maintain potholes, broken windows, doors, pay salaries for those that work, deliver MGNREGA, PDS, ICDS, Old age pension and other national flagship schemes.”

“There has been no works program for the last few years but they travel in the most expensive SUVs for their comfort, luxury, style and leisure. They travel all over the world at the cost of tax payers to learn while the public hoped they would change the state into the likeness of the foreign nations they visit. They come back home and start counting their commissions for the next travel to enjoy the beauty of other's creation,” the NPCC alleged.

It said that the government needs to “reduce luxury, style, leisure and unproductive expenditures,” stating that “there is no moral right to spend tax payers’ money without work.” It further demanded the removal of escort vehicles with body guards for Parliamentary Secretaries, Advisers, and Chairmen; and an end to re-employees, backdoor appointments, bogus employees, backdoor appointees and bogus pensions.

“Open job avenues for the youth. Let them have free competition. Merit is the law of justice and equality. Backdoor or bias appointments are the result and source of corrupt election and booth capturing,” the NPCC said.

cPO resolves to work cohesively Kohima, February 14 (mexN): Chakhesang Public Organization (CPO) in its co-ordination meeting has resolved that the entire frontal organizations under the jurisdiction of CPO shall cohesively work to live in peace and tranquility in their community in particular and the State in general. The co-ordination meeting was held with all the frontal organizations on February 10 at the conference hall of CBCK (Kitsubozou).

A press release from

CPO General Secretary, Mutsivoyi Kotso informed that the house also resolved to condemn the killing of a couple on February 6 in Shamator and appealed to the law enforcing agencies and the investigating team to expedite the case and book the culprits without any further delay.

It further decided to condemn the killing of Charlie Hansing, son of Paolal Hansing, IAS (Retd), by unidentified persons on February 2 at

Free Yoga Camp underway

Burma camp, Dimapur.

The house resolved to condemn the rape of differently abled minor girl on January 30. It urged the competent authority(s) to award befitting punishment to the accused stating such person has no place in the society.

Earlier, CPO Vice President Ariyi Nienu chaired the meeting, CBCK Sr. Pastor, Rev. Khrotso Mero offered prayer, and CPO President Kekhwengulo Lea briefly highlighted the purpose of the meeting.

The meeting was attended by the officials from Chakhesang Students’ Union (CSU), Chakhesang Youth Front (CYF), Chakhesang Mothers’ Association (CMA), and a representative from Chakhesang Cultural Organization (CCO), and Phek District Sports’ Association (PDSA). The CPO while thanking the pastors and staffs of the CBCK (Kitsubozou) for their benevolent gestures further asked their co-operation even in the future.

Faculty of Golden Crown Theological College with some of the team members from Revelation Church, New York.

The team visited the college to minister during Sunday devotional service.

PLVs urged to play proactive role for NALSA schemes

Dimapur, February 14 (mexN): A 15-day free Yoga Camp organized by Arya Samaj got underway today at Dayanand Vidya Niketan School Campus, Purana Bazaar, Naharbari. The Yoga Class will be admistered by Yoga guru Ramashankar Shiromoni who is a disciple of Swami Dhirendra Brahmachari of Delhi.

NPFMW consultative meet Dimapur, February 14 (mexN): The Minority Wing of the NPF will hold a consultative meeting on Tuesday, February 16 at Hotel Jalmahal Conference Hall, near East Police Station, Dimapur. A press release from the Wing has informed all members of the Minority Wing, Central and Dimapur to attend the meeting.

PTCSU elects new team pheK, February 14 (mexN): The Phek Town Chakhesang Students’ Union (PTCSU) during its 38th general conference elected a new team of executives for the 2016-2017 tenure. The team includes PresidentThuputo Venuh; Vice President- Muluzo Nyekha; General Secretary- Velato Venuh; Finance Secretary- Vese Rhakho; Treasurer- Mharhushelu; Publicity and Information Secretary- Khukhoto Chizo; representatives to CSU- Kudukhoto Tetseo and Khruzota Vadeo.

ers for the sessions while Haiwalo Apon, Executive Secretary, CRBC did the necrology on the second night of the Program.

DABA youth and NPBCA youth led the praise and worship during the evening services and Dr. Vivee Peseyie, Dean of Music, Patkai Christian College, was the pianist during the program. The worship service speakers were Rev. Dr. Mar Atsongchanger, President, NBCC, Rev. Dr. Don Ng, President, ABC – USA, Rev. Dr. Ross Clifford, President, APBF and Talijungla Longkumer, Director, ATA. Choirs from Oriental Theological Seminary, Patkai Christian College, NPBCA and Town Baptist Church, Chumukedima participated at the evening worship services.

L. L. Doungel IPS, DGP, Nagaland brought greet-

NPCC demands immediate austerity measures

The Muslim Council Dimapur felicitated its Working President Ahidur Rehman Unity Hall, Naga Council building, Dimapur on Sunday. Rehman was recently conferred the Peace Award along with former Pro-Vice Chancellor, Prof Lanunungsang.

Chief Guest on the occasion, MLA & Advisor, Urban Development, SI Jamir lauded Rehman for his role in building communal harmony post the March 5, 2015 incident.

pheK, February 14 (mexN): Phek District Legal Services Authority (PDLSA) organized an orientationcum-para legal volunteers’ training for PDLSA members/ panel lawyers/ para legal volunteers/ stakeholders of Juvenile Justice System at the DPDB conference hall, Phek.

A press release from PDLSA Secretary and JMFC, Phek, Somet C. Chang informed that the Member Secretary of Nagaland State Legal Services Authority, Nino Iralu introduced the 7 new schemes of National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), 2015 and encouraged the para legal volunteers (PLVs) to play a proactive role to achieve the schemes.

The schemes are: NALSA (Victims of Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation) Scheme 2015; NALSA (Legal Services to Workers in the Unorganized Sector) Schemes, 2015; NALSA (Child Friendly Legal Services to Children and their Protection) Scheme, 2015; NALSA (Legal Services to the Mentally Ill and Mentally Disabled Persons) Schemes, 2015; NALSA (Effective Implementa-

tion of Poverty Alleviation Schemes) Scheme, 2015; NALSA (Protection, and Enforcement of Tribal Rights) Scheme, 2015; and NALSA (Legal Services to the Victims of drug Abuse and Eradication of Drug Menace) Scheme, 2015.

Iralu emphasized that for successful implementation of the schemes, the basic role has to be played by the PLVs, Panel Lawyers (PLs), and all stakeholders to identify victims/ beneficiaries and assist the workers in unorganized sectors such as carpenters and masons so as to register themselves and avail facilities of life and medical insurance etc. She further stressed that the Legal Services Authorities have to act as watchdog and bridge the gap between the public and all stakeholders by coordinating with the government authorities.

“Scheme in Legal Services parlance means to give service/ to work, so as to render effective service to those unreached/ and also to create awareness to the common man,” she added.

Deputy Commissioner of Phek,

Murohu Chotso also exhorted the gathering and stressed that general public should be more sensitive towards the functioning of various organs of the government and desist from outrightly blaming the inaction of law enforcing agency or the District Administration without placing their grievances or complaints through proper channel and due procedure.

Trainer of Trainers (ToT) Tongpang L. Jamir and Alemwapang Ao, Retainer Lawyer Mamang Singson and Panel Lawyer Neite-o Koza were the resource persons for para legal volunteers’ training. Experience sharing was given by Panel Lawyer Rukuvolu Vero. Panel Lawyer Hotingkyu, Retainer Lawyer L. Likhase Sangtam and PLV Sechopi of Kiphire district and PLV of Meluri Anthony Ngouri shared their activities in Kiphire/Meluri and experiences thereof. Around 70 persons attended the programme, including officials from District Administration, Police, Social Welfare Department, District Jail, and stakeholders.

Public SPace In memory of lives lost to Hatred

Our Representatives (MLAs) should know their powers vested in the Constitution of India!

Oken Jeet Sandham

A

re there any Representatives caring to listen to the voices of their villagAnother life lost; home ers? The villagers in the remotest burnt down... areas elected their RepresentaDo not give an excuse! tives to represent them not only to look after their welfare. It is a Listen to the cries of the wrong perception that one has loved ones to be always in the Government Immeasurable pain to be more forceful and powercaused by hatred ful. They should know that any Do not give an excuse! elected Representatives are vested with immense power in Weren’t they your friends, the Constitution to bring the neighbour, colleague, Government to their knees if family? they fail to perform or listen to.

Just a month ago you Our Representatives are the exchange Christmas cake Members of the Legislative Asand pork sembly. They are the Members Just a while ago you of the highest law-making body played, laughed and in each State. The primary funcshared tamul with them. tion of a Member of the LegisNow you let someone lative Assembly is law-making. infest you with suspicion, The Constitution of India states fear, anger and worst hate that the Members of the Legislathem! tive Assembly can exercise their Do not give an excuse! legislative powers on all matters on which the Parliament Lest we forget cannot legislate. An MLA can And now these three re- exercise his legislative powers mains; on the State List and the ConFaith, hope and love current List. The State List conBut the greatest of these is tains subjects of importance to Love. the individual State alone, such as trade, commerce, developSulila Anar ment, irrigation and agricul-

ture, while the Concurrent List contains items of importance to both the Union Government and the State Government such as succession, marriage, education, adoption, forests and so on.

Although ideally only the Members of the Legislative Assembly can legislate on the State List, the Parliament can legislate on subjects in the State List while Emergency has been imposed on the State. In addition to that, on the matters that are included in the Concurrent List, the laws made by the Parliament are prioritized over the laws made by the Legislative Assembly if the President does not give his assent to the laws made by the Legislative Assembly. Although the Members of the Legislative Assembly are the highest law-making organs of the State Government, their legislative powers are not absolute.

But the Article 371A, which is a “Special provision with respect to the State of Nagaland,” in its Sub-Clause 1, states that: (1) Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution, – (a) no Act of Parliament in respect of – (i) religious or social practices of the Nagas, (ii) Naga customary law and procedure,

(iii) administration of civil and criminal justice involving decisions according to Naga customary law, (iv) ownership and transfer of land and its resources, shall apply to the State of Nagaland unless the Legislative Assembly of Nagaland by a resolution so decides.

The Legislative Assembly holds absolute financial powers in the State. A Money Bill can only originate in the Legislative Assembly and the Members of the Legislative Assembly must give consent for any of the expenses made from the State Treasury. It must be noted that in the States that have a bicameral legislature, both the Legislative Council and the Vidhan Parishad can pass the Bill or suggest changes to the Bill within 14 days of its receipt although the Members are not bound to abide by the changes suggested.

All grants and tax-raising proposals must be authorized by the MLAs for them to be executed and implemented for the development of the state.

The Members of the Legislative Assembly also have certain electoral powers such as the following: • Elected Members of the Legislative Assembly comprise

the Electoral College that elects the President of India.

• MLAs elect the members of the Rajya Sabha, who represent a particular state.

• The Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly are elected by the MLAs. • In states with a bicameral legislature, one-third of the members of the Legislative Council are elected by the MLAs. • MLAs appoint the various Committees to the House.

SALARY AND PENSION OF AN MLA The salary of a Member of the Legislative Assembly of a State in India, like that of the Member of the Parliament of the country, is accompanied by a number of other allowances besides the basic pay, such as constituency allowances, sumptuous allowances, expense allowance and daily allowances. The facilities given to the MLA of each state include medical facilities, residence facilities, reimbursement of electricity and phone bills and traveling facilities among other things. The amounts vary from one state to another as is specifically detailed in the respective State Legislatures of the country. Each MLA is also entitled to a fixed amount

as pension after fulfilling office in the post. However, the amount varies from one state legislature to another as each state legislature assigns different emoluments to its members.

The Members of the Legislative Assembly in each State exercise certain Executive Powers.

They control the activities and actions taken by the Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers.

In other words, the ruling Government is answerable to the Legislative Assembly for all its decisions. A vote of “No-Confidence” can be passed only by the MLAs in any State that, if passed by a majority, can force the ruling government to resign. Question Hour, Cut Motions and Adjournment Motions can be exercised by the Members of the Legislative Assembly in order to restrict the Executive organ of the State Government machinery.

It is very unfortunate that since the Nagaland State has an Opposition-less Government, no “Question Hours” or “Debates” or “Discussions on any Public Importance” were there in the last couple of Assembly Sessions. It may be recalled that the last Nagaland Assembly Session had a record 25-minute Session – shortest in the history

of Nagaland Assembly Sessions.

Ours is a Welfare State and the Government should be transparent and accountable to its citizens. The people of the State appear to be watching the Government as they are headed to a very unpredictable future. It will be a very costly affair indeed if it fails to activate itself as a responsible Government. The Opposition is essential not only in democracy but also for a vibrant and strong Government. Democracy is meaningless without Opposition. The people are in the dark indeed as there is no Opposition in the State.

BOTTOM LINE: Kindly also see this; one MLA represents more than 30000 people in average in Nagaland. Now if their leaders fail to act and present their demands democratically and constitutionally, what will be the consequences? The Government will only act when the Representatives act because they have to listen to.

Are our Representatives performing their duties or do they know their constitutionally bounden duties or the powers vested in the Constitution of India?

The Morung Express “Public Space” is to provide 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.

6

MonDAY 15•02•2016

IN FOCUS

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

The Power of Truth

The Morung Express volume Xi issue 43 By moa Jamir

A state of permanent conflict

C O M M E N T A R Y

Mairead Maguire Inter Press Service

Violence is a preventable disease

A

s violence erupted following the gunning down of a couple between Shamator and Kiphire on February 6, Nagas were once again witnessing the repetition of an inter-tribal conflict, too frequent in recent times, which continues to undermine human security over and over again.

While the violence since then has ebbed considerably, it also raised a burning question whether our inherent contradiction and friction would implode and shatter the grand illusion of a cohesive society as often portrayed to and perceived by outsiders.

Perennial tribal conflict has erupted time and again. In recent times, we have seen it manifested most prominently in Kohima in 2015 and again in Dimapur in 2012. Tension and conflict in Mon and Tuensang district among different communities has been a recurring theme. Even the quest for political aspiration does not escape from this encumbering shackle. Thus we dwell in a state of permanent conflict.

What could be the reason behind such circumstances?

Are we too contradictory a society that we cannot escape its encompassing yoke? Subeno Kithan, a faculty at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Guwahati writing on “Inter-tribal prejudices among the Nagas” (See The Morung Express, September 18, 2015) that each Naga tribe, with its unique dialect and cultural practices, reflects “societies within a society”.

As a result, while outsiders perceive Nagas as one, we are everyday reminded of the internal contradiction in our daily interaction with each others.

The assertion of ‘self ’ crafted around tribal identity is also responsible for highlighting differences between different tribes, Subeno opined adding the “othering” has taken place to distinguish the non-tribal from the tribal as well as one tribe from the other. The inter-tribal prejudices are products of love for one’s own tribal association, often detrimental to that of others, she noted. Often participation in voting, cultural events, societal institution and churches, concerns or conflicts, and achievements or failures - each find articulation through assertion and recognition of tribal identity within contemporary society, she added.

In a biting opinion piece in The Hindu (January 23, 2014) entitled “Nagaland: Descent into chaos” before becoming the the Centre's interlocutor in the talks with the NSCN (IM), R.N. Ravi wrote that the Nagas, inhabiting present Nagaland State and adjoining areas of northeastern India and Myanmar, is a rubric for a host of over 25 distinct tribes whose mutual differences far outnumber their commonness, with each tribe culturally distinct and linguistically unintelligible to the others.

It does not stop at the tribal lines, but even within the same tribes - range politics, village stereotyping and clan affiliations create further division in our societies. Our common day-today interaction is weighed down with this existential reality.

Fraught with precarious social, economic and ethnic divides while espousing egalitarianism, solidarity and cohesiveness, how do we come out of this existential dilemma?

Politically, the government should take a definitive stand to find a genuine and permanent solution to the present conflict. Not merely washing off its hand with an interim commission or special investigation team for temporary respite.

The apex social organisation should recognise that one-upmanship is a zero-sum game which serves no one in the long run. Authentic and legitimate solutions are arrived at if only one admit the flaws within and take measures to rectify the same.

The Church, as one of the most important moral guide and authority should not only take recourse to fasting or prayer as a permanent solution, but should make continuous effort to find a permanent answer. Remember, sustaining a peace process is continuous and perpetual.

We need to retrospect further and challenge the notion that everything is well within the society. Let us do away with our deep rooted internal prejudice, stereotyping, machismos and patriarchal attitude.

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

lEfT WING |

Jennifer Saba Reuters

Twitter lacks love more than numbers in its flock

T

witter may want to learn to love the flock it has. The social-media platform said on Wednesday that the number of people using it has stalled at 320 million.

Chief Executive and co-founder Jack Dorsey wants to attract more people and close the gap with Facebook’s 1.6 billion active monthly members. As reasonable, if obvious, as that sounds, though, there’s more to do with the current crop of users.

Dorsey has spent much of his time since taking the helm of the company last October promising to fix what he calls the “broken windows.” A string of high-level executive departures at the beginning of this year, including its vice presidents of product and engineering, has stymied his efforts to kick-start growth at the $10 billion company.

Dorsey also wants to make Twitter less confusing to people who are not well versed in the platform’s “weird rules,” like how to respond to another’s tweet. To attract more people he wants to emphasize Twitter’s best aspects like its ability to track live events.

Dorsey, who is also CEO of another publicly traded company, payments firm Square, has been off-key with new features, though. One, called “moments,” tries to highlight tweets and events pertinent to each user, but was met largely with derision. He’s also exploring allowing more than 140-character tweets – Twitter’s signature and some fans say best aspect, in a Facebook-like morph that could fall flat.

He is having some success elsewhere. Twitter managed to get 25 percent more dollars out of each of its Tweeps in the fourth quarter compared to the previous three months.

That’s in large part because Madison Avenue is paying more attention: 130,000 advertisers used Twitter last year, a 90 percent increase from 2014.

Transforming the company’s heavy R&D budget into revenue ought to be a priority. Last year, it rose 17 percent to $806 million. It’s just over a third of revenue, though Twitter also lost $521 million in 2015. These are expenses that either need to bear fruit or be shed – regardless of whether Dorsey can attract more users.

T

he World Health Organization has said that ‘Violence is a preventable disease’ and people are not born violent, rather we all live in cultures of violence. This can be changed through nonviolent peacemaking and the pursuit of ‘just peace’ and nurturing of cultures of peace.

In Northern Ireland for over thirty years we faced violence from all sides, as we lived in a deep ethnic/ political conflict. This violence only ended when everyone acknowledged that militarism and paramilitarism could not solve our human problems, and only through unconditional, all inclusive dialogue and negotiations could we reach a political agreement based on nonviolence, forgiveness, compromise and cooperation. We spoke ‘to our enemies’ and made peace with them, because we recognized that without peace nothing is possible, and with peace, everything is possible. We also began to tackle the root causes of our violence, by painstakingly making policy changes. Today in Belfast, while it is good for all its citizens to live in a city at peace, we all acknowledge that our peace process is a work in progress and we must continue to work on justice, forgiveness and reconciliation.

This is a time when, I believe, Europe is at crossroads and hard choices regarding policies and priorities have to be made. Today’s refugees and migration challenge has shown the best and the worst of European values, often beamed via television onto our screens. The best have been the compassionates response of some spiritual leaders such as Pope Francis and the people of Italy, government and political leaders, such as Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, and millions of ordinary citizens across Europe, moving to help in any way they can the refugees, and migrants who have arrived from war torn countries.

The worst has been the fearology fuelled by negative forces which has resulted in an increase in racism, islamophobia, hate crimes and speech, and fascism in some European cities, hitherto known as cities of cultural diversity and tolerance. The stream of refugees and migrants from Africa, Middle East and Asia, will continue pouring in to Europe, and the question is: what is the role of Europe and its citizens? I hope that Europe will continue to demonstrate compassion and offer to host those who are so desperate they had to flee all they loved in order to save their lives, or for a better life elsewhere.

T

he explosion in the number of Latin American cases of microcephaly – a congenital condition associated with maldevelopment of the brain – has become an international emergency due its “strongly suspected” link with the rapidly spreading Zika virus, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The WHO has called for urgency in finding a vaccine and better diagnostics, and has urged the world to be alert.

Researchers of infectious diseases are still trying to understand how Zika in pregnant women causes congenital malformation. “Everyone agrees on the urgent need to coordinate international efforts to investigate and better understand this relationship,” said Margaret Chan, the head of the WHO. The Aedes aegypti mosquito, the species that also transmits the dengue and chinkungunya viruses, is responsible for infecting a growing number of humans with Zika.

For now, the only apparent defense against Zika is to avoid getting bitten by mosquitoes. But as global temperatures rise and Aedes aegypti moves to new habitats and breeding grounds in urban areas where water is stored in open containers, this is becoming increasingly difficult. Scientists from all over the world are concerned.

“Global warming affects the abundance and distribution of disease vectors [small disease-carrying insects], increasing the incidence of infectious diseases and expanding the geographical areas which are at risk,” says Fiona Armstrong, executive director of the Australia-based Climate and Health Alliance.

Increased heat and humidity associated with climate change create ideal breeding conditions for mosquitoes, Armstrong adds. “As regions that used to be drier and colder start to register higher temperatures and more rain,

The consequences of NATO/US policies of invasions and occupation is the destruction of Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen, to name but a few. A real question now to be asked by Europeans is: Do you want to continue being part of the perpetual wars of US and its most belligerent states of UK and Israel, and the militarization and nuclearization of Europe to continue?

All across the European Union (UE) young Europeans are travelling to other EU countries and further afield, trying to find jobs, and many continue to immigrate overseas. Austerity cuts, imposed by many European Union (UE) governments, are driving people deeper into poverty. In spite of this lack of jobs and falling In to poverty for many families, political leaders insist on governments policies, supporting foreign wars instead of human security of EU citizens, health care, education and the environment.

The British government has implemented austerity cuts which have devastated social services for many poor families and it is currently promising the renewal of the UK nuclear trident missile (these nuclear weapons, although on European soil, are in the control of the US government). This is all done in the face of millions of citizens protesting nuclear weapons and calling for a nuclear weapons free Britain and World.

Many governments in Europe are in denial that they are in a crisis but unless courageous policy reversals are implemented and more funding put into human security by dealing with unemployment and poverty, things will not change for the better for our societies in the forseeable futre. But we do not need austerity cuts, we live in a very rich world it’s just that we have got our priorities wrong!

Billions of Euros spent by NATO and Europe hosting war exercises, increases fearology, prepares people mentally for enmity and war, and lines the pockets of the rich, of arms manufacturers and war profiteers. In November 2015, while the worlds political leaders, and media, focused on the refugee crisis and the violence of illegal groups of Daesh (Islamic state) and other fundamental Islamic extremists, almost unknown to the civil community, as it was little reported, one of the great threats to the survival of humanity was taking place in Northern Europe, across three European states. Some 36,000 military troops, 200 fighter aircrafts and more than 60 warships carried out NATO’s biggest war games in 13

years. The military troops were from over 30 states.

They were carrying out war exercises preparing to fight together in battle groups if necessary in a war, which should it come to pass, would be a horror of horrors and one of the greatest crimes against humanity, a nuclear/conventional war on European soil, and spreading quickly across the world. The NATO (led by the US) has fought many illegal wars.

They argue that it is necessary to fight terrorism and that it must defend its members from threats from the Middle East and North Africa.

The cold war propaganda against Russia continues and NATO by its expansionist and aggressive strategy has brought Europe to a situation similar to that of the Cold War causing a new dangerous confrontation with Russia.

I believe Europe (and indeed the world) must now ask the tough questions and make hard, brave and courageous choices: ‘Do we continue down the road of re-arming Europe and the World, and building a culture of militarism and war, creating enemy images and demonizing other countries and their leaders, implementing ‘regime change’ through bogus ‘right to protect’ military intervention, or do we choose to start disarming our conscience, hearts and minds, dismantling our weapons, ending militarism and war and implementing International law?’

Europe and the world needs a New Vision of Unity and Demilitarization of Regions, with power devolved to communities where people feel empowered and true democracy can be established. A demilitarized world is something we can all work together to build.

It is not an impossible dream, but begins with each one of us, choosing to live lives of nonkilling and nonviolence and building friendships between peoples and regions in order to cooperate as the human family on the problems we all need to deal with such as environment and poverty. We have imagination and genius and with confidence and trust in ourselves and each other, we can move away from nationalism and war, towards regional solutions built on demilitarized societies of peaceful co-existence ¬ we can and we must learn to live together in all our diversity. Peace Demilitarized and Devolved Democracy is possible and is a human right for all.

Climate change increases risk of Zika virus Nadia Pontes

22 Latin American countries have reported cases of Zika. As the global temperature rises and Aedes aegypti moves to new habitats, the emergency becomes international mosquitoes expand their breeding ar- tourist during the 2014 World Cup or eas, which increases the number of a canoeist from Polynesia who participopulations at risk.” pated in a 2014 event in Rio de Janeiro.

Researchers Davidson Hamer and Rapid spread Lin Chen of Boston Medical Center in The WHO estimates that up to four the US fear the Zika virus will spread million cases of Zika will be recorded in quickly there too. Their study affirms the Americas over the next 12 months. the risk is high due to the presence of About 80% of those infected do not ex- the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopichibit symptoms but when they mani- tus mosquitoes in several states. Confest, patients notice fever, a red rash, and cerns are growing as summer – mosconjunctivitis. quito breeding At least 22 season – nears.

Latin American According countries have to CCTV, local reported cases authorities are of Zika, and Bramonitoring the zil has been hit chances that the hardest. In Novirus reaches vember 2015, the Ministry of Health China, whose southern regions are confirmed a correlation between the most at risk. No cases have been reoutbreak of the virus and the increased ported there so far. The Chinese forincidence of microcephaly in the eign ministry has already expressed northeast region of the country. Since its willingness to help Latin American then, 3448 suspected cases of micro- authorities in any way it can, including cephaly are being investigated across searching for vaccines to combat the the country. disease.

It is not known for sure how Zika arThe Zika virus was discovered in rived in Brazil, but it is thought to have Uganda, Africa in 1947, but the first been introduced by either an Asian outbreak in humans was recorded in

WRITE-WING

Mairead Maguire, a peace activist from Northern Ireland is a 1976 Nobel Peace Laureate

2007. The virus then spread to Asia and French Polynesia in 2013, where it infected around 19,000 people and where the first associations with microcephaly were made.

In addition to congenital malformations, it is also believed that Zika causes Guillain-Barre syndrome, a neurological disease that can result in temporary or permanent paralysis.

More pressure Authorities still have difficulty predicting how far the Zika outbreak could spread. Christovam Barcellos, a researcher at the Fundação Oswaldo Cruz Health and Climate Observatory, says the history of dengue fever can provide some clues. “We have observed that the areas where dengue is transmitted are expanding throughout the world. In Brazil, dengue is moving further and further south and to cities at higher elevations, which used to be more protected,” says Barcellos. “This could be an effect of climatic conditions.”

Studies have already indicated southern China and Southeast Asia as areas where dengue could be transmitted, along with northern Australia, since the mosquito vector inhabits these regions. “It’s remarkable how Aedes is adapted to the city. It has a life cycle of one to two weeks, during this time it hatches, flies away and bites people.

And cities have an ideal environment for it to reproduce,” Barcellos adds.

Climate change will continue to put pressure on public health systems and resources allocated to fighting new diseases, especially in underdeveloped regions of the globe, researchers say.

“Political leaders and health authorities are underestimating the breadth and complexity associated with the risks to human health that come along with a warmer planet,” Armstrong warns.

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 15•02•2016

PERSPECTIVE

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

the paradox at the heart of the snowden revelations

T

Didier Bigo Opendemocracy

he Snowden disclosures of 2013 – through the sheer scale of the documents leaked to investigative journalists, and the precision of the data residing within the documents themselves – have partly changed the rules of the game for the signals intelligence (SIGINT) services working in western democracies. But they have also had paradoxical effects.

The possibility of denying the existence of personal data interception and all the surrounding communication data related to this, together with the denial of investigative journalism concerning the reality and intensity of sensitive data exchange between the different western intelligence services, has been eliminated. Now, if secret services refuse to recognise that they have undertaken such practices, they are the ones not to be believed by the public. ‘Truth’ is on the side of the whistle-blower.

The ‘truth regime’ is changing: the ‘reason of the state’ has to bow before the necessity of ‘publicity’ in democracies.

Perhaps the terminology of ‘mass surveillance’ – if the term is considered to mean the total and permanent surveillance of everyone – is exaggerated, with regards to the practices of the alliance of SIGINT services in western countries. Nevertheless, the type of signal intelligence interception undertaken by the formal alliance around the NSA, the “Five Eyes”, has been carried out on a large scale and highly intrusively, especially against those who were not national citizens.

This surveillance was done secretly, against the will and knowledge of the individuals, as well as against the will of the internet providers who wanted, for the most part, to protect their clients’ privacy, or at least, not to be obliged to report their activities. And the public now knows this. They no longer believe that this large-scale surveillance has been carried out solely as a counterterrorism measure; and even the fatalists cannot deny the scope of this data harvesting.

The fact that data is intercepted and exchanged between the different SIGINT secret services of different countries cannot be contested any more. It has been made evident by the Snowden disclosures, and by the work of investigative journalists and lawyers. If some national courts have been too deferential in criticising their own national secret services, international bodies have been almost unanimous in recognising the fact that transnational exchange of data between SIGINT intelligence services has taken place, even if they have sometimes diverged on their conclusions regarding the harm or the benefits caused by this huge exchange of data, and the way it has been processed (data mining, data retention, profiling, predictive algorithmic analytics, and so on).

So, for the public, the traditional declarations that intelligence services work only nationally and do not exchange data with their counterparts cannot be trusted any more. National security is constructed via a transnational modality of data acquisition, worldwide.

Police collaboration – in terms of the interception of sensitive information – takes on a global reach, or at least aims to. Alliances of intelligence services have become a major player, destabilising the roles of both traditional diplomats and military personnel. Maximising all sorts of data for ‘Total Information Awareness’ has become the mantra of a discourse of prevention that is reorganising the police, the military and diplomats as the adjuncts of the intelligence services.

This has developed on the assumption that, when it comes to prediction, the technology of SIGINT intelli-

gence services puts them ahead of those human intelligence services still reliant on undercover operations.

And so, within this internal competition surrounding predictive ability, SIGINT services are themselves ready to recognise the collective nature of acquisition.

Their ‘lines of defence’ have changed: no longer denying the fact of large-scale data collection, but rather claiming the necessity of mass collection to read ‘weak signals’ and discover unknown suspects. And so they have lobbied their national governments, and prepared counter-moves to their critics, up-scaling their tools in order to be the best service in this international ‘coopetition’ (cooperation-competition).

The alternative before us After 2014, the central controversy is no longer the question of whether large-scale data is intercepted or not, it is about the legitimacy of intercepting data on such a scale and by such intrusive methods. This can be formulated as an alternative. Are these interceptions and the construction of profiles threatening the very existence of privacy and democratic life by the creation of a ‘chilling effect’? Or are they ultimately benign, sufficiently focused on their targets, and therefore able to avoid considerable numbers of ‘false positives’ (victims of intrusive surveillance for the wrong reasons) because of the capacity of the programme to learn from initial errors? Are these interceptions a necessity in the new context of a war on terror, where Armageddon lurks round the corner? Or are they the dark side of any government, even democratic ones, which also needs to be fought against?

The debate is still raging. On the one side, the SIGINT services are insisting that, where they have accumulated data, it was not in any case an unlawful or criminal activity, but rather a useful ‘a-legal’ operation: an operation outside the frame of the law, but not illegal. And they plead to be allowed to continue their operations, but under a new legal framework explicitly authorising them to do it. They ask their governments to change the laws on intelligence services to ‘protect’ them against the courts and the change of public mood that now supports whistle-blowers.

On the other side, the NGOs that are relaying the Snowden disclosures, the net-community, the hackers who defend the right to anonymity, all insist on the fact that the intrusiveness of the surveillance is far greater than any necessity and proportionality required. They fight against the erosion of anonymity with newer and better forms of encryption, and they ask for new laws on intelligence drastically limiting the power of signals intelligence and other secret services. They oppose the practice of secrecy and denial promoted by the rhetoric of national security, arguing instead for the democratic case behind Juvenal’s principle: who will guard the guardians?

The debate is therefore moving slowly from the activities of the services themselves to the ‘legalisation of their activities’ and to the possibility of proper oversight, keeping a watchful eye not only on the national interception of data, but also on the transnational exchange of data between the different SIGINT intelligence services, on the role of private companies in the constitution of these data-banks, on the tools necessary to transform this data into information relevant for intelligence purposes, and on the dissemination of the results.

This can be considered as the second phase of the Snowden disclosures. The different governments, especially in Europe, and even more where legislation was non-existent, have been obliged to answer to this clamour for more information, more clarity and publicity regarding the activities of secret services, especially when it comes to the use of raw materials, per-

The Morung Express

sonal and communication data.

But, at the same time, they have been very attentive to the lobbying of their own secret services to become more efficient, especially where the Snowden disclosures have clearly shown the asymmetry between the capacities of the “Five Eyes” and that of the other western services, who were either completely outside this network of information exchange, or, having believed they were partners on an almost equal footing, now realise that they were treated at best as local informants, and at worst, as targets for the most powerful of the “Five Eyes” (the NSA and GCHQ, especially).

Paradoxically, the countries whose citizens were ‘the victims’ of personal data collection (Brazil, Germany, France) have seen a reinforcement or creation of legal structures to deal with intelligence services beyond their use as technological tools for military operations, and these have led to some recognition of their existence, their missions and activities, the tools they were using, as well as the possibility of creating a certain kind of oversight, or at least a code of conduct, for the professionals of these services, including the relations they have with private providers.

But this legalisation has been completed with another central objective: that of limiting the gap between the capacities of the “Five Eyes” and the other services.

Therefore, we have seen, to the outrage of the lawyers and NGO communities supporting accountability and democratic transparency, a series of measures allowing the SIGINT services to have more personnel, more missions, and more tools increasing their capacity to place large areas or large groups of people under surveillance without personalised warrants, and often an extension of the notion of national security beyond its traditional reach, by including a range of societal or economic concerns.

In addition, it seems that the creation of oversight bodies has not been set up in some countries for the sharpening of inspection, but mainly for creating an additional buffer zone between the political responsibility and the practical activities of these services.

Oversight Thorough research concerning these new laws regarding intelligence services, and especially SIGINT intelligence, based on a comparative perspective that can limit the idiosyncratic elements proper to each legal system, is badly needed.

Certain elements concerning the possibility of general rules of accountability for overseeing the different intelligence services have been proposed. Other elements concerning the necessity to determine collectively what national security cannot cover, in terms of impunity, have also been formulated, as well as some elements concerning access to electronic data by third country law enforcement authorities. It is also necessary to remember the equal rights of internet users in the face of SIGINT services: whatever their nationalities, they have all become ‘digital citizens’.

Finally, it appears that the most important violations of human rights are generated by the transnational alliance of the different secret services: both their practices and the secrecy with which they work. Even if it is difficult to imagine, it may be necessary to place on the agenda the idea of the creation of a European or international oversight committee, with specific powers of enquiry in the case of severe breaches of human rights (extra-judicial killing and torture, for instance), coordinating different national oversight bodies.

If these changes are not made, the Snowden disclosures will have served only to reinforce one thing: the intrusiveness of global surveillance.

POLL RESULTS

Are religious crusAdes And revivAls hAving Any significAnt effect in nAgA society? Why? Some of those who voted YES had this to say: • A big yes. These revival crusades are a one time shot in the arm, yet the impact of that regeneration continues to ripple affect his/her life in a tremendous way. Of course, some tend to get emotionally driven and thereby, a genuine repentance is not seen. We term that backsliding. Yet scores are truly touched by God's power and subsequently, search for oasis to survive the onslaught of Satan's scheme and deception. The awakening programmes are needed to bring new converts as they are mostly not comfortable to attend churches. so, yes, these crusades are really pulling people to the true light.

• Yes! Crusade and revivals testifies that God is alive...its the real deal • I should say, YES. It has brought major impact to our society. Indeed, It is very much supportive for the growth of our moral values. Our society today needs not only reformation but also a total transformation where such thing is possible through this kind of religious events. Today, our physical life has been interrupted, our spiritual life is getting decline. I believe such events could be another solution for the society where many can find a proper way to walk through.

• Yes, to atleast 5 in a 100 • Yes of course. Even after so much preaching and control, Naga society is still savage and corrupted.

Imagine if there is no such moral and spiritual teaching – blood will flow in the streets!

• Yes. At least some are sincerely doing their job and because of those believers at natural calamity had not strike Nagaland.

Some of those who voted NO had this to say: • No. It is an individual thing. For some people it has significant effect and for some people it does not have any effect at all. But if we go by facts and figures and by the general state of our affairs, we need to honestly say that inspite of many revivals, crusades, youth camps and other church activities, we do not see any significant effect. In fact our society is becoming more selfish, corrupt, violent, tribalistic, hyprocritcal and full of wrong teachings and practices.

• NO. Religious crusades and revivals has no effect in Naga society. Preachers are just to popularize themselves and no glorifying God. Its useless in present context.

• No. On one hand faith is a personal question and so during such religious functions it all depends on how each individual responds to it. However, on the other hand, it is also a social experience. So on this front, our crusades and revivals and other church

activities are not having the effect that it should be having on society. Something is terribly going wrong.

But unless we find out what is wrong with our approach, it will be difficult to rectify it.

• No, Because only the ones that attend church regularly attend those crusades and revivals • No. if we go to revival crusades we find that most corrupted officers are there preaching. So the question of changing does not arise. Further, these officers are most donors. So where is change?

• NO, Naga Society as a whole; I don't think so.

• No, the focus of the crusades and revivals have failed to catch the opportunity to contribute in chang-

45% 42%

13% YES

NO

OTHER

ing our Naga society. Very often the message of the revivals and crusades fail to touch on the core issues that we are facing, and they end up being very superficial. Even recently, so many people ran up to the state for the alter call, but how many are actually serious. This is why the effect of the revivals and crusades are only for a short time, they do not have a long lasting effect. Maybe this is why we need so many revivals and crusades in our state.

• No, its become like a social custom and traditions.

When we observed attendance in Crusade and revival, majority of the people who attended such religious meeting and conference are old people and

teenagers. Middle aged group people are not attending or don't bother by such religious movement.

• No, due to lack of proper religious doctrine with too much thought on how the heaven goes instead of how to go to heaven.

• No. Crusade held in Dimapur, now in Phek and next? At this point, first we the Nagas should understand what is really meant by being a Christian.

• No, one sentence for us, Nags “fallen from Graceland.”

• No. We Nagas are taking our religion so much for granted that it doesn’t mean anything to us anymore.

We are making this Revivals and Crusades as another “come and go” things.

Some of those who voted OTHERS had this to say: • Our Christianity in Nagaland is only skin deep. It is limited to Sunday and whenever there are crusades and revivals. Once Sunday has passed and revivals and crusades are over, we are back to our own old selves. There is no maturity in our Christian practice.

• To some extent.

• A Christian state is expected to live a Christian way of life. We do not need crusade and revivals to revive us again and again from our sins. Religion like all else has become superficial in our state. We need not practise Sunday Christian if all other days we lead an unchristian life. The church may think these crusades are good for the people, but Christianity is a way of life, meant to be lived everyday in our thoughts, actions and words. Are we all living the Christian life?

• Look at how our society is today! Can we all truly say that Nagaland is living upto it's hypocritical theme of "Nagaland for Christ"? I am afraid the answer is a big NO! Our hearts and our minds have become so pre-occupied with the thought of earning more money that we have become numb to any form of revival! Not that God's power cannot touch a hardened heart; but in order to receive God's spirit we need to be willing at welcoming it. And to be honest, Nagas are more concerned about "welcoming" more money and wealth than welcoming the holy spirit! If these revivals and crusades had any impact, Nagaland should have been a paradise on earth by now.

• or some yes its a wake up call but d impact on society.. not so much.. we r stil d same narrow minded, slf righteous people • Personally neva attended crusades f large caliber.. afraid d preacher will point at me n say U AV LOTS OF SINS smile emoticon dnt wana face d fact n also hate to b singled out C..C... first v need to change our mindset.... understood!!!

7

Workaholics anonymous: four ways to take time out Nasima Begum

Being an effective, productive employee was everything I dreamt of. Until illness caught up with me and I had to learn to take a break

I

’m an activist. Up until recently, it’s what I spent all my time doing, both for work and outside of it. I love working so much that getting sick from it used to feel like a victory. A ‘look at me, look how hard I work’ kind of attitude. A badge of honour. I even came close to listing ‘12 hour days in the office’ as a skill on my LinkedIn profile.

Not too long ago a fellow woman of colour campaigner challenged me on this, asking why I liked working long hours so much. My response, which I genuinely believed to be true at the time, was that I really enjoyed doing work which contributed something of value to the world. So I liked doing it all the time, I guessed. But my pal wasn’t convinced. She teased more out of me. We finally came to the conclusion that like a lot of people who work ludicrous hours, I did so because it was a great way to forget about all the things ‘wrong’ in my life.

Most of us deal with problems in our lives. We believe we’re not slim enough, not pretty enough, not clever enough, not earning enough, not travelling enough, and so on. We face prejudice, micro-aggressions, and discrimination. Relationships break down, we get sick, we lose our support systems. Sometimes, to forget about or avoid dealing with our problems, we work – at our paid jobs and outside them. Some of the issues we deal with are nonsense hammered into us by oppressive systems such as capitalist patriarchy and white supremacy. The idea that working is inherently good, or that work makes a person worthwhile, is particularly insidious. When politicians are constantly going on about ‘hard working families’, and implementing policies stigmatise unemployed people, it’s hard to challenge the idea that work = good.

At the same time, it can be tough to recognise behaviour that is bad for self-care and mental health. I’ve struggled with mental illness all my adult life; working long hours isn’t very conducive to good mental wellbeing. Looking after yourself as best as you can, can be a way of contributing to activism. Ultimately, it’s a way of giving the middle finger to all those things that benefit from you doing otherwise (I’m looking at you in particular, capitalism).

But learning to do this isn’t always easy. It took me seven years before I got to a place where looking after myself came anywhere near my list of priorities, now it’s central to how I plan my week and prioritise my time. Here are a few things I have learned that are helping me to take time out, work less and care for myself in a world that teaches me not to: Be kinder to yourself That originally read ‘be kind to yourself’, but that implies you can do it all the time. Let’s be honest, we all need to start small. Ironically, it’s too easy to use the imperative to be kind to yourself to be unkind to yourself. Blaming yourself when you think you’re not doing good enough self-care only creates a vicious cycle.

Next time you think you’re in a pickle think gently, consciously of how you could be kinder to yourself in that situation. Challenge yourself to go home at the official end of the working day, rather than staying late to finish that project. Slept longer than you wanted to? Tell yourself it doesn’t matter, you’ll do better next time. Can’t make it to a close friend’s party? Allow yourself not to go, to distract yourself with TV, or anything else that you find undemanding. Go easy on yourself - you really are doing the best you can.

Tell someone you appreciate them and mean it Or several someones. I’ve found that working in fast paced environments where everything is urgent can lead to transactional relationships, the ‘you do something for me and I’ll probably do something for you someday soon’.

I’ve learnt that acknowledging someone’s brilliance can help them deal with feelings of not being good enough.

Got a colleague who facilitated a workshop brilliantly? Send them a short email telling them! Have a teammate who regularly makes fantastic contributions to your work? Write them a short card telling them how much you appreciate it. Know an amazing woman who struggles with imposter syndrome? Remind her just how awesome she is in whatever way you can. Showing appreciation to others can help us build strong, caring communities that fight back against capitalist patriarchy.

Write At one point I had six work notebooks in the hope that having different books for different things would help me stay on top of things on my bad mental health days.

It didn't always work and I've since whittled that number down to the grand total of five (getting rid of an A4 book filled with nothing but to-do lists).

Mustering the energy to keep on top of everything when I had none and just needed to step back and take some time out wasn't doing anybody any favours. My five books help, but there's only one I really care about: my feelings book. This book is for scribbling in when I'm in the midst of feeling like I can't continue with anything.

Just putting down my thoughts and feelings has helped me manage anxiety, and also doubles as a record of things that triggered those feelings which later allowed me to revaluate where I put my energy. It might seem like a long slog when you’re in the middle of what may seem like a crisis, but even writing a few lines can help.

Take a break from social media I didn’t see social media as a problem in my life until I met up with a school friend over Christmas and she commented on how it ‘seemed that I was having a really great time’. I never thought I shared much on social media to give that impression. Besides, didn’t she see all my posts about my mental illness? I clearly wasn’t having that great a time.

I went away and thought about how, for example, sometimes my mood can drop after going on a social media platform to see friends having a ball at parties I didn’t even want to go to! I brought this incident up with a few friends and they all shared similar stories – of going on social media and feeling negative for not having similar lives to their friends, while also only posting the most polished stories. I’m sure a few years from now there will be studies showing the correlation between social media and (bad) mental health.

A rather mean therapist once asked me who was I was fighting to create a better world for, if I wasn’t living now how I wanted to live then. Her comments slowly helped me to learn that working towards being happy with ourselves gives a big fuck you to the white supremacist, imperialist, patriarchal, heteronormative, capitalist society we live in.

Audre Lorde’s words “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare” have always stayed with me, but I didn't begin to live them until I took a step back and acknowledged that something needed to change. My work hours, for starters. I am slowly learning to treat myself with the kindness and compassion I bestow upon others every day. I think I’m getting there.

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 15•02•2016

INDIA

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Rajnath Singh kicks up political storm with claim Afzal event at JNU had Hafiz support

New Delhi, February 14 (PTi): Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh unleashed a political storm today with a claim that an event at JNU to protest the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru had received "support" from LeT founder Hafiz Saeed amid an escalating showdown over the crisis at the varsity.

Opposition parties demanded that the Home Minister provide proof to back up his claim on the event at the JNU campus.

In a shot in the arm for the students demanding the release of its students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who was slapped with sedition charge, teachers associations of 40 central universities extended support to the protest by the students and teachers of the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University(JNU) JNU's teachers' association also openly came out against the administration for mishandling the matter and particularly slammed it for allowing police action before completion of a probe by the university's proctorial committee in

JNU teachers protest against random arrests, demand Kanhaiya's release

Students, teachers and alumni of JNU gathered at the ad block following the Human Chain in the campus demanding the immediate and unconditional release of the arrested JNUSU President, end to police raj and witch-hunt of students in the University on February 14 (Image Courtesy: Subin Dennis)

connection with the event.

The teachers are backing the students.

Amid the protests and mounting outrage over police action in JNU, Rajnath said, "The incident(Afzal event) at JNU has received support from Hafiz Saeed. This is a truth that the nation needs to understand."

"What has happened is very unfortunate," Singh told reporters in Allahabad referring to an event at JNU campus to commemorate the third death anniversary of Afzal Guru.

Singh's comments about Hafiz's links with the event where anti-India slogans were allegedly raised sparked a political row with

opposition parties asking him to provide evidence.

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said it is a "very serious charge" to level against the students and that the evidence must be shared with all.

CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said the Home Minister has to come out and share the

evidence he has with the country to back up his "serious allegation". CPI leader D Raja also demanded that the evidence be made public.

Rajnath's comments came two days after a series of tweets, purportedly

by Saeed, had appeared under a hashtag asking Pakistanis to support the

New Delhi, February 14 (iaNS): The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers Association (JNUTA) on Sunday protested skipping of the "institutional mechanism" by the varsity administration in allowing police on the campus and letting them "make random arrests".

Addressing media persons in the university campus, the association officials also demanded immediate release of JNU student union president Kanhaiya Kumar. JNUTA general secretary Vikramaditya Chakravarty said students should not have been arrested randomly and the matter should have been dealt with sensibly.

"JNUTA is of the firm opinion that the matter arising out of the event can and should have been dealt with through established institutional

agitation in JNU. Police are investigating as to whether the twitter handle actually belonged to the LeT founder.

Throwing its weight behind the students and teachers of JNU, President of Federation of Central University Teachers Association Nandita Narain said teachers' associations

mechanism. Instead of relying on this (mechanism), the university administration allowed police to enter the campus to search different premises and even make random arrests," he said. A large number of JNU teachers, university students, teachers from Ambedkar university and Federation of All India Central University Teacher's Association gathered in the campus to express solidarity with Kanhaiya Kumar.

They formed a long human chain from the university gate up to Chandrabhaga hostel.Chakravarty said certain forces were trying to create fear in the students' minds to discourage dissent. Meanwhile, the university administration has asked all the people to help “maintain a conducive environment to achieve our academic goals”.

of 40 central universities including of Hyderabad University have extended support to agitation by JNU students and teaching community.

Seven of eight JNU students who were debarred from academic activities earlier this week in connection with the Afzal Guru event have been asked to

appear before a high level committe of the varsity probing the matter.

Meanwhile, a video has gone viral on the social media, purportedly showing ABVP members shouting pro-Pakistan slogans. However ABVP, the students wing of BJP, rubbished the allegations, saying it is a morphed video.

25 more Netaji files likely to be released on Feb 23 India’s 1st all-woman ocean crew set for global adventure New Delhi, February 14 (PTi): The second tranche of 25 secret files on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is likely to be declassified this month, culture minister Mahesh Sharma has said.

"We are going to release 25 secret files every month. We are ready with the files that are going to be released this month," Sharma said when asked about declassification

of the Netaji files.

The government had earlier said the National Archives of India (NAI) would release digital copies of declassified files on Bose every month. As many as hundred secret files were made public

by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Netaji's 119th birth anniversary on January 23.

The next set of files are likely to be made public

on February 23. "A set of 25 files on Netaji may be released on February 23.

It is also expected that the files will be released on the 23rd of every month afterwards," a source said.

The files, released last month, comprised over 16,600 pages of historic documents, ranging from those of the British Raj to as late as 2007, an official had

said. The NAI also opened a dedicated website to store all the declassified files related to Bose.

In October last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met the family members of Netaji and announced that the government would declassify the files relating to the leader whose disappearance 70 years ago remains a mystery.

Stage set to rank 75 top cities under 'Swachh Bharat' New Delhi, February 14 (iaNS): The stage is set to recognise cities that have taken "Swachh Bharat" campaign seriously, with a Top 75 ranking based on feedback from 20 million citizens, among others parameters, says the chair of the institution that has conducted the exercise.

Which is the cleanest Indian city? Who are the leaders? Who are the slow movers? Answers to these questions -- "Swachh Survekshan" -- would be unveiled on Monday by Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu, based on an exercise conducted by the Quality Council of India.

"It has been 16 months now since the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was launched. It is now time to take stock. Swachh Survekshan will help us assess the level of cleanliness and awareness in 75 cities," council chairman Adil Zainulbhai told IANS. But isn't it too early to assess a project like this, particularly given the

state of cleanliness in India? "On the contrary, we want to make the campaign even more successful. We want to foster a spirit of healthy competition between cities," he said.

"In fact, we have already started moving towards our next task -- even more challenging. It is to make Swachh Survekshan a quarterly affair and go on to rank as many as 4,000 cities an towns in the country," added Zainulbhai, former India chief for McKinsey.

The Swachh Bharat campaign was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 2, 2014 -Mahatma Gandhi's birthday -- calling upon the citizens to realise the dream of a clean India by the 150th birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation in 2019.

The exercise also involved six measurable aspects of sanitation and hygiene: - How cities proposed to stop open defecation and integrate solid waste management systems - Communication strategies on

'Indians die of cancer due to ignorance of early symptoms' New Delhi, February 14 (iaNS): Indians tend to ignore or misread the early symptoms of cancer, which delays diagnosis and treatment until the problem has become less amenable to medication, said a group of oncologist surgeons.

Early indications of prostate cancer in men, for instance, such as reduction in urinal frequency, reduced stream of urination and urinary retention, are mostly ignored, they said in a statement here.

"Each kind of cancer has its symptoms which, if ignored, can lead to worsening of the cancer to a stage where medication usually does not work," the doctors said. Blood in stools, black coloured sticky stools and blood in vomit indicate the development of colon or intestinal cancer, the doctors said.

"Similarly, scrotal swelling are one of the symptoms of testicular cancer, which is curable only in the initial stage," said Meghal Sanghavi, Consultant Oncology Surgeon, Wockhardt Hospital in Mumbai. "Growth of ulcer in oral cavity, neck nodes or swelling, breathlessness indicate oral cancer. In all advanced stages the symptoms may be associated with weight loss and loss of appetite."

Early symptoms tend to be mis-

taken for minor infections but if the patients get the biopsy done then the diagnosis can be easily done, Sanghavi said. Cancer is becoming an epidemic all over the world. All types of cancer are on an increase, with oral and prostrate cancer becoming more prominent in Indian men.

Sanghavi said that gall bladder cancer is most common in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Mizoram and Pondicherry has the highest incidence of oral and neck malignancy. Stomach cancer is more common in men in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, while lung cancer is high in the men in Delhi and Maharashtra.

Agreed A.K. Dhar, the chairman of medical oncology at Nayati Healthcare in Gurgaon, who said Indian males mostly ignore the earlier symptoms and relate symptoms to environmental factors like cold or heat or some food factors. "Cancer is the last to strike them."

"Self medication is what aggravates the problem. Men in India go for some ointments which are applied locally on non healing ulcers for various types of cancerous wounds. For testicular swellings they usually apply langots (scrotal support)," Dhar said.

information, education and behaviour change - Systems adopted for for sweeping, door-to-door collection and transportation of waste - Efficiency in processing and disposal of waste - Deployment of public and community toilets - Progress in construction of individual household toilets.

Zainulbhai said 110 assessors, most of them engineers, visited over 50 locations in each city to make an assessment across several parameters.

The locations included bus stands, railway stations, planned and unplanned colonies, community toilets, religious places and market areas.

A base-year pre-survey was also conducted in 476 cities before the launch of this exercise. The results were then tallied with the latest findings in each of the 75 designated cities for their ranking, he said, adding the results will also be shared on the MyGov website.

V i S a k h a PaT N a M , February 14 (iaNS): A boat or the sea doesn't differentiate between a man and a woman and there are no shortcuts to the physical and mental fitness required to sail the open seas, says Lt. Commander Vartika Joshi, who is set to lead India’s first all-women crew to sail the oceans.

Lt. Commander Joshi, along with a crew of five women, will soon go globetrotting. Their adventure is likely to start in 2017. The team stood out at the justconcluded International Fleet Review (IFR) where the crew was on INSV Mhadei, a sail training boat of the Indian Navy on which they are currently training.

"We are training every day for the sailing and it requires a hard level of physical activity. You have to be physically and mentally very strong and there is no short-cut to it," Lt. Commander Joshi told IANS in an interview.

"It does not matter whether you are a man or a woman, you have to do what you are required to do," said the sailor, who is a naval architect by training.

The crew is being trained by Commander Dilip Donde, the first Indian sailor to circumnavigate solo across the globe on INSV Mhadei.

The all women crew on board INSV Mhadei. (IANS Photo)

Commander Donde, in the same tone, said a sailor is a sailor, irrespective of gender.

"The sea does not differentiate between a man and a woman. A sailor is a sailor," Commander Donde told IANS. Asked about his guru mantra to the team, the commander said: "Never let your guard down... You have to be on your toes all the time."

Riding the open seas in a sailing boat is not an easy feat to pull off.

The crew needs to be aware of every inch of the boat, which they may need

to repair themselves in case of damage. Weather in the open sea also remains unpredictable, and smaller boats face more challenges.

Lt. Commander Joshi was confident.

"This is certainly Mission Possible. We have been taking special training on circumnavigation since (last) April. The course included navigation, equipment, managing a crisis or distress situation and communication courses," she explained.

The team sailed to Visakhapatnam for the IFR from Goa, and is now on its way back to continue the

training.

The boat on which the journey will finally be undertaken is at present under construction in Goa, and the crew has to familiarise itself with every inch of the vessel.

Apart from Lt. Commander Joshi, the team includes Lt. Pratibha Jamwal and Lt. P Swathi in the core group, besides Lt. Vijaya Devi and Sub Lt. Payal Gupta. A sixth member is yet to be named.

INSV Mhadei had been used by Commander Abhilash Tomy for his own solo, unassisted, non-stop circumnavigation under sail.

Manmohan Singh says Modi government failing to boost economic investment

MuMbai, February 14 (reuTerS): India's former prime minister Manmohan Singh criticised his successor Narendra Modi's government in a rare interview, saying it has failed to capitalise on lower commodity prices to propel growth and is inconsistent in its policy towards neighbouring Pakistan.

Speaking to the India Today magazine, Singh said Mo-

di's government should use improving fiscal balances to raise investment in the economy and increase the availability of credit to businesses.

"In the hands of a purposeful government, this could be an opportunity to step up investment in the economy in a big way," said Singh, who left office after a 2014 election loss.

Singh, regarded as the ar-

chitect of economic reforms that led to years of rapid growth, said the government has not been able to take advantage of falling oil and commodity prices that have lowered India's import bill.

Sharp falls in import prices have reduced the trade deficit, raising hopes that it will boost economic activity.

But turbo charged growth figures have been criticised by many analysts for giving too flattering a view.

The economy expanded 7.3 percent in the quarter through December, but consumer inflation inched up unexpectedly last month and capital goods production, a proxy for investments, fell nearly 20 percent in December.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley wants to present a credible budget on Feb. 29, people involved in the process say, but the government may end up breaking its budget deficit targets to stimulate demand.

In a rebuttal on his website and social media accounts, Jaitley blamed Singh's administration for mismanaging the economy, adding that the opposition Congress has been unwilling to support reforms in parliament.

"Both the Parliamentary Affairs Minister and myself have discussed the GST with every senior Congress leader in Parliament," he said, responding to Singh's criticism that the government has not consulted the opposition.

The proposed goods and services tax (GST), India's biggest revenue shake-up since independence in 1947, has been stuck in the Rajya Sabha where it needs Congress' support to make it a law.

Singh also said Modi should focus on improving relations with neighbouring countries, adding that the government had not succeeded at making headway with archrival Pakistan, which India ac-

cuses of supporting insurgents across their shared border.

"Certainly relations with major powers have improved... But I would say that the real test of foreign policy is in the handling of your neighbours. And here I would say that the Modi government's handling of Pakistan is inconsistent," 83-year old Singh told the magazine. "It has been one step forward, two steps back."

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence and partition in 1947, 2 over Kashmir. Their disputed frontier is one of the world's most heavily militarised regions. Border clashes and incursions pose a constant risk of escalation. Singh, an Oxbridge-educated economist, was credited as finance minister in 1991 for reforms that opened up the economy. But his legacy is marred by his final term marked by corruption scandals, ballooning inflation and slowing economic growth.

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WORLD

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

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Syrian army gains ground around Aleppo, looks to Raqqa M U N I C H / B E I R U T, FEBRUARY 14 (REUTERS): Russia said on Saturday a Syria ceasefire plan was more likely to fail than succeed, as Syrian government forces backed

by Russian air strikes took rebel ground near Aleppo and set their sights on the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa province.

International divisions over Syria surfaced anew at a Munich conference where Russia rejected French charges that it was bombing civilians, just a day after world powers agreed on the “cessation of hostilities” due to begin in a week’s time.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry reiterated accusations that Russia was hitting “legitimate opposition groups” and civilians with its bombing campaign in Syria and said Moscow must change its targets to respect the ceasefire deal.

The conflict, reshaped

by Russia’s intervention last September, has gone into an even higher gear since the United Nations sought to revive peace talks. These were suspended earlier this month in Geneva before they got off the ground.

Turkish forces shelled Kurdish YPG militia targets near the northern Syrian town of Azaz on Saturday, Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, demanding that the group

A man selling pastries walks past the rubble of damaged buildings in the rebel held al-Shaar neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria. (REUTERS Photo)

withdraw from land it recently captured.

The United States urged both Turkey and the Syrian Kurds to step back and focus instead on tackling the “common threat” of Islamic State militants who control large parts of Syria.

The Syrian army looked poised to advance into the Islamic State-held province of Raqqa for the first time since 2014, apparently to pre-empt any move by Saudi Arabia to send ground

forces into Syria to fight the jihadist insurgents.

A Syrian military source said the army captured positions at the provincial border between Hama and Raqqa in the last two days and intends to advance further.

“It is an indication of the direction of coming operations towards Raqqa. In general, the Raqqa front is open ... starting in the direction of the Tabqa area,” the source said.

Tabqa is the location of an air base captured by Islamic State two years ago, and the source said the army had moved to within 35 km (20 miles) of the base.

The cessation of hostilities deal agreed by major powers falls short of a formal ceasefire, since it was not signed by the warring parties - the government and rebels seeking to topple President Bashar al-Assad in a five-year

war that has killed at least 250,000 people.

If its forces retake Aleppo and seal the Turkish border north of the city, Damascus would deal a crushing blow to the insurgents who were on the march until Russia intervened, shoring up Assad’s rule and paving the way to the current reversal of rebel fortunes.

Russia has said it will keep bombing Islamic State and the al Qaeda-

linked Nusra Front, which in many areas of western Syria fights government forces in close proximity to insurgents deemed moderates by Western states.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, asked at a security conference in Munich on Saturday to assess the chances of the cessation of hostilities deal succeeding, replied: “49 percent.”

Asked the same question, his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier put the odds at 51 percent.

The complex, multisided civil war in Syria, raging since 2011, has drawn in most regional and global powers, caused the world’s worst humanitarian emergency and attracted recruits to Islamist militancy from around the world.

Assad, backed on the ground by Iranian combatants and Lebanon’s Hezbollah in addition to big power ally Russia, is showing no appetite for a negotiated ceasefire. He said this week that the government’s goal was to recapture all of Syria, though he said this could take time.

The U.S. government said Assad was “deluded” if he thought there was a military solution to the conflict.

Syrian state television announced the army and allied militia had on Saturday captured the village

of al-Tamura overlooking rebel terrain northwest of Aleppo.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported advances in the same area, adding that Russian jets had hit three rebel-held towns near the Turkish border.

Government offensives around Aleppo have sent tens of thousands of people fleeing towards the Turkish border.

ISLAMIC STATE TARGETED Islamic State, driven by the goal of expanding its “caliphate” rather than reforming Syria - the original goal of the opposition when the conflict began as an unarmed street uprising in 2011 - is being targeted in separate campaigns by a U.S.-led alliance and Assad’s government with Russian air support. Regional Kurdish forces supported by Washington are also fighting Islamic State in Raqqa province.

Gulf states that want Assad gone from power have said they would be willing to send in troops as part of any U.S.-led ground attack against Islamic State.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Friday he expected Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to send commandos to help recapture Raqqa.

Turkish Foreign Minis-

ter Mevlut Cavusoglu was reported as saying Saudi Arabia will send aircraft to Turkey’s Incirlik air base to support the air campaign against Islamic State in Syria.

“Saudi Arabia is now sending planes to Turkey, to Incirlik. They came and carried out inspections at the base,” Cavusoglu told the Yeni Safak newspaper, adding it was unclear how many planes would come and that the Saudis might also send soldiers.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Saturday in Munich there was no need to scare anyone with a ground operation in Syria.

Two Syrian rebel commanders told Reuters on Friday insurgents had been sent “excellent quantities” of Grad rockets with a range of 20 km (12 miles) by foreign backers in recent days to help confront the Russian-backed offensive in Aleppo.

Foreign opponents of Assad including Saudi Arabia and Turkey have been supplying vetted rebel groups with weapons via a Turkey-based operations centre.

Some of these groups have received military training overseen by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. The vetted groups have been a regular target of the Russian air strikes.

US Justice Antonin A polarizing force, Haiti’s former soldiers return to streets Type 2 diabetes drug can weaken insulinScalia, conservative producing cells icon, dead at 79

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia speaks at an event sponsored by the Federalist Society at the New York Athletic Club in New York. (REUTERS File Photo)

WASHINGTON, FEBRUARY 14 (REUTERS): Conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has died, setting up a major political showdown between President Barack Obama and the Republican-controlled Senate over who will replace him just months before a presidential election.

Obama called Scalia, who served on the nation’s highest court for nearly 30 years, a “larger-than-life presence” and said he intended to nominate someone to fill the vacant seat before leaving the White House next January.

“I plan to fulfill my constitutional responsibility to appoint a successor in due time and there will be plenty of time for me to do so and for the Senate to give that person a fair hearing and timely vote,” Obama told reporters in California.

Scalia, 79, was found dead at the Cibolo Creek Ranch resort in West Texas on Saturday. He died of natural causes, according to Presidio County Judge Cinderela Guevara, who went to the ranch and saw the body.

Chief Justice John Roberts described his former colleague, who was known for his strident conservative views and theatrical flair in the courtroom, as an “extraordinary individual and jurist.”

Obama ordered flags at the White House and all federal buildings to be flown at half-staff.

A number of leading Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, immediately said they would oppose any attempt by Obama to nominate a new justice.

The political battle lines sharpened later at the Republican presidential debate in South Carolina, where front-runner Donald Trump and several of his rivals said it should be up to Obama’s successor to replace Scalia.

“Delay, delay, delay,” said Trump, who urged McConnell to block any Obama nomination.

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas said Scalia’s death highlighted what was at stake in the election. “We’re not going to give up the U.S. Supreme Court for a generation by allowing Barack Obama to make one more liberal appointee.”

Democrats lined up to push for a speedy appointment, with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid saying it should happen “right away.”

Obama could tilt the balance of the nation’s highest court, which now consists of four conservatives and four liberals, if he is successful in pushing his nominee through the confirmation process.

Among those mentioned within legal circles as a potential nominee is Sri Srinivasan, an Indian-American judge who has served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit since May 2013.

It has been nearly 50 years since political wrangling between a president and Senate pushed a Supreme Court nomination into the next administration.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, FEBRUARY 14 (REUTERS): Haiti disbanded its abusive armed forces two decades ago but uniformed veterans and young recruits are resurfacing to add another destabilising factor to the volatile Caribbean nation already dealing with a political vacuum.

Botched elections have left Haiti without a president and fractious political groups are seeking to choose an interim leader in coming days to oversee a fresh vote, against a backdrop of almost daily protests that often turn violent.

Last week, groups of men dressed in military green took to the capital Port-au-Prince in convoys, waving old weapons and sparking rage among anti-government protesters who beat to death one of the veterans.

After a series of military coups, the armed forces (FADH) were disbanded in 1995, but President Michel Martelly last year decreed they should be rebuilt, giving hope to ageing former soldiers. A unit of military engineers was recreated, a defense minister named and some recruits sent to Ecuador for training. The pop-singerturned-president stepped down on Feb. 7, leaving behind a rag-tag but newly motivated force that claim several thousand members.

“We demand the authorities appoint a commander-in-chief and a high command at the head of the mil-

itary so we can function normally,” Jean Fednel Lafalaise, a former sergeant in his 60s who is now involved in the unofficial training of veterans and recruits, told Reuters.

Martelly’s efforts to reinstate the armed forces did not receive support from the U.S. government and U.N. officials who want to build a modern police force in Haiti and do not recognize the veterans. “Haiti has no standing army and (we) regret recent intimidatory acts by persons wearing military style uniforms, claiming to be ex-FADH, which only served to create panic and confusion,” the U.N. special representative to Haiti, Sandra Honore, told Reuters.

Haiti has a power vacuum after a run-off election for president was cancelled last month amid widespread allegations of fraud and a boycott by the opposition candidate.

With new elections provisionally set for April but still uncertain, the pressure from armed groups worries experts. “It could be a very severe destabilizing factor to a very fragile process,” said Robert Maguire, director of the Latin American and Hemispheric Studies Program at George Washington University and a former U.S. State Department specialist on Haiti.

Even after the armed forces were disbanded, former soldiers returned as rebels to topple a government in 2004. Veterans hope for a comeback

now because the army was never abolished under the constitution.

TRAINING GROUNDS Lafalaise and his men have marched on makeshift training grounds on abandoned lots around the capital for several years, but their appearance in the capital just hours before Martelly left office last week met a furious reaction. One of the men, Raphael Ciceron, was caught by anti-government protesters who crushed his skull with a large cinder-block.

Lafalaise said 7,000 former soldiers and 6,000 new recruits had trained since 2010 at bases throughout Haiti. The numbers could not be independently verified. Former soldiers took to the streets on a much larger scale to join ex-police chief Guy Phillipe in the 2004 rebellion.

Lafalaise said the veterans and their recruits were no longer in league with Phillipe, who is a Senate candidate and wanted on cocaine charges in the United States. Last month, he threatened to rise up against any interim government. “This is something different. Now we are talking about the army as a constitutionally established force,” Lafalaise said. “We are an institution.” Prime Minister Evans Paul, who is leading the government until an interim president is selected, disagrees.

LONdON, FEBRUARY 14 (IANS): Long-term use of liraglutide -- a drug used to lower blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetes patients -- can have a deteriorating effect on insulin-producing cells, leading to an increase in blood sugar levels, warns a study.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden worked with humanised mice, generated by transplanting human insulin-producing cells into the mice to understand the effect of liraglutide therapy.

The findings revealed an initial improvement in the insulin-producing cells, followed by a gradual exhaustion, with reduced secretion of insulin as a response to glucose, the research showed.

Blood-sugar suppressors in the form of analogues of the incretin hormone GLP-1 are commonly used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes, since they stimulate the glucose response of the pancreatic beta cells to make them secrete more insulin, the researchers said.

To study the long-term effects of liraglutide therapy, which has never previously been assayed, researchers worked with humanised mice.

The mice were given daily doses of liraglutide for more than 250 days, during which time the researchers were able to monitor how the pancreatic beta cells were affected.

“We also need to take these results into account before prescribing blood-sugar suppressing GLP-1 analogues when planning long-term treatment regimens for patients,” said Per-Olof Berggren, professor at Karolinska Institutet.

The findings will be detailed in the forthcoming issue in the journal, Cell Metabolism.

Ethnic rebels’ show of force highlights Kyi’s peace challenge LOI TAI LENG, FEBRUARY 14 (REUTERS): Speaking to 1,000 of his soldiers at a mountain base on Myanmar’s border with Thailand, the leader of a powerful ethnic armed group called on other rebels to join government-led peace talks and appealed for unity among the country’s minorities.

“Stop shooting and come to the negotiation table,” said Yawd Serk, who leads the 6,000-strong Shan State Army-South (SSA-S).

“Whether it is trustworthy or not, we should grab the chance to talk.”

Ending decades of ethnic conflict is one of the biggest challenges for the incoming government of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has made it her first priority.

But although Yawd Serk signed a governmentbrokered ceasefire deal last October, in a muchneeded boost to the peace process of outgoing President Thein Sein, over the winter some of his troops have been fighting another ethnic group for control of remote swathes of eastern Myanmar.

Thailand flooded his windswept headquarters at Loi Tai Leng, perched on a ridge a few hundred metres from the Thai border, on Feb. 7 to mark Shan National Day. Visitors pitched tents on the mountainside. The base’s main thoroughfare, a dirt road straddling Thailand and Myanmar, was lined with carnival games, noodle stands and mobile phone booths selling Thai mobile phone SIM cards.

“We are not soldiers with guns but we help as much as we can,” said Lar Yen, 33, selling Shan souvenirs with the proceeds donated to the SSA-S. One of the new cadets was Sai Sai Wan, 28, who, like many soldiers, said he joined the group to protect Shan heritage and shared its deep distrust of the Myanmar military that ruled the country with an iron fist for decades.

“We need to protect our people and our country. We don’t want the Burmese army controlling our future,” he said.

NATIONAL DAY He signed a five-year The SSA-S leader was speaking as thousands of contract in December and Shan from Myanmar and will be paid $11 a month for That a contingent of Yawd Serk’s soldiers could travel unchallenged some 300 km (190 miles) north to fight the Ta’ang National Liberation Army near the border with China shows how little control Suu Kyi’s government will have over Myanmar’s wild hinterlands at the start of its fiveyear term on April 1.

It also highlights the shifting loyalties and complexities that have made peace so elusive in the ethnic conflicts that have plagued the former Burma since World War Two. Yawd Serk has courted international businesses since signing the ceasefire and recently joined a study trip to Switzerland. He is not willing to lay down his arms, however, or give up influence over a region rich in gold, timber and gemstones.

“Disarming is impossible,” said Yawd Serk, flanked by a heavily armed security detail including a man who said he was a former member of U.S. special forces.

Soldiers from the Shan State Army-South march in formation during a military parade celebrating the 69th Shan State National Day at Loi Tai Leng, the group’s headquarters, on the Thai-Myanmar border on February 7. (REUTERS Photo)

his service.

While ethnic groups carry many grievances rooted in decades of discrimination by a government and military dominated by the Bamar majority, their vested economic interests, many illicit, and human rights abuses make achieving peace a daunting task.

Officers in Yawd Serk’s militia say it has given up forced recruitment from

villages and towns, though the U.N. Secretary General still lists the SSA-S as “persistent perpetrators” in the recruitment and use of children in its ranks.

The SSA-S emerged under Yawd Serk’s command in 1996 as a breakaway faction of a narco-army led by heroin kingpin Khun Sa, who signed a ceasefire with the then-ruling junta.

It has been accused of continued involvement in

the drug trade along the borders with Thailand and China, an allegation its members reject.

To fund its operations, the group collects “taxes” on everything from mining and logging operations to cars driven by residents of towns under its command.

Asked what would happen if someone refused to pay, one group member said: “You are going to have some trouble.”

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THE MORUNG EXPRESS

public discourse laVine exits All-star stage God and Music for Kobe and NbA's best T TORONTO, FebRuaRy 14 (aP): Zach LaVine called it the best dunk contest ever, a showdown with Aaron Gordon that rivaled what Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins did.

Maybe they will come back next year and do it again. ''In Charlotte, yeah, if they want me to come back, I probably will,'' Gordon said.

For now, it's time to turn the attention at All-Star weekend back where it started: Kobe Bryant and the rest of the NBA's best. The All-Star Game tips off Sunday night, when the crowd might still be buzzing over the performances LaVine and Gordon put on to cap off All-Star Saturday.

LaVine finally won after extra dunks were needed, joining Jordan, Jason Richardson and Nate Robinson as the only backto-back winners of the dunk title. He knows people might still talk about Jordan or Julius Erving, great dunkers of the past.

But even they didn't pull off what LaVine and Gordon did Saturday, so LaVine was asked if it was the best. ''Like half the dunks we did were like professional dunker dunks, and it takes them four or five times to try it and make it, and we did it on the first try,'' LaVine said. ''It was crazy. In my opinion, yes.''

So good that people forgot about the Splash Brothers' shootout in the 3-point contest that Klay Thompson won to prevent Stephen Curry's repeat, and the All-Star Game on Sunday night that will feature Bryant's final appearance.

All-Star weekend so far has belonged to LaVine and the Minnesota Timberwolves, as rookie Karl-Anthony Towns showed big guys have skills, too.

The night - and the first two nights of this first All-Star weekend held outside the U.S. - end-

(LEFT) Aaron Gordon of the Orlando Magic dunks over Stuff the Orlando Magic mascot in the Verizon Slam Dunk Contest during NBA All-Star Weekend 2016 at Air Canada Centre on February 13 in Toronto, Canada. (RIGHT) Zach LaVine of the Minnesota Timberwolves dunks in the Verizon Slam Dunk Contest during NBA All-Star Weekend 2016 at Air Canada Centre on February 13 in Toronto, Canada. (Getty Images)

ed with a celebration for LaVine, who won the MVP award in Friday night in the Rising Stars Challenge for rookies and second-year players.

He outlasted Gordon in a duel that needed two overtimes and ended only when there was literally no ball to use. Curry batted it down to other end of the court after he and the other NBA stars who were as captivated as the fans and celebrities sitting courtside charged onto the court after LaVine leaped from just inside the free-throw line, put the ball between his legs in midair and slammed it down.

He and Gordon traded perfect scores of 50 for the previous few rounds after advancing to

De Villiers steers SA to series win over England

AB de Villiers produced a classy innings to guide South Africa's chase, South Africa v England, 5th ODI, Cape Town, February 14. (AFP Photo)

CaPe TOwN, FebRuaRy 14 (ReuTeRs): Captain AB de Villiers smashed an unbeaten 101 in his 200th OneDay International to lead South Africa to a five-wicket victory over England and a 3-2 series win at Newlands on Sunday. After being sent in to bat, England spluttered to 236 all out in 45 overs despite a second ODI century of his career for opener Alex Hales.

South Africa were in early trouble as they slumped to 22-3 in their reply but a magnificent fourth wicket stand of 125 between De Villiers and Hashim Amla (59) steadied their ship and the captain was there at the end to finish it off as they reached their target with 36 balls remaining.

De Villiers' 24th ODI century came from 94 balls with 11 fours and a six, and would prove the difference between the sides. South Africa had been in early trouble when Reece Topley (3-41) tore through their top-order with the wickets of Quinton de Kock (4), Faf du Plessis (0) and Rilee Rossouw (4).

But the experienced pair of De Villiers and Amla showed patience and skill to take the game away from England and deny them the chance of becoming the first side in 14 years to win a test and ODI series in South Africa. Instead, the Proteas are the first team since Pakistan in 2005 to come back from 2-0 down in an ODI series and claim victory, and just the fourth in the history of the 50over game.

Hales had scored half-centuries in each of the four previous matches in the series but finally converted to three figures, to his obvious relief. His 112 came from 128 balls and included 14 fours as he showed admirable patience on a wicket that was not coming onto the bat as he might have liked.

The next highest score in the England innings was a brisk 29 from Ben Stokes as a mixture of poor shot selection and accurate home bowling ensured the touring side lost wickets at regular intervals. Hales put on 61 for the second wicket with Joe Root (27) and 70 for the fourth with Stokes, but there was little else of substance in the innings as captain Eoin Morgan (2) again failed.

the final, but the Orlando Magic rookie mustered only a 47 in his last attempt. But he may have had the most memorable dunks of the night with some help from the Magic's mascot - aptly named Stuff the Magic Dragon.

On Stuff's first assist, Gordon took the ball with one hand from the mascot, who was spinning around on a hoverboard, and did a 360-degree dunk. He got another assist from Stuff on the next one, leaping high to take the ball, putting it under his legs - nearly in a sitting position in midair - and slamming it down with his left hand. ''Me and him are now like best friends, me and Stuff,'' Gordon said. The only boos went

to the judges, with the crowd thinking Shaquille O'Neal was a little stingy with a couple of 9s instead of perfect 10s. ''We were kind of mindboggled a couple times because we got 49s and they were 50s,'' LaVine said.

Earlier in the 3-point contest, Curry wasn't even the best on his own team after setting a final-round record last year.

This time, Thompson was so good, he had clinched it even before the final ball on his final rack. He started to walk away after making first four - then turned and made that one, anyway. ''He definitely shot well tonight,'' Curry said. ''I still think I can hold my own in the com-

petition, but the way that he finished off that second round was amazing. So trust me, the pressure of knowing what number he had to hit and making five out of five was fun to watch.''

Towns beat Boston Celtics point guard Isaiah Thomas to win the Skills Challenge, further validating the evolution of the big man from a plodding post player to a playmaking force. ''I'm glad I was able to help the bigs come out with this trophy,'' said Towns, the No. 1 overall pick in the June draft. ''This is bigger than me. This is for all the bigs out there, with the game changing the way it is, to show that bigs can stand up with guards and skill-wise.''

'Gold-finger' Chain stars as India continues to lord at SAG

GuwahaTi, FebRuaRy 14 (PTi): Olympics-bound shooter Chain Singh signed off with an astonishing collection of six gold medals as the consistently dominant Indian contingent added to its medal heap and stayed on top in the overall standings of the 12th South Asian Games here today.

For the ninth successive day of competitions, India stood atop the medals table with 275 overall (160 gold, 88 silver and 21 bronze), way ahead of second-placed Sri Lanka 167 (25, 56, 85). Pakistan were at third with 81 medals (9, 27, 45).

Shooters were once again the star performers for the country with Chain Singh stealing the thunder from the Olympic bronze-medallist Gagan Narang.

Chain picked up his third individual gold of the competition by winning the men's 50m rifles 3 positions.

There were only two gold medals on offer at the shooting range today and the Indians picked up both to continue their sweep in the Games. India also easily took the gold in the team event of men's 50m rifle 3 positions.

The 26-year-old Chain shot a total of 453.3 to win the gold, once again upstaging Gagan who took the silver with a total score of 450.3. Sri Lanka's SMM Samarkoon got the bronze.

Chain had earlier won the individual gold in 50m rifle prone and 10m air rifle. The 26-year-old completed a remarkable sweep of six gold medals helping India win all the three team events he took part in. Narang, who won a bronze in the London Olympics in 10m air rifle, took part in all the three rifle events but failed to pick up a gold.

He won a silver in 50m rifle prone and a bronze in 10m air rifle before settling for a silver in 50m rifle 3 positions today.

Today, Chain led the competition all through. He established a lead of 8.2 points over Narang by the end of kneeling position and maintained it at the end of prone round, though the gap was reduced to 5.8 points.

He had a few poor shots in standing position, including a shot of 8.7, but his earlier lead was good enough to eventually clinch the gold. The Indian trio of Chain, Narang and Surendra Singh Ra-

thod bagged the gold in the team event with a total score of 3490, while Sri Lanka (3431) and Bangladesh (3398) took the silver and bronze respectively.

After today's clean sweep, India's total medal haul in shooting rose to 21 gold, 9 silver and 8 bronze. Bangladesh are at a distant second with 1 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze.

The gold rush continued in triathlon as well with India bagging the top spot in the mixed relay team event.

The Indian team of Pallavi Retiwala, Dilip Kumar, Thoudam Sarojini Devi and Dhiraj Sawant won the gold with a combined timing of 01:24:31 on the final day of triathlon competitions at the Sarusajai Sports Complex here.

Today's gold was the second for Dilip and Pallavi as they had won a yellow metal each in the men's and women's individual events yesterday.

India thus swept all the three gold medals on offer in the discipline. India had also won two silver, one each in the men's and individual events through Guru Datta and Pooja Chaurushi respectively.

Today's mixed team relay had 300m swimming, 60km cycling and 1.2km running events.

Each team has two men and two women and they have to compete in all the three events.

The woman athlete starts the proceedings followed by a man.

The Nepal team won the team silver, while Sri Lanka bagged the bronze. In Shillong, India managed one gold, two silver and a bronze in taekwondo.

Purva Dixit beat Nepal's Y K Chaulagain in the women's 49kg category to win the solitary gold medal in taekwondo where Afghanistan led the medals tally.

Gajendra Parihar went down to Afghanistan's Mahmood Haidari in the men's 58kg final to settle for a silver medal.

India bagged a second silver of the day in men's 74kg after Manu George was defeated by another Afghan M Sharif Muradi for the gold medal.

In women's 57kg India got a bronze with S Ramchiary sharing the podium with G Sandamali of Sri Lanka. The boxers also packed

a powerful punch by dominating the ring. London Olympics bronze-medallist MC Mary Kom led the charge as six Indian boxers stormed into the final with comprehensive wins in the first session of semifinals.

On a comeback trail after recovering from an injury, the five-time world champion Mary Kom's 51kg category bout lasted less than 40 seconds as she was adjudged winner via Technical Knockout.

After Mary landed some powerful blows her Bangladeshi opponent Shamina Akter rarely stepped forward and had a full crouch stance all the while trying to cover-up at the SAI campus in North Eastern Hill University on the outskirts of the city.

Sri Lanka's first woman boxer to win a gold in Asian Championship, Anusha Kodituwakku Dilrukshi, will stand in the way of the celebrated Indian boxer for the 51kg gold medal women's final Tuesday. Anusha had little trouble getting past her Nepalese opponent Gurung Minu as she was adjudged 3-0 winner by the three judges.

In the men's competition, Glasgow Commonwealth silvermedallist L Devendro Singh (49kg) started the proceedings for India when he did well to dodge Thiwana Ranasinghe's open hooks to win a tight first round 29-28.

Devendro did well to win the next two rounds with ease to be adjudged 3-0 winner in the 49kg.

World championship bronzemedallist Shiva Thapa (56kg) had the height disadvantage against Mohammad Ohiduzzaman of Bangladesh but the Assamese boxer did well to defend himself before landing some powerful jabs with a tactical gameplan.

He will take on W Ruwan Thilina of Sri Lanka in the gold medal fight tomorrow.

2011 World Championship Vikas Krishan outclassed his Afghanistan opponent Folad S Wali Shah 3-0 win in 75kg.

2010 Commonwealth Games gold-medallist and 2012 London Olympics quarterfinalist Manoj Kumar (64kg) prevailed over Tshering Wangchuk of Bhutan with an identical scoreline to make the final.

he North-East particularly Nagaland is known for our love for music. Many outsiders have the notion that the NE people have the inbuilt mechanism that can responds and flow with any type of music be it classical, jazz, hip-hop, rock, metal, punk, pop, country music, Christian music and so on. Of course that’s overstated but it’s true that even the most horrible singer is acquainted with one or the other musical instruments which in itself is very unique. Some of our own local stars have travelled extensively with their musical gifts around the globe. It is expected that more successful bands will come up with innovative and creative ideas in the near future. With our own eyes, we have seen many Naga musicians who started their journey singing gospel melodies and ended up singing songs that do not glorify God or edify the soul of men.

But it is really a common phenomenon that when a musician climbs up the ladder of success and influence, it seems another spirit takes hold of them.

Music has the power to sooth and up-lift the depressed. It can also bring optimism in people’s lives. It has the power to destroy and take down people to hell or rescue people from the pit of hell. Freedom and bondage are both intertwined in music.

It gave me tons of joy to read from Morung Express on 10 Feb. 16 about a rapper from Tripura. Borkung Hrangkhawl, a politician’s son who wants to impact and promote peace and equality through his rapping. He openly confessed that alcohol, women and parties are not his “taste” when it comes to rapping. I was wondering, “How many of our local artiste can confessed that?”

The reasons for choosing the path of musical career is reflected in the songs that the musicians sing or play. Musicians, therefore, should be very conscious in the composing of songs or in choosing the songs because listeners are directly or indirectly swayed by their musical abilities. They influence the mass in a very big way. I don’t need to mention about the youngsters in particular who have succumbed to the influence of bad music. Music in and of itself is neutral and it can be a tool for a good purpose or a bad one. Mostly the world of music in moving in the latter’s direction.

Today, music is being commercialised and is sought for popularity and fame. But there must be a higher purpose to God’s liberality in endowing humans with the musical abilities.No endowment from above is without a purpose. Every good and perfect gift is from above, says St. James. Music is a gift that God has entrusted us with a responsibility.It was through music that opened the hearts of our grandparents to embrace the gospel from the Western missionaries. If the power of music is utilized for the right reasons, I believe it would heal most of the world’s pain and suffering.Somewhere within our own souls, we crave for the humming of melody to calm our storms. That is the reason why God has instituted music for the good of humanity.

Vebu Khamo, Kohima Bible College.

prohibition paradox

P

rohibition is such a mirage that seems real but actually it is like a prism which refracts light into another direction. Prohibition is always coercive and restrictive. It has done more harm than help in the Indian context. There is always a human endeavour to test the limits of strictures and survival instincts can compel any human to unleash the bindings of prohibition. Negative connotation of the world has always attracted positive reactions. Somehow inverse correlation gets established through a reflexive association. Socio-cultural sanctions in every society are the gatekeepers of prohibition.

In India, law and social media seems to be some of the vibrant and potent channels of prohibition these days. But prohibition without regulation and innovation is detrimental to both human and natural contexts.

In Nagaland, there is prohibition of liquor sale and use in public and private spaces. Ironically, most of the causes of liver failure and stomach cancer are alchohol abuse. Prohibition is directly linked to abuse also. Since people do not find alchohol easily there is a tendency to abuse its intake. Prohibition of liquor in Naga Hills is welcome move from the state and church bodies but its impact on people seems to be extreme. Accessibility and affordability of alchohol becomes very difficult in the open so there is a huge market roaring and surviving on those who can afford and those who are trapped in the debts due to alchohol.

People mortgage their shoes, coats, mobile phones and any such expensive items to buy alchohol at exorbitant interest rates not less than 10 percent. Alchohol use has led people to abuse their own family members, kith and kin. Sometimes fights get so extreme that people cannot afford to pay the fine also. ‘Abuser pays’ principle also applies in some villages which can be considered to be a deterrent but most of the times, it backfires and the pressure of payment falls on the abuser’s families and supporters. For some people alchohol is part of the status symbol, so if a rural youth has not tasted alchohol, it is below the standards of social constructs and his masculinity. Prohibition without monitoring is making the rich richer and the vulnerable groups are getting embezzled in the traps of prohibition. Most addicts whose life depends on minimum use of alchohol are leading inhuman lives, socially excluded and financially doomed. Neither do they have enough resources for de-addiction, counselling support for constant follow nor are they getting any treatment after multiple relapses which affect them both mentally and physically. All that pseudo prohibition has done is to create a label and stigmatise persons who are under the influence of alcohol.

Hence the paradox of religion, class, ethnicity, gender and race is literally wiping out generations of potentialities from Nagaland through easy access to illegal trade, fine system, aggression in dealing with addiction issues and lack of communication with youths. Everything is practiced, yet under the veil of prohibition. Prohibition is such an invisible order which has shielded only the powerful and disrobed the powerless. Such a paradox has led to gender based violence, women are much more marginalised within their home spaces and excluded further from the social, cultural and political decision-making. Women face even more pressure from the customary construct of a closed community when they get into addiction. Some women face persecution and public shaming when they drink and lose their senses. Some commit suicide to avoid any form of character assassination and social alienation and others gets labelled as mentally challenged even when they are minor drinkers. Prohibition has never done any positive change rather a holistic and multipronged approach with adequate social responsibility is the need of the hour. Legislations and strictures need amendments and repositioning when society is in constant transition.

Without a proactive and pragmatic approach to address ageold critical social problems, only prohibition in the name of a larger cultural ideal is going to silence the voices of the unheard masses. Cultural complexities coupled with religious diktats strengthen prohibition norms and also make oppressors out of the commoners whose morality tangents are defined by prohibition orders. Such oppressors take pride in cleansing society from the ills of alchohol and conflicts which follows from its abuse through their most inhuman acts of coercion. The whirlpool of poverty, disillusion, despair and disruption affects an individual, a family, a neighbourhood, a community and a state in a multi-dimensional process due to prohibition paradox. It is time that the consciousness of the community is raised to address the critical implications of such strategies which are making a few rich and powerful while millions are left crippled and indebted.

Samhita Barooah Researcher and Travel Writer 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 15•02•2016

EntErtainmEnt

‘Transformers’ movie Adele Covers US Vogue, talks toSixth be a Bumblebee spin-Off Motherhood and the Spice Girls T

A

dele graces the cover of this month’s Vogue looking absolutely stunning in a series of vintage inspired shots.

Dressed in gowns by designers including Gucci and Alexander McQueen, inside the mag the singer opens up on how motherhood has changed her life and how much the Spice Girls inspired her.

Speaking about how having son Angelo in 2012 has changed her life Adele said: “I can’t have any other junk in my head to worry about as well.”

Adding that he “makes me very proud of myself.

When I became a parent, I felt like I was truly living.

I had a purpose, where before I didn’t.”

After having Angelo Adele took time off from the spotlight to enjoy her new life, before starting work on her new album. “My main thing is Mum, then it’s me, then it’s work. I think I had to take the right amount of time off to let people miss me,” she said.

“I just didn’t really

know what I was going on about. How could I ever try and fool anyone by putting the record out and expect them to get it if I didn’t get it? It seemed a bit lazy.”

Adele also added that she’s now more comfortable than ever in her own skin.

“I was just shocked that all of a sudden I was 25!” she added. “But actually I like myself more than ever. I feel so comfortable in my own skin.

I really like how I look, I like who I am, I like everyone that I surround myself

with. Obviously I have insecurities but they don’t hold me back.”

Adele also spoke about her love for the Spice Girls, something which people often think she’s joking about. “People always think I joke about this but

T

Benedict Cumberbatch to narrate ‘Naples ‘44’ A

C M Y K

ctor Benedict Cumberbatch has been roped in as voice talent to narrate upcoming high-profile documentary "Naples '44". Helmed by Italian director Francesco Patierno, the documentary is based on the eponymous diary by British travel writer Norman Lewis about his experience as a British intelligence officer in the southern Italian port city following its liberation from Nazi forces, reports variety.com.

Cumberbatch is voicing Lewis, who wrote the memoir while he was a sergeant in the Field Security Service of the British Army Intelligence Corps in southern Italy from September 1943 to October 1944.

In his widely sold book, he recorded the desperate lives of Neapolitan civilians who survived by relying on all types of subterfuges, and also prostitution, thievery and belief in miracles and cures.

Source: IANS

he Oscars are only two weeks away.

And Chris Rock, 51, is kicking things up a notch with some new Academy Awards commercials that seem to speak directly to Shonda Rhimes fans. Of course, Shonda Rhimes, 46, is responsible for the outrageously popular 'Shondaland' block of programming on ABC which includes Grey's Anatomy, Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder.

In the first new ad, Chris, dressed in a dapper tuxedo, looks into the camera and says 'Watch the Oscars, the only show on ABC that Shonda Rhimes doesn’t own,' before pausing and exclaiming, 'Yet!' The second commercial is a bit more involved, and aimed directly at Scandal fans. Chris appears, still in a tuxedo, holding a wine glass full of popcorn in his right hand, and a large bowl of red wine in his left hand. He starts with the greeting 'Hey, Gladiators!' invoking the term hardcore Scandal fans use to refer to themselves, before bidding viewers to get prepared.

'Get your popcorn and wine ready. I’m hosting

the Spice Girls blew up when I was seven. And seeing them coming from a humble background there was hope in it. It was really a massive part of my life when the whole Girl Power thing happened.”

Source: Contactmusic

he sixth installment in the hit “Transformers” franchise will be a movie about one of its popular characters, Bumblebee. Paramount and Hasbro have revealed that fans can expect one “Transformers” film a year starting in 2017, with “Transformers 5” scheduled to hit theaters June 23, reported Aceshowbiz.

The Bumblebee film is set for a June 8, 2018, release, with the third of these announced films due out June 28, 2019.

Tom Warner, the “Transformers” franchise leader for Hasbro, further explained the plans. “This summer we worked closely with a talented team of A-list screenwriters to map out the future of the ‘Transformers’ cinematic universe, and as Brian announced earlier, things kick off in a major way in 2017 with the release of ‘Transformers 5’ in June. And we’re working on a spinoff movie centred around Bumblebee for 2018 and the next chapter for 2019,” he said.

On the June 8, 2018 release date, the Bumblebee

film will clash with “Godzil- characters, “Transformla 2”. While it’s unclear if the ers 5” will bring back Mark spin-off will feature any Wahlberg as the lead. of existing or new human Source: Agencies

Chris Rock takes aim at Shonda Rhimes and Scandal in hilarious new ads for the Academy Awards

the Oscars February 28,' he says gleefully. The comedian follows up by raising both his hands, and claiming 'I think I did this wrong,' before trying to take a sip out of his absurd wine container - which is just a large bowl. Though he's obviously busy with promotion, Chris is also hard at work behind the scenes, after it became

clear he was not going to drop out as host in the face of the #OscarsSoWhite row. Oscars producer Reginald Hudlin recently told ET that Chris was in fact even more motivated by the controversy, and definitely would be hosting the show on February 28.

'Chris is hard at work. He and his writing staff locked themselves in a room,' he

told the publication.

He even revealed that Chris decided to throw out what he had written, and instead write a whole new show that took the debate into account. 'Chris is that thorough. He's that brilliant, and I have 1000 percent confidence that he will deliver something that people will Rihanna builds an 'arctic urban forest' to showcase her be talking about for weeks.' 'genderless' gothic designs at the Fenty x Puma New York Source: DailyMail Fashion Week show. (Photo: DailyMail)

Jennifer Lawrence donates Vidya Balan receives Pride of Kerala award $2m to children’s hospital B ollywood actress Vidya Balan has been awarded the Pride of Kerala award by the World Malayalee Council and Kairali TV. The 38-year-old "Kahaani" actress, who hails from Kerala", took to Twitter to share her joy on receiving the prestigious honour.

"Proud to have received the Pride of Kerala award from the World Malayalee Council and Kairali TV," Balan posted on alongside

Hillstar

a photo from the felicitation ceremony.

The National awardwinning actress has starred in films like "Parineeta", "Paa", "No One Killed Jessica", "The Dirty Picture" and "Kahaani". Balan will be next seen in Sujoy Ghoshproduced "TE3N", which also stars Amitabh Bachchan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui. She is also part of the sequel of "Kahaani".

Source: PTI

NOW SHOWING

11:00 Am | 08:00 Pm

Jennifer Garner fights for children’s literacy programme

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J

ennifer Lawrence is adding points to her good deeds list with a whooping donation. The 25-year-old actress recently announced that she is donating 2 million dollars for the creation of a new wing at the Kosair Children's Hospital in her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, reports E! Online.

Lawrence released a video on the hospital's YouTube page in which she was heard saying,

"I'm excited to announce we will be establishing the Jennifer Lawrence Foundation Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at Kosair Children's Hospital. As part of my effort to help these children and caregivers, I challenge the entire community to get behind this cause and help match my gift by raising an additional 2 million dollars to support all of these brave and inspiring children."

According to the hospi-

tal's press release, the new wing will feature private rooms dedicated to children recovering from heart procedures, open heart surgery including heart transplant, heart failure and other conditions requiring intensive care. The Jennifer Lawrence Foundation Cardiac Intensive Care Unit will also offer 14 beds for families to stay with their children while they are receiving treatment.

Source: ANI

he Hollywood star spoke during a Senate Education Committee hearing on behalf of Save The Children, for which she serves as a trustee and artist ambassador, reported People magazine.

Joined by Save the Children Action Network president Mark Shriver, she urged the lawmakers to continue the funding of an annual $941,400 state budget appropriation for literacy initiatives.

"I'm here because I believe so much in Save the Children's early childhood programmes, and I am hoping that you will

continue to support them," Garner said.

The actress, who grew up in neighbouring West Virginia, also shared a story of a young mother she met a few years ago who was living in a trailer home in Berea, Kentucky with her four children.

Garner told the committee the kids "sprung to life" when a Save the Children home co-ordinator arrived with books, revealing the grateful mum "told over and over again how the programme had changed the course of these kids lives."

Source: PTI

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monDAY 15•02•2016

SPORTS

THE MORUNG EXPRESS

Mirza-Hingis lift St. Petersburg title

St.PeterSburg,February 14 (aNI): Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza and her Swiss partner Martina Hingis extended their winning streak to 40 after clinching the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy on Sunday.

The top-seeded pair continued their imperious form as they swept aside the Russian-Czech pair of Vera Dushevina and Barbora Krejcikova 6-3, 6-1 in the finals of the women's double event that lasted for an hour. With the win, the Indo-Swiss pair bagged their 13th women's double titles. Earlier this year, the Indo-Swiss duo won their third consecutive women's doubles Grand Slam title by lifting the Australian Open trophy. Since an upset loss in the French Open quarter-finals, the pair has been unstoppable, winning 42 of the next 45 matches to take home titles at Wimbledon, the US Open, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Beijing, the WTA Finals in Singapore, Brisbane and Sydney.

Altrura Open Football Tournament

KohIma, February 14 (mexN): The 4th Altrura Open Football Tournament 2016 will be held at Medziphema Town Local Ground from April 4 under the Theme “Goal for Unity”. Organizers Altrura Society has invited all former participating teams and clubs and informed that the total prize money for this year’s tournament is set at Rs. 1, 50,000. For more information, one may contact +918575127849/9089696770.

Mumbai school qualifies for FC Bayern Youth Cup world finals

C M Y K

mumbaI, February 14 (PtI): The Cathedral and John Connon School of Mumbai today won the finals of adidas FC Bayern Youth Cup India 2016, an under-16 seven-a-side inter-school football tournament, here today. Eight schools from Mumbai, New Delhi (NCR) and Bengaluru qualified for the national finals and faced each other over the last two days for the coveted trip to Munich, Germany, out of which The Cathedral and John Connon School emerged as the champion of the India finals winning a cut-throat competition against Nalanda Public school (Delhi). The road to Munich was then decided by penalty shootouts after the final game remained goalless even after extra time. Cathedral's Rishi Kothari sealed their destiny to represent the country at the World finals in Munich in May. The players from winning school team will not only get a chance to participate at the world finals in Munich in May, but will also get to watch a Bundesliga match at the iconic Allianz Arena.

Watson injury dents Aussie’s World T20 plans

melbourNe, February 14 (reuterS): Australia all-rounder Shane Watson has suffered a suspected abdominal strain while competing in a Twenty20 tournament in the United Arab Emirates, throwing his participation in the World T20 in doubt. The 34-year-old sustained the injury while bowling for Islamabad in the Pakistan Super League and promptly ruled himself out of the rest of the tournament to head home for assessment. “I injured myself last night bowling, so disappointingly I’m going to have to head home back to Australia to get assessed with the medical people at Cricket Australia to try and get right for the Twenty20 World Cup,” Watson said in a video posted on his team’s Twitter account. Watson has been in ominous form with the bat in recent weeks. But he may have to scramble to prove his fitness before Australia’s World T20 opener against New Zealand on March 18 in Dharamsala. Australia already have a number of fitness worries, with three other players in their 15-man squad nursing injuries. Top order batsman Aaron Finch and all-rounder James Faulkner have been sidelined with hamstring strains, while fast bowler Coulter-Nile is recovering from a dislocated shoulder.

Liverpool fans late for games risk losing seats

lIverPool, February 14 (ageNCIeS): Liverpool have risked more fan fury after it was revealed that club chiefs could strip supporters of their seats if they are late to games. The club were this week forced into a U-turn on a proposed increase to ticket costs after outrage from the Kop crowd. And now bosses are reportedly looking into a way to allow fans to take seats that are empty after kick-off. The Mail on Sunday claim the scheme would allow a pre-registered group of supporters to fill in the unoccupied spots. The plan - which would start from next season - would stand even if supporters who are late had a genuine excuse, for example if there was a lot of traffic. It is understood Liverpool bigwigs are looking at ways to fill an average of 1,000 seats that remain empty during home games. "Many" of the seats are reportedly held by season-ticket holders who do not attend. Fans could use the empty chairs free of charge, according to the plans.

Neville finally secures first win at Valencia barCeloNa, February 14 (aP): Gary Neville finally got his first Spanish league victory in charge of Valencia. Neville finally saw his Valencia team win a league match after substitute Alvaro Negredo and newcomer Denis Cheryshev scored in the final 20 minutes of a 2-1 comeback victory over visiting Espanyol. Valencia had gone 12 rounds without a win, with Neville in charge for nine of those matches and under increasing pressure to turn around his disappointing coaching debut. ''The fans were amazing, above all when we went behind. They stuck with us,'' said Neville. ''When Espanyol scored, we responded with better play, and that's because of how the fans supported the team. We knew that it was going to be a night of emotions.''

Gayle stirs up 'don't blush baby' controversy

abu DhabI, February 14 (ageNCIeS): Chris Gayle continues to poke fun at January’s incident with television presenter Mel McLaughlin, telling former Australian player and pundit Tom Moody not to blush in an interview during a Pakistan Super League match. “Cheers Tom. Don’t blush, Tom,” Gayle said after an interview with former Australia player Moody. Gayle was fined $10,000 by Big Bash League (BBL) franchise Melbourne Renegades and infuriated Cricket Australia officials at the start of the year when he appeared to make several passes at McLauglin during a live TV interview. The Jamaican slugger earned widespread condemnation for attempting to flirt with Ten Network’s McLaughlin, telling the journalist “Your eyes are beautiful, hopefully we can have a drink”, before quipping “don’t blush baby”.

Currently in the United Arab Emirates taking part in Pakistan’s T20 league, Gayle has now revisited the episode unprompted. After the comment to Moody, the West Indies star retweeted a supporter who invites his current Pakistan Super League employers to also fine the batsman.

Honda fires up Milan in Genoa win

mIlaN, February 14 (aP): Keisuke Honda scored one goal and helped set up another as AC Milan extended its unbeaten streak to seven matches with a 2-1 win over Genoa in Serie A on Sunday. Milan moved within two points of fifth-place Inter Milan, which was visiting Fiorentina later. It's the first time Milan has gone seven matches unbeaten since April, 2013. A cross from Honda led to Carlos Bacca's opener five minutes in at the San Siro. The Japan international then scored midway through the second half with a long, bouncing shot from 25 meters (yards) that appeared to surprise goalkeeper Mattia Perin. It was Honda's first league goal of the season, while Bacca has a teamhigh 13 goals. Alessio Cerci pulled one back for Genoa in added time. On Saturday, four-time defending champion Juventus beat Napoli 1-0 to move one point ahead of the southern club atop the standings.

Welbeck late show breaks Leicester hearts in Arsenal clash loNDoN, February 14 (reuterS): Danny Welbeck came off the bench for his first game in 10 months to earn Arsenal the most dramatic of lastgasp comeback wins over Premier League leaders Leicester City at an ecstatic Emirates Stadium with his 95th-minute winner.

Liverpool, meanwhile, pushed Aston Villa even closer to relegation when they crushed the Premier League's bottom club 6-0 leading to a mass exodus of home fans long before the final whistle at Villa Park.

Welbeck, sidelined since last April with knee injuries, could not have dreamed of a more extraordinary return, his glancing header from Mesut Ozil's free kick deep into injury time earning them the 2-1 victory which narrows Leicester's lead at the top to just two points.

It was a triumph which had looked hugely unlikely after Jamie Vardy had put Leicester ahead from the penalty spot just before halftime, a 19th goal of the season for the league's leading marksman.

Yet the whole complexion of the game changed after the break when Leicester were forced to play the last 35 minutes with just 10

Danny Welbeck heads the winning goal for Arsenal in the last seconds of injury time to defeat Leicester City. (Photo: The Guardian)

men after Danny Simpson had received two yellow cards for rash challenges in the space of five minutes.

After 15 minutes of incessant pressure, another substitute Theo Walcott almost inevitably smashed in the equaliser but Leicester still looked ready to celebrate a victory of sorts after they held out stoically and Arsenal wasted a series of chances until deep into injury time.

Then, after earning a free kick in Leicester's half, Ozil, the league's leading provider of goals, created havoc in the Leicester rearguard with a lovely floated free kick

which saw Welbeck, who had been introduced with just over five minutes left, leap highest to provide the finest of touches.

It was Ozil's 17th goal assist of the season.

For once in this campaign of fairytales for Leicester, there was a nightmarish ending as Arsenal's home erupted in a crescendo of joy rarely heard at the ground as their heroes went on a lap of honour.

At Villa Park, Liverpool went ahead when Daniel Sturridge, who has been injured for most of the season, headed in after

16 minutes before former Villa winger James Milner doubled their lead with an inswinging free kick eight minutes later.

Villa collapsed midway through the second half conceding four goals in 13 minutes with Emre Can starting the blitz with a 25-metre shot that beat keeper Mark Bunn after 57 minutes.

Divock Origi burst through to make it 4-0 a minute after coming on as a substitute before England defender Nathaniel Clyne made it 5-0 with a tap-in and Kolo Toure headed a sixth in the 70th.

The victory ended Liverpool's run of five matches without a win in all competitions.

Chelsea demolish Newcastle On Saturday, Chelsea thrashed Newcastle United 5-1 in London to climb to 12th and send the visitors into the Premier League relegation zone.

Chelsea extended their unbeaten run under caretaker manager Guus Hiddink to 12 games in their most convincing display of the season on Sunday.

A masked Diego Costa, who broke his nose in training, slotted Chelsea in front after five minutes and the Blues were three ahead with 17 minutes on the clock after Pedro and Willian punished lackadaisical Newcastle defending.

Newcastle staunched the goal flow until the hour mark when Cesc Fabregas's pass sent Pedro away to make it 4-0 before Bertrand Traore added a fifth.

Andros Townsend grabbed a late consolation for Newcastle, who now find themselves in the drop zone in 18th place on goal difference behind Norwich, who capitulated late on to draw 2-2 with visiting West Ham United, after looking poised for a first league win in six attempts.

WIndies stun India to win U-19 WCup

DhaKa, February 14 (reuterS): West Indies stunned overwhelming favourites India to clinch their maiden ICC Under-19 World Cup title after Keacy Carty's unbeaten halfcentury helped them chase down a tricky target for a five-wicket victory in a tense final on Sunday.

At a time when their seniors are engaged in a protracted contractual dispute with their board ahead of next month's Twenty20 World Cup, Shimron Hetmyer's team chased down a 146-run victory target with three balls to spare.

It was their sharp bowling unit which laid the foundation for victory after dismissing the Indian team, coached by batting great Rahul Dravid, for 145 runs in 45.1 overs.

None of India's top four batsmen could manage a double digit score and it was only Sarfaraz Khan's 51, his fifth half-century in six matches, that gave some

The West Indies side is elated after getting their hands on the trophy. (Getty Images)

respectability to their innings after they were asked to bat first. West Indies' Alzarri Joseph and Ryan John claimed three wickets each in a dominant pace bowling display by their team.

India made a spirited effort to defend their mod-

est total and injected some excitement into the contest by reducing West Indies to 77-5 in the 29th over.

Carty, however, was unperturbed and the righthander added 69 runs with Keemo Paul (40 not out) to end India's 15-match win-

ning streak since losing to England in the quarter-final of the previous edition in the United Arab Emirates two years ago.

Carty, who was 52 not out, was adjudged man-ofthe-match while Bangladesh captain Mehedi Hasan

Miraz, whose team finished third ahead of Sri Lanka, won the man-of-the-tournament prize. "We weren't supposed to be champions but we came up to top," Hetmyer said. "The pacers used the pitch to their advantage, they stood out for us."

Ashwin spins India to series win over Sri Lanka

v I S a K h a Pat N a m , February 14 (PtI): Offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin weaved his magic with a career-best four-wicket haul as India trounced Sri Lanka by nine wickets in the deciding third and final Twenty20 International to clinch the three-match series 2-1 in Visakhapatnam on Sunday.

Ashwin scalped two wickets in the very first over and then retruend with dream figures of 4-1-8-4 as the hosts bundled out Sri Lanka 82, their lowest ever score in T20 cricket.

Before this, Sri Lanka’s lowest total was 87 against Australia in 2010 at Bridgetown.

Ashwin was simply unplayable for the Sri Lankans on a pitch, which offered help to the spinners and took four wickets in his magical three-over opening spell. Besides Ashwin, Suresh Raina also shone with the ball by scalping two batsmen and giving away just six runs in his two overs.

The series win also helped India retain its numero uno position in the ICC T20 rankings.

Such was the plight of the visitors that only two batsmen -- Dasun Shana-

ka (19) and Thisara Perera (12) -- managed to touch the double-digit mark at ACA-VDCA stadium.

The total was too small for India, who overhauled the target in 13.5 overs after losing Rohit Sharma (13) early in the innings. The Indians were in no hurry as they waited for bad balls to hit boundaries and relied on singles and twos to keep the scoreboard ticking.

Opener Shikhar Dhawan (46 off 46) and Ajinkya Rahane (22 off 24) took the side to the finishing line with an unbeaten 55?run partnership for the second wicket. There were not many boundaries but Dhawan finished off the match with a six and four off debutant Asela Gunaratne.

It was second successive series win for India after whitewashing Australia 3-0 in their own backyard.

India’s next assignment is Asia Cup in Bangladesh where they play the hosts on February 24 in the tournament-opener in Mirpur.

Earlier opting to field, India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni handed out the new ball to Ashwin and he responded with two wickets in the first over of the match.

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